Donald Trump, Chicago, Jobs Report: Your Friday Briefing
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Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• Trump to meet with intelligence chiefs.
President-elect Donald J. Trump will meet today with the heads of the C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A. to discuss evidence that Russia used hacking to help Mr. Trump win the election, an assertion he disputes.
In an interview with The Times today, Mr. Trump called the storm surrounding the issue “a political witch hunt.”
Some of the officials who testified before a Senate committee on Thursday said the president-elect’s statements about intelligence agencies were undermining morale.
• Trump transition.
Mr. Trump is expected to name the retired Indiana senator Dan Coats as director of national intelligence. Mr. Coats was also once an envoy to Germany.
Speaking of diplomats, Mr. Obama’s politically appointed ambassadors have been told to leave their posts by Inauguration Day. In the past, administrations from both parties often granted extensions.
Separately, human rights experts worry that if Mr. Trump keeps his campaign promise of reinstating the sort of torture used under George W. Bush, authoritarian regimes around the world will do the same.
• “Bathroom bill” in Texas.
The state has put forth its own version of legislation that caused an uproar in North Carolina, a bill that would require people in government buildings and public schools to use restrooms that correspond with their “biological sex.”
A powerful business lobby said Texas could expect an economic blow if the law passes.
• Hate crime charges in Chicago.
The videotaped assault of a white teenager with mental disabilities has led to charges against four young African-Americans.
“They admit that they were beating him, kicking him,” a police official said of the defendants. “They made him drink toilet water.”
• “There are people dying on the side of the road.”
That was Cédric Herrou, a farmer who’s on trial in France this week for helping to operate a loosely knit underground railroad to smuggle migrants through Europe.
He has become a folk hero for his resistance to the state, but he could face prison if convicted. A verdict is expected next month.
Business
• The U.S. economy added156,000 jobs in December, and unemployment edged up to 4.7 percent, according to today’s jobs report.
The economy added an average of 180,000 jobs a month from January to November 2016. As for the future of U.S. economic growth, our writer says it “seems to have a feast-or-famine quality.”
• Fox News named Tucker Carlson as its 9 p.m. replacement for Megyn Kelly, who is leaving for NBC. Martha MacCallum, a co-anchor of Fox’s morning news show, will take Mr. Carlson’s 7 p.m. spot.
The cable TV musical chairs includes the former Fox host Greta Van Susteren, who will join MSNBC.
• Tips on what to invest in this year can be tempting. But do your homework first, our columnist advises, and see how recommended portfolios performed last year.
What’s the safest bet? “Index funds,” he writes.
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Noteworthy
• Syrian girls tackle robotics.
Click and drag your mouse to explore.
Syrian Girls Do Robotics
In Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, hundreds of Syrian refugee girls participated in a science and tech workshop designed to inspire them to pursue careers in STEM fields.
By ANNA THERESE DAY, SAMANTHA QUICK and VEDA SHASTRI on January 6, 2017. Photo by Anna Therese Day for The New York Times. Technology by Samsung. .Watch in Times Video »
Our 360 video takes you to Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, where hundreds of refugees participated in a science and technology workshop intended to inspire them to pursue careers in such fields.
• Awards season is approaching.
Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, the driving forces behind “Moonlight,” one of the year’s best movies, led parallel lives in the same poor Miami neighborhood. But they had never met until they made the film.
We also look at a debate over the different treatment Nate Parker and Casey Affleck have received. Mr. Parker has been sidelined as an Academy Award candidate because of a case in which he was accused — and acquitted — of raping a fellow student in college.
There has not been similar scrutiny of two sexual harassment suits filed against Mr. Affleck. Some critics say a double standard is at play, involving race and power.
• “James Bond of philanthropy.”
Charles F. Feeney is what you might call a low-key billionaire. About five years ago, he vowed to give away most of his fortune by 2016. And he has.
Altogether, Mr. Feeney has donated $8 billion to support higher education, public health, human rights and scientific research. His remaining personal net worth is just over $2 million, and he rents an apartment with his wife in San Francisco.
“You can only wear one pair of pants at a time,” he said.
• Recipe of the day.
Ordering takeout might be appealing, but these versions of cheese-steak subs and chicken wings may make you reconsider.
Back Story
We’ve begun the new year with political upheavals on nearly every continent. But 100 years ago, several seismic shifts shaped our modern world.
As World War I raged, the monarchy in Russia was collapsing, leading to the formation of the Soviet Union a few years later.
The end of czarist rule also led to Finland gaining its independence. The country is celebrating the anniversary with new passports and special blankets for some newborns. And the British Foreign Secretary’s “Balfour Declaration” laid the diplomatic foundation for the state of Israel.
The U.S. entered the Great War, a milestone in its rise as a superpower. One lawmaker who voted against sending troops was Jeannette Rankin, who took office in 1917 as the country’s first woman in Congress. She later helped pass the 19th Amendment, giving women voting rights.
Not all of this year’s centennials, though, are tied to war and politics.
In 1917, the U.S. gave a Swedish immigrant a patent for a “separable fastener,” now known as a zipper. And a Massachusetts resident tinkering in his kitchen concocted something with sugar, egg whites and vanilla that you might eat for dessert tonight.
It’s known today as Marshmallow Fluff.
Patrick Boehler contributed reporting.
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