BIG Wrap

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Jamaica has emerged from a rare islandwide power outage that struck the Caribbean nation overnight. On Saturday morning, Daryl Vaz, Jamaica’s minister of energy, telecommunications and transport, announced that he had received an update that “all affected customers have been restored”. He added that residents should contact him if they are struggling with “isolated issues” related to the blackout. But he and Prime Minister Andrew Holness shared statements online communicating that the situation was “unacceptable”. Only one...

(BBC News) Russian authorities say Ukraine has launched an "unprecedented attack" on and around St Petersburg, as the city hosts the final day of Russia's annual economic forum. More than 140 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region, governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said, while the city's governor, Alexander Beglov, urged residents to remain indoors for the first time since the war began more than four years ago. Ukraine's president said his forces had hit Russia's...

(BBC News) Ukraine says it has struck five ships carrying illegal cargo in the Sea of Azov and in coastal waters of Russian-occupied territories. The Ukrainian drone forces commander said the vessels were involved in "stealing" Ukrainian grain, as well as transferring military cargo and fuel. The strikes come a day after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky offered face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin on ending the war, an offer the Russian leader rejected while visiting St Petersburg...

(BBC News) At least 49 people have died of thirst in a remote part of the Sahara desert in northern Niger after the truck carrying them broke down, authorities said. The group had been returning from Mali where they had attended a Muslim festival when they ran out of water, stranded more than 80 km west of Assamaka, a major border crossing point between Niger and Algeria. "The travellers found themselves trapped in the heart of...

(BBC News) The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has emphatically rejected the terms of a US-backed ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. In a strongly worded statement, the Iran-backed group's leader Naim Qassem said negotiations had been "futile" and "humiliating" for Lebanon, and rejected categorically by "broad segments of the Lebanese people". It comes after Israel and Lebanon announced a renewal of their fragile ceasefire with the creation of "pilot" security zones inside Lebanon in which Hezbollah operatives would...

(BBC News) Israel continued its attacks in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, but did not strike Beirut following a partial ceasefire agreement with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. Lebanon said that, under an agreement announced by US President Donald Trump late on Monday, Israeli forces would not bomb the capital in exchange for Hezbollah not attacking Israel. It came after Iran said Israeli action in Lebanon jeopardised talks on a deal to end its war with the...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Dozens of people have been killed in an explosion in northeast Myanmar near the border with China, local media and a rebel group have said. The exact death toll in Sunday’s blast in the village of Kaung Tat in Shan State was not immediately clear. Local news website The Irrawaddy reported that at least 46 people, including six children, were killed and more than 70 wounded due to a blast at an explosives depot....

(BBC News) The fireball that lit up the sky over Florida's Kennedy Space Centre last night has put a big question mark over whether Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin can deliver on a string of commitments to NASA in its efforts to send astronauts to the lunar surface and build a Moon base. Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded at about 21:00 local time during a routine test of its engines. The 98-metre rocket had been due...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Poland’s president wants a state body to discuss stripping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s top honour, following Ukraine renaming an army unit ⁠after nationalist fighters who killed Poles in World War II. Poland has been a staunch supporter of Kyiv during Russia’s war in Ukraine, and former President Andrzej Duda awarded Zelenskyy the Order of the White ⁠Eagle in 2023. But the Ukrainian leader caused indignation in Poland by signing a...

(BBC News) Israel has hit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for only the second time since the start of a ceasefire last month. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the attack at about 14:00 (11:00 GMT) was carried out in a "targeted manner", but gave no details. Israeli media cited unnamed sources as saying the target of the strike had been the head of an Iranian militia. Israel had spared Beirut at the request of the US,...