A federal judge in Maryland on Monday sought assurances that the government will not deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia before she has lifted an injunction barring his removal from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a notice late last week of their plan to deport him to the West African nation of Liberia as early as Friday. It’s the latest in a series of African countries the agency has designated as possible destinations for the Salvadoran national. Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge granted...

Food banks and pantries were already struggling after federal program cuts this year, but now they’re bracing for a tsunami of hungry people if a pause in federal food aid to low-income people kicks in this weekend as the federal government shutdown persists. The rush has already begun. Central Christian Church’s food pantry in downtown Indianapolis scrambled Saturday to accommodate around twice as many people as it normally serves in a day. “There’s an increased demand. And we know it’s been happening really since the economy has downturned,” volunteer Beth White said, adding that with an interruption in funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition...

 As part of a new national policy on drugs and alcohol, Kenyan government officials have been considering raising the drinking age to 21, from 18. But one new brand of imported South African wine is restricted to an even more select buyer: Catholic priests. The wine is a proprietary brand the country’s Catholic bishops have adopted after bars and liquor stores began selling the wine Catholic churches had long dispensed at Communion. “You can’t buy it unless you are a priest or you have a letter from your church. Those are my instructions,” said an attendant at the Holy Family Basilica in...

The federal agent had a daring pitch for Nicolás Maduro’s chief pilot: All he had to do was surreptitiously divert the Venezuelan president’s plane to a place where U.S. authorities could nab the strongman. In exchange, the agent told the pilot in a clandestine meeting, the aviator would be made a very rich man. The conversation was tense, and the pilot left noncommittal, though he provided the agent, Edwin Lopez, with his cell number — a sign he might be interested in helping the U.S. government. Over the next 16 months, even after retiring from his government job in July,...

 Political parties in military-run Myanmar on Tuesday kicked off their election campaigns, two months ahead of scheduled national polls that are widely seen as an effort to confer legitimacy on the military’s 2021 seizure of power, even as the country’s civil war precludes voting in many areas. Campaigning began just a day after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, in a meeting with leaders of Southeast Asian nations, warned that the planned election could cause further instability and deepen Myanmar’s crisis. Critics of the military-led government charge that the polls, which are set to begin on Dec. 28, will be neither free nor fair. Fifty-seven parties...

Federal funds could begin running dry Saturday that help tens of millions of Americans to buy food for their families and send their toddlers to preschool if Congress doesn’t reach a deal by then to end the U.S. government shutdown. Funding for another program that helps mothers care for their newborns could run out the following week. Barring a resolution to the shutdown, the U.S. will have a gaping hole in its safety net, particularly for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps about one in eight Americans buy groceries. Benefits under the program known as SNAP run dry starting Saturday. Funding for a group...

 Russian oil company Lukoil says it is selling its international assets in response to sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump that aim to push Russia to agree to a ceasefire in its war against Ukraine. The company said in a statement that it was already talking with potential purchasers. The transactions would be carried out under a sanctions grace period that allows transactions with Lukoil until Nov. 21, and the company said it would seek an extension if necessary to complete the transactions. Lukoil has stakes in oil and gas projects in 11 countries. It has refineries in Bulgaria...

 Peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan have hit an impasse in Istanbul after three days of negotiations, with state media in both countries Tuesday blaming each other for the failure to reach a deal while efforts by Turkey were still underway to end the deadlock. The Istanbul talks are part of a broader diplomatic push to ease months of heightened tension between Islamabad and Kabul over cross-border attacks and militant safe havens — issues that have strained relations since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan four years ago. Delegations from the two neighbors remain in Turkey, but it was not immediately clear...

 South Korea’s new president will host leaders from 20 countries for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where the American and Chinese leaders are set to hold a high-stakes meeting on the sidelines. The two-day annual APEC summit, which opens in Gyeongju on Friday, is likely to test Lee Jae Myung’s diplomatic abilities as he faces tough foreign policy challenges. Lee, in office less than five months, seeks to get along with friends and rivals alike with his self-proclaimed “pragmatic diplomacy.” But prospects for greater cooperation with Washington and Tokyo are in doubt due to Trump’s tariff war and the election of a new ultraconservative leader...