VOA NEWS

July 4, 2018

From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Christopher Cruise reporting.



The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee led by Republicans has concluded that the intelligence community was correct when it found that Russian President Vladimir Putin did try to help Donald Trump when Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential election.

The bipartisan report released Tuesday disagrees with the findings of the House Intelligence Committee Republicans, who found that the intelligence community was mistaken to conclude that Moscow wanted Trump to win.

Trump has strongly disagreed with the findings of the intelligence community, repeatedly saying that Russian has been denying meddling.



Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, said Tuesday in Moscow he hopes relations between Russia and the U.S. will improve. He is leading a congressional delegation to Russia and meeting with members of parliament.

"We recognize that the world is better off, I believe, if Russia and the U.S. have fewer tensions."

It's the first direct exchange between lawmakers from both countries since 2013. The 8-person delegation also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Shelby said a planned July 16 meeting between President Trump and Putin in Helsinki will be, he said, the beginning maybe of a new day.



President Trump's conflict with the country's intelligence agencies continued Tuesday when he questioned on Twitter whether the National Security Agency is out to get him as part of a "Witch Hunt."

The NSA oversees much of the U.S. government's electronic surveillance. Trump called the agency on Twitter "a disgrace."



This is VOA news.



President Trump is hailing progress with North Korea even as experts warn that his administration's plan to dismantle its nuclear weapons and missiles in a year is risky.

Associated Press Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports from the White House.

The president says there have been "many good conversations" with the North over denuclearizing and weeks after his summit with Kim Jong Un, he is claiming credit for avoiding a confrontation, tweeting "If not for me, we would now be at War with North Korea!"

Experts say there is not proof Kim plans to take concrete steps toward giving up his weapons. And intelligence reports suggest he will instead try to deceive the U.S. about just what he has.

National security adviser John Bolton's pitched a one-year plan for denuclearizing, which experts say is just too fast to produce a lasting agreement.

Sagar Meghani, at the White House.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is preparing this week to make his third trip to North Korea. He is scheduled to be in Pyongyang from Thursday through Saturday.



Members of Congress are asking for a list of all children separated from parents under the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy. They also want details on the reunification process, but they say they are not getting a lot of answers.

Associated Press correspondent Ben Thomas reports.

"Well, that's for the Health and Human Services or that's the Department of Homeland Security or that's the Department of Justice ...."

Congressman Mike Coffman says he has been looking for answers about how federal agencies plan to reunite families separated at the border.

The Colorado Republican paid a visit today to a migrant detention facility in a rural Colorado.

"It doesn't give me confidence when I ask the questions and can't get any answer."

Coffman says the process is highly fragmented with each agency owning just one little piece.

As for a federal judge's order that divided families be reunited within 30 days, "I mention 30 days to the staff and they were unaware of the deadline."

Ben Thomas, Washington.



The Indian government on Tuesday asked Facebook to prevent the spread of false texts on its WhatsApp messaging program. The government says some messages have caused lynchings and mob beatings across the country.

WhatsApp has more than 200 million users in India. It's the messaging site's largest market.



And the most senior Roman Catholic clergyman to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 months in detention by an Australian court.

The court will determine next month if Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson will spend a time in prison or under house arrest.



You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA new.

That's the latest world news from VOA.