The nation that gave the world counterfeit toys, fake toothpaste and poisoned pet food also gave 3 billion television viewers a bogus fireworks show of Olympic proportions Friday night, according to media reports Monday.

The spectacular fireworks telecast to billions of viewers around the world at the end of the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics Friday night were largely faked using computer animation and the audience wasn't told, the Beijing Times newspaper revealed.

Two babies in neighboring states have created a history by being born at 8:08 a.m. on the eighth day of August, weighing in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

Hailey Jo Hauer is born to Lindsay Hauer via cesarean section that was scheduled for 8 a.m. Friday morning at Lake Region Hospital in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. According to doctors that is a "once in a million" case as this date will come only once in a hundred years.

It's good news for all couch potatoes, who could soon be able to use an exercise pill to keep the body trim and fit without having to move from the sofa.

Scientists have successfully tested a drug on mice that could deliver some of the benefits of exercise, even to sedentary people. In tests, mice were able to run 44 percent farther, suggesting humans may be able to do the same without prior training, researchers reported in the journal Cell.

Aug. 8, 2008, will not only mark the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics here but also the wedding day of about 9,000 Chinese couples.

The number is a new record because it is twice more than the previous single-day marriage record in Beijing, according to China's state-run news agency Xinhua.

Rocky Aoki, a former wrestler who founded the restaurant chain Benihana, died here Thursday night.

Cause of death was not given, but the 69-year-old Aoki has said publicly that he suffered from diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver, as well as hepatitis C that he said he contracted from a blood transfusion.