LAPD: Knife was not murder weapon

LAPD: Knife was not murder weapon

LOS ANGELES

After nearly a month of testing, Los Angeles police detectives have concluded a knife found at the former estate of O.J. Simpson was not the weapon used to kill Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994.

Investigators ruled out the knife after weeks of forensic tests, Police Capt. Andy Neiman said Friday. “We have confirmed, we have determined, there is no nexus,” he said.

Police revealed last month they recently had discovered the knife had been in the possession of a retired Los Angeles police officer for more than a dozen years. The officer said he received it from a construction worker who told him he had found it while working on a crew tearing down Simpson’s old Brentwood estate.

Greece ready to deport migrants

ATHENS, Greece

Greece is pressing ahead with plans to start deporting migrants and refugees back to Turkey next week, despite mounting concern from the United Nations and human-rights organizations that Syrians could be denied proper protection while some purportedly are even being forced back into their war-torn country.

Lawmakers in Athens voted 169-107 Friday to back draft legislation, fast-tracked through parliament, to allow the returns to start as soon as Monday.

The operation would see migrants and refugees who arrived on Greek islands after March 20 put on boats and sent back to Turkey.

2 armed men killed by Baltimore officers

BALTIMORE

Police in Baltimore say a man and his 18-year-old son died after plainclothes officers opened fire on them when they found them aiming guns at someone across a street.

Police identified the men Friday at a news conference as 43-year-old Matthew V. Wood Jr. and his 18-year-old son, Kimani Johnson.

Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith said previously that special- operations unit officers were on patrol in an unmarked car Thursday when they happened upon the men, who had gotten out of a vehicle and were armed with a semiautomatic rifle and a handgun.

Friday afternoon, the department identified the officers as Officer Norman Jones and Sgt. Joseph Wiczulis. Smith says Jones is black and Wiczulis is white. He says the two men who were shot were black.

N. Korea fires missile

SEOUL, South Korea

North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea and tried to jam GPS navigation signals in South Korea, Seoul officials said, hours after U.S., South Korean and Japanese leaders pledged to work closer together to prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said today that authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un expressed “great satisfaction” after observing a successful live-fire test of a new anti-air weapons system.

Miss. bill allows denial of services to same-sex couples

JACKSON, Miss.

Government employees and private businesses in Mississippi could deny services to same-sex couples who want to marry under a bill passed by the House on Friday – one of numerous attempts across the country to enact so-called religious- protection statutes after a Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized gay marriage. Now, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant must decide whether to sign the bill into law.

Mississippi is among 10 states that have passed or are considering such legislation.

Associated Press