Last week, Tennessee attempted to carry out the execution of Christa Pike, a convicted murderer who had spent three decades on death row. But the execution did not go as planned: After she was injected with two lethal doses of pentobarbital, Pike remained alive. She was then taken to hospital by ambulance.

This isn’t the first time an American execution hasn’t gone as planned. One reason is that the drugs needed for lethal injection have become increasingly difficult for US prison officials to obtain. Pharmaceutical companies don’t want their medicines used in executions — particularly manufacturers in Europe, where governments have opposed the death penalty for decades.

So, without access to regulated drugs, American prisons have had to improvise — sometimes with horrifying results.

The Global Story’s Tristan Redman speaks with investigative reporter Livvy Haydock about the consequences when the pharmaceutical supply chain refuses to feed the machinery of American executions.

Listen to Livvy’s podcast, Killing Death Row: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001rjdp

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For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

00:00 Introduction
00:38 How a lethal injection is supposed to work
05:05 What went wrong in Christa Pike’s execution
07:16 Why America is struggling to get execution drugs
09:00 The drugs used in lethal injections
10:15 Why European drugmakers stopped supplying the US
12:38 America’s secret hunt for execution drugs
14:47 What happens when execution drugs expire
15:07 The London chemist supplying America
16:58 How the drug shortage can cause botched executions
17:30 Are lethal injections causing suffering?
19:05 Why the US can’t simply make its own execution drugs
21:21 Could prisons start making their own drugs?
21:46 Why Europe rejects the death penalty
22:32 Why Americans still support executions
23:17 When executions fail victims’ families

#ChristaPike #Deathrow #Tennessee #BBCNews

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Brazilians have begun voting in a general election, where the most prominent candidates are current president, left-wing leader Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva, and right-wing Flávio Bolsonaro.

The election has raised questions about US influence, trade tariffs, organised crime and Brazil’s sovereignty.

Here’s what you need to know about Brazil’s general election, and the two candidates leading the polls.

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For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

#Brazil #BBCNews

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After a strong week at Labour Party conference has the prime minister made his first foul? Downing Street has said Manchester …

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China’s President Xi Jinping returns to the White House on Thursday for the first time in over a decade.

A priority for both leaders will be to discuss AI. The two countries are currently locked in a fierce competition for AI dominance, amid dire warnings from US tech executives in recent weeks that the speed of AI development needs to be slowed, as the risks to humanity are too great.

President Trump has rejected those calls for a slowdown or suggestions of regulation, in part because of his concerns that China will overtake the US in AI development.

In this episode we speak to the BBC’s China correspondent Laura Bicker who tells us what China’s AI revolution looks from inside the country. And we ask how this issue is changing the power dynamics between the US and China.

New episodes of The Global Story are released daily. If you’re in the UK, listen on BBC Sounds. If you live outside the UK, listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe to our channel here: https://bbc.in/bbcnews

For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

#China #AI #BBCNews

00:00 Introduction
00:53 Inside China’s AI boom
06:00 What do Chinese people think of AI?
10:06 How China is preparing for an AI future
14:13 Why China doesn’t want to slow down AI
16:38 What does China want from the US?
19:50 The battle over AI chips
23:20 AI, trade and Taiwan
25:13 How AI is shifting US-China power
26:45 Outro

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An alleged case of gang rape at a Cornell frat house has caused widespread outrage after new details emerged in a civil suit brought by the purported victim. Evidence including a Snapchat screenshot advertising a “free” sexual encounter has seen anger online directed not only towards those men accused of being involved, but others who apparently failed to step in.

As a criminal investigation is reopened, Marianna and Matt explain how this case has taken over social media, from scathing critiques of campus culture and opaque accountability measures, to doxxing, misidentification and censorship.

The university’s leadership has denied its response was inadequate.

Also this week, we discuss arguably the most viral story of the year – the fallout at a covid-conscious lesbian bar in western Massachusetts. After the struggling Last Ditch decided to suspend their mask mandate on Saturday nights, they were met with a torrent of abuse calling them ableist and even eugenicist.

Top Comment takes you through the chaotic conversations which followed, and we consider whether AOC spoke too soon when she famously closed the book on Woke 1.0 identity politics.

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For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

#BBCNews

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