SPB News for Saturday.

US demands Russian troop pull-out US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has demanded that Russian forces withdraw from Georgia immediately. It comes after Georgia's president signed an EU-brokered ceasefire deal, after nearly five hours of talks. President [sic] George W Bush has accused Russia of "bullying and intimidation", saying it was an unacceptable "way to conduct foreign policy in the 21st Century".

Chavez accuses Bush of ordering attack on South Ossetia Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez believes that Georgian forces launched their attack on South Ossetia on the orders of the U.S. president [sic], the Union radio station reported Friday. "The leadership of the U.S., which gives orders to Georgian authorities, is to blame for the Caucasus' burning," began Chavez, as quoted by the Venezuelan radio station. "The president of the U.S., the imperialist George Bush, I am absolutely certain was the one who gave the order to Georgian forces to burn towns and villages and to kill innocent people," he said.

Iran training Iraqi hit squads: US military Iraqi assassination squads are being trained in Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah for attacks on specific Iraqis, a US military official said Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity [of course], said the Shiite "special groups" were being trained in Qom, Tehran, Mashad and Ahvaz in assassination and bombing techniques.

Alleged al Qaida PR man: Convict me next An accused al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] filmmaker with a flair for the dramatic set the stage for the first no-contest war crimes trial Friday by declaring a boycott until he is sentenced. ''It is a legal farce,'' Ali Hamza al Bahlul, 39, of Yemen, told his military judge, Air Force Col. Ronald Gregory. "You are the judge and I am the accused," he said. "At the same time you are my enemy. We really don't accept this kind of logic."

Groups file elections complaint against Wal-Mart The AFL-CIO and three other labor-rights groups have asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc. unlawfully pressured employees to vote against Democrats in November because their party would help workers to unionize. The groups say in a complaint processed on Friday with the FEC that "there is reason to believe" Wal-Mart broke federal election rules by advocating against Democratic candidate Barack Obama in meetings with employees.

Ala. county faces biggest US municipal bankruptcy Alabama's largest county appears headed for the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, a $3.2 billion mess created by the nation's credit crunch and a colossal, corruption-riddled sewer project. Politicians in Jefferson County -- which includes the state's biggest city, Birmingham -- are struggling to find a way out of the jam, but they have mostly abandoned talk of raising taxes and fees after running into fierce opposition at raucous public meetings.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi will wed this weekend in California, following the California Supreme Court’s monumental ruling that same sex couple’s have the “right to marry.” “It’s something that we’ve wanted to do and we want it to be legal and we are very, very excited,” DeGeneres said.