Booger is back: Woman receives 5 cloned puppies

SEOUL, South Korea - Booger is back. An American woman received five puppies Tuesday that were cloned from her beloved late pitbull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world's first successful commercial canine cloning service.

Seoul-based RNL Bio said the clones of Bernann McKinney's dog Booger were born last week after being cloned in cooperation with a team of Seoul National University scientists who created the world's first cloned dog in 2005. "It's a miracle!" McKinney repeatedly shouted Tuesday when she saw the cloned Boogers for which she paid $50,000.McKinney said she was especially attached to Booger because he saved her life when she was attacked by another dog three times his size. The incident resulted in her left hand being severely injured, and also damaged her leg nerves and stomach. Doctors later reconstructed her hand and she spent part of her recovery in a wheelchair. McKinney said Booger acted as more than just a canine companion as she recuperated from the attack. Her dog pulled her wheelchair when its battery ran out. He opened her house door with his teeth and helped her take off her shoes and socks, even though she never trained him to do so. "The most unusual thing about Booger was that he has a unique ability to reason," she said. "He seems to understand I couldn't use my hands."RNL Bio charges up to $150,000 for dog cloning but will receive just a third of that sum from McKinney because she is the first customer and helped with publicity, said company head Ra Jeong-chan.

Russian tanks enter South Ossetia

Russian tanks have entered the capital of Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, says Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Amid fierce fighting, Georgia has been trying to regain control of the breakaway province, which has had de facto independence since the 1990s. Georgia is reported to have said any involvement of Russian forces in the conflict will result in a state of war. Russia's president promised to defend Russian citizens in South Ossetia. Moscow's defence ministry said more than 10 of its peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia had been killed and 30 wounded in the Georgian offensive. At least 15 civilians are also reported dead. Russia said earlier it was sending reinforcements to support peacekeepers in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. Reports from Georgia claim Russian jets have attacked an airport near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Nato, the US and the EU have all called for an immediate end to hostilities. Georgia's president said 150 Russian tanks and other vehicles had entered South Ossetia. He told in interview,"Russia is fighting a war with us in our own territory." The Russian defence ministry told Interfax news agency that reinforcements for Russian peacekeepers had been sent to South Ossetia "to help end bloodshed". But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: "I must protect the life and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are," Interfax quoted him as saying. "We will not allow their deaths to go unpunished. Those responsible will receive a deserved punishment." Georgian Foreign Minister Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili told the BBC the present situation was calm as Georgian troops were observing a unilateral ceasefire which started at 1100GMT. She said they wanted to ensure that any civilians who wanted to leave the conflict zone could do so safely.

Vietnamese pilgrim bus crashes in Texas, at least 12 dead

WASHINGTON — A bus chartered by Vietnamese pilgrims crashed in Texas on Friday, killing at least 12 people and injured more than 26, local media reported.
There were 55 people in the bus, drove off a major highway overpass bridge shortly after midnight and crashed below near the town of Tyler, some 96 kilometers (60 miles) north of Dallas.Sherman police spokesman Robert Fair told in an interview that at least 12 people were killed in the crash."We are being told that a tire on the bus had blown," Fair told. "We shall continue our investigation to see if other factors were involved."The accident took place around 12:45 am Friday (0545 GMT), the Sherman Herald-Democrat reported, adding that the bus was lying on its right side.That was a wrong track.A large section of the highway was closed down as ambulances and at least 13 helicopters rushed to the scene to ferry the wounded to Dallas area hospitals, the newspaper reported.Dozens of passengers were injured, Fair told in interview, while the Dallas Morning News put the number at at least 26."We've got ambulances and helicopters from all over the county," Fair told the newspaper.The Morning News, quoting local TV, said the group from the Vietnamese Martyrs Church of Houston was on the way to an annual celebration in honor of the Virgin Mary in the city of Carthage, in Missouri.

Jewel marries rodeo star in Bahamas

LOS ANGELES -A Pop singer Jewel eloped with her rodeo-star boyfriend in the Bahamas on Thursday, People magazine reported. The 34-year-old singer married Ty Murray, 38, during a private ceremony.

Jewel said that she and Murray were heading to the Caribbean islands for six days with two friends.The pair, who live on a ranch in Texas, had been together for more than a decade. Jewel, whose last name is Kilcher, achieved fame in the mid-1990s with such pop-folk tunes as "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "Foolish Games." She recently released a country album and served as a judge on the TV talent show "Nashville Star."Murray is a legend on the rodeo circuit, winning the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's All-Around world championship title a record seven times.ny, the magazine said, quoting Jewel's publicist.