10:30 a.m.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami says that President-elect Donald Trump should apologize to the Iranian people for calling them terrorists during his campaign.
The senior religious scholar, in a Friday sermon broadcast live on state radio, said Trump should "respectfully apologize to the nation."
Khatami warned Trump about confronting Iran, saying he should know better than to play with "the tail of the lion."
The cleric said that Tehran had successfully foiled and frustrated several of Trump's White House predecessors.
He said Iran's stance on the U.S. election is to avoid intervention or involvement in another country's internal affairs.
He said, "We respect the people of other countries and we respect their elections."
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6:30 a.m.
Japan's defense minister says his country already pays enough for U.S. troops based there, a response to repeated demands by President-elect Donald Trump that countries hosting American forces should pay more.
Trump's remarks during the election campaign have raised concern in Japan about a possibility his administration may seek Japan's increased spending for American forces.
Defense Minister Tomomi Inada stressed that the presence of U.S. troops in Japan serves as a key deterrence in the Asia-Pacific region and they should stay.
Japan pays about 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) a year - or about 70 percent - in so-called host-nation support for 50,000 U.S. troops.
Inada said Friday: "I believe it's enough. We pay what we are supposed to cover."
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