welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. our top stories: back in the spotlight over russia. donald trump had a second discreet meeting with vladimir putin at the 620 summit, according to the white house. but why? and mr trump's eldest son, donald jr, has now been called to testify in congress over his meeting with a russian lawyer during the election campaign. the duke and duchess of cambridge visit a former concentration camp in poland, an experience they describe as shattering. and, 18 months after his pioneering double hand transplant, zion harvey tells us about his remarkable road to recovery. only thing that is different is, instead of having no hands, i have two hands. i'm still the same kid everybody knew without hands.

the white house has confirmed that president trump held a second meeting with russia's president putin during the 620 summit earlier this month in germany. the white house says the meeting, barely publicised up until now, happened hours after the formal bilateral talks between the two leaders. it is believed mr trump spoke to mr putin at the second meeting for around an hour. the only other person present was a russian translator, so there is no us government record of their conversation, and what they discussed has not been disclosed. and donald trump's eldest son is going to have to do some more explaining about his own meeting with a russian. the leading democrat on the senate judiciary committee says she has received approval to invite donald trumer to testify about his meeting with a russian lawyer during the presidential campaign. dianne feinstein says the special counsel overseeing the russia investigation, robert mueller,

has raised no objection. former trump campaign manager paul manafort will also be invited. the senate intelligence committee is also keen to hear from them. i asked the bbc‘s suzanne kianpour, in washington, what more we know about the hearings. well, we don't know a whole lot because they haven't set... first of all, they haven't actually sent out the subpoenas yet, and if and when they do, we don't know if they will happen in public. we also don't know if donald trump jr will decide to invoke the fifth amendment, which allows him to not answer questions. however, what we do know is that this would be significant, because donald trumer is the highest member of president trump's inner circle to be questioned in these congressional investigations. and remember, there's several congressional investigations. and, as you mentioned,

the senate intelligence committee also wants to have a go at this. the top democrat on the committee, mark warner, has called this very disturbing, and wonders why it has taken so long for facts to come out about this controversial meeting between donald jr, the trump campaign manager paul manafort, and this russian lawyer. it seems every day there's a new revelation. it has taken some time for anything to urge about this second meeting at the 620 between mr trump and mr putin, with only a russian interpreter present. there is more emerging now, though. yes, actually, just now mr trump himself just tweeted about this. he said fake news story of secret dinner with putin all 620 leaders and spouses were invited by the chancellor

of germany, press knew! he again tweeted after that, saying the fake news is becoming more and more dishonest. even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in germany is made to look sinister. i spoke to ian bremmer from the eurasia group just now, who broke this story, and the 620 leaders and their spouses were at a dinner. each couple had one translator, and mr trump's translator spoke japanese, according to the white house, and therefore couldn't translate this meeting between mr trump and mr putin. that's why mr putin's translator was the only one present, and therefore mr putin's translator is the only one who truly knows what was said. as you know, the nuances of language with translations! ian bremmer told me that me that people familiar with this dinner recounted to him it was a very private conversation, and that it made people in the room uncomfortable. why? because this was president trump's first 620, and it made clear

where his priorities lie, which was with talking to russia and working on the relationship with russia. whereas we do need to remember, on that note, that mr trump's campaign promise, one of them, was to mend relations with russia. and this was his first 620, and this was his first kind of means of being able to work further on this relationship, in a perhaps more informal setting. just six months into his presidency, mr trump and his party have hit another major hurdle with their long—promised replacement for president obama's healthcare plan. it has become clear the republicans don't have the support in congress to bring in their own new plan, even though they control both houses, so the strategy has changed. nick bryant has more on what it means for millions of americans. few cities paid more attention to the healthcare debate than donald trump's hometown, where one in five new yorkers stood to lose their coverage had obamacare been repealed. you're going to repeal something that millions of americans need.

i laughed, ijust totally laughed. donna leslie suffers from asthma, sleep apnoea, and an injured knee. she is delighted that republicans failed to dismantle obamacare. her life would be unbearable without it. if you take it away, oh... i couldn't even imagine the disaster that would be. kentucky, a trump stronghold, was once seen as a success story of obamacare, because it brought about such a sharp drop in the number of people without health insurance. how's the breathing being doing? but insurance companies here have been pulling out of the health marketplace that obamacare created, partly because of the uncertainty about its future. take a deep breath... in some states, the system is in danger of collapse, and dr van breeding is fed up with the politics. other countries have done it, they set the groundwork for us. we won't be a pioneer, but we can take what they've done and use it, and build it to make it the best programme in the world.

that's why the united states is as strong as it is. we've always taken things and made them better. why can't we take healthcare and make it better, instead of fighting over it? back in the spring, donald trump presented himself as the maestro when the house of representatives voted to repeal and replace obamacare. this is a repeal and a replace of obamacare, make no mistake about it. but the fist—pumps and hugs were premature. divisions between right—wing and moderate republicans meant he couldn't get the measure through the senate. and so, today, a stony—faced president tried to distance himself from this embarrassing defeat. we'll just let obamaca re fail. we're not going to own it, i'm not going to own it, i can tell you the republicans are not going to own it. we'll let obamacare fail, and the democrats are going to come to us and say, how do we fix it, how do we fix it, or how do we come up with a new plan? this debacle says a lot

about the health of american democracy, and the paralysis of the body politic. for much of the obama administration, it was because of divided government. the democrats had the white house, the republicans blocked them on capitol hill. but now, the republicans control the white house, the senate, the house of representatives. it was their disunity which led to this failure. donald trump claimed it would take an outsider to fix america's broken politics. but, six months into his presidency, he can't yet claim a landmark legislative success. and you can head to our website for the latest information on president trump's administration, events in washington, and coverage of all our main stories. just go to bbc.com/news. you can also download the bbc news app. venezuela has rejected american calls to cancel plans for a new assembly, which would replace the current parliament and have the power to rewrite the constitution. president trump has threatened economic sanctions if the government of nicolas maduro goes ahead with a vote for the new constituent assembly. president maduro told his cabinet venezuela takes orders from no—one. translation: venezuela is not

governed by any foreign government, not today, or ever. venezuela is a country that commands itself, and here in venezuela, we venezuelans are in charge. trump isn't in charge here, nor santos, nor michel temer. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: the final report into decades of abuse at a german catholic choir has found that more than 500 boys may have been abused. the inquiry details 67 cases of sexual abuse and 500 others of physical violence. many former choirboys have compared the school to prison or hell. a senior us military officer has said that a north korean missile strike would not be able to hit the united states with any degree of accuracy.

6eneral paul selva told a senate committee that, while pyongyang's missiles have the range to reach the us, they don't appear to have the necessary capability to reliably hit their targets hungary's prime minister, viktor orban, has insisted he will show zero tolerance for anti—semitism. the israeli leader, benjamin netanyahu, is visiting hungary. mr orban was criticised last month for calling wartime leader miklos horthy an exceptional statesman. horthy presided over the deportation of 500,000 jews to nazi death camps in taiwan's parliament, debating was briefly replaced by scuffles as the opposition party, the kmt, opposed an infrastructure bill put forward by the ruling party, the dpp. the plan was criticised for going beyond the four—year term limit of taiwan's president and her party. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: meet the ten—year—old who can write, feed and dress himself thanks to his pioneering double hand transplant.

the flamboyant italian fashion designer gianni versace has been shot dead in florida. the multi—millionaire was gunned down outside his home in the exclusive south beach district of miami. emergency services across central europe are stepping up their efforts to contain the worse floods this century. nearly 100 people have been killed. broadway is traditionally called the "great white way" by americans, but tonight it is completely blacked out. it is a timely reminder to all americans of the problems that the energy crisis has brought to them. 200 years ago today, a huge parisian crowd stormed the bastille prison — the first act of the revolution which was to topple the french monarchy. today, hundreds of thousands throng the champs—elysees for the traditional military parade. finally, fairy penguins have been staggering ashore and collapsing after gorging themselves on a huge shoal of their favourite food, pilchards.

some had eaten so much they could barely stand. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the white house says president trump held further discreet talks with the russian president during the recent 620 summit. president trump's eldest son could be called to testify in the us congress over allegations of russian interference in last year's election. an american boy who made history as the world's first child with a double hand transplant is now able to write, feed and dress himself. it is two years since zion harvey was given new hands. he is now ten, and his doctors say they are amazed by and so proud of his progress. here is his extraordinary story. i just want to write a letter to the parents for giving me their son's hands, because they didn't have to do

that if they didn't want to. look at that! up, up, up! nice! all right, come and get me. squeeze, squeeze and open. open, open, open, open, open. 6ood. all the way up. wow! are you ready? eyes on the ball. head in the game. now i can get a snack out of the refrigerator without anybody helping me. did most of my art in here,

did most of my rapping in here. we have jackie robinson. over here we have mohammad ali, and over here we have ray lewis. in the middle of all of them is me. the only thing that is different is, instead of having no hands, i have two hands. and everything else is the same. my friends haven't changed, they hadn't treated me any different. i'm stilla kid, i'm still the same kid everybody knew without hands. the duke and duchess of cambridge have described as shattering their visit to a former concentration camp, as part of their five day tour

of poland and germany. the royal couple met holocaust survivors at stutthof, near 6dansk, where 65,000 people were murdered in world war two. our royal correspondent peter hunt reports. poland, a country with a troubled past, provides presidential—style security for visiting royal dignitaries, that leaves little to chance. part of that past is captured here at stutthof, a concentration camp—turned—museum, with evil on display, the shoes of those murdered. it is an education for all visitors. with two survivors, tens of thousands perished. the duke and the duchess paid their respects at the camp's jewish memorial, and reflected. "what the nazis did", william and kate wrote later, "was a terrible reminder of the cost of war." they described their visit as shattering. in what was a friendless, soulless place, as teenagers, manfred and zigi formed a friendship for life.

they walked out of these death gates in the ‘40s, alive, against the odds. this was the only camp i thought i was going to die, because it wasn't only from sickness or starvation, but also the weather. in november here, well below zero it was, and we were wearing stripped pyjamas. that's what we had. it was an extremely emotional event for me. in 70—plus years, since our liberation, i have never set foot either in germany or poland. i put all that behind me. at this brutal camp, and at the others, so many people died, including three million polishjews. the hope is that this royal visit will help to educate the young, and ensure that the horrors of the holocaust are never forgotten. william and kate's introduction to polish history continued when they met lech walesa,

the retired shipyard worker and former president. with the solidarity trade union movement, he played a part in the downfall of communism. this has been an enlightening day, that will linger long in royal memories. peter hunt, bbc news, 6dansk. back now to a story we brought you yesterday in saudi arabia, where a woman walking through a historic site wearing a miniskirt has gone viral. the latest is that police have arrested her and the case had been referred to the public prosecutor. the saudi dress code for women is generally strictly enforced, and the video shows the young woman walking in a particularly conservative area of a very conservative country. the australian prime minister is demanding answers from authorities in minneapolis over the fatal shooting of a woman from sydney, by police. malcolm turnbull described the incident as shocking and inexplicable.

justine damond, a ao—year—old yoga teacher, was killed on saturday. she'd placed an emergency call about a suspected sexual assault near her home. she was speaking to the driver of the police car that responded when the officer in the passenger seat shot her. her family want to know why the officers' body cameras were switched off. the australian prime minister, malcolm turnbull, says his diplomats want answers from the us authorities. this is a shocking killing. it is inexplicable. our hearts go out to herfamily. i inexplicable. our hearts go out to her family. i mean, inexplicable. our hearts go out to herfamily. i mean, how can a woman out in the street in her pyjamas, seeking systems from the police, the shot like that? it is a shocking killing and, yes, we are demanding a nswe i’s killing and, yes, we are demanding answers on the half of her family and our hearts go out to herfamily and our hearts go out to herfamily and all of her friends and loved ones. it is a truly tragic, tragic

killing there in minneapolis. lemurs are unique to madagascar, but illegal sapphire mining on the island is threatening the largest of the species, the indri. since late last year more than 40,000 miners have gone to a remote area of rainforest in east of the country, hoping to get rich. and the habitat of the indri, which is already critically endangered, is being destroyed. angus crawford reports now from madagascar. in the forests of madagascar, there is a new sound. the sound of men working, poor men who want to get rich. they are here because sapphires, the biggest rush in madagascar for more than 20 years. tens of thousands of people have moved here to clear the land and dig for gems. once—virgin rainforest felled and burned. now, look. mineshafts and spoil heaps stretch across the valley. meet bruno and his sapphires. he has travelled 1,000 miles,

invested all his money, for this. each morning, the work takes him down into the dark. the pits are deep, very deep. the job is cramped, back—breaking, and dangerous. the mines are illegal, but the work goes on unchecked, eating slowly into the rainforest. see the damage it causes, threatening the habitat of one of the world's rarest animals, the indri lemur. they spend their lives in the trees, eating leaves and fruit, and breeding only once every three years. there may be as few

as 2,000 left in the wild. jonah ratsimbazafy is a world authority on the indri. he is horrified by the effects of the mining. thousands of people. when people buy sapphires, they kill indri. so today i'm telling you, stop buying precious stones from illegal mining from madagascar. but how can buyers know? the gems go from the mine to capital city, are cut and polished in backstreet workshops, before being exported to dealers abroad. illegally mined sapphires are then anonymous, and completely untraceable. so, for now, the miners keep working. 6reat riches lie beneath this soil, unique wildlife in the trees above. but how does madagascar extract one without destroying the other?

a group of afghan teenage girls are breaking down stereotypes. twice denied us visas until a late intervention by president trump, the six are taking part in a global robotics competition in washington. they're hoping to set an example for girls back home in their ultra—conservative country. we were so hopeless quite a lot because we thought that we had lost a big chance to show the ability of afg ha ns. just finally, the main news at the white house confirmed president trump had a second non— publicised meeting with the russian president putin at a russian translator during the 620 summit. mr trump has dismissed as sick suggestions it was a secret or sinister encounter.

that's it for now. thanks for watching. hello, there. i've got the thunderstorm globe behind me, because huge thunderstorms broke out across the south of the uk during the latter part of tuesday. but that was after quite a glorious day on tuesday afternoon. plenty of sunshine up and down the uk, and pretty decent temperatures. 26—28 celsius was tuesday afternoon's high. there was lots of sunshine across the north, a little bit hazier in the south, and then thunderstorms broke out, initially across the south—west of england, and then spreading into southern and south—eastern counties. torrential downpours, flash—floods reported, and also strong, gusty winds and very large hail. so there is likely to be further disruption for more showers and thunderstorms during the overnight period and into wednesday morning. keep tuned to your bbc local radio for the latest updates. now, thunderstorms continue to rattle on across england and wales during the overnight period. if you catch one, it could be very severe, and likely to be disruptive as well. but not all areas will get them.

another warm and muggy start to wednesday. wednesday morning dose thunderstorms and showers will trundle northwards into scotland, and we'll see further thundery showers pushing into northern ireland, and then into wales and north—west england into the afternoon. but for england and wales, for the majority it will be a fine afternoon. the sunshine will come out, it will feel humid, and temperatures will top 29—30, maybe even 3! celsius across east anglia and towards the east midlands. further west you are, it will be a bit cooler, cloudier, and showers and thunderstorms will make inroads into wales, north—west england eventually getting into northern ireland and western parts of scotland. but even ahead of it, we could see some thundery showers breaking out in scotland. so that's how it's looking through wednesday afternoon. now, as we head on through the evening period and overnight, those showers continue to trundle northwards and eastwards. potentially some severe ones.

we could have flash flooding in places. the risk of hail and gusty winds with these storms. behind it, it starts to turn a little bit cooler and fresher, with clearing skies for northern ireland, into the far west of britain. but ahead of it, again, another warm and muggy night to come with the showers and thunderstorms. for thursday, again, it will be quite a warm and humid start in central and eastern areas. those showers and thunderstorms continuing in the morning and into the afternoon they should eventually clear. something brighter pushing in and something fresher. we'll notice that, too. temperatures reaching 17—23 celsius in the south—east. so that will be feeling certainly much cooler than the last few days. into friday and saturday we're into that cooler regime. westerly winds bringing sunshine and showers off the atlantic. temperatures range from 18—20 celsius. this is bbc news. the headlines: the white house has confirmed that president trump had a second meeting with russia's president putin during the 620 summit this month in germany. it is thought the meeting, hours after the formal talks and barely publicised up until now,

lasted about an hour. it looks likely the president's eldest son, donald jr, will have to testify in congress about his meeting with a russian lawyer during the presidential campaign. former trump campaign manager paul manafort is also being invited. president trump has said the new republican healthcare policy should be to allow the current system, obamacare, to collapse, and spent the next two years trying to find a new one. his party has failed to find enough support in congress to pass their latest bill, even though they control both houses. now on bbc news, another chance to see stephen sackur‘s hardtalk