LONDON - A woman who killed her boyfriend’s cat by putting it in a clothes washing machine after an argument was given a four-month suspended prison sentence on Monday.

Diane Hannon, from north Wales, was looking after the white fluffy cat called Paws last summer while her friend Duncan Carthy was away.

She put the six-year-old cat, which was deaf, into the washing machine before switching it on. Paws died from a heart attack and suffered loss of hair and scalding.

Inspector Kevin Patin of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said in a statement: “This is the worst act of deliberate cruelty I have ever seen.”

Hannon, who suffered from depression, told a Welsh court that she and Carthy had argued before he went away, causing her to feel wounded and angry.

Hannon, who admitted last December to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal, …

ALBANY, Ore. - An Albany father used a 100,000-volt stun gun on his 18-month-old son, police said Monday. Rian Whittman, 23, has been accused of assault and criminal mistreatment. Police said he used it “multiple times” over three weeks. A police spokesman said there were up to 10 instances.

Police said Whittman’s wife, 21, who was not named, reported the abuse on Saturday.

The child was treated at a hospital, police said, and then taken into protective custody by the state Department of Human Services.

Capt. Eric Carter said the police haven’t established a motive for the abuse, nor why it began about three weeks ago.

He said the device was not a Taser weapon, named for the manufacturer, but an older model that’s applied directly to someone’s skin.

TOKYO - A Japanese man told police he stole a patrol car that had been left idling outside a post office in Gunma, north of Tokyo, because he was too tired to walk home.

Police officers had left the vehicle in the car park with the engine running, while they investigated a report that a stolen card had been used at the post office, the Mainichi newspaper said on Tuesday.

“I came out shopping by train, but I got tired walking, so I thought I would drive the police car home,” the man told police.

He was apprehended about 15 minutes later in the driveway of a private home, about 4 kms (2.5 miles) from the post office, the Mainichi said.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A woman playing the penny slots Saturday morning left the Resorts Atlantic City casino with her own little jackpot — a new baby boy.

Eight-months pregnant Nyree Thompson, 32, went into labor on the casino floor about 9:30 a.m.

Thompson said she mistook labor pains for gas at first, but after going to the restroom told a security guard that she might be giving birth.

Thompson said the guard thought she was joking. Then her water broke.

“A guard came over and said, ‘Don’t push,’” Thompson said. “I said, ‘Forget you, this baby is coming right now!’”

Minutes later, a boy weighing less than 5 pounds was born. Thompson named him Qualeem.

Four security guards helped Thompson deliver the baby, wrapping the child in a jacket until paramedics arrived at about 9:40 a.m., said Steve Callender, vice president of operations at Resorts.

Despite being premature, Qualeem was doing …

RAISINVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Tina Burlett thought someone had broken into her house and stolen her custom-made, $5,000 wedding ring, so she called the police, who filed a report. But Burlett’s grandmother already had a suspect in mind: the family pooch.

X-rays proved the grandmother right. The valuable bauble was inside the belly of Burlett’s pit bull, Missy, who has a taste for diamonds.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Burlett told The Monroe Evening News for a story Thursday. “I didn’t think so at the time, but it’s funny now.”

It made sense since Missy has been caught gnawing on VCRs, electric blankets and even Burlett’s diamond earring.

Dr. Linda Fung of the Country Creek Animal Hospital said she wasn’t surprised to learn that Missy swallowed jewelry.

“I did have a dog eat a watch once,” Fung said. “Animals swallow a lot of stuff. It’s not an unusual thing. We just …

BEIJING  - A Chinese court has jailed a farmer for 13 years for trading in state-protected swans and their meat, Xinhua news agency reported Friday.

Zhang Yuelin, 48, from the northern province of Henan, had bought 38 dead swans and one kg of swan meat late last year, the agency said. He was also fined 50,000 yuan ($6,500).

“Zhang plucked the dead swans and hid them in the backyard of his house,” it said, adding that he sold the bodies of the birds and received 3,000 yuan.

The report did not say whether Zhang had killed the birds.

“Zhang’s case is very serious and should be punished accordingly,” the court ruling was quoted as saying.

China, not known for strict protection of animal rights, nevertheless has stringent rules protecting its endangered species. In 2003, a farmer from Sichuan was jailed for 14 years for killing a panda and selling its …