Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in 'news blackout'
CHICAGO, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Chicago Alderwoman Sandi Jackson, wife of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., told the Sun-Times her husband has been "completely debilitated by depression."
In an interview published Saturday by the Sun-Times, Sandi Jackson said her husband, who has been absent from Congress since June, has not been treated for alcohol or drug addiction and has not attempted suicide.
"No, no, none of that is true," Sandi Jackson said of the rumors that have circulated since her husband collapsed in their Washington home June 10.
She said Jackson has been in a "news blackout" since his collapse, which she referred to "D-Day."
Jackson's office said in June he was absent on medical leave for treatment for exhaustion. His office said in a statement July 11 he was receiving inpatient treatment for a "mood disorder" but did not say where. His office had not disclosed further information on his condition, citing medical privacy.
Last week the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., issued a statement indicating Jackson had arrived for "extensive inpatient evaluation for depression and gastrointestinal issues." Jackson lost 50 pounds after undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2005.
"What I can tell you is my husband has his good days and bad days and they are increasing his depression medication to therapeutic levels," Jackson told the Sun-Times.
"I fully expect him to return to work, but not a day before the doctor says it's OK. That's the word we are waiting for."
The U.S. House Ethics Committee is investigating allegations a friend of Jackson's, Raghuveer Nayak, offered as much as $6 million in campaign funds to Rod Blagojevich -- who was Illinois' governor at the time but is currently serving a 14-year prison term for corruption. In exchange, Blagojevich was to appoint Jackson to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after he was elected president.
Jackson has said he had no knowledge of the alleged matter.
Pakistani couple paraded naked by police
GAMBAT, Pakistan, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Several police officers in the Pakistani town of Gambat were suspended after parading a couple accused of adultery through the town naked, officials said.
The officers were suspended by local authorities after cellphone video footage of the incident stirred public outcry, the BBC reported Saturday.
The footage shows a man, identified as Mumtaz Mirbahar, being abused by police officers and a woman, whose name was not reported, pleading with the officers to let her cover herself before they were both forced to walk to the police station naked, the report said.
Local police said they were responding to reports that Mirbahar was having parties at his house that involved drinking and dancing during the holy month of Ramadan.
Although neighbors told the BBC Mirbahar's parties had been an issue, they said they did not feel the police had the right to humiliate him and the woman in that manner.
Mirbahar, who has been released on bail, said he was "deeply scarred" by the incident. The woman is still in custody, the BBC said.
Pakistani activists said unless action is taken against the officers involved, police abuses of their power are likely to continue.
S. Korean politico offers resignation
SEOUL, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The spokesman for South Korea's ruling party offered to quit Saturday, saying someone has to take responsibility for the party's money-for-nomination scandal.
Saenuri Party spokesman Kim Young-woo said it wouldn't be fair for the party's top presidential hopeful, Rep. Park Geun-hye, who was head of the party when a nomination payoff allegedly occurred, to shoulder the blame.
"Somebody should take responsibility and offer an apology to the people, but we cannot have our party's leading candidate do so after she has already sacrificed herself twice when the party was in crisis," Yonhap News Agency quoted Kim as saying at a news conference.
"So I, an unworthy man, have to do that, as I was the party's vice secretary and now serve as a spokesman."
At the heart of the scandal is an alleged $265,000 payment Rep. Hyun Young-hee paid to Hyun Ki-hwan, then a member of the party's nomination committee, before April's general elections. Both have denied the payment allegations, which have triggered an investigation by prosecutors, Yonhap said.
Three other Saenuri Party presidential hopefuls -- Yim Tae-hee, a former chief of staff to President Lee Myung-bak, Gyeonggi province Gov. Kim Moon-soo and former South Gyeongsang province Gov. Kim Tae-ho -- have called for the resignation of party Chairman Hwang Woo-yea and said they would boycott the party's Aug. 20 primary.
Scandal-linked British cops take severance
LONDON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Three top British police officials who quit over the News of the World phone-hacking scandal took severance packages totaling almost $500,000, records show.
The Metropolitan Police force's accounting records, disclosed by The Daily Telegraph, show the three former officials -- Commissioner Paul Stephenson, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, and Dick Fedorcio, the force's director of public affairs -- received severance packages when they resigned.
Stephenson, who stepped down in July 2011 over his decision to employ Neil Wallis, a former deputy editor at the News of the World who has been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking, as a public relations adviser, was given $276,609 as "compensation for loss of office," the records show.
Yates and Fedorcio, who were both accused of misconduct for their roles in the scandal, took severance packages of $135,118 and $78,996 respectively, records show. Yates resigned days after Stephenson, while Fedorcio resigned at the end of March of this year.
Regarding the payments, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "Upon leaving the MPS, individuals may have entered into discussions with the [Metropolitan Police Authority or the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime] regarding their contractual position and recompense."
The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime said the payments were made in accordance with "contractual obligations."
Jenny Jones, the deputy chairman of the police and crime committee on the London Assembly, said: "I'm absolutely appalled. As far as I'm concerned, if somebody resigns they should walk away from the job and not get a penny for it. I think they should have been embarrassed to take the money. It's taxpayers' money -- it's not for frittering away on people who chose to resign."
