AP - Georgia said Friday it will sever diplomatic ties with Moscow to protest the presence of Russian troops on its territory. Russia criticized the move, pinning blame for a breakdown in relations on Tbilisi.

AFP - Australian safety investigators Friday blamed an exploding oxygen bottle for a mid-air blast which blew a gaping hole in a Qantas jet last month, and said they could not rule out it happening again.

Reuters - A suicide bomber tried to force his vehicle into a Pakistani military camp in the northwest on Friday but was blown up when soldiers opened fire on him, a day after dozens of people were killed in violence across the region

Reuters - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF has said there is no need for further power-sharing talks with the opposition, state media reported on Friday.

AP - An Argentine court convicted two former generals on Thursday for the murder of a senator during the country's seven-year military dictatorship and sentenced them to life in prison.

AP - Iran's official IRNA news agency says the government now has nearly 4,000 centrifuges operating in its uranium enrichment plant.

AFP - Celtic boss Gordon Strachan has said he is looking forward to another Champions League clash with old rivals Manchester United but he believes they will be even harder to beat than before.

AP - Air safety investigators confirmed Friday that an exploding oxygen cylinder ripped a gaping hole in a Qantas jet's fuselage midflight last month, but said they were no closer to solving the mystery of why the tank failed.

AP - The spinning core of Gustav bore down on southern Jamaica on Thursday after leaving 67 people dead in Hispaniola. Texas and Louisiana put their national guards on standby, and New Orleans said a mandatory evacuation might be necessary.

AP - Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is scheduled to enter pleas Friday at the U.N.'s Yugoslav war crimes tribunal to 11 charges that include genocide and crimes against humanity.

AP - Officials in South Ossetia say Russia intends eventually to absorb the breakaway Georgian province.

AP - Russia's invasion of Georgia presents the West with a difficult choice: Punish Moscow by kicking it out of clubs like the Group of Eight or pursue a strategy of placating it that could invite further bullying in places like Ukraine, the Baltic states or Moldova.

AFP - Darfur rebels claimed to have shot down a Sudanese military spy plane in a wild mountainous area of the war-torn region on Thursday.

AP - More than 200 oil-slicked penguins have washed up dead on the beaches of a popular Brazilian resort, and officials say they are searching for a cause.