:00:00. > :00:13.Syria's President Assad gives a rare interview.
:00:14. > :00:16.He says he's not laying siege to Aleppo, not
:00:17. > :00:18.using barrel bombs - and not responsible
:00:19. > :00:30.I believe that the United States is not genuine regarding having
:00:31. > :00:34.cessation of violence in Syria. in North Carolina leaves one person
:00:35. > :00:38.critically injured and the city of Charlotte under
:00:39. > :00:46.a state of emergency. Joy for the families of survivors,
:00:47. > :00:50.but hundreds are thought to have died after a migrant boat sinks off
:00:51. > :00:54.Egypt - four crew are arrested. The Syrian boy whose picture went
:00:55. > :00:56.viral is offered a new home in the United States
:00:57. > :01:04.by a six-year-old. Dear President Obama, remember the
:01:05. > :01:09.boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please
:01:10. > :01:21.go get him and bring him to our home?
:01:22. > :01:26.40,000 people are arriving into a suburb of the Syrian
:01:27. > :01:31.The first major delivery of aid in Syria this month comes
:01:32. > :01:34.as fresh fighting breaks out across the country.
:01:35. > :01:36.In an interview today, Syria's President Assad
:01:37. > :01:40.was uncompromising - saying his enemies alone,
:01:41. > :01:42.including the US, are to blame for the devastation
:01:43. > :01:57.Around Aleppo last night there was anything but a ceasefire.
:01:58. > :01:58.These unverified pictures show warplanes
:01:59. > :02:05.dropping bombs in what is said to be rebel held territory.
:02:06. > :02:07.At least 45 people were reported to have died.
:02:08. > :02:11.And elsewhere in Syria, including the central provinces,
:02:12. > :02:27.there seems little left of what truce there was.
:02:28. > :02:29.In an interview with the Associated Press News Agency,
:02:30. > :02:32.Denying he was besieging eastern Aleppo, and
:02:33. > :02:34.denying he was using barrel bombs to kill civilians.
:02:35. > :02:36.A bomb is a bomb, what is the difference between
:02:37. > :02:44.When you use it, use it to defend the civilians, you kill terrorists
:02:45. > :02:50.You do not have the moral incentive, we do
:02:51. > :02:56.The war, he said, would drag on, whilst outside
:02:57. > :03:01.And he blamed America for the breakdown of latest
:03:02. > :03:04.I believe the United States is not genuine regarding the
:03:05. > :03:19.As FOR the attack on Monday which destroyed a
:03:20. > :03:26.humanitarian convoy and killed 28 workers, he denied any involvement.
:03:27. > :03:28.Regarding the claim of the White House yesterday accusing
:03:29. > :03:30.either the Syrian or the
:03:31. > :03:32.Russians in that regard, I would say, what I can officially
:03:33. > :03:34.say about the conflicts in Syria, they have no
:03:35. > :03:36.credibility, whatever they say, it is just lies.
:03:37. > :03:38.Today, his forces gained control of yet more
:03:39. > :03:42.As more than 100 rebel fighters and their families were
:03:43. > :03:50.evacuated from opposition health districts in Homs.
:03:51. > :03:52.evacuated from opposition heald districts in Homs.
:03:53. > :03:54.Elsewhere, a United Nations aid convoy did get
:03:55. > :03:55.through to rebel holds about the Damascus.
:03:56. > :03:58.But so far, none has been allowed into Aleppo, something the
:03:59. > :04:08.Please, President Assad, do your bit to enable us to
:04:09. > :04:11.get to eastern Aleppo and also the other besieged areas.
:04:12. > :04:13.But aid will reach here only if there is a
:04:14. > :04:17.And although there will be yet more talks in the UN this
:04:18. > :04:19.evening, there are a few hopes that the fighting
:04:20. > :04:30.My colleague Laura Trevelyan is at the United Nations.
:04:31. > :04:36.Laura, James said there will be more talks at the United Nations, between
:04:37. > :04:41.the US and Russia but it's a tense time, isn't it? It is. What is
:04:42. > :04:45.happening this afternoon is the US and Russia will lead talks of an
:04:46. > :04:52.international group of 20 countries who will come together on Syria. But
:04:53. > :04:57.the principles are indeed the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and
:04:58. > :05:01.his Russian counterpart, Bobby Lovgren. They were at loggerheads
:05:02. > :05:06.yesterday, so the question is what can they do to revive the ceasefire
:05:07. > :05:11.deal that came into effect last Monday and is now in tatters? Other
:05:12. > :05:16.countries in the Syria group will tell you it is down to what the
:05:17. > :05:21.Americans and Russia can agree. If they can revive the ceasefire
:05:22. > :05:24.agreement and lead to a round of talks in Geneva, that would be
:05:25. > :05:30.something. The Russians suggested that there could be a three-day
:05:31. > :05:33.pause, that has been quoted. And meanwhile, the Americans suggested
:05:34. > :05:37.that there should be a pause in military operations over key areas
:05:38. > :05:43.of Syria where aid is being delivered. Is there wriggleroom?
:05:44. > :05:44.We'll see what happens after the meeting due to start in the next
:05:45. > :05:51.hour. Thank you very much. Charlotte's police chief says
:05:52. > :05:55.he sees no reason to impose a curfew in North Carolina's largest city,
:05:56. > :05:57.even after two nights of violent protests after the shooting
:05:58. > :06:00.of a black man by a police officer. These were the scenes in Charlotte
:06:01. > :06:02.overnight into Thursday, The rallies began after
:06:03. > :06:06.Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead Officials say Mr Scott was armed -
:06:07. > :06:18.his family say he wasn't. Mr Scott was the third black man
:06:19. > :06:22.to be killed by US police in a week. One protester remains
:06:23. > :06:25.in a critical condition Well, the Mayor of Charlotte,
:06:26. > :06:33.Jennifer Roberts, is appealing for peaceful protests - we'll hear
:06:34. > :06:36.from her in just a moment. The local Chief of Police Kerry
:06:37. > :06:40.Putney has also been speaking - he says police video does not show
:06:41. > :06:45.Mr Scott pointing a gun - but that the footage does back up
:06:46. > :06:51.officers' version of events. This is how he responded when asked
:06:52. > :07:05.if the video would be made public. . If there is compelling information
:07:06. > :07:11.that I think helps, we'll sew it but again, I'm going to be very
:07:12. > :07:13.intentional about protecting the integrity of the investigation and
:07:14. > :07:27.in so doing I'm not going to release the video.
:07:28. > :07:30.The video does not give me absolute definitive, visual evidence that
:07:31. > :07:36.would confirm that a person is pointing a gun. I did not see that
:07:37. > :07:41.in the videos that I reviewed. So what I can tell you though is
:07:42. > :07:44.that when taking into total all of the other evidence it supports what
:07:45. > :07:49.we have heard and the version of the truth that we gave about the
:07:50. > :07:55.circumstance of what happened that led to the death of Mr Scott. The
:07:56. > :07:58.safety and the security of our community and law enforcement
:07:59. > :08:03.officers remains our top priority. Today our city is open for business
:08:04. > :08:08.as usual. We let people know that come to our town, we are here
:08:09. > :08:14.working, our buses are running, we are here to serve and the city is
:08:15. > :08:18.open. Our correspondent Gary O'Donoghue is
:08:19. > :08:22.in Charlotte for us. Gary two different accounts of what happened.
:08:23. > :08:28.What are the chances of this video footage from the police body cameras
:08:29. > :08:32.and the dash cam actually being made public? Small, to be honest. The
:08:33. > :08:38.police chief made that quite clear this morning. He believes that would
:08:39. > :08:44.interfere with the investigation that he is conducting. He say there
:08:45. > :08:46.is is another complication, that the state bureau investigation may take
:08:47. > :08:50.over some parts of the investigation, therefore it would be
:08:51. > :08:55.up to them do decide whether or not to release the video. So he is
:08:56. > :09:00.adamant that at the moment it will not be made public. He does say
:09:01. > :09:05.however that he will show it to the family at their request. I think
:09:06. > :09:10.that they are hoping that this will, it could persuade the family enough
:09:11. > :09:14.that the police' account of what happened is closer to the truth than
:09:15. > :09:18.theirs. It may be a high bar to get over for the family but that must be
:09:19. > :09:25.part of the hope. Given what he said in the clip you heard there about it
:09:26. > :09:28.not being clear that a gun was being pointed in that video, I suspect
:09:29. > :09:33.that the family will want to see what else he has that convinces him
:09:34. > :09:39.that actually Mr Scot was a threat to his officer. So there is a lot of
:09:40. > :09:45.ground between the two sides on this already. In the meantime, of course,
:09:46. > :09:49.we are into late afternoon, and people are starting to cast their
:09:50. > :09:53.minds forward to this evening and whether or not there will be a
:09:54. > :09:56.repeat of the last two nights, something that everyone is hoping
:09:57. > :10:01.will not happen. Gary, briefly, there will not be a
:10:02. > :10:07.curfew as of now but what is the mood there at the moment, ahead of
:10:08. > :10:11.another night? Well, walking the streets here you would not know that
:10:12. > :10:16.anything had happened. There are a few boarded up windows here and
:10:17. > :10:21.there on East Trade Street. A bit of broken glass. They have done a good
:10:22. > :10:25.job of cleaning up. But people are waiting to see what information the
:10:26. > :10:29.police will release. We were promised other information from them
:10:30. > :10:33.other than the video. Then to see what the family's reaction will be
:10:34. > :10:38.to seeing that video. Getting sight of the body cam video. That will be
:10:39. > :10:42.crucial, I think.m people are still appealing for calm. The National
:10:43. > :10:46.Guard will be on the streets protecting buildings but I that I
:10:47. > :10:52.that people are wary about tonight. There is a mood amongst some of the
:10:53. > :10:58.protesters to punish the police for what they perceive as crimes against
:10:59. > :11:03.black people. Thank you very much, Gary O'Donoghue. We will be with you
:11:04. > :11:04.throughout the day watching the developments in Charlotte.
:11:05. > :11:07.It's one of the worst disasters of the Mediterranean migrant crisis
:11:08. > :11:10.hundreds of people are feared dead, after a boat which set sail
:11:11. > :11:14.Survivors told the BBC there were around 550 people onboard
:11:15. > :11:17.The disaster happened 19 kilometres from the shore,
:11:18. > :11:19.near the town of Rosetta where four crew members
:11:20. > :11:34.From there our correspondent Orla Guerin reports.
:11:35. > :11:41.Reclaimed from the sea, survivors of the latest tragedy in the
:11:42. > :11:46.Mediterranean. Saved by the Egyptian military but taken into police
:11:47. > :11:50.custody. Some, overwhelmed by exhaustion,
:11:51. > :11:59.after up to eight hours' treading water. Staring death in the face.
:12:00. > :12:04.Most were young Egyptians from poor communities who told us they wanted
:12:05. > :12:10.to reach Italy to find work. They said more than 550 people were
:12:11. > :12:17.crammed tonne the boat. TRANSLATION: It was very small. Said
:12:18. > :12:22.this man who is 17. It only had room for 200. We were at sea for days,
:12:23. > :12:28.they kept bringing more people before we capsized and then half the
:12:29. > :12:37.crew got away. Mohammed survived but without his
:12:38. > :12:41.cousin, Amir, who was just 14. TRANSLATION: May God have mercy on
:12:42. > :12:48.them and all the young men who died. I was going to die but God helped
:12:49. > :12:55.meet. We resited the prayers, not once but
:12:56. > :13:00.10 or 15 times, we said God help us, God save us.
:13:01. > :13:04.Outside the police station, anguish and anger. Some relatives
:13:05. > :13:09.complaining that the authorities took hours to respond to distress
:13:10. > :13:18.signals from the sinking boat. But then, what they had all been waiting
:13:19. > :13:22.for... Well the survivors are emerging now. They've spent the
:13:23. > :13:29.night in custody. They are being reunited with their families. Many
:13:30. > :13:33.of the relatives maintaining a vigil through the night hoping to get news
:13:34. > :13:34.from their loved ones, hoping that they were not among the dead.
:13:35. > :13:38.The BBC's Orla Guerin reporting there from
:13:39. > :13:41.Now a look at some of the day's other news.
:13:42. > :13:44.Iraqi government forces say they've fought their way into the centre
:13:45. > :13:45.of the strategically important town of Al-Shirqat,
:13:46. > :13:49.which has been in the hands of Islamic State militants since 2014.
:13:50. > :13:53.The army's effort to capture the town is part of an attempt
:13:54. > :13:56.to secure supply routes ahead for what's expected to be a very
:13:57. > :13:59.much bigger battle for the city of Mosul, which lies
:14:00. > :14:03.Around 3.5 million people in Puerto Rico
:14:04. > :14:05.are without electricity for the second day running.
:14:06. > :14:08.The black-out began on Wednesday after a fire at a power plant set
:14:09. > :14:17.off a broader outage across the island's utility gird.
:14:18. > :14:19.off a broader outage across the island's utility grid.
:14:20. > :14:21.People were forced to spend the night in darkness
:14:22. > :14:23.and without air conditioning in the tropical heat,
:14:24. > :14:24.and businesses have been forced to close.
:14:25. > :14:27.Officials say it could be 24 hours before power is restored.
:14:28. > :14:29.A Chinese lawyer whose clients included the dissident artist
:14:30. > :14:32.Ai Weiwei has been sentenced to twelve years in prison
:14:33. > :14:36.Xia Lin's supporters and his wife strongly rejected the charges,
:14:37. > :14:39.saying he was being persecuted for challenging the government.
:14:40. > :14:42.He is the latest of several human rights lawyers and activists to be
:14:43. > :14:48.The Afghan government has signed a draft peace
:14:49. > :14:50.agreement with the country's second-biggest militant group.
:14:51. > :14:52.A representative of militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar signed
:14:53. > :14:55.He'll be granted immunity from prosecution in return
:14:56. > :14:58.for his support for the constitution and a promise to abandon violence.
:14:59. > :15:01.Mr Hekmatyar was briefly prime minister of Afghanistan in the early
:15:02. > :15:06.1990s and is still listed as a designated terrorist by the US.
:15:07. > :15:08.News of the agreement sparked protests in the Afghan capital,
:15:09. > :15:11.Human rights groups say he is responsible for the deaths
:15:12. > :15:15.of possibly thousands of people during the 1990s civil war.
:15:16. > :15:18.They're tiny, so how dangerous can button batteries,
:15:19. > :15:21.which are often found in toys and watches be?
:15:22. > :15:23.Well, doctors are warning about the potentially
:15:24. > :15:26.lethal risk they pose to children and babies.
:15:27. > :15:29.Surgeons at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital say they've seen
:15:30. > :15:31.a rise in the number of children suffering severe injuries -
:15:32. > :15:35.sometimes even dying - after swallowing them.
:15:36. > :15:43.Our Medical Correspondent Fergus Walsh reports.
:15:44. > :15:44.Ready? Yeah.
:15:45. > :15:48.All it took was a tiny watch battery to devastate this
:15:49. > :15:52.After she swallowed the button battery it burned through her
:15:53. > :15:59.This is the latest of many operations at London's Great
:16:00. > :16:05.Ormond Street Hospital to try to repair the damage.
:16:06. > :16:09.For the past year the three-year-old has been fed through a tube
:16:10. > :16:15.into her stomach and has a bag to collect her saliva.
:16:16. > :16:18.Her mother who's Russian says it has turned their lives upside down.
:16:19. > :16:24.She hopes Valeria will eventually recover.
:16:25. > :16:28.Essentially this battery starts working in the oesophagus.
:16:29. > :16:31.Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital are seeing one child
:16:32. > :16:37.a month with caustic soda burns caused by button batteries.
:16:38. > :16:39.The most important thing is to be aware that these are extremely
:16:40. > :16:42.dangerous and should be treated essentially like a poison
:16:43. > :16:44.and should be kept out of the reach of children.
:16:45. > :16:47.Let's mimic what can happen when a button battery gets lodged
:16:48. > :16:53.The ham represents the delicate lining
:16:54. > :16:57.of the oesophagus, and water, saliva.
:16:58. > :17:02.I'll cover this side but put another battery here so we can see
:17:03. > :17:18.We've left this for just two hours, and already a huge amount
:17:19. > :17:27.If I lift the button battery you can see all this black marked area.
:17:28. > :17:30.Eventually this would have burnt its way right through the ham.
:17:31. > :17:34.When she swallowed a button battery last year doctors warned
:17:35. > :17:42.her mum there could be life changing injuries.
:17:43. > :17:44.They said that her vocal cords could be damaged then
:17:45. > :17:47.and there and she would never develop a voice.
:17:48. > :17:50.And again, they said that if she did pull through she may never eat again
:17:51. > :17:52.because her oesophagus may have been too badly damaged.
:17:53. > :18:05.Fortunately the two-year-old has made a complete recovery.
:18:06. > :18:07.But it's a warning to parents to keep toddlers away
:18:08. > :18:19.In a few days time - the US election campaign
:18:20. > :18:21.will ramp up a notch - as the first presidential debate
:18:22. > :18:25.It'll be must see viewing, as Hillary Clinton and Donald
:18:26. > :18:27.Trump go head to head, on a range of issues.
:18:28. > :18:29.It's a crucial moment for both campaigns -
:18:30. > :18:31.so how do you prepare for such a big event.
:18:32. > :18:45.My colleague Katty Kay has been finding out.
:18:46. > :18:51.The presidential debates give American voters the only chance they
:18:52. > :18:57.have to come pair the candidates side by side. The stakes are
:18:58. > :19:02.enormous. And in this election, the biggest
:19:03. > :19:08.challenge Forsythe Hillary Clinton is how to debate someone like Donald
:19:09. > :19:16.Trump? There has never been a candidate or debater like him.
:19:17. > :19:21.Let moo me talk. Quiet! Donald Trump does not do traditional debate with
:19:22. > :19:26.policy briefings and analysis. He prefers off the cuff remarks, and
:19:27. > :19:35.almost child like insults. Lion Ted. He holds the Bible down
:19:36. > :19:43.and then he lies. Todd Harris was the Senior Advisor
:19:44. > :19:49.for Marco de-Rubio. Our strategy for the campaign was to
:19:50. > :19:54.ignore Donald Trump's insult but the challenge was that the media was not
:19:55. > :19:58.ignoring them. The best thing for handicap in terms of debating Trump,
:19:59. > :20:07.would be for her not to show up at all. The best way to engage with
:20:08. > :20:12.Trump is to let Trump hang himself with his own words and
:20:13. > :20:18.inconsistencies. Rubio discovered the cost of a bad
:20:19. > :20:22.debate in New Hampshire. Under attack, he Pre-Budget Reported
:20:23. > :20:27.himself four times. Barack Obama knows what he is doing.
:20:28. > :20:35.The notion that he doesn't know what he is doing, he knows exactly what
:20:36. > :20:40.he is doing. There it is... Within hours, the internet was buzzing with
:20:41. > :20:48.jokes about Rubio. His campaign ended that night.
:20:49. > :20:54.Handicap has briefing books and she talks about debate strategy with
:20:55. > :21:00.campaign veterans, she will do mock debates with someone standing in for
:21:01. > :21:02.Trump, I don't belief who is standing in for Trump, that will be
:21:03. > :21:08.interesting a role for someone to play. Donald Trump, got the first
:21:09. > :21:13.word and the last word... Donald Trump does not debate the way that
:21:14. > :21:23.anyone does debate. He does his Donald Trump way. He pro Seths
:21:24. > :21:27.strength, and uses moves he does as a result star. But moves so
:21:28. > :21:30.differently from anyone on a debate stage.
:21:31. > :21:33.President Obama learned that election debates can hurt a
:21:34. > :21:40.candidate as much as they can help them. On October the 3rd, 2012,
:21:41. > :21:45.Obama met Mitt Romney for their first debate. It was a disaster.
:21:46. > :21:51.Are we going to double down from the top down or embrace a new
:21:52. > :21:54.economicate rim. Obama was tetchy and distracted.
:21:55. > :22:00.Giving the impression he did not want to be there.
:22:01. > :22:06.Testify any Cutter was the campaign manager.
:22:07. > :22:11.It was clear we were losing not just on TV but for social media. Twitter
:22:12. > :22:16.was a factor on how the debate was covered. So we knew what we were
:22:17. > :22:21.dealing with. We have started to make changes before that ebait even
:22:22. > :22:25.ended. Obama recovered but those around him
:22:26. > :22:28.suggested that he underestimated his opponent.
:22:29. > :22:33.Political scientists don't agree how much the debates help you win the
:22:34. > :22:38.White House, the polls are inconclusive. What they do know is
:22:39. > :22:42.that this will be box office must-see television and don't expect
:22:43. > :22:46.the candidates to play it safe, whoing the voters in the middle.
:22:47. > :22:51.Instead, they will be trying to scare the living day lights out of
:22:52. > :22:56.their supporters at the very prospect of the other person on the
:22:57. > :23:02.stage occupying the Oval Office. That will mean a lot of sharp
:23:03. > :23:07.attacks, not necessariliedifying but certainly entertaining.
:23:08. > :23:12.A political event like no other, that debate is on Monday night.
:23:13. > :23:14.When a six-year-old American boy wrote a letter to Barack Obama,
:23:15. > :23:17.he probably didn't expect the President himself to read it
:23:18. > :23:20.Alex, from New York, penned a note to the president
:23:21. > :23:23.offering a Syrian refugee a place to stay with his family.
:23:24. > :23:26.It was after he saw the photograph of Omran Daqneesh, the little boy
:23:27. > :23:29.seen dazed and bloodied in the back of an ambulance.
:23:30. > :23:32.The letter went viral - Mr Obama read some of the letter
:23:33. > :23:35.at this week's UN summit on refugees.
:23:36. > :23:46.Dear President Obama, remember the boy who was picked up by the
:23:47. > :23:52.ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to our
:23:53. > :23:56.home? Park in the driveway or on the streets and we'll be waiting for you
:23:57. > :24:05.guys with flags, flowers and balloons. We will give him a family
:24:06. > :24:08.and he will be our brother. Katherine, my little sister will be
:24:09. > :24:15.collecting butterflies and fire flies for him. In my school I have a
:24:16. > :24:20.friend from Syria, Omar. I swill introduce him to Omar and we can all
:24:21. > :24:24.play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach
:24:25. > :24:32.us another language. Since he won't bring toys and
:24:33. > :24:37.doesn't have toy, Katherine will share her big blew stripy white
:24:38. > :24:43.bunny and I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. ... I
:24:44. > :24:47.will teach him addition and subtraction. Those are the words of
:24:48. > :24:57.a six-year-old boy. He teaches us a lot.
:24:58. > :25:02.The humanity that a young child can display, who hasn't learned to be
:25:03. > :25:07.cynical or suspicious or fearful of other people because of where they
:25:08. > :25:13.are fro, or how they look or pray, we can all learn from Alex.
:25:14. > :25:16.Alex, six years old. The power of the pen! That's the
:25:17. > :25:19.Britain's Prince William has told a conference that he fears
:25:20. > :25:22.the African elephant will have disappeared from the wild
:25:23. > :25:24.by the time his daughter Princess Charlotte turns 25.
:25:25. > :25:27.He said action needs to be taken now to stop poaching and it's time
:25:28. > :25:30.to send an "unambiguous message" that it is no longer acceptable
:25:31. > :25:41.to recognise the BBC teams who won an Emmy last night
:25:42. > :25:43.for their continuing coverage of the European migrant crisis.
:25:44. > :26:09.We've been privileged to bring you their reports
:26:10. > :26:11.Hi there. We have showers to come at first overnight in parts of