UK police release 1 of 2 men arrested over train stabbings and laud 'heroic' rail worker

LONDON (AP) — British police said Sunday that one of two men arrested in connection with a mass stabbing attack that spread fear and panic on a London-bound train a day earlier has been released without charge, and that one person, a “heroic” member of the railway staff, remains in a life-threatening condition.

In a statement Sunday evening, police said the only remaining suspect is a 32-year-old British man who remains in custody on suspicion of attempted murder. A second man initially arrested as a suspect was released without charge after it was determined the 35-year-old was not involved.

Police said they are not treating the stabbings as an act of terror and are confident they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack. They have not disclosed a possible motive or the type of knife used.

“Our investigation is moving at pace and we are confident we are not looking for anyone else in connection to the incident," said Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy of the British Transport Police.

“As would be expected, specialist detectives are looking into the background of the suspect we have in custody and the events that led up to the attack," he added.

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Trump says he 'won't be extorted' by Democrats, shuns negotiations as shutdown drags on

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he “won't be extorted” by Democrats to reopen the government, making clear that he has no plans to negotiate as the government shutdown will soon enter its sixth week.

In an interview on CBS's “60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, Trump said that Democrats who are demanding an extension in health care subsidies “have lost their way" and predicted that they will eventually capitulate to Republicans who have said they won't negotiate until they vote to reopen the government.

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

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 as there is uncertainty over whether 42 million Americans who received 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 on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

Instead of negotiating, the president reiterated his pleas to Republican leaders to change Senate rules and scrap the filibuster. But Senate Republicans have rejected that idea, arguing that the rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objections in the Senate is vital to the institution and has allowed them to stop Democratic policies when they are in the minority.

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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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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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Israel says it received the remains of 3 hostages from Gaza as fragile ceasefire holds

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Sunday announced that the remains of three hostages had been handed over from Gaza and would be examined by forensic experts, as a fragile month-old ceasefire held.

A Hamas statement earlier said the remains were found Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza.

Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants had released the remains of 17 hostages, with 11 remaining in Gaza, before Sunday's handover.

Israel’s military said official identification of these remains would be provided to families first.

U.S. President Donald Trump later on Sunday indicated that the remains of Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli citizen, were among the hostages returned by Hamas. The president said he has spoken with the family of Neutra, who served as a tank platoon commander in the Israel Defense Forces.

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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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Ruling conservatives in North Macedonia cement victory in local elections, main opposition trounced

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia ’s ruling conservatives cemented victory in a local election runoff on Sunday, winning just over two-thirds of the mayoral contests in two rounds of voting, leaving opposition Social Democrats far behind and dashing their hopes of an early general election

According to the State electoral commission, with nearly 99 % of ballots counted for both rounds, the ruling conservative VMRO-DPMNE party has won 55 mayoral contests, including in the capital Skopje, while the opposition Social Democrats got only six mayors. North Macedonia has 81 municipalities, of which 37 were contested in Sunday’s runoff.

Conservative candidates had already won 33 out of 44 contests decided in the first round two weeks ago.

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski announced at party headquarters a “great, great” victory before hundreds of celebrating supporters.

“If anyone had any doubts, the people have shown that (North) Macedonia is yours again. Thank you my people. This is a victory of hope for a better future,” Mickoski said.

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Mississippi woman kills escaped monkey fearing for her children's safety

One of the monkeys that escaped last week after a truck overturned on a Mississippi highway was shot and killed early Sunday by a woman who says she feared for the safety of her children.

Jessica Bond Ferguson said she was alerted early Sunday by her 16-year-old son who said he thought he had seen a monkey running in the yard outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi. She got out of bed, grabbed her firearm and her cellphone and stepped outside where she saw the monkey about 60 feet (18 meters) away.

Bond Ferguson said she and other residents had been warned that the escaped monkeys carried diseases so she fired her gun.

“I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,” Bond Ferguson, who has five children ranging in age from 4 to 16, told The Associated Press. “I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he backed up and that's when he fell.”

The Jasper County Sheriff's Office confirmed in a social media post that a homeowner had found one of the monkeys on their property Sunday morning but said the office didn't have any details. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took possession of the monkey, the sheriff's office said.

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BYU, Texas Tech give Big 12 two top 10 teams for 1st time in 2 years ahead of their Top 25 showdown

The Big 12 had two teams in the top 10 of The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll for the first time in two years Sunday, Notre Dame was back in the top 10 after a two-month absence and Oklahoma and Texas made the biggest upward moves.

The top seven teams were unchanged in the final poll before the College Football Playoff committee releases its first rankings Tuesday night to kick off the run-up to the CFP bracket release Dec. 7.

No. 1 Ohio State, which pulled way in the second half to beat Penn State, is at the top of the AP poll for a 10th straight week. Indiana, which scored 50-plus points against a Big Ten opponent for the third time while hammering Maryland, is No. 2 for a third straight week.

The Buckeyes and Hoosiers again were followed by Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon and Mississippi. Losses by Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Miami shuffled the Nos. 8, 9 and 10 spots, now held by BYU, Texas Tech and Notre Dame.

The distribution of first-place votes was the same as last week. Ohio State received 54, Indiana got 11 and Texas A&M one.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025