Mr. Trump also continued his barrage against Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the Russia investigation. He said Mr. Mueller was conducting a “fraudulent” inquiry and was “totally conflicted” because of what the president called a “nasty business transaction” between himself and Mr. Mueller years ago.Mr. Trump did not say what the transaction was, though he has alleged a dispute over membership fees when Mr. Mueller left one of Mr. Trump’s golf clubs while he was F.B.I. director.And he indicated that he asked this week for the declassification of court documents, F.B.I. records and text messages in the Russia inquiry at the urging of members of Congress and “commentators that I respect” on cable news broadcasts.“I have had many people ask me to release them. Not that I didn’t like the idea, but I wanted to wait. I wanted to see what, you know, where it was all going,” Mr. Trump said.Law enforcement and intelligence officials must still vet the declassified materials and redact sensitive information. Declassified court documents and materials released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act often have redactions.The review of this latest declassification order is being given top priority because the request came from Mr. Trump, officials said. It is still underway and is primarily concerned with protecting sources and methods, a key concern of senior intelligence leaders, according to two officials briefed on the matter.Should Mr. Trump reject the recommendations of the intelligence community, it could put Justice Department and F.B.I. officials into the uncomfortable position of having to oppose an action taken by the president or to reveal information that they believe undermines national security.

Enlarge this image Russian military officers stand by as the 9M729, center, its launcher, left, and the 9M728, right, land-based cruise missiles are displayed in Kubinka outside Moscow, in January. The Russian military rolled out its new missile and spelled out its specifications, seeking to dispel the U.S. claim that the weapon violates the INF Treaty. Pavel Golovkin/AP hide caption toggle caption Pavel Golovkin/AP Russian military officers stand by as the 9M729, center, its launcher, left, and the 9M728, right, land-based cruise missiles are displayed in Kubinka outside Moscow, in January. The Russian military rolled out its new missile and spelled out its specifications, seeking to dispel the U.S. claim that the weapon violates the INF Treaty. Pavel Golovkin/AP At a post-summit news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin last July in Helsinki, President Trump did not once mention Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Nor did he point to its military support of pro-Russian secessionists in eastern Ukraine.If Trump's aim was to avoid confrontation with a superpower whose nuclear arsenal rivals that of the U.S., or more personally, not to to antagonize an iron-fisted ruler who may or may not have damning information to spill on Trump, his top military commander in Europe does not seem to have gotten the memo.Appearing this week before the Senate Armed Services Committee, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti sounded an alarm about Russia's aims in the lands west of its border with Europe."Russia is a long-term, strategic competitor that wants to advance its own objectives at the expense of U.S. prosperity and security," Scaparrotti, who also leads the U.S. European Command, told the panel."In pursuit of its objectives, Moscow seeks to assert its influence over nations along its periphery, undermine NATO solidarity and fracture the rules-based international order," he said.It was likely Scaparrotti's last appearance in uniform before the committee. He's slated to retire later this year from the two command posts he's held in Europe since President Obama appointed him three years ago.During the four-star general's leadership, the U.S. has further expanded a military deployment in Europe that's been growing since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea."I humbly represent over 68,000 brave and dedicated men and women who are forward-deployed or stationed in the European theater of operations," he said in prepared remarks.That force, he suggested, is nonetheless inadequate."I'm not comfortable yet with the deterrent posture that we have in Europe," Scaparrotti told the senators. "I have shortfalls in our land component...and in our maritime component," he added, noting he's requested that two naval destroyers be added to the four currently stationed at the U.S. naval base in Rota, Spain."In light of Russia's modernizing, increasingly aggressive force posture," Scaparrotti declared, "(the U.S. European Command) recommends augmenting our assigned and rotational forces to enhance our deterrence posture."And while Scaparrotti asserted the U.S. still maintains military superiority over Russia, he suggested that may not be the case in the future."Evolving Russian capabilities," he warned, "threaten to erode our competitive military advantage, challenge our ability to operate uncontested in all domains and diminish our ability to deter Russian aggression."At another hearing this week, Congress got a darker estimate of who's up and who's down in the revived Great Powers competition along Russia's western frontier."Understand that there's no place today on the NATO-Russia border where Russia does not have military superiority," former NATO nuclear policy chairman and George W. Bush administration special adviser Franklin Miller told the House Armed Services Committee, adding, "I think that the Russian leadership looks at nuclear war differently than we do."Adding to Cold War-reminiscent tensions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared this week that Moscow reserves the right to deploy missiles banned by the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which applies to all U.S. and Russian missiles that can fly between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.That followed the Trump administration's notification last month that the U.S. was withdrawing from the INF Treaty. Each side accuses the other of having violated the pact signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.The collapse of the arms control accord has been sharply criticized by congressional Democrats, who contend its demise will likely make a bad situation even worse."What is our plan to prevent Russia from building more INF Treaty-prohibited missiles in the absence of the treaty?" asked committee member and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. "Do we have a plan here?""I don't know that we have a plan today," Scaparrotti replied. "I know we're working on what we think that plan might be."In the end, Scaparrotti told lawmakers, the continued cohesion of NATO — a military alliance which Trump has frequently criticized — may provide the best defense against what he termed a "revisionist" Russia."When you can combine 29 nations with their elements of power in response to Russia's," the 63-year-old Army general told the panel, "it's a slam-dunk. There's no doubt that we can handle this and they'll be deterred, but we've got to work together."

He blew up only when Ms. Tlaib said his use of Ms. Patton was a racist act: “Just because a person has a person of color, a black person, working for them does not mean they aren’t racist,” she said, referring to Mr. Trump. “And it is insensitive, and some would even say the fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman, in this chamber, in this committee, is alone racist in itself, ” Ms. Tlaib concluded, meaning Mr. Meadows. That’s when Mr. Meadows lost it, insisting that Ms. Tlaib’s comments about him be stricken from the record and whipping out the “some of my best friends are black” defense. “You and I,” he said to Representative Elijah Cummings, the Oversight Committee chairman, who is black, “have a personal relationship that isn’t based on color.” He insisted that he couldn’t be racist because he had nieces and nephews of color. It was a performance that he’s clearly hoping will win him one of next year’s Oscars. He defended his record on race, so we should cast aside that time in 2012 when he embraced the racist birtherism theory to his supporters by saying that “2012 is the time we’re going to send Mr. Obama back home to Kenya or wherever it is.”Mr. Meadows threw a fit during a hearing where Mr. Cohen claimed the president had said black people were too stupid to vote for him and had called African nations “shithole” countries. There was actual proof of Mr. Trump’s racism on offer, and Mr. Meadows chose to flip out about an accusation instead. It appears that to him, accusations of racism are more dangerous than racist acts themselves.

When attorneys general from almost every state in the country launched a massive investigation into Google’s “potential monopolistic behavior” yesterday, two states were notable for their absence: California and Alabama. After all, these types of probes gain extra authority when they’re done through a coordinated effort of all the states. And California is known for its aggressive regulatory approach when it comes to the tech sector, passing the nation’s only digital privacy law last year.Consumer advocates were perplexed. “I just do not understand why California is not a part of this effort,” John Simpson, the former privacy and technology project director at Consumer Watchdog, told the Los Angeles Times. “Google has monopolized the market and really needs to be held accountable for that.”California attorney general Xavier Becerra declined to offer a reason for the state’s decision not to join the probe of Google, which is headquartered in the state, only citing a need to protect the integrity of “potential and ongoing investigations.” Spokespersons for Becerra did not respond to a request for comment from Fast Company, but they told the Los Angeles Times, “California remains deeply concerned and committed to fighting anticompetitive behavior.”A rep for Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall did not return a request for comment.It’s not as if Google has bought that much influence with attorneys general. The company focuses most of its firepower on the federal level. Its parent company, Alphabet, spent more than $21.7 million on lobbying and more than $8.2 million in direct political donations in 2018, according to FollowTheMoney.org. That dwarfs the amount the company spent on attorney general candidates around the country—$109,984—in total since 2010. Google contributed $30,300 to Becerra and $3,000 to Marshall in 2018.Certainly in California, Google exercises a lot of clout by lobbying state and local agencies and contributing to dozens of powerful lawmakers. As for Alabama, Google recently broke ground on a $600 million data center in Jackson County that is expected to hire as many as 100 full-time workers, though it’s just one part of a massive $13 billion investment in new data center operations in at least eight states across the country.

Newly anointed acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker has said there is “certainly” a legal way for president Trump to fire special counsel Robert Mueller—and that it wouldn’t constitute obstruction of justice.In June 2017, a CNN panel was discussing Trump’s refusal to say whether he intended to fire Mueller, who is investigating the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Asked his view of the speculation, Whitaker had the following exchange with anchor Don Lemon:Whitaker: Well, what I see is a President that is starting to figure out his influence that he can have on this investigation. And someone that is trying to send a message to the special prosecutor, Bob Mueller, that listen, you have a lot of power and you are now the keeper of the cloud that hangs over this administration, unfortunately, but I can still affect you. I can reach out and if I want to, I can terminate you. I think that is very dangerous politically, but legally there is certainly a way for that to happen.Lemon: You don’t think that’s dangerous legally, it’s not obstruction? He is saying basically unless it goes my way, I’m going to fire you.Whitaker: No, I don’t think that’s obstruction, because—we keep using that term. And I know we have discussed it before, Don. But I just – I don’t think that under these facts and circumstances that an obstruction of justice charge, either in the context that we have originally talked about with his discussions with Jim Comey or in this new context of talking about the possibility of Bob Mueller losing his job as special counsel, I think neither one of those would raise to the level of obstruction.Whitaker has a long history of criticizing Mueller’s probe, despite his personal admiration for Mueller. Read all those criticisms here.

Enlarge this image The Social Security Administration is reviving a practice from a decade ago of sending letters out to employers when Social Security numbers don't match their records. Patrick Semansky/AP hide caption toggle caption Patrick Semansky/AP The Social Security Administration is reviving a practice from a decade ago of sending letters out to employers when Social Security numbers don't match their records. Patrick Semansky/AP The Social Security Administration may be the latest front in the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.The agency is reviving the controversial practice of sending "no match" letters to businesses across the country, notifying them when an employee's Social Security number doesn't match up with official records. That may sound innocuous. But these no-match letters are expected to set off alarm bells. That's what happened when they arrived in the mail back in the mid-2000s. "It was a scare tactic," said Julie Pace, an employment lawyer at the Cavanagh Law Firm in Phoenix. Back then, as now, the federal government was trying to crack down on unauthorized workers. Pace understands the need to keep accurate records. But she thinks these letters were also intended to threaten employers who might have undocumented workers on the payroll. National Immigration System At The 'Breaking Point,' Homeland Security Official Warns "They were like the very old school formal government letter that scared you," she said.There are a lot of reasons someone's Social Security number might not match: name changes or clerical errors, for example. But it can also mean that a worker is using a fake Social Security number. And when an employer gets one of these letters, it has to ask the worker to fix the problem."It's the federal government who is now questioning something, and we're being the delivery boy so to speak in giving the message," said Gary Gitlin, an in-house lawyer for Pro's Ranch Market, a chain of grocery stores in Arizona. "We had to let a lot of people go" when his company got no-match letters in the past, Gitlin said, "because either they were not able to reconcile the no-match or simply refused to deal with it." Labor unions and immigrant advocates took the issue to court in the mid-2000s. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce complained that the government was trying to turn businesses into "immigration cops." Eventually, the Obama administration stopped sending these letters in 2012. Now, they're back. And so is the controversy."This is part and parcel of an anti-immigrant agenda by the Trump administration," said Marielena Hincapié, the executive director of the National Immigration Law Center. "This fits squarely within its overall strategy of instilling fear and chaos among immigrant workers."The Social Security Administration insists it is trying to improve the accuracy of its records. National 'An Irony': Shutdown Fight Over Border Security Takes Toll On Immigration Enforcement "If we cannot match the name and SSN reported on a W-2 to our records, we cannot credit earnings to a worker's record," said spokesman Mark Hinkle in a written statement. "When earnings are missing, the worker may not qualify for Social Security benefits he or she is due or the benefit amount may be incorrect." The agency declined an interview request. Its written statement doesn't mention immigration at all. But immigration hard-liners say they are glad to see no-match letters return. "If an employee is using a stolen Social Security number, we think it's important for relevant people to know," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for lower levels of immigration. Stein says he has no sympathy for undocumented immigrants who are using fake Social Security numbers to work or for employers who have been looking the other way. "Illegal immigration is ultimately everybody's problem," Stein said. "And one of the reasons why we've seen it blow out of control in the last 30-some years is because employers have not been willing to do their fair share in ensuring that American jobs go to American workers." But employers say it's not their job to enforce immigration laws. "It's a very fine line for employers to walk and not get in trouble on either side of the line," said Pace, the lawyer. "That's the catch-22 that you sometimes see."When no-match letters went out before, Pace asked for guidance from immigration authorities and from Justice Department lawyers, she says. And she got two different answers. Immigration authorities said employers should look at these letters as evidence that their employees are undocumented. But the Justice Department said not so fast: If you fire a worker based just on this letter, that could be discrimination. "Sometimes I would get both agencies on the phone at once so they could try to get on the same page with direction on that," Pace said. "Because they gave different direction from each agency."This time around, the Social Security Administration has changed the wording on no-match letters to clearly say this is not about immigration: IMPORTANT: This letter does not imply that you or your employee intentionally gave the government wrong information about the employee's name or SSN. This letter does not address your employee's work authorization or immigration status. You should not use this letter to take any adverse action against an employee, such as laying off, suspending, firing, or discriminating against that individual, just because his or her SSN or name does not match our records. Any of those actions could, in fact, violate State or Federal law and subject you to legal consequences. Still, Pace has a feeling that some employers will overreact anyway. She has seen it happen before.

• What we’re reading (and watching)Lynda Richardson, an editor in Travel, recommends this video from The Atlantic: “I saw this on a friend’s Facebook feed — a powerful animated video that shows that grief can be turned into grace, lifting you from despair. The soundtrack is Joan Baez singing ‘The President Sang Amazing Grace,’ a meditation on the June 2015 mass shooting, a hate crime, at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C.”This year, Countess Constance Markievicz finally took her place in the British Parliament.A century after she became the first woman elected to the House of Commons, her portrait went on display there. It will be up until early October, to commemorate the anniversary of the acts of Parliament that allowed some women to vote and hold office.ImageA woman held the portrait of Countess Constance Markievicz at an event in Dublin in 2017 to commemorate the anniversary of the Easter Rising.Credit...Brian Lawless/PA WireCountess Markievicz never took her seat, in keeping with the abstentionist policy of her Irish party, Sinn Fein, whose members refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the British crown.Before she was elected, she fought for women’s and labor rights, and Irish nationalism. Her participation in the 1916 Easter Rising, an armed rebellion against British rule, led to a death sentence that was commuted because she was a woman.After her release, she was again arrested, but was elected to the House of Commons from prison.She said of women’s rights in 1922, “I would work for it anywhere, as one of the crying wrongs of the world, that women, because of their sex, should be debarred from any position or any right that their brains entitle them a right to hold.”

TAIPEI/SEOUL (Reuters) - Shares in Asian suppliers and assemblers for Apple Inc (AAPL.O) fell on Tuesday after several component makers warned of weaker than expected results, leading some market watchers to call the peak for iPhones in several key markets. Following a poor forecast earlier this month, analysts and investors voiced concern over the state of Apple’s business, contributing to growing worries that iPhone sales were stagnating and could hurt suppliers. Fresh warnings on Monday from screen maker Japan Display Inc (6740.T), British chipmaker IQE Plc (IQE.L) and Lumentum Holdings Inc (LITE.O), the main supplier of the Face ID technology in the latest generation of iPhones, hurt technology stocks in Asia on Tuesday. Taiwan-based assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (Foxconn) (2317.TW) dropped more than 3 percent. Rival Pegatron Corp (4938.TW) fell more than 5 percent but later recouped losses. Both companies count Apple as a major customer. The world's largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW), fell 2.6 percent, while Flexium Interconnect Inc (6269.TW) was down 1.5 percent. The Taiwan Weighted Index .TWII was down around 1.6 percent. “Apple’s iPhone weakness has been a long-term issue for the Asia supply chain,” said Arthur Liao, an analyst at Fubon Research in Taipei. “For Apple, the iPhone shipment has reached its peak. For tech suppliers facing the future, they have no other big client like Apple.” The Cupertino, California-based tech giant’s shares fell to their lowest level in more than three months on Monday. Last week a media report saying the iPhone maker had told its smartphone assemblers to halt plans for additional production lines dedicated to its new lower-priced iPhone XR had pressured supplier stocks. FILE PHOTO: A woman checks her phone at a flagship Apple store at Iconsiam shopping mall in Bankok, Thailand November 9, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunAnalysts said the lack of technological breakthroughs had put a cap on demand, which would persist in the coming quarters. “With no new technology in sight next year for the supply chain, this is not ideal for the companies involved,” said Nicole Tu, a Taipei-based analyst at Yuanta Investment Consulting. “Up through the first half of 2019 we likely won’t see any breakthrough.” Lumentum on Monday slashed its profit and revenue forecast for the current quarter, while IQE warned that current-year results would be lower. Japan Display lowered both sales and margin outlook for the year as well. Apple warned earlier this month that holiday sales would miss Wall Street expectations due to weakness in emerging markets including India and foreign-exchange costs. Among other Apple suppliers in Asia, Hong Kong-based acoustic components maker AAC Technologies Holdings Inc (2018.HK) slumped more than 6 percent. South Korean electronic parts suppliers Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co Ltd (009150.KS), Apple’s supplier of multi-layer ceramic capacitors, dropped more than 5 percent, while LG Innotek Co Ltd (011070.KS) plunged 9.5 percent. Apple said earlier this month it would stop giving the number of iPhones, iPads and Mac computers it sold in a quarter, a closely watched metric and a key indicator of the company’s success. FILE PHOTO: People handle the new Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max during a media tour at an Apple office in Shanghai, China, September 21, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoThe move led analysts to question the company’s business and its share price has since dropped 12.6 percent. “(This) indicates that the company itself is not confident about its performance at the moment,” said Park Jung-hoon, a fund manager at HDC Asset Management, which owns Samsung Electronics shares. “Although Apple has positioned itself as a super-expensive handset maker providing high-end products, its strategy has not been working in emerging markets including China and India as Chinese vendors have been making iPhone-like products,” he said. Reporting by Jess Macy Yu in Taipei and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Stephen CoatesOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

India’s solar capacity addition is set for a record in 2019.New installations this calendar year will reach nearly 14 gigawatts (GW), which is about 50% more than the capacity added last year, according to a report by the Gurugram-based renewable energy consultancy firm Bridge to India, released on Jan. 09.The new capacity addition will take India’s installed solar capacity to about 38 GW by the end of the year. Overall, the country is estimated to add nearly 16 GW of clean energy capacity in 2019, driven by large-scale solar projects.Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has set a target of building 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022 to help meet one of the country’s goals under the Paris climate agreement: renewable sources must account for up to 40% of power-generation capacity by 2030.The central and state governments have been auctioning tenders to build large-scale solar projects, whose main customers will be state-owned power distribution companies. These projects take up to two years to get commissioned, which is when the new capacity is considered added, said Bridge to India analyst and the report’s lead author Arti Mishra Saran.In 2018, addition of new capacity fell primarily due to low tender activity in the past couple of years, Saran said, adding that the projected rise in additions this year is a result of heavy tendering activity in late 2017 and early 2018.After dipping in the second half of 2018, government tenders picked up again in December, when India’s ministry of new and renewable energy announced plans to issue tenders for 60 GW by March 2020. Apart from such large-scale projects, installation of rooftop solar panels also continues to rise. Indian households have not yet warmed to rooftop solar panels due to their high cost of purchase. But commercial and industrial buildings, which are supplied grid electricity at significantly higher rates than residential users, find it economical to switch over to solar panels.As land becomes tougher to acquire, developers are now eyeing water bodies. “The latest tenders for floating solar have gone well and there has been a lot of excitement from developers,” Saran said, adding that new auctions for floating solar projects of up to 5 GW are expected from the government in 2019.Winning bids for the government’s tenders this year will range from Rs3 and Rs2.5 per unit of electricity, the report said. Bids had fallen to Rs2.43 in 2017.Power generated from coal generally sells at over Rs3 per unit in the country.

At first blush, using Google Maps to navigate your way to work and back might sound unneccessary: It’s probably the single route you know most intimately. But Google is giving its Android and iOS mappings app a bunch of features designed for commuters. They include: A new tab with live information about delays that might impact your trip. A mixed-mode feature that helps you plan multiple legs of a trip: driving, public transportation, and walking. The real-time location of buses and trains plotted on a map (in 80 cities) and a heads-up about how crowded they are (in Sydney, with more locales to come). Integration with Spotify, Google Play Music, and Apple Music, which lets you control music and podcasts within Maps rather than shuttling off to another app. [Image: courtesy of Google]

SINGAPORE — Growing up in Singapore, Chan Kian Kuan always took pride in his Teochew heritage — the dialect, the cultural traditions and the famous steamed fish. But after visiting his ancestral village in Teochew, in Guangdong Province, China, and seeing the progress there, he became truly proud to be not just Teochew, but also Chinese.“It’s very messy. We are Chinese, but we are Singaporean, too,” said Mr. Chan, vice president of the Teochew Poit Ip Clan Association in Singapore. “When China becomes stronger, we feel proud. China is like the big brother.”As a young country made up mostly of immigrants, Singapore has for decades walked a fine line between encouraging citizens like Mr. Chan to connect with their cultural heritage and promoting a Singaporean national identity.But there are growing concerns here that a rising China could tip that carefully orchestrated balance by seeking to convert existing cultural affinities among Singaporean Chinese into loyalty to the Chinese “motherland.”Confident in its fast-growing political and economic clout, China has become increasingly assertive in its efforts to appeal to the vast Chinese diaspora to serve the country’s national interests and gain influence abroad. Already, there has been evidence of the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to manipulate political activity among Chinese populations in countries like Canada, the United States and Australia.And with ethnic Chinese constituting nearly 75 percent of Singapore’s population of 5.6 million, some scholars and former diplomats worry that this island nation could be an especially tantalizing target for the Chinese government’s influence efforts.“For us, it is an existential issue; the stakes are extremely high,” said Bilahari Kausikan, a former permanent secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one of the most outspoken voices in the country on the subject of Chinese interference.“China’s rise is a geopolitical fact that everyone must accept,” Mr. Kausikan said. “But it’s a very small step in my mind from cultural affinity for China to the idea of Chinese superiority. We are only 53 years old. It’s not guaranteed that every Singaporean Chinese would not be tempted either consciously or unconsciously to take that step.”Last month China’s ambassador to Singapore took the rare step of publicly rebutting recent remarks made by Mr. Kausikan in which he raised an alarm about what he called China’s covert “influence operations.”“We uphold the principles of peaceful coexistence and champion global fairness and justice,” the ambassador, Hong Xiaoyong, wrote in an op-ed in The Straits Times, an English-language newspaper. “We oppose the big bullying the small and interference in others’ internal affairs. This is what China has said, and this is also what China has been doing.”“China respects Singapore’s achievements in maintaining racial and religious harmony,” he added. “It has no intention of influencing Singaporeans’ sense of their national identity and will never do so.”One example of how on-edge Singaporean officials have been came to light last year when the government expelled Huang Jing, an American academic born in China, for what it said was his covert effort to influence Singapore’s foreign policy on behalf of an unnamed foreign government — widely believed to be China. The expulsion came amid heightened tensions between Singapore and China over territorial issues relating to the South China Sea.Mr. Kausikan and others are also concerned about China’s subtler influence efforts in Singapore, including appeals to sentimental “flesh and blood” ties to China.In recent years, China has stepped up people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, helping to organize conferences bringing together overseas Chinese, arranging visits for Singaporean Chinese to their ancestral villages and coordinating study abroad programs and “roots-seeking camps” for young Singaporeans.These kinds of programs are not unique to China, of course. The camps, for example, bear some similarity to Israel’s popular Birthright program. They are often arranged and paid for in part by Chinese government agencies like the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.In a description of one such camp held this year, participating Singaporean students were promised a full itinerary of activities including lessons in Chinese calligraphy and history. At another camp, in 2014, the schedule included learning the martial art of tai chi and singing Communist “red” songs.In recent years, officials affiliated with the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department — a powerful Chinese agency responsible for winning hearts and minds abroad — have also visited Singapore with the aim of strengthening ties with the local Chinese.“My cellphone is on 24 hours a day,” Hong Guoping, then head of the United Front in the Xiang’an district in Fujian Province, told a group of Singaporean Chinese affiliated with that district in 2013. “My fellow countrymen can call me at any time. I’m happy to serve everyone.”In a sign of the growing emphasis on building diaspora ties, it was announced this year that the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office would come under the purview of the United Front Work Department.“A more generous reading is that these are people-to-people exchanges,” said Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, “and a more skeptical reading is that it’s an effort by China to exert soft-power influence.”Some scholars have highlighted what they call a worrying trend that has seen China increasingly blurring the distinction between huaqiao (Chinese citizens overseas) and huaren (ethnic Chinese of all nationalities).At an overseas Chinese work conference last year, President Xi Jinping stressed the need to bring together people of Chinese descent around the world — up to 60 million ethnic Chinese in more than 180 countries — to enjoy the “Chinese dream.”“The realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires the joint efforts of Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad,” said Mr. Xi, according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.Scholars say the focus on strengthening ties with overseas Chinese signals a major shift away from Beijing’s previous, more hands-off approach to diaspora relations.“There is a sense that the emphasis now is on how all ethnic Chinese share a similar origin and therefore should be more sympathetic to a P.R.C. perspective,” said Professor Chong, referring to the People’s Republic of China.In some Western countries, China has already successfully mobilized local groups like Chinese businessmen, Chinese students and Chinese-language media, using them as proxies to rally against anti-Chinese views or to whip up support for Beijing’s line on contentious issues like the Dalai Lama or Taiwan.Frequently, the result has been a negative and often xenophobic anti-Chinese backlash. Many overseas Chinese have said they are now being unfairly subject to a cloud of suspicion simply for being associated with China.“When you start reaching out to people on the basis of race and blood, it becomes unacceptable to other governments,” said Wang Gungwu, a former chairman of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. “On the other hand, Beijing thinks it is natural to do so. And that is where the conflict lies, however unintended the consequences may be.”As the only country outside China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to have a majority-Chinese population, Singapore is in a unique position.Wary of being seen as a fifth column of China, the country under Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew went out of its way after gaining independence in 1965 to assert its sovereignty — making it a point to be the last country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to establish diplomatic ties with China.At the same time, the government sought to build a Singaporean national identity based on multiracialism, equality and meritocracy. English is the country’s official working language.But Singapore finds itself continually needing to remind officials in Beijing that it is not a Chinese country. Last year, for example, not long after China unveiled a gleaming new center to promote Chinese culture here, Singapore countered by opening a sprawling $110 million, 11-story Singapore Chinese Cultural Center in the heart of the financial district.The message was clear: Singaporean Chinese culture is not the same as Chinese culture.And China’s efforts to gain influence in Singapore are by no means one way. Recognizing the economic potential after China’s opening up in the 1980s, Singapore has also gone out of its way to play up its shared Chinese heritage.In the late 1970s, for example, the government started a language campaign to encourage young Singaporean Chinese to learn Mandarin — China’s official language — instead of their native Chinese dialects, with an eye to facilitating greater business opportunities. Every year, the country also hosts numerous performances by Chinese entertainers, particularly during the annual Chinese New Year celebrations.Last year, Singapore was China’s top foreign investor — a status many here proudly attribute to the country’s ability to act as a gateway between China and the West.“You could say Singaporeans are even more proactive than the Chinese” in building ties between the two countries, said Mr. Chan of the Teochow Poit Ip Clan Association.Not everyone is convinced that China will succeed in winning the loyalty of Singaporean Chinese, which are a large and fragmented population.Young Singaporean Chinese as well as those who studied in the country’s former English education system, for example, often have only a vague notion of China and limited Chinese-speaking abilities. Then there is the large influx of immigrants from China in recent years, which has sharpened the perceived differences between the two countries.“Maybe some people who go back to their ancestral village and see all the progress being made might feel their heartstrings being tugged, but at the end of the day, they would never look at it and think this is home,” said Pang Cheng Lian, the editor of the book “50 Years of the Chinese Community in Singapore.”Then again, when it comes to strengthening its influence abroad, China has proved that it is both patient and persistent.“They are not eager to have immediate results,” said Leo Suryadinata, a visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, “because Beijing’s view is always the long-term view.”

During a discussion with New Yorker editor David Remnick, former FBI director James Comey was asked why he doesn’t hate Donald Trump, even after getting fired and relentlessly lambasted by the president. Comey’s answer drew gasps in the audience for the wide-ranging discussion at the Town Hall venue in New York City on Thursday night:“I think he has an emptiness inside of him and a hunger for affirmation that I’ve never seen in an adult.”Comey also had a nuanced, if evasive, answer when Remnick asked him for his opinion of Rudy Giuliani, the former N.Y.C. mayor and federal prosecutor who joined Trump’s legal team on Thursday. Comey was very critical of Giuliani in his new book, A Higher Loyalty, calling him out for a “dangerous” management style and an excessive craving for publicity. But on Thursday night, Comey just said about Giuliani: “Maybe he’ll be successful where others weren’t and maybe he’ll precipitate a clash. I just don’t know.”Remnick asked Comey to explain why he compares Trump to a mob boss in his book, describing at length Comey’s own experience prosecuting mafiosi like Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. Since there were many accounts of Trump associating with mobsters like “Fat Tony” Salerno (whose trial inspired Comey to become a federal prosecutor) during the 1980s, why didn’t Comey ever investigate Trump back then? Comey’s reply was the epitome of bureaucratic banality: “We don’t open investigations because we think people must have done something wrong. For the FBI, there has to be a factual predicate.”

MADRID (Reuters) - Gibraltar’s chief minister Fabian Picardo said on Thursday that the peninsula would be part of any agreement on Britain’s exit from the European Union. Spain wants it made clear in the text of the proposal that decisions on Gibraltar must be agreed bilaterally between Spain and Britain. Reporting By Sam Edwards; writing by Jesús Aguado; editing by Ingrid MelanderOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

“Because he was on Gab, law enforcement now have definitive evidence for a motive,” Mr. Torba wrote. “They would not have had this evidence without Gab. We are proud to work with and support law enforcement in order to bring justice to this alleged terrorist.”Technically, there was nothing special about Gab at the start — its interface was buggy and unattractive, and it lacked the features of more established social networks. But the platform’s intentionally slim rule book attracted a crowd of extremists, including white nationalists and neo-Nazis, who had been banned from other social platforms. Milo Yiannopoulos, the former Breitbart writer whose harassment campaigns got him kicked off Twitter, signed up for an account. So did Andrew Anglin, the founder of the neo-Nazi publication Daily Stormer, and Richard Spencer, the well-known white nationalist.Within months, Gab had become a last refuge for internet scoundrels — a place where those with views considered too toxic for the mainstream could congregate and converse freely. The site’s guidelines prohibit threats of violence, but not hateful speech.Gab’s reputation for accommodating extremism may have been what drew Mr. Bowers to the site. In January, he signed up for an account, and began sharing anti-Jewish images, conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world, and criticism of President Trump — whom, he implied, was too accommodating of Jewish influence. He appeared to have other social media accounts, but Gab was where he aired his hatred in full. His bio on the site read, “Jews are the children of Satan,” and a photo on his profile included the number 1488, a reference to Nazism that is popular among white supremacists.After Mr. Bowers was named as a suspect in the mass shooting, Gab released a statement saying it “unequivocally disavows and condemns all acts of terrorism and violence.” The company spent much of Saturday replying to its critics on Twitter, and deflecting blame by pointing out that Mr. Bowers also had accounts on other social networks. The company boasted that its website was getting a million views per hour in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh shooting.This is not Gab’s first run-in with controversy. Last year, Google banned the company’s app for failing to moderate hateful content. (The app was rejected by Apple.) In August, Microsoft threatened to cut off Gab’s access to its Azure cloud service after posts surfaced on the site advocating genocidal violence against Jews. The posts were ultimately taken down.Mr. Torba insisted in his email that the shooting had not changed his mind about Gab’s core mission of promoting free speech.

Enlarge this image Former Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok has been fired after months of criticism by President Trump and Republicans over his anti-Trump text messages. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Former Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok has been fired after months of criticism by President Trump and Republicans over his anti-Trump text messages. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Updated at 7:24 p.m. ETThe FBI has fired an embattled special agent who was removed from the Russia inquiry after internal investigators discovered he had criticized then-candidate Donald Trump in text messages with another bureau official.Peter Strzok had remained on the FBI payroll until his employment finally was terminated on Friday, his attorney said Monday morning.The bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility had recommended that Strzok be reprimanded with a demotion and 60-day suspension, but the office of Deputy FBI Director David Bowdich decided instead that Strzok should be fired altogether. National Security Embattled FBI Agent Peter Strzok Clashes With GOP In Raucous Hearing In a statement provided to NPR Monday evening, the FBI said Strzok "was subject to the standard FBI review and disciplinary process after conduct highlighted in the IG report was referred to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility." The FBI continued: "OPR reviewed the investigative materials, as well as the written and oral responses of Mr. Strzok and his counsel, and issued OPR's decision. The Deputy Director, as the senior career FBI official, has the delegated authority to review and modify any disciplinary findings and/or penalty as deemed necessary in the best interest of the FBI."President Trump tweeted Monday afternon saying Strzok "finally" had been let go. "The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer," the president also wrote. "Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction - I just fight back!"Strzok had been reassigned off counterintelligence investigations following the discovery of his messages, which included a vow to FBI attorney Lisa Page that "we'll stop" Trump from being elected, complaints about the "smell" of Trump supporters and other such comments sent in real time during the 2016 presidential race. National Security Senior FBI Agent Who Criticized Trump Appears In Congress Amid GOP Onslaught But he had remained an employee, including apparently following the FBI's decision to have him escorted out of its Washington, D.C., headquarters in June.Strzok's attorneys called his dismissal "not only a departure from typical bureau practice" but a decision that contradicted earlier commitments by FBI Director Christopher Wray to follow standard process in dealing with its personnel matters.Strzok has been the target of months of attacks by Trump and his supporters over the text messages, which Strzok exchanged on his official government mobile phone with Page. The two were having an extramarital affair and used their work devices to conceal that from their spouses, they've acknowledged. National Security Agent Who Sent Anti-Trump Text Messages Escorted From FBI Building Trump and his Republican allies — particularly in the House of Representatives — argue Strzok and Page embody what they call the "bias" within the FBI and Justice Department that is really at the heart of the department's Russia investigation, which in Trump's construction is a "witch hunt" out to frame him.Strzok acknowledged to the House Judiciary Committee that he had exchanged all the messages with Page that had been discovered by Justice Department investigators but said the First Amendment protected his right to hold those views and denied he had ever let his beliefs affect any of his official actions.The face of "bias"Strzok and Page's story came to light just one day after former national security adviser Mike Flynn concluded his guilty plea in the Russia case with Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller in December 2017. The attacks about "bias" have continued ever since, including through testimony by Strzok and Page before Congress. National Security Mueller Removed FBI Agent From Russia Probe Over Anti-Trump Messages The two have appeared in closed-door sessions before the House Judiciary Committee, and Strzok also testified once in public, on July 12, before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees. He told lawmakers that their attacks on federal law enforcement have helped the overall Russian campaign to sow discord within the United States.Republicans did not like that. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, upbraided Strzok for failing to see how badly he had undercut confidence in the FBI."Agent Strzok has a most unusual and largely self-serving definition of bias ... despite common sense, doesn't think he's biased," Gowdy said. "He thinks calling someone 'destabilizing' for the country isn't biased; he thinks promising to protect the country from someone he hasn't even begun to investigate isn't biased; he thinks promising to 'stop' someone he is supposed to be fairly investigating ... isn't biased."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans’ loss of control of the U.S. House of Representatives leaves the party with a more conservative congressional caucus that is even more bound to President Donald Trump and more united around his provocative rhetoric and hardline agenda. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on the eve of the U.S. mid-term elections at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria Although some moderate Republicans who remain in the House may view the result as an indictment of Trump’s strategy of focusing relentlessly on illegal immigration in the final stretch of the campaign, they will be a small minority. The Democrats fell short of a tidal wave of voter support that would have given them control of both chambers of Congress, but in the 435-member House they headed for a gain of around 30 to 35 seats, giving them their first majority in eight years. Many Republicans who lost were moderates from suburban-heavy districts who tried to keep some distance from Trump and his rhetoric, but lost anyway. That leaves a shrunken core dominated by conservatives from rural areas whose constituents overwhelmingly support Trump. In short, Trump will stay Trump. Although some Republicans may blame him for Tuesday’s losses, they are unlikely to rebel, especially given that the party kept control of the Senate. “I would probably say it would be a little bit more conservative,” said Representative Mark Walker, chairman of the largest conservative group in Congress, the Republican Study Committee. “At the same time I hope it’s very clear that we lost some of our best members.” Representative Tom Cole said the Republican House caucus had always been conservative and would remain so after Tuesday’s election. “Nothing’s going to pass that can’t get through a pretty conservative United States Senate and past a pretty conservative president,” he told Reuters in a phone interview. At a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, Trump took the unusual step of singling out for criticism Republicans who lost House races on Tuesday, arguing that if they had embraced his policies more they would have kept their seats. It was a clear warning to the Republicans who remain in Congress to stand by the president. Over the past two years, the president has shown little inclination to change his slash-and-burn style or turn conciliatory. He knows that he remains without question the most popular figure in his party. Now, Trump begins his run for re-election in earnest, where he will make every effort to galvanize his base of passionate supporters. That means that even in the face of stronger Democratic opposition, Trump is likely to advocate for his “America First” agenda that prioritizes hot-button issues, such as illegal immigration and trade protectionism. This, in turn, will accelerate his dramatic reshaping of a party that for decades was defined by fiscal, social and national security conservatism. Knowing that House Democrats will not approve funding for a wall along the U.S. border, for example, will not keep Trump from continuing to make it an issue. In fact, he may find it more politically effective to have House Democrats as a foil. The surviving Republican members in the House, too, will have little interest in cooperating with the new Democratic majority, leaving Republican congressional power focused in the Senate and the government largely gridlocked. “A Democratic House means that if the president wants to get things done, he’s going to have to work across the aisle,” said Jason McGrath, a Democratic pollster in Chicago. “He hasn’t shown any inclination to do that, but it will be interesting to see if this is a moment he will want to govern rather than just make points.” Addressing the media, Trump urged Democrats to propose legislation on issues such as national infrastructure program and reducing drug prices. “Come on, let me see what you have,” he said. The shift in Congress has long-term implications for Republicans in districts that flipped Democratic on Tuesday and gives Democrats an opportunity to build on gains in once-reliably Republican suburbs where education levels and incomes are above the national average - and where skepticism of Trump runs deep. The party already faced challenges in trying to grow beyond its base of middle-class Trump supporters, white men and evangelicals. It has lost ground among women, suburban voters, voters with college degrees, while showing little ability to win over young and minority voters. That will almost certainly continue if a shrinking congressional caucus paves the way for greater fealty to Trump. In the Senate, centrist Democrats from states that Trump won in 2016 such as Joe Donnelly in Indiana, Claire McCaskill in Missouri, and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, were replaced by conservative Republicans who may credit their victories to the president. “We had tremendous success with the Senate,” Trump said. Moreover, Trump’s fiercest Republican critics in the Senate, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, are retiring. So is Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House who at times differed with the president’s tone, if not his policies. All of it leaves Trump a more dominant force in the party than he was even two years ago. And Trump, who campaigned heavily in rural states, can point to those Senate wins as evidence he can still drive his voters to the polls. All year, Republicans have been clear-eyed about their potential losses in the House, and so likely will not view Tuesday’s result as a warning sign the party needs to change its ways. Historically, the party in power loses several seats during the first midterm election of a new president, particularly if his national job approval ratings are low. Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010 with Barack Obama in the White House, handing control to the Republicans, who brought Obama’s agenda largely to a halt. In the closing weeks of the election, Trump stoked fears over a caravan of migrants approaching the United States from Central America and warned of the threat from liberal “mobs” if Democrats won power, trying to stoke his base to the polls. Several Republican candidates and advocacy groups such as the Congressional Leadership Fund joined in, concluding that the party’s economic message was not resonating. In two years, should economic growth slow, the party may not even have that argument. With Congress expected to produce little in the way of meaningful legislation in coming months, Republican candidates in the next election cycle are likely to have few accomplishments to point to. A 2017 tax-cut law will be a distant memory. Those Republican candidates who run for office with Trump at the top of the ticket will have a difficult time establishing their own political identities – and they may not want to, as U.S. presidents by and large win their second terms. Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Jason Szep, Tomasz Janowski and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Donald Trump was annoyed with his national security adviser for making Vladimir Putin wait six days for a return phone call, it emerged on Friday.The disclosure came following the release of memos written by former FBI director James Comey late on Thursday, which detailed his interactions with Trump over the four-month period before he was fired by the president while overseeing the federal investigation into Russian interference in the US election.In the memos, which were released to Congress by the justice department at the request of Republican investigators, Comey wrote that Trump criticized Flynn during a private dinner for having “serious judgment issues”. Trump cited Flynn’s failure to immediately inform him of a call from a world leader, whose identity was redacted in the memos but confirmed to be Putin on Friday by the Associated Press and other outlets. According to Comey’s account, Putin’s call was brought to Trump’s attention during a lunch with the British prime minister, Theresa May. Trump had just thanked May for being the first foreign leader to call and congratulate him following his inauguration when Flynn interjected to say Putin had been first to call. Flynn said a return call to Putin had been scheduled, Comey wrote, but that Trump was furious over the delay.“Flynn said the return call was scheduled for Saturday, which prompted a heated reply from the president that six days was not an appropriate period of time to return a call from the [redacted] of a country like [redacted],” Comey wrote.“This isn’t [redacted] we’re talking about,” added Trump.The New York Times had previously reported that Flynn scheduled Trump’s meeting with May before his return call to Putin out of “protocol” to accommodate a US ally. Flynn was forced to resign as Trump’s national security adviser in February 2017 after misleading the vice-president over the nature of his communications with Sergey Kislyak, who at the time served as the Russian ambassador to the US. Flynn has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is said to be cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.In his memos, Comey documented what he interpreted as a request from Trump that the FBI drop its investigation into Flynn. Comey also recalls being asked by the then White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, if Flynn was under surveillance. Comey wrote that he urged the White House to ask such questions through proper channels.The Comey memos are a critical piece of Mueller’s investigation, which centers not only on Russian meddling in the election but also whether the president sought to obstruct justice. Trump has denied Comey’s version of events, but also acknowledged that his decision to fire the former FBI director was made in part due to “this Russia thing”.After the memos were made public, Trump defended Flynn on Twitter while continuing to denounce Comey.“So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written),” Trump wrote on Friday.He added: “Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!” Topics Donald Trump Vladimir Putin James Comey news

Enlarge this image Singer Kate Smith signs autographs for a group of American sailors circa 1938. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Hulton Archive/Getty Images Singer Kate Smith signs autographs for a group of American sailors circa 1938. Hulton Archive/Getty Images The singer Kate Smith's recording of "God Bless America" has been a cherished part of sports tradition in the U.S. for decades. But in the aftermath of a discovery that the singer also recorded at least two songs with racist content in the 1930s, two major American sports teams, baseball's New York Yankees and ice hockey's Philadelphia Flyers, have announced that they will stop playing Smith's rendition of the Irving Berlin patriotic classic. On Sunday, the Flyers also took down a statue of Smith that had stood in front of their stadium since 1987.A fan alerted the Yankees last week that Smith had recorded at least two problematic songs — 1931's "That's Why Darkies Were Born" and 1933's "Pickaninny Heaven," from the film Hello, Everybody! — the New York Daily News reported on Thursday.On Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers removed a statue of Smith that had stood outside the team's arena since 1987, first at the Spectrum and later at the Xfinity Live! venue. Smith sang "God Bless America" live for the Flyers before Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup finals — after which the Flyers beat the Boston Bruins. Since then, the Flyers had treated Smith's rendition as a talisman for the team. YouTube In a statement published Sunday, Flyers President Paul Holmgren said, "The NHL principle 'Hockey is for Everyone' is at the heart of everything the Flyers stand for. As a result, we cannot stand idle while material from another era gets in the way of who we are today." The statement also said: "While Kate Smith's performance of 'God Bless America' cannot be erased from its place in Flyers history, that rendition will no longer be featured in our game presentations."On Friday, the Philadelphia team had covered the statue with black cloth. A spokesman for the Flyers told NBC10 in Philadelphia on Friday, "We have recently become aware that several songs performed by Kate Smith contain offensive lyrics that do not reflect our values as an organization." The spokesman added, "As we continue to look into this serious matter, we are removing Kate Smith's recording of 'God Bless America' from our library and covering up the statue that stands outside of our arena."Smith's career spanned more than five decades and encompassed radio, multiple television shows under her name, commercials and over two dozen albums and hundreds of singles. But it seems that no official working for either team was aware of these two songs.The Yankees had played Smith's recording of "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch since shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A spokesperson told the Daily News last Thursday, "The Yankees have been made aware of a recording that had been previously unknown to us and decided to immediately and carefully review this new information. The Yankees take social, racial and cultural insensitivities very seriously. And while no final conclusions have been made, we are erring on the side of sensitivity."Smith, who died in 1986 at age 79, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the United States' highest civilian honor — from President Ronald Reagan in 1982 in honor of her artistic and patriotic contributions. In his remarks, Reagan said: "It's been truly said that one of the most inspiring things our GIs in World War II, Europe and the Pacific, and later in Korea and Vietnam, ever heard was the voice of Kate Smith — and the same is true for all of us. ... Those simple but deeply moving words, 'God bless America,' have taken on added meaning for all of us because of the way Kate Smith sang them. Thanks to her, they have become a cherished part of all our lives, an undying reminder of the beauty, the courage and the heart of this great land of ours." YouTube Smith was a foundational figure in pop culture during World War II and used her fame to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. government's war efforts. During one 18-hour broadcast on the CBS radio network alone, she helped raise more than $100 million in war bonds. (That would amount to more than $1.4 billion in 2019 dollars.) YouTube In the 1933 film, Smith said that she was singing "Pickaninny Heaven" for "a lot of little colored children, who are listening in at an orphanage in New York City." The sequence includes shots of unkempt black children, while Smith sings of a "pickaninny heaven" where "Mammy" is waiting for them as well as "great big watermelons." YouTube "That's Why Darkies Were Born" was written for a 1931 Broadway revue called "George White's Scandals," a show that featured such stars of the time as Rudy Vallee and Ethel Barrymore.Some critics have argued that the "Darkies" song was meant to be a satire of white supremacist ideas — and it was famous enough in its day to be referenced in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. But modern-day audiences inevitably cringe at lines like "Someone had to pick the cotton / Someone had to plant the corn / Someone had to slave and be able to sing / That's why darkies were born.""That's Why Darkies Were Born" was also recorded by the pioneering and revered black bass baritone Paul Robeson — who, in his contract for EMI between 1928 and 1939, recorded quite a few songs that many contemporary listeners will find very problematic, including "De Li'l Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep," Stephen Foster's plantation songs and "Poor Old Joe" (aka "Old Black Joe").

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: A new type of volunteer opportunity has taken off in New York City. Hundreds of people are going with immigrants to court appearances and appointments with immigration officials. With President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, the volunteers want to show solidarity. WNYC's Beth Fertig brings us this story.MARISSA LOHSE: Perfect. OK, tell me your name.JEAN HALE: Jean.BETH FERTIG, BYLINE: On a recent weekday morning, Marissa Lohse is gathering her troops in a coffeeshop in lower Manhattan.LOHSE: Perfect, perfect. That would be great.FERTIG: Lohse is with the New Sanctuary Coalition. It's a network of congregations and individuals who accompany immigrants facing deportation to the Federal Building, which is just down the street. Jean Hale is a first-time volunteer. She doesn't know what to expect.HALE: I think it may be just emotional support and perhaps a big hug.FERTIG: Hale says she's horrified by the Trump administration's aggressive enforcement of immigration laws. She's 73, a retired English as a Second Language teacher.The volunteer program took off in 2010 during a previous crackdown under former President Obama. But Lohse - herself an immigrant from Argentina - says it's now bigger than ever. Several hundred volunteers came forward after Trump took office. A lot are retirees like her. They call the immigrants, friends.LOHSE: Before, I was just going by myself with a friend. Now it's just, thank God we have so many volunteers. So I do it, and I cry when I think about it.FERTIG: There's a lot on the line. These volunteers are joining people at immigration court hearings to determine whether they can stay in the country. Others are bringing them to check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many undocumented immigrants were allowed to stay as long as they regularly met with ICE. These check-ins used to be routine.Now, some immigrants are detained without any warning. Lohse has seen that firsthand.LOHSE: I've been one time when I was with a wife of a guy. Then, the ICE agent came out with a pair of glasses and a wallet. Your husband wants you to have this. They didn't give a chance for her to say goodbye.FERTIG: This type of volunteering is not easy. It's emotional, and the issues are thorny. At a training session, volunteers are told all immigrants deserve support, even those who have committed crimes. That gave one man pause.ED STUBIN: I can accept that the criminal justice system isn't always right, but I'm troubled having to go with some people that I don't think should be on this earth, much less in this country.FERTIG: That's Ed Stubin, a business owner who says his father was an immigrant. He decides he will volunteer, however, when a coordinator assures him that immigrants who commit serious crimes are usually held in detention.On the day of the coffeehouse meeting, about 40 volunteers are joining eight immigrants. One of those immigrants is Inez, a young mother seeking asylum who doesn't want us using her full name. She's got her 3-year-old son with her, and she's grateful to have six of the volunteers going with her to immigration court.INEZ: (Foreign language spoken).FERTIG: The group includes Jean Hale, the retired teacher and first-time volunteer. They spent four hours in the waiting room outside court. Mostly, they played with Inez's toddler. Finally, Inez had her hearing. The judge gave her three more months to find a lawyer.Afterward, outside the federal building, Hale said some undocumented immigrants deserve to stay.HALE: I would like to see our laws changed so that people could remain who have come to our country.FERTIG: Hale also said she'll continue to volunteer. For NPR News, I'm Beth Fertig in New York.(SOUNDBITE OF THE NEW GARY BURTON QUARTET'S "CAMINOS")Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump sought to backtrack on comments last year in which he tied his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey to a probe into Russian election meddling, accusing NBC News on Thursday of “fudging” their interview, but offering no supporting evidence. Trump made his accusation as the man who took over the federal Russia investigation from Comey, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, digs deeper into a probe that has already led to a series of indictments of former Trump aides. Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017, a move that Comey said later was aimed at undercutting the probe. The Trump administration said at the time of Comey’s dismissal that the president had acted on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and No. 2 Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein. In an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt that aired two days after the firing, Trump accused Comey of being incompetent and noted the recommendation, but also raised the issue of the Russia investigation, saying he was thinking of “this Russia thing” when he fired him. In a Twitter post on Thursday, Trump accused the news outlet and Holt, of “fudging my tape on Russia,” but gave no evidence to back up his claim. In addition to looking into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, which Moscow denies, Mueller is investigating any collusion with Russia by Trump’s campaign and any attempt by the president to impede the probe. The Comey firing could be central to a potential obstruction of justice case. Legal experts have said Mueller’s team must weigh whether the president acted with an improper, or “corrupt,” intent when he took actions such as firing Comey. Trump has denied any collusion with Russia, or any obstruction of justice. He has said since the interview with Holt that he did not fire Comey over the federal probe. Trump said in the Holt interview, “regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey knowing there was no good time to do it And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.” Representatives for NBC News, part of Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), declined to comment on Trump’s tweets on Thursday. Representatives for the White House did not respond to a question about Trump’s accusation. In the most dramatic day yet in the Russia investigation, federal prosecutors last week secured the conviction of Trump’s former campaign manager for financial crimes and a plea agreement from the president’s longtime attorney that included pleading guilty to campaign finance violations. Trump, in a string of tweets last week, said he had nothing to hide from Mueller’s probe. Trump’s tweets on Thursday were his latest attack on the news media. He has repeatedly called critical reports about him “fake news” and on Thursday he also called for the firing of CNN’s president, Jeff Zucker. Representatives for CNN, owned by AT&T (T.N), declined to comment. U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions from the news media during an event at which he announced a grant for a drug-free communities support program in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., August 29, 2018. REUTERS/Leah MillisU.S. news organizations have pushed back against the stream of criticism from Trump. Federal authorities on Thursday charged a California man with threatening to kill Boston Globe employees for the newspaper’s role leading a defense this month of press freedoms by hundreds of news organizations. Shares of AT&T and Comcast did not move on the president’s tweets. Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Ken Li in New York; Editing by Susan Thomas and Frances KerryOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.