Trump says Senate should scrap the filibuster to end the government shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster, so that the Republican majority can bypass Democrats and reopen the federal government.

“THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER,” Trump posted Thursday night on his social media site, Truth Social.

The filibuster is a long-standing tactic in the Senate to delay or block votes on legislation by keeping the debate running. It requires 60 votes in a full Senate to overcome a filibuster, giving Democrats a check on the 53-seat Republican majority that led to the start of the Oct. 1 shutdown when the new fiscal year began.

Trump's call to terminate the filibuster could alter the ways the Senate and congressional dealmaking operate, with the president saying in his post that he gave a “great deal” of thought to the choice on his flight back from Asia on Thursday.

Trump spent the past week with foreign leaders in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, finishing his tour by meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

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Royal prerogative: King Charles III banishes Andrew to buttress the House of Windsor's foundations

No one is bigger than the monarchy. Not even the king’s brother.

In the end, that reality spelled the end of Andrew’s life as a prince of the realm.

As details of Andrew’s links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued to dribble out and Parliament raised questions about his rent-free residence at a sprawling country house near Windsor Castle, King Charles III moved Thursday to shield the monarchy from any further revelations.

In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace, the king said he had taken steps to strip his brother of all his titles and honors, including the one he has held since birth — prince. From now on, the scandal-plagued British royal will be known simply as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

Andrew is also being forced to move out of Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion near Windsor Castle where he has lived for more than 20 years.

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US defense chief vows to 'stoutly defend' Indo-Pacific interests in talks with China

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The U.S. Secretary of Defense said Friday he told his Chinese counterpart during talks in Malaysia that Washington would “stoutly defend” its interests in the Indo-Pacific. He also signed a new agreement aimed at strengthening security ties with India.

Pete Hegseth described as “good and constructive” his meeting with Chinese Admiral Dong Jun, held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations defense ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur. He said he raised U.S. concerns over Chinese activities in the South China Sea, around Taiwan and toward U.S. allies and partners in the region.

“I highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,” Hegseth wrote on social media platform X. “United States does not seek conflict (but) it will continue to stoutly defend its interests and ensure it has the capabilities in the region to do so.”

China's defense ministry issued a cautious response, emphasizing its longstanding positions. Dong Jun stressed the reunification of China and Taiwan is an “unstoppable historical trend” and urged the U.S. to be cautious in its words and actions on the Taiwan issue, the statement said.

“We hope the U.S. will translate its statements of not containing China and not seeking conflict into action, and work with China to inject positive energy into regional and global peace and security,” according to the statement.

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China's Xi promises to protect free trade at APEC as Trump snubs major summit

GYEONGJU, South Korea (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Asia-Pacific leaders on Friday that his country would help to defend global free trade at an annual economic regional forum snubbed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Xi took center stage at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that began Friday in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, as Trump left the country a day earlier after reaching deals with Xi meant to ease their escalating trade war.

This year’s two-day APEC summit has been heavily overshadowed by the Trump-Xi meeting that was arranged on the sidelines.

Trump described his Thursday meeting with Xi as a roaring success, saying he would cut tariffs on China, while Beijing had agreed to allow the export of rare earth elements and start buying American soybeans. Their deals were a relief to a world economy rattled by trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Trump’s decision to skip APEC fits with his well-known disdain for big, multi-nation forums that have been traditionally used to address global problems. But his blunt dismissal of APEC risks worsening America’s reputation at a forum that represents nearly 40% of the world’s population and more than half of global goods trade.

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Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba pick up the pieces after Melissa's destruction

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and surveyed the damage left behind.

In Jamaica, government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach dozens of isolated communities in the island's southeast that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Stunned residents wandered about, some staring at their roofless homes and waterlogged belongings strewn around them.

"I don’t have a house now,” said Sylvester Guthrie, a resident of Lacovia in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth, as he held onto his bicycle, the only possession of value left after the storm.

Emergency relief flights were landing at Jamaica’s main international airport as crews distributed water, medicine and other basic supplies. Helicopters dropped food as they thrummed above communities where the storm flattened homes, wiped out roads and destroyed bridges, cutting them off from assistance.

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Hospital officials in Gaza say Israel has handed over the bodies of 30 Palestinians

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hospital officials in Gaza say Israel has handed over the bodies of 30 Palestinians, a day after Palestinian militants in Gaza turned over the remains of two hostages to Israel.

Officials at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving the bodies but did not immediately say what state they were in or identify them.

The exchange of Palestinian remains for hostage remains is the latest indication that the fraught Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving forward, despite deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza this week.

Before Friday's release, Israel had returned the bodies of 195 Palestinians to authorities in Gaza without providing details on their identities. It is unclear if the bodies returned by Israel were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war.

Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits.

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Trump sets 7,500 annual limit for refugees entering US. It'll be mostly white South Africans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is restricting the number of refugees admitted annually to the United States to 7,500 and they will mostly be white South Africans, a dramatic drop announced Thursday that effectively suspends America's traditional role as a haven for those fleeing war and persecution.

The move cements a major shift in policy toward refugees that aligns with the Republican administration’s broader goals of keeping out foreigners whom it deems a risk to the nation’s security or a threat to U.S. jobs. That shift has meant increased immigration enforcement, in cities and at borders and entry points, in what’s become a vastly changed landscape in a country long seen as a beacon for migrants.

No reason was given for the new numbers, which were published in a notice on the Federal Register and are a steep decrease from last year’s ceiling of 125,000 set under Democratic President Joe Biden. The Associated Press previously reported that the administration was considering admitting as few as 7,500 refugees and mostly white South Africans.

The notice said the admission of the 7,500 refugees during the 2026 budget year, which began Oct. 1, was “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.” It made no mention of any other specific groups to be admitted besides the white South Africans, known also as Afrikaners.

"Other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands” will be considered as refugees, according to the notice, which gave no specifics on who that could entail.

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Justice Department investigating fraud allegations in Black Lives Matter movement, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is investigating whether leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement defrauded donors who contributed tens of millions of dollars during racial justice protests in 2020, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

In recent weeks, federal law enforcement officials have issued subpoenas and served at least one search warrant as part of an investigation into the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. and other Black-led organizations that helped spark a national reckoning on systemic racism, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss an ongoing criminal probe by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

It was not clear if the investigation would result in criminal charges, but its mere existence invites fresh scrutiny to a movement that in recent years has faced criticism about its public accounting of donations it has received. The recent burst of investigative activity is also unfolding at a time when civil rights organizations have raised concerns about the potential for the Trump administration to target a variety of progressive and left-leaning groups that have been critical of him, including those affiliated with BLM, the transgender rights movement and anti-ICE protesters.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department declined to comment on Thursday.

One of the people said the investigation had been initiated during the Biden administration but is getting renewed attention during the Trump administration. A second person confirmed that allegations were examined in the Biden administration.

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Ramen instead of Reese's? Looming SNAP cuts change what's on offer for Halloween trick-or-treaters

When KC Neufeld announced on her Denver neighborhood’s Facebook page that her family would be handing out ramen and packs of macaroni and cheese in addition to candy this Halloween, she wasn't expecting much of a response.

The mother of twin 4-year-olds was just hoping to make a small difference in her working-class neighborhood as food aid funding for tens of millions of vulnerable Americans is expected to end Friday due to the government shutdown.

Within two days, nearly 3,000 people had reacted to Neufeld's post, some thanking her and others announcing they would follow suit.

“This post blew up way more than I ever anticipated and I’m severely unprepared,” said Neufeld, 33, explaining that she is heading back to the store to get more food despite her family hitting their grocery budget for the week.

“I wish I could just buy out this whole aisle of Costco,” she added. “I can’t. But I’ll do what I can.”

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Louvre heist highlights thorny issue for museums: How to secure art without becoming fortresses

The day after the stunning jewelry heist at the Louvre in Paris, officials from across Washington's world-famous museums were already talking, assessing and planning how to bolster their own security.

“We went over a review of the incident,” said Doug Beaver, security specialist at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, who said he participated in Zoom talks with nearby institutions including the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art. “Then we developed a game plan on that second day out, and started putting things in place on Days 3, 4 and 5.”

Similar conversations were of course happening at museums across the globe, as those tasked with securing art asked: “Could that happen here?” At the same time, many were acknowledging the inherent, even painful tension in their task: Museums are meant to help people engage with art — not to distance them from it.

“The biggest thing in museums is the visitor experience,” Beaver said. “We want visitors to come back. We don’t want them to feel as though they’re in a fortress or a restrictive environment.”

It’s an issue many are grappling with — most of all, of course, the Louvre, whose director, Laurence des Cars, has acknowledged “a terrible failure” of security measures, as have French police and legislators.

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