There were two planned executions in the US on Thursday – one was halted over questions of the suspect’s guilt and the other went ahead after the death row inmate asked to be killed.
The Texas Supreme Court stopped the scheduled execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of killing his two-year-old daughter in 2002.
He would have become the first person in the US to be put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.
Meanwhile, Derrick Dearman, 36, was pronounced dead at 6.14pm local time in Alabama after he dropped his appeal earlier this year and asked a judge to carry out his death sentence.
Dearman broke into a home where his estranged girlfriend had taken refuge, in a drug-fuelled rampage in 2016, and killed five people.
At least 20 people have been put to death in the US this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
But numbers have been trending down in recent decades.
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‘He was shocked, to say the least’
A flurry of last-ditch legal challenges and weeks of public pressure led to a late-night stay of execution for Roberson.
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His supporters claim he was sent to death row based on flawed science.
In the hours leading up to the ruling, Roberson sat in a prison cell just a few metres from his country’s busiest death chamber at the Walls Unit, in Huntsville, as he waited for certainty over his fate.
“He was shocked, to say the least,” said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Amanda Hernandez, who spoke with Roberson after the court stayed his execution.
“He praised god and he thanked his supporters.”
Image: Jennifer Martin, left, and Thomas Roberson, older brother of condemned prisoner Robert Roberson, right. Pic: AP
The 57-year-old was convicted of killing his daughter Nikki Curtis but his lawyers and some medical experts have said she died from complications related to pneumonia.
A bipartisan coalition of state politicians employed unusual methods to save Roberson’s life, issuing a subpoena for him to testify before a committee next week – a plan, some conceded, which had never been tried before.
Less than two hours before Roberson’s execution, a judge sided with politicians before an appeals panel reversed the decision.
But then the all-Republican court ended a night of uncertainty with its ruling.
Meanwhile, while one man avoided the death penalty, another willingly underwent lethal injection.
Strapped to a gurney in the Alabama execution chamber, Dearman said to the families of his victims: “Forgive me. This is not for me. This is for you. I’ve taken so much.”
He also told his own family he loved them.
The lethal injection was carried out after Dearman dropped his appeals this year and asked the execution went ahead.
“I am guilty. It’s not fair to the victims or their families to keep prolonging the justice that they so rightly deserve,” he wrote in a letter to the judge in April.
Image: The home near Citronelle where Dearman killed five people. Pic: AP
On 20 August 2016, at a home near Citronelle, Alabama, Shannon Randall, 35, Joseph Turner, 26, Robert Lee Brown, 26, Justin Reed, 23, and Chelsea Reed, 22, were all killed.
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All of the victims were related or married and Chelsea Reed, who was married to Justin Reed, was pregnant.
In a statement, Bryant Randall, the father of Chelsea Reed said: “I so long for a final goodbye to my daughter and I would have loved to meet my grandchild.
“I was stripped in many ways of happiness and the bond of family by your [Dearman’s] senseless act.”
The father of Robert Lee Brown said his family will “suffer for the rest of their lives”.
“This don’t bring nothing back. I can’t get my son back or any of them back,” he added.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukrainehas asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
Later on Monday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Mr Trump and said he was “grateful” for the US president’s “readiness to help protect our people’s lives”.
Analysis: Will Trump’s shift in tone make a difference?
As ever, there is confusion and key questions are left unanswered, but Donald Trump’s announcement on Ukraine and Russia today remains hugely significant.
His shift in tone and policy on Ukraine is stark. And his shift in tone (and perhaps policy) on Russia is huge.
After criticising Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag it out”, he said he appreciated “preparing a new decision on Patriots for Ukraine” – and added Kyiv is “working on major defence agreements with America”.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down”from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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1:28
Trump threatens Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
As ever, there is confusion and key questions are left unanswered, but Donald Trump’s announcement on Ukraine and Russia today remains hugely significant.
His shift in tone and policy on Ukraine is stark. And his shift in tone (and perhaps policy) on Russia is huge.
Ever since Mr Trump returned to the White House he has flatly refused to side with Ukraine over the Russian invasion.
He has variously blamed Ukraine for the invasion and blamed Joe Biden for the invasion, but has never been willing to accept that Russia is the aggressor and that Ukraine has a legitimate right to defend itself.
Today, all that changed. In a clear signal that he is fed up with Vladimir Putin and now fully recognises the need to help Ukraine defend itself, he announced the US will dramatically increase weapons supplies to Kyiv.
Image: Pic: Reuters
But, in keeping with his transactional nature and in a reflection of the need to keep his isolationist “America-First” base on side, he has framed this policy shift as a multi-billion dollar “deal” in which America gains financially.
American weapons are to be “sold” to NATO partners in Europe who will then either transfer them to Ukraine or use them to bolster their own stockpiles as they transfer their own existing stocks to Kyiv.
“We’ve made a deal today,” the president said in the Oval Office. “We are going to be sending them weapons, and they are paying for them. We are manufacturing, they are going to be paying for it. Our meeting last month was very successful… these are wealthy nations.”
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2:27
What will Trump’s weapons deal mean for Ukraine?
This appears to be a clever framing of the “deal”. Firstly, America has always benefited financially by supplying weapons to Ukraine because much of the investment has been in American factories, American jobs and American supply chains.
While the details are not entirely clear, the difference now appears to be that the weapons would be bought by the Europeans or by NATO as an alliance.
The Americans are the biggest contributor to NATO, and so if the alliance is buying the weapons, America too will be paying, in part, for the weapons it is selling.
However, if the weapons are being bought by individual NATO members to replenish their own stocks, then it may be the case that the US is not paying.
NATO officials referred all questions on this issue to the White House, which has not yet provided clarity to Sky News.
It is also not yet clear what type of weapons will be made available and whether it will include offensive, as well defensive, munitions.
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1:49
Will Trump’s deal make a difference?
A key element of the package will likely be Patriot missile batteries, 10 to 15 of which are believed to be currently in Europe.
Under this deal, it is understood that some of them will be added to the six or so batteries believed to be presently in Ukraine. New ones would then be purchased from US manufacturers to backfill European stocks. A similar arrangement may be used for other weapons.
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The president also issued the Russian leader with an ultimatum, saying that Putin had 50 days to make a peace deal or else face 100% “secondary tariffs”. It’s thought this refers to a plan to tariff, or sanction, third countries that supply Russia with weapons and buy Russian oil.
This, the Americans hope, will force those countries to apply pressure on Russia.
But the 50-day kicking of the can down the road also gives Russia space to prevaricate. So, a few words of caution: first, the Russians are masters of prevarication. Second, Trump tends to let deadlines slip. And third, we all know Trump can flip-flop on his position repeatedly.
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2:00
‘Trump sides with the Ukrainian cause’
Maybe the most revealing aspect of all this came when a reporter asked Mr Trump: “How far are you willing to go if Putin sends more bombs in the coming days?”
“Don’t ask me questions like that…”
Mr Trump doesn’t really know what to do if Mr Putin continues to take him for a ride.
Mr Biden, before him, supplied Ukraine with the weapons to continue fighting.
If Mr Trump wants to end this, he may need to provide Ukraine with enough weapons to win.
But that would prolong, or even escalate, a war he wants to end now.
An X account for the Sesame Street character Elmo has been targeted by an unknown hacker who posted antisemitic and racist messages.
The profile is followed by more than 650,000 users on the social network – and usually posts upbeat and motivational updates.
Sunday’s messages, which have since been deleted, called for violence against Jews, insulted Donald Trump, and referred to alleged files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement, Sesame Workshop said the X account has now been secured – and described the posts uploaded to Elmo’s page as “disgusting”.
This is the latest controversy to befall Elon Musk’s platform in recent days.
Last week, X’s AI chatbot Grok also produced content with antisemitic tropes, which were later removed and denounced as “inappropriate”.
Musk purchased the website, formerly known as Twitter, back in 2022 – with extremist content increasing against a backdrop of less moderation.
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The Anti-Defamation League, a US organisation that fights antisemitism, said: “It’s appalling that Elmo’s official account, known for spreading kindness, was hacked solely to spread violent antisemitism.”
“Antisemitism on social media fosters the normalisation of anti-Jewish hate online and offline – and contributes to an increasingly threatening environment for Jewish people everywhere.”