United States

Ukraine says European allies can give up some of their Patriot missile systems now and get future deliveries.

Most regions of Ukraine are undergoing scheduled power outages amid a new wave of attacks on energy sites by Russian drones and missiles.

Ukrenergo, the state-run electricity transmission systems operator in Ukraine, said the blackouts will last at least until the end of Monday as repairs are conducted on infrastructure damaged over the weekend and demand remains high as the onset of winter approaches.

The Poltava and Kharkiv regions are suffering from a deficit of high-voltage capacity after damage to their power transmission lines while the areas of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kyiv and other central and northern regions have been affected as well.

According to Ukraine’s military, Russian forces used two air-launched ballistic missiles, five surface-to-air guided missiles and 67 drones, including those of Iranian design, during their attacks overnight into Monday.

The Ukrainian army did not report shooting down any of the missiles, but it said 52 of the drones were intercepted and the remaining 15 conducted strikes on nine locations.

Russia has maintained its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure as United States-led diplomatic efforts to end the war make little progress. Ukraine has also been hitting Russian oil and fuel infrastructure in a stated effort to disrupt resources going to the front lines.

An explosion rocked Russia’s port town of Tuapse on the Black Sea overnight after Ukrainian forces launched sea drones towards the major oil terminal and refinery in the town. No casualties were reported.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence announced on Monday that four naval drones were destroyed near the port in the northeastern Black Sea.

It added that its air defences shot down six US-made HIMARS rockets and 124 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.

Ukraine wants Patriots from Europe

While calling for tougher sanctions and asset freezes to punish Russia, Ukraine is also looking to buy more arms.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Ukraine would like to order 25 Patriot air defence systems from US weapons makers as it tries to fend off Russian attacks at the brink of winter.

Zelenskyy acknowledged that the missile systems are expensive and such a large order could take years to manufacture. But he suggested that European countries could give their Patriots to Ukraine and await replacements, stressing that “we would not like to wait.”

Ukraine is also advancing with an internal drive with a stated aim of weeding out corruption in the energy sector.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau announced on Monday that it was conducting searches in cooperation with a specialised anticorruption judicial office in premises connected to Tymur Mindich, a former business partner of the president.

Mindich, who reportedly fled before the searches, is coowner of Zelenskyy’s Kvartal 95 production company. The Anti-Corruption Bureau said the searches are in relation to a “high-level criminal organisation in the energy and defence sectors” that engaged in money laundering and illegal enrichment.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says attacks take place in international waters amid mounting criticism against US campaign.

The United States has carried out another set of military strikes against what it says are drug boats in international waters headed to the country.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the US military targeted two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Sunday, killing six people.

“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific,” he wrote in a social media post.

“Both strikes were conducted in international waters, and three male narco-terrorists were aboard each vessel. All six were killed. No US forces were harmed.”

The administration of President Donald Trump has faced mounting criticism over such attacks, including accusations of violating domestic and international law.

But Washington appears to be stepping up the campaign. Sunday’s deadly double attack was the fourth this month. Previous strikes in the Pacific and Caribbean Sea killed at least eight people, according to US authorities.

The Trump administration started targeting boats in the Caribbean in September and later expanded its military push to the Pacific Ocean.

The US has carried out 18 strikes on vessels so far, killing dozens of people.

Last month, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said the US attacks have no justification under international law.

“These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable,” Turk said. “The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.”

The US has described the attacks as “counterterrorism” operations after having designated drug cartels as “terrorists”.

“Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people,” Hegseth said on Monday.

Other than grainy footage showing the strikes, the Trump administration has not provided concrete proof that the vessels targeted were carrying drugs.

Trump himself has previously joked that fishermen are now afraid to operate in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.

Critics have questioned why US authorities would not monitor the boats and intercept them when they enter the country’s territorial waters instead of extrajudicially executing the suspects.

The strikes have sparked regional tensions, particularly with Venezuela, with Trump accusing its president, Nicolas Maduro, of links to “narcoterrorists”.

The ramped-up US military campaign near Venezuela has raised speculation that Washington may be preparing for conflict in the oil-rich South American country.

This month, Trump suggested that war with Venezuela is unlikely but said Maduro’s days are numbered.

US Senate vote to end shutdown delivers reprieve to investors worried about AI valuations and weakness in US economy.

Stocks from the United States to Japan have risen sharply amid hopes that an end to the longest US government shutdown in history is imminent.

US lawmakers on Sunday moved to end a five-week impasse over government funding, a boost for investors unnerved by signs of growing weakness in the US economy and the sky-high evaluations of firms involved in artificial intelligence.

After a group of Democrats broke with the party leadership to join Republicans, the US Senate voted 60-40 to advance a bill that would fund government operations through the end of January.

The funding package still needs to win final approval in the Senate and then pass the US House of Representatives, after which it would go to US President Donald Trump for his signature – a process expected to take days.

Stock markets in the Asia Pacific made large gains on Monday, while futures in the US also rose in advance of stock exchanges reopening.

South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI led the gains, rising about 3 percent as of 4pm local time (07:00 GMT).

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also rose sharply, advancing about 1.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Taiwan’s Taiex rose about 0.8 percent, while Australia’s ASX 200 gained about 0.75 percent.

Futures for the US’s benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq-100, which are traded outside of regular market hours, were up about 0.75 and 1.3 percent, respectively.

The reprieve comes as investors are concerned that AI-linked stocks may be wildly overvalued and that Trump’s sweeping tariffs could be doing more damage to the US economy than has been captured in headline data so far.

Nvidia, whose graphics processing units are integral to the development of AI, last month became the first company in history to reach a market valuation of $5 trillion, a day after tech giant Apple surpassed $4 trillion in market value.

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ official jobs report has been suspended since August due to the government shutdown, several other analyses have pointed to a rise in layoffs in October.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an executive outplacement firm, said in a report last week that layoffs surged 183 percent last month, making it the worst October for jobs since 2003.

A separate analysis by Revelio Labs, a workforce analytics company, estimated that the economy shed 9,100 jobs during the month.

US senators reach stopgap deal to end government shutdown, raising hopes for end to six-week-long impasse.

Airlines in the United States have cancelled more than 3,300 flights amid a top transport official’s warning that air travel could “slow to a trickle” due to the ongoing government shutdown.

The cancellations on Sunday came as Republicans and Democrats reached a stopgap deal on ending the shutdown after the impasse over the passage of a funding bill dragged into its 40th day.

Travel disruption has been mounting since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)  last week ordered reductions in air traffic amid reports of air traffic controllers exhibiting fatigue and refusing to turn up for work.

Some 13,000 air traffic controllers, who are deemed “essential” employees under US government rules, have been forced to work without pay since the start of the shutdown on October 1.

A total of 3,304 US flights were cancelled and more than 10,000 flights were delayed on Sunday, according to data from flight-tracking website FlightAware.

More than 1,500 flights were cancelled on Saturday, following the cancellation of about 1,000 flights on Friday.

Under the FAA’s phased-in reduction in air traffic, airlines were ordered to reduce domestic flights by 4 percent from 6am Eastern Standard Time (11:00 GMT) on Friday.

Flights are set to be reduced by 6 percent from Monday, 8 percent by Thursday, and 10 percent by Friday.

In media interviews on Sunday, US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy warned that air travel could grind to a standstill in the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday on November 27.

“As we get closer to Thanksgiving travel, I think what’s going to happen is you’re going to have air travel slow to a trickle, as everyone wants to travel to see their families,” Duffy told Fox News.

“It doesn’t get better,” Duffy added. “It gets worse until these air traffic controllers are going to be paid.”

The period around Thanksgiving is one of the busiest times for travel in the US calendar.

An estimated 80 million Americans travelled during the Thanksgiving period in 2024, with airports screening a record 3.09 million passengers on the Sunday after the holiday alone.

As fears of travel chaos mounted on Sunday, US senators said they had reached a compromise agreement to restore funding for government operations through the end of January.

In a late night session, the Senate voted 60-to-40 to break the filibuster and advance the funding package after a group of moderate Democrats joined Republicans to support the resumption of government funding.

The funding plan still needs to be approved by the Senate and the US House of Representatives, and then signed into law by US President Donald Trump, before the shutdown ends.

It is also unclear whether travel disruption could persist after the government reopens.

The FAA said last week that decisions on lifting its flight reductions would be “informed by safety data”.

Al Jazeera has contacted the FAA for comment.

Richard Aboulafia, managing director at the consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory, said that if air traffic controllers have been skipping work due to pay, the disruptions should quickly dissipate once the shutdown ends.

But there are also suspicions among aviation analysts that the flight restrictions are an “arbitrary” measure designed to raise political pressure for an end to the government shutdown, Aboulafia said.

“The decision to restrict capacity was understandable if the facts and data support it,” Aboulafia told Al Jazeera.

“Secretary Duffy says the data does indeed support it, but he has not shared any of that data. People are right to be suspicious, particularly in light of other unnecessary cuts by the administration.”

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Senate takes the first step toward ending the 40-day shutdown, advancing a funding bill after weeks of gridlock.

Senators in the United States have voted to move forward with a stopgap funding package aimed at ending the longest government shutdown in the country’s history.

In a procedural vote on Sunday, some eight Democrats broke rank and voted in favour of advancing the Republican measure that will keep the government reopen into January 30.

The bipartisan deal would also fund some parts of the government, including food aid and the legislative branch, for the next year.

But it does not guarantee an extension of healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Instead, it promises a vote on the issue by December.

The subsidies have been a Democratic priority during the funding battle.

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, said the procedural vote passed with 60 in favour and 40 against.

“Now, this is what is called a cloture, a procedure by which the Senate agrees to continue the debate about the legislation and begin introducing and passing the bills aimed at ending the shutdown,” Hanna said.

“The important thing about the cloture vote is that once it is passed, at that 60 percent majority, every subsequent vote is by a simple majority. So it would appear to be plain sailing in the Senate to pass this bill and the continuing resolution to refund the government and ending the closure,” he added.

If the Senate eventually passes the amended bill, the package still must be approved by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature, a process that could take several days.

The Democratic senators who voted in favour of advancing the bill include Dick Durbin of Illinois, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Angus King of Maine, an independent who causes with the Democrats, also voted in favour of the measure.

Democrats, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, also voted yes.

The United States Senate is moving towards a vote that could help end the longest government shutdown in the country’s history, with senators expected to approve a Republican stopgap funding package as early as Sunday evening, according to media reports.

The breakthrough came after a group of centrist Democrats negotiated a deal to reopen the government if Republicans promise to hold a vote on expiring healthcare subsidies by December, The Associated Press news agency reported.

Senator Angus King, who led the talks, told reporters that the Democrats backing the legislation feel the shutdown has gone on long enough, according to The Hill.

When asked if he was confident that there would be enough votes to pass the bill, he said: “That’s certainly what it looks like.”

The package would include a stopgap funding bill that would reopen the government through January 31 and fund other elements – including food aid and the legislative branch – until the end of the fiscal year.

The amended package would still have to be passed by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature, a process that could take several days.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, told reporters that he would vote against the funding measure but also suggested there could be enough Democratic support to pass it.

“I am unwilling to accept a vague promise of a vote at some indeterminate time, on some undefined measure that extends the healthcare tax credits,” Blumenthal said.

Fallout deepens

The shutdown, currently in its 40th day, has caused thousands of flight cancellations, put food assistance for millions of Americans at risk, and furloughed about 750,000 federal employees.

Air traffic staffing shortages led at least 2,300 flights travelling within the US and to and from the country to be cancelled as of Sunday, according to data from tracking platform FlightAware, along with more than 8,000 delays.

New York City area airports, along with Chicago’s O’Hare and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airports, were especially hard-hit.

Meanwhile, the 42 million people – one in eight Americans – who rely on the food aid programme Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have seen their benefits threatened amid ongoing legal battles.

Although two courts ordered that the Trump administration must pay out SNAP funds during the shutdown, the Supreme Court paused one of the rulings until further legal arguments could be heard.

“Now, the Trump administration has told states they cannot pay more than 60 percent of the funds due this month, and it is threatening to cut all federal funds to any state that does so,” said Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC.

“For Americans, this is really beginning to bite home, and they are trying to ramp up the pressure on senators,” he added.

Health subsidies

The shutdown started on October 1, when the Senate failed to agree on spending priorities. Since then, Democrats have voted 14 times not to reopen the government as they demanded the extension of credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Democrats have pushed for a one-year extension of the subsidies, which have helped double ACA enrolment to 24 million since they were put in place in 2021.

But Republicans, who hold a simple majority in the Senate, have maintained they are open to addressing the issue only after government funding is restored.

Republicans only need five votes from Democrats to reopen the government, so a handful of moderate senators could end the shutdown with only the promise of a later vote on healthcare.

Many Democratic legislators, however, said the emerging deal is not enough.

“I really wanted to get something on healthcare,” said Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin. She added that the deal on the table “doesn’t look like it has something concrete”.

House Democrats were also chiming in against it.

Texas Representative Greg Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a deal that does not reduce healthcare costs is a “betrayal” of millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats to fight.

“Accepting nothing but a pinky promise from Republicans isn’t a compromise – it’s capitulation,” Casar said in a post on X. “Millions of families would pay the price.”

Trump, meanwhile, pushed again to replace subsidies for the ACA health insurance marketplaces with direct payments to individuals.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted the subsidies as a “windfall for Health Insurance Companies, and a DISASTER for the American people”, while demanding the funds be sent directly to individuals to buy coverage on their own.

“I stand ready to work with both Parties to solve this problem once the Government is open,” Trump wrote.

Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said he believed Trump’s healthcare proposal was aimed at gutting the ACA and allowing insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

“So the same insurance companies he’s railing against in those tweets, he is saying: ‘I’m going to give you more power to cancel people’s policies and not cover them if they have a pre-existing condition,’” Schiff said on ABC’s This Week programme.

Trump promises to defend Hungary’s finances amid Orban-EU tensions and to sign $600m gas deal, says Hungarian leader.

Hungary has struck a deal for what Prime Minister Viktor Orban called a “financial shield” to safeguard its economy from potential attacks following talks with US President Donald Trump.

Orban, a longtime ally of Trump and one of Europe’s most outspoken nationalist leaders, met the US president at the White House on Friday to seek relief from sanctions on Russian oil and gas. Following the meeting, he announced that Hungary had secured a one-year exemption from those measures.

“I have also made an agreement with the US president on a financial shield,” Orban said in a video posted by the Hungarian outlet index.hu on Sunday. “Should there be any external attacks against Hungary or its financial system, the Americans gave their word that in such a case, they would defend Hungary’s financial stability.”

A White House official said the deal also included contracts worth roughly $600m for Hungary to buy US liquefied natural gas. Orban gave no details of how the “shield” would work, but claimed it would ensure Hungary would face “no financing problems”.

“That Hungary or its currency could be attacked, or that the Hungarian budget could be put in a difficult situation, or that the Hungarian economy could be suffocated from the financing side, this should be forgotten,” he said.

The move comes as Orban faces economic stagnation and strained relations with the European Union, which has frozen billions of euros in funding over what Brussels calls Hungary’s democratic backsliding. Critics accuse Orban of using his ties with Washington to sidestep EU pressure and secure new financial lifelines.

Orban said on Friday that Hungary also received an exemption from US sanctions on Russian energy after a meeting with Trump.

Hungary’s economy has struggled since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but its currency, the forint, has shown some recovery this year, supported by high interest rates.

Trump, meanwhile, has extended his support to another far-right leader, Argentina’s Javier Milei, pledging to strengthen the country’s collapsing economy through a $20bn currency swap deal with Argentina’s central bank. Trump said he would also buy Argentinian pesos to “help a great philosophy take over a great country”.

Milei, who has made more than a dozen trips to the US since taking office in December 2023, including to attend Trump’s second inauguration, is battling inflation, debt, and dwindling reserves. Argentinian bond prices plunged in late September as the central bank scrambled to stabilise the peso.

As United States lawmakers fail to agree on a deal to end the government shutdown, around 750,000 federal employees have been furloughed, millions of Americans go without food assistance, and air travel is disrupted across the country.

The shutdown began on October 1, after opposing sides in the US Senate failed to agree on spending priorities, with Republicans rejecting a push by Democrats to protect healthcare and other social programmes.

Since then, both sides have failed to agree on 14 separate funding measures, delaying payment to hundreds of thousands of federal staff.

After 40 days, senators from both parties are working this weekend to try to end what has become the longest government shutdown in US history. But talks on Saturday showed little sign of breaking the impasse and securing long-term funding for key programmes.

On Friday, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer offered Republicans a narrower version of an earlier Democratic proposal – a temporary extension of healthcare subsidies. Republicans rejected the offer, prolonging the record-breaking shutdown.

So what do we know about the shutdown, and how it has impacted Americans?

Flights disrupted

The shutdown has created major disruptions for the aviation industry, with staffing shortages among unpaid air traffic controllers.

More than 1,530 flights were cancelled across the US on Saturday, while thousands more were delayed as authorities ordered airports to reduce air traffic.

According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, Saturday’s cancellations marked an increase from 1,025 the previous day. The trend looks set to continue, with at least 1,000 cancellations logged for Sunday.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said staffing shortages were affecting 42 control towers and other facilities, leading to delays in at least a dozen major cities – including Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

The travel chaos could prove politically costly for lawmakers if disruptions persist, especially ahead of the holiday season. Reduced air traffic will also hit deliveries and shipping, since many commercial flights carry cargo alongside passengers.

The CEO of Elevate Aviation Group, Greg Raiff, recently warned that the economic impact would ripple outward. “This shutdown is going to affect everything from business travel to tourism,” he told the Associated Press.

“It’s going to hurt local tax revenues and city budgets – there’s a cascading effect from all this.”

Threat to food assistance

In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump has said he will only restore food aid once the government shutdown ends.

“SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term … will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government,” he wrote earlier this week on Truth Social.

The US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, provides low-income Americans with roughly $8bn a month in grocery assistance. The average individual benefit is about $190 per month, while a household receives around $356.

Health insurance standoff

Democrats blame the shutdown on Republicans’ refusal to renew expiring healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Talks stalled again on Saturday after Trump declared he would not compromise on the issue.

Democrats are pushing for a one-year extension of the ACA subsidies, which mainly help people without employer or government health coverage buy insurance. But with a 53–47 majority in the Senate, Republicans can block the proposal.

Trump intervened on Saturday via Truth Social, calling on Republican senators to redirect federal funds used for health insurance subsidies toward direct payments for individuals.

“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies … BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” he said.

Roughly 24 million Americans currently benefit from the ACA subsidies. Analysts warn that premiums could double by 2026 if Congress allows them to expire.

Has this happened before?

This is not the first time Washington has faced such a standoff. The graphic below shows every US funding gap and government shutdown since 1976, including how long each lasted and under which administration it occurred.

The current federal budget process dates back to 1976. Since its creation, the government has experienced 20 funding gaps, leading to 10 shutdowns.

Prior to the 1980s, such funding lapses rarely caused shutdowns. Most federal agencies continued operating, expecting Congress to soon approve new funding.

That changed in 1980, when Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti issued legal opinions clarifying that, under federal law, agencies cannot spend money without congressional authorisation. Only essential functions (like air traffic control) were permitted to continue.

From 1982 onward, this interpretation has meant that funding gaps have more frequently triggered full or partial government shutdowns, lasting until Congress reaches a resolution.

What happens next?

No breakthrough was announced after the US Senate convened for a rare Saturday session. The chamber is now expected to reconvene at 1:30pm local time on Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that the chamber will continue meeting until the government reopens. “There’s still only one path out – it’s a clean funding extension,” he said.

Some 1.3 million service members are now at risk of missing a paycheque, and that might put pressure on both sides to agree on a deal. Earlier this month, staff were paid after $8bn from military research and development funds were made available at the intervention of Trump.

But questions remain about whether the administration will resort to a similar procedure if the shutdown is prolonged. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire told reporters on Friday that Democrats “need another path forward”.

Shaheen and several moderate Democrats are floating a proposal that would temporarily fund certain departments – such as veterans’ services and food aid – while keeping the rest of the government open until December or early next year.

It’s understood that Shaheen’s plan would include a promise of a future vote on healthcare subsidies, but not a guaranteed extension. It remains unclear whether enough Democrats would support that compromise. 

Thune, meanwhile, is reportedly considering a bipartisan version of the proposal. On Friday, he said he thinks the offer is an indication that Democrats are “feeling the heat … I guess you could characterise that as progress”.

Looking ahead, it remains unclear what Republicans might offer regarding healthcare.

For now, Democrats face a stark choice: keep pressing for a firm deal to renew healthcare subsidies and prolong the shutdown – or vote to reopen the government and trust Republicans’ assurances of a future healthcare vote, with no certainty of success.

Ever since the ascent of BTS, the Grammys have been K-pop-curious, but not typically in its marquee categories. This year marks a notable change — several acts with roots in K-pop have major-category nominations, which suggests the Academy has embraced the genre as a staple part of pop music.

First off, while the success of “KPop Demon Hunters” and its flagship soundtrack single, “Golden,” might need a qualifier for being a piece of film music for a fictional band, the tune’s nomination for song is a milestone. It caps a huge year for the animated ladies of Huntr/x — they also scored nods in pop duo/group performance, remixed recording and song written for visual media. Whatever comes next for the human artists Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami and “Golden” co-songwriter Mark Sonnenblick, it’s part of a big moment for K-pop in the Grammys’ top categories.

They’re far from alone there, though. Rosé of Blackpink had a monster hit with Bruno Mars on “Apt.,” which scored even more Top 4 nods in record and song and pop duo/group performance. The snazzy Motown rocker was one of the year’s undeniable singles, hitting No. 3 on the Hot 100.

These nods showed just how far the Blackpink members’ solo careers can reach into the broader music and entertainment industries — including TV, major festivals, the Hot 100 and now the Grammys elite categories.

A K-pop act finally got a new artist nod as well, with the polyglot girl group Katseye landing alongside Addison Rae, Lola Young and Sombr. The band was conceived as a global twist on what constitutes as K-pop, given the members’ varied backgrounds (they hail from the United States, the Philippines, South Korea and Switzerland, and trained under BTS’ parent label, Hybe, in the United States).

“Beautiful Chaos” hit No. 4 on the Billboard 200, and the group’s “Gabriela” also got a nomination for pop duo/group performance, so the experiment clearly resonated with Academy voters on its own terms.

While Grammy voters have often looked upon K-pop as a fandom phenomenon more than a musical one, this year’s class suggests the genre has been taken on its own terms like any piece of pop, which can only bode well for its future at the Academy.

Conflict Analysis Resource Center Director, Jorge Restrepo, says the US must change its domestic strategy on drugs, after President Donald Trump put sanctions on Colombia’s president.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani attended Friday prayers at a mosque in Puerto Rico, where he was welcomed with cheers and shared a message inspired by Malcolm X about equality and justice.

Star forward Lionel Messi and Inter Miami advanced to MLS Cup East semifinals with Game 3 playoff win over Nashville.

Lionel Messi scored two goals and assisted two more, and Inter Miami advanced in the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in club history with a 4-0 victory over visiting Nashville SC in Game 3 of their first-round series on Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Messi finished the best-of-three series with five goals and three assists, meaning he was involved in all eight tallies for third-seeded Miami. He has scored 15 times against sixth-seeded Nashville in all competitions, by far his most against any MLS opponent.

By contrast, Messi has never scored against No 2 seed FC Cincinnati, which will host Inter Miami in a one-game Eastern Conference semifinal in two weeks.

Tadeo Allende scored twice after halftime and had an assist as Miami won despite playing without key forward Luis Suarez, who served a one-game suspension for his kickout at Nashville SC’s Andy Najar in Game 2.

Nashville was eliminated in the first round in a third consecutive postseason appearance, having returned to the playoffs in the first full season coached by BJ Callaghan after missing the 2024 tournament.

Messi put Miami in front in the 10th minute on the first clear chance for either side.

Ian Fray’s pressure forced Nashville’s Matthew Corcoran into an ill-advised backward pass, which Allende deflected to Messi’s feet, with time and space to surge forward.

Messi did the rest, dribbling at retreating centre back Jack Maher before firing a low finish from about 20 yards (18 metres) out between goalkeeper Joe Willis and the right post.

Then Walker Zimmerman’s defensive error helped set up Messi’s second in the 39th minute when he reached Jordi Alba’s long, speculative ball down the left flank but failed to clear it.

Instead, it fell to Mateo Silvetti, who alertly spotted Messi running into space and provided the square pass in stride for a much simpler second finish.

Nashville thought it had pulled a goal back only seconds into the second half, only for apparent goal-scorer Sam Surridge to be whistled for a foul on Maxi Falcon.

But eventually, Miami added insurance through Allende twice in the 73rd and 76th minutes.

On the first, Messi and Alba combined on the left side of the box to set up Allende’s low finish through traffic. On the second, it was Messi sending an early through ball, and Allende chipping past Willis on the run.

Democratic and Republican senators in the United States are working through the weekend to find a compromise and end the longest government shutdown in the country’s history.

But the bipartisan talks yielded few signs of progress on Saturday as the workday ended without a deal on reopening the government.

The Senate is set to try again with a rare Sunday session.

The impasse has now lasted 39 days and is taking an increasing toll on the country as federal workers go unpaid, airlines cancel flights, and food aid has been delayed for millions of Americans.

Saturday’s session got off to a rough start when President Donald Trump made clear he is unlikely to compromise any time soon with Democrats, who are seeking a one-year extension on an expiring health insurance subsidy under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.

Trump urged Republican senators on social media to redirect federal money used to subsidise health insurance premiums towards direct payments to individuals.

“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, without offering details.

The ACA marketplaces allow people to buy policies directly from health insurers and mainly serve people who do not have coverage through employers or the Medicare and Medicaid government programmes.

Some 24 million people in the US use those subsidies.

For those enrolled in ACA exchanges, premiums, on average, are expected to more than double next year if Congress allows the enhanced subsidies to lapse.

Democrats demand that Republicans agree to negotiate an extension of federal healthcare subsidies before reopening the government. Republicans say the government must reopen first.

‘Another path forward’

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, who is leading the talks among moderates, said on Friday evening that Democrats “need another path forward” after Republicans rejected the offer from Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to reopen the government and extend the subsidies for a year.

Shaheen and others, negotiating among themselves and with some rank-and-file Republicans, have been discussing bills that would pay for parts of government – food aid, veterans programmes and the legislative branch, among other things – and extend funding for everything else until December or January.

The agreement would only come with the promise of a future healthcare vote, rather than a guarantee of extended subsidies.

It was unclear whether enough Democrats would support such a plan. Even with a deal, Trump appears unlikely to support an extension of the health benefits. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also said this week that he would not commit to a health vote.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority but need 60 votes to reopen the government.

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, described the Senate’s weekend session as “very unusual”.

“But no vote was taken in the course of the day. The Republicans are not wanting to hold a vote unless they are certain that they can get those 60 votes needed to pass a legislation or change the procedure,” Hanna said.

Trump, for his part, has once again urged the Republicans to end the filibuster, which requires agreement by 60 of the Senate’s 100 members to pass most legislation.

“The Republicans could do this with a simple majority,” Hanna said. “However, Republicans are concerned about doing this because they feared that the lack of an investor would act against them, if… the Democrats take power in the Senate.”

With the Republicans rejecting Trump’s call, Senate Republican Leader John Thune is eyeing a bipartisan package that mirrors the proposal the moderate Democrats have been sketching out. What Thune, who has refused to negotiate, might promise on healthcare is unknown.

The package would replace the House-passed legislation that the Democrats have rejected 14 times since the shutdown began on October 1. The current bill would only extend government funding until November 21.

A test vote on new legislation could come in the next few days if Thune decides to move forward.

Then the Democrats would have a crucial choice: Keep fighting for a meaningful deal on extending the subsidies that expire in January, while prolonging the pain of the shutdown; or vote to reopen the government and hope for the best, as Republicans promise an eventual healthcare vote but not a guaranteed outcome.

Schumer on Saturday persisted in arguing that Republicans should accept a one-year extension of the subsidies before negotiating the future of the tax credits.

“Doing nothing is derelict because people will go bankrupt, people will lose insurance, people will get sicker,” Schumer said in a floor speech. “That’s what will happen if this Congress fails to act.”

Visit comes as Syria announces launching a ‘large-scale operation’ targeting ISIL cells across the country.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has arrived in the United States for an official visit, according to state media, during which Washington hopes to enlist Damascus in its global coalition against ISIL, or ISIS.

Al-Sharaa’s arrival in the US capital came late on Saturday as Syria’s Ministry of Interior announced launching a “large-scale security operation” across the country, targeting ISIL cells.

Al-Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.

It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. Al-Sharaa, who had met Trump for the first time in Riyadh in May, was removed from a US “terrorist” sanctions list on Friday.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that al-Sharaa would “hopefully” sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against ISIL.

Washington is also preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that the US is brokering between Syria and Israel, according to the Reuters and AFP news agencies.

For his part, al-Sharaa is expected to seek funds for Syria, which faces significant challenges in rebuilding after 13 years of brutal civil war. The World Bank has estimated that the cost of reconstruction could take at least $216bn, a figure that it described as a “conservative best estimate”.

Al-Sharaa once led Syria’s offshoot of al-Qaeda, but his anti-Assad group broke away from the network a decade ago and later clashed with ISIL. Al-Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington in July.

Al-Sharaa’s trip to Washington, DC, comes after his landmark visit to the United Nations in September, his first time on US soil, where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.

On Thursday, the US led a vote by the UN Security Council to remove sanctions against him.

In Damascus on Saturday, state media reported that Syrian security forces had carried out 61 raids across the country targeting ISIL cells.

A spokesperson for the Syrian Interior Ministry said at least 71 people were arrested, while explosives and weapons were seized.

Syria’s SANA news agency, citing the ministry, said the operations were carried out in the Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs and Damascus countrysides, and that the campaign was part of “ongoing nation efforts to combat terrorism and protect public safety”.

Foreign minister says Budapest ‘obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions’ on Russian oil and gas shipments.

Hungary’s foreign minister says Budapest has secured an indefinite waiver from US sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports, as a White House official reiterated that the exemption was for only a period of one year.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday to press for a reprieve after the US last month imposed sanctions on Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.

After the meeting, Orban told Hungarian media that Budapest had “been granted a complete exemption from sanctions” affecting Russian gas delivered to Hungary from the TurkStream pipeline, and oil from the Druzhba pipeline.

But a White House official later told the Reuters news agency that Hungary had been granted a one-year exemption from sanctions connected to using Russian energy.

On Saturday, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said there would be no sanctions for “an indefinite period”.

“The prime minister was clear. He has agreed with the US President [Donald Trump] that we have obtained an indefinite exemption from the sanctions,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook.

“There are no sanctions on oil and gas shipments to Hungary for an indefinite period.”

However, a White House official repeated in an email to the Reuters news agency on Saturday that the exemption is for one year.

Hungary expected to buy US LNG

The White House official who spoke to Reuters added that Hungary would also diversify its energy purchases and had committed to buying US liquefied natural gas with contracts valued at some $600m.

Orban has maintained close ties with both Moscow and Washington, while often bucking the rest of the EU on pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The Hungarian leader offered to host a summit in Budapest between Trump and Putin, although the US leader called it off in October and hit Moscow with sanctions for the first time in his presidency.

Budapest relies heavily on Russian energy, and Orban, 15 years in power, faces a close election next year.

International Monetary Fund figures show Hungary bought 74 percent of its gas and 86 percent of its oil from Russia in 2024, warning that an EU-wide cutoff of Russian natural gas alone could cost Hungary more than 4 percent of its GDP.

Orban said that, without the agreement, energy costs would have surged, hitting the wider economy, pushing up unemployment and generating “unbearable” price rises for households and firms.

This week, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani made history by becoming the first Muslim mayor of New York City. His road to victory was anything but smooth. After he secured a historic win in the mayoral primary, he faced a landslide of attacks from across the political spectrum. In the months that followed, the hateful rhetoric from right-wing provocateurs, social media personalities, and even his three opponents mushroomed.

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa claimed that Mamdani supports “global jihad”; independent candidate and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo agreed with a comment that Mamdani would celebrate “another 9/11”; and outgoing NYC mayor, Eric Adams, who dropped out and endorsed Cuomo, suggested that a Mamdani mayorship would turn New York into Europe, where “Islamic extremists … are destroying communities.”

Sadly, as researchers of anti-Muslim bias, and Muslim individuals who came of age in a post-9/11 America, we know attacks of this nature – on someone’s character or fitness for a job because of their religious background or national origin – aren’t entirely unexpected. We know that Islamophobia spikes not after a violent act, but rather during election campaigns and political events, when anti-Muslim rhetoric is used as a political tactic to garner support for a specific candidate or policy.

Worryingly, these attacks also reflect a general trend of rising Islamophobia, which our research has recently uncovered. The latest edition of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s (ISPU) American Muslim Poll, which contains our Islamophobia Index, released on October 21, reveals that in the last three years, Islamophobia has sharply risen in the US, across almost all demographic groups.

Among the general population in the US, on our 1 to 100 scale, the index increased from a score of 25 in 2022 to a score of 33 in 2025. This jump was most pronounced among white Evangelicals, whose score increased from 30 to 45 between 2022 and 2025, and Catholics, whose score increased from 28 to 40 during the same period. Protestants also saw a rise of 7 points, from 23 in 2022 to 30 in 2025. Jews had an Islamophobia score of 17 in 2022, the lowest of any group that year, which increased only slightly to 19 in 2025, the same score as Muslims in 2025. The only group that did not change since 2022 is the non-affiliated.

Undoubtedly, the weaponisation of Islamophobia by high-profile individuals is a major driver of this worrying trend. And it can lead to devastating outcomes for Muslims: From job loss and inability to freely worship, to religious-based bullying of Muslim children in public schools and discrimination in public settings, to even physical violence. Simply put, dangerous rhetoric can have dangerous consequences.

Much of this Islamophobic rhetoric relies on five common stereotypes about Muslims, which we used in putting together our index: That they condone violence, discriminate against women, are hostile to the US, are less civilised, and are complicit in acts of violence committed by Muslims elsewhere. We then surveyed a nationally representative sample, including 2,486 Americans, to identify the extent to which they believed in these tropes.

More Americans are embracing these stereotypes about Muslims, even though they are easily disproved.

For example, despite popular media portrayals of Muslims as more prone to violence or as being complicit in violence perpetrated by Muslims elsewhere in the world, ISPU research shows American Muslims overwhelmingly reject violence. They are more likely than the general public to reject violence carried out by the military against civilians and are as likely to reject individual actors targeting civilians.

The popular stereotype that Muslim communities discriminate against their women also does not hold water. The fact is that Muslim women face more racial and religious discrimination than they do gender discrimination, which all women, Muslim or not, report at equal levels in the United States. The vast majority (99 percent) of Muslim women who wear hijab say they do so out of personal devotion and choice – not coercion. And Muslim women report that their faith is a source of pride and happiness.

Our research also disproves the belief that most Muslims living in the US are hostile to the country. We have found that Muslims with strong religious identities are more likely than those with weaker ones to hold a strong American identity. It also shows that Muslims participate in public life from the local to the national level through civic engagement, working with neighbours to solve community problems, and contributing during times of national crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Flint water crisis.

The trope that most Muslims living in the US are less “civilised” than other people has no factual basis, as well. The use of the “civilised/uncivilised” dichotomy strips individuals of their human dignity and separates people into a false, ethnocentric hierarchy on the basis of race or religion. Accusing a group of being less civilised than another is a frequently used dehumanising tactic. Dehumanisation, defined by Genocide Watch as when one group denies the humanity of the other group, is a step on the path to genocide.

We have seen all of these tropes activated in the past few weeks to launch Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani. We have also seen too many of our politicians and public figures use them comfortably in their public speech, placing an entire faith community in harm’s way. As Mamdani said in a speech addressing the Islamophobic attacks by his fellow candidates, “In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement.”

But Islamophobia isn’t just bad for Muslims – it undermines our democracy and constitutional freedoms. Research has linked belief in these anti-Muslim tropes to greater tolerance for anti-democratic policies. People who embrace Islamophobic beliefs are more likely to agree to limiting democratic freedoms when the country is under threat (suspending checks and balances, limiting freedom of the press), condone military and individual attacks on civilians (a war crime under the Geneva Convention), and approve of discriminatory policies targeting Muslims (banning Muslims, surveilling mosques, and even restricting the ability to vote).

Weaponising Islamophobia in political speech may be perceived as a winning strategy to rally support, but communities where it is deployed end up losing. That is why such practices must be challenged. Confronting and denouncing hate means preserving democracy and human dignity. Perhaps the election of Mamdani will signal a real shift away from this political strategy. As the mayor-elect said in his acceptance speech, “No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Forty-two million face food aid delays after the nation’s top Court lets US president pause full SNAP payments.

The United States Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to temporarily withhold about $4bn in federal food aid for November, leaving 42 million low-income Americans in need uncertain about their benefits amid the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the administrative stay on Friday, giving a lower court more time to assess the administration’s request to only partially fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps.

The SNAP programme supports Americans whose income falls below 130 percent of the federal poverty line. For the 2026 fiscal year, the maximum monthly benefit is $298 for an individual and $546 for a two-person household.

The Supreme Court order pauses a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island that had required the government to immediately release the full amount of funding.

The stay will remain in place until two days after the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rules on whether to block the lower court’s decision. SNAP typically costs between $8.5bn and $9bn each month.

Earlier this week, District Judge John McConnell, appointed by former President Barack Obama, accused the Trump administration of withholding SNAP funds for “political reasons”. His ruling ordered the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use money from a separate child nutrition fund, worth more than $23bn and financed through tariffs, to cover the shortfall in food assistance.

‘Judicial activism at its worst’

The administration had planned to provide $4.65bn in emergency funding, half the amount needed for full benefits. It argued that McConnell’s ruling would “sow further shutdown chaos” and prompt “a run on the bank by way of judicial fiat”, according to filings by the Department of Justice.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the Supreme Court’s intervention, calling McConnell’s order “judicial activism at its worst”.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday refused to immediately halt McConnell’s ruling before the Supreme Court’s stay was announced. The USDA had already informed state governments that it was preparing to distribute full SNAP payments, triggering confusion among officials and recipients as the administration appealed.

SNAP benefits lapsed at the start of November, for the first time in the programme’s six-decade history. Many recipients have since turned to food pantries or cut back on essentials like medication to stretch their limited budgets.

The next hearing in the 1st Circuit is expected soon, while millions of families wait to see whether full benefits will resume.

Trump calls it a ‘disgrace’ that South Africa is hosting the G20, reiterates debunked claims of a ‘genocide’ against white farmers.

President Donald Trump has said no United States officials will attend this year’s Group of 20 (G20) summit in South Africa, citing the country’s treatment of white farmers.

Writing on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump said it was a “total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa”.

“Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated,” Trump wrote, reiterating claims that have been rejected by authorities in South Africa.

“No US Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida!” he added.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly claimed that white South Africans are being persecuted in the Black-majority country, a claim rejected by South Africa’s government and top Afrikaner officials.

Trump had already said on Wednesday that he would not attend the summit – which will see the heads of states from the world’s leading and emerging economies gather in Johannesburg on November 22 and 23 – as he also called for South Africa to be thrown out of the G20.

US Vice President JD Vance had been expected to attend the meeting in place of the president. But a person familiar with Vance’s plans told The Associated Press news agency that he will no longer travel to South Africa.

Tensions first arose between the US and South Africa after President Cyril Ramaphosa introduced a new law in January seeking to address land ownership disparities, which have left three-quarters of privately owned land in the hands of the white minority more than three decades after the end of apartheid.

The new legislation makes it easier for the state to expropriate land, which Ramaphosa insists does not amount to confiscation, but creates a framework for fair redistribution by allowing authorities to take land without compensation in exceptional circumstances, such as when a site has been abandoned.

Shortly after the introduction of the Expropriation Act, Trump accused South Africa of “confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY”.

“The United States won’t stand for it, we will act,” he said.

In May, Trump granted asylum to 59 white South Africans as part of a resettlement programme that Washington described as giving sanctuary after racial discrimination.

The same month, when Trump met with President Ramaphosa in the White House, he ambushed him with the claim that a “genocide” is taking place against white Afrikaners in his country.

Ramaphosa denied the allegations, telling Trump “if there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you, these three gentlemen would not be here”, pointing to three white South African men present – professional golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, and South Africa’s richest man, Johann Rupert.

South African historian Saul Dubow, professor of Commonwealth history at the University of Cambridge, previously told Al Jazeera that there is no merit to “Trump’s fantasy claims of white genocide”.

Dubow suggested that Trump may be more angry about South Africa’s genocide case filed against Israel in the International Court of Justice over its war on Gaza.

Nonetheless, the Trump administration has maintained its claim of widespread persecution. On October 30, the White House indicated that most new refugees admitted to the US will be white South Africans, as it slashed the number of people it will admit annually to just 7,500.

“The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa pursuant to Executive Order 14204 and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands,” the White House said.

North Korea issues warning as Washington and Seoul agree on strengthening military ties.

North Korea’s defence minister, No Kwang Chol, has condemned the arrival of a United States aircraft carrier at a port in South Korea and warned that Pyongyang will take “more offensive action” against its enemies.

The minister’s warning comes a day after North Korea launched what appeared to be a short-range ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast.

“We will show more offensive action against the enemies’ threat on the principle of ensuring security and defending peace by dint of powerful strength,” the defence minister said, according to a report on Saturday by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“All threats encroaching upon the sphere of the North’s security” will become “direct targets” and be “managed in a necessary way”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency also reported the defence minister as saying.

The missile launch on Friday followed after Washington announced new sanctions targeting eight North Korean nationals and two entities accused of laundering money tied to cybercrimes, and a visit to South Korea by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Commenting on the visit by US and South Korean defence chiefs to the border between North and South Korea, as well as their subsequent security talks in Seoul, the North Korean defence minister accused the allies of conspiring to integrate their nuclear and conventional weapons forces.

“We have correctly understood the hostility of the US to stand in confrontation with the DPRK to the last and will never avoid the response to it,” No said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

According to KCNA, the defence minister made his comments on Friday in response to the annual South Korea-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) and the recent arrival of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier and the Fifth Carrier Strike Group at a port in Busan.

The arrival of the US strike group also coincides with large-scale joint military drills, known as Freedom Flag, between US and South Korean forces.

While in South Korea for the SCM talks this week, Hegseth posted several photos on social media of his visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the North and the South.

Hegseth said that the core of Washington’s alliance with Seoul would remain focused on deterring North Korea, although the Trump administration will also look at flexibility for US troops stationed in South Korea to operate against regional threats.

I visited the DMZ with my ROK counterpart, Minister Ahn, to meet the brave troops of the U.S., ROK, and UN Command that maintain the military armistice on the Peninsula.

Our forces remain ready to support President Trump’s efforts to bring lasting peace through strength. pic.twitter.com/Uy6gab0zwl

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 3, 2025

Pyongyang described the DMZ visit by Hegseth and his South Korean counterparts as “a stark revelation and an unveiled intentional expression of their hostile nature to stand against the DPRK”.

Pyongyang’s latest missile launch, which Japan said landed outside its exclusive economic zone, came just over a week after US President Donald Trump was in the region and expressed interest in a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

On Friday, the US said it was “consulting closely” with allies and partners over the ballistic missile launch.

“While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies, the missile launch highlights the destabilising impact” of North Korea’s actions, the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.

US district judge blocks Donald Trump’s use of military force to tackle protests against immigration officers.

United States President Donald Trump unlawfully ordered National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, a federal judge has ruled, marking a legal setback for the president’s use of the military for policing duties in US cities.

The ruling on Friday by US District Judge Karin Immergut is the first to permanently block Trump’s use of military forces to quell protests against immigration authorities.

Immergut, a Trump appointee, rejected the administration’s claim that protesters at an immigration detention facility were waging a rebellion that legally justified sending troops to Portland.

Democrats have said Trump is abusing military powers meant for genuine emergencies such as an invasion or an armed rebellion.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield described the ruling as a “huge victory” and the “decision confirms that the President cannot send the Guard into Oregon without a legal basis for doing so”.

“The courts are holding this administration accountable to the truth and the rule of law,” Rayfield said in a post on social media.

BREAKING NEWS: We just secured a final court order blocking National Guard deployment!

Today’s ruling is a huge victory for Oregon. The courts are holding this administration accountable to the truth and the rule of law. pic.twitter.com/ffzgj0zCjM

— Attorney General Dan Rayfield (@AGDanRayfield) November 8, 2025

Portland’s Mayor Keith Wilson also applauded the decision, saying it “vindicates Portland’s position while reaffirming the rule of law that protects our community”.

“As I have said from the beginning, the number of federal troops needed in our city is zero,” Wilson said, according to local media reports.

The City of Portland and the Oregon Attorney General’s Office sued in September, alleging that the Trump administration was exaggerating occasional violence to justify sending in troops under a law permitting presidents to do so in cases of rebellion.

Echoing Trump’s description of Portland as “war-ravaged”, lawyers from the Department of Justice had described a violent siege overwhelming federal agents in the city.

But lawyers for Oregon and Portland said violence has been rare, isolated and contained by local police.

“This case is about whether we are a nation of constitutional law or martial law,” Portland’s lawyer Caroline Turco had said.

The Trump administration is likely to appeal Friday’s ruling, and the case could ultimately reach the US Supreme Court.

A review by the Reuters news agency of court records found that at least 32 people were charged with federal crimes stemming from the Portland protests since they began in June. Of the 32 charged, 11 pleaded guilty to misdemeanours, and those who have been sentenced received probation.

About half the defendants were charged with assaulting federal officers, including 14 felonies and seven misdemeanours.

Prosecutors dismissed two cases.

Charging documents describe protesters kicking and shoving officers, usually while resisting arrest.

Three judges, including Immergut, have now issued preliminary rulings that Trump’s National Guard deployments are not allowed under the emergency legal authority cited by his administration.