The weekend is here. Check out this roundup of what's happening from the Associated Press and staff reports.
BEST BET
The Georgia Cycling Gran Prix will stage a criterium race in downtown Covington from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. today. The criterium will feature bikers whirling through downtown at speeds of 30 mph to 35 mph on a .6-mile course, beginning with junior riders at 2 p.m. and the pros taking to the course about 6:30 p.m. The start race starts and ends on the square, which will be the hub for the event.
WEATHER
Stay cool if you can. It's going to be 95 degrees today, but will feel like 100, according to the National Weather Service.
SPORTS
The Atlanta Braves down the Cincinnatti Reds Friday as Dan Uggla came off the bench in the ninth inning and launched a pinch hit home run for a 6-4 win on the road. The Braves take on the Reds again today at 4:10 p.m.
The NFL is stuck in a holding pattern, with work still to be done to end the lockout. Heck, the players haven't even scheduled a vote. People from both sides of the labor dispute planned to talk through the weekend - although not face-to-face - to try to resolve the differences preventing players from accepting the owner-approved proposal that would put the league back in business. After the NFL Players Association decided not to vote Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, it's possible it won't make any decision until next week. It all comes down to how long it takes to resolve the remaining issues.
POLITICS
President Barack Obama said Friday night that House Speaker John Boehner was "walking away" from negotiations to raise the nation's debt ceiling and avert financial catastrophe. Still, Obama said he was expecting congressional leaders from both parties at the White House Saturday morning. In a dramatic appearance in the White House briefing room Obama said it was up to congressional leaders to explain to him how they intend to avoid the default that is threatened after Aug. 2.
"I expect them to have an answer in terms of how they intend to get this thing done in the course of the next week. The American people expect action," Obama said.
Boehner, in a letter circulated to the House Republican rank and file, said he had withdrawn from the talks with Obama because "in the end, we couldn't connect.He said he would turn instead to negotiations with leaders of the Senate, which is controlled by majority Democrats. The disconnect in the talks with the White House, Boehner said, was "not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country.
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Friday formally signed off on ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military, doing away with a policy that's been controversial from the day it was enacted and making good on his 2008 campaign promise to the gay community. The president joined Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, the joint chiefs of staff chairman, in signing a notice and sending it to Congress certifying that military readiness would not be hurt by repealing the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy. That means that 60 days from now the ban will be lifted.
"As commander in chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness," Obama said in a statement.
CRIME
JONESBORO - A judge has denied bond for a teenager accused of killing a Clayton County sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop. Magistrate Judge Daphne Walker refused to allow 17-year-old Jonathan Bun to get out of jail in connection with an armed robbery charge. He's accused of robbing a store employee at gunpoint in January in Forest Park. Sheriff's officials say they were seeking the teen in connection with the robbery charge when they say he opened fire on Deputy Richard "Rick" Daly Wednesday. The Riverdale teen faces one count each of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in connection with the deputy's death. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that an Aug. 2 court hearing is planned to address those charges.
WORLD
OSLO, Norway - Norway's peace was shattered twice Friday when a bomb ripped open buildings in the heart of its government and a man dressed as a police officer gunned down youths at a summer camp. Police linked one Norwegian to both attacks, which killed a total of at least 16 people in nation's worst violence since World War II. Police said they did not know the motive or whether the attacks were the work of one person or a terrorist group, but Justice Minister Knut Storberget said the man who opened fire at the youth camp is Norwegian. In Oslo, the capital and the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, the bombing left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass, documents expelled from surrounding buildings and a dust-fogged scene that reminded one visitor from New York of Sept. 11.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia vowed to keep most international aid workers out of the country despite a worsening famine and the U.N. warned Friday that 800,000 children could die in the region from starvation. Frustrated aid groups said they want to deploy more food assistance in Somalia but don't yet have the necessary safety guarantees to do so. The anarchic country has been mired in conflict for two decades and its capital is a war zone.
The renewed threat from al-Shabab means only a handful of agencies will be able to respond to the hunger crisis in militant-controlled areas of southern Somalia. And the largest provider of food aid - the U.N. World Food Program - isn't among those being allowed inside. The U.N. fears tens of thousands of people already have died in the famine, which has forced Somalis to walk for days in hopes of reaching refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The World Food Program said Friday it will begin providing food for 175,000 people in the Gedo region of southwest Somalia and to 40,000 people in the Afgoye corridor northwest of the capital, Mogadishu.
OFFBEAT
MACON - Law officers in central Georgia are training by opening fire on a robot that zigs and zags like an outlaw - and even shoots back at them. Bibb County sheriff's deputies who practice with the machine have named it "Mobot" as a tribute to Sheriff Jerry Modena. Mobot is mounted on a wheeled platform and moves around at the training range using a remote control, much like the kind used for toy cars or airplanes. The Telegraph of Macon reports that Mobot can move as fast as 15 mph and has the ability to climb hills. Authorities say the robot also shoots paint balls at deputies. Law officers who have trained with it say the possibility of getting shot helps simulate the stressful environment officers face on the streets.
