American soldier dies in road wreck
An American soldier was killed and two were injured in a road accident on a highway in Kuwait on Monday, the U.S. military here said.
The cause of the single-vehicle accident is under investigation, the military said in a brief statement without providing details.
The name of the 1st Sustainment Command (Theater) soldier who died of his injuries was withheld pending notification of relatives. The injured were evacuated to a Kuwaiti hospital and were in “stable condition,” the military statement said
This small, oil-rich state has been a major ally of the U.S. since the 1991 Gulf War that liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation under Saddam Hussein.
YANGON, Myanmar
U.N. envoy back after four years
A U.N. envoy who returned to Myanmar after a four-year ban visited a notorious prison for political prisoners Monday as he began investigating how many people were killed and detained in a crackdown on demonstrators.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N.’s independent human rights investigator for Myanmar, spent at least two hours at the Insein prison in Yangon, which over the years has held numerous political prisoners. Many former inmates describe torture, abysmal conditions and long stretches in solitary confinement. Details of his visit were not known.
Myanmar authorities said 10 people were killed when troops opened fire on crowds of peaceful protesters in Yangon on Sept. 26 and 27. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher and that an unknown number of people remain in custody.
LONDON
Man sentenced for kitten death
A British man who killed his wife’s kitten by putting it in a tumble dryer after their marriage collapsed was sentenced Monday to six months in prison.
Philip Gannon, 42, originally bought the animal as a gift for his spouse, Jacqueline Hodson, 43, before the marriage broke down.
Authorities alleged that Gannon put the 6-month-old kitten in the dryer when Hodson was out of the house in January 2005.
Gannon denied killing the kitten but was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering last month.
Defense lawyer Steven Teasdale said Gannon’s home had been attacked following media coverage of the case. He said an attempt had been made to set fire to Gannon’s house.