James Comey: World will be watching as ex-FBI boss faces Senate

James Comey's appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee later will be among the most dramatic congressional testimonies in America's history.

Mr Comey, who was fired as FBI director last month, could cause real problems for President Trump.

For a few hours, the nation will be watching on. In Washington DC, bars are gearing up for a blockbuster moment.

Shaw's Tavern is serving up a shot of Russian vodka with people's morning "covfefe".

It's hosting "Comey hearing Covfefe", with FBI sandwiches - fried chicken, bacon and iceberg lettuce - available as people watch events unfold on their screens.

:: What is covfefe?

Sky News will be broadcasting the coverage in full, which is set to begin at 10am. (3pm UK time)

Mr Comey has said it is the only public testimony he will give on recent events.

During Tuesday's White House press briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer wouldn't be drawn on whether Mr Trump will be watching, simply telling reporters he "has a full day on Thursday".

Mr Trump, meanwhile, said "I wish him luck" when asked about the man he fired.

He is expected to give a speech towards the end of Mr Comey's hearing. Many in Washington are speculating about the prospect that the social media driven leader might live tweet reaction.

A key question hanging over the hearing is whether Mr Comey will outline whether Mr Trump's conduct amounts to obstruction of justice.

On Tuesday, ABC News reported that he wouldn't make that allegation at the stand.

The source said: "He's there to share his concerns."

Two encounters between Mr Comey and Mr Trump have been at the centre of those concerns.

Image:Washington bars including Shaw's Tavern are showing the event on TV - this is their poster

At a dinner on 27 January, the President allegedly pressed Mr Comey at least twice to pledge his "loyalty" to him.

Mr Comey allegedly only promised to be honest. The White House rejects this account.

Mr Comey, an avid note taker, is believed to have kept a memo detailing a later meeting with Mr Trump on Valentine's Day, the day after Michael Flynn had been fired for giving misleading accounts of his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

It's claimed the memo asked Mr Trump to drop the FBI investigation into Mr Flynn's links with Russia.

:: Comey - Trump urged me to let go of Flynn case

The President allegedly told Mr Comey "I hope you can let this go" and described Mr Flynn as a "good guy".

Mr Trump denies leaning on him in any way.

The President claims Mr Comey told him on three occasions that he was not the subject of an FBI investigation.

He is expected to heavily push back against that suggestion.

The impact of the hearing could be negligible, or it could be a catalyst for steps towards impeachment.

:: Could Donald Trump be impeached?

However, Mr Comey, who has been criticised for his interventions, is expected to walk a careful line.

He has met the special prosecutor in the Russian probe, Robert Mueller, ahead the hearing and has reportedly discussed clear parameters for what he can and cannot discuss in the course of an active investigation.

Democrat Al Green was the first congressman to call for Mr Trump's impeachment, claiming the President has obstructed justice.

He told me he plans to draft articles of impeachment against President Trump despite what he says have been multiple death threats.

"The facts are simple and indisputable," he claimed.

But Ron Hosko, former FBI assistant director, told me he believes calls for impeachment are "premature".

But he went on to say: "If Mueller and Comey think he may be witness (to obstruction of justice) then I think he's going to have pre-scripted very closely defined comments on what those conversations look like and contained if his testimony is needed later."

Trump's reaction to deadly attacks is 'repugnant'

The attacks on Tehran's parliament complex and the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini killed 16 people and wounded more than 40 [AFP]

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that US President Donald Trump's reaction to deadly attacks in Tehran was "repugnant".

At least 16 people were killed on Wednesday in attacks claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, as suicide bombers and gunmen targeted the Iranian parliament and the mauoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini - leader of the 1979 revolution.

"Repugnant [White House] statement & Senate sanctions as Iranians counter terror backed by US clients.Iranian people reject such US claims of friendship," Zarif tweeted on Thursday.

He was responding to a statement released by Trump's press secretary's office, which took the opportunity of an attack to make a point that "states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote".

The White House statement, which mentioned how Iranian people were "going through such challenging times", came as the US Senate advanced legislation that would impose new sanctions on the Islamic Republic, partly for what the bill described as Iran's "support for acts of international terrorism".

What kind of "terrorism" these statements refer to remains vague.
Kicking Iranians 'while they're down'

Trump's comments also brought criticism from Iranians on social media, who recalled their government's offers of support and candlelight vigils held in Iran after the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York.

"Iranians lit candles for you on 9/11. You kick them while they're down. Classy," tweeted Ali Ghezelbash, an Iranian business analyst.

More than 40 people were also wounded in Wednesday's attacks in Tehran, the capital.

The assault marks the first attacks claimed by ISIL, in Iran.


Trump has long accused Iran of backing "terrorism" and has threatened to tear up a 2015 nuclear deal between the Iranian government and major western powers.

North Korea test fires more land-to-ship missiles

North Korea has fired what appears to have been several land-to-ship missiles off its east coast, according to South Korea's military.

The missiles were launched on Thursday morning from the coastal city of Wonsan and they travelled a distance of about 124 miles, said the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff in a statement.

The missiles flew at an altitude of 1.2 miles before falling into the Sea of Japan.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said: "We can never tolerate these kind of provocative actions."

Mr Kishida said that the missiles did not land in Japanese territory and did not have any immediate impact on security.

The test comes despite the extension of UN sanctions less than a week ago and continued diplomatic pressure on the North Koreans to end their nuclear and missile programmes.

North Korea has said the programmes are to protect itself from US aggression but they are also reported to be trying to develop a ballistic missile that is capable of reaching the US mainland.

Media watchdog: Al Jazeera targeted in Gulf crisis

Jordan on Tuesday closed the Amman office of the Doha-based television news channel [FILE: Reuters]

Reporters Without Borders condemned Arab countries for targeting Al Jazeera Media Network, saying the broadcaster was a "collateral victim of [the] diplomatic offensive against Qatar".

The media rights group slammed Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for closing Al Jazeera's office and revoking its operating licence. Jordan, which has lowered the level of its diplomatic representation in Doha, closed the Amman office of the Doha-based television news channel on Tuesday.

"Closing Al Jazeera’s bureaux is a political decision that amounts to censoring this TV broadcaster," Alexandra El Khazen, the head of the group's Middle East desk, said in a statement.

Egypt extends detention of Al Jazeera journalist by another 45 days

El Khazen singled out Saudi Arabia.

"This violation of the freedom to inform compounds the country's already very bad record on free speech and media freedom. We urge the Saudi authorities to rescind this decision and to let Al Jazeera resume operating," she said.

The decision to close Al Jazeera’s office in the Saudi capital came hours after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Monday announced they were severing all ties with Qatar over its alleged support of "extremism".

Egypt quickly followed suit and other countries have also done so in the days since.

Egypt shut down Al Jazeera in 2013 and seized equipment out of its Cairo office. The government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has also locked up Al Jazeera journalists, some for years, including Mahmound Hussein who has spent 169 days in prison.

The countries targeting Qatar have reportedly issued a list of 10 demands, which include shutting down Al Jazeera.

"This is not the first time that Saudi authorities have imposed such restrictions on Al Jazeera's operations… We firmly believe these are unjustified measures," Al Jazeera said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia is ranked 168th out of 180 countries in Reporter Without Border's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.

Questions raised over $110bn arms deal to Saudi Arabia

Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud take part in a signing ceremony in Riyadh last month [Mandel Ngan/AFP]

Washington DC - President Donald Trump's highly touted deal to sell Saudi Arabia $110bn in American weapons is coming under new scrutiny in Washington where politicians are increasingly concerned about the kingdom's conduct of the war in Yemen and, now, the sudden blockade of Qatar.

As details have emerged about the arms sale, it's become clear the $110bn value Trump claimed is exaggerated. The new sales are actually just proposed offers and most of the underlying weapons systems were previously organised under former president Barack Obama.

Congress is poised to vote in coming days on a resolution of disapproval of a portion of the announced deal. US law provides Congress an opportunity to veto arms sales to foreign countries. While Republican lawmakers are likely to support their president, the resolution will draw more than 40 supporters in the Senate, more than previous measures and a sign of trouble for Riyadh.

"The $110 billion is definitely inflated, but it's not zero," said William Hartung, an arms trade analyst at the Center for International Policy in Washington.

US arms sales hit record levels

"It's very hard to evaluate. They haven't been very specific about some of the categories they are talking about," Hartung told Al Jazeera.

What's new is Trump's offer to the Saudis of the US' high-tech THAAD missile defense system, now being deployed in South Korea, and the proposed future sale of 150 Blackhawk combat helicopters, as well as new cyber-warfare capabilities. These are all future propositions, analysts say.

More practically and immediately, Trump is green-lighting sales of precision-guided, air-to-ground missiles that Obama had withheld because of concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and civilian casualties.

In addition, Trump is moving forward to replenish and expand the Saudi's supply of battle tanks and armoured vehicles, replacing equipment damaged in the Yemen conflict.

"The Saudis are in a war in Yemen and they need weapons. You want to win, you need weapons," Senator John McCain, a Republican, told Al Jazeera. "We are in a war."

Separately, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon both announced major sales in connection with Trump's trip. But "this seems more in the nature of a promise than a finished deal", Hartung said.

READ MORE: Qatar diplomatic crisis: All the latest updates

Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow and foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, published a blog post earlier this week saying Trump's announced weapons deal with the Saudi's was "fake news".

"There is no $110bn deal," Riedel said. "Instead there are a bunch of letters of intent, but not contracts."

About $24bn of the claimed $110bn in Trump's deal are weapons sales that were already in the pipeline, analysts say. Obama had offered the Saudis and other Gulf states new military assistance to gain acquiescence to the Iran nuclear deal in 2015.

Trump attempted to score political points at home with the agreement, announced during his visit to Riyadh, by touting the economic value to US defense contractors. He claimed it would create "many thousands of jobs".

Previously announced sales included more than $7bn in munitions and support for the war in Yemen, $3.5bn in Chinook cargo helicopters, and $1.15bn in tanks and armoured vehicles, according to a fact sheetput out May 20 by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Trump's Saudi Arabia visit sparks online reaction

"That $110 billion is a mix of old sales and future prospective sales that have not been announced or signed," Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, told Al Jazeera.

Four US senators led by Murphy are demanding a Senate vote disapproving of that portion of the arms sales related to guided missiles that Obama would not have approved. A companion measure is pending in the House of Representatives.

Citing the suffering of civilians in Yemen's war, US Senator Ben Cardin said on Wednesday he would oppose arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

He noted the "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis with millions of Yemenis on the brink of famine, and hundreds of thousands at risk from a cholera outbreak.

"Given this deplorable context, I am disappointed that we have yet to learn of the administration's strategy to support a political process, or any statement from the administration that more military action in Yemen is counterproductive, will disproportionally affect civilians, and will likely generate conditions for expanded activities by Al Qaeda and Iran, as well as Russian influence. Instead, this administration's approach appears to be more weapons sales," Cardin said in a statement.

With the Saudis' surprise moves against Qatar, positions of senators on Murphy's resolution are "shifting hour to hour", said Trevor Thrall, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think-tank.

"It means something different to vote against this resolution now than it did a few days ago. Now a vote against it looks like it is more of a blank check to Saudi Arabia," Thrall told Al Jazeera.

READ MORE: US and Saudi Arabia sign arms deals worth almost $110bn

Trump's speech to a gathering of Muslim leaders in Riyadh on May 21 was widely interpreted as a signal the new American president would not raise human rights issues. Instead the US will focus on combating "terrorism", for which Trump placed primary blame on Iran in the speech.

Middle East experts in Washington were scrambling to understand what prompted the Saudi move and how Trump's conduct may have encouraged it. Qatar is a US ally and host of a major military air base, the biggest in the Middle East.

"It's possible just his blanket endorsement of the Saudis may have emboldened them to do something they've been wanting to do for a while. And they are certainly hoping to escalate the tensions with Iran. I don't think they thought Qatar was on board with that," Hartung said.

Wreckage and bodies found in Myanmar missing plane search

A number of bodies and wreckage have been found in the search for a plane that went missing off the coast of Myanmar with around 120 people on board.

Rescuers have found 10 bodies, including children, as well as pieces of luggage, safety jackets and a tyre presumed to be from the aircraft's wheel.

A total of 15 children were on board, the military said.

"We have found the plane and some dead bodies this morning..." a spokesman from the military's information team said.

The commander in chief's office confirmed wreckage had been found off the coast of Launglon, in southern Myanmar.

The Chinese-made Y-8F-200 took off from the southern coastal town of Myeik at 1.06pm local time on Wednesday and was heading to Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.

It was on a regular, weekly flight that takes in several coastal towns.

Those on board included 106 soldiers and family members and 14 crew, the military said.

Myanmar's military said it lost contact while flying at 18,000ft over the Andaman Sea, 29 minutes after take-off.

It is monsoon season in Myanmar but there were no reports of stormy weather in the area at the time.

Military aircraft with 120 people on board goes missing off Myanmar

A military aircraft with 120 passengers and crew on board has gone missing off the coast of Myanmar.

The Chinese-made Y-8F-200 took off from the southern coastal town of Myeik at 1.06pm local time on Wednesday and was heading to Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.

It was on a regular, weekly flight that takes in several coastal towns.

Those on board included 106 soldiers and family members and 14 crew, the military said.

Myanmar's military said it lost contact while flying at 18,000ft over the Andaman Sea, 29 minutes after take-off.

A statement on the Facebook page of military commander Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the plane was believed to have been about 20 miles (32km) to the west of Dawei when it went missing.

Six navy ships and three military planes were mobilised to look for it, with the hunt continuing as darkness fell.

A civil aviation official at Myeik airport, Kyaw Kyaw Htey, said: "We don't know what exactly happened to this plane after the loss of contact," adding that the weather at take-off had been "normal", with good visibility.

The plane, with a maximum capacity of 200, was bought in March 2016 and had 809 flying hours.

There were 2.4 tons of supplies on board, the military said.