Special Prosecutor

Dominique Strauss-Kahn looked considerably better leaving a Manhattan courthouse Tuesday than he did three months ago when he first arrived in police custody, tired and disheveled, to face charges that he tried to rape a hotel housekeeper. This time the French political leader was smiling, even looking like he had lost a few pounds, in a dark-blue suit and striped tie. His wife and legal team were also all smiling: Strauss-Kahn was a free man and, as he later told French reporters, "in a hurry to get home.

The CIA officers who destroyed videotapes of harsh interrogations will not be charged with crimes, the Justice Department said Tuesday, but a special prosecutor continues to investigate whether treatment of Al Qaeda detainees crossed the legal line. Jose A. Rodriguez, a 30-year CIA veteran who headed the agency's clandestine service, ordered his staff in November 2005 to destroy tapes of the interrogations of accused terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, against the advice of agency lawyers, according to a former CIA official involved in the matter.

Kenneth Starr, the former special prosecutor who took on President Clinton over the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals, will be leaving his post as dean of Pepperdine University School of Law this spring to become president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, the schools announced Monday. Starr has headed the Malibu law school since 2004. During his West Coast tenure, he also represented the supporters of Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, during a challenge before the California Supreme Court last year.

In Colorado, judges don't simply have the power to send people to prison. In rare circumstances, they can also decide whether a person should be charged as a criminal -- a rarely invoked authority upon which two cases now hinge. Under a 19th century state law, obscure until recently, two judges have been asked to decide whether four men should be tried in rape and murder cases.

Re "Judging the war on terror," editorial, April 4 Questioning the Obama administration and its hesitancy regarding investigations about possible violations of our Constitution and the Geneva Convention is past due. Dick Cheney has openly admitted to waterboarding. Outing a CIA agent is also a crime. The invasion of Iraq, which has cost so many innocent lives, and the deceitful buildup that led to it also need to be fully investigated. If we allow the administration to sweep all of these possible crimes under the rug, it amounts to collusion -- and it will happen again.

A special prosecutor's team questioned South Korean President-elect Lee Myung-bak about allegations of financial fraud, a week ahead of his inauguration, a news report said. Lee was questioned for about three hours in Seoul over claims that he was involved in a 2001 stock manipulation case, Yonhap news agency said. Lee "answered in detail," said Kim Hak-geun, an official at the prosecutor's office. Officials at Lee's offices and the special prosecutor's office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Special prosecutors investigating corruption allegations at massive conglomerate Samsung Group raided an office of Chairman and Chief Executive Lee Kun-hee on Monday as part of a probe reluctantly approved last year by South Korea's president, an official said. Government investigators also raided the company's headquarters in Seoul today, said Yim Jun-seok, a Samsung spokesman. He said investigators entered the strategic planning office.

Senators from both parties suggested Sunday that the CIA's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected Al Qaeda terrorists could constitute obstruction of justice, carried out as the spy agency's methods were coming under fierce legal scrutiny. "Burning tapes, destroying evidence -- I don't know how deep this goes. Could there be obstruction of justice? Yes," Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.