Pentagon Plans Public Livestream of Fort Hood Shooter Execution
The Pentagon has said the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, will be carried out by firing squad on December 3 and livestreamed publicly. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the execution would be “public,” and a Pentagon official said the military plans to broadcast it. If it proceeds, it would be the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since World War II and the first military execution overall since 1961.
The decision drew immediate condemnation. United Nations human rights officials said the public livestream would amount to torture, and U.S. lawmakers called the plan “disturbing” and “grotesque,” with some comparing it to the practices of terror groups and oppressive governments. Alonzo Lunsford, a survivor of the Fort Hood attack, told the BBC that the punishment fits the crime but questioned whether the public should be able to watch.
Hurricane Isaias Strengthens to Category 2, Threatens Gulf Coast
Hurricane Isaias intensified into a Category 2 storm by Friday as it churned toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, threatening millions of residents from Louisiana to Florida with dangerous storm surge, hurricane‑force winds, heavy rainfall, flooding and possible tornadoes. Forecasters expect the storm to make landfall Friday night, with impacts possibly continuing into the weekend. Alabama, Florida and Georgia have declared states of emergency, and mandatory evacuations are in effect in some areas.
The first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season has already disrupted oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said the storm could bring dangerous winds, storm surge and heavy rains to the Gulf Coast, and officials urged residents in warning zones to evacuate if told to do so. Isaias formed as a tropical storm late Wednesday from Tropical Depression Nine and quickly strengthened over warm waters off eastern Mexico.
Christa Pike Conscious and Speaking After Failed Tennessee Execution Attempt
Christa Pike, the Tennessee death row inmate who survived a botched lethal injection execution last week, has regained consciousness and is speaking but remains critically injured, her lawyers said. She cannot move her arms or swallow, has developed pneumonia and a blood clot, and suffered burned and blistered arms after receiving two doses of the execution drug, according to her attorneys. Pike, 50, was taken from the execution chamber in an ambulance and remains hospitalized.
Pike remains shackled to her hospital bed despite medical staff requests that the restraints be removed, a request her lawyers said was denied by the Tennessee Department of Correction. A judge has ordered state officials to preserve all evidence from the failed execution. Tennessee has suspended executions, and its prison chief has resigned in the aftermath. Her lawyers are seeking to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
U.S. Charges Maduro and Wife With Torture Conspiracy
U.S. prosecutors have filed a new superseding indictment charging former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, with conspiracy to commit torture, adding to existing charges of drug trafficking and firearms offenses. Prosecutors allege that Maduro “presided over this system of repression and torture” and that Flores helped develop it, with detainees—including U.S. citizens—subjected to waterboarding, rape and beatings.
The revised indictment also points to the involvement of Venezuela’s DGCIM military intelligence agency. Maduro and Flores remain in U.S. custody following a January military raid; Flores has separately sought release from jail on health grounds.
British Consulate in East Jerusalem Becomes UK Mission
Britain’s diplomatic presence in East Jerusalem will continue under a new name, the UK Mission, Jerusalem, after Israel’s deadline to close the consulate passed, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said. Israel had ordered the facility to close in response to British sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and said Thursday that the consulate had “ceased to function,” while most UK diplomats were expected to leave.
Miliband insisted the former consulate general would remain independent, operational and focused on serving the Palestinian people. UK signage at the site was removed as the 30-day Israeli deadline expired, but British officials said the mission would keep working.
USS Abraham Lincoln Returns Home After Record Deployment
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln returned to its homeport in San Diego on Thursday, ending a record-setting deployment supporting U.S. military operations against Iran. Families gathered on the pier as sailors disembarked following a voyage that included a stop in Thailand last month on the return from the Middle East. Published accounts put the length of the deployment at roughly 10 months, or about 265 to more than 300 days.
The lengthy deployment drew scrutiny over reports of supply shortages and deteriorating morale and mental health among the crew. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth greeted the carrier near the end of its mission, which the Navy described as a record‑long deployment.
South Korea Recalls Ambassador to Ukraine Over POW Dispute
South Korea has recalled its ambassador to Ukraine after Kyiv publicly disclosed the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul, a revelation Seoul said endangered the prisoners’ families in North Korea. President Lee Jae Myung had threatened unspecified punitive steps if Ukraine refused to apologize; Ukraine has rejected South Korea’s accusations.
The recall, announced Thursday, marks the latest escalation in a diplomatic spat that began last month when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed the defections. South Korean officials said the disclosure broke a confidentiality agreement.
Canadian Poet Anne Carson Wins 2026 Nobel Literature Prize
The Swedish Academy has awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature to Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson, 76, for what it called a “bold and inventive” body of work that reimagines classical mythology in contemporary forms. Carson, known for her reverence for Latin and Greek classics, is the newest laureate.
Fellow writers including Margaret Atwood, Emily Wilson, Ocean Vuong and Rebecca Perry celebrated the announcement, with Atwood recommending new readers start with Carson’s “The Beauty of the Husband.”
Labour Holds Off Greens in Holborn and St Pancras Byelection
The Labour Party retained the London parliamentary seat of Holborn and St Pancras in a byelection called after former Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned the constituency in September. Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali defeated Green Party leader Zack Polanski by about 3,300 votes in a contest widely seen as an early test for Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Some Labour and Liberal Democrat campaigners said voters told them they could not support the Greens after the party passed an anti-Zionism motion, suggesting the issue may have cost the Greens support in the left-leaning north London seat.
Arizona Candidate Reports Rape While Repairing Campaign Sign
Bernadette Greene-Placentia, the Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, has publicly said she was raped in August while trying to repair a damaged campaign sign. She told reporters her memory of the attack is spotty and that she was knocked unconscious; the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said a report was filed on August 31.
Greene‑Placentia said she is sharing her story to fight for victims of sexual assault.
Houthi Attack Kills Three at Riyadh Airport, Saudi Arabia Says
Houthi forces carried out two attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday, killing three Saudi nationals and bringing the Yemen conflict to the Saudi capital, Saudi authorities said. The airport reopened after the strikes, which come amid an escalation in fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
Airports have become a primary target in a recent wave of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, which has faced increasingly sophisticated and targeted strikes.
ICE Agent Shoots Man in New York City, Child in Car
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot a man Thursday in the Marble Hill neighborhood of New York City while the man was in a car with a five-year-old boy, law enforcement officials said. The man was conscious when taken to a hospital; the New York Police Department said it was not involved in the shooting.
Officials have not provided further details about the man's condition beyond his consciousness, nor have they explained the circumstances that led the ICE agent to fire.