Despite relatively staid early lines of questioning from lawmakers, the Senate Intelligence committee’s hearing on foreign electioneering on social media Wednesday swiftly turned into unconventional political theater, complete with a conspicuously empty chair set aside to highlight Google’s absence and a notable cameo from InfoWars leader Alex Jones.

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg are slated to field questions for hours on their platforms’ efforts to combat online disinformation and ongoing campaigns to influence the 2018 midterm elections. But it was Jones, who claims he’s being silenced by tech titans, who commanded attention outside the hearing room, where a scrum of reporters huddled around him as he pontificated on the wrongs he said the industry has done him.

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The right-wing media figure, known for spreading baseless and inflammatory conspiracy theories, reignited criticisms that the companies are biased against conservatives after several tech platforms took down InfoWars content or banned him altogether. He later took a seat in the front row of the audience section of the hearing room.

Here’s a look at the top moments from the hearing so far.

Google’s CEO a no-show

Senate Intelligence leaders criticized Google for not sending its top executive, Sundar Pichai, to speak alongside Sandberg and Dorsey after weeks of publicly sparring with the search giant over the matter.

“Google has an immense responsibility in this space,” Warner said in opening comments at the hearing. “Given its size and influence, I would have thought the leadership at Google would want to demonstrate how seriously it takes these challenges and to lead this important public discussion.”

Committee Chairman Richard Burr and ranking member Mark Warner both said they were “disappointed” Google opted against sending Pichai or Larry Page, CEO of Google parent company Alphabet. Google had offered to send senior vice president of global affairs Kent Walker, but the committee spurned the offer.

As late as Tuesday night, Warner extended the offer for Page to appear, tweeting it was “not too late for @Google to step up.”

In the absence of Page or Pichai, the committee followed through on threats to place an empty chair labeled “Google” where an exec would have sat, in a symbolic rebuke of the company.

Jones makes a surprise appearance

The InfoWars leaders livestreamed his entrance into the Senate building early Wednesday, and proceeded to slam Facebook and Twitter outside the hearing room.

“I’m here to face my accuser,” Jones told reporters at one point, reiterating his criticisms over the companies actions toward him.

In August, a spate of tech companies took action against Jones for violating their rules against hate speech and inciting violence. Twitter suspended him, while Facebook, Google’s YouTube and other platforms banned him outright.

On Wednesday, Jones cited those actions and called for the break-up of big tech companies.

British prosecutors have charged two Russian men for a nerve agent attack on a former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury earlier this year.

A European arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday for the Russian nationals, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the prosecutors said, charging the two of conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok.

“We will not be applying to Russia for the extradition of these men as the Russian constitution does not permit extradition of its own nationals,” Sue Hemming, director of legal services at the Crown Prosecution Service, said.

Russia reiterated concerns that there has been a lack of evidence to implicate the Russian nationals.

“The names published by the media, like their photographs, mean nothing to us,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, told the TASS news agency. “The Russian side has numerous questions for London.”

Zakharova demanded that British authorities work with Russia on the case: “Once again we call on the British side to move away from public accusations and informational manipulations, towards practical collaboration of law enforcement agencies.”

Triggered diplomatic crisis

The poisoning of the Skripals earlier in March triggered a major diplomatic crisis between the United Kingdom and Russia, with the British government alleging that Moscow was responsible for their attempted murder.

Police had earlier said that the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London on Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4.

Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee, reporting from the British capital, London, said the announcement by the UK officials “comes as no surprise”.  

“A couple of weeks ago, the police here announced that they had identified two people who they had thought had come in from Russia and were travelling on Russian passports and they were putting a case against them,” he said.

“Prosecutors think there would be sufficient evidence to mount a criminal case against them and get that passed through the Crown Prosecuting Service and into a court of law.

Britain has blamed Russia for poisoning the Skripals and identified the poison as Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s. Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack.

Both father and daughter were hospitalised for days before being discharged.

“This announcement will further worsen relations between the UK and Russia,” said Al Jazeera’s Lee.

A tense calm has taken hold of the town of Jisr al-Shoghur in northwestern Idlib province after days of bombing and shelling by forces loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Residents on Wednesday reported that the shelling and air raids had stopped but a number of reconnaissance drones were flying above the town and surrounding areas. 

On Tuesday, Russian and Syrian jets bombed the town and its outskirts, killing 10 civilians and injuring 20 others, Abu al-Fadl Ahmad, a member of the White Helmets, a civil defence organisation, told Al Jazeera. 

Among the victims were five children from the same family, Ahmad reported.

Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the stated toll.  

The bombardment campaign sent much of the local population fleeing towards the border with Turkey, said Ahmad, while a number of people with serious injuries were also transported across the border for treatment.

The bombings also targeted branches of the White Helmets in the area which did not result in any injuries among its members, he added.

The Syrian army, aided by Russia, has been preparing for an offensive on the last major stronghold of the Syrian opposition, which some fear will start after an upcoming Tehran summit between Turkey, Russia in Iran on September 7. 

Russian officials have justified the planned military operation in Idlib with the presence of Jabhat al-Nusra (now known as Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham or HTS), an armed group formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda. 

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Damascus would have become “the capital of the ISIL caliphate” if Russia hadn’t intervened. 

“Idlib is the last remaining de-escalation zone where a few tens of thousands of terrorists are concentrated, headed mainly by Jabhat al-Nusra,” he said during a political talk show on the state-owned First Channel “One of the main element of the de-escalation agreements was the commitment to pull out the moderate armed opposition from the territories controlled by terrorists, so they face what they deserve.”

Lavrov suggested that Russia’s “partners, including the Americans” did not fulfill commitments to separate the moderate Syrian opposition from “terrorists”.

Over the past several months, the Turkish authorities engaged in unsuccessful efforts to dissolve the HTS. On August 31, Turkey designated HTS a terrorist organisation. 

‘Every inch’

Al-Assad has sworn to recapture “every inch” of Syria and has made big gains against rebels since Russia joined his war effort three years ago.

His forces have been amassing around Idlib, presumably in preparation for the assault to seize the bastion of the rebel groups who have been trying to oust Assad since the start of the war in 2011.

Turkey, whose army controls a string of military posts around Idlib, has for weeks been engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent a Syrian government attack on Idlib.

In Geneva, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday called on the leaders of Russia and Turkey to draw up a solution in the coming days to prevent a major battle for Idlib.

“A telephone call between the two of you would make a big difference,” de Mistura said, addressing Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan directly in a media briefing.

Moscow and Ankara should be given more time to negotiate a way to prevent an offensive, he added.

De Mistura, who has mediated several rounds of Syria talks in recent years, without making any progress, said he was “determined” to hold discussions with high-level envoys from Turkey, Iran and Russia on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, despite concerns the offensive may begin before then.

The UN has previously warned that an all-out assault on Idlib could spark a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale not yet seen in Syria’s conflict.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump late on Monday warned Syria against “recklessly” attacking Idlib, which he said could trigger a “human tragedy”.

US President Donald Trump wanted to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed after the Syrian government reportedly carried out a chemical attack in April 2017, a new book by renowned journalist Bob Woodward alleges.

The attack, which was widely blamed on forces loyal to the Syrian government, was carried out on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, killing more than 80 people.

According to the book ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’, by Woodward, Trump wanted the US military to go into Syria and assassinate al-Assad.

“Let’s f*****g kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the f*****g lot of them,” Trump said according to Woodward’s book. 

Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the Pentagon would “get right on it” after Trump made his request, according to Woodward, but after getting off the phone with Trump, Mattis made it clear to his staff that they were not going to follow through with Trump’s plan.

“We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured,” Mattis said according to Woodward’s book.

Instead of targeting al-Assad personally, the Pentagon drew up plans for air strikes to take out Syrian military infrastructure.

Following those air strikes on 7 April 2017, Trump praised the US military, saying the military personnel “represented the United States and the world so well”.

Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the United States, and the world, so well in the Syria attack.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2017

In an official response to the allegations, Mattis called the quotes used in Woodward’s book “fiction” and “a product of someone’s rich imagination,” adding that the publication was “a uniquely Washington brand of literature”.

“In serving in this administration, the idea that I would show contempt for the elected Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, or tolerate disrespect to the office of the President from within our Department of Defense, is a product of someone’s rich imagination,” Mattis’ statement said.

Statement from Secretary of Defense, James Mattis: pic.twitter.com/OneaxKCneV

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2018

Trump also responded to the book, calling the quotes in the book “made up by frauds, a con on the public”.

The Woodward book has already been refuted and discredited by General (Secretary of Defense) James Mattis and General (Chief of Staff) John Kelly. Their quotes were made up frauds, a con on the public. Likewise other stories and quotes. Woodward is a Dem operative? Notice timing?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2018

When asked about the allegations, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley denied ever hearing threats made by Trump against al-Assad.

“I have not once ever heard the president talk about assassinating Assad,” Haley told Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays.

The Syrian government has always denied it was involved in the chemical attack, but an independent United Nations panel concluded the attack was carried out by al-Assad’s forces.

‘We’re in Crazytown’

Woodward’s book also details several other encounters in the Trump White House between senior staff and the president.

According to the book, sources told Woodward that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly regularly lost his temper with Trump, calling him “unhinged” and “an idiot”, the Washington Post reported.

“It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had,” the book quotes Kelly as saying according to unnamed sources.

Trump himself also railed against the people he appointed, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, the book states.

Rob Porter, former staff secretary, was told by Trump to ignore whatever Priebus said, saying that Priebus was “a little rat”, Woodward wrote.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recently been targeted by Trump on Twitter for his recusal in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election, was also alleged to have been criticised regularly by Trump. 

“This guy is mentally retarded. He’s this dumb Southerner,” Trump said about Sessions, according to the book.

Another allegation made in the book is that former top economic adviser to Trump Gary Cohn stole a letter off Trump’s desk to prevent the US from withdrawing from a trade agreement with South Korea.

“I’ll just take the paper off his desk,” Cohn, who has since quit the White House, said to his staffers.

Woodward is considered one of the most renowned investigative political journalists in recent decades.

He became famous after he and his colleague Carl Bernstein revealed the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration in the 1970s.

Their reporting eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.

Since then, Woodward has written several books about the inner workings of presidential administrations.

Seoul, South Korea – More than 500 Yemenis have applied for refugee status on South Korea’s Jeju island.

The influx has provoked a debate over the country’s role in handling asylum-seekers. Protests on Jeju and in the capital Seoul, as well as an online backlash, prompted the government to remove Yemen from the list of countries whose citizens are allowed visa-free entry to Jeju. The government also promised to tweak its refugee policy.

A strong anti-refugee sentiment exists in South Korea, driven largely by Islamophobia, which analysts say is a result of ignorance among the population and the prevalence of fake news stories.

Al Jazeera spoke to Heinn Shin, Korea spokesperson for the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), about the causes of xenophobia, the government’s role in calming fears and rooting out fake news and why the agency is not at the forefront of helping these refugees.

Al Jazeera: What role is UNHCR Korea playing in this current refugee crisis? Why is it not actively involved in assisting and helping these refugees on Jeju island?

Heinn Shin: Different UNHCR offices have different roles. For a place like Korea, which is an advanced country with its own refugee system, we play a supporting role. We don’t directly help out in supporting refugees. We can’t do anything that the government didn’t ask us to. If we don’t like something, we can release a statement but we cant go out and action anything.

Al Jazeera: So does the Korean government has the ability?

Shin: Of course. It has its own refugee system.

Al Jazeera: But why are there so many protests, discrimination and harassment of the refugees? Is the government playing an active role?

Shin: Comparatively speaking, Korea has a very young refugee history. It’s traditionally a very homogenous country so it’s not just about refugees or migrants. It’s about outsiders, non-Koreans in general. Korea is in a developing stage and UNHCR is supporting the government to play that role better.

Al Jazeera: Are you happy with the role the government is playing? It seems it has listened to the protesters?

Shin: We have to give credit to the Korean government. It already knew the public wouldn’t be open to the idea of receiving more refugees, but despite that, it went ahead and enacted a stand-alone refugee act.

Al Jazeera: What do you mean the government knew the public wouldn’t be open to refugees? Isn’t that an obvious case of xenophobia? 

Shin: Korea is geographically at a long distance from refugee hotspots. Decades ago we had a system to bring in migrant labour from different Asian countries and there was huge public backlash. As a Korean, I can say that Koreans are not open to the idea of opening up.

Al Jazeera: Is that a cultural thing? Or a lack of knowledge?

Shin: It’s a mixture of everything. But one unique thing about the Yemeni refugee situation is that it’s the first time Koreans got to think about Islam. In a way that’s a good thing. This will serve a great chance for the public to understand Islam better.

It’s also very important that UNHCR plays a balanced role. There are certain things that the government can do better but it also has to reflect what the public wants. And for us to criticise what the government does, could cause backlash not against the government but against the refugees. We provide support where necessary.

Al Jazeera: So the government’s decision to take Yemen, and other countries where refugees might come from, off the visa-free list, is reflecting public opinion then?

Shin: Yes, definitely. The Jeju government did that. There were concerns among the public, albeit based on wrong information. There were concerns not just about employment but also about security. There were lots of females talking about it so I do think the government had to take that into account.

Al Jazeera: These Yemenis were also branded fake refugees. What is a fake refugee?

Shin: There’s a refugee and not a refugee. There are no fake refugee. That’s our message. This phrase stems from the fact that these Yemenis are male, young, flew to Jeju and carry iPhones. So it’s ignorance on the Koreans’ part. They don’t understand these people are fleeing persecution. You can be rich or poor but when a war breaks out, that doesn’t matter. There’s xenophobia, not against refugees but against Muslims. They also don’t understand Islamic culture. And the fake news about extremism fuels these fears. 

I don’t think any Korean who has ever met a refugee or a Muslim would be against them. UNHCR’s role should be trying to explain to the general public who these refugees are. And I’m afraid, UNHCR has failed in that role for many years.

And we’ve only just realised that. Because we had no idea, despite the country having 150,000 Muslims, that the public would be so cautious and concerned. And telling the government to choose between their rights or the refugees’ rights. 

Al Jazeera: Since UNHCR has not been playing an active role, what does it need to do more of?

Shin: We need to support the government. We also need to continue persuading the public. As the refugee and asylum seekers’ population grows in Korea, it can’t be the government’s role to do everything. We, and the civil society, would need to help out.

It’s our message to the public as well as that if you’re happy to help out that Syrian kid in the tv ad through  donations, would you receive him if he was to come to Korea? It’s that message we’re trying to deliver. In a country like Korea, it’s strange to see someone who doesn’t look like you and speak the same language. It’ll take us time to solve this but I’m sure it can be solved.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.