• By EMILY SHAPIRO

The mother of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy who was shot dead by a Cleveland police officer last year, is calling for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office to step aside and is asking for a special prosecutor to take control of the criminal investigation into her son's death.

"Since the senseless shooting of my son Tamir Rice I have had many sleepless nights and days," Samaria Rice said at a news conference in Cleveland today, appearing alongside her attorneys. "Almost a year now, no justice, no peace."

Rice said she is "disappointed" in how the prosecutor is handling the case. Rice added that she is praying the public continues to ask questions and seek the truth.

Tamir was holding a toy gun when officer Timothy Loehmann shot him at a Cleveland, Ohio, playground in November 2014.

Reports from two outside experts who examined the use of deadly force in the case were released last weekend by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and concluded that the shooting was "reasonable."

The reports from the experts, who had been retained by Cleveland prosecutors, come before a grand jury will decide whether criminal charges are warranted in Tamir's death.

Tamir's cousin Latonya Goldsby said today she believes the reports' findings were "biased and partial."

Goldsby accused Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty of "obstructing justice" and said McGinty should be replaced with a special prosecutor, or there should be a federal investigation.

An attorney for Rice said today that the flaws in the reports were too numerous to recite at the news conference and that they are instead set out in a detailed letter to the prosecutor.

Rice considers the reports "pro-police and fundamentally flawed," according to a Thursday release from her attorney.

Rice and her attorney claim the reports "ignored crucial facts and were skewed in favor of exonerating the officers."

Joseph Frolik, Director of Communications and Public Policy for the Prosecutor's Office, provided this statement to ABC News today on behalf of Prosecutor McGinty:

"The policy of the County Prosecutor’s Office is to make the evidence in fatal use of force cases by police public before a decision on charging is made. Whatever the outcome of a case, the public should not be surprised by -- or unaware of the basis for -- any decision.

By ending the culture of secrecy that formerly surrounded these cases and taking all deaths at the hands of police to the Grand Jury for review, we expect to improve community confidence and to significantly reduce the number of unnecessary deaths. There will be fewer mistakes and fewer deaths.

The entire case, including all the facts that we and the various investigative teams can find, will be given to the Grand Jury which must act according to the law as laid down by the Supreme Court.

No stone will be left unturned in our search for truth and justice. Some parties may be displeased with evidence or reports as they are disclosed, but by making them public before conclusion, there is an opportunity to correct errors. We have confidence in the integrity of the Grand Jury and believe that justice can be achieved."

(abcnews.go)

A new Iranian precision-guided ballistic missile is launched as it is tested at an undisclosed location October 11, 2015. REUTERS/farsnews.com/Handout via Reuters

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has confirmed that Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon, in "clear violation" of a United Nations Security Council ban on ballistic missile tests, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

"The United States is deeply concerned about Iran's recent ballistic missile launch," the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said in a statement.

"After reviewing the available information, we can confirm that Iran launched on Oct. 10 a medium-range ballistic missile inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon," she said. "This was a clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929."

The United States is preparing a report on the incident for the Security Council's Iran Sanctions Committee and will raise the matter directly with Security Council members "in the coming days," Power said.

Council diplomats have told Reuters it was possible to sanction additional Iranian individuals or entities by adding them to an existing U.N. blacklist. However, they noted that Russia and China, which have opposed the sanctions on Iran's missile program, might block any such moves.

"The Security Council prohibition on Iran's ballistic missile activities, as well as the arms embargo, remain in place," Power said. "We will continue to press the Security Council for an appropriate response to Iran's disregard for its international obligations."

Ballistic missile tests by Iran are banned under Security Council resolution 1929, which was adopted in 2010 and remains valid until a nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers goes into effect. Under that deal, reached on July 14, most sanctions on Iran will be lifted in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

The missile test is not a violation of the nuclear deal, which focuses on Iran's atomic program, U.S. officials have said. Speaking to reporters in Washington, President Barack Obama acknowledged that the nuclear deal does not fully resolve all areas of dispute with Tehran.

"So we are going to have to continue to put pressure on them through the international community," he said.

Once the deal takes effect, Iran will still be "called upon" to refrain from undertaking any work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for a period of up to eight years, according to a Security Council resolution adopted in July.

Countries would be allowed to transfer missile technology and heavy weapons to Iran on a case-by-case basis with council approval.

However, in July a U.S. official called this provision meaningless and said the United States would veto any suggested transfer of ballistic missile technology to Iran.

On Sunday, the United States, the European Union and Iran are expected to announce a series of measures to comply with the nuclear deal that will take effect once the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency confirms Iranian compliance with terms of the agreement.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington; Editing by Richard Chang and Leslie Adler)

The Islamic State group is paying supporters up to $10,000 for each person that they recruit to wage jihad in Syria and Iraq, UN experts said Friday after a visit to Belgium, one of the main countries of origin for so-called foreign fighters.

Elzbieta Karska, who chairs a UN group studying the issue, said IS is using social media and informal networks of friends and family, with many of them in Syria, to recruit new jihadists in Belgium.

The UN experts learned from Belgian contacts that 500 foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria originated in Belgium, the highest per capita of any EU country, she added.

“We have heard? about situations where recruiters were paid from two, three thousand to 10,000 dollars depending on… who was recruited,” Karska told a press conference in Brussels, adding the findings were preliminary.

“If somebody was well educated like computer specialists or doctors, they were paid more,” the Polish human rights lawyer added.

Her colleague Patricia Arias, a Chilean lawyer, added “they are paid by Daesh,” the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

The Belgian-based extremist group Sharia4Belgium enlisted the first wave of recruits for Syria in 2010, according to Karska’s UN body, which was set up by the Geneva-based UN Commission on Human Rights.

With Sharia4Belgium now broken up and many of its members jailed, recruiting has changed.

In the last year, “the key method of recruitment is reportedly through informal networks of friends and family, and through social media,” Karska said.

“A significant degree of recruitment currently occurs through friends and family in Syria, who are also paid on the basis of the number of persons they recruit and on whether the recruits subsequently marry,” she said.

Karska and Arias said an increasing number of women or girls is leaving Belgium to marry jihadists or care for those who are ill or wounded, but some may actually fight.

They had no figures on how many women had left Belgium, but said the number of boys and men departing for jihad had declined from about 10 per month three years ago to about four or five per month today.

Their average age is 23 years old and declining, Karska said.

The working group led a fact-finding visit to Tunisia a few months ago and plans a third trip in March to Ukraine, where the Western-backed government in Kiev is fighting pro-Russian rebels in the east.

The final report is due next year.

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Turkey confirms it shot down drone near Syrian border

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish fighter jets shot down an unidentified drone which entered its air space near the Syrian border, with the US military saying "all indications" showed that the unmanned vehicle was Russian.

If confirmed, the presence of a Russian craft in the air space of the key NATO member would further ratchet up tensions over Moscow's behaviour in Syria. Russia denied it was to blame, despite repeated previous violations.

The Turkish army said that the craft had been warned three times by Turkish planes but had maintained course.

It was then "downed by fire from our aircraft on patrol, according to the rules of engagement."

The statement did not say if the downed aircraft was manned or a drone. But a Turkish official told AFP in Ankara it was an "unmanned aircraft".

The army warned the air force would "decisively" implement Turkey's rules of engagement.

The US military believes the drone downed by Turkey was Russian, a US official said in Washington.

"All indications are, yes, it is a Russian drone," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official added there were no reports of the Syrian army using the type of drone that was shot down.

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A Turkish army statement did not say if the downed aircraft was manned or a drone, but an official t …

Television pictures showed the military examining the crash site by the village of Deliosman in the southern Kilis region on the Syrian border.

The state-run Anatolia news agency published pictures of what it said was the downed craft lying upside down in the grass, showing it to be a small vehicle just a few feet in length.

It appeared to be a drone used for reconnaissance operations.

Analysts said that the drone was similar to drones used by pro-Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, some of which had been shot down.

"A good working assumption is that it's Russian," said Nick de Larrinaga, Europe editor of IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, adding it was nonetheless different to a Russian Orlan 10 drone.

- 'Could cause accidents' -

But Russia's military on Friday said all its planes in Syria had returned safely to base and its drones were "working as normal".

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A Turkish warplane takes off from the Incirlik Air Base near Adana (AFP Photo/)

"All the Russian planes in Syria have returned to the Hmeimim air base after completing their tasks," defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies.

"Russian unmanned aerial vehicles monitoring the situation on the territory of Syria and carrying out air reconnaissance are working as normal."

Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu said Ankara had still not identified the drone. "We will announce once the nationality is clarified," he said.

He said the drone had fallen three kilometres (1.85 miles) inside Turkish territory.

Turkey had earlier this month bitterly complained about two violations of its air space by Russian warplanes operating in Syria.

A NATO official said Turkey had not asked for NATO assistance or consultations over the downing.

"We understand that Turkish authorities are investigating the origin of the unidentified drone that was shot down," said the official in Brussels.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had warned on October 5 after the Russian air space violation that Ankara would activate military rules of engagement irrespective of who violates its air space.

"The Turkish armed forces are clearly instructed. Even it is a flying bird it will be intercepted," Davutoglu said.

Turkey supports the moderate opposition in Syria and has been infuriated by Moscow's bombing campaign to support President Bashar al-Assad.

Sinirlioglu said that the Russian air strikes had not been aimed at striking at Islamic State (IS) jihadists and were simply seeking to prop up the regime.

"This is not a method that will ensure Syria's unity. Nothing will emerge other than protracting existing chaos and war and more human losses," he said.

Sinirlioglu said the Russian strikes near the Turkish border could lead to dangerous situations. "This is a serious issue that could lead to accidents."