JAPAN: WOMAN LOSES DEATH SENTENCE APPEAL

a Japanese woman found guilty of murder lost her appeal against a death sentence, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said.
The country's top court rejected an appeal by Masumi Hayashi, a 47-year-old mother of four, against the sentence that was handed down by a district court in 2002 and upheld by a higher court in 2005.
Hayashi was convicted for mixing arsenic into curry served at a community festival in 1998, killing two children and two adults.