Macron: Talk to Assad now, he will answer for crimes later

PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron thinks the Islamic State group will be defeated in Syria by the middle or end of February and that Syrian President Bashar Assad can’t be ignored in the aftermath of a military victory but must one day answer for his crimes, according to a television interview that aired Sunday.

Macron noted in a wideranging interview with TV station France 2 that Iraqi authorities declared the Islamic State group defeated this month and said, “I think by mid-end February we will have won in Syria. Bashar Assad will be there.”

Under those circumstances, “We have to talk to everybody, we have to talk to Bashar AlAssad and his representatives,” the French leader said, adding: “Afterward, he must answer for his crimes before his people, before international justice.”

The France 2 interview was recorded five days ago, during a global climate summit Macron hosted two years after the signing of the landmark Paris climate agreement.

Honduras’ electoral court declares election winner

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez was declared the winner Sunday of Honduras’ disputed election after three weeks of uncertainty and unrest in which at least 17 people died in protests amid allegations of vote fraud from the opposition.

Electoral court president David Matamoros made the announcement, saying, “We have fulfilled our obligation (and) we wish for there to be peace in our country.”

According to the court’s official count, Hernandez won with 42.95 per cent to 41.42 for runner-up Salvador Nasralla, who well before the announcement had challenged the result and said he would not recognize it.

His Opposition Alliance Against Dictatorship has called for more protests Monday.

Earlier in the day Nasralla travelled to Washington to present what he called “numerous” examples of evidence of alleged fraud. He said he planned to meet with officials from the Organization of American States, the U.S. State Department and human rights groups.

Pinera easily wins Chile election

SANTIAGO, Chile Billionaire former President Sebastian Pinera easily won Chile’s presidential runoff election Sunday, moving the world’s top-copper producing country back to the right in the footsteps of other Latin American nations.

Officials said Pinera got 54.6 per cent of the votes to 45.4 per cent for centre-left Sen. Alejandro Guillier, with nearly all the ballots counted.

Analysts had expected a much closer race, but there had not been any opinion polls on the campaign for several weeks. Guillier conceded defeat to his supporters and outgoing President Michelle Bachelet called Pinera to offer congratulations.

The results prompted Pinera supporters to celebrate at his campaign headquarters. Many took to streets nationwide waving flags and holding banners, while others beeped car horns and screamed out the last name of the former airline magnate who previously governed Chile in 20102014.

McCain returning home to Arizona, will likely miss tax vote

WASHINGTON Republican Sen. John McCain is returning home to Arizona after being hospitalized for the side effects of his brain cancer treatment and likely will miss a crucial vote on the GOP tax package, President Donald Trump said Sunday.

Trump told reporters he had spoken to McCain’s wife, Cindy, after her husband had spent about a week at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.

“They’ve headed back, but I understand he’ll come if we ever needed his help, which hopefully we won’t,” Trump said. “But the word is that John will come back if we need his vote. And it’s too bad. He’s going through a very tough time, there’s no question about it. But he will come back if we need his vote.”

Now in his sixth Senate term, McCain, 81, underwent surgery in mid-July to remove a 2-inch (51-millimeter) blood clot in his brain after being diagnosed with glioblastoma.

Kremlin says Putin thanked Trump for CIA tip on bombings

MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned U.S. President Donald Trump Sunday to thank him for a CIA tip that helped thwart a series of bombings in St. Petersburg, the Kremlin and the White House said.

During the call, the two leaders’ second in three days, Putin expressed gratitude for the CIA information. The Kremlin said it led Russia’s top domestic security agency to a group of suspects that planned to bomb St. Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral and other crowded sites this weekend.

“The information received from the CIA proved sufficient to find and detain the criminal suspects,” the Kremlin said.

US soldier fought to end after ambush

WASHINGTON Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson died in a hail of gunfire, hit as many as 18 times as he took cover in thick brush, fighting to the end after fleeing militants who had just killed three comrades in an October ambush in Niger, The Associated Press has learned.

A military investigation has concluded that Johnson wasn’t captured alive or killed at close range, dispelling a swirl of rumours about how he died.

The report has determined that Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Florida, was killed by enemy rifle and machinegun fire from members of an Islamic State offshoot, according to U.S. officials familiar with the findings. The Oct. 4 ambush took place about 120 miles (200 kilometres) north of Niamey, the African nation’s capital. Johnson’s body was recovered two days later.

U.S. officials familiar with the findings spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to describe details of an investigation that has not been finalized or publicly released.

A 12-member Army special forces unit was accompanying 30 Nigerien forces when they were attacked in a densely wooded area by as many as 50 militants travelling by vehicle and carrying small arms and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.