good afternoon. donald trump has arrived in saudi arabia on his first foreign tour. but back in the united states, there are new claims about his sacking of the fbi chief, james comey. he's said to have told russian officials that mr comey was a " real nut—job" and that his departure eased "great pressure" on him. from riyadh, frank gardner sent this report. into the blazing heat of the saudi summer into the blazing heat of the saudi summerand into the blazing heat of the saudi summer and from the wave of political heat from washington, president trump and his wife are right to a red—carpet welcome and greeted by the 81—year—old king. the two leaders drank free together, made small talk through an interpreter before sitting down to a heavyweight discussion about the middle east. unlike barack obama, this white house administration

shares a strong antipathy towards iran. despite the sensitivities of this leg of the trip, this may well be the easiest part. donald trump is amongst friends here in riyadh but he leaves behind him are gathering political storm in washington. the questions over what he told the russians won't go away. it's emerged he disparaged the head of the fbi to them just one day after firing him. according to a document seen by the new york times, the president said, "i had just fired the head of the fbi. he was crazy. a real nutjob" that head was investable —— investigating possible links with russia. the president said it relieved great pressure on him and that not under investigation. relieved great pressure on him and that not under investigationm seems like we are learning disturbing new allegations about president trump not just disturbing new allegations about president trump notjust every day, but ladies and gentlemen, every

hour. here in saudi arabia he has three summit is to get through and a delicate speech on the need to stamp out religious intolerance. meanwhile, the us and saudi defence partnership is set to grow closer. over $100 billion of arms deals are expected to be signed and this, say the saudis, is a new era in their relationship with washington. let's go live now to riyadh and to our north america editor, jon sopel. so, this trip somewhat overshadowed would you say? and there is a delay on the line. not yet. donald trump has arrived here and he has received the warmest of welcomes. i was with barack obama a year ago of welcomes. i was with barack obama a yearago and of welcomes. i was with barack obama a year ago and it couldn't have been more different. donald trump gave it — gave more different. donald trump gave it —— gave an interview a year ago in which he said he things is lamb

hates us. but there was none of that on show, as frank has discussed. there was a lot of interviews he has about what the new relationship might mean. —— nvqs years. that said, the problems have travelled on the plane with donald trump and there was an extraordinary reply from the white house, some might say, saying the president has always on the importance of dealing with russia and james comey created unnecessary pressure “— russia and james comey created unnecessary pressure —— pressure on our ability to engage. that brings up our ability to engage. that brings up questions about obstruction of justice. it was being reported that james comey might give evidence on wednesday in open session but that won't happen now until after the president gets back. that will be a relief to the white house as they could do without a distraction like that. two members of the shadow cabinet have publicly disagreed over

labour's stance on trident. the shadow foreign secretary, emily thornberry, said the party could abandon its support for the nuclear deterrent after a review. but the shadow defence secretary, nia griffith, described labour's position as "settled". ms thornberry was being interviewed on lbc radio. can you say to me that trident will continue as labour party policy? because you can't, can you? no, of course not. if you're going to have a review, you have a review. so it is possible thatjeremy corbyn as prime minister could drive through a policy of ditching trident? the policy is — labour party policy is that we - i know what it is. i'm asking could it in the future change? but overwhelmingly, we need to make sure that our policy is up to date and meets 21st century threats. no—one can disagree with that, surely. well, with all due respect, emily is not the shadow

defence secretary, i am. we had a long meeting on thursday in which we agreed the manifesto. nobody has raised the issue of removing trident nuclear deterrent from our manifesto. that was agreed last year that we would have it as part of our defence review that we had last year as part of our national policy forum. emily thornberry said if you're going to have a proper hassan rouhani has won a second term as president of iran with a convincing majority. with a0 million votes counted, he's received 57% — enough to avoid a run—off with his conservative challenger. mr rouhani, a moderate who agreed a deal with world powers to limit iran's nuclear programme, has pledged to seek further engagement with the west, and increase civil liberties. the duke and duchess of cambridge are in berkshire this afternoon for the wedding of kate's sister pippa middleton. prince george was one of the pageboys while his sister charlotte was a bridesmaid. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, is in englefield.

yes, well there's nothing quite like a wedding, is there? there is nothing like a middleton family wedding. this one involves kate's youngest sister, paper who is getting married to james matthew —— matthews. he runs a hedge fund. this being a middleton family wedding there were a sprinkling of celebrities like roger federer and the royals. harry is not with his girlfriend, meghan markle, and the youngest of the royals, george and charlotte, where among the page boys and bridesmaids. george arrived with his sister, charlotte. he is three and she is too. with their mother, they were taken into the church to perform their respective roles. a

few moments later, the bride herself arrived with her father, few moments later, the bride herself arrived with herfather, michael middleton, in an open topped car. a lot of people want to know about the dress on occasions like this. it was long, and cream and had a veil and designed by giles deacon. the service lasted about an hour after which they all emerged and they are ata which they all emerged and they are at a reception and i'm sure they're having a whale of a time out of the rain. i hope you get out of the rain, to, soon. with all the sport, here's mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. the prize is a place in the championship, next season, for millwall or bradford city, who contest the league one, play—off final, at wembley in a couple of hours. for millwall it's a chance to make up for missing out on a place in the championship at this stage last year. it's a difficult place to lose a game at wembley. so many people come

and so much for the players and team. when you get eaten is really disappointing. however, we use the disappointment quickly at the final whistle to galvanise us and we've usedit whistle to galvanise us and we've used it this season to get into this position. with that experience, we will lean on that. expectation from the fans. we've set a target to try and improve what we did last season which was the play—offs. we knew automatic was neverin play—offs. we knew automatic was never in the equation so i think the players deserve, and the supporters do, they deserve to go to wembley. they've been a consistently good side this season but it will count for nothing unless we can perform on saturday get the result we want. twickenham is playing host to the final round of the rugby sevens world series this weekend. tougher tests will come for england but they've beaten spain in their opening pool match. oliver lindsay hague scored the pick of the tries in a 28—nil win. australia and samoa stand between them and a place

in the cup quarter—finals tomorrow. scotland won their maiden gold medal here last year and have already made a winning start to their pool, running in three tries to beat russia 21—7. they'll face argentina and france later on today. in pool a, wales have safely negotiated a tricky opening fixture against the united states. tom glyn williams ran in the third of four tries. now surfing conjures up, images of sunshine, palm trees and exotic locations. but, for british number one, luke dillon, it's not all glamour, as he tries to make it on the world circuit. the sport is on the rise, following its inclusion in the olympics, and next week's world championships, marks the first step towards tokyo 2020. our olympic sports reporter david mcdaid's been to meet dillon in the wet and windy south—west. a leap into the cornish swell. a far

cry from hawaii or california but newquay‘s this drug beach is the home of british surfing. it's a special one for me. and also home to britain's best server. it got me into a good rhythm. in the first senior year, he broke the world top 150 and is now aiming even higher towards tokyo 2020 where surfing makes its olympic debut. the upcoming world surfing games is the start of that. it's a big opportunity for servers all over the world and i know some guys in the top 30 who are going to france and then hopefully the olympics. now it's there i kind of want to go and do itand it's there i kind of want to go and do it and get it. the rate will not be easy. unlike big surfing nations like america or australia, the uk scene is much lest developed professionally. i've never had a coach. there are nutritionists and

fitness coach and most are on 6—figure contracts. i tried to get the most i can work it out with my budget. that's why the olympic stage is so important for british stuffing. we are on the back foot but we are getting better. with it going into the olympics i think it will rise. it will take a bit more time but then, hopefully, we will get better. so if dylan can make waves come tokyo, his own success may have a ripple success for future generations, too. good luck to him. time is up for us. we are back with the next news at 20 past six. have a good afternoon. hello. it is now quarter past one.

more about the new claims in the us media about donald trump's sacking the fbi cheapjames comey. president trump is reported to have told officials that his sacking relieved pressure on him. also separate reports that someone close to the president is being identified as a person of interest in the investigation between alleged links between a tramp campaign and russia. a little earlier i spoke to an associate fellow at the think tank, chatham house. iasked associate fellow at the think tank, chatham house. i asked what she made of the latest claims. yes.

we are getting mixed messages out of the white house over the past two days. there's a lot of effort at damage control but you are right that recent remarks come out and suggest that the motivation behind the president's decision to fire james comey had as much about his decision about the investigation and the fact it was carrying on... there was a sense from the president that he couldn't control him. not only the investigation but that he wasn't really on side. he was sticking to his mission to be an independent law enforcement officer and the most important one in the us and he wasn't going to budge on this. we heard about him working very hard to make the president understand that if he had questions about the investigation he had to go through the proper channels. the remarks are another indication that is very important the investigation and the focus now is on more efforts to push forward the investigation. i think the public will be very concerned and congress will be concerned to be sure that the investigations on capitol hill also move forward because that's the only access the broader public will have all any understanding of what is going on. we know that james comey himself

will give evidence on monday week, i think, in congress. an open hearing. yes, he has agreed and he was requested to come and give evidence. he was not willing to do it in private but he is willing to go after the memorial day weekend, a week from monday, and all eyes will he will not reveal secret intelligence. but i think there will be a lot of questioning about what pressure he came under from the president and whether there were any threats or requests that he not investigate michael flynn further or that he shuts down parts of the investigation. it might be important in determining whether there is any question of having an independent commission set up which takes place in addition to the ongoing fbi

investigation and the house and senate intelligence investigations. robert muller is a former cia director and has been broadband into effectively supervise the investigation and make sure it's conducted in an appropriate manner. we seem to have a president who doesn't necessarily observe the niceties of conduct in political office. he doesn't understand the implications and has perhaps that comes from running a business where he'd perhapsjust ring somebody up. presumably there is a difference between that, what one might call the defence of ignorance, and the defence of knowing what you know

but still doing it anyway which would be the obstruction of justice. is it possible he can argue the first? that he is an innocent abroad, if you like, in the world of washington politics and he is not motivated by a malicious attempt to kill off the russia investigation? intent and motivaion are difficult things to evaluate and gain hard evidence for, but as the person elected by the american public to the highest position in the country it doesn't matter a great deal whether he was simply naive or whether there is evidence that will come out that demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that he is attempting to obstruct justice. he has legal counsel as president and plenty of opportunity to hire, as i believe he's doing. so many people have led big corporations who have maintained a degree of dignity in terms of their personal style and in terms of following due process. it's as important in the private sector as it is in the public sector so that explanation will not resonate with

those who are conducting the investigation or the broader public, i think. the headlines: the us president flies to saudi arabia but as he leaves the us there is another twist in the controversy over the sacking of the fbi chief, james comey. wedding is taking place of pebble middleton who has married the financierjames middleton who has married the financier james matthew at middleton who has married the financierjames matthew at a ceremony this morning in berkshire —— kepler middleton. the shadow foreign secretary said the labour party could abandon its support for trident. the conservatives have been forced to defend their pledged migration cut after it was criticised by their former chancellor, george osborne. staying

with matters political, two members of the shadow cabinet have disagreed over these stance on the trident weapon. nia griffith described labours position as settled. jeremy corbyn said the party's position was clear. the manifesto makes it clear that our decision is committed to trident and we will look at the real security needs of this country in other areas such as cyber security, which i think the attack last week on the nhs proved that there needs to be serious re—examination of our defences to be serious re—examination of our d efe nces of to be serious re—examination of our defences of those sort of attacks. to be clear because there was a different view from emily thornbury that perhaps the review could... it was a review so things could change. i have just was a review so things could change. i havejust made it was a review so things could change. i have just made it clear. was a review so things could change. i havejust made it clear. in our ma nifesto i havejust made it clear. in our manifesto is a commitment given by the party and me that we will also pursue multilateral disarmament

through the nuclear non—proliferation treaty and that is a position that has been held for a long time by the party. it is clear what is said of the manifesto. jeremy corbyn trying to clarify the position there after the apparent disagreement by shadow cabinet colleagues. earlier i spoke to our correspondence he was at the rally. focusing very tightly on the conservative proposals in their ma nifesto conservative proposals in their manifesto about how to pay for social care in england. the conservatives are proposing a means test on the winter fuel payment that pensioners get. they are talking about unpicking the triple lock which guarantees the rate of the state pension and they are talking about changes to the way people pay for social care. jeremy corbyn caught that today a compassion tax accusing the conservatives of producing the most divisive ma nifesto producing the most divisive manifesto of the many elections and

he argued that labour —— they were trying to pick older voters against younger ones. he said labour offered the policy of unity for pensioners and younger people and there was a big chair in the hall when he repeated the promise made earlier this week that labour, it in government, would scrap university tuition fees in england. the west midlands is a region where 21 out of 28 mp5 midlands is a region where 21 out of 28 mps are labour mps, midlands is a region where 21 out of 28 mps are labour mp5, i think i am right in saying, so you might think you would not spend much time there but in areas where he thinks he can gain new seats, new territory and win new voters which is what he will have to do to become prime minister? we have seen during this campaign that very often he has gone to areas where there does seem to be quite a lot of labour support already. that is already —— obviously not what one

expects during an election but it guarantees and an easier stick reaction. although lots of people will not have any doubts about him, the people sitting here, they come here to be energised and get out onto the campaign trail. of course, there are three weeks to go and we may see him venturing into other territory. but you are right, a lot of his rallies and stops have been in areas where he has quite a lot of support already. the conservatives have their own difficulties with the chief secretary to the treasury saying they are right now to set a timetable for achieving their ambition in achieving annual net migration to the tens of thousands. the commitment has been cut —— repeated in the manifesto. he says it's an game and there's no timetable. but it has been criticised by the formula —— former conservative chancellor, george osborne. i asked our political

correspondence about the target. the political temperature rose yesterday. the former chancellor very recently of the conservative party, said that his former party haven't got a clue, in an editorial in his paper, when it will happen, about the costs or if they know they are not saying anything. all these questions were put to the chief secretary to the treasury last night on bbc radio 4 and this is what he had to say. it is an game. it doesn't have a timetable and we acce pt doesn't have a timetable and we accept that but it should drive our policy in terms of improving skills so we policy in terms of improving skills so we have a stronger domestic workforce. it should drive our policy in terms of improving technology so we can reduce immigration pressures we currently face. so no timetable. in fact, he said it's right there is no deadline as he once the flexibility in this

in order to deal with perhaps the economic consequences of the brexit deal and also to insist that it ta kes pla ce deal and also to insist that it takes place because the eu referendum result and the message from that. to balance the economics and the political will to do so. the lib dems have launched an election poster taking a swipe at the prime minister. it says there are similarities between her policies and the former ukip leader, nigel farid. the green party has released its youth manifesto. it pledges to scrap existing debt and tuition fees. party—macro has campaigned in clacton, the only seat it one at the last election. douglas ca rswell has left it one at the last election. douglas carswell has left the party and is not standing again. one member has

been suspended because of the season —— series of social media comments which have drawn allegations of racism. he has denied being racist. a survey by which magazine has allowed —— found that flights to one infour allowed —— found that flights to one in four airports arrived late last year. they look at all the flights coming into the uk that were at least 15 minutes late because anything up to an hour, the airlines say it's ok. therefore, they have looked at every airline. i looked particularly at the british ones. easyjet is very

much the worst performer with one in three flights being officially late. i talked to the airline and they say across the entire system they are looking at only one in fall being late but they fly to lots of places which don't go anywhere near britain said the two things... the two things could both be true. and they say things are getting better. they are based out of gatwick which is a really busy airport. they also suspect —— under french traffic control. the interesting thing is that most passengers will assume flights incorporate a fair amount of wiggle room. if they arrive on time... but this allows for their wiggle room? they are not officially stating

there is "padding" so, therefore, if you look specifically at british airways and easyjet on competing bids from gatwick, typically you will find british airways allows five more minutes because easyjet is absolutely excessive —— obsessive about extracting as much as it can from its flights. building padding and you can't so many —— get so many flights in. if easyjet allowed another five minutes it flights in. if easyjet allowed anotherfive minutes it might go up the table. from the passenger point of view, is this information when it spread over ceremony airlines and flights, of any real use? it's interesting to find out who's doing really well. you would find it interesting extra marsh is also interesting to find

out why royal dutch airlines and klm are at the top. if you fly to durham tees valley or humberside and you are klm and have three flights day that's half the flights that are going and there will not be any congestion so they are doing very well. the three at the bottom are norwegian trends that and icelandair but in winter, places aren't fit for human —— human habitation let alone operating an airline so there are good reasons. but for the passengers, wejust airline so there are good reasons. but for the passengers, we just hope things will get a bit better. imagine if you could unlock doors or control your phone just using this. a tiny chip. for a growing number of people in the uk it's a reality. this is a hack space where people

into their tech build stuff or take things apart and start again. a few of them, though, have technology implanted inside them. they have been chipped, fitted with near—field communication. buried in their hand, it can do tasks for them. phil's chip has been programmed to work as a key. so you can see that will open the doorfor me, so i can get in. it is the same technology we have been chipping cats and dogs with for the past 30 years. it is entirely benign. if anyone wanted to change it, they would have to be within one centimetre of me and i have a password on it as well. so you cna't be turned into a cyborg assassin? nothing that exciting. my chip goes to my facebook art page as a digital business card. the chip in holly's hand directs

people to her webpage. she sees a medical use as well. i feel this is going to replace a hospital tag. something as simple as that, it could help, because if someone's passed out on the floor, you've got no idea of their medical history. can you scan their hand and you've got all their history, all their details. i think something like that is where this technology is going to go. it's brilliant. and this is the size of the chip that hackers have inside them. would you want one? currently today, i've programmed it to send you a text message. tanja does. she's a tech expert at a university, and believes it is important to be a pioneer human with a chip. this is a very simple chip. the danger is not that great. in the future they could be more versatile, more powerful. we don't know what it can hold.

that's what we're trying to explore now. there are only 200 in the uk at the moment with a chip. we think nothing of them in cats and dogs. is putting them in people the next logical step? danny savage, bbc news. time for the weather with matt taylor. wave those magic hands and bring some good news. i will try my best.