Caretaker: Woman Changed Torture Story Before

The caretaker for a black woman who recanted 2007 allegations of being kidnapped and tortured by a group of white people in West Virginia has mental issues and has changed her version of what happened more than once. 

Woman in W.Va. Torture Case Now Says She Lied

A woman who accused seven people of sexually assaulted her over several days in a trailer is now recanting her story. However, the local prosecutor says the defendants were convicted on their own statements and physical evidence. 

UPI VIDEO NEWS 01.30.08

Edwards quitting presidential race.

Former senator John Edwards is reportedly bowing out of the Democratic race for president. He's expected to make the announcement in New Orleans this afternoon. Edwards has trailed former First Lady Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama in the early primaries.

On the Republican side, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is reportedly planning to quite his presidential run. This comes after Arizona Senator John McCain won Florida's Republican primary yesterday. Giuliani came in a distant third in that race. He's expected to endorse McCain at an event later today.

Congress has passed a 15-day extension of a temporary surveillance law that was set to expire later this week. The law was passed last year when the Bush administration warned of loopholes in its ability to monitor suspected terrorists. The extension is a means to buy time to decide on a permanent fix for the measure. President Bush is expected to sign the extension.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey won't say whether the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding is considered torture. The top U.S. law enforcement official is expected to clash with Democrats today over this issue at a Senate hearing. Mukasey did say waterboarding currently isn't being used by the CIA to interrogate suspected Al Qaeda members. But he said there are circumstances where the technique, which simulates drowning, is questionable as to whether it's illegal.

AL SHARPTON ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO CHICAGO OFFICIALS

On Monday, Rev. Al Sharpton issued a series of recommendations for reforming the Chicago police department as he repeated his threat to lobby against the city's Olympic bid.

If he doesn't hear from Mayor Richard Daley before Dec. 29, Sharpton said, he will announce a date when he and people alleging police abuse will leave for an international tour to tell their stories.

"The Olympics can be a point of leverage for people in this city that have not been able to get direct action by the city fathers," said Sharpton, president of the civil rights group National Action Network.

Sharpton recommended that the U.S. Justice Department take control of the city's police force; that the city reject Mayor Daley's choice for police superintendant, J.P. "Jody" Weiss, because of what Sharpton called a lack of community input into his selection; and that the head of the Independent Police Review Authority be prohibited from speaking publicly about misconduct cases until agency investigations are completed.

CHICAGO'S $20 MILLION SETTLEMENT TO BLACK MEN

Did the Chicago police department have a practice of torturing confessions out of Black men during the 1970s and 1980s?

In essence, that is the accusation currently facing the city and it appears that before this week is over city aldermen will approve a $20 million settlement with four Black men who spent years in prison after allegedly being forced to confess to crimes they did not commit.

The four are among scores of Black men who have reported being beaten, tortured and even suffocated by police officials during the 1970s and 1980s.

A special prosecutor has agreed with many of the allegations. The four men scheduled to receive the settlements had been sitting on death row until former Governor George Ryan pardoned them in 2003.

"We have to acknowledge first that terrible wrongs were committed, then begin to make amends to those who were wronged," Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said, referring to the settlement. "Those wronged could've included dozens of men - virtually all of them Black and some still lingering in prison."