United States: A Russian lawyer who President Donald Trump's son believed was peddling dirt on Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign worked with a Russian government official to deceive an American court in an unrelated civil case, federal prosecutors in New York said. Natalya Veselnitskaya was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice after prosecutors said she teamed up with a senior Russian prosecutor and submitted deceptive declarations in a civil proceeding involving a Russian tax refund fraud scheme. The indictment, though unrelated to Russian election interference, is the first filed against a participant of a Trump Tower meeting at which the President's son expected to receive damaging information about Clinton. It also is the first time US prosecutors have directly connected Veselnitskaya to the Russian Government. Veselnitskaya was the key participant in the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump jnr and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner that was described to Trump jnr as part of a Russian government effort to help his father's campaign. Special counsel spokesman Peter Carr declined to say if Robert Mueller's team was involved in the Veselnitskaya case or if the office had referred the matter to prosecutors in New York.
France: French government ministers have criticised a public fundraising drive for a former boxing champion who was seen on video appearing to punch police officers during the most recent yellow vest protest in Paris. Online platform Leetchi said that donors pledged over €100,000 to support Christophe Dettinger and the money would be used to pay legal fees. Leetchi later closed the fund after prominent ministers in French President Emmanuel Macron's Government expressed outrage. Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa told France Info radio the fundraiser was "illegal" because "it backs a criminal act, that is to say, gratuitous violence". The 37-year-old Dettinger was taken into custody yesterday. A parallel fund was launched to support injured police officers.
Space: An asteroid-circling spacecraft has captured a cool snapshot of home. Nasa's Osiris-Rex spacecraft took the picture days before going into orbit around asteroid Bennu on New Year's Eve. The tiny asteroid — barely 500m across — appears as a big bright blob in the long-exposure photo. And 110 million km away, Earth appears as a white dot, with the moon an even smaller dot but still clearly visible. Osiris-Rex is the first spacecraft to orbit such a small celestial body, and from such a close distance — about 1600m out. Next year, Osiris-Rex will attempt to gather some samples from the carbon-rich asteroid, for return to Earth in 2023. Osiris-Rex launched from Florida in 2016.
Iran: The family of a US Navy veteran says he has been held in Iran since July. The New York Times reported that Michael White was detained while visiting his Iranian girlfriend. His mother, Joanne White, told the newspaper she had filed a missing person report with the State Department in July. She says US officials told her three weeks ago that her son is alive and being held in an Iranian prison.
