Navy

(Newser) - A judge sentenced Chinese-born engineer Chi Mak to 24 years in prison today for conspiring to send US military data to China, the Los Angeles Times reports. A US assistant attorney argued that Mak, 67, had violated US law even though the data on Navy submarines was not classified. Mak, a naturalized US citizen, proclaimed his love for America and vowed to appeal, Bloomberg reports. More »

(Newser) - The military pays $500,000 to the next of kin of every soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the sudden injection of cash during a time of grief often throws survivors off balance. Young military spouses can struggle with money management and long-lost friends and relatives sometimes appear asking for handouts. Some military kin have quickly ended up destitute. More »

(Newser) - US troops are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with epidemic rates of hearing damage, AP reports, with 128,000 disabled by permanent hearing loss or tinnitus, ringing in the ears. The nature of the current conflict is part of the problem, with roadside bombs and sudden ambushes giving troops no chance to use protective equipment. "They can't say, Wait a minute, let me put my earplugs in,'" said a Navy specialist. "They are in the fight of their lives." More »

(Newser) - A jury in Connecticut convicted a former Navy sailor today of passing along classified information about US ships in the Persian Gulf to terrorists, the AP reports. Prosecutors said Phoenix native Hassan Abu-Jihaad, 32, sent details about naval ship movements to a group affiliated with al-Qaeda in April of 2001. The FBI says no attacks resulted from the leak. More »

(Newser) - A suicide attack at one of Pakistan's premier military academies has left at least seven people dead and 19 injured. The blast in the parking lot of Lahore's Naval War College set off explosions in the gasoline tanks of neighboring cars and sparked a fire, Reuters reports. Today's bombing, the fourth in five days, poses a serious challenge to the incoming government, reports AFP. More »

(Newser) - A top al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, said to be responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, was killed last week when his car was struck by a missile fired by a US helicopter, officials revealed yesterday. Abu Yasir al-Saudi, from Saudi Arabia, was in charge of  operations in southeast Mosul. His death brought to 142 the number of al-Qaeda in  Iraq members killed or captured in Mosul in the last two months. More »

(Newser) - The US Navy is not exempt from laws that ban whale-harming sonar, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Bush administration had contested an earlier ruling, arguing that halting sonar use when whales are nearby poses "significant restrictions on our ability to train realistically." Whales and dolphins have been found dead of bleeding around the brain near training sites, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

(Newser) - A recent media flap about John McCain's citizenship is a non-issue, the candidate says. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone while his father served there in the Navy, which makes him a natural-born citizen and qualifies him to run for president, the AP reports. His camp recently sought a legal analysis on the matter, and a New York Times article got pundits speculating. More »

(Newser) - The US Navy's destruction of a spy satellite on Wednesday continues to stir doubts both domestically and internationally, reports the New York Times. China issued an explicit warning yesterday, and Russia has raised questions. “The geopolitical fallout of this intercept could be far greater than any chemical fallout that would have resulted from the wayward satellite,” said House Homeland Security Committee member Edward Markey. More »