China didn't just walk onto the world stage. It soared over it. At last playing its long-sought role as Olympic host, China opened the Summer Games in spectacular fashion Friday with an extravaganza of fireworks and pageantry dramatizing its ascendance as a global power. Disasters, environmental problems and human-rights disputes preceded the games, and questions abound about how they will unfold.

J.B. Holmes hung on to shoot a 2-under 68 and take a one-stroke lead into the clubhouse midway through the second round of the PGA Championship on Friday. Out on the course, first-round co-leader Jeev Milkha Singh was at 2 under early in his round. While Holmes, who spurted to the outright lead with three consecutive birdies on the back nine, was the only player to finish the second round below par,...

Security forces squeezed their grip on China a notch tighter Friday for the start of the Olympics, edging up restrictions in the capital and imposing much tougher ones in a restive Muslim area in the country's far west. The Beijing Games' glittering curtain raiser went off without any obvious signs of trouble, a day after an Islamic group seeking independence for Xinjiang province threatened to...

Brett the Jet left the cheeseheads behind and got a few cheesecakes from the mayor in a big New York welcome. Brett Favre, the New York Jets' newest quarterback, was introduced to the city by Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a packed City Hall news conference Friday. "Just like home," a wide-eyed Favre said as he walked into the Blue Room and was greeted by dozens of flashing camera lights.