News Wrap: Senate works through weekend as shutdown enters 40th day

John Yang:

Good evening. I'm John Yang.

There's been another swing of the seesaw legal battle over the federal nutrition program known as SNAP, as tens of millions of low-income Americans wait to see if they get benefits payments this month.

The Trump administration is demanding that states that followed a judge's orders and paid out full benefits this past week, undo it because the Supreme Court later blocked that ruling for the time being.

This comes as the Senate holds a rare Sunday session. Majority leader John Thune of South Dakota set up potential deal to end the 40-day shutdown is coming together but it wasn't a done deal.

Air travelers at 40 busy airports face a third day of reduced flights. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned about it lasting until Thanksgiving.

Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation: It's only going to get worse. I looked to, you know, the two weeks before Thanksgiving. You're going to see air travel be reduced to a trickle.

John Yang:

According to the flight tracking website, FlightAware, so far today, more than 2,000 flights at U.S. airports have been canceled and more than 7,000 delayed.

Super typhoon Fung-wong hit the Philippines' northeastern coast today, killing at least two people and forcing the evacuation of more than a million from areas prone to flooding and landslides.

The storm battered the region with strong winds and heavy rains, knocking down power lines as people sought shelter. It's the biggest to threaten the Philippines in years.

Just this past week, another typhoon caused widespread destruction and killed more than 200 people.

Hamas handed over the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in 2014 hours after the ceasefire ended that year's Gaza war.

Forensic testing confirmed that the body was that of Hadar Goldin. It brought bitter closure to his family who had campaigned for his return. Hamas said it found Goldin's body yesterday in a tunnel in Rafah.

Israel is still awaiting the return of the bodies of four hostages taking in the October 7th attacks.

Former long-time NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue has died. His 17-year tenure was a period of league expansion and growing fan interest and network T.V. revenue, as some teams' value grew tenfold. He restored labor piece after a series of work stoppages and implemented a tough substance abuse policy. But critics say he failed to act quickly or firmly enough to deal with player concussions.

Tagliabue's family said the apparent cause of death was heart failure, complicated by Parkinson's disease. Paul Tagliabue was 84 years old.