Midday Roundup: Putin and Assad fist bump in Moscow

Best buds. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad traveled to Moscow for some face time with his strongest ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has taken the position that strengthening Assad’s regime is the best path to defeating ISIS and bringing peace to Syria and Iraq. In contrast, the United States has supported rebel groups in Syria that fight against both ISIS and Assad. Tuesday, the U.S. and Russia announced they had signed an agreement to keep their drones and aircraft from coming into conflict as they bomb different targets in Syria. Russia claims its airstrikes are targeting ISIS, but many of its warheads have hit more moderate groups who oppose Assad in Syria’s ongoing civil war.

Fallen hero. A New York City police officer died Tuesday evening in a gunfight stemming from gang violence and a stolen bicycle. Two criminal crews were shooting at each other in the East Harlem projects when officers responded. Officer Randolph Holder, 33, was chasing down a suspect who reportedly stole a bike to flee the scene. Gunfire broke out as Holder and his partner caught up with the suspect, and Holder was shot in the head. He was the fourth New York Police Department officer killed in the last 11 months, Commissioner William Bratton said. “Tonight, he did what every other officer in the NYPD does when the call comes—he ran toward danger,” Bratton said. “It was the last time he will respond to that call.” Police have arrested the suspect but not identified him publicly.

Classified information. The FBI is investigating reports that an unidentified teenager hacked into the personal AOL email account of CIA director John Brennan. Cybersecurity analyst Morgan Wright said the hacker apparently obtained a copy of Brennan’s government personnel file as a result. “If that file gets out, it could actually put people’s lives in danger, because their identity is not supposed to be known to the general public,” Wright said. The hacker apparently was able to convince the AOL server that he was Brennan and was then able to change the password and get access to Brennan’s account. The hacker released a list of more than 2,600 email and instant message contacts allegedly from Brennan’s account, some of them possibly containing information on CIA employees and other top intelligence officials.

Great Scott! It’s finally here: Oct. 21, 2015, the future date that Marty McFly visits in Doc Brown’s DeLorean-turned-time-machine in the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II. Though hovercrafts and self-drying clothes haven’t made it to the mass market yet, as predicted in the film, one forecast could still come true: The Chicago Cubs have a slim but real shot at winning the World Series. (They’re down 0-3 to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series.) Pepsi is taking advantage of today’s iconic date to release a limited-edition soda called Pepsi Perfect, a vitamin-enhanced drink imagined for the movie.

WORLD Radio’s Paul Butler and The Associated Press contributed to this report.