BIG Wrap

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The arrest of former British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has sparked renewed calls for accountability for Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and proper investigations into the late sex offender’s networks in the United States and across the world. Police in the United Kingdom detained the ex-prince, brother of King Charles, on Thursday, with authorities saying that they had opened an investigation into possible misconduct in public office without naming Mountbatten-Windsor. Reem Alsalem, the United Nations special rapporteur on...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) When armed officers from Pakistan’s Crime Control Department raided Zubaida Bibi’s home in Bahawalpur city in southern Punjab province last November, they took everything: mobile phones, cash, gold jewellery and her daughter’s wedding dowry. They also took her sons. Within 24 hours, five members of her family were dead, killed in separate “police encounters” across different districts of Pakistan’s Punjab – the province that alone is home to more than half...

(New York Times) The bodies of eight of the nine skiers overcome by an avalanche on Tuesday near Lake Tahoe have been found, Nevada County officials said in a news conference on Wednesday. One member of the group remains missing and presumed dead, in what is already the deadliest avalanche in modern California history. The skiers had been part of a group of 15, including four guides, on a three-day backcountry expedition in a rugged...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States military announced that it has carried out three strikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, killing at least 11 people. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees military activities in Latin America, said it conducted two of the strikes in the Eastern Pacific and one in the Caribbean as part of a campaign dubbed Operation Southern Spear. All three attacks were carried out late...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) An explosion at a Russian military police facility near St Petersburg has caused several floors of the building to collapse. St Petersburg’s 78 news channel, quoting an unnamed source, reported at least three people were killed and several wounded in the blast on Tuesday in the town of Sertolovo, north of Russia’s second largest city. Local website 47 News, citing emergency services, also reported three dead. Unverified images shared by several media...

(CNN) A former Ukrainian energy minister has been detained in connection with a major corruption scandal while trying to leave the country, authorities said on Sunday. Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau (NABU) said its detectives “detained the former minister of energy as part of the Midas case,” referencing a wide-ranging investigation into corruption in Ukraine’s energy sector that triggered a major political crisis last year. “Initial investigative actions are ongoing, carried out in accordance with the requirements of...

(CNN) Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been charged with “aggravated corruption” after a police probe into his alleged ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the law firm representing him. Elden Law Firm confirmed to CNN on Thursday that Jagland is “charged with aggravated corruption,” adding that he “denies all charges.” Økokrim, Norway’s investigative agency for economic and environmental crime, said it will now question Jagland as part of its ongoing...

(CNN) The U.S. Defense Department has been aggressively pursuing laser weapons and defense systems, a push that gained significant attention this week when the use of an anti-drone laser system led to the temporary shutdown of airspace over El Paso, Texas. The interest in high-energy systems has only accelerated as military planners look to grapple with the rise of commercially available drones and as the defense industry has jumped to develop laser-based weapons systems for ground,...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has claimed victory in the country’s first election since a student-led uprising that ousted longtime leader Sheikh Hasina in 2024. Unofficial results confirmed by election officials to Al Jazeera on Friday showed the BNP winning 209 seats, easily crossing the 151-seat threshold needed for a majority in parliament. Its leader, Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is set to become the country’s next prime minister....

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Tom Homan, the US border security chief, says that the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths is coming to an end. “As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals,” Homan said at a news conference on Thursday. “I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude.” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)...