US senator in Myanmar for talks with leaders

YANGON: US Senator Jim Webb, the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade, arrived in the country's remote capital on Friday to meet authorities including leader Senior General Than Shwe, officials said.

The visit follows Tuesday's sentencing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to another 18 months under house arrest. An American citizen received a sentence of seven years of hard labor at the same trial.

The Virginia Democrat was scheduled to meet Prime Minister General Thein Sein on Friday and Than Shwe on Saturday, officials said, making him the first senior US official to meet the junta leader.