Comey to testify Trump told him: 'I expect loyalty'

Ex-FBI chief James Comey will tell Congress on Thursday President Donald Trump wanted a "patronage relationship" and asked for his "loyalty".
According to his opening statement, Mr Comey will also testify the president asked him to drop an inquiry into fired National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
He says Mr Trump called the Russian probe "a cloud" over him.
Mr Comey also says he had told Mr Trump three times he was not under scrutiny, confirming the president's account.
Reacting to the prepared testimony on Wednesday evening, Mr Trump's private legal counsel on the Russia inquiry, Marc Kasowitz, said the president was "pleased" Mr Comey had confirmed he was not in investigators' crosshairs.
"The president feels completely and totally vindicated," said the attorney.
Two national security officials, NSA Director Mike Rogers and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, earlier testified to senators that they never felt pressured by the White House to do anything illegal.
But in Thursday's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Mr Comey will detail how Mr Trump made him uncomfortable during a series of encounters leading up to the FBI director's firing on 9 May.
It is one of several congressional panels that, along with the Justice Department, is investigating US intelligence assessments that Russian hackers meddled in last November's presidential election in an effort to help Mr Trump beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The inquiries are also investigating whether any Trump campaign officials colluded with the alleged Kremlin plot, which Moscow has repeatedly denied.
According to seven pages of prepared testimony, Mr Comey will say his first meeting with the president occurred on 6 January in a conference room at Trump Tower, where Mr Comey briefed him alone on "salacious and unverified" allegations about him.
A dossier compiled by a former British intelligence official had claimed the Russian security services possessed compromising material on Mr Trump, including that he had been recorded consorting with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel.
Mr Comey's statement says the president "expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them" during a subsequent meeting.
That denial came in a one-to-one dinner on 27 January at the White House, Mr Comey will say, adding that he had a "very awkward conversation" with the president that evening.

Who do you believe? Anthony Zurcher, BBC News

It's like a sneak preview of a blockbuster movie - this opening statement should be preceded with a "Spoiler Alert!" warning.
Mr Comey is going to largely confirm all the reports that were circulating in the media about what took place during his private meetings with the president - the talk of loyalty, the pressure on the FBI to ease off its Flynn investigation, the multiple requests for public confirmation that the FBI was not targeting Mr Trump himself.
While Mr Comey casts the president in a less-than-flattering light, he does shy away from directly accusing the president of obstruction of justice. Much will be made of how the two men may have interpreted the phrase "honest loyalty" differently. In addition, Mr Comey viewed the president's Flynn request as only relating to his conversations with the Russian ambassador and not the investigation as a whole.
That may not matter much, however.
Large portions of the former director's account is in direct contradiction to Mr Trump's version of their meetings. It sets up a "he-said, he-said" situation - but Mr Comey has memos and conversations with other FBI officials to buttress his case.
What's more, if recent polls are any indication, the American public trusts him more than the president. Mr Comey's performance under questioning - particularly if Mr Trump responds angrily via Twitter - could further sour the public mood.
Mr Trump asked the FBI director during the discussion in the Green Room whether he wanted to stay in his job, Mr Comey will testify.
He will say he found this "strange" because Mr Trump had already told him twice in earlier conversations that he hoped he would not step down.
The former FBI director will testify the question "concerned me greatly" because he felt the dinner was an effort to "create some sort of patronage relationship".
The former FBI director will say: "A few moments later, the president said, 'I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.'
"I didn't move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence."
In testimony, the former FBI director will detail his next encounter with Mr Trump, during a meeting attended by intelligence chiefs at the White House on 14 February.


The president asked Mr Comey to stay at the end of the Oval Office meeting and told him: "I want to talk about Mike Flynn."
Mr Trump accepted Mr Flynn's resignation as national security adviser just 24 days into the job after he misled the White House about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.
Mr Comey will say Mr Trump told him: "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy."
The former FBI director will testify that he offered no such assurance.
Mr Comey will also say the president phoned him on 30 March and said the Russia investigation was "a cloud that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country".
The former FBI director will testify that Mr Trump "said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia".
Mr Comey will say he assured Mr Trump during their discussions on 6 January, 27 January and 30 March that the president himself was not under investigation.
He will testify that Mr Trump told him during the 30 March phone call: "We need to get that fact out."
The former FBI director will say Mr Trump phoned him again on 11 April to press him on this matter. It was the last time they spoke.
Mr Comey will say he told the president the White House should contact the Department of Justice.
The former FBI director notes that he spoke with President Barack Obama only twice during the more than three years that their time in office overlapped.
But he can recall nine one-on-one conversations with Mr Trump in four months, three in person and six on the phone.

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Uber 'obtained rape victim's medical records'

An Uber executive obtained the medical records of a rape victim in India, according to a report.
Eric Alexander, who ran Uber's business in Asia, is said to have shared the records with the company's chief executive, Travis Kalanick, over a year ago.
Uber confirmed to the BBC that Mr Alexander no longer worked at the firm - but offered no further comment.
Technology news site Recode said Mr Alexander was fired only after the publication contacted the company about the story.
It said as well as Mr Kalanick, the records were seen by the company's senior vice president, Emil Michael.
The news is the latest in a series of high-profile scandals greatly affecting Uber's reputation. On Tuesday, the company announced it had fired 20 employees as part of an investigation into sexual harassment and other misconduct at the company.

Delhi ban

In December 2014 a 26-year-old Delhi woman was raped by Uber driver Shiv Kumar Yadav. Yadav was sentenced to life in prison.
At the time Uber said "sexual assault is a terrible crime and we're pleased he has now been brought to justice", adding it had improved security due to "lessons we learned from this awful case".
But the ride-sharing service was consequently banned from operating in Delhi (the ban was lifted in June 2015).
Behind the scenes, Uber executives reportedly doubted the authenticity of the woman's claim, and questioned whether Ola, an Uber competitor in India, was behind the incident as part of a sabotage attempt.
As well as the criminal case, the woman sued Uber. It was settled out of court.
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  Funeral set to take place for knife attack victims




Hundreds of mourners are expected to attend the funerals of a mother and son from the Black Country who were killed in a knife attack at their home.
Tracey Wilkinson and her 13-year-old son Pierce were attacked in Stourbridge in March. 

A man's due to stand trial for their murders later this year.
Tracey's husband Peter was also critically injured but has made a full recovery.

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Philippines bank BPI hit by glitch which debited accounts

The Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI) says a major system glitch led to customers being hit by unauthorised money withdrawals and deposits.
The problematic transactions reached up to thousands of pesos. Some users claimed on social media that their accounts had even gone into the red.
BPI chief executive Cezar Consing apologised on Wednesday morning in an interview with a local TV station.
"This is not a hack, this is an internal issue," he said.
"Over the next few hours, we are making sure the double credits, debits are corrected," he told ANC.

Account holders on social media are claiming to have lost anything from 4,000 pesos ($80; £62) to up to 100,000 pesos.
In a statement posted on Twitter, BPI said some clients might have seen their accounts debited twice or credited twice for a past transaction.
Image copyright Twitter
Image copyright Twitter
It said they had suspended access to electronic banking while errors were corrected.
However, the move caused other BPI customers to complain they now can't check their accounts to see if they were affected.
BPI had nearly 8 million clients and 1.4tn pesos in total deposits at the end of 2016, according to its latest annual report.
Image copyright Getty Images
Shares of BPI fell nearly 2% in early stock market trading in Manila.
The 165 year-old BPI counts Philippines conglomerate Ayala and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC among its major shareholders.

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An egg a day appears to help young children                               grow taller

An egg a day might help undernourished young children grow to a healthy height, according to a six-month study in Ecuador.
Whether soft or hard-boiled, fried or whisked into an omelette, eggs appeared to give infants a boost.
It could be a cheap way to prevent stunting, say researchers in the journal Pediatrics.
The first two years of life are critical for growth and development - any stunting is largely irreversible.

Too short for age

Poor nutrition is a major cause of stunting, along with childhood infections and illnesses.
According to the World Health Organization, 155 million children under the age of five are stunted (too short for their age).
Most live in low- and middle-income countries and health experts have been looking at ways to tackle the issue.
Lora Iannotti and her colleagues set up a field experiment in the rural highlands of Ecuador and gave very young children (aged six to nine months) free eggs to eat to see if this might help.

Egg dinners

Only half of the 160 youngsters who took part in the randomised trial were fed an egg a day for six months - the others were monitored for comparison.
The researchers visited the children's families every week to make sure they were sticking to the study plan and to check for any problems or side-effects, including egg allergy.
Stunting was far less common among the egg treatment group by the end of the study - the prevalence was 47% less than in the non-egg group, even though relatively more of these egg-fed infants were considered short for their age at the start of the study.
Some of the children in the control group did eat eggs, but nowhere near as many as the treatment group.
Lead researcher Ms Iannotti said: "We were surprised by just how effective this intervention proved to be.
"And what's great is it's very affordable and accessible for populations that are especially vulnerable to hidden hunger or nutritional deficiency."
She said eggs were great food for young children with small stomachs.
"Eggs contain a combination of nutrients, which we think is important."

Balanced diet

Prof Mary Fewtrell, nutrition lead at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "In a way, it is surprising that more research has not been conducted using egg in this situation - although I know that in some cultures, parents do not necessarily find egg to be an acceptable early food mainly because of concerns about allergy.
"Egg is a good nutritious complementary food that can be introduced as part of a varied diet once the mother decides to start complementary feeding - never before four months."
She said eggs should always be well cooked to avoid any potential infection risk.
The WHO recommends mothers worldwide to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child's first six months to achieve optimal growth, development and health. After the first six months, infants should be given nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond.
The British Nutrition Foundation advised: "While eggs are a nutritious food to include, it's very important that young children have a variety of foods in their diets. Not only is this necessary to get all the vitamins and minerals they need, but also to allow them to become familiar with a wide range of tastes and textures.
"A range of protein-rich foods should be provided when feeding young children, which can include eggs but can also feature beans, pulses, fish, especially oily fish, meat and dairy products." 

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Qatar row: Trump urges Arab unity in call to Saudi Arabia's King Salman

US President Donald Trump has called the king of Saudi Arabia to urge Gulf unity amid an escalating dispute over Qatar's alleged support for militants.
Earlier, he said the Saudis' move to isolate Qatar could mark the "beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism".
Several Gulf countries cut travel and embassy links with Qatar on Monday.
Qatar strongly denies supporting radical Islamism. The rift has affected oil prices, travel and shipping, and has raised fears of food shortages.
The emir of Kuwait is mediating in the dispute and the president of Turkey has also offered to help, saying isolation and sanctions will not resolve the crisis.
"His [Mr Trump's] message was that we need unity in the region to fight extremist ideology and terrorist financing," a US official told Reuters news agency.

What is Trump saying?

Mr Trump had earlier claimed credit for the pressure placed on Qatar, saying his recent visit to Saudi Arabia was "already paying off".
In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, Mr Trump accused Qatar of funding terrorism, saying: "During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!"
In his phone call to King Salman, he was quoted by Reuters as saying: "It's important that the Gulf be united for peace and security in the region,"
Separately, the Pentagon thanked Qatar for hosting the largest US air force base in the Middle East.

What do the Saudis want?

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister called on Qatar to cut ties with Palestinian group Hamas in the occupied territories, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, if it wanted to end its isolation in the Gulf region.


Adel Al-Jubeir said: "Nobody wants to hurt Qatar. It has to choose whether it must move in one direction or another direction."
Speaking in Paris, he said the economic measures should put pressure on Qatar to act "like a normal country".
He name-checked "support of extremist groups", "hostile media" and "interference in affairs of other countries" as things Qatar would have to change if it wished to restore ties.


But Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Than, said: "There is no single evidence that the Qatar government is supporting radical Islamists."
On Monday, several countries withdrew their ambassadors from Doha, Qatar's capital, while some cut transport links and gave Qatari nationals two weeks to leave their territory.
Disruption to airspace in the Gulf began on Tuesday morning local time. Doha, Qatar's capital, is a major hub for international flight connections.
Airlines affected include Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have revoked the licences of Qatar Airways and ordered its offices to close.
When avoiding Saudi Arabia, their massive - and only - neighbour, Qatar's planes are having to take more indirect routes, leading to longer flight times.
Qatar is heavily dependent on food imports and residents have been queuing at supermarkets to stockpile.

Does anyone sympathise with Qatar?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said isolating Qatar would "not resolve any problems" and called for "mutual dialogue".
"In this respect, we appreciate Qatar's constructive stance," he said.
"Trying to isolate Qatar, which certainly carries out an efficient fight against terrorism, will not resolve any problems."
France's President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Mr Erdogan and to the emir of Qatar in separate telephone calls, saying he was ready to back "all initiatives to encourage calm".

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Iran's parliament and Khomeini shrine attacked by gunmen

Armed individuals have opened fire at the Iranian parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini in the capital, Tehran, causing a number of casualties.
Heavy gunfire could be heard on an audio recording from inside the parliament chamber, and there are reports that a security guard has died.
Several people were injured at the shrine, dedicated to the founder of the modern Islamic republic.
There was one suicide bomber and two or three other gunmen.
Ali Khalili from the mausoleum's public relations office told IRNA news agency that one of the armed men detonated himself in front of a bank outside the mausoleum.
However Fars News said that the suicide bomber was a woman.
The Iranian Labour News Agency reported that two attackers had been arrested.
Five people were wounded at the shrine, and one person confirmed dead, it said.
Latest reports suggest the attack at Iran's parliament is ongoing.
An image posted by Tasmin News showed what appeared to be a gunman holding an assault weapon shooting out from an upstairs window of the parliament building.
MP Seyyed Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) that three gunmen were still in the building, in MPs' offices.






Iranian rolling news channel IRINN said seven or eight people had been injured at the parliament by four attackers.
The gunmen were carrying Kalashnikovs and one Colt pistol, reports said.
One gunman has been arrested, IRNA said.
The attack at the mausoleum, several kilometres to the south, happened at the same time and appeared to be co-ordinated, reports said.

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Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...