Woman whose twin died in cliff fall lost ‘soul mate’

Woman whose twin died in cliff fall lost ‘soul mate’

ALBANY, N.Y.

A woman accused of killing her twin sister by driving their SUV off a cliff in Hawaii traveled to upstate New York to grieve the loss of her “soul mate,” her lawyer said Friday after a brief court appearance.

Alexandria Duval appeared in court a week after police arrested her in Albany. Her lawyer expects that an extradition hearing will be held before Duval returns to Hawaii, where a grand jury indicted her on a second-degree murder charge last month.

Duval, cuffed and wearing a yellow prison jumpsuit, was quiet during a court appearance in which she declined to waive her right to an extradition hearing. But public defender Terence Kindlon told reporters outside the courtroom that she had not been trying to evade authorities and did not know there was a second indictment against her.

‘I want to live’: UK girl gets wish to be frozen after death

LONDON

The teenage girl’s instructions were direct: She didn’t want to be buried, but to be frozen – with the hope she can continue her life in the future when cancer is cured.

“I want to live and live longer and I think that in the future they may find a cure for my cancer and wake me up,” the 14-year-old wrote to a British judge before her recent death.

Her plaintive words convinced High Court Judge Peter Jackson to grant her final wishes in what he called the first case of its kind in England – and possibly the world.

The judge said the girl had chosen the most basic preservation option at a cost of about $46,000.

UN agency lifts Zika emergency

GENEVA

Acknowledging Zika is “here to stay,” the United Nations health agency Friday lifted a 9-month-old emergency declaration and prepared for a longer-term response to the mosquito-borne virus that can result in severe neurological defects in newborns whose mothers were infected.

The World Health Organization was quick to note that the move does not mean the agency is downgrading the threat of the virus that has spread across Latin America, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Nearly 30 countries have reported birth defects linked to Zika, with over 2,100 cases of nervous-system malformations reported in Brazil alone.

Venezuelan ‘first nephews’ found guilty in drug plot

NEW YORK

A federal jury in New York City on Friday found that two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro planned to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from the presidential hangar at the Caracas airport to Honduras for shipment to the United States.

The two nephews, Efrain Campo, 30, and Francisco Flores, 31, now face 10 years to life in prison on drug conspiracy charges. Sentencing is likely to happen in March.

Storm contributes to hundreds of crashes in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS

Authorities reported hundreds of crashes in Minnesota as a snowstorm swept across the state.

The Minnesota State Patrol reported 340 crashes, including 37 with injuries, and more than 550 spinouts statewide since Thursday night.

At least one person died on icy roads. The patrol said a 42-year-old man from Fulda died in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 59 early Friday.

Combined dispatches