USA. BUSH OKS DEATH PENALTY FOR EX-SOLDIER

US President George W Bush approved the death penalty for a soldier of Pvt. Ronald A. Gray, convicted by court-martial of two homicides and three rapes at Fort Bragg, N.C. in 1986-87. "The president believes the facts of this case leave no doubt that the sentence is just and warranted," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement. The approval is considered the first by the military in 51 years, when John Bennett, an army private convicted of raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl was hanged in 1961. His death sentence was approved by then president Eisenhower in 1957. The death penalty was reinstated by President Reagan in 1984. Six people are currently on death row at a US Disciplinary Barracks. The military has also asked Bush to authorize the execution of Dwight J. Loving, imprisoned since 1989 after being convicted of killing two taxicab drivers while he was an army private at Fort Hood, Texas.