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Oct 04, 2026
FBI Director Kash Patel is engaged to his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, the pair announced in a post to X on Sunday evening.
Wilkins, 27, posted a black-and-white photo of herself standing with Patel, 46, flashing her hand in front of them to show off her ring with the caption, "Went and got the law involved." The two have been dating since before Patel took over as head of the FBI in 2025, when she attended his swearing in.
The country singer and political commentator released her debut album in 2023. Wilkins has been affiliated with conservative groups and writes on her website that she "honors country tradition while adding relevance and current commentary."
Patel, who reposted Wilkin's photo, has faced criticism for traveling on government aircraft on trips that have no known or apparent law enforcement purpose, including using an FBI jet to fly to State College, Pennsylvania, for a pro wrestling event where Wilkins performed the national anthem. Photos posted to social media by Wilkins afterward showed the couple smiling while she held an oversized golden championship belt.
Wilkins also made headlines as a performer at President Donald Trump's Great American State Fair on the National Mall as part of America 250, as other artists pulled out of the event after finding out it was not a non-partisan celebration.
This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/fbi-director-kash-patel-gets-005549284.html
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Oct 04, 2026
The FBI arrested a suspected Chinese agent at Los Angeles International Airport after she allegedly surveilled the Taiwanese president's U.S.-based son, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
Wanying "Heather" Zhang, an Irvine, California, realtor, was cuffed by federal law enforcement on Sunday before she boarded a flight to Shanghai, China, from LAX, on a charge of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
Zhang's husband Edric Ding, a realtor at the same firm, told CBS News when reached by phone Sunday: "I don't know anything yet," and declined to comment further.
It was not immediately clear if Zhang has an attorney.
A criminal complaint, filed in federal court by a member of the FBI's counterintelligence squad in L.A., accused Zhang and an accomplice of traveling to Seattle, Washington, in September 2025 and taking pictures at the suburban home of a top Taiwanese official's family.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the target was Ting-Yu Lai, the son of Taiwanese President Ching-Te Lai.
Ting-Yu, an engineer in his 30s, attended college in America and has a young U.S.-born son with his wife, Hsiao Chen, according to Taiwanese media reports. He now works for the Dutch multinational electronics firm Philips.
"If the PRC [People's Republic of China] wish to obtain leverage over the President of Taiwan during any potential conflict, the location and pictures of the close relatives of a high-ranking Taiwanese government official, including pictures of their homes and cars, could be useful to the PRC," wrote FBI Special Agent Kevin Holt in the Oct. 3, 2026, criminal complaint.
Taiwan has been the focus of high geopolitical tensions fo
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Oct 04, 2026
As Sen. Thom Tillis exits the Senate, he's blasting many of the advisers President Trump has surrounded himself with as "sycophants, and calling on his colleagues to stand up to executive power like the co-equal branch of government they are."
The 66-year-old senior senator from North Carolina unloads on what he calls the "WTF moments" of the second Trump Administration in a new book, "How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents." Having served in the Senate during the Barack Obama, Joe Biden and both Trump presidencies, Tillis said he's increasingly worried about how the nation's system of checks and balances is being tested by the outsized influence of the executive branch.
"We will have a sort of dictator king if we're not careful," he said.
Make the Senate great again?Every recent White House has been eager to govern by executive order, something that's been especially true during the current Trump administration, Tillis said. Presidents, he said, fail to understand that Congress is a coequal branch that should be treated as a peer, and that Congress needs to act as such.
"I would say the same thing for Democratic-controlled Senate under Biden and Obama," he said. "We always make the mistake when our guy's in office of conveying power to the White House. And I've had a real problem with that because it almost always comes back to bite you."
He writes in his book of the risks of authoritarianism. Tillis said there's been "constant escalation" across four administrations of presidents ignoring Congress.
"I want checks and balances. I want all three branches to have their individual role and continue to check power as they have for 250 years," he said. "I think because we've been such a successful democracy for so long, it
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Oct 04, 2026
The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday suspended the search for six people in a medical jet that went missing near Nantucket, Massachusetts, a day after debris from the plane was found.
Search and rescue crews operated for approximately 66 hours to locate four Canadians and two Bermudian nationals on the plane that was traveling to Boston from Bermuda early Saturday morning, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Canadian-registered air ambulance jet had four crew members and two passengers aboard. Their next of kin have been notified, the Coast Guard said.
Earlier, the Coast Guard confirmed that a debris field belonging to the missing Gulfstream G-100 was found Saturday night. The search for the missing passengers continued overnight off the coast of Nantucket, according to the Coast Guard's Northeast District, and spanned 4,445 miles before it was suspended.
The Coast Guard outlined the extensive assets involved in the search, including an HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane, an HC-130 Hercules airplane, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat and the FRC William Sparling, a Sentinel-class fast response cutter.
"Suspending a search is not an easy decision," Rear Adm. Matthew Lake, Commander of the Northeast District, said in a statement. "We express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by the tragedy and our gratitude for our partner agencies who helped support search efforts."
The plane took off from Bermuda's L.F. Wade International Airport at
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Oct 04, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Air Force has brought home its bombers stationed at a U.S.-run military air base in England used to strike Iran following an investigation into a planned terror attack at the RAF Fairford base.
The bombers were redeployed to their home bases in the United States, according to a Pentagon official who was not authorized to discuss sensitive military movements and spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity.
Aviation watchers such as the Military Air Tracking Alliance have observed dozens of B-52 and B-1 bombers operating out of RAF Fairford since the opening days of the Iran war. Observers noticed a host of B-1 bombers fly out of the base on Sunday.
The move comes as President Donald Trump weighs options for his war on Iran — including new strikes — despite his initial promises to Americans that the campaign would last a matter of weeks.
"We have decisions that I'll make about Iran. Iran's been decimated. So the only question is — it'll either be the easy way, or the hard way," Trump told reporters on Saturday as he left the White House for a rally in Ohio.
A dual British-Iranian national was arrested in central London last week on suspicion of plotting a terror attack, following a security incident at RAF Fairford in late September. In total, six people have been taken into custody and then released on bail during the investigation.
British authorities have
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Oct 04, 2026
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said there remains a fundamental difference in worldview between his company and rival Anthropic on artificial intelligence regulation, arguing in an exclusive interview with Decoded by POLITICO that the technology's benefits justify accepting some risks — and that AI should remain broadly accessible to the public.
"I think there's a lot of daylight," Altman told Decoded co-author and POLITICO senior tech reporter Brendan Bordelon. Asked specifically where he diverges from Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei, Altman said, "we believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency."
Anthropic has long been viewed as the strongest proponent of AI regulations within the industry, a stance that until recently was at odds with the lighter-touch approach favored by OpenAI. But the policy differences between the two leading AI firms have narrowed in recent months, with OpenAI backing tougher rules as it grapples with high-profile hacking incidents and rogue behavior by its models.
Altman agreed with Amodei's call last month to slow the development of the most advanced AI models. His company has followed Anthropic in endorsing new state laws that impose stricter safety requirements than what the maker of ChatGPT had previously supported — a subtle shift from its prior state strategy. And OpenAI lobbyists recently endorsed a bipartisan House proposal that would require top AI companies to embed outside safety evaluators.
Despite the convergence, Altman t
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Oct 04, 2026
Kevin Hassett (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett insisted to CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that he doesn't believe in recent polls that show the public's negative feelings about the economy.
"Ahead of an election cycle, the fact that there's, you know, possibly partisan pollsters telling us that the people are really, really depressed, it's a classic Democrat move, and I just don't buy it," Hassett said.
"Because if it were true, if the polls were any value for thinking about what's going on with consumers, then we should look at the consumption data and say, Jeez, yeah, that's right. People aren't spending. But, in fact, the retailers are doing well."
Hassett added that he's often put in a double bind by the type of questions asked by opponents of the Trump administration.
"If I say, 'Oh, people are wrong, the economy's great,' then it looks like I'm insensitive. And if I then go into why the economy is great, then it looks like I'm insensitive," he said. "And so let's just unpack it and start with, well, people are saying that the economy's not great.
"It's true that the polls, which have gotten the president's success wrong every time, have been saying that people are looking a little bit depressed about the economy. But if you look at their actions, the actions speak way louder than words."
Hassett explained that "what we know from the economic literature is that, if people are worried about whether they're going to lose their job, if they're worried about whether they're going to get a pay cut, then they start reducing their consumption and increasing their savi
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Oct 04, 2026
Merz is in Kyiv to display support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky amid Russia's escalation of strikes on the city.
"Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks," Merz said.
Highlighting attacks on Ukraine's towns, residential buildings and energy, he said: "If Russia is not stopped, sooner or later its war machine will turn ?against us."
Video footage from Sunday morning's strike showed the moment the city's Northern Bridge was attacked, sparking a huge plume of fire and black smoke while cars were still traveling across. Two people were injured, the city's mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko said.
It is the second time the Northern Bridge has been hit in as many days. On Thursday and Friday, Kyiv's Southern Bridge, which serves ground transportation and the city's subway system, was hit five times in less than 24 hours.
Ukrainian officials have said that Russian strikes on the capital's infrastructure are attempting to cut the capital into two, as Kyiv is split along the Dnipro River, with businesses offices and government institutions on the right back, and the left bank mostly residential.
Kyiv plans to start building several alternative crossings over the Dnipro in case the attacks on the bridges continue, the minister of infrastructure said Sunday.
Russia's defense ministry said it struck the Northern Bridge on Sunday, saying that it was targeting a route used for transporting troops and military
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Oct 04, 2026
Two of the seven men accused of sexually assaulting a Cornell University student at a fraternity house in 2024 were expelled, while others were ordered to take sexual harassment training and write "reflection papers," according to university disciplinary records obtained by the New York Times.
The records offer the most detailed look yet at how Cornell handled the case, which has drawn national outrage and is now under criminal investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that a woman who alleges she was drugged and raped by multiple members of a Cornell University fraternity in 2024 was "failed" by those obligated to protect her.
Hochul's comments came a day after announcing she had lost faith in the district attorney overseeing the Cornell University rape case and signed an executive order appointing James as a special prosecutor to lead the investigation.
"In what world would the police learn from a victim that she'd been literally gang raped while intoxicated by five men in a fraternity house and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney?" Hochul said at a press conference with James in New York. "In what world does the district attorney not even interview her o
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Oct 04, 2026
Christa Pike remains unconscious and critically ill four days after surviving Tennessee's attempt to execute her, and doctors don't yet know whether she will recover, her lawyer said Sunday.
"We don't know the prognosis and may not know for several days," attorney Stephen Ferrell told CNN's "State of the Union." Ferrell said he has not been allowed to see her and doesn't know of her speaking or regaining consciousness.
"I think at the very least the governor should commute Ms. Pike's death sentence to a life sentence," he said. "We don't know what her physical state will be, but it is clear that she has endured a torturous attempt at executing her."
On Saturday, Gov. Bill Lee announced that Tennessee's top prison official is stepping down.
In a statement, Correction Commissioner Frank Strada said resigning was "in the best interest of Tennesseans" while an independent review examines what happened Wednesday, when Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital.
Strada said he still believes the state "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol."
Strada will leave at the end of October, and an interim commissioner will be named later, Lee said.
Pike's lawyers said the resignation "is justified, but it does nothing to help Christa now." "What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person," they said in a statement, according to ABC News.
Pike, who was sentenced to death in 1996, was unconscious, intubated and breathing with help from a ventilator
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Oct 04, 2026
VIENNA, Ga. (AP) — Law enforcement officials are still working to determine just what happened when a chaotic homecoming party spanning a four-block radius of a southern Georgia town erupted in gunfire early Sunday, leaving two people dead and nearly three dozen others injured.
Dooly County Sheriff Craig Peavy identified the two people killed as 21-year-old Jaquevion Jackson of Cordele and 23-year-old Macaleb Jackson of Hawkinsville, Georgia.
Some of the three dozen injured had gunshot wounds, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Chris Hosey said Sunday evening, but he could not provide a number.
"We're still trying to work through that," Hosey said during a news conference Sunday evening.
No arrests had been reported hours later, and authorities gave no possible motive for the gunfire.
The injured ranged in age from 14 to 51, and they were taken to several regional hospitals, Peavy said. Some were in critical condition Sunday evening and others were stable, he said.
More than 1,000 people attended the party
More than 1,000 people had gathered at the site, and more than 50 shots were fired in at least two locations about a block apart in Vienna, Peavy told WMAZ-TV. Vienna is a small, rural community about 130 miles (about 210 kilometers) south of Atlanta.
Deputies were near the scene when the shooting began, Peavy said, and after they arrived more gunfire erupted about a block away.
"We don't know if it's coming at us or someone else," he said. "You just have to keep doing what you're doing and hope you don't get hit by gunfire."
The incident took place over hom
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Oct 04, 2026
President Trump on Sunday named Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as his new "AI czar," adding a different category of intelligence, the "artificial" kind, to the U.S. spy chief's portfolio.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Clayton will lead a newly formed "Super Intelligence Force" alongside Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael and Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor. The group will report directly to Trump and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Its goal, Trump wrote, is "to ensure that America continues to lead the World in Super Intelligence, which many say is bigger than the Industrial Revolution, and the Internet, and will protect the interests, and improve the lives, of all Americans."
Clayton will keep his job as DNI, which oversees the nation's 18 intelligence agencies.
Trump's announcement follows meeting last Tuesday at the White House where top AI executives signed what he called a "morally binding" agreement to police themselves in order to prevent their increasingly powerful models from going rogue and
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Oct 04, 2026
Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a mass shooting from early Sunday morning, leading to two deaths and possibly dozens injured.
Dooly County Coroner Brett Walls confirmed to WALB and WMAZ that two people were dead, a 20-year-old man and a 23-year-old man.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed to that they were assisting with response to the incident on Pine Street, working with the Dooly County Sheriff's Office.
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Oct 04, 2026
Democratic House members are writing bills to rein in a president's emergency powers. Lawyers are strategizing about how to insulate the Justice Department from presidential influence. A House measure would block a president from unilaterally remodeling the White House. Ethicists are writing rules to prevent a future first family from self-dealing.
Throughout Washington and beyond, President Donald Trump's opponents are scrambling to ensure that after he leaves office, the changes he has imposed on the presidency, and the country, will fade with him.
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Whether they succeed could determine whether Trump's aggressive exercise of executive powers will be limited to a finite stretch of U.S. history or will instead become a model for every president to come.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (Maryland), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that Trump's uses of presidential power can and must be reversed - but doing so will take decades.
"We have a massive reconstruction task ahead of us," Raskin said in an interview. "Fortunately, reconstruction has a great history in our country, and when it's allowed to work, it has been a lot more successful than either authoritarianism or revolution. … We will have to go department by department, subject by subject, and public purpose by public purpose to determine what we salvage and what we re-create."
From the beginning of the republic, the three branches have jostled for control over spending, war-making, immigration and virtually every other government function. Trump is hardly the first president to try to sharply elbow the other branches out of the way.
In 1981, Ronald Rea
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Oct 04, 2026
(NEXSTAR) - More Canadians will not set their clocks back in November as they instead start to observe permanent daylight saving time, a move more than a dozen U.S. states stand ready to make but cannot.
Spurred by a survey of nearly 72,000, Manitoba officials announced in mid-September that daylight saving time is now permanent in the province.
"We heard from Manitobans loud and clear - no more changing the clocks in Manitoba," Premier Wab Kinew said in a press release. Of surveyed residents, 92% wanted to see an end to seasonal time change, with 58% indicating they prefer permanent daylight saving.
A report by the Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care department determined that getting rid of the twice-a-year clock change "would be better for population health than maintaining the status quo," an argument some health officials in the U.S. agree with (though they support permanent standard time).
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Oct 04, 2026
President Donald Trump has appointed far more federal judges who are under 40 than his predecessors — ensuring that his imprint on the judiciary will last for decades.
Over the course of his two terms to date, Trump has appointed 31 people in their 30s to federal judgeships, and at least two more are pending in the Senate, according to a POLITICO analysis of government data. By contrast, President Joe Biden appointed 13 people in their 30s. President Barack Obama appointed just nine judges younger than 40 during his two terms.
A judge in his or her 30s can remain in place for as long as 60 years — there are multiple sitting judges in their 90s and one who is 102 — allowing the president who appointed them to leave a particularly long-lasting imprint on the courts.
"President Trump selects highly-qualified and credentialed judicial nominees who have passed the White House's rigorous vetting process. Wherever there are judicial vacancies, President Trump will select highly qualified nominees with great respect for our Constitution and rule of law to be confirmed expeditiously," White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said.
Trump's young nominees include Samuel Adkisson, an associate in the White House Counsel's Office who was 33 when Trump nominated him — making him one of the youngest people ever nominated to the federal bench. In his social media post announcing Adkisson's nomination, which is currently pending in the Senate, Trump praised his work on a case that resulted in the Supreme Court widening the president's power to cont
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Oct 04, 2026
NBC NewsLatino voters helped propel Donald Trump back to the White House. Now, they are turning on him, according to a new NBC News/Telemundo poll — a shift that gives Democrats a major opportunity to capitalize in a 2026 election that could hinge on states and districts with sizable Latino populations.
Like the broader electorate, Latino voters are racked by major concerns about high prices and Trump's approach to immigration enforcement. The president's approval rating sits at 27% among Latino voters. Two-thirds say his administration's deportation policies have gone too far and three-quarters disapprove of how he has handled the economy and the cost of living.
NBC NewsThere are clear signs his party is paying the price.
A greater share of Latino voters hold negative views of the Republican Party than at any time since 2016, and Democrats have leads on issues like dealing with the economy, immigration, the cost of living, corruption and healthcare. Two years ago, Latino voters gave Trump a 4-point edge over then-Vice President Kamala Harris on handling the economy. Today, they give Democrats a 21-point advantage on the same question.
Against that backdrop, Democrats have a 24-point lead on whom Latino voters want to see in control of Con
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Oct 04, 2026
REDDING, Calif. - Clint Curtis thinks something doesn't smell right in Shasta County. Literally.
As the registrar of voters for this Northern California community, Curtis was both election administrator and candidate this summer. After he lost, he certified the results as "full, true and correct."
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He nonetheless harbored doubts. Some ballots smelled too inky, he said. Some seemed too heavy. Some felt too rough.
He stashed the ballots in a storage room, slapped a padlock on the door, ordered subordinates to destroy the keys and reported his suspicions to President Donald Trump's administration.
In another place or era, Curtis's concerns would be dismissed as kooky. But in Shasta County in 2026, they have been taken seriously enough to spur FBI agents to show up with bolt cutters so they could take a look.
For years, Shasta County has been a center of election denialism. Citing debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines, its conservative county supervisors dumped their contract with Dominion Voting Systems and toyed with counting ballots by hand. Activists sued over election practices. And during this summer's election, voters approved a measure that would require photo ID to vote, restrict mail ballots and mandate hand counts - policies that courts have blocked.
Shasta County offers a glimpse of what happens when distrust in elections takes root in a community. Across the United States, both Democrats and Republicans have seen their confidence in elections wane, especially when their side loses. In Shasta County, the doubts run so deep that some residents don't trust the results even when the candidates they back
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Oct 04, 2026
Halloween candy including Sour Patch Kids, KitKat, Skittles and Reese's is displayed in Lafayette on Sept. 14. Chocolate candy prices have risen in recent years, putting pressure on Halloween shoppers. (Smith Collection/Gado/Gado via Getty Images)
That's because a collision of factors have driven up chocolate candy prices in recent years. Cost-conscious shoppers might be reaching for non-chocolate options: gummies, licorice, marshmallows, sour or freeze-dried hard candy, and the ever-controversial candy corn.
Chocolate's main ingredient is cocoa, which is primarily grown in West Africa. Extreme weather due to climate change, structural underinvestment from farmers and aging trees led to a poor growing season in 2023, said Ron Sweetser, the cocoa sourcing and flavor development manager for San Francisco's Dandelion Chocolate.
Three years ago, the cost of a metric ton of cocoa was about $3,434, according to the International Monetary Fund. Those prices reached a peak of just over $10,710 in January 2025 and have declined since then, landing at $5,619 as of July this year.
Like everything else, the cost of candy has also risen due to overall inflation, said Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis. Diesel, which powers tractors on farms and the trucks that bring products to factories and then to grocery stores, reached an
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Oct 04, 2026
The FlyDubai alleged attempted hijacking was likely a lone-wolf attack, an early investigation by Israel shows, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation is still in full swing and all avenues are still being explored, the people familiar told CBS News.
The flight Wednesday from Dubai to Tel Aviv was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the flight captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passengers on board the plane and the flight captain have said.
The captain was able to fight off the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door. A group of Israeli passengers and FlyDubai staff then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
The co-pilot is currently in the United Arab Emirates, where he is undergoing a second round of interrogation after first being questioned by Saudi authorities when the plane made its emergency landing. Israel has sent its own representatives to the UAE to participate in the investigation.
President Trump suggested Thursday that the co-pilot may be linked to Iran, "based on what I'm hearing."
"We're working on it right now," Mr. Trump said. "They're being very open with us. I woul
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Oct 04, 2026
Patrick Roden-Reynolds, a public health biologist, uses tweezers to remove ticks from a deer carcass in West Tisbury, a town on Martha's Vineyard, Mass. (Molly Peters / For The Times)Like a matador swirling his cape, Patrick Roden-Reynolds pulled a swatch of white flannel this way and that on the grass and leaf litter in my yard. After a minute or so, he plucked 11 tiny ticks from the cloth with tweezers, and stuck them on a lint roller.
"It's like a plague," he said, peering at his haul. "Ticks are everywhere now."
I had asked Roden-Reynolds, a public health biologist, to inspect my yard because a lone star tick bit me as I was chopping wood last fall. It wasn't painful, but after several weeks I developed alpha-gal syndrome, an increasingly common allergy to red meat, dairy and other mammalian food products.
Roden-Reynolds, 33, drags white cloth flags across a grassy area to collect ticks on Martha's Vineyard.Like many on Martha's Vineyard, a resort island off Cape Cod that's teeming with ticks this year, I bid a sad farewell to hamburgers, bacon and lamb chops. No ice cream. No pizza. My medicine cabinet became a minefield of animal-derived byproducts, including gelatin capsules and pain meds with lactose.
If I err, and I do, my legs some
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Oct 04, 2026
Ships anchored off the coast of Musandam governorate in Oman near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday (-)Iran's top diplomat insisted on Sunday that there would be no military solution to the United States' war against the Islamic republic, with talks on ending the conflict apparently at an impasse.
A campaign of heavy bombardment failed to bring a decisive close to the war launched by the US and Israel in late February, and Washington in recent weeks has dialled back military operations in favour of economic pressure.
The main point of contention remains Iran's attempt to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for Gulf oil and gas where a UK maritime agency reported on Sunday another tanker struck by an unknown projectile.
"If our enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, our response will be stronger than before, and we will defend ourselves with even more force," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at a gathering of foreign ambassadors.
"There is no military solution, nor any solution based on new sanctions," he continued, adding "only negotiations based on justice and fairness" could end the conflict.
The two sides agreed a memorandum of understanding in June that spelled out a framework for a permanent resolution, but Iranian attacks on vessels in the Hormuz prompted a return to US military operations.
Iran has sought to impose its control over the vital shipping lane since the start of the war, striking vessels that attempt to transit without its authorisation.
The US has imposed its own counterblockade of Iranian ports, and has also struck vessels it accuses of violating it.
On Sunday, the British maritime security agency UKMTO said a tanker in the Hormuz "reported being struck by an unknown projectile, causin
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Oct 04, 2026
A potentially record-breaking El Niño could leave Thanksgiving and Christmas travelers in southern states battling storms and heavier rainfall but reduce the chance of snow and ice-related travel disruption for those in northern states, forecasters have told Newsweek.
The developing super El Niño, which has already broken a 170-year record, is expected to continue strengthening over the fall meaning its impact on the weather patterns in the United States will likely be affected over Christmas and Thanksgiving.
All forecasters Newsweek spoke to stressed that it is too early to know for sure what the climate phenomenon will do during the festive season, but, "based on past events there is a tendency for cooler, wetter and stormier conditions to affect the southern United States over the winter, but with warmer and drier conditions in the northeast," Professor Richard Allan, a climate scientist at the University of Reading in the U.K., said.
This could mean states that typically experience what the NOAA describes as "exceptionally stormy winters and increased precipitation" during El Niño months, such as Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and southern California, could be in for flooded roads, reduced visibility on the roads and weather-related flight delays.
Conversely, northeastern states, such as New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, often see drier and warmer conditions during El Niño winters, meaning they coul
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Oct 04, 2026
WASHINGTON - A new Supreme Court term will get off to a fast start when the justices on Oct. 5 take up a landmark case about climate change that could have broad implications for local governments to tackle national issues.
In other politically charged cases that will be debated over the next few months, the court - which has a 6-3 conservative majority - is expected to continue expanding rights for both gun owners and religious groups.
The Trump agenda may also dominate the Supreme Court again this year. The justices will continue weighing in on Trump administration policies - including on President Donald Trump's hardline approach to immigration - in cases that will
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Oct 04, 2026
Shinjiro Koizumi, the Japanese minister of defense, said a U.S. Marine lance corporal was arrested on Sunday after the woman's body was found early on Saturday in Naha, the capital city of the Okinawa prefecture.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the Okinawa Prefectural Police were investigating the incident as a murder.
"The occurrence of such an extremely brutal and heinous incident is a matter of profound regret, and as the Government of Japan, we have lodged a strong protest with the U.S. side," she said on social media.
NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, identified the suspect as Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who was stationed at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, a base a few miles outside Naha. The broadcaster identified the alleged victim as Yagi Anna, 39, saying she was pronounced dead at the scene.
U.S. officials did not immediately confirm the identity of the service member who was arrested, nor did they say whether the person had been officially charged in connection with the death.
"We are actively cooperating with Japanese authorities, in response to allegations of serious criminal actions by a Marine assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force," the force said in a statement on social media. "We extend our deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends."
Tens of thousands of U.S. troops are stationed
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Oct 03, 2026
VANDALIA, Ohio — President Donald Trump rallied Saturday for Republicans in Ohio's competitive races for Senate and governor, predicting that the party will defy expectations in a choppy midterm election climate.
"I think we're going to have a big surprise, because they don't know what's happening," Trump said while speaking onstage inside a high school gymnasium near Dayton.
"Just get out and vote," Trump added. "If you do that, we're going to win, and we're going to win big. And we're going to shove it up their ass."
The visit, part of what White House officials have told NBC News will be a push through at least 17 states between now and Nov. 3, was aimed at boosting Sen. Jon Husted and GOP gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump, who won Ohio three times by comfortable margins, opened his speech with praise for both before moving into broader remarks to promote himself and his administration. He also offered support for local Rep. Mike Turner and for several House candidates in attendance, including Derek Merrin, the Republican running against longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in northwest Ohio.
Husted's bid to keep the Senate seat — which he was appointed to after JD Vance was elected vice president — has become a subject of concern among Republicans in Ohio and Washington. In August, the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a memo that Husted's past enthusiasm for building data centers was hurting his campaign. Others have expressed worries that Husted, who has long wanted to be governor, has not put his full heart into
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Oct 03, 2026
Cornell University
As outrage builds around the case involving a Cornell University student allegedly gang-raped in a fraternity house in October 2024, the university's president has broken his silence with a statement Saturday.
Here's the latest:
University president speaks out: "This is a defining moment in Cornell's history," Cornell's president, Michael Kotlikoff, said in the video statement calling Jane Doe's allegations "deeply disturbing." Kotlikoff said he supports the governor's decision to turn the criminal investigation over to the New York Attorney General and welcomes an independent review by an outside law firm into Cornell's handling of the 2024 case, which he said Cornell's board would announce next week. He acknowledged the university does not have all the answers and must "do better" to prevent future sexual violence in the community.DA declined additional evidence: The Tompkins County District Attorney's Office in November 2024 declined to review any additional evidence, including more interviews gathered by the campus police department beyond the six-page statement signed by accuser Jane Doe, records obtained by the New York Times show. Prosecutors did not express interest in the additional evidence because they had decided, based on Doe's statement, "Criminal charges would not be pursued in this case," a Cornell police investigator said in a note documenting the call.Jane Doe's explicit rape accusation: Doe's attorney believes his client did not consent to any of the
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Oct 03, 2026
Tennessee officials are still investigating why death row inmate Christa Pike survived an execution attempt after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, a drug intended to render a person unconscious and ultimately cause death.
While the immediate focus has been on what went wrong inside the execution chamber, experts say Pike's case has also renewed scrutiny of a problem that has been building for more than a decade: how states obtain lethal injection drugs after pharmaceutical companies moved aggressively to keep their products from being used in executions. Despite those efforts, pentobarbital remains the primary execution drug used by many death-penalty states, making questions about sourcing, testing and oversight especially significant.
The issue has reshaped how many states carry out executions, forcing them to change drug protocols, seek alternative suppliers and adopt increasingly secretive procurement practices.
"Drug shortages have devastated this country's execution process to an unparalleled degree," Deborah Denno, a Fordham University law professor who has studied lethal injection for decades, told Newsweek on Saturday.
How Pharmaceutical Companies Changed the Death PenaltyFor years, states relied on commercially manufactured drugs obtained through traditional pharmaceutical channels.
That began to change after major drug manufacturers objected to having medicines designed to treat patients used in executions.
According to Corinna Barrett Lain, a University of Richmond law professor and author of Secrets of th
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Oct 03, 2026
A dual U.K.-Iranian national who was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of plotting a terror attack following a security incident at the U.S.-run RAF Fairford air base in England that British authorities have linked to Tehran was released on bail Saturday.
The 25-year-old man was arrested in London on Thursday, and police have searched two properties in the U.K. capital, Counter Terrorism Policing said in a statement.
On Saturday, Counter Terrorism Policing announced that the man had been released on bail.
"The investigation into the circumstances surrounding events in Gloucestershire is continuing," the agency said in a new statement.
British police also initially reported that a second 26-year-old British national had been interviewed by investigators "under caution," meaning the interview was recorded and could be used in future prosecutions. However, they later disclosed that this was "not correct and has been removed" from their statement.
On Oct. 27, five men, all British nationals in their 20s and from London, were also arrested on suspicion of explosives and terror offenses close to the RAF Fairford air base, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran. The suspects have also since been released on bail.
Their quick release drew criticism from President Trump a
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Oct 03, 2026
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton visits patrons at Victorio's Ristorante in North Hollywood, where they held a watch party for the CNN debate between candidates Democrat Xavier Becerra and Hilton on Wednesday night. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)A provocative, sexually suggestive ad by GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is drawing heat from his fellow Republicans while drawing millions of viewers online.
Two young women sit on a bed, with an LGBTQ flag in the background, with one urging the other to try a new experience.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," one woman says, and the other replies. "Don't be nervous. It's not that bad ... Just try it. Look, give me your hand. Close your eyes, and I'll do all the work."
She leads the hesitant woman's hand to mark her ballot for Hilton rather than Democrat Xavier Becerra, the front-runner in the race, and says, "Now lick it," referring to the mail ballot envelope.
Fellow Republicans as well as several Democrats denounced Hilton over the messaging.
Two members of Hilton's GOP "Golden Ticket" on the Nov. 3 ballot lashed out about the ad's content.
"I emphatically denounce the use of young women as a political tool," Michael Gates, the Republican candidate for attorney general who has frequently appeared alongside Hilton at campaign events, wrote on X. "California families deserve better, and as AG, I will fight every day to protect our girls, young women, and parental rights."
Sonja Shaw, who is running to be the next state superintendent of schools, castigated Hilton, the state Republican party and its
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Oct 03, 2026
Sen. Ted Cruz fired back at JD Vance for suggesting he's already focused on a 2028 presidential bid, calling the vice president "insecure" while insisting he's focused on the 2026 midterms.
"In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they're feeling insecure," Cruz said in a phone interview Saturday. "So he's welcome to make whatever comments he likes. I'm going to keep focusing on the midterms and helping us win on Election Day in the next 30 days."
Cruz's comments came in response to an NBC News interview Thursday with Vance in which the vice president suggested Cruz was prematurely eyeing a White House run.
"It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president," Vance said. "At this moment, I'm not. I'm trying to help elect Republicans. That's what I'm going to keep on doing."
Vance is widely viewed as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, but Cruz has said he doesn't believe Vance is the sure-fire nominee and suggested he might throw his own hat in the ring. "I'll certainly be part of the discussion," he told MS NOW in August.
On Saturday, Cruz told POLITICO he is dedicated to helping Republicans maintain control of both chambers of Congress. He pointed to his travel this cycle to campaign with candidates in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina as well as in his home state of Texas as proof. He also said he has trips planned this month to campaign with Republicans in Alaska, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
"Over the last 10 years, there's no Republican in the country who has campaigned for more Senate candi
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Oct 03, 2026
Sen. Ted Cruz fired back at JD Vance for suggesting he's already focused on a 2028 presidential bid, calling the vice president "insecure" while insisting he's focused on the 2026 midterms.
"In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they're feeling insecure," Cruz said in a phone interview Saturday. "So he's welcome to make whatever comments he likes. I'm going to keep focusing on the midterms and helping us win on Election Day in the next 30 days."
Cruz's comments came in response to an NBC News interview Thursday with Vance in which the vice president suggested Cruz was prematurely eyeing a White House run.
"It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president," Vance said. "At this moment, I'm not. I'm trying to help elect Republicans. That's what I'm going to keep on doing."
Vance is widely viewed as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, but Cruz has said he doesn't believe Vance is the sure-fire nominee and suggested he might throw his own hat in the ring. "I'll certainly be part of the discussion," he told MS NOW in August.
On Saturday, Cruz told POLITICO he is dedicated to helping Republicans maintain control of both chambers of Congress. He pointed to his travel this cycle to campaign with candidates in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina as well as in his home state of Texas as proof. He also said he has trips planned this month to campaign with Republicans in Alaska, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
"Over the last 10 years, there's no Republican in the country who has campaigned for more Senate candi
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Oct 03, 2026
A team investigating a boat-shaped formation in eastern Turkey says new evidence is strengthening its case that the site could hold the remains of Noah's Ark.
"In archaeology, you deal with probabilities, and we're inching towards where we believe we will have confirmation this winter after our soil analysis is done with Sivas University, who's our partner in this," Noah's Ark Scans founder Andrew Jones told "Saturday in America."
The focus of the investigation is the Durupinar formation, an approximately 538-foot-long geological structure near Mount Ararat. Its shape and proximity to the region identified in the biblical account have fascinated Ark hunters for decades.
The boat-shaped formation was first discovered in 1959 and has long-drawn speculation over a possible connection to Noah's Ark.
Site Where Jesus Was Crucified And Buried Reveals New Evidence That Backs Biblical Account
Scientists who have researched at Turkey's Durupinar site say they've found convincing evidence regarding the Noah's Ark hypothesis.Critics have maintained that the formation is naturally occurring, but Jones said recent drilling, soil sampling and ground-penetrating radar have given his team new reasons to challenge that con
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Oct 03, 2026
The newly discovered lizard (Liolaemus archipensis) was found in the high Andean puna (Handout)Scientists have discovered a new species of lizard in the Peruvian Andes, the Natural History Museum of San Marcos University said Saturday.
The lizard measures between six and eight centimeters (2.4-3.2 inches) and has distinct coloration depending on sex.
Females have square-shaped spots on their backs, while males have oblique spots and white scales that help them blend into their rocky surroundings.
The lizard feeds on plants and small arthropods, including spiders, beetles, true bugs and insect larvae.
The new species was found at an altitude of more than 4,800 meters (15,750 feet) in the southern Andean region of Arequipa and was given the name Liolaemus archipensis.
"The description of a new species represents a very important advance for biodiversity in our country," biologist Ling Huamani-Valderrama, who led the research, told AFP.
Peru is home to 296 species of lizard, according to the biologist. The discovery was published in the Swiss scientific journal Diversity.
cm/ybl/md/sst
This article originally appeared on AFP at https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/lizard-species-discovered-peru-180607207.html
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Oct 03, 2026
President Donald Trump on Saturday pressured Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas to support a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, urging Americans to call what appeared to be the personal cellphone number of Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House in July, but it faces roadblocks in the Senate where some Republicans are strongly opposed. Proponents, including the White House, argue that the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings when children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.
Daylight saving time is that period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time. Not all states observe it — and under the bill, states can opt out of the change if their respective legislatures act to do so before the bill's enactment.
"For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it's very easy to do, it only takes one!" Trump wrote on social media, noting that passing the bill would give professional golfers more time on the greens. "So, everyone in Arkansas, a State I love, and won 3 times, the last by by 34 points, tell Tom to, GET IT DONE! It will be appreciated by all," Trump said.
Trump included a phone number with an Arkansas area code. The Associated Press called the number, but no one answered and the voicemail box was full.
Cotton, a member of Republican leadership, reiterated his opposition to permanent daylight saving time in a social media post of his own. Saturday afternoon, though he is not the only Republica
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Oct 03, 2026
Tennessee's top prison official is stepping down after the state's failed attempt to execute Christa Pike, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday.
Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will leave this month. In a statement, he said resigning was "in the best interest of Tennesseans" while an independent review examines what happened Wednesday, when Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital.
Strada said he still believes the state "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol."
Pike survived two doses of lethal injection drugs in Tennessee's death chamber Wednesday and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Pike, who was sentenced to death in 1996, was unconscious, intubated and breathing with help from a ventilator at a Nashville-area hospital as of Thursday night, her lawyers said in a court filing Friday. Hospital staff were trying to save her life and flush the pentobarbital from her system, the filing said.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has paused executions in the state in response.
Pike, 50, remained alive and snoring loudly after being given two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys and other witnesses said. She was subsequently taken to a hospital.
Both of Pike's arms were "swollen, burned, and blistered" when she arrived at the hospital, her lawyers wrote. They believe the IV lines were placed incorrectly or her veins burst, so that some or all of the drug went into the tissue of her arms instead of her bloodstream.
The filing asks a state court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence from the execution attempt.
"Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel, and it was torturous," attorney Ran
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Oct 03, 2026
Tennessee's top prison official is stepping down after the state's failed attempt to execute Christa Pike, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday.
Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will leave this month. In a statement, he said resigning was "in the best interest of Tennesseans" while an independent review examines what happened Wednesday, when Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital.
Strada said he still believes the state "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol."
Pike survived two doses of lethal injection drugs in Tennessee's death chamber Wednesday and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Pike, who was sentenced to death in 1996, was unconscious, intubated and breathing with help from a ventilator at a Nashville-area hospital as of Thursday night, her lawyers said in a court filing Friday. Hospital staff were trying to save her life and flush the pentobarbital from her system, the filing said.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has paused executions in the state in response.
Pike, 50, remained alive and snoring loudly after being given two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys and other witnesses said. She was subsequently taken to a hospital.
Both of Pike's arms were "swollen, burned, and blistered" when she arrived at the hospital, her lawyers wrote. They believe the IV lines were placed incorrectly or her veins burst, so that some or all of the drug went into the tissue of her arms instead of her bloodstream.
The filing asks a state court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence from the execution attempt.
"Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel, and it was torturous," attorney Ran
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Oct 03, 2026
The co-pilot of the FlyDubai plane who allegedly attacked the plane's captain and attempted to crash a flight bound for Israel on Wednesday is an Omani national who was previously suspended from flying by Oman Air after being identified as a security risk, according to senior intelligence and law enforcement officials.
Multiple sources familiar with the investigation identified the suspected attacker as 29-year-old Hamam Al Hammami.
The officials told ABC News that Al Hammami, while working as a co-pilot trainee for Oman Air in 2024, was found to be in possession of extremist materials. The suspect was allowed to continue working for the airline in an administrative role, the sources said.
United Arab Emirates Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi on Saturday said the aircraft's co-pilot had attempted to carry out a terrorist act and that he began executing his plan during the flight by assaulting the pilot inside the cockpit using a crash axe and attempted to seize control of the aircraft's controls, according to WAM state news agency.
This is the first confirmation by UAE authorities that the co-pilot had attacked the captain and identified the weapon used as a crash axe. Previous UAE statements had described the incident as a security incident and said an investigation was underway to determine whether it involved terrorist activity or prior planning.
'The last push, Smit': FlyDubai captain Smit Machchhar recounts harrowing cockpit attackThe attorney general stressed that investigations are still ongoing to establish all the circumstances and motives surrounding the incident, as well as any related links. He added that tec
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Oct 03, 2026
Republicans know they have to spend big to save Ken Paxton. They're increasingly worried MAGA Inc. won't throw down in time.
In private conversations over recent weeks, senior Hill Republicans and GOP officials have nudged President Donald Trump's team to start spending more on the Texas Senate race before it's too late, according to three people with direct knowledge of those conversations, who were granted anonymity to discuss them.
Those fears escalated after audio leaked of Paxton privately trashing Trump's midterm convention, with some worrying it could impact whether MAGA Inc. continues spending after a current wave of GOP ad bookings run out Oct. 12.
A Trump operative told POLITICO that MAGA Inc. and its affiliates are expected to spend near $45 million on direct mail, TV, and digital advertising in Texas through Oct. 12, an increase from its previous $20 million to boost Paxton. But they said the team is still assessing how much more money to send in the final weeks, in consultation with Senate Republicans and their top super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund.
The Trump operative, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly, would not commit to any plans when asked by POLITICO.
With national Democrats starting to finally spend for their Senate nominee, James Talarico, after months of holding off, and as polling of the race tightens, Republicans expect the cost of salvaging Paxton's campaign will only skyrocket. And, they've started to panic.
"It's a five-alarm fire, no doubt," one GOP senator said. "Can we put it out? I hope so."
"This is a slow-moving car crash that we're witnessing right now," a Republican strategist in the state said. "And there's a 75% chance that the ultimate result here will be catastrophic from a GOP Senate majority standpoint."
A fourth Repub
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Oct 03, 2026
The US Capitol Building is seen on October 1, in Washington, DC. - Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Four weeks to Election Day, a growing number of House Republicans privately fear their chances of holding onto the majority are vanishing and have begun focusing on how to limit the size of a potential Democratic wave.
Inside the House GOP, Republicans have watched with alarm as President Donald Trump's approval ratings have sunk in their own internal polling — including on traditionally red turf — over the last two weeks, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the discussions.
Now, the House GOP is entering triage mode. Republicans are discussing pulling money from once-competitive races they see as too difficult to win, including Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa, Rep. Tom Kean in New Jersey and an open seat in Nebraska, according to three people familiar with the talks.
But the GOP does have a huge cash advantage, and not all Republicans are pessimistic. Speaker Mike Johnson is "absolutely still convinced" that he can hang onto the House and is not taking any seats "off his board," according to a political aide. Johnson just returned from New Jersey and is planning a rally with Miller-Meeks in Iowa next week, according to his team.
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks speaks in the Oval Office of the White Hous
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Oct 03, 2026
The jet, a Gulfstream G-100, lost contact with flight controllers early in the morning, the Coast Guard's Northeast District said. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement to USA TODAY that it issued a search and rescue alert notice for the jet at about 1:20 a.m. local time.
The six people on board were flying from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport, the FAA said.
Authorities are searching with air and surface crews off the coast of Nantucket, the island south of Cape Cod. Bermuda is nearly 700 miles from Nantucket.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coast Guard searches for missing jet carrying 6 people off Nantucket
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/10/03/coast-guard-seach-jet-nantucket/92074905007/
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Oct 03, 2026
A father and son who worked at a Mississippi smoke shop were charged by federal prosecutors in connection with one of the two Ole Miss student deaths that took place last week.
U.S. Attorney Scott F. Leary for the Northern District of Mississippi announced Friday that a criminal complaint was filed against Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18, on charges with possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances in connection with the death of Aidan Hamilton.
The father and son, who were arrested last week, worked at the smoke shop that allegedly sold illegal substances to Hamilton, investigators allege.
Oxford Police Department - PHOTO: Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Yahya Mosleh, 18Hamilton, a freshman from Englewood, Colorado, was found dead on campus on Sept. 21, and investigators found "packages, some with missing tablets, of suspected kratom derivatives," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Ole Miss deaths may be connected to 2 stores allegedly selling kratom products: Officials"The cause of death appeared to be consistent with a drug overdose," the U.S. attorney's office said.
An hour later, a second Ole Miss student, Robert Strang, a junior from Atlanta, was found dead in a different location, and investigators also found "packages of suspected kratom derivatives," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Strang's death was also consistent with a drug overdose, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
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Oct 03, 2026
U.S. Coast Guard search crews located a debris field off the Nantucket coast that has been confirmed to be associated with a medevac flight with six people on board that disappeared Saturday morning while en route to Boston from Bermuda.
Crews are continuing to search for potential survivors, and the Coast Guard cutter William Sparling will continue search efforts throughout the night. The Coast Guard said it would hold a news conference Sunday morning.
Authorities are searching for the Gulfstream G100, a twin-engine, midsize jet, off Nantucket. Both air and surface crews have been deployed to the area, according to the Coast Guard Northeast District.
The Federal Aviation Administration (Faa) reported losing contact with the aircraft early Saturday, the Coast Guard said.
Frantic Search Underway For Crew After Boeing 737 Wreckage Found By Officials
Earlier Saturday, the FAA issued a statement that said it is "coordinating with the Rescue Coordination Center and the U.S. Coast Guard to locate the aircraft."
Read On The Fox News App
According to data from FlightAware, the plane took off from Bermuda L. F. Wade International Airport at 11:41 p.m. ET.
The FAA told Fox News Digital it issued a Search and Rescue Alert Notice at about 1:20 a.m. ET.
The
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Oct 03, 2026
Perhaps emboldened by the rush of sweet tea he was sipping at The Floridian, an Old Florida institution here, David Jolly told me he "can get outspent by $100 million and win this race."
The Florida Democrat may well have to test that argument.
He is confronting the same daunting predicament as other gubernatorial candidates around the country: Democrats are poised to enjoy their best midterm election in two decades, but they may fall short in a series of governors' races because of the party's warped donor culture.
Major Democratic contributors and small-dollar givers are flooding Senate hopefuls with cash, but in some of the most politically crucial states they could lose winnable gubernatorial races because they're being so dramatically outspent by Republican nominees and their allied groups.
In former and future presidential battlegrounds Florida, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin and Nevada, the gubernatorial advertising gap is yawning. For the remainder of the campaign, Republicans are on track to outspend Democrats on television about 6-to-1 in Florida, more than 3-to-1 in Texas, 2.5-to-1 in Georgia, more than 2-to-1 in Wisconsin, and only slightly more narrowly in Ohio and Nevada.
That's if current trends hold, as Democrats are largely booking week to week. So the difference in what's already booked is even starker. As Kinetiq Political Insights data tells me, a single Republican, the Georgia gubernatorial nominee, has nearly as much advertising on the books there as Democrats do at the moment in all six of these races combined.
The public and private polling in these contests shows they're competitive, and GOP strategists tell me that, were it not for their financial advantage, they'd lose most of them.
The Democratic Governors Association, with finite resources and 36 statehouse races on the ballot this year, is not on the air in Florida or Texas a month before the elec
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Oct 03, 2026
By Donna Bryson and Jonathan Allen
Oct 3 - Women, some citing their own experiences of sexual assault, are posting on social media that they are Jane Doe, in solidarity with the woman using the pseudonym in accusing fraternity members of raping her at Cornell University in 2024.
In a case that has drawn national attention, the woman is suing ?seven fraternity members and the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, among others.
And although New York law allows "Jane Doe" anonymity for sexual assault lawsuits, the Cornell student has become distressed ?at attempts by some online skeptics of her account to discover her name and publish it, her lawyer said.
"I want us to support Jane Doe in coming to her own way of identifying herself in her own time," said Twanna LaTrice Hill, a writer ?and actor in Denver who has declared #IamJaneDoe on social media in recent days. "And if she never does, that's fine. But the flip side of that is that the people like me need to speak up if we are able to."
EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY ACCUSER DRAW BACKLASH
The woman, who was 20 at the time of the alleged 2024 gang rape, filed suit on September 16, prompting prosecutors to reopen a criminal investigation they had initially closed without charges. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed the state's attorney general as special prosecutor in the case and on Friday faulted police and prosecutors, saying they had not fully investigated the woman's allegations.
The accused men have ?denied all wrongdoing, the New York Times reported. Cornell has defended its ?handling of the matter.
Since the woman filed her lawsuit, some commentators have sought to learn and publish the accuser's identity online, efforts that her lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, called an attempt to shame her.
"She's not doing well," Giuffra told CNN. "She's under siege on social media."
He said some women have been incorrectly identi
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Oct 03, 2026
The Cornell University gang rape allegation is the latest in a series of black marks for fraternities, leading critics to question why universities continue to support them.
Fraternities, almost as old as the country itself, have been a staple at colleges for young men to come together with the stated goals of teaching leadership, community service and building friendships.
But highly publicized incidents of sexual assault and hazing plague the groups, which could face a tough road to win back public trust.
The alleged gang rape of a 20-year-old woman at the Chi Phi frat at Cornell in 2024 is the latest in a long list of incidents that have made the public wary of Greek life.
A lawsuit filed last month by Jane Doe, the alleged victim who chose to remain anonymous, says on Oct. 20, 2024, she was coerced into alcohol and drugs at the fraternity and sexually assaulted by seven members.
During the alleged assault, one of the fraternity brothers sent a message to a Snapchat group for the frat saying there was "free p----" upstairs, according to a screenshot from the lawsuit.
The lawsuit targets Cornell, the Chi Phi fraternity, the victim's own sorority and the bar that served her alcohol at the beginning of the night when they allegedly knew she was underage.
Jud Horras, president and CEO of the Foundation for Fraternal Excellence, said the men accused of sexual assault and thos
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Oct 03, 2026
TEL AVIV — A Flydubai pilot attacked his fellow pilot using a crash axe and tried to take control of the aircraft's flight controls in an attempted terrorist attack, an official in the United Arab Emirates said Saturday.
The name of the alleged attacker is Omani citizen Hamam al-Hammami, multiple sources from three agencies briefed on the investigation, and a diplomat in the Middle East, told NBC News. Authorities have not officially released the identity.
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that al-Hammami had "previously been banned from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views."
Oman Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he previously worked for them.
Emirati officials are leading investigations into the mid-air incident, which occurred Wednesday on a flight carrying 174 mostly Israeli passengers from Dubai to Tel Aviv. A crash was averted, according to eyewitnesses and Israeli officials, when crew and passengers were able to enter the cabin and subdue the alleged attacker.
"Investigations into the incident aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 revealed that the co-pilot attempted to carry out a terrorist act," UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al Shamsi said in an update on Saturday.
"The co-pilot began executing his plan during the flight, attacking the captain inside the flight deck using a crash axe and attempting to take control of the aircraft's flight controls," he said.
Al-Hammami was transferred from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. The statement said his health had "improved," but his medical condition was unclear.
Al Shamsi s
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Oct 03, 2026
‘This will be a valley of great richness one day,' Steinbeck wrote in East of Eden. ‘And happy people will live here, thousands and thousands.'Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey county
Nestled between two mountain ranges at the crook of central California's coastline sits a valley known as the "salad bowl of the world".
Farm workers stoop over neatly lined rows of crops off Highway 101 to harvest more than half of the nation's supply of lettuce and nearly a third of its strawberries. The soil here is so rich that author John Steinbeck made the Salinas valley the promised land in his literary depictions of people chasing the American dream: immigrants, farm workers, westward-moving hopefuls, hungering for a better life.
It's a story that continues to capture the American imagination: Netflix has adapted Steinbeck's 1952 blockbuster novel, East of Eden, into a limited series starring Florence Pugh, released 1 October.
"This will be a valley of great richness one day," Steinbeck wrote of the farmland in East of Eden. "And happy people will live here, thousands and thousands."
But Steinbeck also understood just how difficult it can be to achieve that elusive American dream. Even after some his characters found their way to Salinas and other parts of California's agricultural valley, many remained stuck in low-paying jobs, making barely enough to scrape by, let alone own their own land.
That reality persists in the Salinas of today - an area at the sharp edge of a national affordability crisis that is reshaping politics across the US, and much of the rest of the world.
A recent Brookings Institution analysis found that Salinas is the least affordable city in the US for the middle class, defined a
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Oct 03, 2026
On Nov. 7, 2024, two weeks after the incident at Chi Phi, Jane Doe submitted to a sexual assault examination and evidence collection process, according to the police records.
(Heather Ainsworth for NBC News)Cornell University police spoke to witnesses and received anonymous tips about an alleged gang rape at a fraternity house in the first weeks of its investigation two years ago, but the local prosecutor did not review the additional information before deciding not to bring charges.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said he based his decision not to pursue charges on the accuser's initial six-page statement given to police.
Investigators from the campus police department documented those witness interviews and other steps taken to determine whether Jane Doe, a 20-year-old woman who reported the incident, was the victim of sexual assault during a party at the Chi Phi house from Oct. 19 to 20, 2024, according police records obtained by NBC News.
Documents reviewed by NBC News offer the most thorough look to date at how police handled the allegations from Jane Doe, who last month filed a lawsuit against Cornell University and seven Chi Phi brothers who she alleges sexually assaulted her over the
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Oct 03, 2026
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said the US government will send a one-time $90 payment to more than 20 million ?Americans enrolled in Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, ?to help offset the cost of their monthly medical insurance premiums.
Trump said on social media late ?on Friday the payments will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he said was given $2 billion by Congress to improve the Medicare fee-for-service program.
The announcement is the latest in a series of financial promises the Republican leader has made to ?voters heading into the November ?midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake.
Trump's Republican Party currently has a narrow majority in both the Senate ?and the House of Representatives but his approval rating has been low over his handling of the high cost of living for Americans during the US-Israeli war on ?Iran that ?has spiked oil and gas prices.
The White ?House released some details of ?Trump's plan on its website, saying most eligible seniors will receive the payment in the form of a direct deposit of $90 in early October.
Those without direct deposit will receive a check, also sent in early October, to the mailing address they have registered with Medicare, the White House said.
Last month, Trump proposed sending $5,000 ?checks to all adult citizens if the ?Republicans keep control of the House and Senate ?in the midterms, though analysts, economists ?and even some Republicans in Congress reacted with skepticism to ?the plan.
The Trump administration is also ?separately sending $500 payments to ?nearly 1 million Americans in a move that strategists say could potentially influence some election races.
The White House says those payments were a refund ?for what it describes ?as excessive fees charged to people who purchased health insurance through ?the Affordable Care
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Oct 03, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sipping tea from beer mugs with his coworkers, Kyle Bos listed the ways his life is changing.
Bos has two daughters, with a third due in January. At the grocery store, five items cost as much as a full cart once did. And on Wednesday, Bos and nearly 1,400 other people were laid off from their jobs at what had been the Navistar truck factory in southwestern Ohio.
The layoffs — occurring just three days before Donald Trump's rally on Saturday at a nearby high school — were large enough to basically erase an entire year of job growth in the greater Dayton, Ohio area. And they are one reason why Bos, 30, plans to spend the final weeks before the November election canvassing votes for Democrats.
Asked how many times he voted for Trump, Bos held up three tattooed fingers. But he said he's done with the president.
"Something has to change politically in this country," said Bos, a member of the United Auto Workers who identifies as a centrist.
Trump is campaigning in this area on Saturday
This year's election is a test for the working-class coalition that lifted Trump into the White House and gave majorities to Republicans in the House and Senate. The outcome will be decided in places like Dayton, which once sprouted factories but shed about half of its 90,000 factory jobs since 1990 after the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade with China made it cheaper to buy auto parts from abroad.
Trump's blunt talk and status as a celebrity businessman initially helped him around Dayton, where voters sensed that politics as usual had failed them. But voters this year are disgruntled about inflation and the war in Iran.
An Ohio race could help determine control of the Senate. Republican Sen. Jon Husted is facing a challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is trying to harne
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Oct 03, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sipping tea from beer mugs with his coworkers, Kyle Bos listed the ways his life is changing.
Bos has two daughters, with a third due in January. At the grocery store, five items cost as much as a full cart once did. And on Wednesday, Bos and nearly 1,400 other people were laid off from their jobs at what had been the Navistar truck factory in southwestern Ohio.
The layoffs — occurring just three days before Donald Trump's rally on Saturday at a nearby high school — were large enough to basically erase an entire year of job growth in the greater Dayton, Ohio area. And they are one reason why Bos, 30, plans to spend the final weeks before the November election canvassing votes for Democrats.
Asked how many times he voted for Trump, Bos held up three tattooed fingers. But he said he's done with the president.
"Something has to change politically in this country," said Bos, a member of the United Auto Workers who identifies as a centrist.
Trump is campaigning in this area on Saturday
This year's election is a test for the working-class coalition that lifted Trump into the White House and gave majorities to Republicans in the House and Senate. The outcome will be decided in places like Dayton, which once sprouted factories but shed about half of its 90,000 factory jobs since 1990 after the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade with China made it cheaper to buy auto parts from abroad.
Trump's blunt talk and status as a celebrity businessman initially helped him around Dayton, where voters sensed that politics as usual had failed them. But voters this year are disgruntled about inflation and the war in Iran.
An Ohio race could help determine control of the Senate. Republican Sen. Jon Husted is facing a challenge from former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is trying to harne
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Oct 02, 2026
Days after a FlyDubai co-pilot made a violent attempt to crash the passenger aircraft and was subdued by passengers and other crew members, questions about his motive continued to swirl.
The flight Wednesday from Dubai to Tel Aviv was approaching Israel when the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the flight captain and attempted to crash the aircraft, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. The captain was able to fight off the co-pilot long enough to unlock the cockpit door. Passengers then overpowered the co-pilot, and two off-duty pilots who were on the flight managed to gain control of the aircraft and make an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
There were 174 people on board the plane. No passengers were seriously injured in the incident. The pilot sustained stab wounds in the attack. Saudi authorities said two crew members were hospitalized with unspecified injuries, and the co-pilot remained in custody on Thursday.
Who was the FlyDubai co-pilot? The co-pilot of the flight has not yet been publicly identified, although multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News on Friday that his name is Hamam al Hamami.
Al Hamami worked for a short time for Oman Air, where he entered new pilot training. Surveillance by the Omani government discovered that he was visiting radical websites, the sources said. Oman Air then transferred him to an office job.
One of the sources said the pilot resigned from his job at Oman Air after being placed on desk duty. He left the airline around 2024.
At one point, sources said, al Hamami posted a video of El Al Israeli Airlines planes in Dubai with a photo at the end of the clip showing Ayman al-Z
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Oct 02, 2026
(Photo credit: Beni Rae Harmony/Instagram)
Donald Trump's White House expanded its press team Friday, tapping Real America's Voice correspondent Beni Rae Harmony to be assistant press secretary.
The 24-year-old Harmony, who has served as Real America's Voice's White House correspondent since joining the conservative network in September 2025, confirmed her appointment on X Friday evening, after TMZ reported earlier that day that she had been scooped up to work for Trump.
"I'm excited to announce that I am joining the Trump Administration as Asst. White House Press Secretary," she wrote. "It's been an honor to report, travel and cover this historic administration as Senior White House Correspondent for Real America's Voice. My goal has always been to ask the questions that matter to real Americans and make sure their voices are heard."
"I'm incredibly grateful to President Trump for this opportunity and his trust," she continued. "I'm looking forward to this next chapter - serving the American people and continuing to fight for the American Dream. America First."
Harmony's addition to the press team comes as the White House has yet to find a replacement for Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down as White House press secretary at the end of August.
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Oct 02, 2026
The failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee on Wednesday has added new fuel to the longstanding debate over the death penalty in the United States. It has also drawn new scrutiny to the question of whether lethal injection, the nation's primary method of execution for the past 40 years, is truly a "more humane" alternative to other ways of putting someone to death.
Pike was given a death sentence in 1996 after being convicted of killing her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in an attack she carried out with her then boyfriend. After 30 years on death row, and a last-minute legal battle that temporarily delayed her execution, Pike was scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday night.
However, the two doses of pentobarbital she was given proved not to be fatal. According to witnesses, Pike remained alive and snored loudly for 40 minutes after the drugs were administered. Eventually, the execution was called off and she was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Pike's attorney Randy Spivey reported Thursday afternoon that she was in critical condition and receiving "life-saving care." She was unconscious and placed on a ventilator in the hospital, according to a filing by her legal team on F
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Oct 02, 2026
[Getty Images]
The lawyer for the woman who alleges she was raped at a Cornell University fraternity house says she is "not doing well" as she finds herself "under siege" from online sleuths seeking to identity her.
Thomas Giuffra said the woman known in legal documents as Jane Doe was "incapable of consent" because she was "completely, grossly intoxicated" when she turned up at the home where she says the assault took place.
The woman alleges she was raped by seven men at the campus in Ithaca, New York, in 2024.
No charges were initially filed in the case. It has reopened since she filed a civil lawsuit that thrust the claims into the national spotlight, reigniting the possibility of criminal charges.
In an interview on Friday with CNN, Giuffra said: "She's under siege on social media where people are trying to identify her."
He said that postings have "incorrectly" identified other woman as Doe.
Watch: New York governor blasts handling of Cornell rape inquiry
In an interview with CBS, the BBC's US partner, Giuffra argued that his client, aged 20 at the time, was unable to provide consent because she was intoxicated when she arrived at the fraternity house.
Giuffra said she had been pressured into taking the drug ketamine before she was allegedly raped.
His comments came as New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed the state's top prosecutor, Attorney General Letitia James, to take over the investigation.
At a news conference on Friday, Hochul said she had "lost faith"
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Oct 02, 2026
An Arizona road rage killer will be resentenced after an appeals court ruled that an AI-generated video message from his dead victim was improperly aired in court.
Gabriel Paul Horcasitas was found guilty by a jury of shooting and killing Christopher Pelkey, 37, during a confrontation at a red light in 2021. He was sentenced to 10 years behind bars.
But his legal team appealed, arguing that the trial judge should not have allowed an AI video, created by Pelkey's family, to be shown in court ahead of last year's sentencing.
The Arizona Court of Appeals agreed, ruling that Horcasitas, 55, must be resentenced because the AI clip "crossed that line".
"Rather than document an event or recording a particular moment, the AI video presents a depiction of the victim and his thoughts created from the imaginings of the victim's sister," the court of appeals wrote on Wednesday.
Horcasitas' lawyer, Kristen Reller, who filed the appeal, declined to comment.
Jessica Gattuso, an attorney for victims in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.
Pelkey's sister, Stacey Wales, told the BBC last year the family had used voice recordings, videos and pictures to recreate him for the AI video.
"To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me, it is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances," said the AI version of Pelkey in court in 2025. "In another life, we probably could have been friends."
"I believe in forgiveness, and a God who forgives. I always have and I still do," the AI version of Pelkey - wearing a grey baseball cap - continued.
At the time of the sentencing, the judge who oversaw the case, Todd Lang, seemed to appreciate the use of AI.
"I loved that AI, thank you for that. As angry as you are, as justifiably angry as the family is, I heard the forgiveness," Judge Lang said. "I feel that that was genuine."
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Oct 02, 2026
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday it has found a potential source of the cyclosporiasis outbreak that was tied to lettuce over the summer.
The agency collected samples during its onsite inspections of Taylor Farms de Mexico facilities, it said.
Two samples tested positive for the parasite, Cyclospora, according to the FDA. One positive sample was from a tank that held outgoing wastewater from a processing facility, the agency said. The second positive sample was from a drainage ditch of an iceberg lettuce grower, it noted.
Cyclosporiasis symptoms, treatment and how it's spread: Everything to know about the intestinal parasitic disease"While there is currently not enough evidence to conclusively determine how contamination occurred in this outbreak, the positive samples show that Cyclospora was present in the environment where lettuce was grown and processed," the FDA wrote in an update on its website.
"This adds to the strong epidemiological data and traceback convergence supporting the link between this outbreak and recalled shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico," the update continued.
The FDA said its investigation has closed. Health officials say they are confident that all recalled lettuce associated with this outbreak is off the market.
In a statement, a Taylor Fresh Foods spokesperson said its facility in central Mexico remains closed as the company works with its research team to implement enhanced safety protocols.
"The independent grower where a positive sample was found is no longer part of our supplier program," the spokesperson said. "The sample FDA referenced came from discharg
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Oct 02, 2026
The Supreme Court begins its latest term on Monday with a docket full of high-stakes cases that touch on some of the most contentious issues in American politics, including guns, voting and transgender rights.
This will be the second full term for the nation's highest court since President Trump returned to the White House. The previous term, which wrapped up in June, was packed with landmark rulings in a long list of major cases, including Trump's tariffs, birthright citizenship and a slate of key immigration decisions.
The justices will likely take on additional cases over the course of the term, but there are already plenty of pivotal cases for the court to consider in the coming months.
Here's a rundown of the big cases headed to the Supreme Court this term and what their eventual rulings might mean for the country.
GunsOver the past two decades, the Supreme Court has issued a series of decisions that have significantly expanded gun rights. It could go even further next term when it considers whether laws banning cert
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Oct 02, 2026
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed that he is considering retirement, leaving open the possibility that he could leave after next year's term and hand another nomination to President Donald Trump.
Alito said in excerpts of a CBS News interview released Friday that he thought about retiring this year and will do so again in 2027.
"It's something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term," the 76-year-old said in the interview scheduled to air Monday. "But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place."
Alito's interview, the first in a number of expected appearances to coincide with the release of a book about his judicial philosophy, raises the possibility that Trump, whose judicial picks shifted the Supreme Court to the right, may get an opportunity to nominate a fourth justice.
The president, who expressed regret in a recent interview about several nominees who ruled against his administration on some issues, would have a harder time getting a fourth pick through the Senate if Democrats win control in the midterms.
Alito, in the CBS interview, pushed back on concerns that the timing of his retirement and his replacement could potentially unravel his work on the bench.
"It's too hard to predict what the political situation will be and what any president might do with respect to a replacement," he said.
Alito also defended his majority opinion in Ju
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Oct 02, 2026
President Donald Trump said Friday he was ruling out a diesel export ban and never really considered one in the first place, hours after Europe caved to U.S. pressure and agreed to release fuel from its stockpiles.
The announcement appears to put to rest more than a week of frantic lobbying across two continents after surging fuel prices — caused by the ongoing war against Iran as well as Ukrainian attacks against Russian refineries — have angered farmers and put pressure on the Trump administration to act ahead of the November midterm elections.
"Europe has a lot of diesel, and they're going to be making a major world contribution, and so are we," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a campaign trip. "And we're not going to be doing the export ban.
"It was never really ever on the table, but what Europe did was a great thing," he added.
Trump had repeatedly said over the last two weeks that he was open to suspending exports of the fuel, which would have been the first restriction on U.S. energy exports since the Obama administration lifted a decades-old ban on oil exports in 2015. The president said just over a week ago that "I've called for that" when asked about a possible ban.
But Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the president's allies in the oil industry publicly condemned the idea, warning it could pose major economic problems for foreign countries who rely on U.S. imports
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Oct 02, 2026
A new emergency court filing seeks to preserve all evidence related to Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike, arguing the state botched the lethal injection procedure. A judge granted an expedited hearing on the motion shortly after it was filed, though no date or time was immediately listed.
Pike was set to be executed by the Tennessee Department of Correction on Sept. 30, but survived two doses of pentobarbital. The document, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court on Oct. 2, revealed more details about Pike's condition. It said she is intubated, on a ventilator and unconscious, and that both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered. As of the night of Oct. 1, Pike was still in critical condition at a Nashville-area hospital, the motion said.
"Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike's life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system," the Oct. 2 motion stated.
Pike was convicted in 1996 for the first-degree murder and torture of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.
'She's still talking': Inside each minute of Christa Pike's failed execution attempt
Pentobarbital is the single drug required under the state's lethal injection protocol. The failed execution attempt came after a complex legal back-and-forth delayed her execution several hours that day, which was originally set for 10 a.m. Media witnesses of the procedure said the blinds to the observation room w
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Oct 02, 2026
MIAMI (AP) — A former Republican congressman and longtime friend of Secretary of State Marco Rubio received a 10-year prison sentence on Friday for concealing a $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela's behalf during the first Trump administration.
David Rivera of Miami has been jailed since his conviction in May for conspiracy to commit money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Rivera, 61, appeared stone-faced as Judge Melissa Damian denounced him for betraying his life's mission. His many friends in Miami would surely judge him harshly had the millions of dollars come from Cuba's communist regime instead of its allies in Caracas, she said.
"Nobody would accept that's ok and I don't think this is different," the judge said. "There's no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime."
The case offered a rare glimpse into foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America, highlighting Miami's reputation as a magnet for both anti-communist crusaders and corruption among its sizable exile population.
President Donald Trump's secretary of state, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas and a top Washington lobbyist all testified, saying Rivera had never mentioned his mammoth consulting contract with a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA.
Rivera was charged in 2022, during President Joe Biden's administration. Charges of illegal foreign lobbying have plunged since Trump returned to the White House. Rivera's lawyers have applied
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Oct 02, 2026
By Maria Tsvetkova
ITHACA, New York, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Cornell University student Sophia Riley Sim skipped classes this week, consumed by allegations in a lawsuit that several members of a fraternity raped a young woman in 2024 and troubled by how her university handled the case.
"Cornell has failed our community ?through its lack of accountability, transparency, and failure to address the state of the Cornell student body at this time," Sim, a junior, said at a ?public hearing on sexual assault organized by Cornell's Student Assembly on Thursday.
"There has been a lack of meaningful communication from university leadership, administrators, and faculty."
The Ivy League school has defended its handling of the matter, saying it ?launched a comprehensive investigation and barred the Chi Phi fraternity involved in the alleged assault from campus. The school said it imposed a range of disciplinary measures, including expulsions.
It did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
The hearing, held in one of Cornell's historic halls, came days after the allegations became public with the filing of a civil lawsuit and the announcement that a criminal investigation would be reopened.
The case has reignited scrutiny of how law enforcement and universities handle sexual assault complaints, with students questioning whether processes are enough to protect ?them. It has also drawn the attention of New York ?state officials, who have appointed a special prosecutor to investigate.
FEELING UNSAFE
At the Assembly hearing, speakers recounted experiences with sexual assault, broke down in tears and criticized the response of the prestigious university.
The Student Assembly - which represents Cornell's undergraduate students and can make proposals to the university's ?bodies or officers - unanimously approved a resolution calling on Cornell administrators to provide a
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Oct 02, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has released a classified report to its workforce examining what it says are chapters from the bureau's history "where this institution fell short," according to an internal message obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
It was unclear what episodes from the FBI's past are chronicled in the new "Patel Report." But the document's existence is in keeping with Director Kash Patel's frequent criticism of the leaders who preceded him as well as with his determination to rid the FBI of agents and other employees he contends have politicized the bureau in the past. Patel's critics, however, accuse him of politicizing the FBI.
Though Patel pledged at his confirmation hearing last year that he would not look "backward," he has encouraged investigation of former senior officials and has presided over waves of terminations, including of employees who participated in years-old investigations of President Donald Trump, were photographed taking a knee during a 2020 racial justice protest and contributed to a disputed analytical memo about Catholic extremism.
"The Patel Report looks backward because accountability demands it," says a memo to the workforce signed by the FBI's co-deputy directors, Christopher Raia and Andrew Bailey, that describes the document as marking the "closing of one c
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Oct 02, 2026
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Donald Trump are seen in this combination of pictures created on Dec. 2, 2025. —Pablo Porciuncula, Andrew Caballero-Reynolds—Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump on Thursday said he is following the upcoming Brazilian election "very closely," referring to Brazil as a "very important" country. "The people of Brazil are fantastic people," he told reporters outside the White House. "It's a very important election."
The U.S. State Department later announced the suspension of its consular services in Brazil ahead of the election taking place on Sunday, citing unspecified security concerns. "U.S. citizens seeking emergency assistance during this time should not come to the Embassy, the Consulates, or other U.S. diplomatic facilities," the security alert advised.
Brazilians are heading to the polls for a set of federal elections spanning congressional and gubernatorial races, alongside the first round of the presidential election votes. It's set to be a decisive moment for Latin America's largest nation, as the region has seen a shift toward the right in recent years. An Oct. 25 runoff is expected, as polls show a tight contest between leftist P
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Oct 02, 2026
This year's Kennedy Center Honors will be held at Washington's Capital One Arena, not the riverfront building that's been at the center of a legal fight over adding President Donald Trump's name to the building.
The 49th annual awards are set to take place at Washington's downtown arena, a Kennedy Center spokesperson said Friday. Few other details were immediately available, and an explanation for the change wasn't given.
The center's board voted last month to close the iconic performing arts venue along the Potomac River waterfront after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Trump's name to the building.
Trump has said in social media posts that the center needed to close for safety repairs. But he said the repairs would only happen if the board was allowed to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.
A federal judge has twice said that can't happen without the approval of Congress, which has allocated $257 million for repairs.
The president hosted the 2025 awards, whose honorees included Sylvester Stallone and George Strait. He said at the time that he would rename the facility the "Trump Kennedy Center," and not long after workers began adding his name to the building.
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Oct 02, 2026
THE TAKEAWAY
Holei Sea Arch collapsed into the Pacific sometime between Sept. 23 and Sept. 27.The arch had sustained damage in past years due to tropical systems and volcanic activity.Visitors are told to stay out of closed areas and away from cliff edges which are unstable and could collapse without warning.The iconic Holei Sea Arch, which stood for more than 500 years in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, collapsed into the Pacific during what has been a tumultuous hurricane season for Hawaii.
According to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, the famous lava rock arch was still standing on Sept. 23 before the national park closed ahead of Hurricane Nolo's impacts near the Big Island, but by Sunday, Sept. 27, when the park reopened, the arch collapsed.
Hawaii's Coral Reefs Have Their Own Insurance Policy — And It Could Help Save Them After Disaster Strikes
The Holei Sea Arch before its collapse in July 2022.The Holei Sea Arch stood 90 feet high and extended into the Pacific Ocean. Ancient lava flows created the sea arch 550 years ago, the national park said.
Photos shared by Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park show the arch prior to its collapse in 2022, versus the changed coastline after the arch disappeared.
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Oct 02, 2026
President Donald Trump warned Republicans that Texas and Michigan are among the states the party is "worried about" ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, while speaking to voters in Oklahoma on Thursday.
Fresh off an event in Texas, Trump told a crowd in the reliably Republican state that he was not concerned about Oklahoma but that Republicans needed to turn out voters in other states.
"I feel a little foolish, you know. I'm saying, 'go out and vote, go out and vote.' You're gonna, they're gonna win in the last half, but still go out and vote," Trump said. "But we're not worried about them. We're worried about Michigan. We're worried about Texas. We're worried about a few states."
Trump later said Republicans need to get the word out about the midterms, citing what he described as 35 to 40 races that the party is concerned about.
"But we have to get the word out because we have to win in those 35. Maybe you could even say 40 places, 40 races," Trump said. "You have many, you have hundreds of races, but it's all about 40."
Trump also again urged supporters to imagine that he himself was on the ballot.
"So you have to pretend I'm on the ticket and turn out for a midterm victory that's really too big to rig," Trump said.
Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Donald Trump raises his fist after delivering remarks at the Peterbilt Motors facility in Denton, Texas, on October 1, 2026. Trump sought to rally Republicans by attacking Democrats over inflation and immigration, repeating claims about the number and backgrounds of migrants who entered the country during the Biden administration.
Trump has repeatedly made claims about millions of migrants entering the U.S. from prisons and mental institutions, but those claim
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Oct 02, 2026
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that a woman who alleges she was drugged and raped by multiple fraternity members at Cornell University in 2024 was "failed" by those obligated to protect her.
Hochul's comments came a day after announcing she had lost faith in the district attorney overseeing the Cornell University rape case and appointed New York Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor to oversee the investigation.
"In what world would the police learn from a victim that she'd been literally gang raped while intoxicated by five men in a fraternity house and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney?" Hochul said at a press conference. "In what world does the district attorney not even interview her or anyone else involved or even request the full transcript?"
"At every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her," Hochul said.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has come under intense scrutiny in recent days over his decision not to prosecute anyone when the initial allegations were made in 2024.
In a civil lawsuit filed last month against the school and seven current and former fraternity members, a former student identified as "Jane Doe" alleged that she was the victim of a "gang rape" at the Chi Phi fraternity on Cornell's Ithaca, N.Y., campus on Oct. 19, 2024. She said she was already intoxicated when she arrived and was given ketamine before and during the alleged assault. She reported the incident to campus police three weeks later.
Van Houten, who earlier this week reopened a cri
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Oct 02, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Group of Seven industrial nations said they agreed to release 100 million barrels of oil, starting with "substantial" amounts of diesel after the fuel recently hit record high prices in the United States, where President Donald Trump said the diesel release would happen "immediately."
Trump and his Republican Party face pressure to address surging prices ahead of November's midterm elections. Trump announced the action Friday on social media, saying, "Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately."
The president faces lagging approval ratings as the Iran war and his trade battles have increased U.S. prices for oil and other goods.
Gas prices in the U.S. and abroad have soared during the eight-month-long war, a cost Trump has repeatedly said is worth it for making sure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. Trump has insisted prices will come down after the war, though there's no end in sight.
The national average for a gallon of diesel in the U.S. was $6.37 on Friday, according to AAA, after hitting a record $6.52 on Sept. 22.
Trump had a conversation overnight with French President Emmanuel Macron, the chair of the G7, about the need to address rising fuel prices and the availability of petroleum products, according to the French Embassy in the U.S. Macron on Friday then chaired a videoconference of G7 leaders to discuss the issue.
France holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group and made the announcement in a statement released after video-conference talks that Macron presided over. The International Energy Agency will coordinate the effort to combat soaring fuel prices. "We will implement our
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Oct 02, 2026
A dangerous, long-duration heatwave is sweeping through much of Southern California beginning Friday, creating increased fire risk in the region.
Extreme to moderate heat warnings are in place for more than 34 million Californians, with temperatures forecast to reach between 92 and over 105 degrees, including along the coastal plains.
ABC News - PHOTO: Dangerous Heat Wave MapThe National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned the conditions have created a high risk of "large and fast-moving fires" in the region's valleys and mountains.
The heatwave is expected to begin on Friday and last through at least Oct. 8.
Tracking severe weather in the USTemperatures are expected to rise to around 15 degrees above average, creating potentially life-threatening conditions for those without access to air conditioning.
Little relief from the heat is forecasted in the overnight hours, though lower humidity is expected.
ABC News - PHOTO: Extreme Heat MapWindy conditions expected over the weekend will contribute to the fire risk. A wind advisory is in place, with gusts of up to 50 miles per hour forecasted.
Those under heat warnings are advised to watch out for heat-related illnesses, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Anyone experiencing symptoms of heat-related illnesses is encouraged to move to a cooler area, wear loose clothing, sip cool water and apply ice. Those with heat stroke symptoms, including dizziness, confusion or becoming unconscious, are a
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Oct 02, 2026
A dangerous, long-duration heatwave is sweeping through much of Southern California beginning Friday, creating increased fire risk in the region.
Extreme to moderate heat warnings are in place for more than 34 million Californians, with temperatures forecast to reach between 92 and over 105 degrees, including along the coastal plains.
ABC News - PHOTO: Dangerous Heat Wave MapThe National Weather Service in Los Angeles warned the conditions have created a high risk of "large and fast-moving fires" in the region's valleys and mountains.
The heatwave is expected to begin on Friday and last through at least Oct. 8.
Tracking severe weather in the USTemperatures are expected to rise to around 15 degrees above average, creating potentially life-threatening conditions for those without access to air conditioning.
Little relief from the heat is forecasted in the overnight hours, though lower humidity is expected.
ABC News - PHOTO: Extreme Heat MapWindy conditions expected over the weekend will contribute to the fire risk. A wind advisory is in place, with gusts of up to 50 miles per hour forecasted.
Those under heat warnings are advised to watch out for heat-related illnesses, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Anyone experiencing symptoms of heat-related illnesses is encouraged to move to a cooler area, wear loose clothing, sip cool water and apply ice. Those with heat stroke symptoms, including dizziness, confusion or becoming unconscious, are a
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Oct 02, 2026
An artist's interpretation depicts Beta Pictoris b (right) as it orbits its host star. The giant exoplanet was the source of a recently detected radio signal. - NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Astronomers say they have directly detected the first-ever radio emission from a planet outside the solar system. The signal, however, is evidence of a colossal magnetic field — not intelligent life.
"I know radio signals are associated with searches for extraterrestrial intelligence," said Edo Berger, a professor of astronomy at Harvard University. "But this is something very different."
The discovery, described in a new paper awaiting publication in a peer-reviewed journal, traces repeating radio bursts that appear to come from the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b, located 63 light-years from Earth — a short distance, astronomically speaking. The gas giant, about 12 times the mass of Jupiter, is one of three planets orbiting a young star that is 1.75 times as massive as the sun.
Processes associated with the planet's magnetic field produce the radio emission, according to Berger, a researcher at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Specifically, the detection involves auroras similar to Earth's northern lights — the spectacular displays sparked by magnetic
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Oct 02, 2026
The Labor Department reported that the US added 29,000 jobs in September, missing expectations. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1% in the previous month.
Economists expected a gain of 90,000 jobs last month, following a revised print of 133,000 job gains in August.
"Weak across the board when it comes to the demand for labor," economist Mohamed El-Erian told Yahoo Finance. "The demand side is flashing yellow … [and is] going to put the Fed definitely on hold for October."
A stable labor market gives the Federal Reserve leeway to raise interest rates in October as the central bank focuses on tackling persistently high inflation. At a press conference following the decision, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said that bringing down inflation doesn't have to come at the expense of US workers.
The September jobs report follows a string of indicators on US employment trends this week.
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Oct 02, 2026
Christa Pike, pictured in 2012, is receiving life-saving treatment after surviving two lethal injections.Imagn Images via Reuters ConnectThe mother of the woman killed by Christa Pike said she was left without justice after Tennessee's failed attempt to carry out the execution, criticizing the state's handling of a procedure that left the death row prisoner hospitalized in critical condition.
"I didn't get justice for my daughter," May Martinez, whose daughter Colleen Slemmer was killed in 1995, told the Associated Press on Thursday.
Martinez traveled to Nashville to witness the execution Wednesday. Instead, she watched as officials administered two doses of the state's execution drug pentobarbital without killing Pike.
"I watched the whole thing. She was awake," she said. "She was moving her head, moving her feet. She was trying to sit up. Didn't work the first time they gave her a shot. It didn't work the second time, so she's in the hospital and alive."
The inmate is receiving life-saving medical care, according to her legal team, who have asked Tennessee Gov. Bil
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Oct 02, 2026
Manhattan District Attorney's Office
CNN has obtained newly unsealed police body camera footage showing the arrest of Luigi Mangione inside a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, days after he fatally shot United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The hours of footage capture officers questioning Mangione at the fast-food restaurant on the morning of December 9, 2024, before he is handcuffed, searched and transported to the police station. The videos show police conducting more thorough searches of Mangione and his belongings at the station, including the moment an officer finds a gun - now known to be the murder weapon - inside his backpack.
This is the first time the videos have been seen outside the courtroom. Some of the footage was played during a dayslong suppression hearing last December, when the defense argued evidence recovered during the arrest should be suppressed because Mangione's backpack was improperly searched.
New York State Judge Gregory Carro ultimately ruled most of the evidence would be allowed at trial and placed the videos under seal. The judge authorized their release after CNN petitioned for their unsealing following Mangione's guilty plea to federal charges in August, in which he admitted to fatally shooting Thompson, 50, on a Manhattan sidewalk.
The unsealed videos, taken from
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Oct 02, 2026
A Lewisville, Texas, barber returned $128,514 in cash he found sitting on top of a Bank of America ATM, with not a dollar missing, Lewisville police said.
The 37-year-old man, who asked not to be identified, came across the bag at roughly 10 a.m. on Aug. 3, outside a Bank of America branch on West Main Street. He was accompanied by a 42-year-old woman. Nearby, officers also recovered a second, smaller bag that held 19 checks, CBS News Texas reported.
Information on one of the bags suggested the money might belong to a nearby Chick-fil-A, so the man drove there to return it. A manager said the restaurant had no claim to the funds. The man then called 911, and officers arrived to secure the bags.
A bank receipt found inside the cash bag specified the precise dollar amount expected. According to CBS News Texas, officers ran two separate hand counts and put the total through a digital currency counter before the sealed bag went into the Lewisville Police Department property room.
Police determined the money belonged to Bank of America and was being handled by its cash vendor, Brinks. Investigators determined that a Brinks technician had completed work on the ATM and inadvertently failed to take the bag with him when he left. Police found no connection to criminal activity. Bank of America has since recovered the funds.
Lewisville Police Detective Gina Miller said nothing in her career had prepared her for a find of this scale. "I've had cases where good Samaritans have turned in property that they found, wallets, IDs, things like that," Miller told CBS News Texas. "But in the case of $128,000, I've never had somebody turn in that kind of money before."
Lewis
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Oct 02, 2026
Sea surface temperatures just hit a record high in a 2.4-million square mile region of the deep Pacific Ocean known as Niño 3.4, the key area scientists are tracking to measure the rapidly strengthening El Niño.
The daily average temperature - 85.73 degrees - on Sept. 29 was higher than at any other time on record in the region, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It continued to climb the next day.
The temperature is about as warm as the ocean off Miami Beach and San Juan, Puerto Rico this week and warmer than the water off St. Petersburg, Florida, and Galveston, Texas.
"We are seeing a perfect storm of climate change and a super El Niño that is maturing so fast," Ben Kirtman, dean of the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, told USA TODAY on Sept. 30. Sea surface temperatures in the region are still climbing and could continue into November, according to Kirtman.
NOAA emphasizes the Sept. 29 number is preliminary and could change when additional data from ships, buoys and other sources is integrated. However, water temperatures at buoys along a 1,000-mile swath of the 140th meridian on Sept. 30 ranged from 83.8 degrees to 87.8 degrees, according to data provided by NOAA's National Data Buoy Center.
The record-warm waters raise grave concerns for marine life and coral reefs and for the people and communities who make their living by the sea, said Bill Precht, a coral scientist and director of coastal and marine sciences for Florida-based Bio-Tech Consulting.
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Oct 02, 2026
Think a high salary is a ticket out of living paycheck to paycheck? Think again.
Roughly 4 in 10 workers earning above $300,000 say they're doing just that, according to Goldman Sachs Asset Management's 2026 retirement report.
"One of the more remarkable findings is whether or not financial security improves linearly with income," Chris Ceder, a senior retirement strategist at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance.
You'd think financial security would improve as someone makes more money, with income tracking in a straight path with each extra dollar of earnings.
"It does for a while, but it's a U-shape pattern," Ceder said.
Those making between $100,000 and $300,000 aren't so stretched, according to the findings, but the number who say they are living paycheck to paycheck shoots back up among those earning above $300,000 annually.
"We can see a similar pattern as it relates to delaying financial goals, delaying retirement savings, and also paying the minimum of their credit card balances," Ceder added.
For example, the survey found that the people making only minimum credit card payments or less are clustered at the lowest and highest income brackets.
About 4 in 10 workers making under $100,000 are skating by on the minimum credit card payment. That drops to 35% for those in the $100,000 to $300,000 income bracket and pops up again to 42% for those who earn above that threshold.
Nearly half of those bringing in a half-million dollars made minimum payments this year, up from 39% last year.
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Oct 02, 2026
US bond yields have surged upward over the past month, as yields on both the 10-year Treasury (^TNX) and 30-year Treasury (^TYX) have reached levels not seen since 2002, surpassing 2007 high-water marks in the lead-up to the financial crisis.
Investors have attributed the run-up in yields to a variety of concerns, from the artificial intelligence build-out and the competition for capital to changing foreign ownership of gold versus fixed income.
Read more: How soaring Treasury yields could hit your finances
One overlooked source of upward pressure, argued Macquarie's Thierry Wizman, is not just the impact of the
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Oct 02, 2026
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Thursday she had lost faith in the district attorney overseeing the Cornell University rape case and appointed a special prosecutor to replace him.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has come under mounting pressure in recent days over his decision not to prosecute anyone when the initial allegations were made in 2024.
"Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell University's campus in October 2024," Hochul said.
"This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public's faith, in the District Attorney's ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time."
Hochul appointed the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James as the special prosecutor to oversee the investigation.
The case has drawn nationwide attention after a civil lawsuit was filed last month against the school and seven current and former fraternity members at the university.
The woman, a former student identified as "Jane Doe," said that she was the victim of a "gang rape" at the Chi Phi fraternity on Cornell's Ithaca, N.Y., campus on Oct. 19, 2024. She said she was already intoxicated when she arrived and was given ketamine before and during the alleged assault. She reported the incident to campus police three weeks later.
Van Houten, who reopened a criminal investigation into the case based on new information
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Oct 02, 2026
[AFP via Getty Images]
Donald Trump has said he may ask European countries to release some of their diesel reserves as he considers banning US exports of the fuel.
The president's comment comes after diesel prices hit record highs on UK forecourts this week, as the Iran war continues to put pressure on the supply of refined fuels.
The UK is heavily reliant on imported diesel from the US. But with US voters also facing higher fuel costs ahead of the midterm elections in November, Trump has threatened to restrict diesel exports.
The UK has been discussing the US supply threats with the EU which is holding a meeting on Friday on the issue.
Banning exports would flood the US market with diesel, and could bring prices down significantly for American drivers.
But experts warn such a ban would put further pressure on diesel prices in other countries, unless they can access further supplies.
The US is a vital supplier of diesel to the world, exporting between 1.2 and 1.5 million barrels per day, with most of it going to Latin America.
European countries including France, the Netherlands and the UK, also import a significant amount from the US following the reduction in Russian and Middle Eastern sources of diesel.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to sanctions, diverting Russian sales away from Europe. More recently Ukrainian attacks on Russian refining capacity has had a knock-on effect on global supply.
The US-led war on Iran has constrained the flow of both crude oil and refined diesel from that region.
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Oct 02, 2026
A new facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, may begin receiving undocumented families with children, local officials and immigrant rights advocates say.
The 528-bed facility will house families with children, unaccompanied minors, and single adult females as they await removal inside renovated former Air Force barracks at England Airpark, a former military base that now houses the Alexandria International Airport and an immigration detention facility, according to a draft agreement between ICE and the England Economic and Industrial Development District (EEIDD) reviewed by ABC News.
A communications manager for EEIDD told ABC News the facility could start receiving people "within the next week or two."
Alex Wong/Getty Images - PHOTO: An exterior view of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency headquarters is seen, July 6, 2018, in Washington, D.C. The facility would be the second constructed to house children since President Donald Trump's second term began but is the first to hold unaccompanied minors who are usually held in shelters under the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services before deportation or release.
A board of commissioners that governs the airpark approved the facility in February amid protests from local residents.
The facility will be managed by LaSalle Family Foundation, a nonprofit arm of LaSalle Corrections, a private prison company that manages several immigration detention centers across the country. Daily operations will be run by Anovaeon, which describes itself as a humanitarian response company. The operators are calling the facility the Alexandria Family Staging Center and say it will house people who are voluntarily self-deporting or voluntarily leaving the country, for an aver
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Oct 02, 2026
Watch: Tearful pilot recounts moment of Flydubai attack
The Indian pilot of the Flydubai plane who was attacked by his co-pilot and opened the cockpit door to let others in has said he was determined not to let others die.
Capt Smit Machchhar said he was on the ground and still being attacked when he realised the plane carrying more than 170 passengers was sinking and he had to do something.
"I was lying on the floor injured but I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside," he said in a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Others came in and also played a role [in controlling the situation]. I was of course fighting for my own life but at the same time I knew I was not going to let others die," he added.
Flydubai's flight FZ1073, which was bound for Tel Aviv from Dubai early on Wednesday morning, plunged more than 17,000ft (5,200m) two and a half hours into its journey.
It first sent an emergency signal to air traffic controllers before switching to code squawk 7500, which indicates hijacking.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later told the media that one pilot had stabbed the other before "apparently trying to crash" the plane.
After fellow passengers overpowered the attacker, two reserve pilots, who were in the plane as passengers, safely landed the plane at Tabuk Airport in north-western Saudi Arabia at 06:58 local time.
Machchhar, who has been hailed as a "true hero" by Netanyahu, was taken to hospital in Tabuk before being airlifted to Abu Dhabi, where he is reported to be in a stable condition.
He told Modi he had been flying planes for 17 years and "can tell what is happening to the plane even with my eyes closed".
Indian social media has been awash with praise for him si
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Oct 02, 2026
President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is now looking to see if Nixon-era special prosecutors committed misconduct in investigating the Watergate scandal.
An early morning burglary at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., in June 1972 would become a two-year affair, uncovering corruption inside the White House that would ultimately lead to Republican President Richard Nixon's resignation.
More than 50 years later, Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon aide who has written books on Watergate, was invited last month to give a two-hour presentation to the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal watchdog created out of the Watergate scandal, on allegations that the special prosecutor's office that investigated the break-in committed misconduct, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed to The Independent that Shepherd gave a presentation to the Office of Prof
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Oct 02, 2026
Follow updates on the war in the Middle East for Friday, Oct. 2, here. See earlier developments below.
What to know about the Iran war:President Trump said Thursday night that Iran "is ready to fold up," adding he believes the U.S. will win the war "right after the election," though he also said "maybe before the election."Mr. Trump told TIME magazine that U.S. military action against Iran could resume after the midterm elections if Tehran and Washington fail to reach a satisfactory agreement, and that he doesn't think "you could ever have peace" with Iran.Mr. Trump told reporters Thursday that Iran might be linked to a co-pilot's attempt to crash a packed plane traveling from Dubai to Israel. The president didn't offer any further details and said Iran would be hit "very hard" if it was determined that Tehran was behind the incident.
Saudi coalition accuses Houthis of drone attack on holy city of Medina
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said Thursday that the Houthis struck an electricity distribution station in the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia. The alleged attack sparked strong condemnation from the Muslim world.
It came as fighting intensifies in Yemen, where government forces said they carried out att
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Oct 02, 2026
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - US job growth likely slowed in September and the unemployment rate is forecast to have been 4.1% for a third straight month, suggesting the labor market remained stable heading into the fourth quarter.
The anticipated moderation would follow a surprise jump in nonfarm payrolls in August, which economists partly attributed to volatility ?linked to the model the government uses to strip out seasonal fluctuations from the data. The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish its closely watched employment report on Friday.
"I am ?expecting a reaffirmation of the 'low-hire, low-fire' American labor market," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM. "At this point, we're at full employment, and I think there will be nothing in the jobs report that will cause the Federal Reserve to change its ?bias from one more hike this year."
Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 90,000 last month after surging by 162,000 in August, a Reuters survey of economists predicted. Estimates ranged from as low as 35,000 to as high as 180,000. Economists expected August's job count, which was the largest in five months, to be revised down. The initial payrolls print for August has typically been weak, making this year's jump an anomaly.
"We suspect that the seasonally adjusted August nonfarm payroll print will be revised down as the BLS extends its seasonal adjustment procedure forward to incorporate the September data," said Marc Giannoni, chief US economist at Barclays. "The seasonal adjustment significantly exaggerated that ?month's employment gain. Had the August nonfarm payroll employment been adjusted with ?the August 2025 seasonal factors, it would have registered a drop of 74,000 jobs."
Economists said there were no signs yet that the US-Israel war with Iran was disrupting the labor market. But they expected the growing headwinds from the conflict in the Middle
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Oct 01, 2026
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman [Getty Images]
OpenAI has fired three researchers for allegedly mishandling information, including work that involved an external organisation that analyses artificial intelligence (AI) models.
"Our investigation confirmed that these individuals mishandled sensitive information outside established company procedures, violating our policies and breaking the trust essential to our work," a spokesperson told the BBC.
The ChatGPT-maker did not name the sacked workers, but at least two of them were involved in safety research at the firm.
The firings come as the debate over AI safety and the risks the technology may pose to humanity has intensified in recent weeks.
"We have parted ways with three individuals for violating our policies on accessing and handling sensitive company information," OpenAI's spokesperson said.
The BBC understands the former employees were not let go for raising safety concerns but for allegedly mishandling sensitive information.
Concerns over AI safety have made headlines after some researchers and industry executives called for more guardrails around the technology.
OpenAI has come under under intense scrutiny after its models went rogue and hacked several platforms, including Australian government websites.
In an earlier incident an OpenAI system accessed the internet and breached the open-source developer platform Hugging Face.
That incident led OpenAI to conduct a broad review of the activities of its AI models
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Oct 01, 2026
(AFP via Getty)
The Pentagon doubled hostile fire pay to $450 a month and raised imminent danger pay to $275 as of Thursday, the first boost to the two combat stipends since 2002.
A mid-July memo from Timothy Dill, assistant secretary of war for manpower and reserve affairs, took effect at the start of the new fiscal year, Navy Times reported.
Imminent danger pay will be prorated at $9.16 per day, up from $7.50, with a $275 monthly cap tied to days in a designated zone. Service members cannot collect both pays in the same period.
Anthony Tata, undersecretary of war for personnel and readiness, said troops facing combat "deserve higher compensation that reflects the risks" they take for the country, Stars and Stripes reported.
The increase lands as the Iran conflict enters its seventh month, with American troops still exposed to combat and reprisal strikes across the Middle East.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, which administers military pay, lists 58 locations as eligible for the imminent danger stipend.
The two stipends have been locked at a flat $225 per month since October 2002. Before that, hazardous-duty rates varied by rank and duty, typically ranging from $100 to $240 per month, officials said.
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said the tiered model separates areas of potential danger from zones with hostile fire and lets commanders shift troops from imminent danger pay to hostile fire pay the moment a designated area tips in
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Oct 01, 2026
Governor Kathy Hochul/X
New York State Attorney General Letitia James will be taking over as special prosecutor in the case alleging sexual assault at Cornell University, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday, saying she "lost faith" in the district attorney's ability to oversee it.
The announcement comes as new details have emerged this week about the alleged gang rape of then-student Jane Doe in a room at the Chi Phi fraternity house in 2024, including what she told campus police about the alleged assault.
"New information has raised serious questions about how this case was handled, and I've lost faith in the Tompkins County DA's ability to fairly oversee it," Hochul said in a statement. "The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued."
James will now have the power to investigate the incident and, if warranted, prosecute any offenses and present evidence to a grand jury. Cornell told CNN Thursday it supports the governor's decision.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has repeatedly told CNN that his office never received more than the Snapchat messages and a six-page investigative report before deciding not to bring charges in the case.
In the report, Doe she recounted being hit and feeling emotionally coerced into sexual activity while intoxicated.
She made a more explicit accusation of rape in a November 2024 interview with campus police - the transcript of which Van Houten told CNN
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Oct 01, 2026
The Grand Teton national park in Wyoming.Photograph: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Major League Baseball (MLB) leadership is no longer considering holding a game inside a national park, according to a letter commissioner Robert Manfred sent to officials in Teton county, Wyoming, on Thursday in what could be the league's biggest swing-and-a-miss off the diamond.
On 26 September, the Washington Post reported that MLB had reached out to the White House about staging a one-day game at Grand Teton national park in Wyoming. Teton county describes itself as a "a year-round resort community" and sits within the Jackson Hole valley. It's also a habitat for grizzly bears, osprey, bison and more.
News of MLB's outreach to the federal government quickly sparked concern about the impact that erecting a field and the infrastructure to hold spectators could have on the natural landscape and habitat of scores of wildlife that call the 310,000-acre (125,500-hectare) park home.
In the letter, Manfred noted that MLB had held games at places like the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina and the nation's oldest Negro Leagues stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. He added that MLB staff had been doing their due diligence to see whether a game at Grand Teton was possible and to evaluate the potential environmental impact.
"Since the story was reported, it has become clear that the local community does not want us t
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Oct 01, 2026
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday said she issued an executive order to appoint Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor for the alleged "gang rape" that took place at a Cornell fraternity in 2024.
"Newly released information continues to raise serious questions about the investigation conducted by the Cornell Police Department and the decision by the Tompkins County District Attorney not to prosecute an alleged sexual assault on Cornell University's campus," Hochul said in a statement.
"This has, in turn, undercut my faith, and the public's faith, in the District Attorney's ability to effectively investigate and prosecute the case at this time," Hochul added.
In a statement, James said she is "ready to lead a process New Yorkers can trust, guided by the facts and the law."
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images - PHOTO: New York Governor Hochul Makes AI Safety Announcement"Every New Yorker deserves to know that when they report a crime, it will be investigated fully and fairly. The Governor has entrusted my office with this investigation, and we do not take that responsibility lightly," James said.
The appointment of James as special prosecutor comes five days after Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said he would reopen the investigation into the former student's allegations.
'I felt like bait,' Jane Doe said at 2025 Cornell University hearing investigating allegations of fraternity house sexual assaultLate last month, the former student, listed as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit alleging that she was drugged, assaulted and "gang raped" by
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Oct 01, 2026
"Politically, there's just a recognition that it's always going to be hard to win a midterm when you have the White House, the Senate and the House," Vance said in an interview with NBC News. (Brandon Bell / Getty)JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. — Vice President JD Vance acknowledged Thursday that Republicans face an "uphill climb" in next month's midterm elections — and that the results may be a data point he reviews as he decides whether to run for president in 2028.
"Historically there's always a bit of an uphill climb, and I think you definitely sense that," Vance said in an interview with NBC News. "I also think you can sense a sense of cautious optimism, in the sense that, you know, people feel like the numbers are sort of moving, maybe in our direction."
He added: "Politically, there's just a recognition that it's always going to be hard to win a midterm when you have the White House, the Senate and the House."
Vance spoke aboard Air Force Two shortly after it landed on a return trip from Lakeland, Florida, where he campaigned for Sen. Ashley Moody and Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee for governor. It was his latest headlining gig at a rally meant to boost support for the party's candidates in what is expected to be a challenging year for the GOP.
Aside from the historical trends Vance mentioned, polls have shown President Donald Trump and
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Oct 01, 2026
For well over an hour, the state of Tennessee tried to kill Christa Pike. Then they raced to save her life.
Seven members of the news media who witnessed Pike's botched execution on Sept. 30 described an increasingly troublesome scene in the death chamber at a state prison in Nashville. The process began with Pike's last words, and ended with the state closing curtains in the viewing chamber and ordering the witnesses to leave even as they could hear Pike snoring on what was supposed to be her death bed.
Pike had survived two doses of pentobarbital, the second of which is considered a backup in case the first doesn't prove lethal. The state's execution protocol has no guidance for what happens when two doses fail, something that hasn't happened in the history of lethal injections in the U.S., according to experts and a USA TODAY review of previous botched executions.
Pike's failed execution, Tennessee's second in just four months, is raising questions about the state's ability to carry out the death penalty and drawing increased scrutiny to the constitutionality of the method nationwide.
As questions swirl about what happened to Pike and what is
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Oct 01, 2026
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 29: U.S. President Donald Trump waves after speaking during the America.gov launch event at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on September 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. The website features an artificial intelligence tool to help Americans interact with the federal government. The event was attended by tech leaders Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, along with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) | Image Credits:Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images
In December 2025, about a month before the U.S. invaded Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro, President Trump had a secret meeting with Elon Musk, Time magazine reports. This was roughly seven months after Musk left his role in the Trump administration at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
During this meeting, Trump "spent hours" talking to Musk's Grok chatbot, including asking how Venezuelans would respond to the capture of their president, a source told Time. Just a few months earlier, in September, Trump began ordering U.S. military strikes against Venezuelan boats that Trump alleged were involved in drug trafficking.
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Oct 01, 2026
The Trump administration is airing campaign-style television ads using money Congress approved for border security upgrades, efforts to combat drug trafficking and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty, according to federal spending records.
Democrats say the ads break multiple federal laws by using taxpayer money for political purposes that Congress never authorized. The White House defends the ads as public service announcements.
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One of the spots closely resembles a 30-second video produced by the Trump campaign in 2024. The latest ad features President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth advocating for the Iran war. They feature disclosures saying they are "Paid for by the U.S. Government."
On Sept. 19, a few days before the ads began airing, the White House Office of Management and Budget added $20 million to a Department of Homeland Security budget line designated for "commemorative events," according to publicly disclosed OMB data. Congress approved the spending for those events in Trump's 2025 domestic spending package, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, and intended it for "Line-of-Duty death memorials, Department or agency anniversaries, and commendation ceremonies," according to a House budget committee report.
The next day, Sept. 20, DHS awarded a $20 million contract for a "national media campaign" to the LMD Agency, a Maryland-based public relations and media firm that had previously worked for the department. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
DHS and OMB had originally planned to spend only $1 million on "commemorative events," according to OMB records. To add $20 million to tha
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Oct 01, 2026
Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, received two doses of a lethal drug in a Nashville execution chamber Wednesday night. But she didn't die.
Although her survival was "unparalleled," as one expert said, it was the latest example of a botched execution attempt involving lethal injections in Tennessee and elsewhere around the United States.
"All of this was predicted, and the court did nothing," said Steve Ferrell, an attorney for Pike, at a news conference Thursday, referencing the state's history of problems with its lethal drug protocol.
Pike, 50, was condemned for the 1995 murder of her former classmate Colleen Slemmer, then 19, whom she and two others tortured and killed in a manner widely described as gruesome, horrific and disturbing. Eighteen at the time of the attack and 20 at her sentencing, Pike was the youngest woman sent to death row in the country's modern capital punishment era.
The extent of Pike's injuries after the failed execution was unclear, but her attorneys said Thursday that she was still alive and receiving "lifesaving medical care" at a hospital. A doctor told CBS partner BBC News that Pike would have likely suffered traumatic brain injury.
Her legal team had said in an emergency motion to halt the execution Wednesday night that she had not lost consciousness, retained a heartbeat and could be heard audibly snoring on the gurney, despite correctional staff administering two syringes' worth of the drug pentobarbital to her through an IV. At one point, Associated Press reporter Kim Chandler, who witnessed the execution, said Pike "looked toward prison officials and asked if it was supposed to feel that way."
"The case of Christa Pike lays bare multiple reasons why the death penalty should be abolished," United Nations human rights chief Volker Tu
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Oct 01, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is dispatching roughly 9,000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East, a U.S. official said Thursday. The bolstering of the American military presence comes as President Donald Trump warned anew that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon.
The troop movement, which includes a third aircraft carrier, underscores the rapidly evolving dynamic of Trump's war against Iran as he ponders his next move, with midterm elections in the United States looming large and new signs that the nature of the conflict may be becoming more complex.
Trump has threatened that a post-midterm election escalation — despite his initial promises to Americans of a campaign that would last a matter of weeks — remains a viable option. Further complicating matters, Trump told reporters Thursday that early indications suggest that Iran is linked to the FlyDubai co-pilot who stabbed his captain and tried to crash an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday.
In an exchange with reporters at the White House, Trump raised the connection when asked by a reporter if there were any links between the pilot behind the attack and Tehran.
"I wo
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Oct 01, 2026
Christa Pike's attorney said she is still alive a day after she survived two doses of lethal injection drugs on Wednesday. The inmate is in critical condition and is receiving life-saving medical care, her legal team told reporters Thursday afternoon.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has since paused executions in the state.
Pike, 50, remained alive and snoring loudly after being given two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys and other witnesses said. She was subsequently taken to a hospital.
Lee ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred" and said that another scheduled execution later this year had been paused.
"There are very few answers this morning. It's very early," Lee told reporters Thursday morning. "There are a lot of questions. The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered.
"This is a tragedy. There is no one who wanted what happened last night to happen. It's deeply disturbing to me that this has happened in this state."
May Martinez, the mother of Pike's victim, Colleen Slemmer, told NBC News the execution attempt had been a "mess," adding, "They didn't say anything, and then, all of a sudden, they asked all the victims to leave. We didn't know anything until we got up to the office and saw the commissioner. And he said that it didn't work ... and she's on her way to the hospital."
In a statement posted on
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