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

Hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated to shelters in Cuba. A hurricane warning was in effect for the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Holguin and Las Tunas, as well as the southeastern and central Bahamas.

Early Wednesday, Melissa had top sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving northeast at 12 mph (19 kph) according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane was centered 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of Guantánamo, Cuba, and 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of the central Bahamas.

The agency warned residents of Cuba to remain sheltered and that preparations for the storm in the Bahamas “should be rushed to completion.”

Melissa was forecast to weaken as it crosses Cuba through the morning, and remain a strong hurricane as it moves across the southeastern or central Bahamas later Wednesday. The storm is then expected to make its way late Thursday near or to the west of Bermuda, where a hurricane watch is in effect.

Israel's military says ceasefire is back on as death toll from overnight strikes in Gaza reaches 81

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel's military said Wednesday the ceasefire was back on in Gaza after it carried out heavy airstrikes across the Palestinian territory that killed at least 81 people, including women and children, according to local hospitals.

The strikes — the deadliest since the ceasefire was enacted on Oct. 10 — marked the most serious challenge to the tenuous truce to date.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to conduct “powerful strikes” over Gaza after accusing Hamas of violating the ceasefire. Hamas said in response that that it would delay handing over the body of another hostage.

U.S. President Donald Trump, currently on a trip to Asia, defended the strikes, saying Israel was justified in carrying them out after what he said was an incident in which Hamas killed an Israeli soldier during an exchange of gunfire in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza.

Hamas denied any involvement in that deadly shooting and in turn accused Israel of violating the ceasefire deal.

Trump scores golden gifts but no investment dollars during South Korea visit

GYEONGJU, South Korea (AP) — President Donald Trump wanted South Korea to invest $350 billion in the American economy. So far, he's settling for a gold medal and a crown.

Both were gifts from the country's president, Lee Jae Myung, who dialed up the flattery while Washington and Seoul struggled to finalize details on financial promises during the last stop of Trump’s Asia trip.

There was a special lunch menu featuring U.S.-raised beef and a gold-adorned brownie. A band played Trump's campaign anthem of “Y.M.C.A.” when he stepped off Air Force One. Lee told him that “you are indeed making America great again.”

Trump can be mercurial and demanding, but he has a soft spot for pomp and circumstance. He was particularly impressed by a choreographed display of colorful flags as he walked along the red carpet.

“That was some spectacle, and some beautiful scene,” Trump told Lee during their meeting. “It was so perfect, so flawlessly done.”

Dutch vote in a knife-edge election focused on housing and Wilders

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Voters and leading contenders cast their ballots across the Netherlands on Wednesday in a close-run snap election called after anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders brought down the last four-party coalition in a dispute over a crackdown on immigration.

The campaign echoed issues that resonate across Europe, focusing on how to rein in migration and tackle chronic shortages of affordable housing.

But in a country where coalition governments are the norm, it's unclear if parties will work with Wilders again, even if his Party for Freedom repeats its stunning victory from two years ago.

Mainstream parties have already ruled that out, arguing that his decision to torpedo the outgoing four-party coalition in June in a dispute over migration underscored that he is an untrustworthy partner.

“It’s up to the voters today,” Wilders said after voting in the cavernous atrium of The Hague City Hall, surrounded by security guards. “It’s a close call … four or five different parties. I’m confident.”

Trump says 'it's too bad' he can't run for a third term

GYEONGJU, South Korea (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that “it’s too bad” he’s not allowed to run for a third term, conceding the constitutional reality even as he expressed interest in continuing to serve.

"If you read it, it’s pretty clear," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One enroute from Japan to South Korea. “I’m not allowed to run. It’s too bad.”

The president's comments, which continue his on-again, off-again musings about a third term, came a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson said it would be impossible for Trump to stay in the White House.

“I don't see the path for that," he told reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

Johnson, the Republican leader who has built his career by drawing closer to Trump, said he discussed the issue with the president, and he thinks Trump understands the situation.

Judge orders daily meetings with Border Patrol official Bovino on Chicago immigration crackdown

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge in Chicago took the rare step Tuesday of ordering a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to brief her every night, an unprecedented bid to impose real-time oversight on the government’s immigration crackdown in the city after weeks of tense encounters and tear gas thrown by officers.

Greg Bovino, who has become the public face of the Trump administration’s city-by-city immigration sweeps, must sit for a daily 6 p.m. briefing to report how his agents are enforcing the law and whether they are staying within constitutional bounds, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said.

Ellis also demanded full use-of-force reports from agents involved in a blitz that has netted over 1,800 arrests since September.

“Yes, ma’am,” Bovino responded to each request.

Phillip Turner, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago, said the judge's order is extremely unusual.

US launches strikes on 4 alleged drug-running boats in the eastern Pacific, killing 14

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. military has carried out strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean on four boats accused of carrying drugs, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor in the deadliest single day since the Trump administration began its divisive campaign against drug trafficking in the waters off South America.

It was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day as the pace of the attacks has escalated. The nearly two-month campaign and U.S. military buildup have strained ties with allies in the region and opened speculation that the moves are aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. has accused of narcoterrorism.

A statement provided by a Pentagon official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the operation, said the strikes were conducted Monday off the coast of Colombia.

Following one attack on a boat, the military spotted a person in the water clinging to some wreckage. The military passed the survivor’s precise location to the U.S. Coast Guard and a Mexican military aircraft that was operating in the area, the official said.

However, the Mexican navy says it is searching about 400 miles southwest of the Pacific city of Acapulco, suggesting the possibility that the strike may have taken place far away from Colombia and closer to Mexico’s coast. It wasn’t immediately clear exactly where the strike took place, and the Pentagon did not give more details.

Guerrero homers off Ohtani as Blue Jays even World Series with 6-2 win over Dodgers in Game 4

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dodger Stadium was still shaking with joy when Monday turned to Tuesday as the Toronto Blue Jays trudged into their clubhouse. Their 18-inning loss in Game 3 felt like a monumental setback that might have already decided the World Series.

That’s when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped up and told his team exactly what it needed to hear.

For all its drama, Game 3 was no more important than Game 4.

“I was the last one to go in,” Guerrero said. “I saw everybody with his head down. I said, ‘Come on, bro. Head up. It’s not over yet. It’s not over yet. They gotta win four. Four games. You have to win four games to win the World Series. It’s not over.’”

The Jays' leader then backed up his message by crushing another timely homer Tuesday night, this one off Shohei Ohtani.

Ex-thief says he warned Louvre of security weaknesses around crown jewels

PARIS (AP) — Days after thieves took just minutes to steal eight pieces of the French crown jewels from the Louvre, a former bank robber says he warned a museum official of glaring weaknesses — including jewel cases by streetside windows that were “a piece of cake” to attack.

David Desclos talks like what he was: a pro who knew how to make alarms go quiet. In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday just outside I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid, the reformed burglar said he flagged the gallery’s windows and nearby display cases years ago, after the Louvre invited him to the Apollo Gallery to weigh in for its 2020 in-house podcast about a historic 1792 theft.

“Have you seen those windows? They’re a piece of cake. You can imagine anything — people in disguise, slipping in through the windows,” he said, recounting that he told a senior official involved in the Louvre’s podcast production — not the museum director — about the risk. “Through the windows — even from the roofs — there are plenty of ways in.”

Then came Sunday’s heist. Authorities say two thieves in high-visibility jackets smashed through a window of the Apollo Gallery and used power tools to cut open cases. Eight crown-jewel items — valued in some reports at more than $100 million — disappeared in minutes. A ninth piece, Empress Eugénie’s diamond-studded crown, was found on the ground outside the museum, damaged but salvageable. Two suspects have been arrested; others remain at large.

“Exactly what I had predicted,” Desclos said. “They came by the windows … they came, they took, and they left.”

Judge extends order barring the Trump administration from firing federal workers during the shutdown

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday indefinitely barred the Trump administration from firing federal employees during the government shutdown, saying that labor unions were likely to prevail on their claims that the cuts were arbitrary and politically motivated.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston granted a preliminary injunction that bars the firings while a lawsuit challenging them plays out. She had previously issued a temporary restraining order against the job cuts that was set to expire Wednesday.

Illston, who was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, has said she believes the evidence will ultimately show the mass firings were illegal and in excess of authority.

Federal agencies are enjoined from issuing layoff notices or acting on notices issued since the government shut down Oct. 1. Illston said that her order does not apply to notices sent before the shutdown.

The Republican administration has slashed jobs in education, health and other areas it says are favored by Democrats. The administration has also said it will not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly referred to as SNAP, flowing into November.