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World News Quick Take

■ 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.

■ Japan
New political party formed
A handful of ruling party lawmakers opposed to reform of Japan's postal service formed a new party Wednesday ahead of parliamentary elections, accusing the government of failing to address important issues like the ailing pension system. The rebels named their new group the People's New Party. The party will start with four former members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and one defector from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. The new party vowed to fight Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plan to split up and privatize Japan's postal delivery, savings and insurance system.

■ United States
Hu to visit Washington
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) will visit Washington state next month as part of his first US visit as president, former Governor Gary Locke said. Hu also is expected to include a visit with President George W. Bush at the White House and an address to the UN General Assembly. Locke, America's first Chinese-American governor, has met Hu twice and has been picked by the Chinese ambassador to the US, Zhou Wenzhong (周文重), to organize a visit to the Seattle area. Locke said the president's visit will include at least one major public event in Seattle, at which Hu will give a major address. Outings are tentatively scheduled for Boeing Co. aircraft facilities in Everett and the Microsoft Corp campus in Redmond. Locke said, "We hope to grow [exports] by leaps and bounds."

■ Russia
Helicopters grounded
Russia's air force temporarily halted flights by Mi-8 military transport helicopters yesterday after a crash injured three pilots. Hours later, a civilian Mi-8 crashed, killing four people and injuring two. The first incident involved a military Mi-8 that crash landed near the city of Khabarovsk and injured three pilots. Later yesterday, four died when another Mi-8 helicopter used for civilian purposes crashed near the Siberian oil center of Nefteyugansk. Four of the six crew members, who were providing aerial surveillance of oil pipelines, were killed.

■ United Kingdom
Tourist averts suicide
A 60-year-old Australian tourist leapt from a pleasure boat on the River Thames to save a woman spotted jumping off the Millennium Footbridge in an apparent suicide bid. The pair were fished out by coastguards and were taken to a waiting ambulance on the bank. The woman, who was in her mid-20s, was taken to a hospital. He "didn't think twice about trying to assist the female, and our thanks are due to him for his immediate action," said the coastguard watch manager. "In fact, his wife who was with him on the pleasure vessel hadn't realized he'd gone overboard for some time."

■ United States
Helicopter-shooter charged
A former Marine suspected of shooting down a US police helicopter in Albuquerque, New Mexico earlier this month has been arrested and charged with assault. Jason Kerns, 29, a former Marine sharpshooter, is suspected of having fired at the aircraft on Aug. 6 as it flew over an Albuquerque neighborhood. Kerns, who left the military after concluding his term of service, was charged with criminal damage of property, assault with the intent to commit a violent felony upon a police officer and tampering with evidence.

■ United States
Convict loses lotto winnings
A convicted drug dealer ran out of luck when a Texas appeals court ruled he can't keep his lottery winnings because he bought the ticket with drug proceeds. Jose Luis Betancourt -- a Mexican citizen -- was convicted in 2003 of conspiracy and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The jury ruled then that Betancourt should forfeit half of his lottery jackpot -- about $5.5 million -- because the ticket was purchased with ill-gotten gains. On Wednesday, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the government can seize all property and proceeds obtained from drug trafficking. It also upheld Betancourt's conviction and his sentence of more than 24 years in prison.

■ Italy
Pope forgets blessing
Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged on Wednesday that he was absent-minded after forgetting to bless the hundreds of pilgrims who attended his weekly audience at his Castel Gandolfo summer residence. He said his mind was already in Cologne, where he was to participate in the 20th World Youth jamboree. The crowd gathered in the palace courtyard was surprised to see the Pope return to his window several moments after leaving, and after greeting the pilgrims in several languages. "I ask for your forgiveness, but I have forgotten the most important greeting, the greeting to the pilgrims in the Italian language," he told them. He went back inside the palace, only to return shortly. "I omitted the most important thing: the benediction," he said.

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