Saturday, October 3, 2026

Tennessee Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will resign this month following Wednesday's botched lethal injection of Christa Pike, 50, who survived two doses of pentobarbital and remains hospitalized. Gov. Bill Lee has asked former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to lead an independent review of the department's actions. Strada said his department followed protocol but that stepping aside was "in the best interest of Tennesseans." All scheduled executions in the state have been halted.

President Trump said his administration would send one-time payments of nearly $100, totaling about $2 billion, to more than 20 million senior citizens to help cover Medicare Part B premiums. The money will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which Trump called a "pointless 'Slush Fund.'" The White House said eligible seniors would get direct deposits in early October or paper checks if they lack direct deposit.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone issued an emergency injunction Friday barring the Trump administration from building border barriers or engaging in "construction or ground disturbing activities" in the Big Bend region of Texas, including Big Bend National Park. The administration had already paused construction there in August, with CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott saying he would meet local stakeholders. The project had drawn local opposition and environmental concerns.

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching off Nantucket, Massachusetts, for a Gulfstream G100 air ambulance carrying six people that lost contact with air traffic controllers early Saturday after departing Bermuda for Boston. The plane left Bermuda International Airport at 11:41 p.m. Friday; flight data showed it dropped altitude significantly before losing communication around 1 a.m. Four Canadians and two people picked up in Bermuda were aboard, the New York Times reported. Search planes and helicopters were deployed.

Former Florida congressman David Rivera was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him in May of secretly lobbying U.S. officials for Venezuela's government in 2017-2018 under a $50 million contract, along with money laundering charges. Rivera, a longtime friend of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, maintained he had actually advocated for removing President Nicolás Maduro. Rubio testified he was unaware of the activities.

The FDA found cyclospora, a parasite, in a wastewater tank and a drainage ditch at a Taylor Farms processing site in Mexico and in the field where the lettuce was grown. The finding adds evidence linking the site to an outbreak that sickened thousands of people over the summer, though the agency said it could not determine how the contamination occurred.

The U.S. Supreme Court's new term opened Monday with a major climate change case stemming from a devastating Colorado wildfire. The term also includes cases on religion and guns, along with continued activity on the court's emergency docket.

Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre, 50, an alleged Tren de Aragua leader known as 'Prometheus,' was captured in Venezuela last month and returned to the US, becoming the first cyber fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He appeared in a Nebraska court Friday, pleading not guilty to four federal conspiracy charges tied to a multimillion-dollar ATM 'jackpotting' scheme, and will remain detained pending trial, the DOJ said.

Two people were killed in a shooting and stabbing Friday night at a strip mall near California State University, Northridge, in Los Angeles. Dozens of people were detained following the incident. Authorities have not explained what led to the violence.

UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national, tried to take control of FlyDubai Flight 1073 and commit a terrorist act, attacking Captain Smit Machchhar with the cockpit's crash axe and incapacitating him before passengers intervened. A Middle Eastern source told Fox News Oman Air had barred al-Hammami in 2024 over extremism concerns. A deleted LinkedIn profile bearing his name listed stints at Oman Air and Royal Air Maroc. Netanyahu called him "suicidal" and said he "underwent Islamic radical indoctrination."

Russia struck Kyiv's Northern and Southern bridges over the Dnipro River in recent days, prompting the city to close five of its six bridges connecting the left and right banks. The overnight strikes also hit a logistics center near Kyiv as part of a broader drone campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure. Russia separately said it would continue large-scale strikes on Kyiv and urged foreign diplomats to leave the city.

Two Iranian nationals charged with terrorism offenses in Britain appeared in court. A prosecutor said the men conducted surveillance of a synagogue, the site of a deadly attack a year earlier, as part of an alleged plot to bomb it this year. The men had entered the UK on small boats; the allegations come amid heightened tensions between Britain and Iran over a separate security incident.

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong said the launch detected Saturday by South Korea's military was a test of an intermediate-range missile fired toward the east coast. South Korea's defense ministry and Japan had reported the launch, which added to tensions between the two Koreas following landmine blasts near their border last month.

Ethiopian federal forces have retaken the airport in Mekelle, capital of the northern Tigray region, according to residents who spoke to the Associated Press on Saturday. The move reverses a takeover by Tigrayan fighters that had prompted the suspension of commercial flights last month. The broader fighting between Ethiopia and Tigrayan rebels has raised concerns about a wider regional conflict in the Horn of Africa, drawing attention from Eritrea, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

A 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national arrested Thursday in London on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts near the U.S.-operated RAF Fairford air base in England has been released on bail, British authorities confirmed Saturday.