BIG Wrap

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Stephen Miller, a top aide to United States President Donald Trump, has suggested that Venezuela’s oil belongs to Washington, describing the nationalisation of the South American country’s petroleum industry as “theft”. Miller’s comments on Wednesday raise further questions over the Trump administration’s claim that drug smuggling is its primary source of the tension with Venezuela. “American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” Miller, who serves as White House deputy...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is prepared to abandon Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership in exchange for tighter western security guarantees. His comments came as he has been holding talks with United States and European envoys aimed at ending Ukraine’s war with Russia. US President Donald Trump, who has opposed NATO membership for Ukraine, has been pressuring Kyiv to sign a deal with Russia on terms that experts say favour Moscow. The...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) A mass shooting at Bondi Beach in the Australian city of Sydney has killed at least 15 people and wounded 40. The death toll includes two police officers and at least one child, officials say. Police say one shooter, 50, was also killed at the scene, while another, his 24-year-old son, sustained “critical” injuries and remains in hospital. Authorities have designated the shooting a “terrorist” incident, saying it was “designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States President Donald Trump has pledged to pursue “serious retaliation” against the armed group ISIL (ISIS) after an ambush in central Syria killed two US service members and one civilian interpreter, also from the US. The attack on US forces on Saturday was the first to inflict casualties since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a year ago. Three additional US military members were injured in the attack, as well...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Thailand and Cambodia have agreed “to cease all shooting” effective Friday, according to United States President Donald Trump. Trump announced the agreement to restart the ceasefire in a social media post following calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Friday. “They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, where President Donald Trump has been threatening military action for the last several months. Members of the Trump administration confirmed reports that the US coastguard led an operation to commandeer the vessel on Wednesday afternoon. But few details have been released about the circumstances of the seizure. “We’ve just seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela – large tanker, very...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) South Korea and Japan separately scrambled fighter jets after Russian and Chinese military aircraft conducted a joint air patrol near both countries. Seven Russian and two Chinese aircraft entered South Korea’s Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) at approximately 10 a.m. local time (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday, according to the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul. The planes, which included fighter jets and bombers, were spotted before they entered the KADIZ –...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) China’s trade surplus – the difference between the value of goods it imports and exports – has hit $1 trillion for the first time, a significant yardstick in the country’s role as “factory of the world”, making everything from socks and curtains to electric cars. For the first 11 months of this year, China’s exports rose to $3.4 trillion while its imports declined slightly to $2.3 trillion. That brought the country’s trade surplus...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Yemen’s main southern separatist group has claimed broad control of the southern part of the country, marking a major shift in power for the area. Amr al-Bidh, a senior official of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), told the Reuters news agency on Monday that the group had extended its presence in all southern provinces – including the port of Aden, the base of the internationally-recognised government over the past decade –...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The Kremlin has praised a new national security strategy adopted by US President Donald Trump, saying it aligns closely with Russia's own view of global affairs. The US document published last week warns that Europe faces what it calls “civilizational erasure”, identifies ending the war in Ukraine as a “core” US interest, and signals a shift toward restoring what Washington describes as strategic stability with Moscow. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday...