AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EST

Government shutdown could become longest ever as Trump says he ‘won’t be extorted’ by Democrats

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government shutdown is poised to become the longest ever this week as the impasse between Democrats and Republicans has dragged into a new month. Millions of people could lose food aid benefits, health care subsidies are set to expire and there are few real talks between the parties over how to end it.

President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday that he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats who are demanding negotiations to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year for millions of Americans. Echoing congressional Republicans, the president said on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he will only negotiate when the government is reopened.

Trump’s comments signal that the shutdown could continue to drag on for some time as federal workers, including air traffic controllers, are set to miss additional paychecks and there is uncertainty over whether 42 million Americans who receive federal food aid will be able to access the assistance. Senate Democrats have now voted 13 times against reopening the government, insisting that they need Trump and Republicans to negotiate with them first.

The president said that Democrats “have lost their way” and predicted that they will eventually capitulate to Republicans.

“I think they have to,” Trump said. “And if they don’t vote, it’s their problem.”

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UK police charge man with attempted murder over train stabbing that wounded 11 people

LONDON (AP) — U.K. police on Monday charged a 32-year-old man with attempted murder over a mass stabbing attack on a train that wounded 11 people, and said he also tried to kill someone at a London transit station earlier the same day.

British Transport Police said Anthony Williams is charged with 10 counts of attempted murder, one of actual bodily harm and one of possession of a bladed article over the attack on Saturday.

He is also charged with attempted murder over a separate incident at Pontoon Dock light rail station in London earlier that day, and police said investigators are “looking at other possible linked offenses.”

Police say they are not treating the stabbings as an act of terror and are not looking for other suspects. A second man initially arrested as a suspect was released without charge on Sunday after it was determined the 35-year-old was not involved.

Williams, a British citizen from the city of Peterborough in eastern England, is due to appear in court later Monday.

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The end of federal food aid could hit Black Americans hardest

NEW YORK (AP) — In one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the nation, a line stretched along the side of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen and Pantry.

Willy Hilaire is homeless, unemployed and 63. He lives in a New York shelter with his two grandchildren and often goes hungry so that they can eat the food he gets from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

On many days, Hilaire’s only food is a hot meal he gets from Holy Apostles in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. With SNAP at risk, he worries there won’t be enough for him and the children, forcing more sacrifice.

“I always tell them, ‘Grandpa is there for you,’” he said. “‘Whatever I have, I’ll give it to you.’”

Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown. But officials said it was too late to stop recipients from losing benefits on Saturday and that restoring them could likely take at least one week.

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What’s on the ballot in the first general election since Donald Trump became president

WASHINGTON (AP) — One year after Donald Trump retook the White House and set into motion a dramatic expansion of executive power, the Republican president figures prominently in state and local elections being held Tuesday.

The results of those contests — the first general election of Trump’s second term — will be heralded by the victors as either a major repudiation or resounding stamp of approval of his second-term agenda. That’s especially true in high-profile races for Virginia and New Jersey governor, New York City mayor and a California proposition to redraw its congressional district boundaries.

More than half of the states will hold contests on Tuesday. Here’s a look at some of the major statewide and local races on the ballot:

In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli are the nominees to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Sherrill is a four-term U.S. representative and former Navy helicopter pilot. Ciattarelli is a former state Assemblyman backed by Trump. In 2021, Ciattarelli came within about 3 percentage points of toppling Murphy.

In Virginia, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger look to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. While Spanberger has made some efforts to focus on topics other than Trump in stump speeches, the president remained a major topic of conversation throughout the campaign, from comments Earle-Sears made about him in 2022 to some of his more polarizing policies, such as the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill tax and spending cut measure and the widespread dismissal of federal workers, many of whom live in northern Virginia.

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2 people killed in Ukraine’s Odesa region as Russia continues to target power grid

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least two people were killed in a drone attack in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region, authorities said Sunday. Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine continued to target each other’s infrastructure.

A Russian drone attack on a car park in the Odesa region, on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, in the early hours of Sunday killed two people, according to the State Emergency Service. Odesa regional head Oleh Kiper said that three others were wounded.

Tens of thousands of homes were left without power after Russia attacked the front-line Zaporizhzhia region overnight with drones and missiles.

Zaporizhzhia regional head Ivan Fedorov said nearly 60,000 people faced power outages and that two people were wounded in the attacks. He posted photos on Telegram of buildings reduced to rubble.

As a result of attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, several regions faced rolling power cuts on Sunday, Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, said.

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Health officials in Gaza say Israel has handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians

JERUSALEM (AP) — Health officials in Gaza say Israel has handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians.

Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson at the Gaza Health Ministry, told the AP that Nasser Hospital in Gaza received the bodies Monday morning.

It comes a day after Palestinian militants returned to Israel the remains of three Israeli troops taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said on Monday the remains of three hostages returned from Gaza the previous night belong to soldiers who were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war. The positive identification marked another step forward for the tenuous, U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

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Trump’s testing plans for US nuclear weapons won’t include explosions, energy secretary says

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — New tests of the U.S. nuclear weapons system ordered up by President Donald Trump will not include nuclear explosions, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday.

It was the first clarity from the Trump administration since the president took to social media last week to say he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Briefing.” “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.”

Wright, whose agency is responsible for testing, added that the planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”

The confusion over Trump’s intention started minutes before he held a critical meeting in South Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump took to his Truth Social platform and appeared to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old U.S. prohibition on testing the nation’s nuclear weapons.

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Trump says China’s Xi has assured him that he won’t take action on Taiwan during Republican’s term

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump says that Chinese President Xi Jinping has given him assurances that Beijing would take no action toward its long-stated goal of unifying Taiwan with mainland China while the Republican leader is in office.

Trump said that the long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in his talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea that largely focused on U.S.-China trade tensions. But the U.S. leader expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan, while he’s in office.

“He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with the CBS’ program “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday.

U.S. officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.

The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily if China invades but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status by Beijing.

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Judge again bars Trump administration from deploying troops to Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.

The city and state sued in September to block the deployment.

It’s the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests.

The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.

In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits.

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In Gaza cemeteries, some displaced Palestinians live among the dead

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Skeletons are neighbors for some Palestinians in Gaza who found nowhere but cemeteries to shelter from the war.

Gravestones have become seats and tables for families like that of Maisa Brikah, who has lived with her children in a dusty, sun-baked cemetery in the southern city of Khan Younis for five months. Some 30 families shelter here.

A blonde-haired toddler sits outside one tent, running fingers through the sand. Another peeks playfully from behind a drape of fabric.

Nighttime is another matter.

“When the sun goes down, the children get scared and don’t want to go, and I have a few children, four small ones,” Brikah said. “They are afraid to go out because of the dogs at night, and the dead.”