Judge: Enough evidence to charge cops in boy’s death


Judge: Enough evidence to charge cops in boy’s death

CLEVELAND

A judge said Thursday that enough evidence exists to charge two white policemen in the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old black boy who was holding a pellet gun, a largely symbolic ruling because he can’t compel prosecutors to charge them.

Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine ruled there’s probable cause to charge rookie officer Timothy Loehmann with murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide or dereliction of duty in the November shooting death of Tamir Rice. And he ruled there’s evidence to charge Loehmann’s partner, Frank Garmback, with reckless homicide or dereliction of duty.

The judge made his ruling after activists submitted affidavits asking the court to rule there’s enough evidence to charge the officers in Tamir’s death.

3 astronauts return from space station

DZHEZKAZGAN, Kazakhstan

A three-person crew from the International Space Station landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Thursday after a longer-than-expected orbital stint.

NASA astronaut Terry Virts, Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency and Russia’s Anton Shkaplerov returned to Earth after 199 days on the station, nearly a month longer than planned.

Because of the delayed return, Cristoforetti, an Italian, has spent more continuous time in space than any other woman, surpassing by several days the mark set by a NASA astronaut in 2007.

Aziz’s body is missing, family says

AMMAN, Jordan

The body of Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein’s former top aide who died last week in prison in Iraq, went missing Thursday after it was snatched in Baghdad while en route to Jordan for burial, Aziz’s daughter said.

Aziz’s daughter Zeinab said she was told by her mother – who was in Iraq and waited to accompany the coffin to Jordan – that his body went missing at the Baghdad International Airport. No further details were immediately known.

A Royal Jordanian official confirmed that the last flight left Baghdad on Thursday without Aziz’s casket. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Final push to kill Obama trade bill

WASHINGTON

Union-backed Democrats launched a last-ditch effort Thursday to scuttle President Barack Obama’s trade agenda by sacrificing a favored program of their own that retrains workers displaced by international trade.

The retraining program is linked to the Democrats’ real target: legislation to help Obama advance multi-nation trade agreements. In hopes of bringing down the whole package, which they say imperils jobs at home, numerous House Democrats said they would vote today against the retraining measure.

Family receives body of American who died fighting IS

BEIRUT

The body of an American who died fighting with Kurdish forces against the Islamic State group in Syria was handed over Thursday to his family at a Turkish border crossing, a Kurdish official said.

Hundreds of people turned up in the Kurdish town of Kobani to bid farewell to Keith Broomfield before his body was handed over to family at the Mursitpinar gate, said Idriss Naasan.

Broomfield, from Massachusetts, died June 3 in battle in a Syrian village near Kobani, making him likely the first U.S. citizen to die fighting alongside Kurds against the Islamic State group.

Associated Press

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