Today In News: June 22, 2017

Today In News:

• All 17 intelligence agencies have agreed Russia was behind the hack of Democratic email systems and tried to influence the 2016 election to benefit Trump.  President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the assessment of 17 U.S. intelligence agencies that blame Russia for election meddling, questioning why the Obama administration didn’t try to stop it.

• Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told House investigators that President Trump repeatedly asked him to publicly announce there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.  Coats' comments to investigators line up with previous reporting that Trump asked multiple officials to confirm the status of the investigation publicly.

• Senior American defence officials acknowledged on Wednesday that US forces had been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen as Amnesty called for an urgent investigation after a news report from the Associated Press news agency alleged that the UAE financed, armed and trained Yemeni forces responsible for grave human rights violations during security operations against the Yemeni branches of al-Qaeda and ISIL.

• U.S. Senate leaders on Thursday unveiled a draft of legislation to replace Obamacare, proposing to kill a tax on the wealthy that pays for it and reduce aid to the poor to cut costs.

• The leaning al-Hadba minaret that towered over Mosul for 850 years lay in ruins,  demolished by retreating Islamic State militants.

• After boasting about recordings of conversations with former FBI Director, James Comey, Trump on Twitter stated: "With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are 'tapes' or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings,” .

• The United States is expected to approve India's purchase of a naval variant of the Predator drone. Securing the agreement on the purchase of 22 unarmed drones is seen in New Delhi as a key test of defense ties that flourished under former President Barack Obama but have drifted under Trump.

• North Korea has carried out another test of a rocket engine that the United States believes could be part of its program to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile. This could be for the smallest stage of an ICBM rocket engine.

• President Donald Trump, speaking at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, touted the wealth of some of his top economic advisers. Also buoyed by the embrace of his loyal supporters and Republican victories in a pair of special elections, President Donald Trump shrugged off the cloud of scandal that has enveloped his White House and turned back to the clock to 2016, delivering a vintage campaign-style performance in a key Midwest battleground state he won a year ago.

• Three former members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) who resigned on Saturday over Trump's apparent lack of interest in their work are attacking the Senate bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare

• The Philippine military says gunmen who had holed up in a primary school on the southern Midanao island have retreated after a gun battle with troops but are holding some civilians hostage.