Ousted S. Africa leader blames gov't for mine deaths; police had no right to fire live rounds

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Miners and their families welcomed expelled politician Julius Malema on Saturday as he told the thousands who gathered at the site where 34 miners were killed this week that South African police had no right to fire the live bullets that killed them.

Malema, the former youth leader of the governing African National Congress, arrived as family members continued to hunt for loved ones missing since Thursday's shootings. Women said they did not know if their husbands and sons were among the dead, or among the 78 wounded or some 256 arrested by police on charges from public violence to murder.

"They had no right to shoot," Malema said, even if the miners had opened fire first.

Obama camp asks for just 3 more years of Romney's returns, Romney camp says 'no thanks'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's campaign offered Mitt Romney a deal: If he releases a total of five years of tax returns, Obama's team won't criticize him for not releasing any more. Romney's campaign quickly rejected the offer.

Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina made the offer in a letter Friday to Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades. Messina said he was taking the step because Romney "apparently fears the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand that he provide."

Rhoades rejected the offer, calling it a way for Obama to avoid talking about issues that voters care about.

Police comb theaters after threat to Carmike chain

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) -- Movie theaters in several states were combed for explosives Friday after someone phoned in a bomb threat to the corporate headquarters of Carmike Cinemas, a spokesman for the chain said.

Carmike officials alerted the FBI after discovering the threat in a voicemail message Friday morning, said company spokesman Terrell Mayton. He said the call was placed after hours Thursday by someone claiming to work for a contractor that provides janitorial services to Carmike.

While Mayton wouldn't discuss specifics of the call, Columbus police said the person referenced the Sylvester Stallone movie, "The Expendables 2," that opened Friday.

Guantanamo plea deal prisoner said to have a cat

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A former Maryland resident who is detained at Guantanamo Bay seems to have acquired a cat at the isolated prison on a U.S. base in Cuba, a fellow prisoner says in a letter released Friday.

Majid Khan has not been seen in public since he pleaded guilty in February to aiding al-Qaida in a deal that requires him to testify against others at Guantanamo. Details of his confinement are shrouded in secrecy as he is one of about a dozen men the Pentagon calls "high-value detainees," who are kept apart from others.

The letter from prisoner Rahim al-Afghani has one intriguing bit of information and little else: "Majid Khan has a cat," he writes to his lawyer, Carlos Warner, a federal public defender in Cleveland, Ohio.

GOP's Paul Ryan has bold plans for Medicare and Medicaid costs, but they've proved divisive

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The idea behind Paul Ryan's Medicare plan is to slow growing costs and keep the program more affordable for the long haul.

But it's all in the details. The Republican-backed shift to private insurance plans could saddle future retirees with thousands of dollars a year in additional bills.

That would leave the children of the baby boom generation with far less protection from medical expenses than their parents and grandparents have had in retirement.

And there's another angle consumers need to look at: Medicaid.

The GOP vice presidential candidate has also proposed to sharply rein in that program and turn it over to the states. Usually thought of as part of the safety net for low-income people, Medicaid covers nursing home care for disabled elders from middle-class families as well.