Trump encourages Russia to hack emails of Clinton

Donald Trump sensationally challenged Russia on Wednesday to hack into Hillary Clinton's emails as a furious Democratic campaign accused the Republican nominee of inviting foreign spies to meddle in the US presidential election.

At a news conference, the New York billionaire tried to undermine his White House rival and promised a heyday of US-Russian relations under a Trump presidency.

Attacking Clinton as she prepares to accept her party's formal nomination, Trump turned his guns on the email scandal dating back to her time as secretary of state and more than 30,000 emails deleted on grounds of being personal and not related to her job.