WikiLeaks’ Assange faces questioning by prosecutors

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces questioning by prosecutors Monday at the Ecuadoran embassy in London in a twist in the long-running legal battle over a rape allegation against him.
An Ecuadoran prosecutor will quiz the founder of the secret-spilling website at the red-brick building where he has been holed up for more than four years, with Swedish prosecutor Ingrid Isgren and a Swedish police inspector also attending, officials said.
The 45-year-old Australian sought refuge in the central London embassy in June 2012 after Swedish prosecutors issued a European arrest warrant against him, over allegations of rape and sexual assault filed by two women who met Assange during a 2010 trip to Sweden.
He denied the claims, saying they were politically motivated, and insisting his sexual encounters with the two women were consensual.
He has refused to travel to Sweden for questioning, fearing he would be extradited to the United States over WikiLeaks’ release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Kerry in Oman for Yemen peace talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived Monday in Muscat, Omani state media said, for talks expected to focus on efforts to end Yemen’s 19-month conflict.
ONA news agency said Kerry will be in the Gulf sultanate for two days, in one of his last trips as secretary of state before President Barack Obama’s administration ends on January 20.
He is scheduled to hold talks on Monday with Oman’s Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi and to meet ruler Sultan Qaboos.
Kerry has been pushing for a settlement of Yemen’s deadly conflict, which escalated with the military intervention of a Saudi-led coalition to support the government against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in March 2015.

Americans have nothing to fear – Trump

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move aggressively on a conservative agenda in filling Supreme Court vacancies, cracking down on immigration and cutting taxes, but also sought to reassure worried Americans they have nothing to fear from his presidency.
Setting aside the strident tone of his campaign, the 70-year-old assumed a gentler manner in his first television interview since his shock election, saying he was “saddened” by reports of harassment of Muslims and Hispanics, and telling the perpetrators: “Stop It.”
The interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which was taped Friday and aired in full Sunday, offered Trump an opportunity to reintroduce himself after an ugly, name-calling campaign and surprise victory that sparked protests in cities across the United States.
“I just don’t think they know me,” the billionaire real estate mogul said at one point, of the thousands of protesters who have massed in streets below his Trump Tower headquarters with signs that read “Not our president.”
Told that many Americans are scared of his presidency, Trump said: “Don’t be afraid. We are going to bring our country back.”
– Conservative agenda –
Millions were expected to tune in to Trump’s interview for clues on how the billionaire will govern, and how

Toddler dies in attack on church

A Indonesian toddler died Monday from injuries sustained in a suspected extremist attack on a church, with a group of militants who support the Islamic State group detained over the assault.
Two-year-old Intan Olivia Marbun was among four small children hurt when an attacker wearing a T-shirt with the word “jihad” on it threw Molotov cocktails at the place of worship on Borneo island from a motorbike on Sunday.
The youngsters, aged between two and four, had been playing in the car park of the church in the city of Samarinda at the time of the attack.
Local police spokesman Fajar Setiawan told AFP Marbun suffered extensive burn injuries and respiratory problems, adding: “Unfortunately the doctors could not save the victim… she died early this morning.”
The other children suffered less serious injuries and were still being treated in hospital but would likely be

No refugees will be sent to US this year – Australia PM

Australia’s prime minister said on Monday resettlement to the US of many of the 1,200 asylum seekers held in prisons on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific island of Nauru would begin after president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Whether Trump honours the deal Australia reached with the outgoing Obama administration, and announced earlier this month, will provide an early test of the new president’s anti-immigration stance.
Campaigning for the presidency, Trump started by advocating a blanket ban on Muslims entering the US, but later adjusted his stance to propose that the ban should apply to people from nations that had been “compromised by terrorism”.
Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Sunday that the US had agreed to take a “substantial” number of the 1,800 refugees held on Manus Island and Nauru. Many of them are Muslims who have fled

Israeli committee approves bill legalising outposts

Israel has approved a controversial draft bill aimed at authorising Jewish settlements that were built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank without Israeli government permission.
The bill must now pass through three readings in parliament and also be ratified by the Supreme Court before it can become law.
Sunday’s vote was rushed through the ministerial committee for legislation in an attempt to prevent the evacuation of the outpost of Amona in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by the end of the year.
The Supreme Court had ordered the evacuation of settlers from Amona and the demolition of their homes by December 25.
Amona, near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, is home to about 40 Jewish families and was built on land privately owned by Palestinians who had petitioned the court for the outpost to be removed.
The international community considers all Israeli settlements in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and the

I will only take $1 as salary – Trump

Donald Trump said Sunday that he wasn’t even sure what the presidential salary was — but he wasn’t taking it.
During his first television interview as president-elect, Donald Trump, told CBS News’ Leslie Stahl Sunday night that he would forgo taking a salary while he’s president. He added that he did not even know how much the president earned.
“I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year,” Trump said. “But it’s a ― I don’t even know what it is. Do you know what the salary is?”
“$400,000 you’re giving up,” Stahl answered.
“No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.”

China threatens to cut iPhone sales if Trump declares a trade war

China’s state-run newspaper says the government would respond with “countermeasures” if President-elect Donald Trump starts a trade war against the country, warning that the sales of iPhones and US cars would suffer a “setback.” In an editorial published on Sunday, the Global Times said it would be “naive” for Trump to follow through on his campaign promises to implement a 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports to the US and to declare the country a currency manipulator.
Trump repeatedly targeted China during his presidential campaign, vowing to take a tougher stance on trade in the hopes of reviving manufacturing in the US. In its editorial, the Global Times dismissed the notion that Trump alone could implement a 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports, though it warned that any protectionist measure could leave trade “paralyzed.”
“China will take a tit-for-tat approach then,” the editorial reads. “A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced