From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting. Britain will get a female leader.

Home Secretary Theresa May and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom have been chosen to compete for the prime minister's position.

On a second ballot on Thursday, Conservative Party members in parliament cast 199 votes for May, 84 for Leadsom and 46 for Justice Secretary Michael Gove.

Theresa May spoke to reporters: "I'm delighted to have won so much support from my colleagues. I've won votes from Conservative MPs from across the party, from left and right, leavers and remainers, MPs from the length and breadth of the country."

About 150,000 members of the Conservatives Party across Britain will now vote by postal ballot to decide between May and Leadsom.

The chief of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is defending his decision not to pursue a criminal case against Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified national security information while she was secretary of state.

FBI Director James Comey told a House of Representatives panel Thursday after a yearlong probe, investigators decided there was no evidence that either Clinton or her aides intended to break U.S. laws.

"I believe this investigation was conducted consistent with the highest traditions of the FBI. Our folks did it in an apolitical and professional way, including our recommendation as to the appropriate resolution of this case." :James Comey.

Government forces and their allies moved into an area near the Syrian city of Aleppo Thursday, threatening to block a supply line to rebels holding an adjacent part of the city.

The advance came in violation of the government's own Eid al-Fitr cease-fire.

The move now brings the Syrian government closer to encircling rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

This is VOA news.

The Associated Press is reporting Iraqi police and hospital officials say an attack carried out by multiple suicide bombers on a Shiite shrine, north of Baghdad, has killed 26 people and has wounded 52.

Police officials say the attack began late Thursday night when a suicide bomber targeted policemen guarding the entrance to the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in Balad.

A black man was fatally shot Wednesday night by a police officer during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

The dead man is identified as 32-year-old Philando Castile of St. Paul, a school cafeteria supervisor.

President Barack Obama commented. "There are problems across our criminal justice system, there are biases, some conscious and subconscious that have to be rooted out."

The shooting comes a day after police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, shot and killed another black suspect, Alton Sterling.

Both incidents have led to racially charged accusations of excessive force by police against minorities.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met behind closed-doors Thursday with House and Senate Republicans.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called it an opportunity for members to gain information about Trump's campaign, and some of the attendees expressed enthusiasm for the candidate.

But dozens of Republicans shunned the get-together and others refused to endorse Trump.

The encounter on Capitol Hill came less than two weeks before the Republican National Convention.

The United States will give Ukraine nearly $23 million in humanitarian assistance to help it deal with the crisis in the eastern part of the country.

Secretary of State John Kerry announced the new aid package Thursday in Kyiv where he met with top officials to discuss Ukraine's reforms and the fragile cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.

"And today, I informed President Poroshenko that the United States will provide nearly $23 million in additional immediate humanitarian assistance to help thousands of vulnerable people who are affected by the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine."

U.S. humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the start of the crisis now totals more than $135 million.

Poland's parliament has approved an amended version of controversial changes to the nation's Constitutional Court.

Opposition members in many Western allies have expressed alarm over the proposed changes, believing they compromise the government system of democratic checks and balances and the rule of law.

The issue is expected to come up at the NATO summit which begins Friday. It is also expected to be one of the topics U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss with his Polish counterpart at the summit.

From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.