President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

The shutdown magnified partisan divisions in Washington as Trump took unprecedented unilateral actions — including canceling projects and trying to fire federal workers — to pressure Democrats into relenting on their demands.

A senior member of the British government on Wednesday denied he's plotting to oust Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in a sign of deep anxiety in the Labour Party over its dire poll ratings less than 18 months after a landslide election victory.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said talk of a leadership challenge coming from Labour officials and lawmakers is "self-defeating and self-destructive." He spoke after aides to the prime minister preemptively told British media outlets that Starmer would fight any leadership challenge.

The Russian army overran three settlements in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Kyiv's top military commander said Wednesday, as Moscow's forces expand their efforts to capture more Ukrainian territory.

Dense fog enabled Russian troops to infiltrate Ukrainian positions in Zaporizhzhia, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on the messaging app Telegram, adding that Ukrainian units are locked in "grueling battles" to repel the Russian thrust.

Spanish King Felipe VI and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed agreements on language exchanges and other areas Wednesday as both sides vowed to strengthen their cooperation.

The monarch's visit comes as Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy, continues its courtship of China and Chinese investment while the relationship with the United States is strained under President Donald Trump. In April, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, head of the country's government, made his third visit to China in as many years.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered his nation's security forces to stop sharing intelligence with the United States, until the Trump administration stops its strikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, as relations deteriorate between the nations that were once close partners in the fight against drug trafficking.

All 20 personnel on board a military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia were killed, Turkey's defense minister announced on Wednesday.

The C-130 plane had taken off from Ganja, Azerbaijan and was on its way back to Turkey when it crashed on Tuesday in Georgia's Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

Istanbul's chief public prosecutor filed a sweeping indictment against the city's jailed mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, holding him responsible for 142 alleged criminal offenses related to corruption and organized crime and demanding lengthy prison terms, Turkish media reports said.

Imamoglu, a prominent opposition figure widely seen as a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested in March along with several municipal officials who were accused of running a criminal organization, accepting bribes, extortion and bid-rigging. He has strongly denied all allegations.

The U.N. migration agency warned on Tuesday that humanitarian efforts in Sudan's war-torn North Darfur region might come to a complete halt unless immediate funding and safe delivery of relief supplies are ensured.

"Despite the rising need, humanitarian operations are now on the brink of collapse," the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement. It added: "Warehouses are nearly empty, aid convoys face significant insecurity, and access restrictions continue to prevent the delivery of sufficient aid."

A suicide bomber struck outside the gates of a district court in Islamabad on Tuesday, detonating his explosives next to a police car and killing 12 people, Pakistan's interior minister said, the latest in an uptick of violence across the country.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the midday blast, which also wounded at least 27 people, but authorities have struggled over the past months with a resurgent Pakistani Taliban.

The Senate passed legislation Monday to reopen the government, bringing the longest shutdown in history closer to an end as a small group of Democrats ratified a deal with Republicans despite searing criticism from within their party.

The 41-day shutdown could last a few more days as members of the House, which has been on recess since mid-September, return to Washington to vote on the legislation. President Donald Trump has signaled support for the bill, saying Monday that "we're going to be opening up our country very quickly."