Friday, August 29, 2025

BIG Wrap

Gunmen kill at least 27 in mosque attack in northern Nigeria, officials say

(Al Jazeera Media Network) At least 27 worshippers have been killed and several wounded when armed bandits stormed a mosque in northern Nigeria’s Katsina state during morning prayers, a village head and a hospital official said. The gunmen opened fire inside a mosque as Muslims gathered to pray at around 04:00 GMT in the remote community of Unguwan Mantau in the Malumfashi local government area, residents said. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but such attacks have...

Hamas agrees to latest Gaza ceasefire proposal, says Palestinian source

(BBC News) Hamas has agreed to the latest proposal from regional mediators for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, a source in the Palestinian armed group has told the BBC. The proposal from Egypt and Qatar is said to be based on a two-stage framework put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff in June. It would see Hamas free around half of the 50 remaining Israeli hostages - 20 of whom are believed...

Hundreds killed in Pakistan flooding

(BBC News) More than 200 people are missing in one district of northwest Pakistan as a result of devastating monsoon flooding and landslides, an official has said. Flash floods have killed more than 300 people in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in recent days, with most of the deaths recorded in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A local official in the worst-affected Buner district told the BBC that at least 209 people were still missing there. Rescue teams...

Kuwait arrests 67 over illegal alcohol production after 23 deaths

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Kuwaiti authorities have arrested 67 people accused of producing and distributing locally made alcoholic drinks that killed 23 people in recent days, the country's Interior Ministry has said. In a statement on X late on Saturday, the ministry said it seized six factories and another four that were not yet operational in residential and industrial areas. A Nepali member of the criminal group told authorities how the methanol was prepared and sold. Kuwait,...

Trump, Putin end short summit without ceasefire deal in Ukraine

(Al Jazeera Media Network) A highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, has ended without a deal on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine, but the United States president said “great progress” has been made in the talks in Alaska. Observers say the meeting gave the Russian president a “diplomatic win” after years of being shunned by the West following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Putin was greeted with...

Washington DC sues federal government over police takeover

(BBC News) Washington DC is suing the federal government over its takeover of the police force, after US Attorney General Pam Bondi named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as the district's "emergency police commissioner". The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, wrote on X that the US government had illegally declared a takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and was "abusing its temporary, limited authority under the law." The lawsuit asks a judge...

Dozens dead in flash floods on popular Himalayas pilgrimage route

(BBC News) Flash floods have killed at least 46 people in a village hosting Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir. The flooding took place in the remote village of Chositi in Kishtwar district, which is on a busy pilgrimage route to a famous shrine in the Himalayas. Videos shared online showed dramatic flood waters, vehicles being washed away and rescuers searching for survivors in damaged homes, as people cried in the streets — some caked in mud. Dozens of...

Gaza talks to focus on releasing hostages all in one go, Netanyahu hints

(BBC News) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that Gaza ceasefire efforts are now focused on a comprehensive deal to release all the remaining hostages at once. The plan previously being pushed was for an initial 60-day truce and partial release of living hostages. Hamas says a delegation of its leaders is in Cairo for "preliminary talks" with Egyptian officials. Reports say that mediators see a window of opportunity in the coming weeks to try to...

Serbia clashes continue for second day amid antigovernment protests

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Clashes in Serbia have continued for a second day as opponents and supporters of the Serbian government faced off, each side staging its own demonstrations, following more than nine months of sustained protests against populist President Aleksandar Vucic. The president’s supporters and antigovernment demonstrators launched flares and other objects at each other in the northern city of Novi Sad on Wednesday evening, requiring the intervention of riot police, according to local...

‘Cryptocrash king’ pleads guilty to fraud

(BBC News) A South Korean former tech executive accused of helping to spark a cryptocurrency crisis that cost investors more than $40 billion has pleaded guilty to two criminal counts of fraud. Do Kwon was the boss of Singapore-based Terraform Labs, which operated two cryptocurrencies – TerraUSD and Luna – both of which collapsed in 2022, triggering a wider selloff in the crypto market. The US says he was responsible for the failure of the two...