Friday's global agenda: Clinton headed to Syria talks

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Turkey this weekend for talks on Syria after wrapping up a 10-day trip across Africa. She's scheduled to hold bilateral negotiations with the Turkish government, which is championing the 18-month uprising against President Bashar Assad and has hosted many army defectors.

On Friday, she attended the funeral, along with 18 African heads of state, of Ghana's former president, John Atta Mills, who died in office last month [BBC]. She's also slated to travel to Benin on Friday, where she will meet with President Boni Yayi in Cotonou, marking the end of her trip.

Green on blue: The Obama administration is dealing with the fallout from the latest violence in Afghanistan, where a gunman in an Afghan uniform shot and killed three American service members Thursday night. The news comes just after the State Department announced the death of a USAID worker in a suicide attack that also killed three coalition service members.

In other news: 

Libya's national assembly picked former opposition leader Mohammed Magarief as its president. [Reuters]

The murder trial of a former top official's wife that has riveted China was over in a day, even though the verdict's not in yet. [BBC]

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Note to readers: This morning roundup will be published between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. during the summer recess and will go dark the week of Aug. 13.