Saturday, October 25, 2025

BIG Wrap

Russia launches biggest wave of strikes on Ukraine in weeks

(BBC News) Russia has launched 574 drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine in one of the heaviest bombardments in weeks, Ukrainian officials say. One person was killed in a drone and missile strike on the western city of Lviv, while 15 others were reported wounded in an attack on the southwestern Transcarpathia region. The attacks came as US President Donald Trump spearheads diplomatic moves to halt the war. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes...

Appeals court throws out Trump’s $500-million civil fraud penalty

(BBC News) An appeals court has thrown out a $500-million penalty that President Donald Trump was ordered to pay in a New York civil fraud trial last year. Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered Trump to pay the fee for massively inflating the value of the Trump Organization's properties in order to secure favourable loans. In the lengthy ruling released on Thursday, judges on the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division stated that while Trump was liable...

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...