Nation in brief

Surgeons begin boys' delicate separation

DALLAS - In an attempt to give 2-year-old conjoined twins from Egypt a chance at independent lives, a team of 18 doctors began a complicated separation surgery Saturday.

Doctors at Children's Medical Center Dallas have spent more than a year planning the surgery to separate the boys joined at the crown of the head. The operation is expected to take a team of 50 to 60 medical personnel anywhere from 18 to 90 hours to finish.

Relatives of the boys in the tiny village of el-Homr, near the southern Egyptian city of Qus, prayed for their safe return.

"We are optimistic, but we are very worried about the twins after the failure of the separation of the Iranian twins" in July, said Saad Abu Qaeis, the uncle of the twins' mother. The 29-year-old Iranians died after separation surgery in Singapore.

ACADEMY WILL KEEP VICTIMS ANONYMOUS: The Air Force Academy reversed course and said it will give confidentiality to cadets who report that they have been sexually assaulted. Confidentiality has been a key issue in the school's assault scandal, with civilian investigators led by former Rep. Tillie Fowler saying it will encourage victims to come forward and help solve a problem that has plagued the academy for years.

OFFICIALS HUNT FOR ESCAPED MURDER SUSPECT: Authorities launched a massive hunt Saturday for a murder suspect who officials say escaped from a Wilkes-Barre, Pa., prison by climbing 60 feet down a rope made of bedsheets Friday night. At least 50 officers using dogs and boats pursued the suspect, Hugo Selenski, who had been jailed since June when the remains of five people were found in his yard. Another inmate was captured when he fell.

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