Some needles extracted from Brazilian boy

Surgeons successfully removed the four most life-threatening needles from the lung and heart area of a Brazilian toddler,and are evaluating when to extract dozens more allegedly stuck deep into the boy by his stepfather.

Police say 30-year-old bricklayer Roberto Carlos Magalhaes confessed to pushing the metal sewing needles into the two-year-old child because his lover told him to while in trances. The rituals were performed over a month supposedly to keep the couple together.

Late on Friday,the child was stable after nearly five hours of surgery to remove the four needles,which were up to 2 inches,said Susy Moreno,a spokeswoman for the hospital in the northeastern city of Salvador where the boy was in intensive care. Hes OK,the surgery was a success,hes doing fine, she said in a telephone interview.