Azerbaijan’s Leader, Emboldened, Picks a Rare Fight With Putin Russia’s president is said to have blamed birds or a Ukrainian drone for a Dec. 25 crash of an Azerbaijani plane. Azerbaijan says Russian air defenses were at fault.

An Emboldened G.O.P. Senate Majority Is Ready to Empower Trump With a decisive margin in the Senate, Republicans, who have shown their willingness to accommodate President-elect Donald J. Trump, will have the numbers to overcome divisions over his personnel and policy agenda.