BIG Wrap
Summary of important stories from around the planet
China says will safeguard its own interests as US expands Iran sanctions
(Al Jazeera Media Network) China has said that it would safeguard its interests after Washington unveiled new measures while laying out plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Beijing’s economic partner Iran. Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian rejected Washington’s expanding pressure campaign, calling for an immediate end to unilateral measures. “Cooperation between China and Iran has always been conducted within the framework of international law and should not...
Violence flares in Haiti as gang attack kills at least 30
(Al Jazeera Media Network) At least 30 people have been killed as a new wave of violence grips Haiti. A powerful gang coalition mounted the attack on a farming community in Kenscoff, south of the capital, Port-au-Prince, late on Sunday, officials reported. The flare-up in violence comes as Haiti hopes to hold its first general election in more than a decade. Jean Massillon, Kenscoff’s mayor, said armed men “sowed chaos” as they set homes on fire...
Israeli politicians focus on foreign threats, ignoring spiralling debt
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Israel’s parliamentary election campaign is in full swing, with politicians talking up their ability to defeat the country’s opponents across the region. But the focus on war and the perceived existential threat to Israel from those opponents masks that few of the most prominent contenders in October’s election are discussing the astronomical cost of the country’s multiple conflicts, and how they plan to deal with it. Israel’s central bank estimated in its 2025 report...
Asian allies wary as U.S. moves military assets toward Iran
(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States allies in Asia are watching warily as Washington scales back military assets in the region to meet demands in the Middle East, where the US-Israel war on Iran is dragging into its sixth month. The latest point of tension came this week as the US moved its last aircraft carrier in Asia – the USS George Washington – from Japan to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham...
U.S. debt hits $40 trillion – who Washington owes and why it matters
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The total debt of the United States has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, according to a Department of the Treasury update on Wednesday. Ballooning debt, especially during President Donald Trump’s second term, which began in January last year, has been raising concerns about a looming fiscal crisis for some time, with economists fearing a toxic combination of heavy borrowing, increased spending and lower taxes could land the world’s biggest...
Trump calls on Iran to surrender, threatens Oman over Strait of Hormuz
(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States President Donald Trump has demanded that Iran surrender and threatened to bomb Oman if it interfered with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as a 60-day ceasefire deal between Washington and Tehran expired without an agreement to end the war. Speaking on Fox News on Monday, Trump said that Iran should “put up the white flag of surrender” in the five-month-long US-Israel war, confirming that his administration had opened a...
Will all-out war in Yemen reignite as Houthis escalate attacks?
(Al Jazeera Media Network) A series of Houthi attacks in recent weeks, which are among the deadliest in years, is raising fears that Yemen could be sliding back towards all-out war as conflict spreads across the Middle East. A 2022 truce led to the end of heavy fighting between the pro-Iranian Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, which had been ongoing since September 2014. The Houthis have killed a number of civilians in a series of attacks...
DR Congo Ebola outbreak set to become deadliest on record, WHO warns
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading faster than health authorities can contain it and is on track to become the deadliest on record, according to the World Health Organization. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that at its current pace, the outbreak is on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016, a crisis that killed more than 11,000...
7.4-magnitude earthquake hits Colombia, killing at least 111
(Al Jazeera Media Network) At least 111 people have been killed and 87 others injured after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck large parts of western Colombia. Colombia’s Geological Service said Monday that it had been “the highest-magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade.” Dozens of buildings collapsed across multiple cities, leaving residents trapped under debris and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far away as the capital of Bogota. Newly inaugurated Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella declared an...
Iran sets terms U.S. must meet in order to have Hormuz open
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has set a number of conditions – including the United States paying compensation and ending a naval blockade – for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. It comes after Sardar Mohebi, spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the reopening of the strategic waterway is not subject to a deal with Oman but conditional on the US “fully accepting” Tehran’s...