BIG Wrap

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Less than two hours after a suicide blast at the entrance of the district court in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Tuesday, Khawaja Asif, the country’s defence minister, called the attack a “wake-up call” and “a war for all of Pakistan”. “The rulers of Kabul can stop terrorism in Pakistan, but bringing this war all the way to Islamabad is a message from Kabul, to which, praise be to God, Pakistan has the full...

(BBC News) The public prosecutor's office in Milan has opened an investigation into claims that Italian citizens travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina on "sniper safaris" during the war in the early 1990s. Italians and others are alleged to have paid large sums to shoot at civilians in the besieged city of Sarajevo. The Milan complaint was filed by journalist and novelist Ezio Gavazzeni, who describes a "manhunt" by "very wealthy people" with a passion for weapons who "paid...

(BBC News) The BBC is in the midst of a crisis after its director general and head of news resigned, and US President Donald Trump threatened it with a $1-billion lawsuit. The corporation has been under fire after criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers when it edited a speech by Trump, making it look like he was explicitly urging people to attack the US Capitol. On Monday, BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised for that "error...

(BBC News) Typhoon Fung-wong has made landfall in the Philippines, where more than 900,000 people have been evacuated and two people have died. The storm hit as a super typhoon, with sustained winds of around 185 km/h (115mph) and gusts of 230 km/h (143mph). The eye of the storm hit Aurora province in Luzon - the country's most populous island - at 21:10 local time (13:10 GMT). By 02:00, the storm weakened to a typhoon and...

  (BBC News) Multiple people have fallen ill after opening a "suspicious package" delivered to the base of operations for Air Force One. A spokesperson for Joint Base Andrews (JBA) in Maryland, near the US capital, Washington DC, said the building the package was opened in was evacuated and those taken ill were found to be in a stable condition by medical staff. The package contained an unidentified white powder, CNN reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) A Dutch appeals court has dismissed an attempt by human rights organisations to stop the Netherlands from selling weapons to Israel. Ten pro-Palestinian NGOs had filed a lawsuit accusing the Dutch state of doing too little to prevent what they described as “genocide” in Gaza with a “clearly unlawful” foreign policy toward Israel. They urged judges to impose a blanket ban on weapons exports to Israel, a ban on exporting military dogs,...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Tesla’s board is set to vote on CEO Elon Musk’s $1-trillion pay package as major proxy adviser firms urge shareholders to reject the deal. The vote is scheduled for Thursday and will determine whether Musk secures what is the largest compensation package in corporate history. Proxy firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services have both recommended that investors vote against the package. These firms often influence large passive funds that hold significant stakes in...

(BBC News) At least 11 people were killed after a UPS cargo plane crashed during takeoff from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday evening, the state's governor said. Andy Beshear said the death toll is expected to rise and likely includes at least one child after the freight plane exploded as it departed Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport at around 17:15 local time (22:15 GMT), he said. The left engine caught fire and fell from...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The Nigerian government has dismissed claims made by US President Donald Trump about the persecution of Christians in the West African nation, insisting that religious freedom is fully protected under the country’s constitution. Responding to a reporter’s question at a news conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar held up a document whose cover read “Nigeria’s Constitutional Commitment to Religious Freedom and Rule of Law”. “All the answers are in there....

(BBC News) Two men have been charged with a terrorist plot to carry out a mass shooting over Halloween weekend in the US state of Michigan. The suspects, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, scouted potential locations in a suburb of Detroit and expressed support for the Islamic State group online, federal prosecutors say. A third defendant, described as a juvenile in court documents, is unnamed. The alleged conspirators bought semi-automatic guns, more than 1,600 rounds of...