Wednesday morning news: October 7, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

October 7 commemoration preview » It’s a somber day in Israel today as the nation observes the third anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks.

SOUND: [2025 remembrance]

That's music from the National Memorial Ceremony hosted last year in Israel. The now annual event is organized by friends and family of the victims who died and surviving hostages who were taken on that day. This year’s event is scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park today.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz spoke on Tuesday. At a commemoration hosted by Israel’s mission to the UN

WALTZ: Colleagues, October 7th can never, ever happen again. And it will not ever happen again. And certainly not under this president's watch.

Waltz praised the Jewish state for using its Iron Dome missile defense technology to help protect cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the ongoing conflict with Iran. He went on to tell attendees:

WALTZ: Look, folks, October 7th completely and I think, irreversibly, has backfired on Iran and all of their terrorist proxies.

More than 1,200 people died during the attacks led by the Iran-backed terror group Hamas on this day in 2023. And dozens of hostages died in Hamas captivity.

Daylight savings uncertain » Nearly all Americans will be setting their clocks back an hour on November 1st, unless a bill now stuck in the Senate moves forward. WORLD’s Harrison Watters reports from the nation’s capital.

HARRISON WATTERS: Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans are discussing The Sunshine Protection Act, but it’s still stalled.

The House passed the bill in July with bipartisan backing to make daylight saving time permanent.

But some Senate Republicans object., Senator Tom Cotton says Arkansas’ children would head to school in winter darkness.

That was the same objection many had a half-century ago. Washington did try daylight savings year-round in 1974, but Congress reversed course the very same year amid complaints about dark winter mornings.

Still, President Trump wants senators back in Washington before the midterms to pass the bill. Over the weekend, he posted Cotton’s personal cell number and urged people to call and tell him to stop blocking the bill.

Last year, seven Senate Republicans voted against the bill in committee after failing to make standard time permanent instead.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters in Washington.

Hasan execution announcement reactions » Texas Senator Ted Cruz is applauding President Trump’s decision this week to execute Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan by firing squad.

He was an Army major and psychiatrist in 2009 when he massacred 13 people and wounded dozens at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas.

Police shot him, leaving him paralyzed. A military jury sentenced him to death in 2013.

Cruz calls him a “radical Islamist terrorist” and says he deserves execution.

It would be the military’s first execution since 1961.

The Pentagon says the Army secretary will set the time and place. Further court appeals could still delay his death.

Paramount/WB merger official » There’s a new giant in Hollywood, with Paramount’s takeover of Warner Brothers now official after Democrats were unable to block the merger. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has the story.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The deal closed Tuesday, and the new combined company is called Skydance. It brings CNN and CBS under one roof, along with big film franchises like Top Gun, Harry Potter and the DC Comics universe.

CLIP (Batman): I want you to tell all your friends about me. What are you?! I am Batman.

EICHER: Some left-wing actors like Mark Ruffalo launched a public campaign urging leaders to block the deal, and Democratic attorneys general in California and 11 other states tried filing a federal lawsuit.

They said they were concerned about less competition, even though the FTC and European regulators had cleared it.

But Paramount chief David Ellison said their opposition was political, because his family has close ties to President Trump.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta reversed course after Ellison reportedly threatened to move Paramount — and thousands of jobs — out of California.

The states settled last month … with Paramount committing, among other things, to keep putting plenty of movies on the big screen, not just streaming, and setting up a board aimed at ensuring independent reporting at CNN and CBS News.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Jim Bakker obituary » Longtime televangelist Jim Bakker has died at 86.

Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye, brought Christian talk and music to millions of viewers on The PTL Club, short for Praise the Lord.

But in 1987, sex and money scandals forced him out of PTL. That year, ABC’s Ted Koppel asked the couple on Nightline about their reported pay for a single year:

KOPPEL: A total of $1.9 million. Now that's a far cry from working for nothing, isn't it?

BAKKER: Mm-hmm. Yes, and, and I'm not sure of those figures, but, uh, I think we've made a lot of mistakes, and I'm very sorry about it.

Bakker said the ministry’s board independently set their pay, but added that they should have turned it down.

Two years later, a jury convicted Bakker of fraud and conspiracy for cheating his ministry’s supporters. His 45-year prison sentence was later cut to eight years. He served about five.

Bakker returned to television in 2003 with his second wife Lori on The Jim Bakker Show.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Hunter Baker is standing by for Washington Wednesday. Plus: With US troops out of Iraq, who fills the power vacuum?

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.