WASHINGTON

Detainee in Afghanistan likely to be tried in Virginia

The Obama administration is preparing to transfer a military detainee in Afghanistan for criminal trial in Virginia, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The move would mark the first time a military detainee from Afghanistan was brought to the U.S. for trial, and it represents the Obama administration’s latest attempt to show that it can use the criminal court system to deal with terror suspects.

The prisoner, known as Irek Hamidullan, is a Russian veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan who defected to the Taliban and stayed in the country, U.S. officials said. He was captured in 2009 after an attack on Afghan border police and U.S. soldiers in Khost province, officials said.

BRUSSELS

EU sets climate change goals on emissions, energy

European leaders agreed early Friday to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the 28-nation bloc to at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

The deal was aimed at countering climate change and setting an example for the rest of the world ahead of key international climate negotiations next year.

A package agreed by leaders at an EU summit in the early hours of Friday after lengthy negotiations also requires climate-friendly, renewable energy to provide at least 27 percent of the bloc’s needs and demands that energy efficiency increase by at least 27 percent in the next 16 years.

The decision makes the EU the first major economy to set post-2020 emissions targets ahead of a global climate pact that is supposed to be adopted next year in Paris. Other countries including the U.S. and China are bound to be measured against the EU goals as they present their own emissions targets.

CLEVELAND

Arrest leads to cache of weapons, police gear

Authorities say they’ve seized dozens of guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and police equipment including badges, silencers and vehicles from the home of a man who tried to pull over a uniformed officer as he drove to work.

The man, David Scofield, is charged in Akron with misdemeanor counts of impersonating a police officer and carrying a concealed weapon.

Akron police say the officer was driving west on Interstate 76 around 4 a.m. on Oct. 14 when Scofield swerved in front of him and shined a spotlight on his vehicle from a car that looked like a police cruiser. The officer called 911, and the car was pulled over by officers from Akron and nearby Tallmadge.

Scofield’s attorney, Dennis DiMartino, said Scofield shined the spotlight on the officer’s license plate because he wanted to write down the number after the officer tailgated him and drove aggressively.

“I think the whole thing is basically the result of a lot of miscommunication, a lot of mixed signals,” DiMartino said.

– From news service reports