AP - Zimbabwe's opposition leaders are in South Africa for talks with regional leaders on the eve of a summit expected to focus on their country's political crisis.

AP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is accusing the United States of masterminding the current conflict between Georgia and Russia.

AP - As of Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008, at least 4,141 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

AP - A Canadian schoolteacher who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy was sentenced Friday to 3 years and 3 months in jail in Thailand.

AP - Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran's elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq.

AP - Talks are under way that could lead to the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf or else reduce his role to that of a figurehead, an ally of the embattled leader said Friday.

AP - Russian troops are still blocking entrance to the city of Gori in war-battered Georgia. Doubt remains about whether Russia will honor an agreement to pull back its forces.

AP - Choosing expediency over principle, the United States and its allies are pushing Georgia's pro-Western government to accept major concessions in a cease-fire with Russia.

AFP - Nigeria's most prominent armed group in the restive Niger Delta, MEND, said Thursday it had rescued and will soon release two German construction workers seized last month by unknown gunmen.

AP - A military judge on Thursday barred a Pentagon official from taking part in a second war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay, providing more ammunition for detainee lawyers who allege that political interference taints the proceedings.

AP - The U.S. Navy says six sailors have been charged with abusing detainees at U.S. detention center in Iraq and they will face court-martials.

AFP - Portsmouth and football agent Willie McKay were charged by the English Football Association on Thursday with breaches of rules in relation to the transfer of Benjani Mwaruwari to and from the club.