Torture

For three months, police say, a 37-year-old woman endured torture at the hands of her own relatives in the home she shared with them in Mount Holly. They beat her with a cane, rapped her hands with a back scratcher, stunned her with a Taser, shot her with a BB gun, and forced her to drink urine, police said. But now, with her aunt, two cousins, and the spouse of one of the cousins in custody, the woman's ordeal is over. Detective Frank Pallante said the victim's torment came to light Sunday when she showed up at Virtua Memorial hospital in Mount Holly with a festering foot infection.

HARRISBURG - A Central Pennsylvania church and its youth pastor have pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a mock kidnapping of a youth group that was meant to be a lesson on religious persecution. Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church in Lower Swatara Township and Andrew David Jordan, 28, of Elizabethtown, waived an appearance Thursday at a formal arraignment in Dauphin County Court on charges of false imprisonment and simple assault. Prosecutors said the half-hour ordeal in March included interrogation and staged torture using power tools.

A Frankford man was abducted and tortured, apparently in an attempt to get information, before being robbed of several thousand dollars early Saturday morning, police said. The 32-year-old man, whom police would not identify, had just arrived home and was exiting his car when he was grabbed by three masked men carrying guns, said Sgt. Joseph Green of Northeast Detectives. The men were wearing black "battle dress uniforms," Green said, similar to police SWAT or paramilitary uniforms.

A Frankford man was abducted and tortured, apparently in an attempt to get information, before being robbed of several thousand dollars early Saturday morning, police said. The 32-year-old man, whom police would not identify, had just arrived home and was exiting his car when he was grabbed by three masked men carrying guns, said Sgt. Joseph Green of Northeast Detectives. The men were wearing black "battle dress uniforms," Green said, similar to police SWAT or paramilitary uniforms.

Marlin Finley had the best seat in the house. He also had the worst view. Finley was right there in the front row - well, along the sideline - as Pennsauken put together a dream 2011 season that ended with the South Jersey Group 4 championship. Finley was happy. He also was sad. "I was cheering for those guys like crazy," Finley said. "I grew up with those guys. I was so happy for them. But I was hurting, too. " Finley was a key player for Pennsauken in 2010. He ran for 755 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore, earned first-team all-West Jersey National Division honors, and appeared poised to take his place among the best running backs in South Jersey.

GREENSBURG, Pa. - A man deserves to die by lethal injection for his role in the torture killing of a mentally disabled woman held captive in a dingy apartment for more than two days, a jury ruled Thursday. The jury delivered the death penalty instead of life in prison for Melvin Knight, 22, after hearing nearly two weeks of testimony about the death of Jennifer Daugherty in February 2010. Knight, who pleaded guilty to murder, is to have the sentence imposed Friday by Westmoreland County Court Judge Rita Hathaway.

Beatrice Weston, 20, the niece of convicted killer Linda Ann Weston, is suing the City of Philadelphia for placing her in Weston's care in 2002 and subjecting her to what authorities have described as a nightmarish decade of unrelenting torture at Weston's hands. Beatrice Weston was one of five people rescued by police in October after police discovered four mentally disabled adults held in a dungeon-like basement of a Tacony apartment building. She was locked in a cramped closet in an upstairs apartment, and authorities soon learned that she had been imprisoned by her aunt since she was 10. Authorities have said Weston moved Beatrice and the others around the country, terrorizing them, in a scheme to steal their Social Security benefits.

CAIRO - An international rights group on Saturday accused the Egyptian armed forces of beating and torturing protesters arrested during antimilitary demonstrations early this month, and said that by permitting such actions the military "enables further abuse. " The three days of street clashes in Cairo that began May 2 and left nine civilians dead were the latest in a string of deadly confrontations between the military and protesters in Egypt since a council of ruling generals took power 15 months ago. In its violent crackdown on the May demonstrations outside the Defense Ministry, the military arrested more than 300 people and referred them to military tribunals.

THE PHRASE was coined after a particularly gruesome loss to the Padres in April 2010. The San Francisco Giants were defeated in the most inglorious fashion, allowing San Diego exactly one hit while losing, 1-0. "Giants baseball," Duane Kuiper, their longtime announcer, said on the air the next day. Then, pausing for effect: "Torture. " The Phillies began the final game of a three-game series Sunday with the same sort of odor surrounding them. The previous night, facing a San Diego team with the second-worst record in baseball and its most tepid lineup, they had managed one hit in 10 opportunities with runners in scoring position, left 12 batters on base, and again wasted a winning effort by their ace, Roy Halladay, in a 2-1 loss.

The one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden has reignited public debate over the effectiveness of harsh interrogation techniques in U.S. antiterrorism efforts. The discussion is welcomed by an ex-CIA official who has published a book defending controversial interrogation techniques such as simulated drowning, also known as water boarding, as needed to save American lives. That might have been the case when fictional spy Jack Bauer would save the day on the old TV series 24, but top officials, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, have dismissed the notion that torture produced the intelligence that led to bin Laden's lair.