Hello from CNN. I'm Anna Sturla with the five things you need to know for Wednesday, September 27th.

A New York judge has found former President Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud. Judge Arthur Engoron also canceled the Trump Organization's business certification. He said the Trumps provided false financial statements for roughly a decade, and granted New York Attorney General Letitia James's request to find the family members liable under state law. The ruling comes just days before the New York attorney general's civil case against Trump is set to go to trial. It's the latest blow to Trump asserting that the former president did, in fact, inflate the values of his properties such as golf courses, hotels and homes at Mar-a-Lago. There will be lots to watch for at the upcoming trial. Among other line items, the AG is asking for the Trump Organization to stop engaging in business transactions for five years, plus $250 million in damages.

The Senate has unveiled a stopgap bill to avoid a debilitating shutdown just days before the U.S. government runs out of money. It includes more than $6 billion in aid for Ukraine and another 6 billion for natural disasters. Here's Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

While for sure this bill does not have everything either side wants, it will continue to fund the government at present levels while maintaining our commitment to Ukraine's security and humanitarian needs, while also ensuring those impacted by natural disasters across the country begin to get the resources they need.

But here's the catch: there's no guarantee it'll pass in the House. The bipartisan Senate bill stands in stark contrast to the House, where deep divisions within the Republican majority are driving the agenda. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dismissed the Senate's bill and says the House will consider a stopgap bill of its own, likely by Friday.

After 148 days, the Hollywood writers' strike is over. The Writers Guild of America voted unanimously to send its members back to work after reaching a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios on Sunday. The WGA contract includes pay increases, better benefits, protections against the studios' use of AI and guarantees for streaming compensation, among other things. Although WGA members can return to work, their contracts with the studios haven't been ratified quite yet, meaning they could still reject the terms of the deal. But it does mark a turning point for the writers' and actors' strikes in Hollywood, with some SAG-AFTRA members on the picket line hopeful it'll pave the way for a deal of their own.

I'm so optimistic. I hope they get everything they deserve. And, you know, I know our deal is very different and I know they're going to use kind of what WGA agrees upon to help with our negotiations, I would assume.

At least 100 people were killed and 150 injured after a fire ripped through a wedding in northern Iraq. That's according to the Iraqi state news agency, INA. The Iraqi civil defense said the fire was set off by fireworks, candles and other materials used during the celebration. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz describes the moment the fire started while the couple was slow dancing.

Within moments, those fireworks caught fire on the paneling of the building. And that's the key part here, is that according to Iraqi state news agency, that paneling, Ecobond, was highly flammable and illegal. It violated the codes of the country, yet somehow it was on that building.

The stage is set for a second GOP presidential debate tonight. We'll tell you more next.

The stage is set for the second GOP primary debate tonight in California, hosted by Fox Business Network. Only seven candidates will be taking part this time after former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson didn't meet the RNC's polling and fundraising threshold for this debate. Now, this could all be overshadowed by a separate showdown happening in Michigan, though, where both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have or will visit autoworkers. Trump is skipping the debate to be in Michigan instead. This coming after he also skipped the first primary debate in Wisconsin in August. His absence has turned the debate into a battle for the second place spot in a GOP primary, with Trump still dominating in national and early state polling.

That's all for now. I'm Anna Sturla. Our next episode drops at 9 a.m. Eastern.