>> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and purepoint financial. >> how do we shape our tomorrow? it srts with a vision. we see its ideal form in our mind, and then we begin to chisel. we strip away everything that l stands in the way to revw possibilities. at purepoint financial, we have designed our modern approach to

banking aroundou -- your plans, your goals, your dreams. ur tomorrow is now. purepoint financial. >> and now, "bbc world news." laura: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i am laura trevelyan. siding with russia over election meddling. president trump wraps up his meeting with vladimir putin, saying he believes no interference took ace. pres. trump: all i can do is ask the question. president putin,e said it is not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. laura: putting the ball in mr. trump's court, russia's president offers to helpn the mueller investigation, and says yes, trump was his preferred candidate. plus, a fine day for a parade in

paris. tathe world cup championke a victory lap down the champs elysees. laura: welcome to our viewers on public television in the u.s. and also around the world. president trump called his summit with president putin in helsinki today productive. but afterwards, the u.s. president refused to bk the conclusion of american intelligence agencies that 01russia interfered in the election. donald trump said vladimir putin gave him a strong and powerful denial. in a statement rushed out afterwards, the director of national intelligence, dan coats, stood by the assessment of his staff and warned of russia's ongoing efforts to undermine our democracy. our correspondent christian fraser is in helsinki and leads our coverage from there. christian:hank you very much.

24-hour light in the summer, beautil light in helsinki, well after midnight. air force one has long departed. maybe it is dawning on donald trump that hisheerformance in inki has not gone down to well at home. already there have been three tweetsrom air force one. what has really upset people, i think, and there have been how disgust from senior politicians in washington, was the way that he failed to stand up for the intelligence agencies hewhile standing next to t russian president. our north america editor jon sopel has the report. jon: as befitting twocl self-pmed strongmen, there off. power play from the vladimir putin arriving almost rudely late, leaving donald trump kicking his heels for nearly an hour. but then, against the constant twhir of camera shuttery sat down in the presidential

palace in helsinki to start the discussion. pres. trump: i think we have great opportunities together as twwecountries that frankly, have not been getting along very well for the lt number of years. i have been here not too long. i think the world wants to see us get along. we are the two great nuclear powers. we have 90% of the nuclear --an that's not a good thing, it is a bad thing. we hopefully can do something about that. pres. putin: the time has come to talk in a substantial way about our bilateral relations and the many problem areas of the world. jon: with rather fewer cameras present, the two menor the formal handshake. then they sat alone, then and -- of them and their translators for two hours before the working ianch, which turned into a scrum until the secret service had had enough. >> excuse me. jon: there's a small fraca ce beganhe news confer -- a man sitting next to me was evicted who haded plao hold

up placards. but then the two leaders appeared. while not going as far as th claim that it was a new dawn, the president was happy to say that today had been a turning point. pres. trump: our relationship has never been worse than it is now. however, that changed as of about four hours ago. i really believe that. jon: of all the people donald trump has picked fights with, vladimir putin is not one of them, which has led to question abether the trump campaign colluded with moscow in the 2016 election. nonsense, says vladimir putin. presputin: can you name a single fact that would prove the collusion? this is utter nonsense. jon: nonsense, said donald trump. pres. trump: i said it one time again and i will say it one more time, there was no collusion. dni't know the president. there was nobody to collude with. jon: also this uncomfortable question. >> does the ssian government

have come from rising -- have l compromising mater president trump or his family? [laughter] pres. putin: yes, i did hear these rumors that we collect compromising material on pres pent trump. whsident trump was in moscow back then, i did not know um was in moscow. i treat president with the utmost respect. jon: forget collusion -- what about simple russian interference, something the 12 ekssian intelligence agents were indicted for last >> would you with the whole world watching teln president pu would you denounce what happened in 2016 and warned him never to do it again? pres. trump: all i can dtiis ask the qu. my people came to me, dan coats came to me and others, and sai they think it is russia. i have president putin. he said it is not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. jon: he deflected all questions on russian meddling, blaming t fbi, the democrats refusing to hold moscow to account

-- the democra, refusing to hold moscow to account. the president has left helsinki and is on his way back to washington. if he had hoped this summit would allow him to move on from questions of russian interference, he is in for a nasty surprise when he lands back in d.c. christian: jon sopel reporting there. maybe it was that moment in the press conference when he was asked about the indictmentsf 12 russian military officials, ducking the question, that did bring howls of despair not only from demrats but republicans back at home. he seems incapable, this president, to separate collusion from the russia investigation and the findings of his own intelligence agencies. when he was askedt pointedly abe russian investigation, off to a off -- veered rambling answer about hillae- clinton'il servers. he sees the investigation as a deep state plot agnst him to undermine his election victory

and re-freezes point blank to iticize vladimir putin. a lot of people compare that with how other american presidents have behaved alongside russian leaders in the past. think back to ronald r 1gan, who in t0's called russia the evil empire, but then from a position of strength found a way to negotiate with president gorbachev. lookirosenberg has been back at the various meetings over the years between russian and american leaders. steve: helsinki. for more than 40 years, it has been the goto place for t perper summits. the east and wesnt and argue and try to work through theirer ces. brezhnev and ford during the bold war, then gorbachev and bush. s and bill. like their predecessors, yeltsin and clinton failed to cement a permanent partnership.

helsinki may be summit central. but once the talk is over, u.s.-russia relations always seem to come off the rails. the reason for that has less to do with personalities and ch more to do with deep-seated differences between russia and america -- differe, es in valud their worldviews, differences which traditionally fueled suspicion and rivalry, and have ended up pushing these two great powers apart. but this is new -- a u.s.es prent siding with the kremlin against the fbi. an american leader moreer suspicious of a's allies than of russia's president. in helsinki, donald trump was full of praise for vladimir putin. it is his way of mending ties with moscow. but backing the kremlin is making him increasingly isolated at home. >> i think the political elite is remarkably united. you have seen strong bipartisan

legislation to enforce the sanctions, to tighten those sanctions. the question is whethep president tr going to listen to the strong views coming from republicans and s,mocrats that he needs to stick to certain principot make utone-sided concessions to. steve: but the u.s. and russia need to talk. east-west tension has sparked fears of a new arms race. and washington and mosw have been on opposite sides in the wars in syria and eastern ukraine. the russians say there is no alternative to dialogue. >> i believe that most, probably all of the existing relevant glob problems are depended o t on cooperation between russia and the united states of america. the united states of america cannot solve these problems alt e. russia canlve these problems alone. we need each other. steve: in recent days, the u.s. president has defended russia,

criticized nato, and labeled the eu america's foe. his worldview seems more in line elth moscow. it is starting to ike donald trump's new world order. steve rosenberg, bbc n helsinki. laura: christian, or even u.s. official surprised by the turn of events in helsinki today? christian: yes, i thinhey were. we got pointed instructions as to why donald wanted this one-on-one with president putin. its not just that he wanted the relationship, is that heid not want leaks from the meeting, ks ine did not want haw his own administration to undercut what he was working on with vladimir w putin. interesting that when they sat together as a group, the two sides, or a working lunch, you had john bolton, who negotiated with russia with

george w. bush, you had mike pompeo, senior head of the cia who has been there before and has in what the russians do, and you had fiona hill, a fcemer intelligfficer who has written a biography of vladimir putin. she knows exactly what the russian side is all about. she has been put there for a reason. the novice in the room was donald trump. what concerns people within his own administration is that for over two hours from he was one-on-one with the russian with just t translators president. we might never know was discussed in that two-hour meeting.ur what are nato and eu allies to make of the u.s. president uphere on the podium being so chummy with russ's leader? christian: of course ' optics arent good, because over the course of this trip to europe, he has criticized nato, he sowed

disunity and nato, over have athat other americans had concerns abo europeans, spending in nato and meeting targets. thaing wrong with but then to go on later in scotland and criticize the eu as parru ass, on a similar ia, and to undercut theresa may in the process with the mebrexit plan and then to here and cozy up to vladimir putin in aay where there was no criticism at all for all the malfeasance there has been from the russian side and that is not going toy go down vll with the europeans at all. and the joint foreign minister this evening -- german foreign minister this evening said that as far as his countries concerned, they can no longer trust the white house. laura: christian fraser, thank you. for more on the helsinki meeting, i spoke earlier with kimberly marten, an expert on russian affairs with barnhart college in new york -- barnard

college in new york. ice republican senator called today a propagandary for president putin. what is your assessment? kimberly: i think that is pretty much correct. it was a victory for putinhat the summit itself was held, given the high tension in the united states wive the russia igation. even more than that, it was pure television. he did not seem coming out with the leaders gave their assessment of what they had been talking about in their hours alone that there was any realat substance as discussed. each just sort of gave a laundry list of different issues and they did not seem to agree ong what the meead accomplished. laura: did you get the inpression that vladimir p was pressed at all on crimea for -- or on ukraine? kimberly: there is no evidence of that having happene in fact, in the press conference, president putin said he pushed the united states that they had to do more to get ukraine to abide by the minskccords. president trump did not say

anything about any effort on his part to press president putin in ukraine. laura: the president's nan director oonal intelligence had to warn thatss is still working to undermine our democracy. basedwe on how the meetin today, will vladimir putin think he can carry on getting away with this? kimberly: yes. as putin said, you can't trust anyone. ncy pay attention to anything the u.s. intellicommunity says? trump did not say anything that was different from whaaid before, but what was striking was that he said it before this global audience next to the russian presiden in some ways it is not really a surprise, but it is very discouraging. laura: is't there a rift between the president himself and his administration and the tough sanctions that have been imposed against russia? kimberly: yes, very much so. in fact, that means the two-hour meeting that took place between putin and trump may not ve much meaning, because the advisors can spin it to mean anything they want to say, and

we have a sense that what president trump says tens to be what the last person he talked to said. it is possible that there is not going to be any change in policy from this. in many ways the summit was a missed opportunity, because there really is a lot of conflict between the u.s. and russia, and one would have hoped usthat some substantive dion would have come out of this. laura: having complained about nato and calling the eu a foe in the past few days, s e president l smiles with vladimir putin. is that part of putin's strategy to divide the u.s. falm traditionaes so he can benefit? kimberly: no question, and it was part of the soviet strategy in the cold war days when the soviets tried to break apart nato. there is just no question that this is very much in line with what put as a former intelligence officer who is still surrounded by intelligence officers in russia, anis is what he. it appears that president trump is playing right into his hands. laura: kimberly marten, thank

you for joining us. kimberly: thank you, laura. thea: in other news, british government has narrowly avoided defeat connect the -- amrrowly avoided defeat in a key brexit vote in part. ministers decided to accept an amendment by brexit hard-liners aboufuture trade with the eu some conservative mp's accused theresa may's government of bending toressure, and opposition votes nearly defeated the measure. china has reacted to the latest plan for moramerican tariffs filing an official complaint with the world trade organization. earlier, the president of the european council warned that worsening global trade tension could lead to violent conflict and chaos. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, the children of islamic stateya stranded in we have a special report on efforts to return them home to egypt.

buddhist monks have held a ceremony outside the flooded cave comex in thailand to honor a diver who died in the operation to rescue 12 boys and their football coach trapped inside. it operation continues in the area following the rescue mission. howard johnson reports. waho: the drums signaled the start of the ceremony. in northern thailand, the drummers blessed for years and summon people to important events. today, prestigious monks and dignitaries gathered to send blessings to the spirit of the former navy seal diver who died during the operation to rescue the traed football team. pig heade offerings -- s, a symbol of wealth and itosperity. a h buddhist monk lives in the capital, ban tok, and came e part in the ceremony. his journeybelieve

has ended just because his body has died. we will pray for good health, good luck in his next life, which has already started. last few days,e thousandof volunteers have streamed into the area around the cave to clean up behind the rescue operation. isths the closest we have been able to get to the entrance of the complex in weeks. n what we e behind us is a security has been set up to stop anyone from getting in. there is security detail here. what we have heard is that the authoritie say it will take six months to clear the cave complex of all the equipment ts used during the rescue operation. today's ceremony was a chance for many to offer their opi blessings tots and deities they believe guarded these case. one lady told us she h visited the cave before the rescue operation and asked in the spirits to keep the team safe. today she returns to show that

-- to showtu her gratide. howard johnson, bbc news. laura: it has been nearly two forces retookbyan the city of sirte from islamic state forces and now a battle is raging over the children of s. members left behind. most o the kids are staying with a charity in the city of misrata, and that is where our correspondent reports. reporter: these are the children the islac state group left behind, stranded in a foreign country for no crime of their own. they survived e conflict, but with a lifetime of mental scarring. when i first met them, they barely spoke. they rarely get any visits. stigmatized by society, these helpless, innocent victims are

confined to this orphanage. >> i cannot imagine how the children have been kept in this place for more than a year and a half, without having a chance to go out except three or four times. the place is quite small, actually, only a couple of rooms here. it is hard, it is suffocating.on he is th psychologist rehabilitating these children. he has spent months talking to them about the past. he still remembers how they looked when ey first arrived. >> they had continuous panic attacks. they also suffered severe insomnia and they couldn't talk. reporter: this girl is 10. she lost both her parents and her brother in t conflict. like all the children, she was t close upo the fighting as u.s.h- and britisbacked forces battled to take back control of the city of sirte. this is the moment she wasre

ued. she tells me she misses home. "i hav grandfather and my uncle," she says. "do you want to see them?" i ask. "yes." this family lives here in nehboring egypt. after weeks of research, we have managed to track down th the grandparents and uncle tell me they have not seen them or talked to them since they left egypt three years ago. >> every time we hear a car horn, we think it is them. >> i wanted to take a car and go bring themse back , but i was told only the authorities could do so. viporter: i showed them a deo weilmed of the children in libya.al they f get a glimpse.

back in libya, the children continue to wait. talks to bring them back to egypt have stretched on for months. without an education or future to look forward to, they don't know if they will ever return home. bbc news, misrata, western libya. laura: the fighters' kids stranded in libya. haveorld cup champions returned home to a hero's welcome. the french team arrived in paris , where they were greeted by tens of thousands of supporters lining the ceymps elysees. on their first world cup since 1998. lucy williamson has more. lucy: neath the memorials of france's military conquerors

came the newest heroes, bringing theirrophy for from offresh from the cycles world champions turned icons, recording on their phones. this team has reflected back to e the nation an imn be proud of. not just an emblem, but of aan that it meto be french. >> i feel very proud to be french and inccidible and exd to be here with everybody else. sit is a unique moment tore with all the other french people. lucy: the coach, who played in

france's world cup win two decades ago, was honored in moscow last night with a song and a bath of champagne. back home, they did things differently. a metro station that once was began champs elysees temporarily change thebegan namo honor his name. the te was hosted by the most famous fans. just kids themselves when france last won the trophy. it was only right to pass the moment on. >> thank you again to the whole of france. i hope we make you tremble, i hope we make you jump. lucy: they say world cup win means popularity for presidents and players. history willes remember are those of the young men in blue. lucy williamson, bbc news. laura: transit celebrates its champions in very french style.

-- france celebrates its yoampions in very french style. can find more on a story and all the day's news on our website. to see what we're working on it anytime, check us out on twitter. i am laura trevelyan. thanks so much for watching "bbc world news america." >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, you can swipe your way to the news of the day and way up-to-dateith the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stor. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and purepoint financl. >> how do shape our tomorrow? it starts with a vision. we see its ideal form in our mind, and then we begin to chisel. we strip away everything that

stands in the way to reveal new possibilities. at purepoint financial, we have designed our modern approach to banking around you --ur lans, your goals, your dreams. your tomorrow is now. purepoint financial. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcelos angeles.

captioning sponsored by newshour proctions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonigh >> president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> woodruff: ...president trump sides th russia, questioning u.s. intelligence on moscow's election interfence, as vladimir putin clearly states he wanted mr. tmp to win. then, outrage at the president's statemen from republicans and democrats. reakdown the political a diplomatic fallout from the meeting in helsinki. plus, inside the mind of rin williams. a new documentary explores the of the late comedian an his lasting mark on the world. >> he needed comedy. he nded the love from the audience. it was a need.