FALLON, Nev. — Two fighter jets from the U.S. Navy’s elite training school collided Friday over northern Nevada’s high desert, killing one pilot and injuring two others who parachuted to safety. The pilot who died was based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., a spokesman at Fallon Naval Air Station said. He was at the controls of an F/A-18C Hornet at the time of the crash. The two pilots who ejected from a two-seater F-5 Tiger were rescued about 50 miles east of the air station, another base spokesman said. They were in stable condition.
Michigan: Abortion ban vetoed
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has vetoed a ban on the medical procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion. Granholm’s veto Friday was expected. The Democrat has said she won’t support the law because it doesn’t allow the abortion method to be used if a mother’s health is in danger. The Legislature wrote the bill to mirror a federal law that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled was constitutional last year.
D.C.: Bush targets Kuwaiti charity
The Bush administration moved Friday to financially clamp down on a Kuwaiti charity accused of channeling money and other support to terrorist groups including al-Qaida. The Treasury Department’s action covers the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society headquartered in Kuwait. The department’s order means that any assets found in the United States belonging to the group must be frozen by banks. Americans also are forbidden from donating money or otherwise doing business with the group.
California: Manson killer ailing
Former Charles Manson follower Susan Atkins, convicted in the 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate, could soon be released from prison because she is near death, authorities said. Atkins, 59, is terminally ill and being considered for so-called “compassionate release,” a state corrections spokeswoman said. She gave no details of Atkins’ illness, but said a doctor had determined she had less than six months to live. Atkins has been denied parole 11 times, most recently in 2005.
New York: Five years for branding
A college student who branded a former lover’s body with a scalding piece of metal as payback for never calling her after they had sex was sentenced to five years in prison Friday. Kristina Caban, 23, had no comment as a state Supreme Court justice sentenced her for what he called a crime that was “not remotely justifiable.” The branding “iron” was actually a length of metal wire fashioned into a “R” — heated, and applied to the former lover’s torso, a Manhattan district attorney said. She said prosecutors did not know what the “R” stood for.
Japan: Two die in earthquake
A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked a rural area of northern Japan today, killing at least two people, triggering landslides and reportedly knocking down a bridge. News reports said dozens of people were injured. Two nuclear power plants in the area were undergoing inspections but there were no immediate reports of damage, an official said. Electricity had been cut to about 29,000 households in the quake zone, he said. There was no danger of tsunami. The 8:43 a.m. quake was centered in the northern state of Iwate, about 280 miles north of Tokyo.
Cuba: Suspect sent back to U.S.
Cuba on Friday turned over to U.S. authorities an American fugitive sought on charges of sexual abuse of a minor and possession of child pornography. Cuban authorities said they arrested Leonard B. Auerbach, a 61-year-old mortgage specialist from Orinda, Calif., on the island on May 7, acting on information from U.S. officials. Auerbach is the fourth American fugitive Cuba has deported to the United States since President Raul Castro first took provisional power from his ailing brother Fidel in July 2006.
Spain: Terror suspects jailed
A Spanish judge on Friday jailed six Algerians on provisional charges of aiding terror groups linked to al-Qaida in North Africa. The judge said the six helped recruit people, raise money and provide logistical support for a group called al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb. The six were charged with membership in a terrorist group. The judge said one of the six, Abdelghani Himmouri, had two timers ready to be used in bombs.
Police break up Russian mafia
Spanish police broke up a major Russian mafia gang Friday, arresting 20 people accused of laundering proceeds from crimes that include contract killings and arms and drug trafficking, officials said. More than 300 officers took part in the nationwide raids. The suspects lived in luxury in Spain and used bogus companies there to launder money from criminal activities in Russia and other former Soviet countries, the Interior Ministry said. The ministry said the suspects belonged to what it called the Tambov/Tamboskaya gang and described this as one the world’s important Russian mafia groups.
From Herald news services
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