Sacking of the fbi director is mired in yet more confusion and controversy. Mr trump has poured scorn Onjames Comey, calling him a showboat and a grandstander. Hes denied putting pressure on the fbi chief despite admitting to three conversations about whether he was under investigation. Hes also claimed he would have sacked mr comey anyway, having previously said he acted on legal advice. Heres what donald trump told nbc news. He isa he is a showboat and a grandstand. The fbi has been in turmoil, Everybody Knows that. You look at the fbi one year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year ago. It has not recovered from that. On monday you met with the Deputy Attorney general. Did you ask for a recommendation . What i did, i was going to fire comey. I had made the decision beforehand, i was going to fire comey. Mr trump has always maintained that james comey lost the confidence of his staff. But in another damaging move, the man whos taken over at the fbi has denied to senators that was the case. I hold Director Comey in the highest regard and i have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity and it has been the greatest privilege and honour of my professional life to work with him. I can tell you also that Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the fbi. And still does, to this day. There has been speculation that the alleged ties to rush hour at the core of all of this. He denied this in an interview with nbc. I have nothing to do with russia, no investments, none whatsoever. I do not have proper d in russia. People thought i owned buildings in moscow, ido thought i owned buildings in moscow, i do not own property in russia. I am in total compliance in every way andi am in total compliance in every way and i have to tell you, Ifiled Hundreds of pages of worth of documents with the federal elections bureau. Everybody has seen them. I built a Great Company but i am not involved with russia. Lets get the latest from our washington correspondent laura bicker. Lots of inconsistencies from the white house about why mr comey was fired. And now mr trump saying there was no collusion with the russians. This is part of the problem for the white house. They started off the week by. The Media Hearing that james comey had been fired and then they seemed surprised by the fallout and after that announcement and then they just seem to and after that announcement and then theyjust seem to be one inconsistency after the other. From the white house podium, you heard the white house podium, you heard the spokesperson say yesterday, when asked whether or not President Trump had made up his mind before he got this report on james had made up his mind before he got this report Onjames Comey she said no. And then she said today, well, i had not had direct access to the president to ask another question directly so why miss boat. Now it seems he had made up his mind all along. And then, of course, when it comes to whether or not he had lost the confidence of the fbi on one account you have, certainly, the Deputy Attorney general in his report saying it needed to go because the fbi needed to have confidence restored and yet you heard today from the acting director but that was not the case. The problem for the white house are these glaring inconsistencies. They dont seem to be able to get the message right when it comes to the sacking and firing Ofjames Comey and why it happened now. With these glaring inconsistencies, what is the sentiment on capitol hill . What are they saying . There will be a bit of a problem when they try to appoint a new fbi director because they have to be confirmed in senate hearings. Now, it means that democrats are going to really question any candidate put forward by the Trump Administration extremely carefully, as will republicans. Within the last few minutes, really, we have more of that donald trump interview and he has come out and said that when it comes to the Rush Investigation he wa nts comes to the Rush Investigation he wants that speeded up and it is to be done properly. He did reiterate his that he does believe that the allegations of collusion between his campaign and the russians is made up by the democrats because he believes that they are doing so because they lost the election. This is their excuse for losing the election. When it comes to that investigation, it is forging forward but it is clear from the view of donald trump that he wanted speeded up and carried out that he wants it done because he does not think there is much substance to it. Lets take a look at some of the days other news. Saudi arabias government has told its ministries to phase out the employment of foreign nationals. There are currently around 70,000 expatriates in the kingdoms public sector. The aim is to replace them all with saudi citizens over the next three years, in a bid to tackle unemployment among local people. Also making news today, the former head of chinas National Bureau of statistics has pleaded guilty to accepting the equivalent of 22 million in bribes. Wang baoan is the latest top official to be investigated as part of a government crackdown. Chinas Anti Corruption agency said that apart from accepting bribes, he stayed at Expensive Hotels and in their words, exchanged power for sex. The Military Government in thailand has given facebook until next tuesday to take down content critical of the Thai Monarchy or face prosecution. The authorities want the Social Networking Site to remove around 130 items. Thailand has strict regulations that protect its monarchy from even mild criticism. Indias Supreme Court is considering whether to ban the controversial islamic practice of instant divorce. Under the so called triple talaq law, a muslim man can divorce his wife by saying the arabic word for divorce three times. Its been outlawed in many muslim countries but remains legal among Indias Muslim minority. Foreign ministers of the eight countries with territory in the Arctic Circle have agreed on the need for urgent Global Action to reduce Greenhouse Gases amid continuing uncertainty over americas Climate Change policy. The secretary of state, rex tillerson, told the ministers, meeting in alaska, that the us would not rush to make a decision. Indonesias Justice Minister has said he will review the countrys Blasphemy Laws following the controversialjailing of jakartas former governor for blasphemy and inciting violence. The United NationsHuman Rights Council has also raised concerns about the case. The former governor, known as ahok, is filing an appeal after he was sentenced to two years in jail earlier this week. Ahok is a christian and was beaten in Jakarta Governor elections last month by a muslim rival. For reaction and analysis, earlier i spoke to Aaron Connelly in sydney hes an analyst at the lowy institute. It is clearly a dark week for indonesia. Ahok was one of the most effective Public Servants in indonesia and even those who voted against him in last month election said that he had been an effective governor that they could not vote for him, the majority said, because of his religion. It is a dark day for indonesia because we had hoped that indonesia was moving towards a more pluralist form of politics in which religious minorities like ahok would have a bigger role. This is certainly a setback for that and it is also a dark letter for the indonesianjudicial is also a dark letter for the Indonesian Judicial System which convicted ahok on the basis of this very illiberal law but also without much evidence in the way of him actually having committed the crime but he was accused of. What do you make of this reveal of the last in the loss. You think it will be amended . Will indonesia bowed to International Pressure . The Constitutional Court considered the Blasphemy Law a few years ago and while there was a lot of hope that the Constitutional Court would declare unconstitutional, inconsistent with the indonesians constitution guarantee of freedom of religion it did not do that. The reason is that while indonesia is a tolera nt reason is that while indonesia is a tolerant country it is not a particularly liberal country and the demand by the elites in the state for social cohesion is really valued more than individual liberty like freedom of conscious. I dont think that indonesia is likely to overturn this and, certainly, the president of indonesia is under a lot of pressure to protect these laws at this point. Given the Current Situation to what extent are we seeing a rise in Political Islam in the country and how much is religion being used for political gain . That is the debate in indonesia right now. But my view is that indonesia actually is not moving in a more islamist direction, this situation really is particular to ahok and there is evidence of that. Just look at the protest is organised last year. These were the largest demonstrations against ahok and demanding he be tried for blasphemy. There were the largest demonstration that indonesia had seen since the return of Doctor Democracy in 1998. They were funded and organised by the opponents of ahok. They do not have much to do with Political Islam. When they pulled their support earlier this year, the protest dissipated and they could not get more than 10,000 people in the streets,. I dont think this will lead towards more islamist politics in indonesia. As south koreas new president tries to defuse tensions with the north, the Us Army Commander in the pacific has issued a stark warning in a bbc interview, general robert b brown, described the crisis with north korea as the worst for nearly 30 years and warned of the huge risk of one miscalculation resulting in catastrophic consequences. General brown has been talking to my colleague matthew amroliwala. I will tell you this. Its a very serious situation. North korea has been very belligerent, despite the unanimous United Nations efforts to say, hey, stop this provocative behaviour. Ive been dealing in this region about 30 years and its about the most serious ive seen it. Clearly kim jong un is trying to get capability to reach out with nuclear weapons, chemical weapons. He has launched well over 100 missile tests. His father in 19 years only did about 35 in total, so he is clearly going through that capability. Its a very serious situation. You said that north korea was the issue that worried you most, its the thing that keeps you up at night. Its that bad . Yeah, it is. I have about 100,000 officers throughout the region, about 20,000 in korea, and all of the soldiers that are under my command. If something went bad it would happen very quickly. So i work the readiness on a daily basis. When you look at the efforts in the pacific, its had real insecurity over the past few years and its the military forces that are keeping it stable, so thats the key aspect. You talked about the missile test. Weve seen on a celebration of those. Weve seen an acceleration of those. What do you think is actually happening . Is this kim jong un testing the white house . I wouldnt want to speculate on his thinking, but i will say that it is provocative, dangerous, belligerent behaviour. There are a lot of lives at stake and it is very sad when you see this situation. People are starving. A nation. Having been really looking at that nation for a long time, and been on the perimeter, seeing the dire straits its in. And yet he is pouring all of this money into the capability, militarily. Youre watching newsday on the bbc. Still to come on the programme, the return of the new zealand songbird once almost made extinct by invading species. Their calls will soon be heard again in an island reserve. The pope was shot, the pope will live. That was the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon, that, as an Italian Television commentator put it, terrorism has come to the vatican. The man they called the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. Winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail. The judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse. The Chinese Government has called for an all out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years. The computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion, gary kasparov. It is the first time a machine has defeated a reigning World Champion in a classical chess match. Americas first legal same sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. God bless america this is newsday on the bbc. Im rico hizon, in singapore. Our top stories President Trump has changed his explanation about why he fired the director of the fbi, james comey. He said hed already decided to sack him before receiving advice from thejustice department. After the controversial jailing of the governor of jakarta, a christian, indonesiasJustice Minister has said he may review the countrys Blasphemy Laws. And a story thats popular on bbc. Com. A high courtjudge in london has ordered a russian billionaire to pay his estranged wife more than 500 million, in whats thought to be the countrys highest divorce settlement. Lets take a look at some front pages from around the world. The china dailys top story is on a Phone Conversation between south koreas new president moonjae in and chinas president xijingping. President xi is said to have outlined beijings Major Concerns but the two leaders also agreed to meet at an early date and sent positive signals for bilateral ties. The South China Morning Post reports on an Anti Terrorist exercise in the territorys kowloon bay. More than 300 police mounted the large scale drill in preparation for next months visit by International Leaders to mark the 20th Anniversary of the handover. And, finally, the Straits Times here in singapore is reporting on a concert by the british pop star ed sheeeran. Two friends were among the first to get their hands on tickets as people queued for more than 17 hours. And now, have a listen to this. Birds tweeting its a sound that hasnt been heard on the whangarei head reserve for 140 years. But all that changes this weekend. Its a bird called a popokatea, or whitehead, and its small. Its being re introduced to the Reserve North of auckland as part of a Habitat Restoration programme. The birds come from a sanctuary not far from auckland on an island called tiritiri matangi. For more on the Re Introduction of these rare birds, i spoke a little earlier to adam willets, a ranger with the Bream Head Conservation trust. These birds are really special because here in new zealand but id have a lot of birds that flock around ona have a lot of birds that flock around on a canopy like that due to oui around on a canopy like that due to our isolation for millions of years. Most of our birds are without mammalian predators on the ground, like foxes and rats. Most of our birds and lizards have no pressure and are able to live on the ground. They became very heavy, very flig htless. They became very heavy, very flightless. But we didnt have too many birds that flocked like a ca nary many birds that flocked like a canary ina canopy many birds that flocked like a canary in a canopy and were very chirpy and high energy like these whiteheads. It has been one of a0 yea rs whiteheads. It has been one of a0 years since these birds have been the north region, over the tip of the north region, over the tip of the north region, over the tip of the north island of new zealand, and thats probably five or six generations. My generation, my grandparents and great grandparents, had never seen this bird before Ground Dwelling Mammals were brought here. We dont have tigers or foxes 01 here. We dont have tigers or foxes or anything like that. So our birds had no defences against these guys when they came and had wiped everything out the time when humans brought these mammals. So these birds are very chirpy, very high energy, and nobody really on the mainland of new zealand has seen them for a very long time. 140 yea rs them for a very long time. 140 years i them for a very long time. 140 yea rs i love them for a very long time. 140 years i love songbirds and they arent flying bear to where you are. Explain how you are bringing their mobile. Flying there. Whats the process . Mobile. Flying there. Whats the process . The new Zealand Government has been world leading for the past a0 or 50 years to create a pest free offshore islands. We have pretty much World Leaders in making these islands predator free, removing much World Leaders in making these islands predatorfree, removing all of the pests and predators and then bringing back and securing the species that were once lost to the mainland. It was a vision to come forward to this day that one day would we we would be able to clear up the mainland reserves and get the Predator Numbers down and we are also world leading in new zealand at that job are also world leading in new zealand at thatjob as well and now we have our zealand at thatjob as well and now we have oui Reserves Zealand at thatjob as well and now we have our reserves on the mainland. Any Community Groups around new zealand are doing a wonderfuljob cleaning around new zealand are doing a wonderful job cleaning up around new zealand are doing a wonderfuljob cleaning up the mainland of new zealand, around the cities and around the regions, so that we can bring back these birds that we can bring back these birds that were once only restricted to offshore, remote predatorfree islands, where access to the public was very restricted. That was on the rare songbirds in new zealand. If youve been to bangkok, youll know the street food is a major attraction. Many view the stalls as a key part of the citys traditional character. The authorities had wanted the Street Vendors removed, unless they meet strict hygiene standards. But, after protests, the legendary Roadside Cooks have been given a reprieve. Jonathan head reports. The food is amazing. I love it so much. We have come down to this road in bangkoks chinatown, one of the most famous places to eat street food in the city. The very cream of the cuisine which bangkok is a famous for. Ive talked with me almost the ideal companion. You write a blog and you have been following the development and trying out the street food here for many yea rs. Out the street food here for many years. First of all, why is the street so important for this kind of food . Well, the chinese first brought street food to thailand. We didnt have it before they came. A kind of food they brought, soup, noodles, fried rice, duck, are the kinds of dishes that have changed thai food forever and are still served along the road today. Lets try some of the dishes. So, weve got a Classic Street Stall here. What kinds of things are they cooking . Fried noodles, fried rice, anything thats great street food. All of the ingredients are in front of us. Yes, and he has his workstation perfectly set out. This Isa Workstation perfectly set out. This is a very makeshift kitchen. On the steps of a bank. Thats the thing. Thats a classic thai dish, isnt it . Yes. A classic thai chinese dish. It has everything you could hope for. Delicious prawns. How is the first taste . Mmm. hope for. Delicious prawns. How is the first taste . Mmm. I love that. This is the best Seafood Sauce in the world. I love it. Ultimately what we are fighting about is our vision of future bangkok, right . I feel it is something very dry. They are going against the grain of the city . They are going against the grain of the city and the culture too. As much as we complain about the clutter and chaos, this is what defines us. This street food is thai culture. It would be a shame to get rid of street food. The problem is, if they do get rid of it, even from most of the city, you lose a big part of the culture, where everybody ate the street food. It was like a Common Ground for everybody and that will be gone. I love thai food. You are making the envious, jonathan china has begun an experiment to see how people can survive in space for long periods of time. Four volunteers will live inside a sealed capsule for 105 days. The researchers will grow their own plants and food and water will be recycled. The capsule, known as the lunar palace, has a living area about the size of a small apartment. It creates an earth like environment that china hopes could be replicated on the moon or on Long Distance missions to mars. You have been watching newsday. Before we go, remember this . One of the Worlds Largest ever diamonds, discovered in west africa . Well, it went up for auction on thursday. The highest bid was 7. 8 million, us. But the sierra leone government believe its worth a lot more and have decided to wait for a better offer. Just make sure its kept safe thanks for watching newsday. Have a great friday and a great weekend. Goodbye for now. Hello. Now, i havent used this particular sphere for quite some time. And through some parts of the british isles, there was no need. Looking tropical on the coast. To the south west of england, yes, a wet sphere very much the order of the day. And for that, you had to thank an area of low pressure throwing more cloud and rain ever further north of the british isles. You may have noticed it in the south of england and wales. An increasingly humid feel. And its that change of regime into the first part of friday that will become increasingly dominant, certainly in the southern half of the british isles. Stepping out first thing, 10 13, where it was 3 5. Further north, a fresh fresh feel about proceedings. Details about the journey to work or school run. 12 13 degrees quite widely across southern counties. A rather grey start to the day. Not too much in the way of sunshine. And a speckling of showers even at this stage. Come further north, a better chance of seeing sunshine in the north of england and getting up into the western side of scotland. Rain to be had quite widely in northern ireland. I make the distinction in scotland between the west and east. Low cloud to the east. It will be around for a good part of the day. And its notjust eastern scotland, its the North East Of England too. With an onshore breeze, cloud sitting low in the atmosphere. An onshore breeze keepint it cold through the day. Further south, some heat comes through. Showers turning quite sharp. Maybe the odd rumble of thunder. No such fears of that in the north east of scotland. Nine or 10 degrees. Leaden skies. Through the course of the weekend, sunny spells, and some showers and spells of rain. Eventually things will turn a bit fresher as we switch the breezes coming in from the atlantic, rather than the continent. Saturday, much of the disturbed weather in the north west of england. Further south, an isolated shower. But quite a bit of dry weather. On saturday night into sunday, we swing this area of cloud and rain right across the british isles. It will be across eastern areas for the first part of sunday. This is where we import fresh air right across the british isles. Once that is away, once again, a day of sunny spells and some really sharp showers. Im greg dawson with bbc world news. Our top story. President trump has changed his explanation for sacking the head of the fbi. He said hed been intending to fire mr comey even before receiving advice from the justice department. But the acting fbi director said staff had not lost confidence in mr comey. He told senators the investigation into claims of russian collusion in President Trumps election would continue with vigour. The party of french president elect Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a list of candidates for next months parliamentary elections. More than half have never Held Elected Office and half are women. And the arctic Climate Change summit is trending on bbc. Com. Foreign ministers of the eight Arctic Council nations are meeting in alaska to discuss Climate Change. And the top story here in the uk. Senior Labour Figures have unanimously approved the partys General Election manifesto