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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting.
The family of a Charlotte, North Carolina, man shot and killed by police this week, Keith Lamont Scott, has released cell phone video footage that Scott's wife recorded in the moments leading up to Tuesday's fatal shooting. "Don't shoot him. Don't shoot him. He has no weapon." The cell phone video does not show whether Scott was brandishing a gun when he was being confronted by officers. However, his wife can be heard pleading with officers not to shoot him and for her husband to get out of his vehicle. As the standoff continues, she is heard insisting that he is unarmed as police demand eleven times that Scott drop the gun. Gun shots then ring out and Scott can be seen lying prone in the street. Scott was killed Tuesday in a parking lot of an apartment complex by an African-American officer who was there to arrest someone else. Meanwhile, the lawyer for a police officer charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, says his client is known for her coolness under fire. Scott Wood represents Betty Shelby, a 9-year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department who was involved in the shooting. "The department has picked her to train new officers, and people will tell you this isn't Betty Shelby to overreact to a situation." Shelby was charged with first degree manslaughter after she shot and killed Terence Cruthcher during a traffic stop. Lawyers for Cruthcher's family say they want his case to start a nationwide change of attitude in police departments. Shelby is free after posting $50,000 bond. A funeral for Terence Cruthcher will be held in the next few days. This is VOA news. At least 30 people have been killed when airstrikes hit rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Aleppo Friday. Witnesses say the intensified bombing campaign targeted residential areas and buildings used by the volunteer group known as the "White Helmets." Activists say that both Syrian and Russian planes took part in the bombing, but Russia has not confirmed its involvement. Russia supports the Syrian regime. The United States and its allies support the opposition. President Obama has vetoed a bill that would allow families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia for support of terrorism. Most of the attackers in September of 2001 were Saudi but the bill passed the U.S. Congress. However, Mr. Obama said that it would harm relations with allies. He said it could encourage foreign nations to take reciprocal legal action against the United States and could complicate relations with what he called "even our closest partners." The president acknowledged that there was nothing he could do to ease the grief of the 9/11 families. Mr. Obama's veto could be over turned if two-thirds of the House of the Representatives and the Senate vote to do so. The death toll from a migrant boat that capsized off of Egypt's shores this week continues to rise. Egyptian state media say that more than 145 bodies have been pulled from the water, many of them women and children. ??? was one of those on board. He says that "all of my friends are going to Italy and they are working there. And so a group of my friends and I also wanted to emigrate and work there because here there is no work. So we left to go there." On Wednesday, more 160 people were rescued in the hours after the vessel overturned not far from Rosetta, or Rashid, a port city where the Nile River meets the Mediterranean Sea. The boat was believed to be carrying between 450 and 600 people. The two presidential candidates are spending the next few days preparing for Monday's first debate in New York. Democrat Hillary Clinton announced Friday she would take some time out of her preparations to visit Charlotte, North Carolina. Republican Donald Trump is taking a [more] non-traditional approach, shunning briefing materials in favor of viewing Clinton videos and honing ideas into short responses. And on Friday, one long-time rivals, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, announced that he was endorsing Donald Trump. A down day on Wall Street, with all three major indices lower. European and Asian stocks also finishing trading on the downside. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |