Brad Sigmon opted for the controversial method rather than the electric chair or lethal injection, which are the other two state-approved procedures.

It makes him the first inmate in the US to be executed by a firing squad in 15 years.

Sigmon was handed the ultimate punishment by a jury in 2002 after being convicted of killing his former girlfriend’s parents, William and Gladys Larke.

He bludgeoned the couple to death with a baseball bat in their Greenville County home in 2001, as well as abducting their daughter Rebecca Barbare at gunpoint – but she managed to escape.

Three state corrections department volunteers fired rifles at Sigmon’s chest just after 6pm local time on Friday, fatally shooting him with specially designed bullets.

The 67-year-old was pronounced dead by a doctor at 6.08pm, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

He was strapped to a chair during the execution, which had a basin underneath to catch blood, the BBC reports.

Sigmon told witnesses that he wanted his last words to be ones of ‘love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty’.

He said: “An eye for an eye was used as justification to the jury for seeking the death penalty. At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was.

“Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law, but now live under the New Testament.”

After he made his final statement, a hood was placed over Sigmon’s head and a curtain which concealed the firing squad was opened.

Shots were then fired simultaneously at Sigmon from around 15ft (4.6m) away, without a countdown.

Reports claim that those carrying out the execution were aiming at a red bullseye target on Sigmon’s chest, which had been placed over his heart.

Jeffrey Collins, a reporter for the Associated Press, described seeing the killer’s chest rise and fall several times after the bullets penetrated him.

The ammunition used was .308 Winchester Tap Urban bullets, which are made to break apart on impact and inflict maximum damage.

People watching the execution from behind bulletproof glass were offered ear plugs by prison guards to protect their ears from the gunshots, according to the Post and Courier.

Despite Sigmon’s deciding to be killed by a firing squad, his lawyer Bo King has alleged that information about the lethal injection process was withheld from the killer.

“Brad only wanted assurances that these drugs were not expired, or diluted, or spoiled – what any of us would want to know about the medication we take, or the food we eat, much less the means of our death,” he said in a statement after Sigmon’s death.

“It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle.”

Sigmon had hoped for a last minute stay of execution, which was ultimately denied by South Carolina’s governor.

King claimed his client had been suffering from mental illness at the time of the murders and suggested that what he chose for his final meal proved he was a changed man.

“Brad is someone who, for his last meal, asked to get three buckets of original recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken so he could share with the guys that he’s incarcerated with on death row,” he told WYFF-TV earlier on Friday.

“With his last meal, he wanted to share something special with them.”

King later said that Sigmon’s request to share the food had been denied.

The idea of a doomsday plane sounds like something ripped straight from a low budget apocalypse thriller, but most pieces of fiction usually have a kernel of truth behind them and, given how rocky global politics are at the moment, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that world leaders have a contingency plan available for the worst case scenario.

So, what exactly is the doomsday plane and what are your chances of imminent doom if you see one?

What is the ‘doomsday plane’ and what does it mean if you see it?

Known as the Boeing E-4 or National Airborne Operations Centre (NAOC), this particular military aircraft is designed with the event of a nuclear war or global catastrophe in mind – hence why you only have about five minutes in the worst case scenario.

Put simply, the plane is a modified aircraft designed to operate as a mobile war room for the President of the United States. The E-4 can also fly for around 12 hours at 600mph and it can also refuel without landing, meaning it can survive in the sky for an entire week.

Sounds pretty dystopian, right?

Originally created back in the 1970s, the Boeing E-4 was designed to offer a cold war president a place to survive a nuclear attack, while also launching retaliatory missiles.

The United States isn’t the only nation to have prepared for the worst case scenario either, with Euro News also reporting the existence of a ‘Flying Kremlin’ designed to give the Russian President (aka Vladimir Putin) the same apocalyptic capabilities.

These bad boys aren’t cheap to run either, setting the military back $159,529 (£126,000) per hour to operate and making it the Air Force’s most expensive plane.

The Boeing E-4 planes also come with a number of defence mechanisms, such as the ability to withstand electromagnetic pulses and analog flight controls, which mean the aircraft wouldn’t be susceptible to cyber attacks.

According to MailOnline, the US has four of these doomsday planes, with one on high alert at all times, and are based at the US Strategic Command, south of Omaha, Nebraska.

CNET also adds that the aircraft are capable of carrying a crew of up to 112 people and are jam packed with high-level communication technology.

Although we’re not sure who you’d be talking to if the planet has been wiped out in a nuclear apocalypse.

What happens if you spot a ‘doomsday plane’?

As scary as the doomsday plane sounds, you shouldn’t immediately panic at the sight of one, as they’re also sometimes used to transport officials overseas for events and meetings.

But if it really is a harbinger of end times, perhaps it’s better to be on Earth rather than circling a destroyed planet for several days before the inevitable happens.

Lindsay Sandiford was arrested for trying to smuggle a suitcase containing 4.8kg of cocaine into Bali from Bangkok in 2012.

The former legal secretary, from Teesside in North Yorkshire, was in possession of an estimated £1.6 million worth of the drugs and was sentenced to death by firing squad a year later.

Now aged 68, the mother-of-two has spent the last 12 years or so behind bars at the Kerobokan Prison in Bali.

Christie Buckingham – a pastor from Northern Ireland – was providing support to Sandiford, previously stating that ‘killing someone is never right’.

In a radio interview, according to a 2015 upload on the Bayside Church Melbourne YouTube channel, she said ‘the biggest stress for Lindsay’ is that ‘the British government have refused point-blank to help secure a competent Indonesian lawyer that can prepare what is known as a PK (prison kill)’.

Buckingham explained: “This is exceptionally distressing to her and to her family. And to be honest with you, it is very, very hard in the abolitionist field, we can’t really understand why a judicial review, which would have cost millions of pounds, just decided that she was an extraordinary case and should be funded.”

She added that ‘it’s very distressing and very confusing’.

In 2013, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that the government does not fund legal representation for British nationals.

A spokesperson said: “We strongly object to the death penalty and continue to provide consular assistance to Lindsay and her family during this difficult time. It was through consular staff’s efforts in Indonesia that we were able to identify a lawyer who is prepared to assist Lindsay Sandiford with her appeal on a pro bono basis (although he requires costs of approximately £2,500 in order to travel to Bali in order to assist).”

Back in 2019, Sandiford told British journalists that death ‘won’t be a hard thing for me to face any more’.

“It’s not particularly a death I would choose but then again I wouldn’t choose dying in agony from cancer either. I do feel I can cope with it,” she said.

“But when it happens I don’t want my family to come.

“I don’t want any fuss at all. The one thing certain about life is no one gets out alive.

“Dying doesn’t bother me. I never thought I’d last this long to be honest.

“What I am uncomfortable about is the public humiliation. You’re dragged halfway around the country and paraded in front of the press before being executed and that will be the worst thing for me.

“My attitude is, ‘If you want to shoot me, shoot me. Get on with it’.

“I’ve done a terrible thing, I know, but the worst thing is the ritual public humiliation they seem to enjoy.”

On 2 February 2025, Saffron Cole-Nottage and her daughter had been walking their dog alongside the seafront in Lowestoft, Suffolk, when she tragically slipped on a narrow path and became stuck in nearby sea defence rocks.

According to senior inquest officer Paul Sermons, Saffron had slipped twice on the path and landed with her head trapped between the rocks.

“While walking, Saffron lost her footing and slipped, landing on the pathway,” Sermons told the court.

“Although Saffron managed to get herself back up, she fell again and landed with her head between the sea defence rocks.”

He added: “Saffron became trapped and partially submerged in the water with the tide rising.”

Saffron’s daughter and members of the public would desperately attempt to free her from the rocks as emergency services rushed to the scene, however, they were unable to save her and the mum-of-three would die at the scene.

“Although they managed to free Saffron from the rocks, she tragically died,” Sermons added.

A coroner has since agreed to open a full inquest into her cause of death, with a pre-inquest review hearing scheduled for 6 June.

Saffron’s death was confirmed at the time by Suffolk Police, with a spokesperson stating: “The death is currently being treated as unexplained but there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances at this time.”

Tributes were later left at the scene, as shocked locals shared their condolences to Saffron’s family.

Tributes laid included one which appeared to be from her children, which read: “My beautiful mummy, I love you the world.”

A second tribute read: “You will forever be missed by so many.”

“The family are obviously devastated,” Lowestoft local Tricia Butler, who visited the scene to lay flowers with her husband Barry, told the BBC.

“The family are obviously devastated. It’s just tragic, absolutely tragic,” she continued.

“It shouldn’t have happened… she had her whole life to live. It’s sad.”

Online tributes to Saffron were also shared on social media, which read ‘rest in paradise Saff’ while a second shared their condolences to the family of a ‘beautiful, amazing lady’.

“My beautiful bestie forever 32 the light to my everything I will miss u forever and always – the pain hurts so much, love you Saffron Cole-Nottage,” read a third.

We all enjoy knocking back a sweet treat or two and most of us are guilty of overindulging on junk food every know and again — but I’m pretty sure that none of us have either scoffed 50 thousand calories in just 24 hours.

However, one man decided to do just that and filmed the entire process for our viewing pleasure on his YouTube channel.

The man who attempted this artery clogging challenge was content creator and professional eater Erik Lamkin (@ErikTheElectric) who decided to see if it would be physically possible to consume the obscene amount of food needed to make up 50,000 calories back in 2021.

To put Erik’s challenge into context, the average daily guidance for an adult male is 2,500 calories, which means the content creator was aiming to eat enough food for 20 people in just one day.

Or just enough to keep himself going for nearly three weeks. Either way, that’s a serious amount of food.

Starting with pre-breakfast, Erik swung by McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts to pick up a various items, including two hot drinks, various sugary pastries as well as three bacon, egg and cheese McGriddles.

Then it was time to burn off some energy with a run before sitting down for breakfast. After eating two industrial size bowls of cereal with protein shake, the three McGriddles, HotPockets and a handful of chocolate bars, Erik was just shy of 20,000 calories — which means he still had some work to do.

Lunch came in the form of a 9,000 calorie burger challenge washed down with a Frappuccino. By this point Erik was starting to look a little sweaty from the sheer exertion of eating so much food, which meant that by meal number four he was seriously struggling.

“I feel exceptionally terrible right now, as to be expected,” he told the camera, after polishing off an oven pizza and jumbo s’mores cookie. “I really don’t know if I can do this.”

Just 11,000 more calories to go.

After spending ‘half an eternity in the bathroom’ as Erik delicately put it, he went in for meal number five, which included a smorgasbord of sickly treats before promptly passing out in a food coma.

With just a couple hours left on the clock, a very defeated Erik attempted his final meal and finished his 24 hour challenge on a whopping 50,408 calories.

The challenge also had a notable impact on Erik’s body, with his final weigh-in coming in at 190lbs (13 stone 8lbs) around 30 pounds heavier than his starting weight.

Erik’s impressive (or insane) achievement left viewers speechless, with many joking that the video made them feel a lot better about their own diets.

“I can’t imagine going to the bathroom after eating all that,” commented one viewer, while a second joked: “As a European, this is how we imagine USA.”

“I cannot BELIEVE he gained 30 pounds from this! that must have been extremely painful,” a third person added.

The NASA astronaut – along with colleague Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore – has been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) since June 2024.

They were only supposed to be there for eight days, but were forced to extend their stay due to technical issues with the spacecraft, as well as Joe Biden’s alleged reluctance to bring them home, says Wilmore.

President Trump on the other hand promised on Thursday (7 March) to use his sidekick and SpaceX boss Elon Musk to work on their return to Earth.

Watch below as the 78-year-old takes time out to compliment Williams’ zero gravity hair-do:

“Biden left them up there,” Trump said to the reporters in the Oval Office.

“We have two astronauts that are stuck in space. I have asked Elon (Musk), I said, ‘Do me a favour. Can you get them out?’ He said, ‘Yes.’

“He is preparing to go up, I think in two weeks.”

He claims that the world’s richest man is ‘right now preparing a ship to go up’ and get them.

“And I see the woman with the wild hair, good, solid head of hair she’s got. There’s no kidding, there’s no games with her hair,” Trump added.

Addressing the two astronauts, he said: “We love you, and we’re coming up to get you. And you shouldn’t have been up there so long.”

Things then got a little weirder, as the POTUS added: “We’re going to get them out. We’re coming up to get you.

“They’ve been left up there. I hope they like each other, but they’ve been… maybe they’ll love each other, I don’t know, but they’ve been left up there. Think of it.

“There’s a danger up there too. It can have some failures up there. That would be very bad. You got to get them out.”

With Musk’s SpaceX being tasked with bringing the crew back to Earth, Wilmore and Williams are expected to return no earlier than 19 March.

The pair were asked in a press conference on Tuesday (4 March) if the Biden administration declined Musk’s offer to bring them back earlier.

“I can only say that Mr Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual,” Wilmore claimed.

“So I believe him. I don’t know all those details, and I don’t think any of us really can give you the answer that maybe that you would be hoping for.”

Musk added on X: “The astronauts were only supposed to be up there for eight days and now have been there for eight months.

“SpaceX could have sent up another Dragon and brought them home six months ago, but the Biden-Harris White House (not NASA) refused to allow it.

“President Trump asked to bring them back as soon as possible and we are doing so.”

The 47-year-old brutally told Kim Kardashian that her ‘career was over’ and said she resembled Marge Simpson after she styled herself for an appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Despite his damning critique, the businesswoman is still booked and busy these days – and just this week, a 60ft blow-up doll depicting her was erected in the centre of Times Square.

West was married to the reality star, 44, for nearly seven years before their divorce was finalised in November 2022.

The demise of the couple – who share children North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm together – was highly publicised and involved a lot of outbursts on West’s side.

Still, they were keen to make a go of the the co-parenting thing and stayed in communication for the sake of their kids… and Kardashian’s style.

West, who often used to refer to the Skims founder as his ‘muse’, has been heavily involved in his former wife’s outfit choices since they first met.

Fans will recall how he cleared out her entire closet in a 2012 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians and gifted her a host of new clothes.

Speaking of him revamping her wardrobe during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Michael in 2015, Kardashian said: “I walked in my room and there was an entire room filled with all new clothes and all the stuff he wanted to fill back up my closet with and it was really cool new designers – I hadn’t even heard of some of these designers before.

“It really helped me fall in love with fashion. I eventually did get rid of most of that stuff and my style has totally evolved and changed, but I didn’t see it at the time, I had to work it out myself.”

Little did Kardashian know, she’d end up going right back to the drawing board with her style when she split from West a few years later.

The pair’s divorce was somewhat documented on the Hulu series, The Kardashians, and she gave viewers an insight into how she was coping amid the break-up.

In footage which was filmed in November 2021, which then aired in May 2022, the mother-of-four said she was feeling a bit lost as she usually turned to West for advice on ‘everything’.

“I got to a point where I would ask him for advice for everything – down to what I wear,” she told her sister Kourtney Kardashian. “Even now I’m having panic attacks like, what do I wear?”

The socialite went on to reveal that the ‘Blame Game’ rapper had styled her for her October 2021 appearance on Saturday Night Live.

However, Kardashian said that she had taken the reins in the fashion department herself when it came to choosing what to wear for the Wall Street Journal Magazine Innovator Awards the following month.

She said: “I was like, ‘How do I wear something that hasn’t been pre-vetted first?’ Like, it was like psychologically [hard].”

Kardashian ended up sporting a brown leather dress from her Skims x Fendi collection, which she paired with matching gloves and snakeskin-print heeled boots.

Telling her sister she was ‘so nervous’ about her attire being slated, Kardashian then explained that West had been in touch to share a scathing review of her outfit.

“He called me afterwards,” she said. “He told me my career is over and then he showed me a picture of Marge Simpson wearing something similar.”

Kardashian went on to tell viewers in her confessional that although she has ‘always been really into’ fashion, she has ‘never been the creative’.

“I definitely see what I like but I’ve never really been the visionary,” she explained. “Kanye would come in and be like, ‘You should do your hair like this. You should do your makeup like this’.

“That’s his love language, it’s clothes. And so, I always just trusted in him. But, it’s not just about clothes. That was like the last thing we had really in common.”

She then spoke of how she was struggling to navigate her own personal style after receiving constant direction for around a decade.

“I was always ‘The Kardashians’ with my sisters, and then I was ‘Kimye’,” she said. “Like, who is Kim K? That is the jump. How do I get there without Kanye?

“When I filed for divorce, it’s been like 10 months now,” she said at the time. “And I am finally just stepping out [and] being like, I can do this.”

The pair, who have a pretty striking resemblance despite being apparently unrelated (as far as they know), have spoken about doing a DNA test before, after McConaughey explained that his mother had known Harrelson’s father many years ago.

“In Greece a few years ago, we’re sitting around talking about how close we are and our families,” the 54-year-old said on the Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast.

“And my mom is there, and she says, ‘Woody, I knew your dad’. Everyone was aware of the ellipses that my mom left after ‘knew’.

“It was a loaded K-N-E-W.”

He also said: “And that’s part of our bromance, right? My kids call him Uncle Woody. His kids call me Uncle Matthew etc etc. And you see pictures of us and my family thinks a lot of pictures of him are me. His family thinks a lot of pictures of me are him.”

Now, in a new interview, Harrelson has explained that the two actors are probably going to take the test once and for all to find out.

“Well, we haven’t done the DNA test, but we’re probably going to do that. I think there’s a real possibility,” he told Johnny Vaughan on Radio X.

When asked whose parent was ‘promiscuous’, Harrelson added: “I think all of our parents! You know, actually, it came out of one time Matthew’s mom, who called Mom-Mack, was just an incredible lady, but very devious. You never know what’s true, what’s not true. One time she said to me, after I’d known it for 25 years, she said, ‘I knew your father,’ and I found the ellipses troubling.

“Yeah, it sounds like something went on. And the thing was Matthew’s mom and dad divorced. They were married three times.

“Yeah. So, they’d split for a while, and during one of those splits, Charles Harrelson just seemed to find a little favour with her.”

Of course, if they did find out they were brothers, it would probably be a life changing discovery, especially for McConaughey.

“Look, it’s a little easier for Woody to say, ‘Come on, let’s do [DNA tests],’ because what’s the skin in it for him?” he explained on the Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast.

“It’s a little harder for me because he’s asking me to take a chance to go, ‘Wait a minute, you’re trying to tell me my dad may not be my dad after 53 years of believing that?’ I got a little more skin in the game.”