GEOFF BENNETT: Also today, Cornell named former U.S.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to lead what it's calling a comprehensive independent review of how the school handles sexual assault on campus.

Her appointment comes as the Ivy League school tries to address a surge of anger on campus over a former student's claims that she was raped by multiple men at a fraternity house in 2024.

The men she's accused deny any wrongdoing.

Yates spent decades with the Justice Department and was the deputy attorney general under then-President Obama in 2015.

Last week, New York's Attorney General Letitia James was tasked with carrying out her own review to determine if criminal charges should be filed.

In Tennessee, lawyers for inmate Christa Pike say she's awake and speaking after surviving a botched execution attempt last week.

In a statement, they say -- quote -- "Her recovery is medically unprecedented.

Her prognosis remains unclear, but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery."

The 50-year-old was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer.

After Pike survived two lethal injections, Tennessee's governor paused further executions for the year and ordered an investigation into the state's capital punishment system.

President Trump is facing bipartisan backlash today after comments at a campaign rally in which he suggested that Iran could take out two cities in California.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.

They can take out a city.

Let them take -- let them take out Los Angeles.

Let them take out San Diego.

DONALD TRUMP: That's -- this is a very small price to pay, and it's going to be over very soon.

GEOFF BENNETT: California's Democratic lawmakers condemned the remarks.

And Republican congressional candidate and Navy veteran Jim Desmond said he vehemently disagrees, saying -- quote - - No American city is expendable."

The White House countered that Mr.

Trump was misunderstood and was arguing that the war is preventing Iran from ever having such capability.

Paramount officially closed its multibillion-dollar deal for Warner Bros.

Discovery today, creating one of Hollywood's most valuable properties.

The combined company is called Skydance, and it folds such titles as HBO Max and CNN under the same umbrella as CBS and Paramount+.

Incoming boss David Ellison called it an historic day, not just for Skydance, but for the entire industry.

But critics have said the merger will lead to job losses and fewer options for consumers.

The Emmy Awards are moving off broadcast TV.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced today that Amazon's Prime Video will broadcast the ceremony for a period of six years starting in 2027.

Amazon says the show will be free with no Prime membership required.

It's a major shift for the Emmys, which have rotated among the four broadcast networks since the 1950s.

And it's just the latest move to streaming, with the Oscars heading to YouTube starting in 2029.

The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Francis Halzen for developing a pioneering telescope to detect high-energy neutrinos, sometimes called ghost particles.

Researchers believe these high-energy minuscule particles can offer clues into how the universe evolved.

Halzen, who is from Belgium, is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

He first conceptualized his South Pole observatory back in the 1980s, but it was not operational until 2011.

The Nobel Committee said the 82-year-old's -- quote -- "tenacity and scientific vision has paved the way for a new kind of astronomy."

On Wall Street today, stocks ticked higher once again, despite worries over Iran and inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average added around 250 points.

The Nasdaq rose nearly half-a-percent.

The S&P 500 climbed to a new all-time high.

And we have three passings of note tonight, starting with one of the last survivors of Hollywood's golden age.

Legendary actress Eva Marie Saint has died.

She's perhaps best known as the seductive secret agent in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 thriller "North by Northwest."

Before that, she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for "On the Waterfront" opposite Marlon Brando.

Her career spanned seven decades, including roles later in life on TV and in movie "Superman Returns," among many others.

Eva Marie Saint was 102 years old.

Also, R&B singer Freddie Jackson has died.

A master of the romantic ballad, Jackson started as a gospel singer at a Baptist church in his native Harlem and became one of the great voices of the genre.

Songs like "You Are My Lady" and "Rock Me Tonight" helped Jackson dominate the R&B charts in the 1980s and early '90s with 10 number one hits.

He was also nominated for two Grammys.

His family said he died yesterday.

And Jim Bakker, the television evangelist who later went to prison for financial crimes, has died.

Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye, built a huge following with the PTL Club in the 1970s and 80s.

It stood for Praise the Lord.

At its peak, the show drew 13 million daily viewers.

Their empire began to unravel in 1987 when a church secretary accused Bakker of sexual assault.

He maintained the encounter was consensual, but still tried to buy her silence.

In an interview on ABC's "Nightline," Bakker and his wife asked for forgiveness.

JIM BAKKER, Televangelist: The Bible says, ye without sin cast the first stone.

I don't want to throw stones at anyone.

But yet people are asking questions.

And I want to tell that I love them, that I'm sorry for what's been happening, and that we have asked God to forgive us, and we ask them to forgive us.

GEOFF BENNETT: A year later, Bakker's downfall continued when he was indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges tied to PTL's finances.

He was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but ended up serving around five years.

Bakker's second wife, Lori, announced his death on social media last night.

Jim Bakker was 86 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the funeral of a Haitian man who died by suicide shines a light on the impact of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown; Afghan refugees are forced back to their home country, despite the Taliban's rule; and longtime diplomat Brett McGurk pulls back the curtain on the Biden administration's negotiations to free the October 7 hostages in Gaza.