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Charlotte Protests Mostly Peaceful on Third Night; Victim's Family Wants Video of Shooting Released; Palestinian Authority Leader Wants Apology from British over Declaration Supporting Israeli Homeland in Palestine; Rusians and Syrians Resume Bombing in Aleppo; Yahoo Cyber Breach Examined. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 23, 2016 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Hello, live from CNN global headquarters in Atlanta. You are watching breaking news on CNN. I'm Natalie Allen. And we want to welcome our viewers in the U.S. and around the world.

It is 3 a.m. in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a curfew has been in effect for the past three hours. And a night of mostly peaceful protests has come to an end.

(CROWD CHANTING)

ALLEN: Crowds marched through the city for a third straight night Thursday. They want authorities as you can hear to release the video of the fatal shooting of an African-American man by police. The protests were in sharp contrast to Wednesday's violence and vandalism of a police say two officers were treated after protesters sprayed them with a chemical that happened on this evening there.

Let's bring in Nick Valencia, he is live in Charlotte for us. Another long night, Nick, there in Charlotte but not a violent one for the most part. And now, I think I heard this right, most of the people have gone home.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Natalie. You are right. Most of the demonstrators have left as had the National Guard. Just in the last 30 minutes we saw the last remaining National Guard vehicles roll on out of here. The scene here on the streets of downtown Charlotte much different than it has been the last two nights.

When we were out here at this hour yesterday, there was evidence, very apparent evidence of the riot that had taken place over the course of the last two nights, smashed out windows, graffiti, heavy evidence of vandalism.

Tonight, the streets are calm for the most part. You mentioned that protest that was in effect starting in about at midnight. It was not enforced here by police officers because the protesters were by and large peaceful.

Those that did voice their frustration did so by circling around city hall and the police station chanting "hands up, don't shoot." That anthem that became popular for the Black Lives Matter movement after the shooting death of Mike Brown.

Here tonight, in the streets of Charlotte, though, it is very calm, something that was addressed by a public defender here in Charlotte a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOUSSANT ROMAIN, PUBLIC DEFENDER: This protest right now is much better. The clergy is here. Adults are here. Black and white. There's been not one incident of violence so far. Yes, the National Guard is here but they are nowhere around us at the moment. The state highway patrol they're here, state of emergency we've been declared in.

Look at how peaceful this is. This is what happens when leaders show up. This is what happens when we come together as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Initially there were no reports of immediate injuries, though police later did say that two of their officers had been sprayed with a chemical agent. They didn't really expand on any of those details. As far as that curfew is concerned, most of the demonstrators that we saw are dispersed on their own without police having to move in. Natalie?

ALLEN: A much better situation there after this is the third day of this. And we did hear people chanting "release the videotape" there, Nick, earlier when we just ran the voiceover.

Let's hear now from the family of Keith Scott, who talked about, through their spokesman, what they saw in the video of the shooting of Mr. Scott.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN BAMBERG, SCOTT FAMILY ATTORNEY: What you see, Anderson, is you see officers yelling commands, and you see Mr. Scott step out of the vehicle. His hands are down by his side. He is acting calm. He is acting in a very non-aggressive manner. He looks to be confused to be quite honest.

You do see something in his hand but it is impossible to make out from the video what it is. I do know that at the moment that he was shot he was actually -- he actually appeared to be stepping backwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And we're going to ask Nick what his reaction to the family's perspective in just a minute but I'm looking at a live shot, he is having a situation with some protesters there. Let's see if we can go to Nick now. Nick, is everything all right there? No, we are not going back to him because -- are we going back to him?

OK, we're not going back to him because we're trying to get some of the people back from Nick right now. We know we had some situations with journalists there on the streets of Charlotte. Just as we said they were calming down, Nick was having a situation. So, we're not going to back to him right now while they figure that out to make sure that they're safe.

For more let's go on the phone with Ronnie Karioke (Ph), he is in Charlotte and he witnessed the demonstrations firsthand. Ronnie, what did you see and hear tonight? What was it like out on the streets there in Charlotte?

RONNIE KARIOKE, WITNESS: Hi, Natalie. Well, first off, I just want to say it was much more peaceful than last night. I go out there I'd say around like, 10 o'clock tonight and, yes, right off the bat I could tell that tonight was going to be different.

[03:05:06] There was a lot less presence of police tonight. It seemed like most of the protesters were able to move around freely and kind of voice their opinions about, you know, anybody kind of, you know, trying to shut them down which is good for the most part.

I came to watch and it was just really amazing to see so many people group together, you know, just walking arm in arm, trying to, you know, get a message across to the government.

ALLEN: So, you think that it more inflames people that want to speak out, that want to take to the street when they come up against a wall of police officers. They didn't have that tonight.

KARIOKE: Yes. No, that wasn't present tonight. I think last night it really scared some people. And I think that maybe -- I think it got the wrong reaction from the protesters. But it wasn't there tonight and I'd say that that was a very big difference, like that was a difference that made like this so peaceful tonight.

But granted of course in any situation there's always going to be outliers. There was a group that tried to take over the highway early in the protest. When I was there, like it was about a good chunk of the group had gone to the highway and the rest of them were kind of just yelling, you know, get off the highway. Stop. This is peaceful.

And at that point of course the police did have to come in with their riot gear and kind of shut that down. But like I said, afterward it was very peaceful like the marching continues. They marched like what seemed like for miles. I was -- my feet were burning by the time I was heading back to the campus. But it was just really amazing to see.

People were giving, you know, our police officers hugs. They were actually like hugging the National Guard as they come in like they were just -- it was really amazing to see people like willing to spread love in times like this.

ALLEN: Right. That is. And do you think the presence of the National Guard helped facilitate the peace? KARIOKE: I definitely think that made some people think twice. I'm

not going to lie. I think with the presence of like such heavily armed, you know, the soldiers there, people were definitely like, you know, thinking that they should act a little bit better than they had been the last two nights in a row. But I definitely think that that air of respect was very crucial in keeping tonight like very, very like, you know, peaceful for the most part.

ALLEN: And do you think that the protest, your sense is that they will carry on and what is fuelling right now the ongoing protest and what part does the police chief's decision not to release the videotape play in to this? In your perspective in what you've heard?

KARIOKE: Well, from what I've heard there was actually many activists out there tonight trying to get more people to come back for a further, you know, demonstrations. And I honestly feel it will go on for a little bit longer. Hopefully it stays as peaceful as it has been -- were not has been but as was it tonight.

And I don't know. I think, I definitely think that the city's failure to release the videotape has been a very big driving force behind this reaction. I mean, we have a new law in our state saying that, you know, the police don't have to release it if they don't want to. And hopefully they do. But if they don't, I think -- I think the protest will go on for quite a bit longer.

But like I said before, we just pray that it stays peaceful and, you know, just people can get their mindset like voice across without causing any, you know, big problems.

ALLEN: Well, we sure appreciate you joining us and giving us the situation as you saw it. Ronnie Karioke, thank you, Ronnie, so much.

KARIOKE: No problem. Thank you.

ALLEN: More on our breaking news in Charlotte next. Plus, felony charges are brought against an officer in Oklahoma over another black shooting man -- another black man shooting death -- excuse me.

A law enforcement analyst weighs in on why we keep seeing these cases and what needs to happen to finally create change.

[03:10:02] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with the CNN World Sport headlines.

It's been confirmed that Barcelona star Lionel Messi will be out of action for at least three weeks. Messi suffered a groin injury as Barcelona will hold by Atletico Madrid at Nou Camp on Wednesday night.

Barcelona's coach Luis Enrique said to Messi, "this football loses, and Messi, we are stronger but we will continue being strong." Messi missed Argentina's World Cup qualifier against Venezuela earlier this month with the groin injury but has played in all five La Liga games for its club this season. The NFL released a statement on Thursday stating it was monitoring

events in North Carolina but intended to play the game between the Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings as scheduled.

After two nights of violent protests, the Panthers has been closely monitoring the situation leading up to Sunday's home game against the Vikings. North Carolina's governor declared a state of emergency after the protests in Charlotte following the deadly police shooting of a black man.

Serena Williams' coach has told that he has set the tennis super star a target of 30 single career Grand Slams. Patrick Mouratoglou revealed that despite her 35th birthday approaching and injury, possibly shelving what's left of her season. Williams still retained grand career ambitions.

And to watch the full interview go to cnn.com/worldsport. And that's the look at all your world sport headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ALLEN: And welcome back. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

The protest in Charlotte, North Carolina have died down after a curfew went in to effect a little over three hours ago. Demonstrators left their own. Police did not approach them, and as you heard from our interview, he believes that helped this audience stay calm.

This was the third night of protest against the police shooting death of an African-American man Keith Lamont Scott.

The demonstrations as I mentioned were largely peaceful. Earlier Thursday night a group stage aligned outside a police station.

Elsewhere, two officers did have to get medical treatment after being sprayed with some sort of chemical.

Scott's family the city's mayor watch video meantime of his shooting. They say it is unclear what may have been in Scott's hands when he was killed. His family wants the recording released to the public. The police chief doesn't plan to do so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:15:01] KERR PUTNEY, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE CHIEF: I'm not going to release it because ultimately I think I have to do what I can to protect the integrity of the investigation. Also, I don't want to set a bad precedent that I'm releasing lots of video. And I think you could be destroying some of the trust of some of our most vulnerable victims especially those of domestic violence and sexual assault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: That is the police chief's reasoning there. We will wait and see if that holds because as you heard people are demanding the release of that video. Well, the family of an Oklahoma man killed by police say they are

happy the officer involved now faces criminal charges. Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby shot and killed Terence Crutcher last week. The shooting was captured on video from several angles, but stories still differ about what exactly happened.

Here's our Sara Sidner in Tulsa.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The district attorney here in Tulsa announcing charges against Tulsa Officer Betty Jo Shelby. She could either be charged with manslaughter, first degree heat of passion, which is a felony or manslaughter first degree resisting criminal attempt. That is also a felony she could face if convicted four years minimum in prison up to life in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a feeling that's about to happen (muted).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Less than a week after the killing of Crutcher, the district attorney deciding to charge Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN A. KUNZWEILER, TULSA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: In the matter of the death of Terence Crutcher, I determine that the filing of the felony crime of manslaughter in the first degree against Tulsa police Officer Betty Shelby is warranted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: While the family and community grieves Crutcher's death the attorneys have already begun making their cases in the court of public opinion, a key issue whether Crutcher was reaching for something inside his Suv window before he was shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT WOOD, OFFICER BETTY SHELBY'S ATTORNEY: She was yelling at him to stop for probably at least 10 to 15 seconds. He gets to the window of the SUV and has his hands in the air. Looks down at the side of the car at Officer Shelby and his left hand goes in to the window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Crutcher's family attorney points to an enhanced picture of the window in question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN CRUMP, CRUTCHER'S FAMILY ATTORNEY: You can see that it is completely up and there's blood going almost to the top of the window.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: We analyzed the video frame by frame, zooming in. It appears

that the window is up and a reflection of his arms are in the window.

Outside of law enforcement, Pastor Ray Owens was one of the first to look at the video before it was released.

SIDNER: What did you see?

RAY OWENS, PASTOR: My impression was that he was actually leaning against the car so as to position himself to not be a threat. I did not see anything in that video that suggests that the police officer should have viewed Terence Crutcher as a threat.

SIDNER: While evidence can seem conclusive experts say it is never the only evidence brought to trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD THRASHER, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATE FORENSICS PROFESSOR: Any piece of evidence is just it. It's a piece of evidence. But it's not inclusive and it's not conclusive. So video is a piece of the puzzle, it's not the entire puzzle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: We spoke to a forensic scientist who is not connected to this case and had him take a look at the video, as well. And in his opinion, it looked like the window may have well been open from different angles.

So this is what you are going to see in a trial if a trial ends up going forward. And that is you will have experts saying different things depending on if they are for the defense or if they are for the prosecution.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

ALLEN: We want to talk more about the fallout from the shootings in Tulsa and Charlotte now with Cedric Alexander, he's our law enforcement analyst and a former chief of police in DeKalb County, Georgia. And unfortunately, Cedric, we see you too much on these issues.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It appears that way.

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: We appreciate your input but it's just -- these are two separate issues but the country is seeing more people taking to the streets again and more questions arising.

First of all, let's start in Charlotte. Because we know that this video has not been released. Do you think this is something at some point the police will do, or do you think there is a particular reason they haven't? ALEXANDER: Well, you know, I want to be respectful of the chief's

decision not to release the video but on the flip side of that we have the community there in Charlotte and the rest of the country as well, too, that expects a video, and especially if they know that one is there.

The country and communities have become accustom to the fact that if something awry occurs and if there's video it's usually have an opportunity to be presented to the people in that community and of course, everyone across the country is watching.

[03:19:56] So, they are going to have to maybe at some point consider the fact that people in that community are putting a great deal of pressure on them to see that video. However, that becomes the decision of that chief and the elected officials and leadership there in Charlotte. I don't think that's going to go away until people feel...

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: Doesn't seem like it more.

ALEXANDER: Yes.

ALLEN: They put it off perhaps...

ALEXANDER: Right.

ALLEN: ... the more angry people will be. Well, let's talk about the reaction from the family. They have seen the video and their lawyers submitted some statements. And I have them now. So, I will read what their lawyer said. "When told by police to exit his vehicle, Mr. Scott did so in a very calm, non-aggressive manner. While police did give him several commands, he did not aggressively approach them or raise his hands at members of law enforcement at any time."

Again, this is the lawyer for the Scott family. This is their statement. "It is impossible to discern from the videos what, if anything, Mr. Scott is holding in his hands." So, that's from the family.

So, and it seems like when they, if and when they do release it to the public they are going to have to be very methodical about what they see as happening and explaining it the best they can in a transparent way before you let the public just, you know...

ALEXANDER: Correct.

ALLEN: ... the public will make up its own mind but the police needs to be crystal clear about what they saw happening.

ALEXANDER: Well, a great deal of decision-making is going to have to go into whether they are going to release this video or not but here is again it's not going to negate the fact that there is going to be an expectation from people in that community to see that video.

And you have to remember now that the family has seen the video, they are going to share their observations, such as the same way they shared it with the media. They are going to share it with the -- continue to share with the rest of the community. And that will, of course, want the community to be able to see the video for themselves. So, it's going to be interesting as to how they are going to manage that piece of this investigation going forward.

ALLEN: Well, let's turn to Tulsa and talk about that case. Because there was just a charge of the police officer in that case of manslaughter. What do you make of that?

ALEXANDER: Well, clearly in the short amount of time that has occurred from the time of the shooting up until now, the D.A. office there, the district attorney's office there must have, and I can only speculate, reasonably -- and I think it is a reasonable speculation, must have acquired enough evidence to suggest they had probable cause in order to effect an arrest and charge the officer in this particular case.

It is very unfortunate of the loss of life and such situation such as this there are never no winners. And a loss of life, a loss of someone's career and the risk that they take of being convicted it just set you all the way around in terms of work here.

ALLEN: And I have to ask you know, just to see situations like this happening again and again and it almost seems like no amount of protest or outrage or anger is steaming at. And we know that one person at the scene in Tulsa drew a taser and the officer, Betty Shelby drew a gun. What is it? Is it police fear, is it -- is it race relations, where is the chasm?

ALEXANDER: Well, I think it's a combination of a lot of things. We also have to take in to account, as well, too, that there is a long history of separation between police and communities of color. But we've certainly made a great deal of improvements over the years. Police and communities of working together.

And but we always have to remember to look at each one of these cases very individually. But we have to continue to build those relationships and even as tough as they are right now, as challenging as they are, for police to build relationships and for communities to feel that they can reciprocate and vice-versa, it's a real challenge for us.

But we can't give up at this particular point in America's history. We just cannot give up. We have to continue to try to forge and work through these relationships and when we have these shootings, whether it's an appropriate shooting or whether it's a shooting that appears to be inappropriate when the community...

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: Or somewhere in between that we can't tell.

ALEXANDER: That's right. Or somewhere in between you can't tell. Because right now the American people are so outraged, they're so angry, they're scared, is that all of these shootings look the same to them.

And so, there's no difference in them when they look at them and even if the police is totally in the right, people are not going to believe that it happened that way. They are going to put their own idea around it, their own spin around it. Because it's about trust. And it's about a sense of not feeling connected to their law enforcement.

[03:24:57] And so, but it works two ways. There's certainly a lot of work police has to do, have to do in order to establish and maintain those relationships, but the community also have to work in collaboration with the community.

Now more than ever, Natalie, with the fact when we consider the world being as the world is where we have terrorist threats on our own homeland where we all, as Americans that constant risk because we know people are being radicalized here at home and abroad.

There's no more important time ever in America's history that police and community have to work together to protect the public safety and integrity of our democracy, but also to be able to stand against those who are trying to hurt us.

ALLEN: On many fronts, on many fronts we have to work together.

ALEXANDER: On many fronts. That's right.

ALLEN: All right. We thank you, as always. Cedric Alexander.

ALEXANDER: Thank you for having me.

ALLEN: Next here, why the third night of protests in Charlotte was peaceful. We'll talk with the police captain about what was different on Thursday night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ALLEN: And welcome back to our coverage. I'm live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen with you.

The protesters have gone home in Charlotte, North Carolina, the third night of protests was mostly peaceful. Police say two officers were treated after demonstrators sprayed them with some sort of chemical, but overall a very different scene compared to Wednesday when protests turned violent.

[03:30:00] Demonstrators want authorities to release video of the fatal shooting of an African-American man by police. The family of Keith Lamont Scott says the videos do not prove that he was armed.

Earlier on Thursday, Charlotte's mayor ordered a curfew to keep everyone off the streets from midnight to 6 a.m. Demonstrators didn't leave the downtown area immediately but the violence some feared would come at 12 a.m. just didn't happen we're happy to say.

Our Brian Todd spoke with the police captain just after midnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why after midnight have the police not moved in and forcibly removed some of the marchers here.

MIKE CAMPAGNA, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE CAPTAIN: It's just not been necessarily. It has been a peaceful group tonight. There's been inside the group they have been helping to make that happen. Helping to just pull people away from the aggressive stand in between.

This gentleman here have been working with us very hard and from the inside and they are doing a lot and share of work. That's what helping this to be peaceful. The curfew is there but we can use it as a tool if necessary if things go sideways and hope that won't just be the case.

TODD: What are some of the things that people in the crowd have done to mitigate potential tension here.

CAMPAGNA: So, you know, they are talking them down. They're trying to get between the officers and some more aggressive people they're helping to make good decisions about what they do why they're out here on the streets.

TODD: Had you -- had you worked with some of those people before? Ask them to do it?

(CROSSTALK)

CAMPAGNA: Well, we didn't have ask them to do it. They saw the need and they came out and met that need after what we had last night. So, yes, it was something that they, as a community, said this is important to us. We want to do this right and they came out and it happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Here's a look at the police command center in Charlotte. The department released these photos on its Twitter account Thursday night. Officials say they have access to more than 1200 cameras across the city so they can monitor demonstrations in real-time.

Let's bring in CNN's Nick Valencia, live in Charlotte. Hopefully that command center is helping them orchestrate, not orchestrate but figure out where the protests are heating up and what to do about that, Nick.

But overall, it's quiet there now. It's been mainly quiet, except for the last time we tried to come to you when you had an overzealous protester trying to get on TV. So, we're glad you've taken care of that.

We certainly will put on voices but not when they're being a little too aggressive with our crew. So, hello again to you. And what's the latest there, Nick? VALENCIA: The scenes are very normal it seems here. It seems like a

normal day here in Charlotte for this hour. It's a stark contrast to the scenes that we saw over the course of the last two nights. At this hour last night, there were still people out on the streets, business owners who are cleaning up the aftermath of the riots, the vandalism was very apparent. Graffiti on buildings, smashed out windows.

Tonight, if you could see behind me it is by and large a calm scene here. There were a few hundred protesters marching peacefully last night. Those who did voice their frustrations did so in a very peaceful manner.

They circled around city hall, they circled around the police department. But overall the message was very calm one. It's something that a lead public defender here in Charlotte addressed celebrating the protests last night saying that things were a lot better than they were over the course of the last two nights.

ALLEN: And so, I also want to ask you, Nick, like I tried to earlier about the reaction of the family spokesman when after they watched the video of what happened. They say it was unclear about there being a gun present, but they don't believe that the actions of their loved one, Mr. Scott, warranted his shooting. And that's where we have had people demanding to see the video.

What's the reaction there for the most part from the protesters after hearing this statement from the family?

VALENCIA: There still seems to be an intense amount of distrust with the police department and at least the process. People don't think that there is an air of transparency here. They feel like the police department and the mayor should release this video.

Some of the critics toward the leadership in the city say that they could have halted some of the chaotic nights from happening had this video been released and the department been a little bit more transparent. Part of what's complicating matters here in Charlotte or part of what has complicated matters here in Charlotte is this two competing narratives. One put by the family of Keith Scott and the other put out by the police department.

Of course Scott's family after viewing that video still said that it is unclear whether or not he had a gun in his hand. They said the video was ambiguous. Even still the police have addressed those allegations by the family saying that it is apparent that there was a handgun and that Keith Scott was fatally shot because he refused to comply with the demands of the police officers.

[03:34:58] Whether or not the police are believed here by the demonstrators that is still up to debate. I think a lot of people here still want that video to be released and it's something that the mayor said that she is considering doing later today perhaps. Natalie?

ALLEN: All right. We'll wait and see in the next few hours what comes from that. Thank you so much, Nick Valencia there, live in Charlotte.

VALENCIA: You bet.

ALLEN: Well, in a moment here, we will have other news from around the world. In Syria, an activist tells CNN air strikes on Aleppo have become even worse. We'll go live to Damascus for you. Our Fred Pleitgen is there coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Russian and Syrian bombing in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo has not only started up again, we're sad to report it has intensified. Syria's military says operations there have resumed as the U.S. and Russia backed ceasefire appears to have collapsed.

An activist tells CNN air strikes now are worse than before the ceasefire.

The U.S. Secretary of State on Thursday said Moscow and Damascus must do more to seek peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: For a few moments here and there, when we have been able to try to get the parties to stop fighting, we've been able to see what a reduction of violence can actually look like. And we've been able to witness how much the Syrian people themselves, wherever they lived, long for a taste of normalcy.

But we can't be the only ones trying to hold this door open. Russia and the regime must do their part. Or this will have no chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Secretary Kerry there. CNN senior international correspondent, Frederik Pleitgen once again, live for us in Damascus. And certainly there's got to be reaction to Secretary Kerry on this pointing the finger at why this ever so fragile truce has apparently collapsed.

[03:40:08] FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, I think at this point in time it's pretty safe to say that the truce has very much collapsed, especially in and around the Aleppo area, Natalie.

The Syrian military itself acknowledging they have launched an offensive on those areas. It was something that was really shaping up over the past two days where activists on the ground have said there was a big massive -- or a big increase in air strikes on the rebel- held district but then also on rebel-held areas in the western countryside of Aleppo, as well.

We were just talking about what is going on overnight. Activists now saying that there were jets in the skies all night. Again, this morning they say that some 50 people were killed on Wednesday, that about a dozen were killed on Thursday. And at this morning the air strikes are once again ongoing.

So, certainly, a dire situation that's going on there. Also they say that the main water pumping plant for all of Aleppo, for the rebel- held areas and the government areas has also been hit, as well.

Now interestingly enough, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad went on TV yesterday. He gave an interview to the Associated Press where he denied that there was any siege of Aleppo. Let's listen to what he had to say in that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT: If there's really besiege of the city of Aleppo people would have been dead by now. This is the second most important. They have been shelling the neighboring areas in the position of the Syrian army for years. Non-stop -- non-stop shelling of mortars and different kind of little bombs.

How could they be starving while at the same time they can have armament? How can we prevent the food and the medical aid from reaching that area and we cannot help the armament from reaching that area which is not...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad there speaking to the Associated Press. It was actually a wide ranging interview where he also touched on, for instance, the air strike that hit that humanitarian convoy a couple of days ago denying that the Syrian government or the Russian air force was a part of it. At the same time laying blame with the doorstep of the United States where an air strike on Syrian forces that happened in a town of Deir ez-Zor a few days ago.

But then very importantly saying that Syria was willing to give another stab at the cessation of hostilities saying it is something that the government would itself agree to, as well. But also not really holding up very much hope that the cessation of hostilities could work in the long term. Certainly what we are seeing in Aleppo right now and i other Syrian areas in Syria as well, Natalie, seems to indicate that the war is truly and fully back on. Natalie?

ALLEN: That's just so sad and just to see that convoy there that had all of the food and supplies for people just burned.

Fred Pleitgen following developments for us there live from Damascus. Fred, thank you so much.

It could be the biggest cyberbreach in tech history. Yahoo admits it was the target of a massive hack and that data from at least 500 million accounts was stolen. Apparently, in 2014. The advice is change your password.

What makes it even more sinister is that Yahoo says a state-sponsored actor quote, unquote is "behind the breach," meaning someone or some group acting on behalf of a government. The online search company says and we quote for you, "We are closely coordinating with law enforcement on this matter and working diligently to protect you."

We spoke to an internet security analyst about the breach. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEMU NIGAM, INTERNET SECURITY ANALYST: They don't actually know how it happened or if they do know they are not disclosing it. What they are saying is it's a user name and password and some security questions which tells me that the basic security in the company wasn't -- wasn't just every room in the house is locked. It was only the front door is locked.

So, when some hacker comes in they get access to multiple databases and obviously, because they're making distinction between encrypted and non-encrypted it tells us that most of that information was in fact non-encrypted, which means it's extremely useful to hackers. And the only reason we know about it some hacker name piece which trying to sell it in the darkness.

What we ought to be focused on is instead of asking users to change their user names and passwords I say lock the system down, change it and force the users who come on the system to sign back in with a new user name and password even though it's been out there two years because many people do in fact keep the same information, not only on Yahoo but on Facebook, on LinkedIn, on MySpace and all the other sites out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:45:00] ALLEN: Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking an apology from Britain. He told the United Nations General Assembly that Britain should apologize for their declaration endorsing the founding of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. That declaration was made nearly 100 years ago. Mr. Abbas went on to offer a wider criticism and Israel's Prime Minister responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT (TRANSLATED): In the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, I call on you to declare 2017 as the international year to end the occupation of our land and of our people.

We have built the countries that have not recognized the State of Palestinian to do so because those who believe in a two-state solution and everyone speaks of a two-state solution should recognize both states and not just one of them.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Wouldn't it be better if instead of speaking past each other we were speaking to one another? President Abbas, instead of railing against Israel at the United Nations in New York, I invite you to speak at the -- to the Israeli people at the Kadosh in Jerusalem. And I would gladly come to speak to the Palestinian Parliament in Ramallah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Not yet clear if Mr. Netanyahu's offer was a serious one. We'll continue to look into that one. Barack Obama has a high opinion of a boy from New Work. What the U.S. President is saying we should be more like Alex, the 6-year-old, yes, 6-year-old wrote the president offering to adopt Omran, Syrian boy wounded in a bombing in Aleppo. Mr. Obama read from the letter and at the U.N. this week and posted a video of Alex on Facebook. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear President Obama, remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you, please go get him and bring him to our home? Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers and we will give him a family and he will be our brother.

Tell him my little sister will be collecting butterfly and fire flies for him. In my school I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar and we can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will all teach us another language.

And since he won't bring toys and doesn't have toys, Catherine will share her beautiful white bunny and I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it.

I will teach him addition...

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: I will teach him addition and subtraction. Those are words of a 6-year-old boy. He teaches us a lot.

(APPLAUSE)

The humanity a young child can display who hasn't learned to be cynical or suspicious or fearful of other people because of where they're from or how they look or how they pray. We can all learn from Alex.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alex, 6 years old.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: We certainly all learn from Alex. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:49:59] DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the calendar officially reads fall, and my favorite time of the year by the way. And the Colorado Rockies are starting to look a lot like autumn at the moment starting to change over that beautiful shade of yellow in the Aspen trees in veil, Colorado.

So, autumn in full swing for that particular region, and we will also see the cooler temperatures starting to settle in at least into the weekend. And that will drop south across the Great Lakes and into the New England region. We stay warm however across the Deep South and warm over the extreme western part of the United States. Take a look at this. We do also have the potential for heavy rainfall developing across the plain states just east to the Rockies, eventually working into Texas by Sunday.

This is our rainfall accumulation over the next 48 hours. And you can see some of the precipitation especially across central and western Texas even southern Oklahoma we could pick up a 100 millimeters before the system finally moves on through.

Take a look at the temperature, still hot and humid across the Deep South, 34 degrees today near Dallas. Look at Chicago, though, a few thunderstorms moving through, Vancouver expect a day time high of 14.

Taking you to the weekend I promise you cooler weather. Take a look at New York City and the Washington, D.C. region, a dramatic shift in our temperatures as we head especially into next week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: A night of largely peaceful protest we're happy to say has come to an end now in Charlotte, North Carolina. The mayor ordered a midnight to 6:00 a.m. curfew but authorities did not enforce it since the crowds were calm.

Demonstrators want police now to release the video of an officer fatally shooting an African-American man on Tuesday. A source, close to the investigation, says a photo taken at the scene shows the gun Keith Scott was holding but his family says video of the shooting shows Scott acting calmly and does not prove conclusively he had a gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAMBERG: The family's position is that these videos that we watched today, a body camera footage as well as a dash cam capturing the shooting should be made available to the public. Allow people to see it and allow people to draw some of their own conclusions based on what they see with their own eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And again, the Charlotte mayor said she would be considering what people are saying about releasing the video in the coming hours on this next day.

Here's some more sights and sounds from Thursday's protests in Charlotte. A drastic change from what we've seen other nights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROWD CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody stay in peaceful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, officer for giving me a clearance. Thank you. ROMAIN: This is protest right now is much better. The clergy is here, adults are here, black and white.

SANCHEZ: There has been a curfew and it's been signed by the mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lay down like (Inaudible) Everybody, lay down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're laying down.

LEMON: It is indeed midnight in the city of Charlotte and there is a curfew that's taking effect right now. There are still people on the street. There are no plans to enforce this curfew if the protests remain peaceful.

(CROWD CHANTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, one protester I talked with earlier this hour said his feeling from being there was that it was more peaceful because police had backed off from the crowd.

[03:55:07] One man is doing what he can to keep the peace in Charlotte, one hug at a time. Ken Nwadike started something called the Free Hugs Project, a group that went around in the middle of chaos on Wednesday night giving police officers hugs.

He spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper about why he wants to spread love and how he's doing it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN NWADIKE, FREE HUGS PROJECT FOUNDER: When people are hurting and I understand that. And I think it was very tough for them to see, you know, a black man hugging police officers, which to me it doesn't really make sense. You know, because I don't see it as it's us versus the police. You know, we're all human beings.

And so, I was pointing out to them that those specific officers didn't do anything to them. And so, it's very important for us to be able to spread love toward one another.

ANDERSON COOPER, AC360 SHOW HOST: I'm wondering just how important it is, do you think, the ability to have a dialogue about police shootings, about protests on both sides of the issue.

NWADIKE: Absolutely, yes. I think that, you know, being able to open up that communication about how we move past some of these issues and I think that there's this idea that people have -- well, I'm angry and so, I'm just going to lash out. It's not the way to go about it. And so, I try to make sure that when out, I'm just reminding people that love and peaceful protests and thing that that's going to be the way that we get past some of these things and be able to sit down and have real discussions as human beings.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: We'll end the hour with a black man hugging a white police

officer.

I'm Natalie Allen. Early Start is next for the viewers in the U.S. For everyone else, more news with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)