Saudi Arabia executes 81 people in its largest mass execution
CBSN
Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to belonging to militant groups, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history.
The number of executed surpassed even the toll of a January 1980 mass execution for the 63 militants convicted of seizing the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979, the worst-ever militant attack to target the kingdom and Islam's holiest site.
It wasn't clear why the kingdom chose Saturday for the executions, though they came as much of the world's attention remained focused on Russia's war on Ukraine - and as the U.S. hopes to lower record-high gasoline prices as energy prices spike worldwide. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly plans a trip to Saudi Arabia next week over oil prices as well.
UFO sightings should not be dismissed because they could in fact be surveillance drones or weapons, say Japanese lawmakers who launched a group on Thursday to probe the matter. The investigation comes less than a year after the U.S. Defense Department issued a report calling the region a "hotspot" for sightings of the mysterious objects.
The Allied invasion of Normandy 80 years ago today marked a pivotal event that historians often refer to as the beginning of the end of World War II. This operation began the liberation of Nazi-occupied territories and eventually ended the atrocities that resulted in the extermination of more than 6 million Jewish people.
In the weeks following D-Day, America and its allies deployed over 2 million troops into France, including a first-of-its-kind, top-secret U.S. military unit with a unique mission: to trick the Germans into chasing fake targets. Known as the Ghost Army, this unit's efforts 80 years ago marked the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler.