Russian Hospital Accused of Baby Abuse

MOSCOW — Prosecutors said yesterday that they are investigating allegations that employees at a central Russian hospital taped infants' mouths shut to keep them from crying, in a scandal that has sparked widespread outrage.

In a second incident, prosecutors in the Far Eastern city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk said they had opened a criminal probe at a kindergarten where an employee gave unauthorized injections to children to help them sleep. According to some news accounts, all or some of the babies were orphans.