Japan's "Black Widow" death row inmate, Chisako Kakehi, dies at 78

A Japanese death-row inmate, dubbed the "Black Widow" after she used cyanide to kill her elderly lovers, has died in a detention center at age 78, officials said on Friday.

Chisako Kakehi was sentenced to death for the murder of three men, including her husband, and the attempted murder of another man about a decade ago in a case that gripped Japan.

"Her death was confirmed at a hospital on Thursday" after she was found lying in her cell at the Osaka detention center, a justice ministry official told AFP.