The president said only immediate families of the victims of the mass shooting in 2009 would witness the execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

A retired general, a Catholic archbishop for the military and one of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s victims were among those who had spoken out.

© Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

UK defence secretary trying to cool tensions and is arguing it is in America’s economic interests to support Kyiv

Wes Streeting urged the US to stand by Ukraine on his visit to the American capital and sought to cool tensions between the two countries in the wake of the Starlink row that is threatening to set back Kyiv’s war effort.

The British defence secretary, giving a speech before a meeting with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, argued that supporting Ukraine was in the long-term interests of Washington – and a business opportunity.

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© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Leader of CREC church – whose pastors have advocated death penalty – says he ‘prefers public executions to private’

Donald Trump announced on Thursday he was cancelling Pete Hegseth’s recently announced plans to livestream a military execution – because “many very good and well-meaning people would rather not watch him die”. But there were some fans of Hegseth’s now-scotched idea: the rightwing religious figures who have long backed his career.

Hegseth announced last week that the US public would be able to see the execution of Nidal Hasan, which is set for 3 December at Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan, a former army major and psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 at Fort Hood in 2009. A military court sentenced him to death in August 2013.

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© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Soldier who killed 13 people in 2009 will still be executed, but president said ‘people would rather not watch him die’

Donald Trump has shelved a widely condemned plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009.

In a social media post on Thursday, Trump argued that broadcasting such an execution “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan” but said that “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device”.

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© Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

© Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

© Photograph: Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters