Georgia trains young refugees for sabotage - South Ossetian KGB

Georgian security services are recruiting young people living in refugee camps to join reconnaissance and sabotage groups, the head of South Ossetian KGB said on Friday.

"It is known with certainty that Georgian security services are preparing subversive groups from young people living in the refugee camps. They are preparing them for reconnaissance and sabotage activities. We do not rule out that these terrorist groups may sneak into the territory of South Ossetia," Boris Attoyev said.

South Ossetian air defenses have already registered several spy drones taking off from Georgian territory in night time, Attoyev said.

Moscow recognized South Ossetia as independent and became the guarantor of its security following the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, whose forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. RIA Novosti

Hunters, Conservationists Square Off Over Lead in Ammunition and Tackle

Hunters and fishermen across the U.S. are battling environmental activists over the use of lead in ammunition and fishing tackle.

A coalition of conservation groups filed a petition earlier this month with the Environmental Protection Agency in which they argue that the use of lead in ammo and tackle is poisoning the nation's lakes, ponds and forests. The environmentalists are asking the EPA to ban the "manufacture, processing and distribution" of lead shot, bullets and fishing sinkers under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. 

According to the petitioners, who include the Center for Biological Diversity and the American Bird Conservancy, up to 20 million birds and other animals are killed each year due to lead poisoning in the United States, and at least 75 wild bird species -- including bald eagles, ravens and endangered California condors -- are poisoned by spent lead ammunition. They say roughly 3,000 tons of lead are expelled into U.S. hunting grounds annually, with another 80,000 tons released at shooting ranges, and another 4,000 tons of lead fishing lures and sinkers are lost in ponds and streams.

"Based on information extending back to Roman times more than 2,000 years ago, lead has long been identified as a highly toxic substance with lethal properties and numerous pathological effects on living organisms," their petition reads. "Health effects from lead exposure can run the gamut from acute, paralytic poisoning and seizures to subtle, long-term mental impairment, miscarriage and impotence … 

"Despite this knowledge, lead continues to be used in manufactured products, many of which are sources of toxic lead exposure to wildlife and to human beings". Fox News

Julio Iglesias Secretly Marries Dutch Model Miranda Rijnsburger

Celebrity Circuit

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Spanish singer Julio Iglesias has married Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger, his girlfriend for the last 20 years in a secret wedding ceremony on Tuesday.

The marriage was announced by the 66-year-old entertainer -- full name Julio Jose Iglesias de la Cueva -- in a statement to Spanish newspapers.

The wedding took place at the Virgen del Carmen church in the southern resort of Marbella.

Rev. Roberto Rojo Aguado, one of three priests who celebrated the ceremony, told The Associated Press on Friday that the couple were married Tuesday.

Iglesias, a native of Madrid, said the ceremony was attended by two witnesses and the couple's five children. Rijnsburger is 45.

Iglesias was previously married to Isabel Preysler, with whom he had three children. CBS News

Rescued Nigeria banks' value at risk: Standard Bank

By Matthew Tostevin

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The longer the process of selling Nigeria's rescued banks lasts, the less attractive they could become, said the head of South Africa's Standard Bank, which is interested in buying one.

Nigeria's central bank has received bids for four of nine banks rescued in a $4 billion bailout and is setting up an asset management company to buy their non-performing loans, but has yet to say when the lenders would be sold.

Jacko Maree, group chief executive of Africa's largest bank, said it had expressed interest in more than one of the rescued banks, but the value of the banks was in danger of eroding over time.

"You have to get more careful the longer things go on. The rescued banks will be losing customers and their brands suffering while their costs stay the same," he told Reuters in an interview on Friday in Johannesburg.

Standard Bank has a presence in Nigeria through Stanbic IBTC and Maree reiterated he would like another bank in Nigeria, where 150 million people and Africa's biggest energy industry make it one of the continent's hottest prospects.

Nigeria's rescued banks have returned to profit this year but negative shareholder funds remain one of the main concerns for potential investors. Reuters Africa

BBC's Mark Thompson takes aim at Murdoch empire in MacTaggart lecture

Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, launched a scathing attack on Rupert Murdoch's media empire tonight, warning that BSkyB is too powerful and threatens to "dwarf" the BBC and its competitors.

Delivering the annual MacTaggart lecture at the Mediaguardian Edinburgh television festival, Thompson rounded on Sky's chairman, James Murdoch, who used the same speech last year to attack the corporation.

"A year ago, James Murdoch fretted aloud about the lamentable dominance of the BBC," he said. "He was able to do that only by leaving Sky out of the equation".

Thompson said Sky was "well on its way to being the most dominant force in broadcast media in this country".

He said that News Corp, in effect controlled by the Murdoch family, now enjoys unprecedented industry power in the UK. News Corp owns 39% of Sky and is in the process of buying the part of the broadcaster it does not already own.

"If Sky's proposal to acquire all of the remaining share in Sky goes through, Sky will not just be Britain's biggest broadcaster, but a full part of a company which is also dominant in national newspapers as well as [being] one of Britain's biggest publishers," Thompson said. That would be "a concentration of cross-media ownership that would not be allowed in the United States or Australia".

In a sideswipe at the Murdoch press he also criticised newspaper coverage of the BBC, claiming: "Some newspapers appear to print something hostile about the BBC every week … the scale and intensity of the current assaults does feel different".

Thompson also attacked Sky's content, conceding that it had spent heavily on news and sport but saying it had failed to invest enough of its £4.8bn subscription revenues in British programming. He said Sky should be forced to pay ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 a fee for carrying their channels on its satellite platform through a "retransmission" charge. The Guardian

'Plan B' in the works as miners learn how long they'll be trapped

Copiapo, Chile (CNN) -- The 33 miners trapped inside a Chilean mine since August 5 have been told "clearly," for the first time, that they will be stranded in the mine for three to four months, given the current rescue plan timetable, Andre Sougarret, the head of the rescue operation, said Friday.

But both Sougarret, the mines manager for the state mining company Codelco, and Chilean government representative Jimena Matos said Friday a proposed "Plan B" could speed up the retrieval process.

"Last night, a third probe reached where the miners are and that probe, or the bore hole made by that probe, could form the basis of our plan B," Sougarret said.

Mining officials said Friday that drilling on a rescue shaft could begin this weekend.

The workers trapped 2,300 feet below the surface have been trying to keep their spirits -- and the spirits of their loved ones -- from flagging. They sent a video message to their families Thursday in which they expressed thanks for the efforts under way to free them and displayed occasional flashes of humor and patriotism. CNN

Belarus rejects second Bakiyev extradition request

Belarus has refused for the second time a request to extradite the ousted Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the Kyrgyz prosecutor general said on Friday.

Bakiyev fled the country in April amid large-scale opposition protests that brought to power opposition forces led by Roza Otunbayeva. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he took Bakiyev under his "personal" protection.

In May, the Kyrgyz interim government first requested the former president's extradition, accusing him of ordering the shooting of civilians during the conflict, as well as abuse of power and corruption during his leadership. Bakiyev has denied the claims.

Belarus rejected the extradition request, saying the interim Kyrgyz government was not legitimate.

In late June, a referendum on a new constitution was held in the republic as part of the interim authorities' efforts to return the country to democratic rule. Otunbayeva was approved in the referendum as the country's president for a provisional period until 2012. RIA Novosti

Bulgarian Police Arrest 3 for Illegal VAT Acquisition

Two Bulgarian men and a woman have been arrested during a special policeoperation against illegal acquisition of VAT, the Unit for Combating Organized Crime has announced.

The operation was carried out Friday in Sofia and was a collaborative work by the Unit for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP), the National State Security Agency (DANS) and the National Revenue Agency (NAP).

The companies managed by the three detainees have robbed the state revenue by more than BGN 5 M.

The scheme was developed and led by a 47-year-old man with a criminal record. He was the owner of several companies, whose accounting was managed by his wife.

The police have arrested a 35-year-old employee of the ringleader. He also has a criminal record and multiple convictions. He has been charged with burglary, robbery, car theft, violation of public policy. He has been put behind bars six times with a duration from 4,5 years to 10 months.

During the operation, the police have seized accounting records, more than 10 computer configurations, more than 50 cash registers and a large cash sum. Novinite

Airlines staff makes apology

YICHUN, Heilongjiang - Henan Airlines' senior management apologized on Thursday to families of the victims and to the entire country for Tuesday's deadly air crash.

A Brazilian-made ERJ-190 jet owned by Henan Airlines that carried 96 people crashed during its landing on Tuesday at the Yichun Airport, killing 42 and injuring 54.

Liu Hang, chairman of the board of supervisors of Henan Airlines, made repeated apologies, sometimes crying, at a press conference in Yichun on Thursday.

All Henan Airlines flights are still grounded as of Thursday. The airlines has sacked its general manager Li Qiang and appointed an acting manager Cao Bo to replace him, Xinhua cited China's aviation authority on Wednesday. Cao served as the chief pilot of Shenzhen Airlines, the parent company of Henan Airlines.

Lu Erxue, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said at Thursday's news conference that 15 injured passengers in critical condition were airlifted to Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, for treatment at four hospitals on Wednesday.

The transferred passengers include five children, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Four children suffered burns and three are in critical condition, said Wang Yongchen, deputy chief of First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University.

Wang is caring for 10 out of the 15 injured passengers airlifted to Harbin.

"Some children can speak and you cannot see any obvious burns on their skin, but their respiratory tracts are damaged (from smoke and fumes) to such an extent that it is life-threatening," Wang said.

The children are being treated at the intensive-care units at the hospital.

"The next 48 hours are crucial," he said.

The airport in Yichun, which was closed after the accident, reopened on Thursday with the first landing 40 hours after the plane crash.

An Airbus 320, run by China Southern Airlines, landed at the Yichun Airport at around 12:45 pm with 62 passengers, Xinhua reported. China Daily

One year after double hand transplant, progress elusive

Augusta, Georgia (CNN) -- Jeff Kepner's new hands slump on the table, like ill-fitting, flesh-colored anchors fused to his arms.

Hashmark scars line his lower arm. His right index finger stubbornly curls while the rest lie straight.

Kepner fidgets in his seat and strains his neck to check the clock hanging on the wall, to see when today's therapy session is over.

No one can say exactly when Kepner's hand therapy will end.

More than a year after becoming the first person to receive a double hand transplant in the United States, Kepner's new hands jut from his arms like foreign objects that he cannot control.

"They're heavy," he said flatly.

Kepner's surgery last May at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania generated headlines.

This week, surgeons at the Jewish Hospital Hand Care Center in Louisville, Kentucky, performed a 17-hour operation, the third double hand transplant in the United States.

That patient, Dr. Richard Edwards, a chiropractor, was injured in a burning truck in 2006. The Edmond, Oklahoma, man suffered severe burns on his face, back, arms and lost function of his hands.

Edwards' wife, Laura, reached out to Kepner's wife, Valarie, on Facebook after Kepner's transplant in May 2009. CNN

Romanian hospital official arrested in maternity ward fire case

(CNN) -- A hospital official in Romania's capital has been arrested on charges of negligence with severe consequences in connection with a deadly maternity hospital fire.

Vasile Dima, chief of the technical department of Bucharest's Giulesti Maternity Hospital, was taken into custody Friday. A court will soon determine whether to keep him detained or free him before a trial.

Romanian authorities have launched a criminal inquiry into the August 16 blaze in which five newborns died and six others were injured, Marius Iacob, the chief prosecutor in charge of the investigation, said this week.

Investigators say Dima didn't fulfill his duties as chief of the technical department. Prosecutors say he didn't make sure the operation in his department ran smoothly and didn't take steps to prevent fires, even though he was also chief of the hospital's civilian firefighting team.

The inquiry will end in a trial, and a judge could decide to shut the hospital, Iacob said.

In the investigation that followed the blaze, authorities found violations of safety rules involving workers, the security of electrical systems and human resources management, Iacob said.

The hospital faces charges of manslaughter and unintentionally causing injuries, said Iacob. Florentina Cirstea, a nurse in charge of the maternity hospital's intensive care unit, where the fire broke out, faces the same charges. A judge on Tuesday ordered Cirstea jailed for 29 days while she awaits trial.

The hospital's interim manager met with prosecutors Wednesday. Authorities also questioned the hospital's suspended manager and plan to do so again, Iacob said. CNN

Fed stands by to boost U.S. growth

New York (FT) -- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, said on Friday that weaker-than-expected consumer spending growth and a "depressed" housing market had slowed the pace of the US recovery and promised that the central bank was ready to take "unconventional" steps to stimulate the economy if needed.

In a speech at a gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Mr Bernanke acknowledged that the pace of economic growth had been "less vigorous" than the Fed was expecting and that the pace of the labour market's recovery had been "painfully" slow.

Mr Bernanke's remarks came after a sharp downward revision to second-quarter gross domestic product, which was held back due to a surge in imports. The Fed chairman said that the US central bank was surprised by the "sharp deterioration" in the US trade balance, but discounted it as the result of temporary and special factors.

The Fed chairman defended the central bank's surprise decision earlier this month to keep the size of its balance sheet constant and said the Fed was prepared to take "unconventional" measures to stimulate the economy if the outlook darkens. CNN

Taliban threats no concern to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- International aid groups responding to the flood disaster in Pakistan say they aren't worried about threats issued by the Taliban.

P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said there was a "real threat" from the Taliban targeting aid workers in Pakistan.

Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the United Nations in Pakistan, described any attack on humanitarian workers as an assault on the Pakistani people.

More than 1,000 people are dead and millions are displaced from floods that have put more than 20 percent of the country under water.

But Amir Rana, a terrorism expert at Islamabad's Pakistani Institute for Peace Studies, said insurgent attacks during national emergencies in Pakistan are rare.

"They didn't strike during the 2005 earthquake, despite the fact that at that time they weren't countering a military operation and NATO troops were present in Kashmir," he told the Christian Science Monitor. UPI

Flyover blamed for mass chicken deaths

COTES-D'ARMOR, France, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A French farmer is demanding compensation for 4,800 chickens apparently killed by fright when two jet fighters flew overhead.

Autopsies of several of the birds revealed they were alive before the planes flew over Tuesday, Radio France Internationale reported.

"If we hadn't been there, it would have been worse," Etienne Le Mehaute, a chicken farmer in Cotes-d'Armor, Brittany, told the Ouest France newspaper.

He and his family, who were eating lunch at the time, rushed to the coops after the military aircraft flew past, "causing vibrations in our backs, it was so loud," Le Mehaute said.

The terrified chickens, who were 10 months old, had all rushed to one side of the building where they were kept. Nearly 5,000 suffocated when they stood on top of one another in several layers.

The farmer, who is in charge of 68,000 fowl belonging to an agricultural cooperative, is demanding 12,000 to 15,000 euros ($16,500-$19,000) in compensation. UPI

U.S. to drop many deportation proceedings

MIAMI, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. immigration officials say they've dropped deportation efforts against foreign nationals who may be eligible for green cards under new guidelines.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has instructed its agency's legal office to stop deportation proceedings against tens of thousands of foreign nationals who are married or related to a U.S. citizen or a legal resident who has filed a petition for them, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

"Where there is an underlying application or petition and ICE determines ... that a non-detained individual appears eligible for relief from removal, [its attorneys] should promptly move to dismiss proceedings,'' ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton wrote in a memo to the agency's principal legal adviser and the head of enforcement and removal operations.

Prior to the memo, foreign nationals in deportation proceedings faced likely deportation even if they had pending relative petitions. UPI

HRW warns of sex trafficking in Africa

DAKAR, Senegal, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Nigerian and Ivory Coast officials must act vigilantly to combat the growing number of women trafficked for prostitution, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Right Watch said it uncovered five brothels of Nigerian women and girls who were working as prostitutes after being ensnared in debt bondage in two small towns in central Ivory Coast.

The rights group said women interviewed in July all said they were forced into debt bondage after being promised apprenticeships for possible work in West Africa or Europe.

When they arrived from Nigeria to the Ivory Coast, their traffickers forced them into prostitution in order to pay off a transportation debt of around $3,500. Human Rights Watch said the cost of traveling from Nigeria to the Ivory Coast is around $200, however. UPI

Myanmar generals resigning in numbers

YANGON, Myanmar, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Military leaders in Myanmar are said to be resigning in numbers in order to compete in general elections scheduled for November, local reports said.

The Irrawaddy Web site and the Democratic Voice of Burma Web site both report Friday that Gen. Than Shwe and his deputy Gen. Maung Aye were among key military leaders who resigned ahead of November elections, the first in years.

The military leadership in Myanmar described the upcoming elections as a key step toward transferring power from a military to a civilian authority.

Myanmar is under scrutiny for the continued detention of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung Suu Kyi. Her National League for Democracy won a huge victory in elections in 1990, but the military rulers never accepted the results.

Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for most of the past two decades and cannot take part in elections. UPI

Harvard, Princeton are top 2 institutions

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Harvard University, one of five Ivy League schools among six schools at the top of the list, sits atop the U.S.News and World Report's ranking of universities.

The news magazine's annual poll released this week shows the top-ranked school's tuition and fees for the 2010-11 school year are $38,426.

Riding Harvard's heels is Princeton University, lodged in the No. 2 spot and costing students (or parents) a cool $36,640 for tuition and fees.

Schools in the "National Universities" category, offer a broad range of undergraduate majors, master's and doctoral degrees and are committed to groundbreaking research, the magazine said.

Rounding out the top five universities are Yale and Columbia with the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford tied for fifth. UPI

Why Africa needs 'cheetahs,' not 'hippos'

Editor's note: George Ayittey is a Ghanaian economist and the author of several books on Africa, including "Africa Unchained" and the forthcoming "Defeating Dictators in Africa and Around The World." In 2008, Ayittey was listed by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" of our time. He writes for Africa 50, CNN's special coverage looking at 17 African nations marking 50 years of independence this year.

(CNN) -- Currently, Africa -- a continent immensely rich with mineral resources and yet mired in poverty -- suffers from a catastrophic leadership failure or monumental deficit of leadership.

Since 1960, there have been 210 African heads of state, but just try to find 10 -- just 10 -- good ones among them. Names like Mandela, Nkrumah, Nyerere easily come to mind but then rapidly fall off.

But there is hope in what I call the "Cheetah Generation".

The Cheetah Generation refers to the new and angry generation of young African graduates and professionals, who look at African issues and problems from a totally different and unique perspective.

They are dynamic, intellectually agile, and pragmatic. They may be the "restless generation" but they are Africa's new hope. They brook no nonsense about corruption, inefficiency, ineptitude, incompetence, or buffoonery.

They understand and stress transparency, accountability, human rights, and good governance. They also know that many of their current leaders are hopelessly corrupt and that their governments are contumaciously dysfunctional and commit flagitious human rights violations.

The Cheetahs do not look for excuses for government failure by wailing over the legacies of the slave trade, Western colonialism, imperialism, the World Bank or an unjust international economic system.

To the Cheetahs, this "colonialism-imperialism" paradigm, in which every African problem is analyzed, is obsolete and kaput. Unencumbered by the old shibboleths, Cheetahs can analyze issues with remarkable clarity and objectivity. CNN

Boeing delays Dreamliner delivery date

(FT) -- Rolls-Royce shares dipped in morning trading on Friday after Boeing announced its long overdue 787 Dreamliner passenger jet would be delayed by several more weeks because of a problem in getting an engine from the UK manufacturer.

The first 787, which is already more than two years late, was supposed to be delivered to its launch customer, All Nippon Airways of Japan, by the end of this year.

After a series of production problems, Boeing said some weeks ago that this deadline could slip to early 2011 but today it said it would not make the first delivery until the middle of the first quarter of 2011.

Boeing said the delay "follows an assessment of the availability of an engine needed for the final phases of flight test this fall".

The news follows reports that an engine being made by Rolls-Royce, whose Trent 1000 engines are powering the 787, suffered a test failure at the manufacturer's Derby headquarters in the first week of August.

However, the aero engine maker denied this was connected to today's delay announcement. "Rolls-Royce confirms that the engine availability issue is unrelated to the test bed event which occurred earlier this month," a spokesman said, while declining to explain the nature of the test failure.

"We have been informed by Boeing that the currently planned dates for Trent 1000 engine deliveries will not support their latest flight test programme requirements," he said. "We are working closely with Boeing to expedite delivery in support of their programme schedule".

ANA, which has ordered 55 of the aircraft, said the new delay was "extremely regrettable" and it was asking Boeing to clarify what impact the engine shortage would have on its longer-term delivery schedule. CNN