A man was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for running an unlicensed money-transfer business that sent $5 million to Yemen. Mohamed Albanna of Lackawanna arranged the transfers from his Buffalo cigarette and candy business from 1999 to 2002. A U.S. attorney said authorities did not allege that the money transferred went to support terrorism but could not rule it out. Albanna, a leader in Buffalo’s Arab-American community, has said the money was sent from Yemeni-Americans in the United States to relatives.
California: F-18 fighter jet crashes
An F-18 Hornet fighter jet crashed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Thursday, but the pilot ejected and escaped injury, authorities said. The pilot was found conscious near the wreckage of the jet, which crashed around noon in an unpopulated, hilly area of the base and triggered a brush fire that burned about five acres, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said. A witness told KUSI-TV that the pilot ejected after the nose of the aircraft pitched down, and that the jet plummeted straight down to the ground.
New Mexico: Missile a success
The Japanese military successfully tested a new surface-to-air defensive missile in a live training exercise for the first time Thursday in a remote area of Fort Bliss. The Chu-SAM missile was launched about 30 miles northeast of El Paso, Texas, at McGregor Range. The missile, manufactured by Mitsubishi Electronics, is designed to knock down aircraft, air-to-surface missiles and cruise missiles. The Chu-SAM will replace the HAWK missiles that Japanese defense forces have relied on since 1965.
D.C.: Health warning on Paxil
Pregnant women and those who plan to become pregnant should avoid taking the antidepressant Paxil if possible because of the risk of birth defects, a group of obstetricians said Thursday. The opinion issued by the obstetric practice committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists comes nearly a year after the Food and Drug Administration and manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline reclassified the drug to reflect studies in pregnant women that showed the drug poses a risk to the fetus.
From Herald news services
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