Myanmar frees US journalist

Bangkok: Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill  Richardson says American journalist Danny Fenster has been released from  prison in Myanmar, after  being incarcerated for 176  days. Richardson said in  a statement Monday that  Fenster had been released  from prison and handed  over to him in Myanmar  and would soon be on his  way home via Qatar. Fenster, the managing editor  of the online magazine  Frontier Myanmar, was  convicted Friday of spreading false or inflammatory  information, contacting  illegal organisations and  violating visa regulations  and sentenced to 11 years  of hard labour. Richardson says he negotiated  Fenster’s release during a  recent visit to Myanmar  when he held face-to-face  meetings with the military leader who ousted the  elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February. -(AP)