Edwards admits affair but not child
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Former Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards, in an interview to be aired Friday, admitted having an adulterous affair.
But Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, told ABC News he isn't the father of Rielle Hunter's daughter and that he didn't love Hunter. He said he had ended the affair before Hunter's child was conceived. Andrew Young, who worked on the Edwards campaign, has said he is the father.
The interview was to air on "Nightline."
Edwards said that he met Hunter in a New York bar. She worked for the campaign producing Web documentaries.
Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, announced during the presidential campaign that she had suffered a recurrence of breast cancer. Edwards told ABC News that at the time of the affair his wife's cancer was in remission.
A source who was part of the campaign said the news was surprising and disappointing and that staff members observed no inappropriate behavior.
He didn't have a wandering eye," the source said. "But he's very good at compartmentalizing, whether something's going on in his family, or on the staff, he'd be able to turn around, go on stage and give a brilliant speech. So maybe he just compartmentalized those emotions.''
Russia sends forces into South Ossetia
TSKHINVALI , Georgia, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- At least two dozen people were killed in fighting between Russian forces and Georgian military in the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, in an interview with CNN, said, "Russia is fighting a war with us on our territory." Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in Beijing for the opening of the Olympic Games, said, "War has started."
Russian officials said they were protecting their citizens in the region when they ordered scores of tanks into South Ossetia, which abuts southern Russia, between the Caspian and Black seas. Georgian forces claimed, so far unverified, to have shot down four Russian jets. Russia denied its jets were flying over South Ossetia.
The Russian military said 10 of its troops were killed and at least 15 civilians were reported dead in the fighting, the BBC reported. Interfax quoted South Ossetian rebel leader Eduard Kokoity as saying hundreds of civilians had been killed in the regional capital of Tskhinvali.
Georgian officials said their original action stemmed from attacks by South Ossetian separtists, whom they claim are armed by Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there had been reports of "ethnic cleansing" in South Ossetia, reports that prompted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to say, "I must protect the life and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are." Many residents of South Ossetia, while part of Georgia, also have Russian passports.
he Bush administration called for restraint by both Georgian and Russian officials while the European Union and NATO called for a halt to the fighting.
29 die in twin Iraqi blasts
MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A bombing at a crowded outdoor market in northern Iraq Friday killed 21 people and wounded 50 others, police said.
Nineveh provincial police said the parked car bomb went off in Tal Afar, west of Mosul.
Eight members of a single family were killed Friday in an explosion near the Iraqi city of Nasiriya, a police source told CNN.
The unidentified source said the explosion in the suburbs of the southeastern city appeared to have been caused by a former military bomb found by one of the family's children, Alsumaria reports.
The U.S. military announced that two Marines died Thursday in a non-combat related incident near Karma in Anbar province. Nine U.S. troops have died in Iraq month -- two in combat and the others in vehicle accidents and other non-combat incidents.
Elsewhere, the Iraqi TV network said Mahmoud Younes, a leader in the Islamic Party, was killed Friday in Mosul. Younes and one of his guards were killed by unknown gunmen while near the Islamic official's home.
Meanwhile, Alsumaria reported a car bombing in the Ninevah Province killed three people and injured 11 others Friday. The bombing appeared to have targeted a police patrol, the network said.
Mbeki to oversee new Zimbabwe talks
HARARE, Zimbabwe, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- South Africa's president will mediate power-sharing talks between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his key opposition leader, officials said Friday.
The Harare talks, beginning Saturday and overseen by Thabo Mbeki, could lead to a deal this weekend, with opposition Movement for Democratic Change President Morgan Tsvangirai becoming prime minister, the BBC said, citing several South African newspapers.
Other reports said Mugabe would only surrender some executive powers and would seek to retain control of crucial state organs.
Neither government nor the MDC would disclose details of the talks Friday, nor would they say if the sides were near a deal to end Zimbabwe's political crisis.
Detroit mayor charged with assault
DETROIT, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- There were new legal troubles Friday for embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick when he was charged with assaulting two sheriff's deputies.
Magistrate Renee McDuffee ordered Kilpatrick to post a $25,000 bond or $2,500 cash, the Detroit Free Press reported. The charges came after Kilpatrick spent a night in jail while awaiting a hearing on a violation of the conditions of his bail on perjury charges.
Kilpatrick encountered the sheriff's deputies in July when they came to his sister's house to serve a subpoena on one of his friends. He allegedly pushed Wayne County Sheriff's Detective Brian White into his partner, JoAnn Kinney.
The mayor and his former chief of staff have been charged with lying in depositions about having an affair and about their role in the firing of police officers. A judge ordered Kilpatrick to jail Thursday because he crossed the Canadian border for an official trip to Windsor, Ontario, without asking permission from the court.
13 die in Texas bus crash
SHERMAN, Texas, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- At least 13 people were killed and 34 injured early Friday when a private charter bus crashed on U.S. 75 in Sherman, Texas, police said.
The passengers were members of the Vietnamese Martyrs Church of Houston on a trip to a religious festival in Carthage, Mo., CNN reported.
The bus, carrying 55 passengers, left the roadway and crashed into a ravine, said Lt. Steve Ayers, head of the Sherman Police Department's investigation.
"I think it would be premature to jump out there and say exactly what may have happened," Ayers said. "We know one contributing factor would be that it appears that a right tire on the tour bus had a blowout and that certainly contributed to the accident."
Ayers said many of those on the bus do not speak English well. But he said members of the church arrived to translate. The driver survived the crash and was able to answer questions.
Twelve adults died at the scene and one died at a Dallas hospital, Sherman police said.
The bus was one of several headed to the Marian Days festival, which honors the Virgin Mary.
