GORI, Georgia -- Columns of hulking, smoke-belching Russian tanks rolled out of key positions deep inside Georgia Friday as Moscow declared it had pulled its forces out following the worst confrontation between the Kremlin and the West since the Soviet collapse. But the United States and France protested the withdrawal was not complete. Georgians exulted in a new sense of freedom as the Russian troops departed.

"How can we not be happy? We've gotten what we want," said Levan, 77, a math teacher who would give only his first name. "We're overjoyed to see our own police on our streets again."

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's largest political party on Friday proposed the husband of assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto to succeed the ousted Pervez Musharraf as president.

Asif Ali Zardari, who is emerging as the favorite to be elected by legislators Sept. 6, criticized Musharraf for his long, authoritarian rule but would likely continue the former general's support for the U.S. war against extremist groups.

However, his ascent would dismay many Pakistanis, who view him as a symbol of the sleaze that tainted the country's last experiment with civilian rule in the 1990s. He won the nickname "Mr. 10 Percent" for alleged corruption during his wife's turns as prime minister.

BEIJING -- The parents of the Chinese gymnasts are indignant, the International Olympic Committee sounds satisfied and the Beijing Games are almost over. Yet questions persisted Friday about the ages of China's gold-medal women's gymnastics team.

Are they 14? Are they 16?

Hoping to put a definitive end to a simmering controversy, China was asked to provide additional documents that prove five of the six team members were old enough to compete at these games. The request, by the International Gymnastics Federation, was made at the urging of the IOC, despite China's insistence that its athletes were not underage and the fact that there is no irrefutable proof to the contrary.

Still, the questions haven't abated, and so the Chinese federation was asked one more time to prove the girls were eligible.

"It's not a question of a final decision," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. "We simply want the federation to work with the national federation ... to just put to bed once and for all the questions."

LONDON -- Transplanting faces may seem like science fiction, but doctors say the experimental surgeries could one day become routine. Two of the world's three teams that have done partial face transplants reported Friday that their techniques were surprisingly effective, though complications exist and more work is still needed.

"There is no reason to think these face transplants would not be as common as kidney or liver transplants one day," said Dr. Laurent Lantieri, one of the French doctors who operated on a man severely disfigured by a genetic disease.

In Friday's issue of the British medical journal Lancet, Lantieri and colleagues reported on their patient's status one year after the transplant. Chinese doctors also reported on their patient, two years after his surgery.

WASHINGTON -- Peter Breiner is a busy composer and he wasn't much interested in watching the Beijing Olympic Games. But then the calls and e-mails started coming in. His daughter was certain that the Chinese were using his orchestrations of the world's national anthems. He even heard from people who are not his fans -- people like Bob in Tuscaloosa, who knows Breiner's distinctive version of the "The Star-Spangled Banner," who doesn't like it one bit, and who isn't happy to be hearing it from Beijing.

That's when Breiner started watching the medal ceremonies. He says he is "100 percent positive" that the Beijing Olympic Committee is using his work -- without attribution, permission or compensation. Breiner's publisher has attempted to discuss the matter with the Chinese but so far to no avail.

In an e-mail, Sun Weide, deputy director for communications for the Beijing Olympics, said, "All the anthems and songs used ... were orchestrated by Chinese musicians."

A side-by-side comparison of Breiner's version, recorded by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the version being used at the Beijing medal ceremonies, recorded by the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, reveals something indubitable: The Beijing orchestra is using Breiner's ideas so blatantly that it would be accused of plagiarism if its arrangers submitted their orchestration as original work in any respectable conservatory.

It isn't just the rockets' red glare: Breiner's basic conception of the whole piece has been copied. The brass opening, the addition of strings when the opening melody repeats, the inclusion of complex bass lines in Measures 14 and 28, and the use of an archaic little cadence at the end of several phrases are all very particular to Breiner's original. The last of these features, what musicians would call a "4-2-3" figure, is the sort of thing one finds in an old-fashioned hymn setting. It is a decidedly quirky addition to "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Although the Chinese version leaves out some percussion accents that Breiner calls for, it distinctly emphasizes elements that make Breiner's version so individual. Musically, it advertises the very features that best confirm the theft.