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

President Trump signs government funding bill, ending shutdown after a record 43-day disruption

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

The shutdown magnified partisan divisions in Washington as Trump took unprecedented unilateral actions — including canceling projects and trying to fire federal workers — to pressure Democrats into relenting on their demands.

The Republican president blamed the situation on Democrats and suggested voters shouldn’t reward the party during next year’s midterm elections.

“So I just want to tell the American people, you should not forget this,” Trump said. “When we come up to midterms and other things, don’t forget what they’ve done to our country.”

The signing ceremony came just hours after the House passed the measure on a mostly party-line vote of 222-209. The Senate had already passed the measure Monday.

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Epstein email says Trump ‘knew about the girls’ as White House calls its release a Democratic smear

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2019 email to a journalist that Donald Trump “knew about the girls,” according to documents made public Wednesday, but what he knew — and whether it pertained to the sex offender’s crimes — is unclear. The White House quickly accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the president.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three emails referencing Trump, including one Epstein wrote in 2011 in which he told confidant Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a sex trafficking victim.

The disclosures seemed designed to raise new questions about Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about what knowledge he may have had regarding what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican businessman-turned-politician has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.

Trump did not take questions from reporters Wednesday, even after inviting them into the Oval Office to watch him sign legislation ending the government shutdown.

The version of the 2011 email released by the Democrats redacted the name of the victim, but Republicans on the committee later said it was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with a number of his rich and powerful friends. Epstein took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges.

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The timeline for SNAP benefits remains uncertain, even as the government is set to reopen

The federal government is reopening, but there’s still uncertainty about when one of the most far-reaching impacts of the closure will be resolved and all 42 million Americans who receive SNAP food aid will have access to their full November benefits.

President Donald Trump signed the reopening measure Wednesday.

One provision calls for restarting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but it doesn’t resolve when the benefits will be loaded onto the debit cards beneficiaries use to buy groceries.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program, said in an email Wednesday that funds could be available “upon the government reopening, within 24 hours for most states.” The department didn’t immediately answer questions about where it might take longer — or whether the 24-hour timeline applies to when money would be available to states or loaded onto debit cards used by beneficiaries.

There has been a series of court battles over the fate of the largest government food program, which serves about 1 in 8 Americans.

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Trump urges Israel to pardon Netanyahu in corruption case, sparking concerns over US influence

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday sent a letter to Israel’s president asking him to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a long-running corruption trial that has bitterly divided the country.

It was the latest attempt by Trump to intervene in the case on behalf of Netanyahu, raising questions about undue American influence over internal Israeli affairs. Trump also called for a pardon for Netanyahu during a speech to Israel’s parliament last month, when he made a brief visit to promote his ceasefire plan for the war in Gaza.

In Wednesday’s letter to President Isaac Herzog, Trump called the corruption case “political, unjustified prosecution.”

“As the Great State of Israel and the amazing Jewish People move past the terribly difficult times of the last three years, I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister, and is now leading Israel into a time of peace,” Trump wrote.

Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters.

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France honors the victims of the Paris attacks’ night of terror 10 years on

PARIS (AP) — Coordinated terrorist attacks turned Paris into a theater of blood and calamity 10 years ago Thursday, with gunfire on café terraces, explosions by a stadium and a nighttime massacre at the Bataclan concert hall leaving 132 people dead and hundreds injured.

Many families measure time as “before” and “after” the attacks. The night reshaped France’s sense of safety and purpose, hardening security while deepening a civic reflex for solidarity that endures a decade on.

Paris is marking the Thursday anniversary with tributes led by President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo at each attack site.

The events start at Gate D of the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, where the first victim, Manuel Dias, was killed, then move to the café terraces in the 10th and 11th arrondissements and finally the Bataclan.

Parents, partners and friends of victims will stand closest to the plaques for each minute of silence, with a small group of relatives beside Macron for the wreath-laying under the ceremony’s “families first” protocol.

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Adelita Grijalva sworn in as the House’s newest member, paving the way for an Epstein files vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in as the newest member of Congress on Wednesday, more than seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona to fill the House seat last held by her late father.

Grijalva was sworn in by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Wednesday shortly before the House returned to session to vote on a deal to fund the federal government. After delivering a floor speech, Grijalva signed a discharge petition to eventually trigger a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, giving it the needed 218 signatures.

Grijalva’s seating brings the partisan margin in the House to a narrow 219-214 Republican majority. She vowed to continue her father’s legacy of advocating for progressive policies on issues like environmentalism, labor rights and tribal sovereignty.

In a speech on the House floor after being sworn in, Grijalva said it was time for Congress “to restore a full and check and balance to this administration.”

“We can and must do better. What is most concerning is not what this administration has done, but what the majority of this body has failed to do,” she said.

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California revokes 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants

California plans to revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses given to immigrants after discovering the expiration dates went past when the drivers were legally allowed to be in the U.S., state officials said Wednesday.

The announcement follows harsh criticism from the Trump administration about California and other states granting licenses to people in the country illegally. The issue was thrust into the public’s consciousness in August, when a tractor-trailer driver not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that California’s action to revoke these licenses is an admission that the state acted improperly even though it previously defended its licensing standards. California launched its review of commercial driver’s licenses it issued after Duffy raised concerns.

“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked,” Duffy said, referring to the state’s governor. “This is just the tip of iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”

Newsom’s office said that every one of the drivers whose license is being revoked had valid work authorizations from the federal government. At first, his office declined to disclose the exact reason for revoking the licenses, saying only they violated state law. Later, his office revealed the state law it was referring to was one that requires the licenses expire on or before a person’s legal status to be in the United State ends, as reported to the DMV.

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Russia makes gains in southern Ukraine as it expands front-line attacks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Russian army overran three settlements in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Kyiv’s top military commander said Wednesday, as Moscow’s forces expand their efforts to capture more Ukrainian territory.

Dense fog enabled Russian troops to infiltrate Ukrainian positions in Zaporizhzhia, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on the messaging app Telegram, adding that Ukrainian units are locked in “grueling battles” to repel the Russian thrust.

He noted, however, that the fiercest battles are still in the besieged Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donetsk region, where close to half of all front-line clashes took place over the previous 24 hours.

The cities of Kupiansk and Lyman in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region have also recently witnessed an uptick in combat.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor almost four years ago and now occupies roughly one fifth of Ukrainian land. New U.S. sanctions that take aim at Russia’s oil sector, which is the mainstay of the Russian economy, are due to come into force on Nov. 21. Their purpose is to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept a ceasefire.

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Truck hits pedestrians in South Korea market, killing 2 people and injuring 18

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A truck plowed into pedestrians at an outdoor market in South Korea, killing two people and injuring 18 Thursday, officials said.

The two people were pronounced dead at a hospital following the incident shortly before 11 a.m. in Bucheon city, near the capital of Seoul.

Nine people sustained serious injuries among the 18 who were hurt, Bucheon’s municipal government said, noting it wasn’t immediately clear if any of the injuries were life-threatening.

Police are questioning the unidentified truck driver in his 60s who was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, said Son Byeong-sam, a police official in Bucheon.

Park Geum-cheon, an official at Bucheon’s fire station, said witnesses told investigators that the vehicle initially reversed about 28 meters (92 feet) before driving forward 150 meters (492 feet), hitting pedestrians on the way.

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Judge to hear arguments challenging appointment of prosecutor who charged James Comey, Letitia James

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Lawyers for two of President Donald Trump’s foes who have been charged by the Justice Department are set to ask a federal judge Thursday to dismiss the cases against them, saying the prosecutor who secured the indictments was illegally installed in the role.

The challenges to Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia are part of multi-prong efforts by former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James to get their cases dismissed before trial.

At issue during Thursday’s arguments are the complex constitutional and statutory rules governing the appointment of the nation’s U.S. attorneys, who function as top federal prosecutors in Justice Department offices across the country.

The role is typically filled by lawyers who have been nominated by a president and confirmed by the Senate. Attorneys general do have the authority to get around that process by naming an interim U.S. attorney who can serve for 120 days, but lawyers for Comey and James note that once that period expires, the law gives federal judges of that district exclusive say over who can fill the vacancy.

But that’s not what happened in this instance.