1. Japan scientist kills self

    A Japanese researcher at the center of discredited* research initially hailed as* a potential breakthrough for stem-cell treatment killed himself on August 5 after months of stress and exhaustion.

    Yoshiki Sasai was the co-author of the high-profile research that seemed to offer hope for replacing damaged cells or even growing new human organs.

    He was found dead at the Riken institute where he worked in Kobe, Japan, police and the institute said.

    2. U.S. general killed in Afgan attack

    A U.S. general was killed and more than a dozen people were wounded on August 5, including a German general, in the latest insider attack by a man believed to be an Afghan soldier, U.S., German and Afghan officials said.

    The U.S. Army said on August 5 the slain* general was Major General Harold Greene, a senior officer with the international military command ISAF. He was the most senior U.S. military official killed in action overseas since the war in Vietnam, military officials said.

    3. Airlines may be banned to fly over Siberia

    Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev threatened on August 5 to retaliate* for the grounding of a subsidiary* of national airline Aeroflot because of EU sanctions, with one newspaper reporting that European flights to Asia over Siberia could be banned.

    Low-cost carrier Dobrolyot, operated by Aeroflot, suspended all flights a week ago after its airline leasing agreement was canceled under European Union sanctions because it flies to Crimea, a region Russia annexed from Ukraine in March.

    4. Museum finds 6,500-yr.-old skeleton

    A Philadelphia archaeology* museum in Pennsylvania, the United States, said on August 5 its researchers have discovered an extremely rare 6,500-year-old human skeleton in its own basement where it had been in storage for 85 years.

    The Penn. museum, affiliated with* the University of Pennsylvania, said it had lost track of all documentation for the skeleton which dates to roughly 4,500 B.C.

    Researchers were able to determine that the skeleton was unearthed around 1930 as part of an excavation into the Royal Cemetery of Ur led by Sir Leonard Woolley.

    5. Khmer Rouge leaders given sentences

    Two former Khmer Rouge* leaders convicted on August 7 for crimes against humanity by Cambodia’s U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal will appeal the verdicts* of life prison terms, their lawyers said.

    “We will appeal the verdict and sentence ... it is unjust for my client. He did not know or commit many of these crimes,” Son Arun, a lawyer for Nuon Chea, 88, said.

    Kong Sam Onn, a lawyer for the second defendant, 83-year-old former regime head of state Khieu Samphan, said, “We will appeal the verdict and sentence.”

    The historic verdicts were announced against Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, the only two leaders of the regime left to stand trial.

    6. U.S. intelligence chiefs suspect a leak

    The latest media revelations about the U.S. intelligence community has convinced officials they have another leak to journalists.

    The concerns came after The Intercept, a news site that has had access to documents from leaker Edward Snowden, published items about the scope of the U.S. terror watchlist.

    7. Airlines to make jet fuel from tobacco

    U.S. planemaker Boeing has teamed up with South African Airways to develop jet fuel from a tobacco plant as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions* and promote green energy in Africa’s most advanced economy.

    The jet fuel will be made from a hybrid tobacco plant known as Solaris, which will be produced by alternative jet fuel maker Sky NRG, both companies said in a joint statement on August 6. (SD-Agencies)