• UPS acknowledges accident but has not yet confirmed any injuries or casualties.
• Airport houses UPS Worldport, company’s largest global air cargo hub.
• Aerial footage shows fires ignited on ground stretching nearly a mile.

UPS said on Tuesday that one of its wide-body cargo planes with three crew members on board crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, and local police said injuries had been reported.

“UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15pm local time on Tuesday, Nov. 4, after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The plane was en route to Honolulu, it said.

Television channel WLKY showed video footage of the crash as it occurred, with a huge fireball erupting as the plane hit the ground.

A government source briefed on the matter said the video appeared to show the plane on fire as it went down the runway before exploding in a fireball.

UPS said it had yet to confirm any injuries or casualties due to the accident on one of its MD-11 planes.

The Louisville airport is home to UPS Worldport, a global hub for the delivery firm’s air cargo operations and its largest package handling facility in the world.

The crash will likely disrupt deliveries for UPS and its major customers, including Amazon and the United States Postal Service.

As night fell, live aerial footage over the scene broadcast by WLKY, a local CBS affiliate, showed the red-orange glow of flames from fires ignited on the ground by the crash spread over nearly a mile.

The Louisville airport said the airfield was closed after the incident, while the Louisville Metro Police Department said it was responding to reports of a plane crash and that injuries had been reported.

“Kentucky, we are aware of a reported plane crash near Louisville International Airport. First responders are on-site, and we will share more information as available. Please pray for the pilots, crew, and everyone affected. We will share more soon,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on X.

According to FAA records, the MD-11 freighter involved in the crash was 34 years old. Boeing, which owns the MD-11 program, declined to comment.

FlightRadar24 said the plane, which began operations with UPS in 2006, had flown from Louisville to Baltimore earlier on Tuesday before returning to Louisville. The flight from Louisville to Honolulu typically takes 8-1/2 hours, the flight tracking service said.

The US government shutdown entered its 35th day on Tuesday, matching a record set during President Donald Trump’s first term, as lawmakers voiced optimism over progress behind the scenes to end the dispute.

The federal closure appears almost certain to become the longest in history, with no major breakthroughs expected before it goes into its sixth week at midnight — although there were fragile signs in Congress that an off-ramp is closer than ever.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune set the buoyant mood music on Monday when he told reporters he felt “optimistic” that newly energised talks between warring Republicans and Democrats could end in a deal before next week.

The government has been grinding to a halt since Congress failed to approve funding past September 30, and pain has been mounting as programmes — including food aid relied on by millions of Americans — hang in limbo.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think any of us expected that it would drag on this long. We didn’t believe, we couldn’t have imagined,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told a news conference arranged to mark the six-week milestone.

“It’s now tied for the longest shutdown in US history. And we didn’t think we’d have to come in here every single day — day after day after day — and repeat the obvious facts to the American people and to put on display every day what is happening here.”

Some 1.4 million federal workers — from air traffic controllers to park wardens — have been placed on enforced leave without pay or made to work for nothing, while vital welfare programs and even paychecks for active-duty troops are under threat.

Some lawmakers — including Thune and Johnson — are hoping a slew of elections taking place in New York, Virginia, New Jersey and California on Tuesday will provide the momentum they need to reopen the government.

But both sides remain dug in over the main sticking point — health care spending.

Democrats say they will only provide votes to end the funding lapse after a deal has been struck to extend expiring insurance subsidies that make health care affordable for millions of Americans.

But Republicans insist they will only address health care once Democrats have voted to switch the lights back on in Washington.

While both sides’ leadership have shown little appetite for compromise, there have been signs of life on the back benches, with a handful of moderate Democrats working to find an escape hatch.

A separate bipartisan group of four centrist House members unveiled a compromise framework Monday for lowering health insurance costs.

Democrats believe that millions of Americans seeing skyrocketing premiums as they enroll onto health insurance programs for next year will pressure Republicans into seeking compromise.

But Trump has held firm on refusing to negotiate, telling CBS News in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would “not be extorted.”

The president has sought to apply his own pressure to force Democrats to cave, by threatening mass layoffs of federal workers and using the shutdown to target progressive priorities.

Last week his administration threatened to cut off a vital aid program that helps 42 million Americans pay for groceries for the first time in its more than 60-year history, before the move was blocked by two courts.

But Trump nevertheless insisted Tuesday — in apparent defiance of the court orders — that the food aid would be disbursed only after the government shutdown ends.

Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that benefits from the SNAP program “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

Trump also revived his call for the elimination of the Senate filibuster — the 60-vote threshold for passing most legislation — so Republicans can pass government funding without the help of Democrats.

• New Yorkers on verge of saying goodbye to politics of past: Mamdani.
• Democratic nominee on about 44% in latest polls, ahead of others.
• “Will utilise every single tool to fight for people of New York.”

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday said New York City was “on the brink of making history” as he cast his vote in the city’s mayoral election, expressing confidence that his progressive campaign was poised to deliver a break from what he described as “the politics of the past.”

Speaking to reporters outside a high school polling station in Astoria, Queens, the 34-year-old democratic socialist appeared optimistic about his chances.

“We are on the brink of making history in our city, on the brink of saying goodbye to a politics of the past,” he said. “I believe that victory is a mandate in and of itself.”

Polls were opened at 6am (1100 GMT) and will close at 9pm, while early voting, which wrapped up Sunday, saw more than 735,000 people cast ballots according to election officials, the highest ever number.

Mamdani was at about 44% in latest polls, several points ahead of former state governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent.

The democratic nominee, aged just 34, is a self-described socialist who was virtually unknown before his upset victory to secure the Democratic nomination.

He has focused on reducing living costs for ordinary New Yorkers, building support through his informal personal style and social-media-friendly clips of him walking the streets chatting with voters.

Mamdani, a State Assembly member, is facing Cuomo, 67, who is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the primary. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, 71, is trailing far behind in most opinion polls, which have consistently shown Mamdani with a comfortable lead.

However, the contest has taken on national political overtones in recent days. Unabashedly playing the race card, President Trump on Tuesday smeared Mamdani, who would be New York’s first Muslim mayor, as a “Jew hater.”

“Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self-professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!” the Republican president posted on his social media platform.

Trump had also warned of blocking federal funds to the city if Mamdani became mayor.

Responding to Trump’s remarks, Mamdani said he would “not be intimidated.” “What we see in the language of Donald Trump is a premise as if it is his decision on whether or not to fund this city — the very money this city is owed,” he said.

“I look forward to utilising every single tool at my disposal as the next mayor to fight for the people of this city. I will not be intimidated by this president, or anyone.”

He downplayed some polls suggesting he may not have the support of the majority of New Yorkers, saying, “I believe that victory is a mandate in and of itself.”

‘A mayor for all New Yorkers’

“I voted for Mamdani,” said 36-year-old Gregory Jones told Reuters.

“As somebody who’s been living in New York City for over 10 years — affordability, safety, making New York feel like home for so many people who’ve been living here for decades, for all New Yorkers, for working families, for business people, for immigrants, for underrepresented people.

“It’s really important that we have a mayor that represents all types of New Yorkers and makes New York a place where everyone can thrive and work and live happily, healthily and safely,” he added.

Lucy Cordero, a 68-year-old from Mott Haven Bronx, says she voted for Mamdani “because he’s new and he’s fresh”.

“Maybe he can make a change and fix what’s messed up now,” she told Al Jazeera.

Denise Gibbs, 46, a doctor of physiotherapy, voted at a school in Brooklyn.

“I sure hope it improves the city. I want to see it decrease divisiveness and increase livelihoods of working-class households and services for children,” she said, wearing green scrubs.