WASHINGTON Indians awarded $455 million

A federal judge ruled Thursday that American Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million in a long-running trust case, a fraction of the $47 billion they wanted.

But U.S. District Judge James Robertson did not say how the government should award the money, writing that his opinion "leaves for another day the question of how and to whom the award should be distributed."

Robertson's final number is close to government estimates and far from the billions sought by plaintiffs in the 12-year trial.

The lawsuit -- filed on behalf of a half-million American Indians and their heirs -- claims they were swindled out of billions of dollars in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887.

WORLD