USA

CHICAGO (AP) — A multiday sentencing hearing began Monday in Chicago and focused on whether FBI agents manipulated a mentally fragile teenager to participate in a terrorist plot or whether he had long before shown an eagerness to kill.

Prosecutors called an FBI agent to the witness stand to tell Adel Daoud’s sentencing judge that Daoud posted social media comments inquiring about attacking non-Muslims more than a year before undercover agents ever engaged him as part of a sting.

GREECE, N.Y. (AP) — The arrest of three young men and a teen on charges of plotting to attack a Muslim settlement in upstate New York has raised a number of questions. Here’s what we know about suspects Vincent Vetromile, Andrew Crysel, Andrew Colaneri and a 16-year-old The Associated Press is not naming because of his age. All have pleaded not guilty. Their families declined comment, and defense lawyers did not return calls for comment.

VETROMILE:

1 May 2019 (AP) - A Michigan college student says pro-Trump agitators recruited him to falsely claim he was raped by Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, then published the smear without his permission.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are steeling for an extraordinary fight with President Donald Trump as the White House stonewalls congressional oversight demands in the aftermath of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

In the latest case, Trump, his family and the Trump Organization have filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and Capital One attempting to thwart congressional subpoenas into his financial and business dealings, asserting the requests are out of bounds.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare moment of bipartisanship in polarized Washington, President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to work toward a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to rebuild roads and bridges, provide clean water and extend broadband coverage — but they put off the thorny matter of how to pay for it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. government searches of travelers’ cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings nearly quadrupled since 2015 and were being done for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement, according to papers filed Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that claims scouring the electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is pledging to expedite the removal of weapons-grade plutonium secretly hauled to Nevada last year as the state and Trump administration remain locked in a court battle about whether the shipment was legal.

The Energy Department intends to start removing the highly radioactive material in 2021 and finish by the end of 2026, Perry said in an April 24 letter to U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to outlaw almost all abortions in the state as conservatives took aim at the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted 74-3 for legislation that would make it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage in a woman’s pregnancy. The proposal passed after Democrats walked out of the chamber after sometimes emotional debate with opponents and supporters crowding the gallery. The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration quickly declared enthusiastic support Tuesday for the Venezuelan opposition effort to spark a military uprising against embattled President Nicolas Maduro, hoping for decisive action in the political crisis that has engulfed the South American nation.

Late in the day, President Donald Trump threatened a “full and complete embargo” and sanctions on Cuba if its troops do not cease operations in Venezuela. National security adviser John Bolton alleged earlier that Cuban troops were keeping Maduro in power in Caracas.

CHICAGO, April 30 (Xinhua): Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found in mice that treatment with an antibiotic reduces the size of lesions caused by endometriosis.

Studying mice, the researchers found that some of the gut microbes linked to bowel problems also feature prominently in endometriosis. When they treated the mice with the broad-spectrum antibiotic metronidazole, the lesions became smaller, and inflammation also was reduced.