For Japan's new leader, the key to connecting with Trump could be a Ford F-150 truck

TOKYO (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived on Monday in Japan where new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is banking on building a friendly personal relationship with the U.S. leader to ease trade tensions.

One key to this strategy might lie in an idea floated by Japan’s government to buy a fleet of Ford F-150 trucks, a meaningful gesture that may also be impractical given the narrow streets in Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

It's an early diplomatic test for Takaichi, the first woman to lead Japan. She took office only last week, and has a tenuous coalition backing her.

Trump instantly bought into the idea of Ford trucks as he flew to Asia aboard Air Force One.

“She has good taste,” Trump told reporters. “That’s a hot truck.”

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Melissa strengthens to a Category 5 hurricane as it nears Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Melissa intensified to Category 5 strength Monday as it neared Jamaica with up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain and a life-threatening storm surge.

Melissa is forecast to make landfall on the island Tuesday and cross Cuba and the Bahamas through Wednesday.

Melissa was centered about 130 miles (205 kilometers) south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 315 miles (505 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph) and was moving west at 3 mph (6 kph), the center said.

Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale with sustained winds exceeding 157 mph (250 kph). Melissa is the strongest hurricane in recent history to directly hit the small Caribbean nation.

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Trump administration posts notice that no federal food aid will go out Nov. 1

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out Nov. 1, raising the stakes for families nationwide as the government shutdown drags on.

The new notice comes after the Trump administration said it would not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November. That program helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries.

“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats.”

The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second-longest on record. While the Republican administration took steps leading up to the shutdown to ensure SNAP benefits were paid this month, the cutoff would expand the impact of the impasse to a wider swath of Americans — and some of those most in need — unless a political resolution is found in just a few days.

The administration blames Democrats, who say they will not agree to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate with them on extending expiring subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans say Democrats must first agree to reopen the government before negotiation.

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Flights to Los Angeles International Airport halted due to air traffic controller shortage

Flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility, the Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday, when the agency also reported staffing-related delays in Chicago, Washington and Newark, New Jersey.

The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world's busiest airports soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed and canceled in the coming days as the nation's air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown.

During an appearance on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures,” Duffy said more controllers were calling in sick as money worries compound the stress of an already challenging job.

“Just yesterday, ... we had 22 staffing triggers. That’s one of the highest that we have seen in the system since the shutdown began. And that’s a sign that the controllers are wearing thin,” he said.

The FAA said planes headed for Los Angeles were held at their originating airports starting at 11:42 a.m. Eastern time, and the agency lifted the ground stop at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time.

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Russia has tested a new nuclear-capable missile, Putin and top general say

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia tested a new nuclear-capable and powered cruise missile fit to confound existing defenses, inching closer to deploying it to its military, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks released on Sunday.

The announcement, which followed years of tests of the Burevestnik missile, comes as part of nuclear messaging from the Kremlin, which has resisted Western pressure for a ceasefire in Ukraine and strongly warned the U.S. and other NATO allies against sanctioning strikes deep inside Russia with longer-range Western weapons.

A video released by the Kremlin showed Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, receiving a report from Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of general staff, who told the Russian leader that the Burevestnik covered 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) in a key test Tuesday.

Gerasimov said the Burevestnik, or storm petrel in Russian, spent 15 hours in the air on nuclear power, adding “that’s not the limit.”

Little is known about the Burevestnik, which was code-named Skyfall by NATO, and many Western experts have been skeptical about it, noting that a nuclear engine could be highly unreliable.

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Hamas expands search for the remains of hostages in Gaza

CAIRO (AP) — Hamas has expanded its search for bodies of hostages in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian group said Sunday, a day after Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help retrieve them.

Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on Oct. 10, Hamas is expected to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. Israel has agreed to return 15 bodies of Palestinians for each one.

Children and others watched the Egyptian equipment claw through the sand near badly damaged buildings in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Hamas has returned the remains of 15 hostages but hasn't handed over any in five days. Israel has returned the bodies of 195 Palestinians, many of them unidentified.

More complicated steps lie ahead under the ceasefire plan, including the disarming of Hamas and the postwar governance of famine-stricken Gaza, where the U.N. and partners continue to urge Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid.

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Suspects arrested over the theft of crown jewels from Paris' Louvre museum

PARIS (AP) — Two suspects were arrested in connection with the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, justice and police officials said Sunday, a week after the heist that stunned the world and sparked a massive manhunt.

The Paris prosecutor said that investigators made arrests Saturday evening, adding that one of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

French media BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that two suspects had been arrested and taken into custody. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether any jewels had been recovered.

A police official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing case, told The Associated Press that two men in their 30s, both known to police, were taken into custody. He said one suspect was arrested as he attempted to board a plane bound for Algeria. The official added that one of the suspects was identified through DNA traces. Beccuau said earlier this week that forensics experts were analyzing 150 samples at the scene.

The suspects can be held in police custody up to 96 hours.

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US warship docks in Trinidad and Tobago, putting more pressure on Venezuela

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (AP) — A U.S. warship docked in Trinidad and Tobago 's capital Sunday as the Trump administration boosts military pressure on neighboring Venezuela and its President Nicolás Maduro.

The arrival of the USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, in the capital of the Caribbean nation is in addition to the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which is moving closer to Venezuela. Maduro criticized the movement of the carrier as an attempt by the U.S government to fabricate "a new eternal war” against his country.

U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Maduro, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organized crime gang Tren de Aragua.

Government officials from the twin-island nation and the U.S. said the massive warship will remain in Trinidad until Thursday so both countries can carry out training exercises.

A senior military official in Trinidad and Tobago told The Associated Press that the move was only recently scheduled. The official spoke under condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to discuss the matter publicly.

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Trump's redistricting push hits roadblocks in Indiana and Kansas as Republican lawmakers resist

For most of President Donald Trump's second term, Republicans have bent to his will. But in two Midwestern states, Trump's plan to maintain control of the U.S. House in next year’s election by having Republicans redraw congressional districts has hit a roadblock.

Despite weeks of campaigning by the White House, Republicans in Indiana and Kansas say their party doesn't have enough votes to pass new, more GOP-friendly maps. It's made the two states outliers in the rush to redistrict — places where Republican-majority legislatures are unwilling or unable to heed Trump's call and help preserve the party’s control on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers in the two states still may be persuaded, and the White House push, which has included an Oval Office meeting for Indiana lawmakers and two trips to Indianapolis by Vice President JD Vance, is expected to continue. But for now, it's a rare setback for the president and his efforts to maintain a compliant GOP-held Congress after the 2026 midterms.

Typically, states redraw the boundaries of their congressional districts every 10 years, based on census data. But because midterm elections typically tend to favor the party not in power, Trump is pressuring Republicans to devise new maps that favor the GOP.

Democrats only need to gain three seats to flip House control, and the fight has become a bruising back-and-forth.

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Milei triumphs in Argentine midterm elections closely watched by Washington

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei won decisive victories in key districts in midterm elections Sunday, clinching a crucial vote of confidence that strengthens his ability to carry out his radical free-market experiment with billions of dollars in backing from the Trump administration.

In the election widely seen as a referendum on Milei's past two years in office, his upstart La Libertad Avanza party scored over 40% ??of votes compared with 31% for the left-leaning populist opposition movement, known as Peronism, exceeding analysts' projections.

Milei, a key ideological ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said his party and allied blocs picked up 14 seats in the Senate and 64 in the lower house of Congress on Sunday, bolstering the government's support in the legislature enough to uphold presidential vetoes and block impeachment efforts.

At La Libertad Avanza headquarters late Sunday in downtown Buenos Aires, a beaming Milei hailed the election sweep as a mandate to press forward with his spending cuts and introduce ambitious tax and labor reforms. The results also automatically position him as a candidate for reelection in 2027.

“The Argentine people have decided to leave behind 100 years of decadence,” Milei exulted as his supporters cheered, referring to a succession of Peronist governments that brought Argentina infamy for its inflationary spirals and sovereign debt defaults.

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