Illinois man charged with Chinese scholar kidnapping pleads not guilty

An Illinois man charged with kidnapping a female Chinese scholarwho has been missing for more than a month pleaded not guilty during an appearance in a U.S. court on Thursday.Brendt Christensen, 28, is accused of abducting Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old visiting scholar at the University of Illinois from southeastern China, who disappeared on June 9.Zhang, who had been studying photosynthesis and crop productivity, was last seen when a security camera recorded her getting into a black car that au