F-22 crashes, killing pilot
F-22 crashes, killing pilot
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — One of the Air Force’s top-of-the-line F-22 fighter jets crashed Wednesday in the high desert of Southern California, killing a test pilot for prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.
The F-22A Raptor crashed at 10 a.m. about 35 miles northeast of Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. The Bureau of Land Management identifies the area as Harper Dry Lake, a vast and empty expanse of marshy flat land.
The pilot was David Cooley, 49, a 21-year Air Force veteran who joined Lockheed Martin in 2003, the company said.
Obama’s EPA pick withdraws
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s pick for the No. 2 post at the Environmental Protection Agency abruptly removed himself from consideration Wednesday, saying the controversy surrounding a foundation he once belonged to would distract from the agency’s work.
Jon Cannon, a professor of environmental law at the University of Virginia and the former top EPA lawyer, said he was withdrawing as the nominee for deputy EPA administrator because the nonprofit America’s Clean Water Foundation had become the subject of scrutiny. Cannon once served on the now-defunct organization’s board of directors.
French workers hold 3M manager hostage
PARIS — French workers burned tires, marched on the presidential palace and held a manager of U.S. manufacturer 3M hostage Wednesday as anger mounted over job cuts and executive bonuses.
Rising public outrage at employers on both sides of the Atlantic has been triggered by executives cashing in bonus checks even as their companies were kept afloat with billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money and unemployment soars.
As the U.S. administration seeks ways of recouping some of the $165 million in bonuses paid to executives at insurance giant American International Group Inc., kept afloat by $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is threatening new laws on bonuses.
Suspected U.S. missile kills 8 in Pakistan
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. missile attack killed eight militants including several foreigners Wednesday in the stronghold of Pakistan’s top Taliban commander, intelligence officials said.
The strike came as President Barack Obama’s administration prepares to unveil a new strategy to quell Islamist insurgents threatening nuclear-armed Pakistan as well as neighboring Afghanistan and to keep the pressure on al-Qaida leaders in the region.
Bomb kills 10 in Afghanistan
KABUL — One roadside bomb killed 10 civilians Wednesday in a van along a route used by foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan while another wounded three Australian troops — highlighting a tactic increasingly favored by Taliban militants.
The roadside bombings show the dangers that will be faced by the additional 17,000 U.S. troops President Barack Obama has pledged to send to Afghanistan this year to battle resurgent Taliban militants in the country’s south.
Priest sentenced to 4 years in church theft
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida priest convicted of stealing money from his church was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison, the second cleric to be imprisoned for taking thousands of dollars from the same congregation.
The Rev. Francis Guinan, 66, was found guilty in February of second-degree grand theft.
Prosecutors had charged him with stealing $488,000 from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. But jurors found him guilty on the lesser charge of stealing under $100,000.
Richardson’s family donates her organs
LOS ANGELES — People.com is reporting that Natasha Richardson’s family has donated the actress’s organs to save other patients’ lives.
Citing a “family friend” it did not name, the celebrity Web site said Richardson’s family had requested her organs be donated after she was taken off life support last week. The report did not say whether any patient had received them.
Richardson died March 18 of a head injury after a fall during a beginners’ ski lesson in Montreal.
She was buried at a private ceremony in upstate New York over the weekend.
Associated Press