Nation and World briefs for January 17

AP source: House panel wants Bannon to explain Comey firing

WASHINGTON — A House panel questioned Steve Bannon on Tuesday, aiming to find out President Donald Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey, according to a person familiar with what the panel was planning to ask the former White House chief strategist.

The committee also planned to press Bannon on other “executive actions” taken by Trump that have drawn interest from congressional investigators prying into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record about the closed-door session and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Those key elements bear directly on the criminal investigation now underway by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with determining if collusion existed between the Trump campaign and Russia and whether the president obstructed justice by firing Comey or by taking other actions to thwart investigators.

As of early Tuesday afternoon, it appeared possible that Bannon could be interviewed all day by the House Intelligence panel — on par with other top-tier witnesses who have been called before congressional investigators for marathon sessions. Bannon started with the committee at 8 a.m., but questioning did not start until later in the morning.

His interview follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book that he sees the president’s son and others as engaging in “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

US withholds $65 million from Palestinian aid programs

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday cut tens of millions of dollars in money for Palestinian refugees, demanding that the U.N. agency responsible for the programs undertake a “fundamental re-examination,” the State Department said.

In a letter, the State Department notified the U.N. Relief and Works Agency that the U.S. is withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment. The letter also makes clear that additional U.S. donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.

“We would like to see some reforms be made,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes are needed to the way the agency operates and is funded. “This is not aimed at punishing anyone.”

The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the installment — $60 million — to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing down.

The U.S. is UNWRA’s largest donor, supplying nearly 30 percent of its budget. The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Watchdog says democratic freedoms waning in US under Trump

WASHINGTON — Basic rights and political freedoms in the United States are deteriorating at a faster pace under President Donald Trump, exacerbated by attacks on key institutions like the press and the courts, according to a new report released Tuesday by Freedom House.

In its annual global assessment, the think tank slammed the Trump administration for withdrawing from America’s “historical commitment to promoting and supporting democracy,” calling it perhaps the most striking on a “long list of troubling developments” around the world in 2017. The report criticizes Trump for making false statements, refusing to disclose his taxes and other information, violating basic ethical standards and taking insufficient steps to counter Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who ran against Trump in the election, said he believed American institutions were strong enough to withstand attacks, but was concerned about Trump’s weak support for NATO, the Iran nuclear deal and other global alliances that serve as bulwarks against authoritarian governments. Previewing the report, Kasich said he was also worried that Trump’s frequent disparagement of the press and judiciary could send a signal to autocrats overseas that it’s OK to delegitimize those institutions in their own countries.

“I would hope that over time, the people who are around the president would make clear that words matter,” Kasich said on a conference call organized by Freedom House. “Sometimes when you’re frustrated, it makes sense to sit on your hands or keep your mouth shut.”

Freedom House, based in Washington, describes itself as a non-partisan watchdog group. Its annual report on the state of political freedoms examines countries around the world and has often focused on the decline of democracy abroad.

A growing number of actors are renouncing Woody Allen

NEW YORK — A growing number of actors are distancing themselves from Woody Allen and his next film, heightening questions about the future of the prolific 82-year-old filmmaker in a Hollywood newly sensitive to allegations of sexual misconduct.

Timothee Chalamet on Tuesday said he will donate his salary for an upcoming Woody Allen film to three charities fighting sexual harassment and abuse: Time’s Up, the LGBT Center in New York and RAINN. The breakout star of “Call Me By Your Name” announced on Instagram that he didn’t want to profit from his work on Allen’s “A Rainy Day in New York,” which wrapped shooting in the fall.

“I want to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave artists who are fighting for all people to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve,” said Chalamet.

Chalamet is just the latest cast member of an Allen production to express regret or guilt about being professionally associated with the director. In recent weeks, Rebecca Hall (“A Rainy Day in New York,” ”Vicky Cristina Barcelona”), Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”), Ellen Page (“To Rome With Love”), David Krumholtz (“Wonder Wheel”) and Griffith Newman (“A Rainy Day in New York”) have all in some way distanced themselves from Allen or vowed that they wouldn’t work with him again.

The rising chorus suggests the road ahead for Allen may be particularly challenging, even for a director whose personal controversies have for decades made him an alternatively beloved and reviled figure in movies. Financial support for Allen has not previously waned in part because of the eagerness many stars have for working with a cinematic legend. But fielding a starry cast may prove increasingly difficult for Allen in a movie industry in the midst of a “Me Too” reckoning.

Ex-doctor’s victims recount sex abuse as young gymnasts

LANSING, Mich. — One after one, gymnasts and other victims of a disgraced former sports doctor stepped forward in a Michigan courtroom Tuesday to recount the sexual abuse and emotional trauma Larry Nassar inflicted on them as children — one with the warning that “little girls don’t stay little forever.”

Nearly 100 women and girls planned to speak or have their statements read during an extraordinary four-day sentencing hearing. Many of them cried as they told their stories. Some requested that their identities not be made public. The judge consoled the victims and said they should not blame themselves.

“I testified to let the world know that you are a repulsive liar and those ‘treatments’ were pathetically veiled sexual abuse,” one victim, Kyle Stephens, said to the 54-year-old Nassar, who bowed his head with his eyes closed or looked away as she and others spoke.

Stephens, the first to speak, said Nassar repeatedly abused her from age 6 until age 12 during family visits to his home in Holt, near Lansing. She said he rubbed his genitals on her and digitally penetrated her, among other abuse.

She said Nassar later denied it, and her parents initially believed him. Stephens said she largely blamed her father’s suicide on the shame and self-loathing he felt for defending Nassar.