BIG Wrap

(Al Jazeera Media Network) US President Donald Trump has had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which the White House describes as “positive”. The call was made shortly after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed there was an attempted attack on Putin’s residence in Novgorod, which top Ukrainian officials deny. Russia says it will have to re-examine its negotiating position in light of the attack. Meanwhile, the Russian army says its troops have captured...

(CNN) China’s military announced Monday it was mobilizing army, navy, air and rocket units around Taiwan for “major military drills” aimed at sending a “serious warning” against any push for Taiwanese independence and “external” forces interfering with the island. The exercises – dubbed “Justice Mission-2025” – would test combat readiness and “blockade and control of key ports and critical areas” from Monday, China’s Eastern Theater Command said. Live-fire activities would take place in five maritime and...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels has warned that any Israeli presence in Somaliland would be considered a “military target”, in the latest condemnation of Israel’s move to recognise the breakaway region. “We consider any Israeli presence in Somaliland a military target for our armed forces, as it constitutes aggression against Somalia and Yemen, and a threat to the security of the region,” said the group’s chief, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, according to...

(CNN) President Donald Trump said Thursday he had ordered a deadly strike on Islamic State terrorists in Nigeria, who he has accused of persecuting Christians in the country. In a post on social media, Trump said he had directed a “powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” who he said had been killing innocent Christians. He later told Politico he delayed the strikes a day so they fell on Christmas. “They were going to...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Four United Nations human rights experts have condemned the partial naval blockade of Venezuela by the United States, finding it an illegal armed aggression and calling on the US Congress to intervene. “There is no right to enforce unilateral sanctions through an armed blockade,” the UN experts said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The US has deployed a major military force in the Caribbean and intercepted oil tankers as part of...

(Washington Times) The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that President Trump overstepped his powers in trying to federalize and send the National Guard to Chicago. The decision marks a significant reversal for Trump. It could undercut his other deployments, including the troops stationed in Los Angeles for six months, in response to violence against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In an unsigned opinion, the high court said the law governing the president’s powers to deploy National Guard troops can be triggered only when the existing military forces are not...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The Ukrainian military says its forces have withdrawn from the battle-scarred town of Siversk in the eastern Donetsk region after heavy fighting with Russian forces. In a statement on Telegram on Tuesday, Ukraine’s General Staff said that Russian troops had a “significant advantage” in manpower and equipment and had exerted constant pressure on the defending Ukrainian troops by staging small-unit assaults in difficult weather conditions. Ukraine’s decision to withdraw its forces was...

(Washington Times) The prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland on Monday demanded that Washington respect their sovereignty and insisted that the United States will not take control of Greenland, a day after President Donald Trump appointed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to the island territory. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen blasted the appointment in a joint statement. The two leaders cited international law and said the U.S. cannot “annex another country.” “Greenland belongs to the...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) A car bomb blast has killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow, investigators say. Russia’s Investigative Committee reported on Monday that it had opened an investigation into the “murder” of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the training department within the general staff. Officials said the potential involvement of Ukrainian special forces is among the issues being investigated. An explosive device detonated underneath Sarvarov’s car in the south of the Russian...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) More than 84,000 people have fled to Burundi from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) amid a Rwanda-backed rebel offensive near the countries’ shared border, according to the latest United Nations figures. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that Burundi had reached a “critical point” amid the influx of refugees and asylum seekers fleeing a surge in violence in the DRC’s South Kivu province. “Thousands of people crossing...