BIG Wrap

(CNN) The relationship between Ukraine and the United States is facing increasing strain over intelligence sharing, sanctions, Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy, and the path to peace. There also appears to be deepening mutual distrust between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump on Monday accused Zelensky of not knowing what he was talking about and suggested it was “time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.” Over the weekend, Kyiv launched...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) France has announced partial curfews in several major cities across the country in the aftermath of the violent unrest that gripped the country over the weekend. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Monday that he had asked regional authorities to impose “partial” and “localised” curfews in some cities to protect businesses after weekend demonstrations spilled into some of the worst street violence in recent years. The call came as calm returned, allowing...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Taiwan has confronted and driven away 16 Chinese coastguard, research and fishing vessels that it said were involved in simultaneous “maritime harassment” operations. An “unusually large” number of Chinese vessels took part in coordinated operations around Taiwan’s main island and Pratas (also known as Dongsha), a disputed island to the southwest, the Taiwanese coastguard said in a statement on Sunday. The Chinese vessels included four fishing boats, which engaged in “simultaneous operations’...

(CNN) Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis traded fresh strikes Wednesday, with the Iran-backed group targeting the Saudi capital and claiming responsibility for an attack on the headquarters of state oil giant Aramco. Saudi authorities said an administrative building belonging to Aramco in the city of Dhahran, where the company is headquartered, was targeted. It caused a limited fire, but it was not immediately clear whether the building was directly hit or damaged by falling debris...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) China is increasing its gold reserves in a bid to reduce its dependence on US dollar assets and protect against financial and geopolitical risks, analysts say, while households are turning to the precious metal amid uncertainty over the domestic economy. The People’s Bank of China reported buying gold for a 23rd consecutive month in September, when the country’s central bank also made its largest monthly purchase in nearly three years. The...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Confirmed Ebola cases have surpassed 9,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) outbreak, according to Health Ministry data, as efforts to stifle transmission falter. The ministry reported 9,066 confirmed cases and 4,381 deaths on Tuesday. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, has become the largest and deadliest in the DRC’s history. Globally, the toll is only second to the 2014 to 2016 West African epidemic, which saw...

(CNN) Hackers raised the temperature of refrigerators and freezers at hundreds of French supermarkets to as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), causing fires and spoiling food. The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday ‌that a “large-scale” attack was “affecting connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France,” leading to food losses and fires. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has instructed France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate, a person in his office said. France...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) An alleged air strike on a gold mining site in northern Sudan has killed at least 72 workers, according to a rights group, highlighting the severe security vacuum along the country’s increasingly lawless border with Egypt. The Khartoum-based rights group Emergency Lawyers accused the Egyptian military of targeting civilian miners in the North Wadi area of Jabal al-Uqaydat, a mountainous border area between Sudan and Egypt. Egypt has not commented on the...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Yemen’s Houthis, the armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), are hitting deep inside Saudi Arabia with waves of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has been targeted multiple times by the Houthis since their new military campaign against the kingdom began in September. An attack on the airport on Saturday killed 12 people and wounded 309, the deadliest attack in the...

(New York Times) The F.B.I. has arrested a man in Pennsylvania on suspicion of carrying out the computer hack that stole sensitive information about thousands of F.B.I. employees, according to two people familiar with the matter. The theft of reams of personal data last month by a criminal hacking group left the nation’s premier law enforcement agency racing to respond as both the investigators and the victims of one of the worst breaches of government...