AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

The acknowledgement of covert action in Venezuela by the U.S. spy agency comes after the U.S. military in recent weeks has carried out a series of deadly strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. U.S. forces have destroyed at least five boats since early September, killing 27 people, and four of those vessels originated from Venezuela.

Asked during an event in the Oval Office on Wednesday why he had authorized the CIA to take action in Venezuela, Trump affirmed he had made the move.

“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump replied. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America," he said. "And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.”

Trump added the administration “is looking at land” as it considers further strikes in the region. He declined to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against President Nicolás Maduro.

Alaska airlifting hundreds from storm-devastated coastal villages

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — One of the most significant airlifts in Alaska history was underway Wednesday to move hundreds of people from coastal villages ravaged by high surf and strong winds from the remnants of Typhoon Halong last weekend, officials said.

The storm brought record water levels to two low-lying communities and washed away homes — some with people inside. At least one person was killed and two are missing. Makeshift shelters were quickly established and swelled to about 1,500 people, an extraordinary number in a sparsely populated region where communities are reachable by air or water.

The remoteness and the scale of the destruction created challenges for getting resources in place. Damage assessments have been trickling in as responders have shifted from initial search-and-rescue operations to trying to stabilize or restore basic services.

The communities of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok near the Bering Sea saw water levels more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) above the highest normal tide line. Leaders asked the state to evacuate the more than 1,000 residents in those villages, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson with the state emergency management office.

Some homes cannot be reoccupied, even with emergency repairs, and others may not be livable by winter, said emergency management officials. Forecasters say rain and snow is possible in the region this weekend, with average temperatures soon below freezing.

Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules

NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon on Wednesday rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, pushing journalists who cover the American military further from the seat of its power. The nation's leadership called the new rules “common sense” to help regulate a “very disruptive” press.

News outlets were nearly unanimous in rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information — classified or otherwise — that had not been approved by Hegseth for release.

Many of the reporters waited to leave together at a 4 p.m. deadline set by the Defense Department to get out of the building. As the hour approached, boxes of documents lined a Pentagon corridor and reporters carried chairs, a copying machine, books and old photos to the parking lot from suddenly abandoned workspaces. Shortly after 4, about 40 to 50 journalists left together after handing in badges.

“It’s sad, but I’m also really proud of the press corps that we stuck together,” said Nancy Youssef, a reporter for The Atlantic who has had a desk at the Pentagon since 2007. She took a map of the Middle East out to her car.

It is unclear what practical impact the new rules will have, though news organizations vowed they’d continue robust coverage of the military no matter the vantage point.

Supreme Court case could lead to loss of Black representation in Congress, but the scope is unknown

WASHINGTON (AP) — A neutering by the Supreme Court of the Voting Rights Act's last remaining major provision would potentially trigger a political avalanche — an event that starts narrow but gathers momentum as it spreads across the national map.

In this case, the benefit would be to Republicans seeking to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives, perhaps for many years to come.

Such a change seemed more plausible Wednesday after the court's conservative majority indicated a willingness to limit race-based districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The landmark civil rights law requires the drawing of legislative districts that allow minorities to select representatives of their choosing. That has created majority-Black and Latino districts that vote reliably Democratic in some of the nation's most conservative states.

Plaintiffs in one of those states, Louisiana, brought the case before the high court after the state was ordered by a federal judge to redraw its congressional map to include a second majority-Black district, one that was won by a Democrat last year. If the plaintiffs win their case, it could turn that district back into one likely to be represented by a Republican and possibly even eliminate its other Democratic seat, which also was mandated under the Voting Rights Act.

That could ripple across the South, where the Democratic group Fair Fight found that there are 19 VRA-mandated, Democratic-held seats that Republicans could conceivably redraw to their benefit.

Judge temporarily blocks the Trump administration from firing workers during the government shutdown

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from firing workers during the government shutdown, saying the cuts appeared to be politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco repeatedly pressed the assistant U.S. attorney to explain the administration's rationale for the more than 4,100 layoff notices that started going out Friday even though furloughed workers can not access their work emails and there are no human resources specialists to assist with next steps.

“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. "It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”

She granted a temporary restraining order blocking the job cuts, saying she believed the evidence would ultimately show the cuts were illegal and in excess of authority.

Asked for comment, the White House referred The Associated Press to the Office of Management and Budget. The budget office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel receives remains of 2 more hostages as military says another body was not that of a hostage

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel received the remains of two more hostages Wednesday, hours after the Israeli military said that one of the bodies previously turned over was not that of a hostage. The confusion added to tensions over the fragile truce that has paused the two-year war.

The coffins carrying the remains were transferred by the Red Cross from Hamas. Upon returning to Israel, they were sent to a forensic lab in Tel Aviv. The military in a statement cautioned that the hostages’ identities had yet to be verified.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said it received 45 more bodies of Palestinians from Israel, another step in implementation of the ceasefire agreement. That brought to 90 the total number of bodies returned to Gaza for burial. The forensics team examining the remains said they showed signs of mistreatment.

As part of the deal, four bodies of hostages were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday, following four on Monday that were returned hours after the last 20 living hostages were released from Gaza. In all, Israel has been awaiting the return of the bodies of 28 hostages.

The Israeli military said forensic testing showed that "the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages." There was no immediate word on whose body it was.

Democrats say they won't be intimidated by Trump's threats as the shutdown enters a third week

WASHINGTON (AP) — Entering the third week of a government shutdown, Democrats say they are not intimidated or cowed by President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire thousands of federal workers or by his threats of more firings to come.

Instead, Democrats appear emboldened, showing no signs of caving as they returned to Washington from their home states this week and twice more rejected a Republican bill to open the government. The vote Wednesday was the ninth time the GOP plan has failed.

“What people are saying is, you’ve got to stop the carnage,” said Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, describing what he heard from his constituents, including federal workers, as he traveled around his state over the weekend. “And you don’t stop it by giving in.”

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said the firings are “a fair amount of bluster” and predicted said they ultimately will be overturned in court or otherwise reversed. That was already happening Wednesday, when a federal judge in California temporarily ordered the administration to stop the firings.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday that the layoffs are a “mistaken attempt” to sway Democratic votes. His House counterpart, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said the administration’s “intimidation tactics are not working. And will continue to fail.”

JD Vance dismisses bipartisan outrage over racist and offensive Young Republican group chat

The public release of a Young Republican group chat that included racist language, jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers prompted bipartisan calls for those involved to be removed from or resign their positions.

The Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40, called for those involved to step down from the organization. The group described the exchanges, first reported by Politico, as “unbecoming of any Republican.”

Republican Vice President JD Vance, however, has weighed in several times to speak out against what he characterized as “pearl clutching” over the leaked messages.

Politico obtained months of exchanges from a Telegram conversation between leaders and members of the Young Republican National Federation and some of its affiliates in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont.

Here's a rundown of reaction to the inflammatory group chat, in which the operatives and officials involved openly worried that their comments might be leaked, even as they continued their conversation:

County judge in Chicago area bars ICE from arresting people at court

CHICAGO (AP) — Cook County’s top judge has signed an order barring ICE from arresting people at courthouses. Cook County includes Chicago, which has seen a federal immigration crackdown in recent months.

Detaining residents outside court has been a common tactic for federal agents, who have been stationed outside county courthouses for weeks, making arrests and drawing crowds of protesters.

The order, which was signed Tuesday night and took effect Wednesday, bars the civil arrest of any “party, witness, or potential witness” while going to court proceedings. It includes arrests made inside courthouses and in parking lots, surrounding sidewalks and entryways.

“The fair administration of justice requires that courts remain open and accessible, and that litigants and witnesses may appear without fear of civil arrest,” the order states.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defended the practice of making arrests at courthouses, calling it “common sense.”

Faulty engineering led to implosion of Titan submersible headed to Titanic wreckage, NTSB finds

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Faulty engineering led to the implosion of an experimental submersible that killed five people on the way to the wreck of the Titanic, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a report Wednesday.

The NTSB made the statement in its final report on the hull failure and implosion of the Titan submersible in June 2023. Everyone on board the submersible died instantly in the North Atlantic when Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion as it descended to the wreck.

The NTSB report states that the faulty engineering of the Titan “resulted in the construction of a carbon fiber composite pressure vessel that contained multiple anomalies and failed to meet necessary strength and durability requirements.” It also stated that OceanGate, the owner of the Titan, failed to adequately test the Titan and was unaware of its true durability.

The report also said the wreckage of the Titan likely would have been found sooner had OceanGate followed standard guidance for emergency response, and that would have saved “time and resources even though a rescue was not possible in this case.”

The NTSB report dovetails with a Coast Guard report released in August that described the Titan implosion as preventable. The Coast Guard determined that safety procedures at OceanGate, a private company based in Washington state, were “critically flawed” and found "glaring disparities” between safety protocols and actual practices.