AP - Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to exile in London, jumping bail and saying Monday he could not expect a fair trial in his homeland on the corruption charges he faces.

AFP - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said Monday that difficult issues in power-sharing talks to resolve the country's protracted crisis had been "overcome".

AP - Russia's conflict with Georgia could punish the European Union where it is perhaps most vulnerable: Oil and gas supplies from beyond its eastern frontier.

AP - Mauritania's prime minister was released Monday as junta leaders bowed to international pressure after a coup that prompted the U.S. to cut off more than $20 million in aid.

AP - Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks Monday with Iraq's prime minister after coming to Baghdad on an unannounced visit, the first by an Arab head of state since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

AP - Georgia's president says Russia's troops have effectively cut the country in half by seizing a strategic city that straddles the country's main east-west highway.

AFP - Indian troops in Kashmir fired shots and unleashed teargas Monday to stop thousands of Muslims from marching to the Pakistani part of the divided region amid worsening tension, officials said.

AFP - Zimbabwe's political rivals are set to resume power-sharing talks on Monday after marathon negotiations the previous day ended with President Robert Mugabe "confident" a deal was within reach.

AP - Hurricane Hernan weakened to Category 1 strength in the eastern Pacific on Sunday as it lumbered over cooler waters far from land, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

AP - Iranian media are quoting the country's vice president as saying Iranians are "friends of all people in the world — even Israelis."