BIG Wrap

(BBC News) Lawmakers in the US have passed the country's first major national cryptocurrency legislation. It is a major milestone for the once-fringe industry, which has been lobbying Congress over regulation for years and poured millions into last year's election, backing candidates that included Donald Trump. The bill sets up a regulatory regime for so-called stablecoins, a kind of cryptocurrency backed by assets seen as reliable, such as the dollar. Trump is expected to sign the legislation into...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States has withdrawn from reforms introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) last year to enhance the global response to pandemics, part of a broader push by Washington against international regulations. The administration of President Donald Trump formally rejected on Friday the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) that were put in place in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of...

(BBC News) US President Donald Trump has said Attorney General Pam Bondi should release "whatever she thinks is credible" on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as he faces a rare backlash from supporters after seeking to draw a line under the issue. Bondi has been lambasted by some of Trump's political base after her department recently said there was no evidence that Epstein kept a "client list". This appeared to contradict her previous statements, and those...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Israel has launched several air strikes in the heart of Syrian capital Damascus as clashes continued in the southwestern city of Suwayda after a truce between government forces and Druze armed groups collapsed. Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defence on Wednesday, hours after he had demanded Syrian government forces withdraw from Suwayda. Another strike hit near the presidential palace, on the...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian suffered minor injuries in an Israeli air strike on a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council in Tehran on June 15, a senior Iranian official said. The assassination attempt targeted the heads of the three branches of government in an effort to overthrow it, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This attempt will not pass without Israel paying a price,” he told Al Jazeera. The strike...

(BBC News) The US aviation regulator has said fuel control switches in Boeing aeroplanes are safe, following their reported involvement in a fatal Air India crash that killed 260 people in June. The safety of the switches has become a key point of concern after a preliminary report on the disaster was released by investigators on Friday. It said fuel to the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner engines was cut off moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, and highlighted...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Ecuador’s most infamous drug lord has agreed to be extradited to the United States to face cocaine and weapons smuggling charges, a court in the capital Quito has said. The announcement on Friday is the latest chapter in the dramatic underworld tale of Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, who was recaptured in June after escaping from a maximum security prison 18 months ago in a jailbreak that triggered a bloody wave of gang...

(BBC News) Investigators have made a chilling discovery in the preliminary investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash that killed 260 people in June. Just seconds after take-off, both of the 12-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner's fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the "cut-off" position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss. Switching to "cut-off" is a move typically done only after landing. The cockpit voice recording captures one pilot asking the other why...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Houthi rebels in Yemen attempted to strike Israel’s Ben Gurion airport after sinking two vessels in the Red Sea this week, as the group ramps up its military pressure in support of Palestinians under Israeli fire in its bid to bring the war in Gaza to an end. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Thursday that the group had carried out a “qualitative military operation” with a ballistic missile after...

(BBC News) It was a dramatic start to the week in Russia. On Monday morning, President Vladimir Putin sacked his transport minister, Roman Starovoit. By the afternoon, Starovoit was dead, his body discovered in a park on the edge of Moscow with a gunshot wound to the head. A pistol, allegedly, beside the body. Investigators said they presumed the former minister had taken his own life. The tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets this morning said: "The suicide of Roman Starovoit just...