BIG Wrap

(CNN) It was just like watching television. Huddled in a draped-off room at Mar-a-Lago around screens set up for his viewing pleasure — including, according to photos released by the White House, a live feed of social media messages on X — President Donald Trump watched and listened as highly trained American Delta Force soldiers rushed into Nicolás Maduro’s home in Caracas, where the Venezuelan leader was sleeping alongside his wife. Maduro was quickly dragged into custody as...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Gunmen have raided a village in northern Nigeria’s Niger state, killing at least 30 villagers and abducting others, in what marks the latest deadly attack in the conflict-hit region. “Over 30 victims lost their lives during the attack; some persons were also kidnapped,” Wasiu Abiodun, Niger police spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday. Abiodun added that the gunmen stormed Kasuwan ⁠Daji market in Demo village at around 4:30 p.m. on...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) US President Donald Trump says the United States will “run” Venezuela until a political transition can take place, just hours after US forces bombed the South American country and “captured” its president, Nicolas Maduro. Speaking during a news conference on Saturday, Trump said the US would “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” “We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in,...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Yemen’s southern separatist movement says it aims to hold a referendum on independence from the north in two years as Saudi-backed forces are fighting to regain territory the separatists seized last month. Fighting broke out on Friday in Hadramout province, which borders Saudi Arabia, between forces loyal to Hadramout’s Saudi-backed governor and the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC). The STC accused Saudi Arabia of bombing its forces near the border. Seven people...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) A blaze killed “dozens” of people and injured more than 100 others in a bar in a ski resort as partygoers celebrated the arrival of the new year in the early hours of Thursday morning, Swiss police say. A fire broke out at 1:30am (00:30 GMT) at Le Constellation, a bar in the centre of the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, police said in a statement on...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Saudi ‍Arabia said its national security ⁠is a “red line” ‍it will defend hours after a coalition it leads attacked vehicles and cargo in Yemen that it said were supplied by a foreign military to separatists in the south. The coalition’s “limited military operation” at Mukalla port came days after it warned the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) group against taking military action in Hadramout province. Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC)...

(CNN) The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country. The drone strike, the details of which have not been previously reported, targeted a remote dock on the Venezuelan coast that the US government believed was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to...

(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...