Prosecution rests case in Edwards trial

Prosecution rests case in Edwards trial

GREENSBORO, N.C.

Prosecutors rested their campaign-fraud case against John Edwards on Thursday after 14 days of dramatic and often unflattering testimony that focused on the once- promising politician’s infidelity and the secret money they say he used to cover up the affair he feared would derail his presidential ambitions.

In its final act, federal prosecutors played a tape of a 2008 national television interview in which the Democrat repeatedly lied about his extramarital affair with the woman who was part of his campaign staff and denied fathering her baby.

The testimony repeatedly showed an unappealing side of Edwards, casting him as a liar and lousy husband. The question is whether prosecutors showed he violated campaign-finance laws in using nearly $1 million in undisclosed payments from two wealthy campaign donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House.

Russia says it foiled plot against Sochi

MOSCOW

Russia claimed it has foiled a plot to attack the host city of Sochi both before and during the 2014 Winter Olympics, saying its agents discovered caches of weapons that included grenade launchers and surface-to-air missiles.

Government security officials blamed Chechen separatists and neighboring Georgia in the plot, although Georgian officials denied any links with the militants and called Thursday’s accusations a sign of Moscow’s “severe paranoia.”

Experts on the Caucasus region added, however, that the tiny breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia, just a few miles east of Sochi on the Black Sea, could pose a realistic threat to the security of the games — a pet project of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Police: Suspect is dead; girls are OK

GUNTOWN, Miss.

A manhunt for a fugitive accused of kidnapping and a double-slaying ended Thursday after the suspect apparently shot himself and died. The girls he fled with are safe, police said.

Adam Mayes, 35, died Thursday evening after authorities acted on a tip and found him in the area near New Albany, Miss. When they went to arrest him, he shot himself in the head, said Guntown Police Chief Michael Hall.

The girls, Alexandra Bain, 12, and Kyliyah Bain, 8, were being taken to a hospital for observation, Hall said.

Mayes had been charged with first-degree murder in the April 27 deaths of Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her daughter, Adrienne, 14. Their bodies were found buried outside the Mayes home a week after they were reported missing by Jo Ann Bain’s husband.

Mayes’ wife, Teresa, also is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths.

FDA panel backs pill to prevent HIV

SILVER SPRING, Md.

The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of a panel of federal advisers Thursday, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS.

In a series of votes, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of the daily pill Truvada for healthy people who are at high risk of contracting HIV, including gay and bisexual men and heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner.

The FDA is not required to follow the panel’s advice, though it usually does. A final decision is expected by June 15.

Associated Press