5 News with Dan Walker

5 News opened with the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, who survived two lethal injections after 30 years of legal challenges and was taken to hospital; the state governor called the situation a tragedy and demanded answers. The programme then reported the start of the government's early release scheme, with around 700 prisoners leaving jail in England and Wales after serving a third of their sentence, while ministers said prison leavers would be monitored. Later headlines included a review finding Travelodge treated a woman assaulted at one of its hotels disgracefully after a man was wrongly given a key card to her room, investigators saying a train driver killed in a Bedfordshire crash had sped up after a red signal and applied the emergency brake seconds before impact, and footballer Ivan Toney pleading not guilty to assaulting a man at a London nightclub. The broadcast also covered a new vaping tax adding about £2 for every 10ml of liquid, and changes to energy bills as VAT was removed from electricity while Ofgem's price cap rose, with warnings bills could rise by almost £300 from January because of supply pressures caused by the Iran war.

The programme covered the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, in which the captain opened the cockpit door after being stabbed and passengers helped overpower the co-pilot, with the plane plunging more than 14,000 feet before levelling out. It reported Deborah Franklin being jailed for seven years for sexually abusing a boy she tutored in the 1990s, police video of a drug dealer posing as a delivery driver, SpaceX launching four astronauts to the International Space Station, and a former safeguarding minister raising concerns about victims of domestic abuse during the early release scheme. Other headlines included Northern Ireland introducing extra rules for new drivers and Naomi Campbell winning the right to be a charity trustee again. The programme also covered the rescue of 84 badly treated dogs from a house near Doncaster, with one spaniel, Lily, rehomed.

A breaking news report said counter-terror police had arrested a 27-year-old dual UK-Iranian national in central London over a suspected bomb plot at RAF Fairford, with a second man questioned under caution. The broadcast then covered a couple whose yacht was struck by a sperm whale 500 nautical miles from land and rescued by a cargo ship, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth using offensive language while outlining plans to cut military top brass, and controversy over a Nikon scientific photography winner claimed to have been created using AI. It also reported concerns raised by Ranulph Fiennes's stepson that the explorer had been isolated and that his location was uncertain, before paying tribute to broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, who died at 86, recalling her work on That's Life, Childline and assisted dying campaigning.