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If reports are to be believed, the US military is training psychiatrists to interrogate terrorism suspects, in defiance of internationally agreed codes of conduct which bar doctors from involvement in interrogation.

“It undermines the notion of psychiatrists as healers, and undermines trust in the profession,” Jonathan Marks, a professor of bioethics and law at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, told New Scientist.

From documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Marks discovered that five US army psychiatrists had been trained between July 2006 and October 2007.

The American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association and the World Medical Association all have policies condemning the use of psychiatric advice in “softening up” detainees.

Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin first gripped a gun at the age of eight and made her first kill at ten.

The moose hunting mum-of-five grew up shooting animals and skinning them on the spot before hauling the meat home for the family freezer.

Sarah’s dad Chuck Heath told The Sun: “Sarah was always very determined. Whatever she lacked in skill she always made up in determination. She always tried her hardest to be the best at everything she did. She was also very stubborn. I wasn’t mean to her but I taught her discipline. But I could seldom bend her if she’d made her mind up on something.”

“She is a really good shot. I taught her to shoot a moose and dress it, to fish and hunt for game. We raised our family to be able to support ourselves - 90 per cent of our meat and fish we get ourselves,” he adds.

He admitted he was in a “dreamland” when Palin accepted the offer to run with Presidential hopeful John McCain.

Heath, who retired from teaching science and now works for the Federal Wildlife Services Program, continued: “I would tell those boys in Washington, ‘Don’t underestimate her.’

“She’s a hard worker and a determined lady. The Democrats won’t break her.”

Palin served two terms as mayor of her home town of Wasilla, then in 2006 became Alaska’s youngest and first female governor.

Now, at 44, the former beauty queen aims to become the USA’s first female Vice-President.

Until Sarah was named as McCain’s running mate, her neighbours could walk right up to her front door.

Now they have to get past a wall of state troopers and an army of secret service agents, dressed noticeably in black and whispering into radios. Just to be extra safe, two gunboats from the Alaska coastguard are on the fishing lake.

In Alaska, hunter Palin has an approval rating somewhere north of 80 per cent - something akin to the Holy Grail in politics.

The Wasilla, locals explain it is for reasons including “she’s a darn good shot and doesn’t take any nonsense from nobody” to “she’s the best goddamn-looking governor in the country.”

The head of Korea Development Bank said Tuesday that the state-owned lender is in talks to acquire troubled U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

KDB Governor Min Euoo-sung said that discussions were under way “to form a consortium with private banks as (we) believe it is more desirable to acquire Lehman Brothers jointly rather than alone.”

“It is difficult to say how the talks will progress in the future as we have not been able to narrow differences with the Lehman side over prices,” he added in Korean-language comments to reporters, according to the bank’s public relations office.

It was unclear from Min’s remarks how much of a stake in Lehman the banks were seeking to obtain in the negotiations or if the private banks referred to South Korean banks.

Jun Kwang-woo, chairman of South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, in comments last month questioned whether a state-run institution should take the lead role in such an acquisition.

“Generally speaking, the private sector should be the leader in such a deal,” he told reporters on Aug. 25.

Jun’s comments had caused speculation that the government was trying to warn KDB away from pursuing a deal for Lehman Brothers.

Min said Tuesday that differences in viewpoint between his bank and the FSC, the government’s financial regulator, have narrowed.

Min was CEO of Lehman Brothers’ South Korean operations until taking the helm of KDB earlier this year.

A regional spokesperson for Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong could not immediately be reached for comment.

Spokesmen for major South Korean banks Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank and Hana Bank said they had no plans to invest in Lehman. A spokesman for Woori bank could not immediately be reached.

Min’s comments came after Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported over the weekend on its Web site that Lehman hoped to conclude a deal this week with KDB, which would inject as much as $6 billion in capital in return for what the paper called a stake of up to 25 percent in the investment bank.

The report, which cited no sources for those details, also said that Lehman was working on alternatives to KDB, including China’s CITIC Securities or sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

Speculation has been rampant in recent weeks that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, could try and reach a deal for a capital injection.

Analysts project that Lehman, considered to be the most vulnerable to the credit crisis, could post losses of up to $4 billion when it reports third-quarter results in mid-September. It is expected that the investment bank will also announce a deal to raise fresh capital to help offset the losses.

Media reports in recent weeks have listed KDB, which the government plans to privatize, among the top overseas candidates to invest in Lehman.

At the end of 2007, KDB had total assets of 122.62 trillion won ($108 billion), according to its Web site. The bank had liabilities of 104.3 trillion won ($92 billion).

Korea Development Bank was founded in 1954 to help spur South Korea’s industrial development as the country was embarking on recovery from the 1950-53 Korean War.

In January, Merrill Lynch & Co. received a $6.6 billion cash injection to strengthen its balance sheet from three foreign institutions, including Korea Investment Corp., a South Korean government-owned investment management company launched in 2005.

As of Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008, at least 4,151 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,371 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

The AP count is two more than the Defense Department’s tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

At the end of a bad week for sterling, the pound took advantage of a slightly weaker dollar Friday afternoon to recover some of this week’s losses.

The pound, which has taken a beating in recent weeks, stood at $1.8243 in late afternoon trading. On Thursday, sterling had hit a fresh two-year low of $1.8240 against the greenback following disappointing UK data on house prices and retail sales.

The dollar, while still strong, was under pressure Friday over oil supply concerns as Tropical Storm Gustav headed for the Gulf of Mexico.

The pound was also down against the euro, falling to a four-month low against the eurozone currency.

Georgian and South Ossetian forces were in a tense stand-off on Monday over control of a disputed village on the edge of the breakaway region, according to Georgian and separatist officials.

Georgian and Russian troops fought a brief war in the region earlier this month and are now observing a fragile ceasefire.

Georgian officials said the village of Mosabruni was not part of separatist-controlled territory and alleged the separatists were planning a provocation against Georgian special forces who had been deployed there.

The separatist administration said the village was within South Ossetia and the Georgian forces were there unlawfully. It accused Tbilisi of massing armed men in preparation for an attack.

“According to our information, South Ossetian militias want to take this village. Our forces got the order not to shoot, but if Ossetians start shooting they will have to return fire,” Kakha Lomaia, Secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, told Reuters.

Lomaia said the atmosphere in the majority Georgian-populated village was “very tense”. He declined to say exactly when Georgian forces had returned there.

Although the village lies just inside the region of South Ossetia, it has been under Georgian control for over a decade and is considered by Georgia as part of its territory.

“We believe that the Ossetians are preparing a provocation there,” Lomaia said.

A separatist official said the village, 70 km west of the regional capital Tskhinvali, lies inside South Ossetia, and the separatists were consulting Russian forces on their next move.

“About three hours ago, Georgian policemen occupied the village of Mosabruni. They told locals to leave straight away. Villagers are leaving on foot,” Irina Gagloyeva, head of the separatists’ Committee for Press and Information, told Reuters.

“South Ossetian security bodies are now holding consultations with Russian peacekeepers and I hope very much they will not allow a new flare-up.”

In a second South Ossetian village, Mugut, separatist forces detained a group of Georgian policemen, the Interfax news agency quoted separatist officials as saying.

A senior official in Georgia’s Interior Ministry dismissed the claim, but said the atmosphere was growing more tense in Mosabruni.

“They (the South Ossetians) are looking increasingly aggressive,” said Shota Utiashvili.

Georgia says its ceasefire agreement with Russia allows Georgian police to return to all areas where they were present before the conflict, including villages such as Mosabruni.

As of Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008, at least 508 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.

Of those, the military reports 362 were killed by hostile action.

Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 65 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen.

There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

A bulky pillow and awkward sleeping position almost kept Lewis Hamilton out of Sunday’s European Grand Prix - and wrecked his title dream.

The 23-year-old Englishman, who drove to second place for McLaren Mercedes-Benz to retain his lead in the drivers championship, was close to pulling out because of flu symptoms and severe neck spasms.

“I had to have injections for my neck and luckily I have got a great doctor and a great team or I might not have made it,” said Briton Hamilton, 23.

“As it was, it was pretty tough in the race and I had a lot of pain. But I don’t think I lost any time in the race because of it - I never lose time!”

Hamilton said it was “touch and go” and that the team had reserve and test driver Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa on standby to replace him.

Hamilton now has 70 points to the victorious Brazilian Felipe Massa’s 64 with defending champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen third for Ferrari on 57.

“I have had a miserable weekend really from the day I arrived - I have a lot of flu symptoms, a fever every day.

“I have had low energy, just felt poorly with problems with the spasms in my neck which led to me being in doubt for the weekend and obviously for this race.”

He said that “there just isn’t enough (drinking) water inside the car and it has been hot all the time. We are inside the cars, in these suits and it is like driving in a sauna.”

Hamilton said he did not think his neck problem would cause him trouble at the next race, the Belgian Grand Prix.

And he ignored jokes about his trans-Atlantic relationship with Nicole Sherzinger, lead singer with the Pussycat Dolls.

The president of Brazil’s state-run oil company says the United States must exploit offshore resources while limiting environmental impact.

Petroleos Brasileiro SA President Sergio Gabrielli says that the current debate over offshore drilling in the U.S. is important, but adds, “You can’t leave those resources untapped.”

Gabrielli said Friday that Petrobras would significantly reduce the environmental risk at its offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 by deploying drilling ships that can detach from the wells in case of a hurricane.

Petrobras is a world leader in deep-water drilling and the company claims to produce oil with minimal environmental impact.

Maoist chief Prachanda was on Monday sworn-in as the first Prime Minister of the post-monarchy Nepal, three days after his emphatic victory in a Constituent Assembly vote ended the four-month-long political deadlock.

53-year-old Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda was administered the oath of office by President Ram Baran Yadav during a function at the Rastrapati Bhawan here.

“I will remain faithful to the nation and my countrymen,” said Prachanda, who donned a western grey suit and black cap for the occasion instead of the traditional Nepali dress of ‘Daura-Suruwal’.

Outgoing Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala skipped the ceremony. However, his Nepali Congress party was represented by ex-premier Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Vice President Permananda Jha, Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subhas Nemwang and Chief Justice Kedarnath Giri were also present on the occasion.

The Constituent Assembly had voted overwhelmingly on Friday for Prachanda to be the Prime Minister of the world’s youngest republic, a move which ended the four-month-long political instability created by a hung Parliament.