CITY TO PAY $20M TO FAMILY OF 911 CALLER SLAIN BY COP

MINNEAPOLIS» The city will pay $20 million to the family of an unarmed woman shot by a police officer after she called 911 to report a possible crime, city leaders announced Friday — a move that comes just three days after the former officer was convicted of murder.

The settlement reached with the family of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, is believed to be the largest stemming from police violence in Minnesota. It’s believed that Mohamed Noor is the first Minnesota officer to be convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting.

Asked about the amount and speed of the settlement, Mayor Jacob Frey cited Noor’s unprecedented conviction, as well as the officer’s failure to identify a threat before he used deadly force.

Ebola deaths top 1,000 in Congo.

More than 1,000 people have died from Ebola in eastern Congo since August, the country’s health minister said Friday as hostility toward health workers continues to hamper efforts to contain the second-deadliest outbreak of the virus.

Health Minister Oly Ilunga said four deaths in the outbreak’s epicenter of Katwa helped push the death toll to 1,008. Two more deaths were reported in the city of Butembo.

The outbreak declared almost nine months ago already had caused the most deaths behind the 2014-16 outbreak in West Africa’s Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, which killed more than 11,000 people.

U.N. says 10 million North Koreans suffering severe food shortages.

About 10 million people in North Korea are facing “severe food shortages” after the East Asian nation had one of the worst harvests in a decade, the United Nations’ top food agencies said Friday.

The shortfall is the result of climatic conditions such as drought and flooding as well as a lack of fuel and fertilizers — in part caused by international sanctions aimed at getting leader Kim Jong Un to abandon his nuclear weapons program.

A joint assessment from the World Food Program and the Food and Agricultural Organization estimates North Korea’s production from the 2018-19 harvest was 4.9 million metric tons — the lowest in a decade.

Three black women win Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss America.

NEW

YORK» When Cheslie Kryst won the Miss USA crown, it marked more than a personal triumph: It meant that for the first time, three black women are the reigning Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss America.

The North Carolina lawyer completed the historic triple Thursday with pageant winners 2019 Miss America Nia Franklin and recently crowned 2019 Miss Teen USA Kaliegh Garris.

“The three young women who have focused their energy on demonstrating how standards of black beauty speak for American standards of beauty are to be commended,” said Thomas DeFrantz, a professor at Duke University.

Franklin won her title in September in Atlantic City, N.J. Garris, from New Haven, Conn., won her crown in April.