Nine-month-old twins born fused from the rib cage to the pelvis and sharing a third leg were successfully separated by doctors Thursday morning in a 24-hour operation involving 50 doctors and nurses.
Doctors at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles said the girls are doing well.
PRISONER CHARGED IN SLAYING: Joseph Druce, a prisoner at Souza-Baranowski Corrections Center in Shirley, Mass., was charged Thursday with the Aug. 23 murder of John Geoghan, a 68-year-old defrocked priest who was serving a prison sentence for fondling a boy.
RIG COLLAPSES: A drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico collapsed Thursday, dumping more than 40 workers into the water before they were rescued.
The Coast Guard said 41 people on the rig went into the water off the Chandeleur Islands near the Louisiana-Mississippi coast. All 41 were rescued; two were hospitalized.
WEST NILE UPDATE: The number of West Nile infections this year is nearly double the amount from this time last year, but fewer people have died as a result, officials at the Centers for Disease Control said Thursday. So far, 2,923 people have been infected and 54 have died, compared with 1,641 cases and 72 deaths in 2002.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Tran Ha (tha@tribune.com) and Michael Morgan (mnmorgan@tribune.com)
