Vietnam vet, 60, is oldest U.S. soldier to die in Iraq

Vietnam vet, 60, is oldest U.S. soldier to die in Iraq

PHOENIX — A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday.

Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said.

Richard Hutchison told The Associated Press on Thursday that when she died, “a part of him died” so he signed up in July 2007 at age 59.

The Pentagon said Steven Hutchison was killed in Iraq on Sunday.

Peruvian police face firing for homosexual behavior

LIMA, Peru — Peruvian police officers who “damage the image” of law enforcement by engaging in homosexual behavior can lose their jobs under a new law designed to overhaul an unpopular national police force.

The new law that went into effect Tuesday also says officers will be fired for taking bribes and abusing detainees.

In sexual matters, however, distinctions are made between heterosexual and homosexual police officers. Those who commit adultery face only suspension, but expulsion is required for those who engage in “sexual relations with people of the same sex that cause a scandal or damage the image of the institution.”

Peru’s Supreme Court in 2004 overturned a ban on homosexuality in the police and military. But like the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” — which bans homosexuals from disclosing their sexual orientation — the new law tries to sidestep the issue without banning homosexuality outright.

Guilty in body-parts case

LOS ANGELES — A businessman accused of selling human body parts donated to the University of California, Los Angeles’ medical school in a scandal that tarnished the reputation of the university’s willed-body program was found guilty Thursday of conspiring to commit grand theft, embezzlement and tax evasion .

Los Angeles County prosecutors said Ernest V. Nelson, 51, cut up heads, torsos and other parts from donated corpses and sold them without UCLA’s permission to medical and pharmaceutical research companies, collecting $1.5 million between 1999 and 2003.

The bodies were donated to UCLA for medical and scientific research at the university. The scandal over the sale of the body parts became public in 2004 and prompted the closure of the program for more than 18 months.

Early summer ice melt ends trek to North Pole

TORONTO — A team of British explorers on a trek in northern Canada to measure the thickness of floating Arctic sea ice have abruptly ended their three-month expedition short of reaching the North Pole due to an early summer ice melt.

Explorers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniel and photographer Martin Hartley stopped their arduous trek Wednesday, approximately 304 miles from the North Pole.

The trio said Thursday that they made the journey over the past 73 days to measure the thickness of floating sea ice to provide data to scientists studying the impacts of global warming in the region.

Job loss leads to suicide rise in young Japanese

TOKYO — The economic slump and subsequent job losses have driven more young Japanese to commit suicide, with a record number of victims in their 30s, police said Thursday.

Although the number of young victims rose, suicides dipped 2.6 percent overall to 32,249 in 2008. Of the 23,000 who gave a motive for their suicides, those who said it was a “failure to get a job” grew by 40 percent, and “job loss” climbed 20 percent, according to an annual report published by the National Police Agency.

Common virus linked to high blood pressure

WASHINGTON — Provocative new research suggests that a common virus might play a role in high blood pressure.

The work, by Harvard scientists, so far is only in mice — and the usually symptomless infection is so widespread that proving an effect in people will be tough.

Still, it’s the latest clue that infections may somehow affect a number of the factors that lead to heart disease, from stiffening arteries to obesity.

At issue is cytomegalovirus, or CMV. More than half of U.S. adults are infected by age 40, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a lifelong infection but the vast majority will never even know they have it.

Combined dispatches