Did doctors help torture? In a report that raises the specter of Nazi-era atrocities, a national physicians’ group has charged that American doctors helped U.S. intelligence officers torture terrorism suspects held in secret CIA prisons. The report by Physicians for Human Rights said U.S. doctors participated in “intentionally harmful interrogation practices” that were “apparently intended to enable the routine practice of torture” and shield intelligence agents from criminal liability. The doctors, said the group, offered advice on preventing suspects from dying while being waterboarded and increasing their susceptibility to pain. Responding to the report, the CIA said the doctors’ role was to ensure that interrogators didn’t cross the line from aggressive interrogation to torture. Even so, say medical ethicists, the doctors might have violated ethical requirements not to harm patients or experiment on them without their consent.
Los Angeles
Actor’s death plunge: A cliffside standoff between Los Angeles police and a porn-film actor suspected of murdering a colleague ended with the man plunging 50 feet to his death, all captured on video. Stephen Hill, who performed as Steve Driver, had fled a party where he allegedly attacked several other porn actors with a machete, wounding two and killing a third, Herbert Wong. Police pursued Hill to a ledge in the L.A. suburb of Chatsworth, where cameras recorded him waving the machete and threatening to kill himself. One police officer apparently Tasered Hill, who then fell or jumped from the cliff. A spokesman for the LAPD said Hill “leapt off the cliff” after being hit with “non-lethal munition.”
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Chicago
Blagojevich trial: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of peddling political favors, went on trial this week in a proceeding that promises to expose the seedy underbelly of Illinois politics. In opening statements, prosecutors said Blagojevich routinely demanded money in exchange for official acts, at one point offering to sell the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President Obama in exchange for a high-paying private-sector job. Defense attorneys portrayed the former governor, who was ousted in January 2009 following an impeachment trial, as a naïve man surrounded by scheming aides. “There was nobody selling nothing,” said defense attorney Sam Adam. If convicted on all charges, Blagojevich faces up to 415 years in prison and $6 million in fines.
El Paso, Texas
Death on the border: U.S. Border Patrol officers shot and killed a Mexican teenager attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, sparking a diplomatic row with Mexico. Several officers were patrolling the border when they encountered a group of Mexicans apparently attempting to cross into the U.S. The border agents apprehended two of them, while the rest fled back to the Mexican side, from where they reportedly began pelting the officers with rocks. One agent fired at them several times, fatally wounding 15-year-old Sergio Hernandez. The Mexican government lodged a protest over the incident. U.S. officials defended the agents’ actions. “There’s a misperception people have that we’re having pebbles thrown at us,” said Mark Qualia of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “You can’t take this lightly.”
New York City
Iran sanctions passed: After hard lobbying by the U.S., the U.N. Security Council this week approved what President Obama called “the toughest sanctions ever faced by Iran.” The new restrictions take aim at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which controls Iran’s nuclear program and wields significant economic power. The sanctions require countries to inspect suspicious cargos headed to or from Iran and bars countries from allowing Iran to buy nuclear enrichment plants and related technology. The sanctions package lists 41 Iranians, including Javad Rahiqi, head of Iran’s nuclear-development effort, who are subject to a travel ban and asset seizures. The five permanent members of the Security Council—the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, and China—voted for the sanctions; Brazil and Turkey opposed them, while Lebanon abstained.
New York City
Alleged jihadists arrested: Authorities this week arrested two men just before they boarded an Egypt-bound flight, charging them with plotting overseas terrorist attacks. Prosecutors say the two men, Mohamed Mahmoud Alessa, 20, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, were bound for Somalia, where they planned to join al-Shabaab, a terrorist group linked to al Qaida. The men, both American citizens, spoke of killing American troops in Somalia, authorities said. The FBI received a tip about the pair in 2006 and dispatched an undercover agent to befriend them. The agent recorded them saying that they would launch attacks inside the U.S. if they were ordered to do so, authorities said.
