Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang were arrested at their mansion in Arcadia, California, and charged with conspiring to abuse children born via surrogates. Prosecutors cited 15 victims, while other reports cite 14 or 21 children removed from the couple's custody. Authorities said the couple allegedly directed nannies to abuse the children; the couple reportedly had at least 21-25 children through surrogacy arrangements.

A federal court hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to decide whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be deported to Liberia was abruptly canceled, with no immediate reason given. Abrego Garcia, previously mistakenly deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador, had said he would be willing to go to Costa Rica instead and planned to fight deportation to Liberia in court.

David Rush, 49, a former senior CIA official with top-secret clearance, pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Prosecutors said he invented fictitious government authorities, including a fake Special Access Program, to divert about $193.6 million, directing $145 million in wire transfers toward luxury homes, watches and cars, and using other funds to buy 298 gold bars, worth roughly $46 million according to prosecutors.

Christa Pike, sentenced to death in Tennessee, is conscious and speaking six days after a September 30 lethal injection attempt failed, her attorneys said Tuesday. She received two doses of the drug but survived and was taken from the execution chamber by ambulance; she remains hospitalized with damage to her arms. Her attorney has called on Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence; Lee has not done so.

An ABC lawyer asked a federal judge in Washington to halt an early FCC review of licenses for several local ABC stations, comparing it to sitting with the network's

Cornell University announced Tuesday it has retained former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to review its policies on preventing and responding to sexual assault. The review will include a detailed examination of Cornell's handling of allegations by a student, identified as Jane Doe, against members of the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024, who face a separate civil lawsuit. The university review is separate from a criminal investigation.

US prosecutors charged a 30-year-old Washington state resident with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country, alleging he helped Jesse Van Rootselaar plan the February school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, offering advice and money for supplies at least six months beforehand. Most outlets say the attack killed eight people; the BBC reported six children died.

Governor Kathy Hochul declared New York's first statewide disaster emergency over measles this year, with state officials reporting 108 cases as of October 3, most outside New York City. The declaration expands the number of health professionals who can administer vaccines. Pennsylvania's outbreak, reported Monday at more than 1,000 cases, remains the state's largest in more than three decades.

President Trump held a Tuesday event near Baltimore announcing a $6.6 billion manufacturing investment tied to submarine defense work. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat and frequent Trump critic, did not attend; he said he skipped the event because he would not have been allowed to speak, and CNN reported the Trump administration blocked him from speaking.

Former FBI intelligence analyst Jill Fields filed a whistleblower complaint alleging the White House and top Justice Department and FBI leadership directed agents to open investigations into Los Angeles protesters, which she says targeted them for First Amendment activity and violated the Constitution and bureau policy. CNN reports the complaint says Trump demanded an FBI probe into protesters after viewing a TikTok video.

Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Ukraine, killing at least 15 people. A missile strike on Kyiv killed at least two people. Separately, Ukrainian forces have regained territory in parts of the Donbas, blocking Russian attempts to encircle fortified Ukrainian cities there, even as Moscow says the region's capture is inevitable.

Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked Aden airport as fighting intensified across Yemen on October 7, following their earlier strikes on Saudi airports. Saudi Arabia and allied states activated a defense pact in response to the Houthi attacks. The Saudi-led coalition said it has regained territory near the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Oil prices rose, with Brent crude back above $100 a barrel, amid concerns over regional tensions and exports.

More than a quarter of a million people rallied nationwide to support school students demanding more education funding, according to government figures, with thousands of arrests. Students blockaded as many as 2,000 schools and hundreds of universities over the crumbling education system. Police fired tear gas and water cannons in Paris and Marseille. Crowds, described as mainly teenagers, called for more resources and an end to what they called police repression.

German prosecutors say former BND foreign intelligence chief August Hanning, 80, who led the agency 1998-2005, obtained roughly 2,000 internal intelligence documents through former aide Manfred D. and used them in private consulting work, allegedly seeking to sell information to at least one foreign power. Both men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of treasonous espionage and attempted treason. Prosecutors say the men allegedly agreed in spring 2010 that Manfred D. would transmit intelligence to Hanning, sometimes for payment.

Kenya's first Ebola case, a Kenyan citizen who had lived in Congo for seven years and fell ill about a month ago, died Monday at a Nairobi hospital after traveling via Uganda, officials said. He is the first reported fatality in Kenya from the outbreak's Bundibugyo strain. Congo has recorded more than 8,000 cases and 4,114 deaths across seven provinces, and Kenya is the fourth country to confirm a case.

British counterterrorism police arrested a seventh person, a 22-year-old from London, on Tuesday in connection with an incident last month at RAF Fairford, an air base used by U.S. warplanes. Six previously arrested people were released on bail. President Trump and Britain's leader have said the incident has links to Iran.

The US has reissued a do-not-travel warning for Russia and President Trump plans to speak with President Putin about the death of a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute from suspected pneumonic plague. Russian authorities have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation but have not confirmed plague as the cause. The World Health Organization says the public health risk remains low. No additional deaths have been reported.