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

The judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island gave the administration leeway on whether to fund the program partially or in full for November. That also brings uncertainty about how things will unfold and will delay payments for many beneficiaries whose cards would normally be recharged early in the month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program starting Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown. The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. It costs about $8 billion per month nationally.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture committee that oversees the food aid program, said Friday's rulings from judges nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama confirm what Democrats have been saying: "The administration is choosing not to feed Americans in need, despite knowing that it is legally required to do so.”

Trump posted on social media Friday blasting congressional Democrats for the shutdown and suggesting the government would comply with the rulings but also that it needed more clarity first: “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding."

Latest remains returned to Israel from Gaza are not bodies of hostages, Israel says

JERUSALEM (AP) — The remains of three people handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross this week do not belong to any of the hostages, Israel said Saturday, the latest development that could undermine the U.S.-brokered agreement for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The handover followed Israel’s return on Friday of the bodies of 30 Palestinians to Gaza. That completed an exchange after militants earlier this week turned over remains of two hostages, a sign that the tense Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement was edging forward.

The unidentified remains of the three people were returned late Friday to Israel, where they were being examined overnight. At the time, a military official warned that Israeli intelligence suggested they did not belong to any of the hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war.

A second Israeli military official confirmed on Saturday that they were not of any hostages, followed by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The remains we received are not our hostages,” the office said.

Multiple people have been arrested in Michigan in a Halloween weekend attack plot, FBI director says

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Multiple people who had been allegedly plotting a violent attack over the Halloween weekend were arrested Friday in Michigan, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post.

The law enforcement effort was focused on suburban Detroit. Patel said more information would be released later.

Investigators believe the plot was inspired by Islamic State extremism and are investigating whether those in custody were potentially radicalized online, according to two people briefed on the investigation who could not publicly discuss details. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

FBI and state police vehicles were in a neighborhood near Fordson High School in Dearborn. People wearing shirts marked FBI walked in and out of a house, including one person who collected paper bags and other items from an evidence truck.

Police in Inkster, another suburb, said FBI personnel were at a storage facility there.

Trump declines to clarify if the US will conduct tests of its nuclear weapons

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump declined to say Friday whether he plans to resume underground nuclear detonation tests, as he had seemed to suggest in a social media post this week that raised concerns the U.S. would begin testing nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades.

The president told reporters "You’ll find out very soon,” without elaborating when asked if he means to resume underground nuclear detonation tests.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered few details on Friday when asked about what nuclear testing the Pentagon would oversee. But he seemed to indicate to reporters that the intent was to test warheads when he said “resuming testing” would be “pretty responsible."

Trump, who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Florida for a weekend stay, said, “We’re going to do some testing” and “Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going to” but then refused to offer more details.

His comments on nuclear testing have drawn confusion inside and outside the government when the president seemed to suggest in a brief post that the U.S. would resume nuclear warhead tests on an “equal basis” with Russia and China, whose last known tests were in the 1990s. Some of Trump's comments seemed to refer to testing missiles that would deliver a warhead, rather than the warhead itself. There has been no indication that the U.S. would start detonating warheads.

Air traffic controller shortages lead to broader US flight delays as shutdown nears one-month mark

Travel delays were adding up at airports across the U.S. on Friday as the government shutdown drags on, putting even more pressure on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay for a month.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been warning that travelers will start to see more flight disruptions the longer controllers go without a paycheck.

“Every day there's going to be more challenges,” Duffy told reporters Thursday outside the White House after a closed-door meeting with Vice President JD Vance and aviation industry leaders to talk about the shutdown’s impact on U.S. travel.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday reported staffing shortages that were causing flight delays at a number of airports, including in Boston, Phoenix, San Francisco, Nashville, Houston, Dallas and the Washington, D.C. area. Airports serving the New York City area — John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport — were also experiencing delays averaging around two hours, according to the FAA.

“Currently nearly 50 percent of major air traffic control facilities are experiencing staffing shortages, and nearly 90 percent of air traffic controllers are out at New York–area facilities,” the FAA said in a statement posted on X on Friday evening.

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

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

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

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

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

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

New York Attorney General Letitia James seeks to block Trump administration's subpoenas

New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the legitimacy of the acting U.S. attorney in Albany as she pushes back against the Trump administration's investigation of cases she brought against the president and the National Rifle Association, according to court documents unsealed Friday.

James in August filed a motion to block subpoenas issued by acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone for records related to the legal actions, claiming the Justice Department's probe of the cases was retaliatory.

She also argued that Sarcone had been improperly appointed to his position and, as a result, lacked legitimate authority to authorize the subpoenas.

The subpoenas seek records related to a major civil case the Democrat James filed against President Donald Trump over alleged fraud in his personal business dealings. Another subpoena seeks records from a lawsuit involving the National Rifle Association and two senior executives.

Dozens of court documents in the case have been filed under seal in U.S. District Court since August. A federal judge in Manhattan late Friday granted James' motion to unseal most of the entries, making them public over the objection of the Justice Department.

Militia attack on hospital in Darfur came in waves, WHO says

CAIRO (AP) — Groups of gunmen who reportedly killed at least 460 people at a hospital in Sudan attacked in several waves, abducting doctors and nurses, then gunning down staff, patients and people sheltering there, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The attack Tuesday in the country’s Darfur region was part of a reported rampage by the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group, as it captured the key city of el-Fasher after besieging it for 18 months. Witnesses have reported fighters going house-to-house, killing civilians and committing sexual assaults.

Many details of the hospital attack and other violence in the city have been slow to emerge, and the total death toll remains unknown.

The fall of el-Fasher heralds a new phase of the brutal, two-year war between the RSF and the military in Africa’s third-largest country.

The war has killed more than 40,000 people, according to U.N. figures, but aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher. The war has displaced more than 14 million people and fueled outbreaks of diseases believed to have killed thousands. Famine has been declared in parts of Darfur, a region the size of Spain, and other parts of the country.

FBI says shooter in deadly Michigan church attack was motivated by hatred toward the Mormon faith

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The former Marine who opened fire in a Michigan church and set it ablaze last month was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the FBI confirmed Friday.

While friends of the gunman in the deadly shooting have said he harbored hatred for what is widely known as the Mormon church, the FBI had previously declined to specify the motivation behind the attack that left four people dead and the church burned to the ground, except to say it was a “targeted" act of violence.

The gunman, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, was killed by law enforcement responding to the shooting.

“I am confirming this is a targeted act of violence believed to be motivated by the assailant’s anti-religious beliefs against the Mormon religious community,” Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field office, said in a prerecorded video message. The agency declined to share further information on what led to its conclusion.

Sanford drove his pickup truck into the side of a Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc Township, 60 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, on Sunday, Sept. 28, and began shooting at congregants. Authorities have said he used gasoline as an accelerant to then light the church on fire.

Egypt unveils the world's largest museum dedicated to its ancient civilization

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt was inaugurating the long-delayed Grand Egyptian Museum on Saturday, the world’s largest museum dedicated to its ancient civilization — a megaproject also aimed at boosting the country’s tourism industry and troubled economy.

Two decades in the making and located near the Giza Pyramids on the edge of Cairo, the Egyptian capital, the museum showcases over 50,000 artifacts detailing life in ancient Egypt.

World leaders, including monarchs, heads of states and governments, were to attend the grand opening ceremony, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency, which touted the museum as “an exceptional event in the history of human culture and civilization.”

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi wrote on social media that the museum will bring "together the genius of ancient Egyptians and the creativity of modern Egyptians, enhancing the world culture and art with a new landmark that will attract all those who cherish civilization and knowledge.”

The museum is one of several megaprojects championed by el-Sissi since he took office in 2014, embarking on massive investments in infrastructure with the aim of reviving an economy weakened by decades of stagnation and battered by the unrest that followed the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.