Caution raised on pig organs for transplants

WASHINGTON -- As science moves closer to using pig organs for human transplants, some experts caution that the technique could transfer deadly swine viruses. Ethicists question the whole idea of using animals to make spare parts for people.

Two research teams announced this week that they have cloned piglets that lack one of two genes that prompt the human immune system to reject swine tissue. The next step is breeding or cloning that would eliminate the gene entirely from a strain of pigs.

In a world where more than 5,700 people in need of transplants die each year because of the shortage of donated organs, many researchers view pigs as a potentially unlimited supply source.

Ex-Klansman competent in 1963 church bombing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A judge ruled Thursday that former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry is mentally competent to stand trial on murder charges in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls.

Circuit Judge James Garrett initially ruled Cherry mentally incompetent last year. But he reversed himself after further evaluation of Cherry.

The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church was one of the most notorious crimes of the civil rights era.

Indian, Pakistani leaders to hold summit at NepalKATMANDU, Nepal -- The leaders of India and Pakistan said they were trying to avert war as they headed to a regional summit Friday, but despite world pressure Indian officials insisted they would not use the gathering to talk peace.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will meet at the Nepal gathering for the first time since a failed summit in July. However, India's delegation said there will be no one-on-one talks until they are satisfied Pakistan has cracked down on Islamic militants.

Ten deaths blamed on southern snowstormRALEIGH, N.C. -- A deep freeze and a second dose of snow turned the South into a deadly, slippery nightmare Thursday, practically paralyzing a region unaccustomed to icy winter weather.

Hundreds of flights were canceled in Atlanta, and more than 4,000 stranded travelers spent the night at the nation's busiest airport. South Carolina's governor declared a state of emergency, called out the National Guard to help stranded motorists and told tens of thousands of state workers to take the rest of the week off.

At least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm, which began Wednesday with sleet and snow stretching from southern Louisiana into Virginia.

Clinton's dog Buddy killed when hit by carCHAPPAQUA, N.Y. -- Former President Clinton's dog Buddy, the frisky retriever who unhappily shared the White House with Socks the cat, was killed by a car outside the Clinton home.

The 4-year-old chocolate Labrador ran from the home in Chappaqua on Wednesday afternoon, "playfully chasing a contractor who had just left the residence," said Lt. Charles Ferry of the New Castle police.

Buddy was hit by a car on a busy two-lane road at the bottom of the Clintons' cul-de-sac and was pronounced dead at an animal hospital.

New powder to Daschle believed from 'copycat'WASHINGTON -- A threatening letter containing a powdery substance was opened barely 20 feet from the Senate chamber Thursday in what Majority Leader Tom Daschle called an apparently harmless "copycat mailing" of last fall's anthrax attack.

"The early test showed in this case that it was not anthrax," Daschle told reporters. "While we don't know what the substance was, we hope to find out in the next 48 hours."

Discovery of the letter in Daschle's second-floor suite of offices sent an emergency team rushing to the Capitol and prompted officials to quarantine some areas of the building.

--From wire reports