AP - Once-reclusive China commandeered the world stage Friday, celebrating its first-time role as Olympic host with a stunning display of pyrotechnics and pageantry.

AP - Russia sent columns of tanks and reportedly bombed Georgian air bases Friday after Georgia launched a major military offensive Friday to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, threatening to ignite a broader conflict.

AP - Michigan's attorney general announced he was charging Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick with two felony assault charges stemming from a confrontation between Kilpatrick and a sheriff's detective.

AP - A charter bus carrying a Vietnamese Catholic group to an annual pilgrimage slammed onto its side and then skidded off a freeway early Friday, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 40, authorities said.

AP - President Bush, the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics abroad, blended political messages for China and Russia with high fives and hugs for American athletes Friday.

AP - A Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges of unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah, Iraq.

AP - Fannie Mae swung to a second-quarter loss that was more than triple what Wall Street expected as conditions in the housing market continued to deteriorate, forcing the mortgage finance giant to make bold cutbacks that will send shock waves through the mortgage market.

AP - A founder of the country band Sugarland is suing the two current members of the popular group for $1.5 million.

AP - The Baghdad Zoo on Friday welcomed a pair of rare Bengal tiger cubs that were donated by a North Carolina animal sanctuary despite protests by animal rights activists.

Reuters - Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern edges of the capital of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, the separatists' press service reported on its website on Friday.

Reuters - Resurgent China opened the Olympics on Friday with volleys of fireworks at a spectacular ceremony that wove ancient Chinese history with modern wizardry and aimed to draw a line under months of political controversy.

Reuters - It's not a battleground state and it's unlikely to tip the U.S. election in November, but White House hopeful Barack Obama headed to Hawaii on Friday - minus, largely, his presidential campaign.

Reuters - A judge on Friday allowed indicted Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to post $50,000 bond to get out of jail but ordered new restrictions on his movements, while new charges were filed against the embattled mayor.

Reuters - At least 13 people on their way to a religious festival were killed when a private charter bus crashed north of Dallas, police reported on Friday.

Reuters - Anti-American Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr would dissolve his Mehdi Army militia if the United States started withdrawing troops according to a set timetable, a spokesman said.

Reuters - Eyes were on Pakistan's generals on Friday for any gesture of support for President Pervez Musharraf a day after a four-month-old civilian coalition declared plans to impeach the former army chief.

AFP - China's once-in-a-lifetime Olympic dream became reality Friday as the Beijing Games opened with a dazzling ceremony showcasing the nation's ancient civilization and an offer of friendship to the world.

AFP - Russian tanks and troops entered Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia province on Friday to repel a Georgian military offensive to reclaim the region amid fighting said to have left hundreds dead.