■ India
Virus leaves 79 dead
The deadly encephalitis virus has killed 79 people, all but three of them children, in India's Uttar Pradesh state, health officials said yesterday. Most of the deaths were reported from Gorakhpur town, 270km west of state capital Lucknow. More than 200 children were admitted in Gorakhpur's main state-run hospital and local health authorities were treating it as a crisis, a senior doctor said. Encephalitis is caused by a virus spread by mosquitos and is usually accompanied by high fever, delirium and distorted limb movements. In severe cases, patients can slip into a coma and die.
■ Japan
Baby dies as mom plays
A six-month-old baby died in Japan after her mother left her in a car in the summer heat to play slot games and did not even return during a major earthquake, police said yesterday. Police arrested Saori Konno, 27, for allegedly causing her daughter's death by leaving her in the car without air conditioning for two and a half hours on Tuesday in the northern city of Ichinoseki. The mother was half an hour into her game when an earthquake registering 7.2 on the Richter scale hit, but she did not return to the car, a police spokesman said. The city felt the quake at an intensity of lower five on the Japanese seismic scale of up to seven, meaning the tremor was big enough to break windows. The quake injured at least 60 people across four prefectures. The temperature in Ichinoseki hit 30?C on Tuesday. "People may think she should have checked if her baby was alright, at least when the quake struck, but it is not part of the charges against her," the police spokesman said.
■ India
Healthy beer launched
A firm has launched a vitamin-rich beer which it says protects the body from the harmful effects of alcohol. Ladybird Bio Beer contains aloe-vera extracts as well as the normal ingredients of barley malt and hops, said its inventor B. Srinivas Amarnath. He said research showed that it did not harm the liver or cause ulcers and gastric illness. "The results of human clinical trials have shown aloe vera increases the bioavailability of vitamins like B1, B6, B12, C and E," said C.B. Jagannatha Rao, senior vice president of Khoday group of industries.
■ Australia
Turtle smuggler fined
A Japanese man who wrapped 24 protected turtles and a lizard inside socks and tried to mail them to Japan to sell on the Internet was fined more than A$24,000 (US$18,243) by a Perth court yesterday. Kazutaka Ogawa, 32, pleaded guilty to three charges of illegal exportation and animal cruelty over the package of native reptiles he tried to post in March last year five hours before flying back to Japan. Postal staff alerted customs officials at Perth International Airport about a suspicious package, after X-rays revealed 24 Oblong turtles -- 13 of which were dead -- and one Shingleback lizard. He had collected the reptiles from a lake in Perth.
■ Australia
Heroin syndicate busted
The seizure of A$300,000 (US$227,760) worth of heroin has dealt a major blow to a Romanian criminal syndicate involved in the distribution and sale of the drug along Australia's east coast. Police arrested two women, aged 34 and 56, and two men, aged 36 and 44, in a western Sydney suburb late Wednesday following a five-month investigation targeting organized criminals allegedly involved in the supply of heroin. The two men and two women were to appear in court yesterday charged with the ongoing supply of heroin, allegedly purchased from the Romanian syndicate.
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