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.

AP - Behind the hostilities in South Ossetia are two nations that have long been spoiling for a fight, with Russia eager to show it's boss in the region and U.S.-backed Georgia determined to prove it can stand up to its huge neighbor.

AP - With a deadly attack on its embassy in Afghanistan, Pakistani troops clashing with its soldiers in disputed Kashmir and Islamic militants bombing its cities, India has in recent months seemed a country under siege.

AP - The monkeys and lions were drugged, tossed into cloth sacks and dragged through smuggling tunnels under the border between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip before ending up in a dusty Gaza zoo.

AP - Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered most of his militiamen to disarm but said Friday he will maintain elite fighting units to resist the Americans if a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops is not established.

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 - Once-reclusive China commandeered the world stage Friday, celebrating its first-time role as Olympic host with a stunning display of pyrotechnics and pageantry — topped by the unworldly sight of a flying gymnast, traversing the heights of the stadium to light the flame and begin the Summer Games.

AFP - Australian Customs and police said Friday they had seized 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy tablets worth nearly 400 million dollars, describing it as the biggest haul of the illicit drug anywhere in the world.

AFP - An Air China flight was forced to return to Japan on Friday after a bomb threat, just hours ahead of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics, an airport official said.

AFP - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will meet on Sunday with the two sides drawing nearer to a power-sharing agreement, a newspaper reported Friday.

AP - If you witness a murder or a drug deal in the crime-stricken border city of Tijuana, don't bother calling the police — call the Mexican army.

AP - Shells fired from a mortar-like mechanism near a municipal government building in Istanbul slightly injured three people, the city's governor reportedly said.

AFP - Having his picture taken with tennis legend Rafael Nadal, being recognised around Beijing and sending postcards with his face on the stamp is not the usual summer holiday for a 14-year-old.

AP - After months of internal bickering, Pakistan's governing coalition announced Thursday it will seek to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, cranking up pressure on the U.S.-backed former general to resign.

AP - The deadliest three months for American forces in Afghanistan have pushed the U.S. death toll to at least 500, forcing a war long overshadowed by Iraq back into the headlines.