By KIM TONG-HYUNG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday it fired sea-to-surface cruise missiles into its western waters, in another display of its growing military capabilities as U.S. President Donald Trump travels to South Korea for a regional summit.

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North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency described Tuesday’s tests as a success, saying the missiles flew for more than two hours before accurately striking targets. The agency claimed that the weapons would contribute to expanding the operational sphere of the country’s nuclear-armed military.

South Korea’s military didn’t immediately confirm whether it had detected the tests.

The North Korean report came hours before an expected summit between Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the city of Gyeongju, where South Korea is hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings.

KCNA said the tests were attended by senior military official Pak Jong Chon, who also inspected training for sailors aboard North Korea’s newly developed destroyers Choe Hyon and Kang Kon, which leader Kim Jong Un has described as key assets in his efforts to strengthen the navy.

This photo provided by North Korean government shows what it says a test of a sea-to-surface cruise missile at an undisclosed place in North Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea’s latest launches followed short-range ballistic missile tests last week that it said involved a new hypersonic system designed to strengthen its nuclear war deterrent.

Trump has expressed interest in meeting with Kim during his stay in South Korea, where he is also scheduled to hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, South Korean officials have said a Trump–Kim meeting is unlikely.

North Korea has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Trump fell apart in 2019 during the American president’s first term.

Kim’s top foreign policy priority is now Russia. In recent months, he has sent thousands of troops and large quantities of military equipment to help fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, while embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and positions his country as part of a united front against the U.S.-led West.

Last month, Kim reiterated he wouldn’t return to talks with the United States unless Washington drops its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization, after Trump repeatedly expressed his hopes for new diplomacy.

By JOHN RABY

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a landmark decision in West Virginia that had rejected attempts by an opioid-ravaged area to be compensated by U.S. drug distributors for a influx of prescription pain pills into the region.

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The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled that a lower court judge erred when he said West Virginia’s public nuisance law did not apply to the lawsuit involving the distribution of opioids.

“West Virginia law permits abatement of a public nuisance to include a requirement that a defendant pay money to fund efforts to eliminate the resulting harm to the public,” the 4th Circuit wrote. “West Virginia has long characterized abatement as an equitable remedy.”

The ruling sends the case back to U.S. District Court in Charleston for “further proceedings consistent with the principles expressed in this opinion.”

Thousands of state and local governments have sued over the toll of opioids. The suits relied heavily on claims that the companies created a public nuisance by failing to monitor where the powerful prescriptions were ending up. Most of the lawsuits were settled as part of a series of nationwide deals that could be worth more than $50 billion. But there wasn’t a decisive trend in the outcomes of those that have gone to trial.

In July 2022, U.S. District Judge David Faber ruled in favor of three major U.S. drug distributors who were accused by Cabell County and the city of Huntington of causing a public health crisis by distributing 81 million pills over eight years in the county. AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. also were accused of ignoring the signs that Cabell County was being ravaged by addiction.

Faber said West Virginia’s Supreme Court had only applied public nuisance law in the context of conduct that interferes with public property or resources. He said to extend the law to cover the marketing and sale of opioids “is inconsistent with the history and traditional notions of nuisance.”

Last year the federal appeals court sent a certified question to the state Supreme Court, which states: “Under West Virginia’s common law, can conditions caused by the distribution of a controlled substance constitute a public nuisance and, if so, what are the elements of such a public nuisance claim?”

The state justices declined to answer. That 3-2 opinion in May returned the case to the federal appears court.

“We hold that West Virginia’s highest court would not exclude as a matter of law any common law claim for public nuisance caused by the distribution of a controlled substance,” the 4th Circuit wrote Tuesday. “Therefore, we necessarily conclude that the district court erred when it held that a public nuisance claim based on the distribution of opioids was per se legally insufficient under West Virginia law.”

During arguments earlier this year before the state Supreme Court over the certified question, Steve Ruby, an attorney for the companies, called “radical” the plaintiffs’ arguments to extend the public nuisance law to opioid manufacturers. If allowed, he said, that would “create an avalanche of activist litigation.”

The appeals court previously noted that the West Virginia Mass Litigation Panel, which works to resolve complex cases in state court, has concluded in several instances that opioid distribution “can form the basis of a public nuisance claim under West Virginia common law.”

In his 2022 decision, Faber also said the plaintiffs offered no evidence that the defendants distributed controlled substances to any entity that didn’t hold a proper registration from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or the state Board of Pharmacy. The defendants also had suspicious monitoring systems in place as required by the Controlled Substances Act, he said.

But the 4th Circuit Court found Tuesday that the lower court “misconstrued the distributors’ duties” under the Controlled Substances Act.

The plaintiffs had sought more than $2.5 billion that would have gone toward opioid use prevention, treatment and education over 15 years.

In 2021 in Cabell County, an Ohio River county of 93,000 residents, there were 1,059 emergency responses to suspected overdoses — significantly higher than each of the previous three years — with at least 162 deaths.

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate was voting Tuesday evening on legislation that would nullify President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, including oil, coffee and orange juice, as Democrats tested GOP senators’ support for Trump’s trade policy.

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The legislation from Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, would terminate the national emergencies that Trump has declared to justify the tariffs. He’s planning to call up similar resolutions applying to Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other nations later this week.

The legislation is likely doomed because the Republican-controlled House has passed new rules that allow leadership to prevent it from ever coming up for a vote. And Trump would almost certainly veto the legislation even if it were to pass Congress.

Still, Kaine said the votes are a way to demonstrate pushback against Trump’s tariffs and force a conversation in the Senate about “the economic destruction of tariffs.”

“But they are also really about how much will we let a president get away with? Do my colleagues have a gag reflex or not?” Kaine told reporters.

Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil, linking them to Brazil’s policies and criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The U.S. ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau.

“Every American who wakes up in the morning to get a cup of java is paying a price for Donald Trump’s reckless, ridiculous, and almost childish tariffs,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Republicans have also been increasingly uneasy with Trump’s aggressive trade policy, especially at a time of turmoil for the economy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last month that Trump’s tariff policy is one of several factors that are expected to increase jobless rates and inflation and lower overall growth this year.

In April, four Republicans voted with Democrats to block tariffs on Canada, but the bill was never taken up in the House. Kaine said he hoped the votes this week showed how Republican opposition to Trump’s trade policy is growing.

To bring up the votes, Kaine has invoked a decades-old law that allows Congress to block a president’s emergency powers and members of the minority party to force votes on the resolutions.

However, Vice President JD Vance visited a Republican luncheon on Tuesday in part to emphasize to Republicans that they should allow the president to negotiate trade deals. Vance told reporters afterwards that Trump is using tariffs “to give American workers and American farmers a better deal.”

“To vote against that is to strip that incredible leverage from the president of the United States. I think it’s a huge mistake,” he added.

The Supreme Court will also soon consider a case challenging Trump’s authority to implement sweeping tariffs. Lower courts have found most of his tariffs illegal.

But some Republicans said they would wait until the outcome of that case before voting to cross the president.

“I don’t see a need to do that right now,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, adding that it was “bad timing” to call up the resolutions before the Supreme Court case.

Others said they are ready to show opposition to the president’s tariffs and the emergency declarations he has used to justify them.

“Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive, “ said Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Republican leader, in a statement. ”The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule.”

His fellow Kentuckian, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, told reporters, “Emergencies are like war, famine, tornado. Not liking someone’s tariffs is not an emergency. It’s an abuse of the emergency power. And it’s Congress abdicating their traditional role in taxes.”

In a floor speech, he added, “No taxation without representation is embedded in our Constitution.”

Meanwhile, Kaine is also planning to call up a resolution that would put a check on Trump’s ability to carry out military strikes against Venezuela as the U.S. military steps up its presence and action in the region.

He said that it allows Democrats to get off the defensive while they are in the minority and instead force votes on “points of discomfort” for Republicans.

By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA

MacKenzie Scott, one of the world’s richest women and most influential philanthropists, has donated $60 million to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, according to a Tuesday announcement from the nonprofit.

The donation is among the largest single gifts Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has made to a nonprofit, and the largest the Center for Disaster Philanthropy has ever received.

Patricia McIlreavy, CDP president and CEO, called the gift a “transformative investment” that would help the nonprofit “strengthen the ability of communities to withstand and equitably recover from disasters.”

The gift comes at a time when climate disasters are becoming more frequent and costly and as President Donald Trump stokes uncertainty about how much federal support communities will receive to recover from future emergencies.

Founded in 2010, CDP offers advice and resources to donors seeking to maximize their impact on communities recovering from climate disasters and other crises. The organization emphasizes medium- and long-term recovery, two oft-neglected phases of disaster response.

CDP also does its own disaster giving, including through its Atlantic Hurricane Season Recovery Fund which will soon support Hurricane Melissa recovery in the Caribbean, according to the group.

The $60 million grant would go toward “improving disaster preparedness, addressing the root causes of vulnerabilities to hazards and providing vital resources for the long-term recovery of disaster-affected communities,” according to a CDP statement.

Scott, 55, amassed most of her wealth through shares of Amazon that she acquired after her divorce from the company’s founder and executive chairman, Jeff Bezos. Forbes estimates her current wealth to be about $34 billion.

Soon after her divorce, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of her wealth throughout her lifetime. She has donated more than $19 billion since 2019.

The author of two novels is known for her quiet and trust-based giving. Scott rarely comments on her donations apart from sporadic essays published on her website, Yield Giving.

Nonprofits are often surprised to learn they are receiving one of her grants, which come without restrictions on how groups can use the money.

McIlreavy told The Associated Press she found out about the gift in September through a phone call. “There was a disbelief and joy mixed together,” she said.

The lack of restrictions allows CDP to put some of the money toward general operations like staffing, an aspect of nonprofit work for which it is often difficult to fundraise.

McIlreavy said nonprofits trying to raise money for administrative costs can sometimes feel like they are running a pizza shop. “People would come in and say ‘I want pizza, but I don’t want to pay for the staff to make it, or the trucks that bring in the cheese.’”

The support comes as climate disasters continue to grow in frequency and cost, stretching the abilities of both governments and donors to respond.

The U.S. has experienced at least 14 disasters this year that exceeded $1 billion in damages, according to Climate Central, totaling $101.4 billion. That count does not include the deadly July Texas floods, which are still being assessed.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which manages the federal response to disasters. He has denied major disaster declaration requests to states even when FEMA assessments proved extensive damage. His administration has also cut billions in disaster resilience funding.

The uncertainty is challenging for survivors, and for donors and philanthropists who can’t anticipate where and when their support will be most needed, said McIlreavy.

“When people are facing disasters across this country, not knowing what may come, how they may get assistance and from whom, that steals a bit of the hope that is intrinsic in any recovery,” she said.

Several other groups announced this month that they received grants from Scott, including the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which got $40 million, and the Freedom Fund, which received $60 million. Scott donated $70 million to UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to minority students, last month.

Scott hinted at a new cycle of donations in an Oct. 15 essay on her website while downplaying her own giving and touting the power of smaller acts of kindness and generosity.

“What if care is a way for all of us to make a difference in leading and shaping our countries?” Scott wrote. “There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.