PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Patricia barreled toward southwestern Mexico Friday as a monster Category 5 storm, the strongest ever in the Western Hemisphere. Residents and tourists hunkered down or tried to make last-minute escapes ahead of what forecasters called a "potentially catastrophic landfall."
The storm was homing in on a Pacific coastline dotted with sleepy fishing villages and gleaming resorts, including the popular beach city of Puerto Vallarta and the port of Manzanillo. After hitting land, Patricia's projected path would quickly take it over mountainous terrain that is prone to dangerous flash floods and landslides.
HARTFORD, Conn. — An Iranian-American engineer who tried to send sensitive U.S. military documents to Iran received a sentence of more than eight years in prison from a federal court judge Friday, after prosecutors called for him to spend 10 years behind bars.
Mozaffar Khazaee, 61 and a former employee of U.S. defense contractors such as Pratt & Whitney, pleaded guilty in February to violating the Arms Export Control Act after he offered sensitive information to schools and officials in Iran while attempting to gain employment there, according to the FBI. The former resident of Manchester, a Hartford suburb, was sentenced to serve 97 months and pay a $50,000 fine by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant.
