Briefly

INDIA

Bootleg alcohol kills more than 80

More than 80 people have died in recent days after drinking toxic bootleg alcohol in the Indian state of Punjab, officials and reports said on Saturday. The victims died in three districts of the northern state, and police have arrested 25 people, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Hundreds of people die every year in India from poisoned alcohol that is made in backstreet distilleries. An official said that 11 people had died in Gurdaspur district. On Saturday the illicit alcohol had claimed 12 lives in the neighboring district of Amritsar and 63 lives in Tarn Taran, the agency said. Other deaths were suspected in recent days but could not be proved as the bodies had been cremated without a postmortem examination. Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh said on Friday he had ordered a special inquiry into the deaths and "anyone found guilty will not be spared".

BRAZIL

Alert raised as Amazon fire season looms

Fires in the Brazilian Amazon increased 28 percent in July from a year ago, a state agency reported on Saturday. The National Institute for Space Research, which is responsible for monitoring Brazil, said it recorded 6,803 fires in the Amazon rainforest last month, compared with 5,318 in July last year. Environmentalists expressed concern at the rise because August traditionally marks the beginning of the fire season in the region. They fear Brazil could repeat the surge seen in fires last August, when 30,900 fires were recorded by the institute. The sharp increase in fires brings domestic and international concern. Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the Advanced Studies Institute in the State University of Sao Paulo, said the deforestation index until July had also has remained high, compared with the last couple of years.

Agencies Via Xinhua