8-limbed girl

TWO-YEAR-OLD Lakshmi Tatma, an Indian toddler born with four arms and four legs, made her first public appearance yesterday, a week after surgeons in India successfully removed her additional limbs.

Tatma, wearing a plaster on her legs to keep her feet up and her legs together to help her wounds heal, was carried into a news conference yesterday as her doctors announced she was being released from intensive care.

Sex imbalance

THE gap between the numbers of males and females in rural China has a hit new high as there are now nearly 123 newborn boys for every 100 girls, Xinhua reported yesterday.

This gap, revealed by a sample survey conducted by the National Statistics Bureau, is the highest in the world, the report said.

Highest station

THE world's highest mobile phone base station was tested successfully yesterday on Mount Qomolangma at an altitude of 6,500 meters.

The station, run by China Mobile, the largest mobile phone service provider in China, will provide services for mountaineers on the world's highest peak and the torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Bird flu confirmed

THE British Government announced yesterday that the H5 bird flu virus has been detected at Redgrave Park Farm near Diss in Suffolk, eastern England, where all 6,500 birds will be culled.

A statement issued by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that preliminary tests showed the turkeys in the farm had the H5 strain of bird flu.

Explosion hits legislature

AN explosion rocked one of the entrances to the Philippine House of Representatives late yesterday, leaving at least two members of Congress and several other people injured, radio reports and a congressman said.

Radio DZBB said three cars were damaged and Rep. Luis Ilagan was among those injured. Police have cordoned off the area in suburban Quezon City.