VOA NEWS

June 15, 2018

From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting.



The U.S. Justice Department's inspector general on Thursday criticized former FBI Director James Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe during the 2016 presidential election.

But Sagar Meghani reports the IG's report said it found no evidence that Comey had been motivated by political bias.

The watchdog says there is no evidence conclusions by Comey or department prosecutors were tinged by politics or a preference for either Clinton or Donald Trump, meaning there are no conclusions to back Republicans and Democrats who want to claim the report vindicates them. Both have complained about Comey's actions during the race.

The watchdog says that then-director's actions were insubordinate and extraordinary.

That's AP's Sagar Meghani.

FBI director Christopher Wray said at an afternoon news conference Thursday the agency takes the report seriously, will discipline those who need it and will implement training to endure such actions do not happen again.



New York state sued President Donald Trump's family charitable foundation Thursday, claiming he engaged in "persistent illegal conduct" for more than a decade.

From New York, AP's Warren Levinson reports.

New York's acting attorney general charged the Donald J. Trump Foundation organized as a charity acted as a pass-through for Trump's legal bills and private purchases and come 2016 for President campaign spending.

The suit seeks the dissolution of the foundation and the return of more than $2.8 million plus additional penalties. It also demands that Trump be barred for at least ten years from serving on the board of any New York non-profit as well as one-year bans on his children, Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, who are on the Trump Foundation board.

The president dismissed the suit in a tweet, calling it "ridiculous."



This is VOA news.



The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's exiled government captured a town south of the port city of Hodeida on Thursday even as fierce fighting and airstrikes pounded the area.

A Saudi military spokesman said the forces were drawing closer to the Red Sea port in a campaign aimed at driving out Iranian-aligned Shiite rebels known as Houthis.

The port is also the main entry point for food and other relief supplies into Yemen.

Lise Grande, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, says that port is a vital lifeline for Yemeni civilians.

"We have to bring in those commodities through Hodeida. We've done everything we can to use other ports. We're continuing to expand our operations there. But there is no substitute for Hodeida. Everything depends on that port."

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen's civil war between government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Millions of others have been displaced.



The Pentagon says a U.S. drone strike targeted the leader of the Pakistani Taliban in an Afghan province near the border with Pakistan. Unconfirmed reports from locals Thursday said Mullah Fazlullah had been killed.

A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the strike late Wednesday did target Fazlullah, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Pentagon officials declined to comment at this time on whether the strike was successful.

U.S. officials said Fazlullah directed numerous high-profile attacks against U.S. and Pakistani targets since he was appointed [by] the group's leader in 2013. Those attacks included a December, 2014 attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar that killed 151 people, including more than 130 children.



Mourners carried the body of a leading Indian journalist Shujaat Bukhari and two of his police guards who were shot and killed on Thursday by [a saili] assailants, that is, in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Police and the journalist's colleagues said Bukhari was shot Thursday evening by unidentified gunmen as he left his office in Srinagar, the disputed region's main city.

Bukhari, a group editor for three daily newspapers and a weekly including the English language daily Rising Kashmir, was targeted as he got into his car.



And the football World Cup kicked off Thursday, with host country Russia defeating Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening match of the tournament.

Russia is spending 13 billion (dollars) to put on the event, with matches taking place in 11 host cities.

Group play runs through June 28.



For more on these stories, visit our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.