TOKYO - Japan executed two people yesterday, including a 65-year-old female cult leader convicted of six murders that took place during supposed exorcisms. The Justice Ministry said Sachiko Eto and 39-year-old Yukinori Matsuda were put to death by hanging. Matsuda was convicted of killing two people during a robbery in 2003. Japan had no executions last year, but has conducted seven this year. The ministry says 131 convicts are on Japan's death row. AP
HANOI - The World Health Organisation said governments in the Mekong region must act urgently to stop the spread of drug-resistant malaria, which has emerged in southern Vietnam and in southeastern Myanmar. Drug-resistant malaria was found on the Thai-Cambodian border eight years ago and has since been found along Thailand's border with Myanmar. Malaria killed an estimated 655,000 people in 2010, mostly African children. AFP