Rio de Janeiro  - A nine-year-old Brazilian girl, who was raped by her stepfather and conceived twins, had an abortion Wednesday, doctors said.

Sergio Cabral of the University of Pernambuco's Amaury de Medeiros Integrated Health Centre said the procedure was successful and the girl was recovering quickly.

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, but the law admits exceptions, allowing it in cases of rape and pregnancies that put the mother's life at risk. Cabral said the abortion was carried out with the consent of the girl and her mother.

The gold smuggling ring that went out of activity post-liberalisation is into something new. Revenue intelligence agencies are tracking down some key gold smugglers for assisting Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) smuggle in fake Indian currency.

"There is credible evidence to suggest that the network is being used to smuggle fake Indian currency notes (FICN) now," a senior intelligence official said. ISI is pursuing this on a massive scale, he said.

Gold smuggling was a lucrative trade in the pre-liberalisation era. But it slowly fizzled out after 1991.

Andheri police arrested three watchmen from Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Monday, for the murder of a senior citizen and his wife in Andheri (East) last week.

An eight-year-old child in Fatehpur identified the photos of the prime accused and received a reward of Rs 15. The accused have been identified as Amit Kumar, 18, Sikander Balmiki, 22, and Sudhir Balmiki alias Goolu, 20.

"Amit called Sikander and Sudhir on the pretext of watching television at Chandnani's house. They threw a bedsheet over the old lady and suffocated her to death. Then they pressed pillows over her bedridden husband's face, smothering him to death," said Archana Tyagi, additional commissioner of police, western region.

Civic officials raid two godowns in Surat; 17 more quacks arrested

A day after civic official's recovered more than 100 kg of biomedical waste from Unn, they found more toxic waste from two godowns at Rander and Limbayat in the city on Tuesday. A formal complaint was filed against the owners. Besides this, 17 more quacks were nabbed from the city during search operations.

Judicial magistrate (first class) Rakesh Wanwadi on Tuesday remanded independent corporator Shankar Beldare-Patil's wife and aunt in police custody till February 5.

Beldare-Patil's daughter in-law Varsha (22) committed suicide on Monday morning at their Ambegaon–Pathar residence.

The suspect have been identified as Beldare-Patil's wife Alka and his aunt Lata Todkar for allegedly abetting Varsha's suicide.

Public prosecutor SG Narkar argued in the court that before succumbing to her 95% burn injuries, Varsha in her dying declaration said that Alka and Lata allegedly used to harass her physically and mentally.

The Pune rural police on Monday afternoon busted a racket involving processing and packing of spurious liquor in Narayangaon. The police recovered a vehicle and spurious liquor worth Rs6 lakh.