The Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution would be "public."

Hegseth, speaking to the conservative TV outlet Real America's Voice News on Wednesday, said the execution of Hasan will take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3. Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009.

RELATED STORY | Trump approves firing squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Hegseth said.

Hegseth spoke to the outlet aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier while visiting the long-deployed crew, who supported the Iran war, before their arrival at their home port in San Diego.

When asked if Hasan had made any final requests or reached out to the Trump administration, Hegseth simply replied: "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3rd."

Officials in the Pentagon clarified Thursday that the execution will be livestreamed and that more details would follow.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell had said Monday that President Donald Trump had approved the execution of Hasan.

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The White House on Thursday immediately referred questions about the plans for the livestreamed execution to the Pentagon.

Hegseth said the military hasn't executed a servicemember by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was executed by hanging.

The University of Arizona has suspended activities at its fraternities following persistent reports of misconduct, including assault, hazing, and drug and alcohol-related behavior, a university official said.

Just seven weeks into the fall semester, the university's Dean of Students Office was investigating multiple misconduct reports involving nearly half the school's Interfraternity Council chapters, Dean Chrissy Lieberman said Monday in a letter to the school's fraternities and sororities announcing the suspension.

The reports follow misconduct findings against some interfraternity chapters in the spring and multiple criminal investigations, according to the letter.

"The number of cases under investigation and the severity of the concerns is egregious," Lieberman wrote.

Cornell officials pressed by faculty as outrage mounts over alleged gang rape

University spokesman Nick Prevenas did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the criminal investigations on Wednesday.

The Associated Press left messages with the university's police agency. Officer Frank Magos, a spokesperson for the Tucson Police Department, said he was unaware of recent cases involving fraternities that were investigated by the city's police agency.

Prevenas also did not say whether the suspension was triggered by recent public outcry over how Cornell University handled allegations that multiple fraternity brothers sexually assaulted a woman in 2024. Lieberman's letter noted that "the value of the Greek experience is under scrutiny nationwide."

The suspension prohibits fraternities from hosting, attending, participating in and sponsoring any organizational activities at least until their advisers have met with Lieberman at one of three meetings that were scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Oct. 12, according to the letter.

The letter said the dean's office had reached "capacity" to investigate misconduct reports, and that reports continued even after the university's president warned Interfraternity Council presidents at an August meeting about the possibility of additional consequences.

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"It is time for the University of Arizona Greek community to step up and set an example for good," the letter said. "It is time to have difficult conversations with each other and the members of the community."

The university had previously suspended activities at the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity after new members last year were reportedly forced to consume large quantities of alcohol and live goldfish and were subjected to screaming, degradation, and threats, according to a Sept. 2 letter from a university official to the fraternity.

An email and phone message at the fraternity's national headquarters were not immediately returned. The AP also reached out to six other fraternity chapters at the University of Arizona's campus via social media seeking comment on the suspensions.

Worries around artificial intelligence cross party lines, with the vast majority of Americans saying the U.S. government should prioritize keeping AI under human control and protecting workers.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that most Americans, 64%, think AI is developing too fast, while 27% say its development has been about right and only 8% say it's moving too slow.

The risk that powerful AI models could evade human control and hurt humanity, once the stuff of science fiction, has been emerging as a more pressing concern. Even leaders of the companies that are developing frontier AI models are calling for a slowdown so that government regulation can catch up. President Donald Trump has pushed back against slowing down AI development because of concerns that China will gain an advantage with the technology. Data centers powering AI projects have also taken a prominent role in major political races as the midterm elections approach.

About 8 in 10 U.S. adults say it's extremely or very important for the U.S. government to ensure that AI stays under human control, and they are about as likely to want the government to prioritize protecting the country's workforce. Most U.S. adults also think minimizing environmental harm and growing the U.S. economy are highly important. About half say this about promoting technological innovation, and slightly fewer say that about competing with China.

There's bipartisan concern about the speed of AI's development, but few Americans think either major political party has an advantage in handling artificial intelligence. Trump, a Republican, also gets a low rating on his handling of the issue, with 67% of U.S. adults disapproving of his performance on AI.

Stephanie Stewart, a junior-high science teacher in Sunset, Utah, said she is frustrated by the presidents opposition to AI regulation.

There is no handling of the issue except for were just going to allow these companies to do whatever they want, and were not going to regulate them, said Stewart, 53.

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Most say protecting workers should be a priority for the government

Ron Theusch, a truck driver who lives in rural Alden, Minnesota, said his No. 1 concern with AI is the potential loss of jobs including his own.

I can just see a train of self-driving trucks 24/7, just running up and down I-35, loading and unloading. I can just see that happening, said Theusch, 58.

Most Democrats and Republicans agree on the importance of protecting workers and keeping AI under human control, the poll found.

There was a movie called Terminator, where the robots came back and killed everybody, Theusch said. People relate to that ... I dont know where its going to land. I really dont have anything I can do to control it, you know. Its going to evolve.

There's less consensus about the importance of other priorities when it comes to AI. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say its highly important to grow the U.S. economy and to compete with other countries like China. Democrats, on the other hand, are more likely to say its at least very important to minimize environmental harm.

I dont understand how, because theyre doing something as well as us, that we cant be more human about it and more humane about it than just to say, Well, theyre doing it, so we have to do it, Stewart said of U.S. competition with China.

And while about three-quarters of Democrats say AI is developing too fast, only about half of Republicans share that worry. People under 30 years old also express higher levels of concern than people 60 or older, the survey found.

I think I have all the normal concerns, right? I think its wonderful for certain applications, but I also feel like it will be overused and can create a lack of personal connections. It can make people lazy because information is just given to them without really having to research things on their own, said Kelly Opp, a 62-year-old Republican in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Like everything else, once you get that ball rolling, it progresses fast on its own, but I think that it will continue to keep progressing. So the speed doesnt really bother me, she said.

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Americans have little confidence in Democrats or Republicans on AI

As a teacher, Stewart regularly uses AI to help with her work, including with creating assignments or assisting with tests. But she is deeply concerned about AI's effects on children.

Youve got to protect kids. Youve got to protect teens. You've got to protect privacy ... we need to try to do something, she said.

Americans have little trust in either party when it comes to the handling of AI issues. About 4 in 10 Americans say they dont trust either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party on AI, according to the poll, while nearly 2 in 10 trust both parties equally, and the rest are split between trusting the Republicans and the Democrats.

Even people who identify with the parties are ambivalent about their ability to handle the issue. Only about half of Republicans and Democrats say their party is better equipped to handle AI issues, and roughly 3 in 10 in each case say neither party is.

I am kind of moderate. And I see that theres good on both sides," said Stewart. "Anyone back in Washington is weak on doing anything for anyone but themselves right now. So, no, I dont think the Democrats would do a better job per se. Maybe they would definitely tout it. But until I see anything coming from anyone, Im going to be like, Yeah, no. Youre all just sitting there.

RELATED STORY | Nearly 500 communities across the country have paused data centers

Trump pushes for more development

Meanwhile, President Trump has touted what hes dubbed super intelligence, with the midterm election just weeks away.

It is seen as an economic issue for voters. It's data centers; they see those as raising their utility costs. It is this idea that the technology could threaten American jobs, and it's why the president's rhetoric doesn't really line up with where most voters are, and even most Republicans running for office this time around, said Scripps News Group political director Andrew Rafferty.

Trump has advocated for supporting its development, pointing to guardrails within existing law enforcement, warned anyone not using his terminology is the enemy and doubled down on data centers during his midterm campaign blitz.

We're also taking historic action to ensure that big tech data centers benefit local communities, he told a crowd in Ohio last weekend.

Were getting rid of artificial intelligence and were changing it to super intelligence, he told a crowd rallying in San Antonio, TX Wednesday.

It comes after the President announced the Super Intelligence Force led by DNI Jay Clayton, and that companies signed on to an accord at the White House amidst concerns raised within the industry on the pace of development.

It is nice to be able to make AI assisted progress on lots of things. The more bearish case, though, right now on AI, I think stems from public anxiety, and I think very legitimate public anxiety, because right now, whether they want to be or not, the public and the policymakers who represent them are just not in the loop and not in control of what's happening in frontier AI right now. It's just a small number of people at a very small number of companies making decisions about obscure technologies behind closed doors that are in control, said Stephen Casper, an assistant professor at Harvard University.

Thursday, Trump awarded national medals to leaders in technology, including those at the forefront of AI, at Science: A New Golden Age Summit.

It included Elon Musk, the founder of Google and heads of Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft and Dell.

From day one my administration has taken decisive action to ensure that America continues to dominate the frontiers of science and technology, Trump said.

The summit also included more than $6 billion in investments in the government, industry, academia and philanthropy, according to the White House, and the launch of initiatives.

These initiatives will equip scientists with the tools to harness SI-driven scientific revolution, support the best and brightest American STEM students and early-career scientists, revive the pursuit of ambitious national scientific missions, and encourage the creation of new scientific institutions, the White Houses fact sheet stated.

President Donald Trump's administration is suspending tech giant Microsoft from a program to apply for green cards for workers who come to the U.S. to live and work using an H-1B visa as it accuses the company of fraud.

If you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants, said Vice President JD Vance in a White House news conference announcing the decision.

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The H-1B program has long been a target of Trump supporters who say that the program undercuts American workers and is rife with abuse.

H-1B visas are meant for high-skilled jobs that are difficult to find American workers to fill. Technology companies are the biggest users, with nearly three-quarters of approvals going to workers from India.

Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Washington, near Seattle, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Vance announcement came one day after Trump's Republican administration launched another broadside against international students and their ability to work in the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday proposed a $70,000 fee for international students seeking to work in the United States. The proposed rule would require schools to pay the fee for every student who participates in the Optional Practical Training program, known as OPT, which allows students to work in jobs related to their major during or after their time in school.

RELATED STORY | Major tech companies warn employees against international travel as visa delays mount

Vance also called out universities that he suggested were abusing a program to allow international students to come to the U.S. These temporary visas, called J-1 visas, allow international visitors to temporarily come to the U.S. for work and study exchange programs. Vance singled out nine universities that he said merited further investigation for J-1 visa fraud, saying they used the program in greater proportions than their counterparts.

U.S. authorities charged former Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro with conspiring to torture his fellow citizens in order to maintain his hold on power. The new indictment, unsealed Thursday, adds pressure on the ousted authoritarian leader already fighting drug trafficking offenses.

Maduro, who was previously charged with participating in a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S., is now also facing allegations of human rights abuses during his reign as president of the oil-rich South American nation.

He authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, arbitrary detention and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition, says the revised indictment, which newly charges Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, with torture conspiracy.

The revised indictment accuses the couple of staying in power by terrorizing perceived opponents through persecution and violence, saying thousands of Venezuelans were harassed, threatened, arrested, prosecuted, assaulted, tortured, or killed by people acting at the behest of the government he controlled.

RELATED STORY | Maduro trial date set for June 2027 as drug trafficking case against ousted Venezuelan leader proceeds

The allegations include electric shocks, beatings and asphyxiation at Maduro's behest. The indictment accuses the ex-president of signing off on methods of torture and personally threatening the killing of one prisoners child as a form of psychological torture.

A message seeking comment was sent to Maduro's lawyer; Flores' attorney was due in court for a previously scheduled hearing. Both Maduro and Flores have been behind bars in New York since early January when forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid.

Both have pleaded not guilty in the criminal case first brought years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators. They had already been facing potential life prison sentences if convicted.

Flores was scheduled to be in court Thursday, where her lawyers will urge a judge to free her from jail and put her under house arrest because she has heart problems.

Their attorneys have asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.

Lawyers for Flores, 69, have also argued that she has medical issues that cannot be treated effectively in jail, and that she could instead be allowed to live under 24-hour guard at a residence in New York.

They also said she suffered permanent scarring when she was thrown against a wall or dresser during the U.S. military action that led to her capture.

Her lawyers say she has lost 25 pounds (11 kilograms) while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and has been told that she might need heart surgery. They said she has lingering lightheadedness, dizziness and shortness of breath and might have suffered a minor heart attack in July.

Prosecutors opposed the bail request. In a court filing, they wrote that Flores would pose an extreme risk of flight and danger to the public if released. They also said she has been taken from the jail to get treatment at a local hospital, when care was needed.

RELATED STORY | Nicols Maduro shares photos on his social media from inside New York prison

President Donald Trumps administration has defended the raid to capture Maduro as a surgical law enforcement operation. Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.

Flores is charged with participating in a cocaine importation conspiracy with her husband, Maduro, who served as Venezuela's president from 2013 until his capture by American forces in January.

Lawyers for Flores said she was no threat to flee because she is intent on supporting her husband with her constant presence.

The Food and Drug Administration says its ongoing safety review of the nation's main abortion pill will continue into next year, a timeline that was quickly condemned by abortion opponents hoping to see the drug's use curtailed.

The FDA gave a court-ordered update on its progress in a legal filing late Wednesday, providing the first substantive information about the controversial reevaluation ordered by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000. The agency has repeatedly reaffirmed the pills safety and effectiveness over the years, in addition to easing a number of restrictions on the drug, including dropping a requirement that it be dispensed in person.

RELATED STORY | Supreme Court preserves access to widely used abortion pill, while lawsuit plays out

But since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, anti-abortion groups and their allies in Congress have pushed the administration to revisit the pill, in the hopes of restricting its use.

The FDA said in its filing that it expects to complete a safety study of the pill by mid-December this year. A report on the findings is expected no later than March 2027, after which the agency will decide whether to impose new restrictions or other changes on the drug's use.

Gavin Oxley of Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion group, criticized the move as a lack of true leadership by Trump administration officials.

The administration continues to find itself on the wrong side of women's health, clearly uninterested in mitigating the ongoing harms caused by the abortion pill, Oxley said.

The two-drug regimen of mifepristone, combined with a second drug misoprostol, is the most common form of abortion in the U.S.

The FDA was directed to provide the latest update by a federal judge in a case brought by the state of Louisiana alleging that mail-delivery of mifepristone undermines the states abortion ban. Its one of several state lawsuits related to mifepristone winding their way through the courts.

RELATED STORY | Court restricts abortion access across the US by blocking the mailing of mifepristone

Last month, a three-judge panel for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the merits of Louisianas case, including whether the state had the legal standing to challenge FDAs oversight of mifepristone.

Any ruling from the 5th Circuit on the Louisiana case would not immediately change the landscape because the Supreme Court has blocked changes to the drug until it sees the case again.

The FDA said Wednesday it is using a statistical data mining method to discover unknown safety concerns that may exist with the drug. The data comes from an electronic database that collects reports of medical injuries and drug side effects from major health networks and insurers.

In addition to the safety study, the agency said it is considering a number of petitions proposing changes to how mifepristone is prescribed and distributed.

Abortion opponents have focused most of their efforts on a 2021 decision allowing doctors to prescribe the drug online and send it through the mail during COVID-19. That decision, made permanent under President Joe Biden in 2023, had the effect of undermining a number of state abortion bans, since women can receive the drug through the mail.

President Donald Trump, facing protesters and a poor political climate, fought to rally Texas voters behind Senate candidate Ken Paxton on Wednesday night in a bid to stave off sweeping Democratic victories in the nation's most populous red state.

But Trump's remarks were not focused solely on Paxton.

Speaking to a packed Freeman Coliseum, Trump also pledged to award retired baseball star Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom, restated his support for the death penalty for drug dealers and clarified recent comments in which he talked about the possibility of Iran bombing American cities as part of a recurring riff about how high fuel costs are a small price to pay for the war.

You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles, Trump said. Were not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country.

The president's message was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, including by one who appeared to be close to the stage. In all, at least a dozen demonstrators interrupted the president. Some were led away by police.

Trump stepped away from the microphone briefly after one interruption.

Hes going back home to mom, Trump said. But what he doesnt know is his mom voted for Trump.

Texas has become an unexpected battleground for Republicans

The Republican Party did not plan to devote so much money and manpower to Texas this midterm season.

Texas is the nations most populous reliably Republican state, where Trump won in 2024 by almost 14 percentage points. But with Election Day less than a month away, Trumps poor approval ratings, the Iran war and soaring gas prices have threatened Republicans in virtually every state.

Wednesdays appearance marked Trumps third trip to Texas in less than a month, and party officials have devoted more than $300 million to elections in the state so far.

RELATED STORY | Obama is set to get more involved in the midterms, starting with an appearance alongside Abdul El-Sayed

In a sign of Trumps poor standing, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott did not attend the evening rally. A three-term Republican governor who won reelection in 2022 by roughly 11 percentage points, even Abbott has been caught in the turbulent national currents.

Hes locked in a competitive reelection race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.

Instead of appearing with Trump, Abbott was scheduled to attend the dedication of a hospital about 330 miles away. Democrats seized on the governors absence.

For years, Greg Abbott has never been shy about embracing Donald Trump, calling Trump a great friend and championing his agenda every step of the way, said Texas Democratic Party spokesperson Jacob Long. But now, as Texas families get crushed by record-high prices driven by Trumps tariffs and war with Iran, suddenly Greg Abbott has somewhere else to be.

Trump focuses on helping the Senate candidate he endorsed in GOP primary

While the race for governor has drawn a sudden influx of cash from Democrats, the states U.S. Senate race has drawn the most attention as Democrats fight for the chambers majority. The state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, but candidate James Talaricos fundraising, Trumps low approval rating and nagging concerns about Paxtons character have put the race squarely in play.

Trump spent most of his remarks focused on the Senate contest, describing Paxton as perhaps the greatest attorney general in the United States of America.

RELATED STORY | Trump holds Ohio midterm rally, urging voters to consider him on the ballot during 32-day campaign tour

He was tough and he was with us all the way, Trump said of Paxton, whom he endorsed in the state's GOP primary over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. Hes a fantastic man.

Trump made no mention of the recently leaked recording of Paxton lamenting the war in Iran and rising fuel prices, while also complaining his campaign was being run by operatives in Washington.

He repeatedly criticized Talarico, including on the death penalty, a point that would appeal to many conservatives in the state that leads the nation in executions.

Trump restated his support for the death penalty for large scale drug dealers, human traffickers and anyone who kills a police officer, while acknowledging that Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army major who killed 13 people in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, will be executed by firing squad.

The president approved the method of execution earlier this week and suggested that Talarico opposes it.

The Talarico campaign did not immediately respond when asked about the candidates position on Hasans scheduled execution.

Paxton, invited onstage near the end of the rally, heaped praise on Trump, who stood behind him: I am so grateful that youre here."

Trump makes a big announcement, but not about the Senate race

While Trump promoted Paxton briefly at the beginning of his remarks, he spent almost as much time later talking up Clemens, the retired Red Sox and Yankees pitcher who has been denied a spot in Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame due to his alleged involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.

Trump brought him onstage and said he'd be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor and, Trump said, a step up from the Hall of Fame.

Clemens said he was stunned by the honor.

This supersedes anything that obviously Ive done in my playing career, he said, standing alongside Trump. And to get it from this man, this president. ... You talking about a winner? Thats a winner right there.

Former President Barack Obama will campaign alongside Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit later this month, lending his support to the progressive nominee after a bruising Democratic primary exposed divisions within the party.

Obama will appear with El-Sayed at an Oct. 24 rally that will also feature other top Democratic candidates in Michigan, including Jocelyn Benson, the party's nominee for governor. Obama is getting significantly more involved in the midterm elections, with additional campaign stops and advertisements expected to come in the closing weeks, according to plans shared first with The Associated Press.

The Detroit event is a notable show of support for El-Sayed, who defeated moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in an August primary and has since worked to consolidate Democratic support in his race against Republican Mike Rogers. The open seat is expected to be among a handful that will decide which party controls the majority next year.

Obama taped two dozen ads last week for Democratic candidates for governor and Senate that will be released in the coming days and weeks, in addition to more campaign stops soon to be announced.

He appeared earlier this year in a campaign ad with Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek and campaigned in Texas with Senate candidate James Talarico and the candidate for governor, Gina Hinojosa. This week, he will headline a Washington fundraiser supporting Democratic Senate candidates.

RELATED STORY | Trump takes midterm push to Nebraska amid economic concerns among farmers

Obama aims to help El-Sayed shore up support in a key area

El-Sayed defeated Stevens by less than a percentage point in a primary that became a national test of the Democratic Partys ideological direction. El-Sayed drew support from leading progressives, including Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Stevens was backed by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Some ads that supported Stevens showed Obama praising her, and she outperformed El-Sayed in Wayne County, winning about 51% of the Democratic primary vote compared with 45% for El-Sayed. The county includes Detroit, where more than three-quarters of residents are Black.

Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian person to serve as vice president, campaigned with El-Sayed last month.

Now the Oct. 24 rally with Obama, the first Black president, could give El-Sayed a boost on the first day of Michigans required early in-person voting period. Obama spoke with El-Sayed by phone following his primary victory.

It will also be a boost for the other candidates in what is one of the most consequential elections in recent Michigan history. There are open races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general, in addition to control of the state legislature being at play.

Benson, who will also appear with Obama, is facing Republican Rep. John James in the race for governor.

Benson and James are set to debate for the first time on Tuesday, and El-Sayed and Rogers are scheduled to debate for the first time on Oct. 8.

RELATED NEWS | FCC considers allowing more political robocalls before midterms

Obama returns to the campaign trail for the closing stretch

Obama has been selective in his involvement in the midterms so far, but his planned ramp-up in the final weeks follows a pattern from recent elections. He campaigned in Detroit on Oct. 22 during the 2024 presidential election and was in the city Oct. 29 during the 2022 midterms.

His campaign appearances can draw large crowds and prominent guests. Rapper Eminem introduced Obama at his Detroit rally in 2024.

This week, he will headline an event with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that will include a conversation with Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester. That follows a September event with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The Ebola outbreak in Congo is creating new hot spots where there's little to no support for patients, responders and officials say, as health workers admit there could still be a long way to go in fighting the disease that has killed over 4,000 people.

More than 70% of new cases are still coming from outside of known contacts and at least 60% of deaths are outside of treatment centers, Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya told The Associated Press. There are so many other people who are becoming sick, who are not tested, treated, or listed, said Kaseya on Tuesday.

The conflict-battered, remote North Kivu province, which has emerged as the new epicenter, now accounts for around 40% of all newly confirmed cases in Congo, compared with 24% at the end of August. But the response on the ground is chaotic, said Stephanie Hoffmann, a project coordinator with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). There is a lack of coordination and organization, but theres certainly a lack of actors present here, Hoffmann told the AP.

RELATED STORY | Congo's Ebola outbreak tops 8,000 cases as disease remains out of control

Congo's deadliest Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment was declared in May under some of the most challenging conditions imaginable fueled by mass population movements, rebel violence, mistrust and poor welfare of front line workers.

Congo has recorded more than 8,500 cases in the outbreak, according to government data, making it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record and the countrys deadliest. On Tuesday, Kenya reported its first Ebola case, a man who arrived from Congo and died while receiving treatment.

The biggest challenge to date is contact tracing, Dr. Kayesa said. Only 23% of expected contacts of Ebola patients have so far been traced. The disease is spreading in a region of Congo with intense population movements due to economic activities, conflict displacement and mining, and where theres deep mistrust with the government and misinformation about the virus.

Im unable to tell you when we can stop this outbreak unless we implement the village-centered approach, the Africa CDC chief said, calling for direct involvement of villages and local leaders in contact tracing, burials of deceased patients and isolation of cases.

Treatment centers overwhelmed as other health facilities support

Many Ebola treatment centers in North Kivu are struggling with shortages of health workers and supplies, contributing to more deaths among patients, the World Health Organization has said.

North Kivus case fatality rate of 58% is the highest among Congos seven affected provinces. The disease has spread to half of its 34 health zones. In nine of those 17 affected zones, more than half of patients with confirmed infections have died, according to Health Ministry data.

Desperate for care, patients in some parts of North Kivu have turned to regular health facilities, MSF said.

Local healthcare workers are the ones feeling this the most because they have to make the decision between sending their community members home to potentially die by themselves or putting themselves at risk to help treat them in their health center, said Hoffmann, coordinator of MSFs Ebola treatment center in Butembo, North Kivu.

Some families are reluctant to report a death

Nearly five months after the outbreak was declared, it has become harder to track in parts of North Kivu, where residents still have a hard time believing the disease exists, said Michel Ngimba of the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Butembo.

He described cases in which families were reluctant to report a death or allow a sample to be taken from someone who died with Ebola symptoms. In other cases, families want to arrange the funeral quickly, Ngimba said, potentially creating new chains of transmission because the bodies of people who die from Ebola are highly contagious.

The situation has become more difficult to monitor (and) surveillance has to deal with situations that are highly fluid and sometimes difficult to document, he said.

A Texas court on Wednesday refused to halt the execution of a man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk after his attorneys cited the failed lethal injection of Christa Pike in Tennessee.

The Texas execution was scheduled to take place later Wednesday and would be the first in the U.S. since Pike survived the attempted execution last week.

Because Texas planned to inject the same drug used in Pike's attempted execution pentobarbital attorneys for 46-year-old Jamaal Howard argued to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that the drug poses similar risks. They also raised concerns about the quality of the state's execution drugs.

The court denied the request for a stay and later denied a second attempt to stop the execution over the drug. The court denied both without elaboration. The U.S. Supreme Court also denied a late appeal Wednesday evening without comment.

Pike's lawyers are seeking more information about what went wrong after the 50-year-old woman survived two doses of pentobarbital on Sept. 30. They said she was unconscious at a hospital after the attempt but was awake and speaking by Tuesday.

Texas should not be eager to follow in Tennessees footsteps; a stay would keep that from happening, Howard's attorneys argued in their earlier filing.

Texas has executed six people so far this year, with two more lethal injections scheduled after Howard. He would become the 30th person executed nationwide in 2026.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Trump approves firing squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan

Inmate remained chatty on drive to the death chamber

On Wednesday, Howard was described as chatty during the 45-mile (70-kilometer) drive from the death row prison to the Huntsville Unit where executions are carried out, said Amanda Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

He made small talk with the officers through the whole trip, she said, adding he was taken to a small holding cell near the death chamber where he remained talkative.

He was asking questions and was very engaged in the process, Hernandez said.

Store clerk's killing was caught on surveillance video

Howard was convicted of capital murder in the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, who was shot once in the chest during a store robbery. Evidence presented at trial included store surveillance video that showed Howard shooting Swartout.

Howard, then age 20, took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store in the small, rural town of Silsbee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Houston, according to court records.

His attorneys have argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that Howard's execution should be halted because he is intellectually disabled. But the state said his attorneys haven't presented evidence showing he meets the requirements for a claim of intellectual disability. The court late Wednesday rejected Howard's appeal in a brief notice without elaborating.

In 2002, the Supreme Court had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion in determining intellectual disability.

RELATED STORY | Judge orders Tennessee to preserve evidence from Christa Pikes failed execution

Defense files motions to stay execution because of drugs

In their filings in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Howard's attorneys said they filed requests for information about the lethal dose of pentobarbital the Texas Department of Criminal Justice planned to use.

The attorneys said the department asked for a state attorney general opinion about whether it must disclose that information, but that opinion is not expected to be returned until after Wednesday.

Texas officials did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.

Florida leads nation in executions this year

Florida has carried out 16 executions so far this year, the most of any state. Most states that allow executions use lethal injection as their primary method.

The FBI thwarted an attack on the Mall of America by a teenager after agents supplied him with an assault rifle, authorities announced Wednesday.

The 18-year-old had been under investigation for nearly two years, trading messages with a confidential informant, before agents sold him the rifle and ammunition, they said.

This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said as he praised the FBI investigation. Agents were able to detect a threat, and disrupt it, before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people, as we allege in far greater detail in the complaint.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested Tuesday in a public park in Richfield, several miles northwest of the Mall of America, after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of ISIS for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested Tuesday in a public park after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of ISIS for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.

In text messages with a confidential FBI source, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed his intent to carry out an attack to kill non-Muslims, the complaint said. It was not immediately known if the teen had an attorney who might speak on his behalf.

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Freddie Jackson, known for his smooth '80s hits Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake) and You Are My Lady, has died. He was 70.

A statement shared by his family on his official Instagram account confirmed Jackson died Monday, three days after his 70th birthday. No cause of death was provided.

Freddie was more than a legendary voice. He was a kind, generous soul who loved his fans, his family, his friends, and his music with everything he had. For decades he gave us the songs that became the soundtrack to our love stories, our celebrations, and our most treasured memories. That gift will live on forever, the statement read.

To everyone who ever sang along, danced, or felt something when Freddie took the stage: thank you. You were family to him, and he carried your love with him always, it continued.

Details regarding arrangements will be announced in the coming days.

Jackson was born and raised in Harlem, where he learned all about soul music and sang gospel at White Rock Baptist Church. He started his career in the New York club scene, eventually making his way out West with the band Mystic Merlin in the late '70s. He soon returned to New York and released his debut album, Rock Me Tonight, in 1985. His distinctive voice proved to be his superpower: The album, which was quickly certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, also led to his two career Grammy nominations. Those were for best new artist and best male R&B vocal performance for the single You Are My Lady.

Rock Me Tonight also created a new R&B superstar: Jackson became a mainstay of those Billboard charts and a fixture of contemporary urban radio play throughout the 80s and early '90s.

His sophomore album, 1987's Just Like the First Time, was also certified platinum.

Jackson shared his kidney disease diagnosis in 2024

In 2024, Jackson revealed he had been diagnosed with kidney disease in a video shared to his social media accounts.

This journey has had its challenges but Ive decided to face it with openness and resilience, he said in the clip. Its important to me that I share this with you, not just as a part of my personal story, but as a way to make a positive difference.

At the time, Jackson also revealed he had partnered with the National Kidney Foundation to raise awareness of the disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 in 7 American adults has chronic kidney disease. As many as 9 in 10 dont know they have it.

Chronic kidney disease is a condition where the kidneys are damaged and struggle to filter blood. As a result, excess waste and fluids remain and can lead to other health issues, such as heart disease.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering a request by a conservative group to loosen rules on political robocalls, including those with artificial intelligence-generated voices, before November's midterm elections.

Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller gets consent beforehand. The petition calls for a waiver that would allow political groups to use artificial or prerecorded voices in unsolicited wireless calls.

The Republican-led FCC advanced the request for public comment and could rule on it as soon as late October.

Consumer advocacy groups warn the proposed change could trigger a surge of unwanted, partisan and potentially misleading automated calls in the critical final days of the election, which will determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.

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The potential perils became evident two years ago during the presidential primary season when thousands of voters in New Hampshire received a robocall with an AI-generated voice of then-President Joe Biden. The call suggested voters should forgo casting a ballot in the primary and "save" their votes for the general election.

Under the waiver request before the FCC, some state and federal laws protecting against deception and voter intimidation would continue to prohibit certain misleading election-related messages. But granting it could weaken a major deterrent for bad actors, said Tim Harper, who leads the elections team at the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology.

Such a ruling close to Election Day would open "a huge opportunity for abuse during a period where harm has outsized impact," he said. "Campaigns will use this technology to target voters in deceptive ways."

A tool for better communication or misleading messages?

The Club for Growth, a right-leaning economic policy group seeking the change, said it could help political organizations better communicate with potential voters, including in more languages, and improve polling accuracy by helping groups reach more voters. It calls current federal rules outdated and argues they dampen freedom of speech.

The nation's communications regulatory body would have to act within a compressed schedule to grant the waiver in time to affect the midterm elections. Critics said it wouldn't be the first time the FCC, which has become closely aligned with the president during his second term, has bypassed procedural norms to serve its political agenda.

Its Republican chairman, Brendan Carr, launched an unusual early review of broadcast licenses for several ABC-owned local broadcast stations, prompting the company to sue. It said the review years ahead of schedule was unconstitutional, a violation of free speech and a retaliation for content Trump dislikes.

The FCC didn't respond to a request for comment on the petition.

Ana Gomez, the sole Democrat among the FCC's three active commissioners, told The Associated Press she opposes the move and thinks it would create "a tsunami of robocalls and misinformation."

"We've already seen dark money groups use AI to put candidates' likeness behind inflammatory comments ahead of this election," Gomez said. "Exempting political calls from the need for consumer consent would supercharge that strategy, and misleading messages could land directly on the handheld phone of nearly every voter in our country."

Political robocalls have caused controversies before

In past elections, deceptive political robocalls have resulted in significant fines associated with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law at the center of the petition.

In 2020, tens of thousands of prospective voters in majority-Black areas of the U.S. received robocalls falsely warning that if they voted by mail, they could face arrest and debt collection.

The two conservative hoaxers behind the calls, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, were criminally charged for the calls and fined some $5.1 million for violating the act.

The political consultant behind the 2024 New Hampshire robocalls mimicking Biden's voice said he did it to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI. He was acquitted of criminal voter suppression charges but faced fines and civil damages associated with federal law.

Shortly after the New Hampshire robocall caught authorities' attention, the FCC ruled that robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools were outlawed under the consumer protection act.

The change could boost various types of AI calling

If the commission pivots to grant the Club for Growth's petition, political groups of all stripes could amp up their use of AI to prerecord messages that play when voters pick up the phone. They also could use the technology to engage in live conversations with voters driven by AI large language models.

Mekela Panditharatne, senior counsel in the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned that such conversations hold risks. An AI system could make false promises about a candidate or manipulate voters in conversation by providing inaccurate or incomplete information.

RELATED STORY | Americans hit with about 100 scam calls, texts and emails monthly, survey finds

Harper, from the Center for Democracy and Technology, said there also could be a privacy risk for voters who might not know how an AI agent on the line with them is capturing or repurposing their data.

The Club for Growth has argued the waiver would help create a more uniform regulatory landscape, given that unsolicited automated calls to landlines are already allowed. If the waiver is granted, callers would still be limited by certain conditions, including allowing consumers to opt out and making no more than three calls within 30 days to each individual recipient.

A public comment reply period on the petition ends Oct. 19, at which point the FCC could move forward on a decision.

An extremely wealthy Chinese immigrant and his wife amassed a brood of 21 children through a surrogacy scheme and raised them in a "house of horrors," prosecutors alleged Tuesday.

Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, were arrested at their sprawling mansion in Arcadia, a city about 13 miles (20 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The children suffered daily beatings from cruel nannies as the couple watched over a network of surveillance cameras and laughed, according to prosecutors. The couple allegedly recruited women across the country to serve as surrogates, promising them that they were just looking for another child to grow their family.

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The couple face several counts of child abuse as well as conspiracy to commit child abuse, accessory after the fact and dissuading a witness, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.

"This case is unprecedented. It is horrific," he said during a morning news conference. "The physical abuse, beating and punishment that these very young children received is despicable."

In an afternoon court appearance in nearby Pasadena, the couple pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations with a Mandarin interpreter. Prosecutors sought $100 million bail per person because of the serious nature of the charges and because they are flight risks.

The couple have over 200 personal and 70 corporate bank accounts with annual transfers of $250 million, Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri said.

Both were said to have U.S., Mexican and Chinese passports, though investigators have not determined if they are all legitimate; prosecutors said they used fake passports to create some of the bank accounts.

Inside the couple's home, investigators found a bank statement showing more than $70 million in one account along with assets such as antique sculptures and specialty alcohol that added up to nearly $10 million, according to Teymouri.

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LA County Superior Court Judge Kerry White set bail at $20 million each with home detention and a protective order against visiting their children.

Mitchell Krems, the couple's attorney, called the bail amount "absurd" for the type of charges his clients face and said Zhang's health should be taken into consideration.

Zhang, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, has a rare form of leukemia and is recovering from a bone marrow transplant, Krems said.

Fifteen children were removed from the opulent home last year after an allegation of abuse, and another six living elsewhere were also located. They ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years, with most between 1 and 3. Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children, while the rest were carried and delivered by surrogates.

Hochman said the couple set up an agency, Mark Surrogacy, that they operated from home and used to hire surrogates throughout the U.S. But prosecutors said the couple misled the women, telling some that they could not conceive and others that they only had one child and wanted one more to complete their family.

"The house could only be described as a house of horrors for these incredible young children," Hochman said.

Prosecutor says videos show nannies and Xuan abusing children

Zhang and Xuan were first arrested in May 2025 after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury, the result of being violently shaken by a nanny, according to Arcadia police.

Police did not file charges at the time, saying they needed to complete the investigation.

Hochman said the couple set up three rooms they called learning centers, where the children spent several hours a day sitting at desks under the supervision of nannies.

Through an extensive surveillance system including motion-activated cameras, the couple watched and at times laughed as the nannies physically abused the children, including daily beatings, he said.

In one video, Xuan is shown entering a room and telling a nanny to strike a child harder, Hochman said, and in another he joins the nanny in hitting the child.

The nannies were allegedly told "not to leave any physical marks on the children," and when police arrived to investigate in May 2025, the children were told to deny they had been beaten.

After examining the surveillance video, police issued an arrest warrant for Chunmei Li, the nanny seen hurting the 2-month-old infant. However she fled to Tijuana, Mexico, and then China.

After the children were taken into state custody, Xuan and Zhang were allowed supervised visits. During one such visit, Zhang read to a child and wrote in the book, "Tell them you're happy with me, tell them you want to come home," lead prosecutor Teymouri said.

Krems said it was "patently false" that Xuan was involved in beating any of the children and blamed all the abuse on the nannies.

"My client, Mr. Xuan, intervened swiftly," Krems said. "He fired the nanny, excised her from the house."

California woman arrested on spy charges

Prosecutor says motive for discipline remains under investigation

When asked about the couple's motivation, Hochman said that was part of the investigation, as was the parentage of each child.

Krems, Xuan's attorney, previously told ABC7 that Xuan's goal was to raise children who become productive adults.

"The reason he has all these children is because he wants them to contribute to society. He is not a man who is self-indulgent," Krems said. "Some who are wealthy might spend on jewelry or cars, but he is actually spending his resources to help his children become educated."

After Tuesday's court hearing, he said Xuan and Zhang immigrated from China to exercise their freedom and have as many children as they want.

"If they were white, if they were Elon Musk, and they weren't Chinese, they wouldn't experience this level of scrutiny," Krems said.

Surrogates say they were misled

Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman agrees to carry and deliver a child for another person or couple, often after an embryo transfer.

There is no comprehensive federal law regulating surrogacy, leaving most rules to the states.

California is considered to be surrogacy-friendly because it has clear laws governing the process. Both sides are required to have lawyers, and there must be a written, notarized contract before an embryo transfer takes place.

At least eight women came forward to say they were aggressively pursued to serve as surrogates. The women, many of them first-time surrogates, said they were given misleading or incomplete information about the couple's family situation and intentions.

Krems denied that the couple lied to surrogates about their intentions.

The district attorney's office said a federal investigation was ongoing.

An American citizen shot by a Customs and Border Protection agent one year ago during a sweeping immigration crackdown in Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government on Monday, alleging the agent lied about the shooting and fired into her vehicle from behind.

Federal prosecutors initially accused Marimar Martinez, then 30, of using her vehicle to strike and box in agent Charles Exum's SUV on Chicago's southwest side on Oct. 4, 2025, during "Operation Midway Blitz." Exum then exited his car and opened fire, leaving Martinez with seven gunshot wounds.

In the month after the shooting, prosecutors filed to dismiss the charges in a dramatic reversal of the closely watched case in the nation's third-largest city.

'Time to get aggressive:' new footage released in case of Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol

Agent fired into rear of car, attorneys say

Her lawyers said Monday that they commissioned an expert to analyze bullet trajectories and her injuries and determined Exum wasn't in the path of her car when he opened fire. They said he had walked several feet toward her car, contrary to statements he made to the FBI, and fired off five shots in less than a second, the last from the rear side of her vehicle.

"Charles Exum told the FBI agent on that day, within hours of the shooting, that Marimar was driving her car directly at him, that he shot her five times through the windshield, and that he ceased firing once he was no longer in the path of the vehicle. Those are three objective lies that you'll see here today," said one of her attorneys, Chris Parente.

Parente said there were only three bullet holes in Martinez' windshield on the right passenger side, which indicated Martinez wasn't driving toward the agent. He said the fourth shot was fired through the front passenger side window, adding another bullet hole in the back of Martinez' car seat showed the agent fired the fifth shot from behind her.

"In what world can a U.S. law enforcement officer stand behind a car and fire his Glock service weapon through the rear passenger window at a young woman who's crouched over the steering wheel?" Parente said.

CBP said in a statement to The Associated Press in response to the suit that Exum had been placed on administrative leave. Use-of-force incidents are "thoroughly investigated, reviewed, and presented" to an independent board, it added.

RELATED STORY | Renee Good's family sues US government, immigration officials over her killing

Exum is not a defendant in the lawsuit against the federal government, which was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act and does not allow for lawsuits against individual agents. It was not known where Exum could be reached.

Body-worn camera footage from another agent in Exum's vehicle before the shooting captured the agents saying it was "time to get aggressive" and making other profanity-laced comments encouraging violence, according to the complaint.

Martinez taken from hospital with bullet holes 'leaking blood,' suit says

The FBI arrested Martinez, taking her out of the hospital just hours after the shooting when she was "wheelchair bound and her bullet holes were leaking blood through her bandages," according to the lawsuit. A judge ordered her release two days after her arrest.

Messages released by Martinez' attorneys in February showed that former head of Border Patrol Greg Bovino had praised Exum for his "excellent service in Chicago" after the shooting. Other messages they released showed agents in a group chat congratulating Exum and calling him a "legend."

Martinez was one several people shot in their cars by federal agents during President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. An immigration agent shot a Venezuelan delivery driver in his car in Austin, Texas, last month, and another shot a Colombian driver in Biddeford, Maine, in July. The Trump administration has at times justified such shootings as self-defense against people allegedly weaponizing their vehicles.

RELATED STORY | US citizens detail claims of abuse by federal immigration officers

Martinez appeared with her attorneys at a news conference Monday, saying the various shootings spurred her to file suit.

"If I don't, then who else, you know? Look at what happened to Renee and all these victims," she said, referring to Renee Good, a woman shot dead in her vehicle by a federal agent in Minneapolis in January.

"What's happening is not normal. We shouldn't stay here and normalize what's happening," she said.

Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins distanced herself from President Donald Trump during her first Maine Senate debate with Democrat Troy Jackson, arguing she has maintained her political independence by repeatedly voting against Trump's agenda and saying that she's not exactly his favorite senator.

Democrats are trying to flip the Maine Senate seat as they work to win control of the Senate. Trump lost the state in 2024, giving Democrats hope of defeating the five-term moderate Republican, who has been targeted by Democrats in previous elections and survived.

RELATED STORY | Senate Republicans move cash from purple North Carolina to red Kansas as battle for majority shifts

During the hourlong debate, Jackson focused largely on attempting to connect Collins to Trump. He kicked off the night by pointing out she cast a critical vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee who eventually helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion. Collins supports abortion rights and said Kavanaugh assured her it was settled law, but she has said recently that she does not regret her vote to confirm him.

Would you trust her to pick the next Supreme Court justice? asked Jackson, a former state lawmaker and logger.

He also repeatedly brought up her procedural vote to advance the presidents 2025 tax and spending bill though Collins ultimately broke with her party to vote against it.

Collins countered that she has voted against Trump more than she did Joe Biden when the Democrat was president, and has pushed back against Trump on tariffs, immigration enforcement and the war in Iran.

I voted against my party more than another other senator on either side of the aisle, Collins said.

The attention on Trump comes as only 31% of U.S. adults approved of how the Republican is handling the presidency, according to a September AP-NORC poll. Thats well below where his approval stood when he took office last year.

The president has started holding rallies around the country in an effort to help GOP candidates win in November, telling voters to pretend he is on the ballot. At Tuesday's debate, a moderator noted Trump has floated the idea of campaigning in Maine, and asked Collins if she would stand beside him if he does.

RELATED STORY | Trump holds Ohio midterm rally, urging voters to consider him on the ballot during 32-day campaign tour

Im not exactly his favorite senator, she said, adding I would say that hes not coming to Maine.

Collins, who has said she didnt vote for Trump in 2016, voted to convict the president after his 2021 impeachment over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In January, Collins joined a handful of Republican colleagues in backing a failed effort to limit the presidents ability to unilaterally use force in Venezuela. The move prompted Trump to say on social media that they should never be elected to office again.

Collins argued that her seniority and experience in the Senate have resulted in money and resources for Maine, saying: Leadership matters in Washington.

She also spent Tuesday evening attempting to turn the focus of Maines high cost of energy and housing on Jackson, arguing that he had a larger role in making a difference when he was the state Senate president and criticizing Augustas failed policies as a way to connect Jacksons to the states struggle to address affordability.

Other moments showed how the two candidates were approaching their appeal to working class Maine voters. For example, as Collins touted her ability to remove certain items from Trumps trade war with Canada, including pulp, concrete and road salt. Jackson pushed back by quipping we cant eat road salt.

Jackson and Collins are scheduled to participate in three more debates later this month.

On a field where music festival revelers were gunned down by Hamas-led militants three years ago, Israelis on Wednesday embraced and wept for those lost in an attack that plunged the Middle East into war.

WATCH | Israelis mourn three years after Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack killed 1,200

Israelis mourn three years after Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack killed 1,200

Israelis mourned at the site of the Nova Music Festival, as well as at bomb shelters, intersections and in communities targeted on Oct. 7, 2023. On that day the deadliest in the country's history militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed much of Gaza and drove most of its 2 million residents from their homes.

RELATED STORY | Trump says Hamas, other armed groups in Gaza agree to disarm under US peace plan

This is the first anniversary since all the hostages, living and dead, were returned. Signs calling for their return are mostly gone, but reminders of those who were killed are ubiquitous in a country still reckoning with the trauma of that day.

For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of fear and misery. Most Gaza residents live in squalid tent camps, with large parts of cities bombed to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military. Despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.

Israeli troops occupy a large chunk of southern Lebanon in their conflict with Hezbollah militants, who began firing on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Iran, the United States and their allies are locked in a confrontation that has seen attacks across the region and has shaken the global economy a conflict that Israel helped launch and that the war in Gaza paved the way for, even if they werent directly connected.

Families mourn at the festival site

Hundreds of people paid their respects to the more than 350 people killed in and around the festival site. Videos from that day showed militants gunning down fleeing revelers, shooting the wounded at point-blank range and ambushing those seeking refuge in bomb shelters.

On Wednesday, survivors' relatives hugged at 6:29 a.m. the exact time the first rockets were launched three years ago as explosions boomed in nearby Gaza.

Anya Davitashili, who lost her 25-year-old son, Sean, said she visits the site every Saturday. Its where she feels closest to him.

I have a video of him dancing here that ends at 6:29 in the morning. Its in front of my eyes all the time, she said. Every morning, you wake up and there is just endless missing.

A released hostage marks his first Oct. 7

Elkana Bohbot, 37, is marking the anniversary in Israel for the first time since his release after 738 days of captivity. For most of that time, he said, he was held underground in a dark, damp tunnel.

Bohbot, who was abducted from the festival, was kept in a small cell with other hostages, given little food and allowed to bathe only every few weeks, he said. His captors forced him to take part in propaganda videos, including one where he acted out a fake call to his family.

In the year since his release, Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation. In August, his wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling his promise to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son, Reem, a sibling.

The newborn Michele is not a symbol for my people, she is more of a symbol for the enemy, Bohbot told The Associated Press. This child is the message for you that we were here and we will always be here forever.

Palestinians in Gaza live among the ruins

No events are expected Wednesday in Gaza, but Hamas in a statement defended the Oct. 7 attack, saying it had returned the Palestinian cause to the worlds attention.

RELATED STORY | Many Jewish Americans feel less safe than before Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks

The conflict with the enemy did not begin on that day, (and) its final chapters are not written yet, it said.

Palestinians in the territory said their suffering over the past three years had previously been unimaginable.

We witnessed death, destruction, and bombardment that we had never known before, said Walid Akram, a Gaza City resident who, like most in Gaza, has been displaced by the war.

Raed Khozeiqs coastal neighborhood in Tel al-Hawa was largely flattened. Nothing about his life now is the same, he said.

No country in the world has gone through what we have experienced here, he said. A war of extermination, starvation, the absence of schools and universities nothing remains.

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its figures but says around half were women and children. The numbers from the ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

While a ceasefire that took effect Oct. 10, 2025, halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas militants. Since the ceasefire, 1,460 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the ministry. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in attacks in that period. Restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have contributed to a hunger crisis, food security experts say.

The Middle East has been reordered

A contentious election at the end of the month hangs over this year's anniversary in Israel. Voters are bitterly divided over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership, his role in the security failures surrounding the attack and his refusal to launch an official inquiry into them.

The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led to wars across the Middle East as Israel confronted Hamas, Hezbollah and their backer, Iran. Israel has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Lebanon, where more than 300,000 Lebanese remain displaced. The United States joined Israel in attacking Irans military and nuclear program in two rounds, battering Iran and upending global markets far from the battlefield.

Violence has also risen across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israels far-right government has heightened restrictions on Palestinians while emboldening extremist settlers who have attacked them and destroyed their property.

Some of the students outraged by Cornell University's handling of an alleged fraternity house gang rape are directing their ire at the schools president, a longtime molecular physiology professor who has faced several crises since taking the top job.

Michael Kotlikoff was Cornell's longest-serving provost before assuming the presidency on an interim basis in July 2024 and on a permanent basis last year.

In his second month in charge, dining and custodial workers walked off the job in a labor dispute that ended about two weeks later. Last fall, some faculty and students criticized Kotlikoff for agreeing to pay $60 million to end Trump administration civil rights investigations into the Ivy League school. And earlier this year, he defended himself from accusations that he tried to back his car into a group of demonstrators following a debate over Israel and Palestinian rights, saying he was the victim of harassment.

But it was the schools handling of the investigation into the alleged gang rape at the Chi Phi fraternity house in October 2024, just a few months into his presidency, that threatens his leadership.

The Cornell faculty senate indicated that it plans to vote on a resolution of no confidence in the school's administrators. And at a Monday protest, students chanted and waved signs calling on Kotlikoff to resign or be fired and for fraternities to be banned.

Throughout his administration, hes refused to take accountability for anything that has happened, said one of the protesters, sophomore Sophia Kong. He does not represent us.

Kotlikoff, 75, has come under scrutiny since the woman, identified in court documents only as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit last month alleging she was sexually assaulted by multiple Chi Phi members two years ago after being pressured into drinking alcohol and taking drugs.

The woman reported the alleged assault to Cornell police in November 2024, three weeks after she said it occurred. Campus police investigated and sent a summary of their findings to the district attorneys office, which relied on the information in deciding not to bring criminal charges. Separately, Cornell conducted a Title IX investigation.

Amid mounting outrage over the schools handling of the case, Kotlikoff called the allegations deeply disturbing over the weekend. In an apologetic video, he also reaffirmed his commitment to supporting an independent review called for by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has assailed the campus police department for not fully conveying the womans story to prosecutors.

No criminal charges have been filed. The Chi Phi chapter was shut down, and the university has said it expelled some students and suspended others. The accused men have all either denied participating or said that the sex that took place was consensual.

Hochul names special prosecutor in Cornell rape investigation

Experts are divided on whether it's fair to criticize Kotlikoff

As some experts see it, Kotlikoff had limited options. Without criminal charges, only Cornells Title IX investigation continued. While the federal law is best known as a gamechanger for female college athletes, it also is supposed to protect sexual assault and harassment accusers. But it is packed with protections for the accused, including giving them the right to cross-examine their accuser. Most victims don't proceed, and when they do, lawsuits from the accuser and accused over the outcome of the proceedings are common.

There are also limits on the punishments schools can mete out, especially for bystanders, said Peter Lake, who directs a center focused on higher education law and policy at Stetson University College of Law in Florida.

If universities act too quickly, they risk a situation like what happened at Duke University two decades ago, when a woman falsely accused three lacrosse players of rape, he said. The players ultimately reached an undisclosed settlement with Duke, which had suspended them, canceled the teams season and forced their coach to resign after the accusations were first made.

But some point to the role of university leadership in setting campus culture. Critics note that Cornell's fraternities have a history of problems, including hazing and sexual misconduct, and argue that more should have been done to set a better tone and educate students about consent.

If you are the leader of that campus and this is part of your portfolio of what happens on your campus, its not like Oh well that only affects the members of that fraternity and the women that theyre attempting to sleep with, said Jane Stapleton, co-founder of the Prevention Innovations Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. That impacts the entire fabric of the culture of, How do men respect women? How safe is it to be a woman?

RELATED STORY | Students protest Cornell's response to gang rape complaint

Kotlikoff has discussed steps to address the case

Within a few weeks of the alleged assault, Kotlikoff issued a statement detailing the investigation and decrying the alleged behavior as abhorrent.

A task force on sexual assault that was launched afterward included recommendations such as improved education on Title IX and what it described as sexual citizenship. The report said that a 2025 survey found that 35% of undergraduate women and 8% of undergraduate men report experiencing sexual assault during their time at Cornell.

The extent of Cornells investigation has emerged in court records filed after one of the punished students sued the school. According to Cornells account, investigators conducted 50 interviews with 32 witnesses and gathered evidence that included witness accounts, electronic communications and social media messages. The process ultimately led to a disciplinary hearing that stretched over 12 days.

Kotlikoff has called for a serious look at Greek life, but the end of fraternities on campus is not being considered. Instead, Kotlikoff said Cornell would engage students, alumni and others in examining how to preserve the benefits of Greek life while strengthening accountability and transparency.

MORE FROM THE CASE | Prosecutor 'investigating' report of police interview transcript in Cornell sexual assault case

Not every president survives such situations

A little over a decade ago, former Baylor University President Ken Starr, best known for the probe that led to Bill Clintons presidential impeachment, lost his job amid allegations that the Texas Baptist school mishandled several cases in which football players were accused of attacking women. In 2021, Oregon State trustees accepted the resignation of university president F. King Alexander, concluding he was unable to rebuild trust at the school because of his role in the mishandling of sexual misconduct cases during his previous tenure at Louisiana State University.

More recently, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik was among several U.S. college leaders to resign under pressure for the handling of protests over the war in Gaza.

Soham Bera, a Cornell sophomore, said students have incredibly low faith in the university leadership.

Now, with all this news, with all the attention, we can finally make change, he said at Mondays protest.

Lili Rose Mas, a junior who was also calling for Kotlikoff to step down, said she was encouraged by the number of students who joined the protest.

It makes me have more faith in humanity, Mas said. I truly think that Gen Z might be the generation that changes the world, because, like, these old people in the admin are not doing anything, but all the students here care about this.

President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

The U.S. military has not carried out the death penalty since 1961. The Army secretary will decide a time and place for the execution, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in a post on X.

Judgement day for Hasan has finally come, Parnell wrote.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, walked into a medical building where soldiers were getting medical checkups, shouted Allahu akbar Arabic for God is great! and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 injured.

He said it was an effort to stop them from going to Afghanistan and killing his fellow Muslims and made almost no effort to defend himself at trial. He told jurors that evidence would show he was the shooter and described himself as a soldier who had switched sides.

FROM THE ARCHIVES | Fort Hood Shooter Wants To Become A 'Citizen' Of ISIS

Trumps approval triggers a series of procedural steps toward carrying out the execution, but Hasan could put them on hold potentially for years with a habeas corpus appeal in the civilian federal court system, according to an article published in May in the magazine Army Lawyer.

Death sentences are extremely rare in the military justice system, and executions even rarer. Four men, including Hasan, are currently on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. President George W. Bush approved the execution Army Spc. Ronald Gray in 2008 but it was put on hold by a judge and he remains at Leavenworth.

The last man executed in the military system was Pvt. John Bennett, hanged in 1961 for raping an 11-year-old girl.

Trump approved the firing squad execution days after a failed attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection pushed Tennessees governor to halt further executions this year and order an independent review.

Trump resumed the federal death penalty after an informal moratorium during previous administrations. The federal government executed 13 people between 2020 and early 2021, contributing to making Trump the most prolific execution president in over 130 years.

Asked whether the botched execution in Tennessee would lead him to seek changes to capital punishment, Trump said it was an interesting situation.

It shouldnt be very difficult, Trump said of carrying out lethal injections.