Berlin

Aide who burned Hitler’s body dies

Otto Guensche, an aide to Adolf Hitler who burned the Nazi dictator’s body to keep it from the advancing Soviets in the final days of World War II, has died at age 86.

An SS officer and a member of Hitler’s inner circle, Guensche spent the last hours with the Nazi leader in the Fuehrer bunker in Berlin before Hitler and his companion, Eva Braun, committed suicide April 30, 1945.

He died Oct. 2 of heart failure at his home in the town of Lohmar, near the former capital of Bonn, his eldest son, Kai, told The Associated Press.

Otto Guensche said in a recent AP interview that Hitler ordered him to burn his body.

India

Expert warns AIDS crisis imminent

India must educate its 1 billion people about AIDS or face a crisis, a former U.S. diplomat said Monday, while a foundation set up by Bill Gates pledged $200 million to fight the disease in India.

Education “means talking about sex and intimacy. These are difficult problems in any country in the world, not just in India,” said Richard Holbrooke, who heads Global Business Coalition for HIV/AIDS.

“But if you don’t do it, millions of people will be infected and every infected person will die, even with treatment,” Holbrooke told a conference of government and business leaders.

Later, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced it was doubling the $100 million in HIV/AIDS prevention funds that the Microsoft founder had promised India.

The Indian government says about 4.5 million people are infected with the AIDS virus, a number some experts consider a gross underestimate.