3 arrested in alleged bomb plot targeting Somalis

3 arrested in alleged bomb plot targeting Somalis

WICHITA, Kan.

Three members of a Kansas militia group were charged Friday with plotting to bomb an apartment complex that’s home to Somali immigrants in the western Kansas meatpacking town of Garden City, a thwarted attack prosecutors say was planned for the day after the November election.

The arrests were the culmination of an eight-month FBI investigation that took agents “deep into a hidden culture of hatred and violence,” Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.

A complaint unsealed Friday charges Curtis Wayne Allen, 49; Patrick Eugene Stein, 47; and Gavin Wayne Wright, 49, with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.

La. parents angry about strip search of students

NEW ORLEANS

The ACLU is looking into complaints from north Louisiana parents who say their teenage children were held after school and strip-searched when a student reported the loss of $42.

Melinda Ponder says her 15-year-old daughter was ordered to strip down to her bra and panties in the classroom at Caldwell High School in Columbia, 30 miles south of Monroe. Ponder said boys were taken to a bathroom where they were told to drop their pants.

Ponder said her husband filed an online complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana.

Nations reach deal to reduce HFCs

KIGALI, Rwanda

Environmental groups say nations have reached a deal to limit the use of greenhouse gases far more powerful than carbon dioxide as part of efforts to fight climate change.

At issue are hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are used in air conditioners and refrigerators. Observers say the agreement, set to be announced early Saturday, would cap the use of HFCs beginning in 2019, led by developing countries. Developing countries including China would start taking action in 2024.

Russia seeks to lower expectations before Syria talks

MOSCOW

Russia’s foreign minister sought Friday to lower expectations before another round of international talks on Syria as fighting continued in the besieged city of Aleppo.

Sergey Lavrov is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from several other nations in Lausanne, Switzerland today.The meeting will be the first face-to-face contact between the two men since Washington suspended bilateral diplomatic contact with Moscow earlier this month.

A U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire last month collapsed in less than a week amid renewed fighting for Aleppo, where Russian warplanes are backing the Syrian army offensive.

Newtown families’ lawsuit against gun maker dismissed

HARTFORD, Conn.

A judge on Friday dismissed a wrongful-death lawsuit by Newtown families against the maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre, citing an embattled federal law that shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products.

State Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis granted a motion by Remington Arms to strike the lawsuit by the families of nine children and adults killed and a teacher who survived the Dec. 14, 2012, school attack.

Associated Press