Report: Blue Angels plane crashes in show
BEAUFORT, S.C., April 21 (UPI) -- A jet with the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels precision flight team crashed during an air show Saturday in South Carolina.
The Buford County coroner's office confirmed one person was killed but it was not known who the victim was, CNN reported.
Scott Houston told CNN he was watching the air show from a boat about a mile away from the crash site.
"There were six airplanes that flew below the tree line and when they came back up there were only five and there was a big cloud of black smoke," Houston said.
Houston said he thought the planes were preparing to land in formation at the time.
Fred Yelinick, another witness, told CNN that the aircraft, believed to be an F-18, split apart after hitting a pine tree. He said debris struck houses and cars, but he did not know if anyone on the ground had been injured.
A state trooper said he had heard the pilot ejected before the crash but could not confirm it.
Charges urged in U.K. peerage scandal
LONDON, April 21 (UPI) -- British police recommend prosecuting a Labor Party official in a simmering cash-for-honors scandal unfolding within the party.
In an exclusive story Saturday, the London Daily Mail said a file on the probe by Scotland Yard had been turned over to the Crown Prosecution Service. The 216-page report purports to demand the prosecution of Labor fundraiser Lord Michael Levy, Downing Street aide Ruth Turner and millionaire Sir Christopher Evans.
The scandal involves the alleged trading of peerage titles for donations to the party.
Scotland Yard detectives concluded that after a 13-month investigation in which about 136 people were interviewed as witnesses or suspects, there was sufficient evidence to begin prosecutions.
The Mail's sources said the dossier states "unequivocally" that officers believe Levy, who is Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief fundraiser, Turner and Evans "should face criminal charges."
The newspaper said Levy and Turner were arrestd separately on claims they tried to "sell honors and pervert the course of justice." Evans was detained over allegations concerning the abuse of the honors system.
All parties have denied any wrongdoing.
Charges urged in SoCal suicide try
LONG BEACH, Calif., April 21 (UPI) -- Authorities in Long Beach, Calif., are recommending that a man who set himself on fire in a failed suicide attempt at city hall be charged with arson.
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the man, who doused himself with gasoline and set himself ablaze at the Long Beach City Hall Thursday, could be charged with attempted arson and arson with great bodily injury should the Los Angeles County district attorney's office decide to press forward. Haouy Nguyen, 50, Fountain Valley, was listed in stable condition.
Police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said the city's arson unit was expected to present the case to the prosecutors' office sometime next week.
"It will then be up to the D.A. to determine what, if any, charges to file," Pratt said. "But we believe that what he did was serious."
There is no known motive for Nguyen's suicide attempt, although he reportedly said "I want to kill myself" before igniting himself with gasoline with a cigarette lighter.
Man held for taking nuclear data to Iran
PHOENIX, April 21 (UPI) -- A former worker at a U.S. nuclear power plant has been arrested for allegedly taking software containing design details of the plant to Iran.
Mohammad Alavi was arrested in Los Angeles this month on charges of violating the U.S. trade embargo against Iran. There was no evidence the data got into the hands of terrorists or could compromise plant security.
Alavi is a naturalized American citizen and was an engineer at the Palo Verde plant in Arizona for 16 years before resigning in August, the Arizona Republic reported. He was denied bail at a hearing Friday.
The Republic said Saturday that the information Alavi allegedly took with him on a trip to his native Iran included details of the Palo Verde reactors and control rooms.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the information was not a threat to plant security. The FBI said there was no evidence the data had been turned over to terrorists or a foreign government.
The United States and Iran have been at odds over Iran's nuclear-power program, which Washington contends is actually a front for weapons development.
