AP National

Associated Press Diwali is the most important festival of the year in India — and for Hindus in particular. It is celebrated across faiths by more than a billion people in the world’s most populous nation and the diaspora. Over five days, people take part in festive gatherings, fireworks displays, feasts and prayer. Diwali is

AP Business Writer BANGKOK (AP) — A study by the Asian Development Bank shows that countries in Asia will suffer worse damage from the climate crisis than other regions and they are not spending enough to limit the damage and adapt to changing weather patterns and natural disasters. The report says financing needs in developing

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican Tennis Federation has canceled a junior tournament in the central state of Guanajuato after 10 players, all underage, and a coach, were victims of a “virtual” kidnapping. The Juniors 30 tournament, the lowest-ranked tournament under the International Tennis Federation’s umbrella, was being held in the city of Irapuato. The

AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Game 5 of the World Series was quite a roller coaster for Aaron Judge. The star slugger busted out of a postseason slump with his first Series home run, connecting for a two-run shot in the first inning that put the New York Yankees ahead against the Los

Associated Press GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name. The former president, once a reality TV star

Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s Congress has approved a proposal to send a contingent of soldiers to Haiti under the auspices of the United Nations to handle medical evacuations in the troubled Caribbean nation. Patricia Aguilera, legal affairs director for El Salvador’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, told lawmakers Wednesday it was

Associated Press A former CIA officer-trainee has been acquitted of charges that he attacked a female colleague in a stairwell at CIA headquarters. A Virginia jury on Wednesday acquitted Ashkan Bayatpour of assault and battery charges in a 2022 case. The case spurred a flood of sexual misconduct complaints and reforms at the CIA. The

Associated Press/Report for America SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is partnering with a major airline trade group to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels in the state. The goal is to cut planet-warming emissions from the airline industry. Wednesday’s announcement comes as some say the state is not doing enough to address the health

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, running back Saquon Barkley and team owner Jeffrey Lurie hit the links this week at Merion Golf Club with quite a final member of their foursome, former President Barack Obama. Hurts was not permitted to actually play golf, per terms of his $255 million contract. Hurts still

ZION, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say a house fire killed three people and injured a fourth person in a north Chicago suburb. The Zion Fire Rescue Department says firefighters were dispatched to a two-story home in the city of Zion near the Wisconsin border late Tuesday after callers reporting seeing smoke and fire. The department

GREENWOOD, Ark. (AP) — Three people have been killed in a house fire in western Arkansas. Greenwood Police say officers responded to the fire early Wednesday. A fourth person has been hospitalized from the fire with life-threatening injuries. The victims were a 46-year-old woman and two children, including a 5-year-old. The Greenwood Public Schools district

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The World Series had its most-watched game in five years Tuesday night as the New York Yankees avoided a sweep. The Yankees’ 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 averaged 16.28 million viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming, according to Nielsen. That is the most-watched game in

AP Media Writer The Washington Post has lost at least 250,000 subscribers since announcing last Friday that it would not endorse a candidate for president — roughly 10 percent of its digital following, the newspaper reported Wednesday. The Post would not officially confirm that figure, saying it was a private company, but it was reported

Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan officials say two clerks in the Upper Peninsula have been removed from their election duties after expressing plans to conduct a hand count of votes in Tuesday’s election. In a letter Monday, the state’s Bureau of Elections director said that Rock River Clerk Tom Schierkolk and Deputy Clerk

AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials are reporting more cases of E. coli poisoning as they trace the supply of onions that are the leading culprit behind the outbreak. The onions were served on Quarter Pounder hamburgers at hundreds of McDonald’s locations and were distributed by Taylor Farms, a food supplier with a

Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted 11 alleged members of a Minneapolis street gang on charges that include murder, conspiracy and drug trafficking. Federal prosecutors say some of the alleged gang members have been charged for their role in seven shootings that killed five people. The alleged members of the

ATLANTA (AP) — Two more people standing trial along with rapper Young Thug have pleaded guilty to reduced charges after reaching deals with prosecutors. Pleas from Rodalius Ryan and Marquavius Huey came Wednesday, just a day after another co-defendant, Quamarvious Nichols, took a plea deal. Ryan pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to

Associated Press DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Palestinian ambulance worker made a horrific discovery when the bloody sheet was lifted: The corpse on the stretcher was his own mother, killed by an Israeli airstrike Wednesday in central Gaza. “Oh God, I swear — she’s my mother! I didn’t know it was her!” Abed

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Twelve people have died in a fire at a steel plant in central Mexico. Tlaxcala state Civil Protection said Wednesday the fire call in Xaloztoc, about 87 miles east of Mexico City, started shortly after 3 a.m. Another person was injured, but that person’s condition was unknown. Based on preliminary information

NEW YORK (AP) — A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty in a sports betting scheme that ended Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter’s NBA career. Mahmud Mollah pleaded guilty Wednesday to wire fraud conspiracy. So far, three people — including Porter — have publicly admitted their roles in the scandal. Two other men also have been

Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police say it was an accident when a reporter was hit by flyaway metal as Missouri’s Democratic U.S. Senate candidate fired an AR-15-style rifle at a shooting range. Prosecutors declined to charge U.S. Senate hopeful Lucas Kunce. The reporter told the sheriff that he felt a pinch at

Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Archaeologists using laser-sensing technology have detected what may be an ancient Mayan city cloaked by jungle in southern Mexico, authorities said Wednesday. The lost city, dubbed Valeriana by researchers after the name of a nearby lagoon, may have been as densely settled as the better-known pre-Hispanic metropolis of Calakmul,

Associated Press/Report for America JOURDANTON, Texas (AP) — Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred are making their final pitches to Texas voters at campaign stops across the state as Election Day nears. Cruz continues to lean on immigration and limiting transgender rights as flashpoints for traditionally conservative voters. Allred blames Cruz for

Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has found that Republican Attorney General Dave Yost lacked the authority to reject a voting-related amendment’s ballot petition solely because he objected to the title. In a unanimous ruling Wednesday, justices sided with a coalition of civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, behind the “Ohio

Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A divided Pennsylvania appeals court says the envelopes voters use to send in mail ballots don’t need to have been accurately hand-dated. The Commonwealth Court’s 3-2 decision Wednesday comes after the state Supreme Court sidestepped the issue and six days before the end of voting in the presidential election.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s adult mental care facilities are ready to emerge from court oversight after an appointed specialist concluded the state is now in “substantial compliance” with the latest standards set by a court legal decree. An agreement called the “AMHI Consent Decree” was drafted in 1990 when conditions were so bad at

Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — An ex-FTX executive who testified against the cryptocurrency firm’s founder at his trial last year has been spared a prison sentence. A federal judge on Wednesday credited the leniency shown to Nishad Singh’s substantial cooperation and the fact that he arrived late to the multibillion dollar fraud. Singh was

Associated Press Voters in two counties in Washington state and Oregon have not received mail-in ballots with less than a week to go before the election, election officials say. The news comes two days after incendiary devices were set off in ballot drop boxes in both those states. The U.S. Postal Service failed to deliver

AP Technology Writer Microsoft on Wednesday reported its quarterly sales grew 16% to $65.6 billion as the company sought to assure investors its huge spending on artificial intelligence is paying off. The company has spent billions of dollars to expand its global network of data centers and other physical infrastructure required to develop AI technology

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona residents will be able to get recreational marijuana delivered to their homes beginning Friday. Until now, state rules allowed deliveries only for medical marijuana patients. The Arizona Department of Health Services is expanding home delivery to anyone 21 and older. Delivery will be offered through individual dispensaries or third-party services that

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Grammys will have a new broadcast home on ABC starting in 2027. The network and the Recording Academy announced Wednesday that they had signed a 10-year deal to broadcast the Grammys beginning in 2027. The deal also calls for the show to be streamed on Hulu and Disney+. The Grammys

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government is doubling down on its attacks against Brazilian foreign relations officials, accusing them of jeopardizing the diplomatic relations between the neighboring South American countries by acting on behalf of the interests of the United States. Wednesday’s broadsides from the government of President Nicolás Maduro came a day after a

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Police say eight miners have died after being buried under mounds of earth that collapsed on them in an open-pit copper mine in Zambia. Provincial police commissioner Peacewell Mweemba said one miner was missing and another two survived Wednesday’s collapse. State media reported that six of the miners who died at

Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A military contractor accused of contributing to the abuse of detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago is again on trial in a federal courtroom after a long-awaited civil case earlier this year ended with a hung jury. The retrial of the lawsuit against Reston, Virginia-based CACI

Former skateboarder and Olympic snowboarder Shaun White and actor Nina Dobrev are getting married. White’s publicist Jennifer Peros confirmed the engagement Wednesday. White popped the question last weekend at The Golden Swan, a New York restaurant and presented Dobrev with a five-carat diamond ring. Peros created a fake invite for a small dinner with Anna

Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentuckians on opposite sides of a school choice ballot measure are framing the election as a pivotal moment for education. They’re making their final pitches before early voting starts Thursday. Voters will decide whether Kentucky’s constitution should be amended to allow tax dollars to support students attending private or

Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a former Louisville police detective’s actions were like “a drive-by shooting” the night of the deadly Breonna Taylor raid. They were speaking during the closing arguments Wednesday in Brett Hankison’s federal retrial. Hankison fired 10 bullets into the side of Taylor’s apartment, but he didn’t hit

Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A white former New Hampshire police officer has been accused of a race-motivated assault against a Black bank executive outside of a diner on Thanksgiving Eve 2023. The state attorney general’s office filed a civil rights complaint against Aaron Goodwin on Tuesday. Similar complaints also were filed against his

Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina death row inmate Richard Moore has more than 20 people asking the governor to spare his life in a clemency petition filed just two days before he is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 1999 killing of a store clerk. Included in the petition are

NEW YORK (AP) — A pivotal actor in the meme stock craze the began during the pandemic continues to hold a powerful sway over the movement of shares in major U.S. corporations. Nearly four months after revealing a massive stake in the online pet supply retailer Chewy, Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, has dissolved his

AP Business Writer PepsiCo says it plans to close four U.S. bottling plants and lay off nearly 400 workers as part of its efforts to streamline its operations. The company said the closures will impact 136 workers in Cincinnati; 131 in Chicago; 127 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and fewer than 50 in Atlanta. The Chicago plant

Associated Press BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Hundreds of Indigenous people were marching Wednesday in Brazil’s capital, urging Congress to drop a proposed constitutional amendment that has the potential to paralyze and even reverse land allocations. The bill aims to add to the Constitution a legal theory, championed by the agribusiness caucus, that the date the

NEW YORK (AP) — Two New York Yankees fans who were ejected from Game 4 of the World Series for interfering with Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts have been banned from Game 5 on Wednesday night. Betts leaped at the retaining wall in foul territory and caught Gleyber Torres’ pop fly in the

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are in a tight race for the White House, but in Ohio, it’s a contest further down the ballot that’s been getting the bulk of the attention in the Nov. 5 general election. Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s bid for a

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving toward Ukraine, in what he called a dangerous and destabilizing development. Austin was speaking at a press conference in Washington with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, as concerns grow about

Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A group of news organizations has asked a Texas appeals court to order the release of state Department of Public Safety records of the law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Wednesday’s hearing was the latest dispute over what records should be made

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The longtime music director at a northern Michigan church says he was fired just a few months before retirement. Fred Szczepanski says officials learned that he was in a same-sex marriage. The firing has angered members of St. Francis Church in Traverse City and led to sidewalk protests by the

Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The man suspected of setting fires in ballot drop boxes in Oregon and Washington state is an experienced metalworker and may be planning additional attacks, authorities said Wednesday. Investigators believe the man who set the incendiary devices at ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and nearby Vancouver, Washington, had a

Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Three Massachusetts utilities and a transmission line developer have agreed to pass along $512 million in added costs to Massachusetts ratepayers for an electric transmission project in western Maine. The power transmission line will allow Canadian hydropower to reach the New England power grid. The project’s cost grew from

Associated Press SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Voters in a Southern California city are going to decide this November whether residents who aren’t U.S. citizens can vote in local elections. Santa Ana is a city of about 310,000 in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles. It would be the first city in California to allow

GREENVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A 114-year-old Pennsylvania woman is now believed to be the oldest living person in North America. Naomi Whitehead attained that status after Elizabeth Francis of Texas died on Oct. 22. Whitehead lives in a senior care community in Greenville West Salem and says she never smoked or drank alcohol. She was

Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 398 firms across Russia, India, China, and more than a dozen other nations — accusing them of providing products and services that enable Russia’s war effort and aid its ability to evade sanctions. The effort spearheaded by the Treasury and State Departments is

Associated Press The owner of New Jersey’s largest newspaper says it will stop publishing a daily print version of the paper early next year, but its online version will continue. The decision announced Wednesday was due to rising costs, decreasing circulation and reduced demand for print copies of the Star-Ledger. The company also said it

AP Sports Writer VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — The Copa del Rey matches involving Valencia and Levante have been postponed following floods that killed more than 70 people and caused havoc in southern Spain. Other sporting events were also affected by Tuesday’s flash floods that swept away cars, turned village streets into rivers and disrupted rail

Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania judge has sided with Donald Trump’s campaign and agreed to extend an in-person voting option in suburban Philadelphia. The order came Wednesday after long lines on Tuesday caused voters to complain that they were being disenfranchised by an unprepared election office. Judge Jeffrey Trauger said in a

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — United Way Worldwide and Paramount Global have announced they will host a benefit to raise funds for those impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. A news release says the one-hour special will air Saturday and include a wide range of celebrities. The special was taped Oct. 27-28 in Nashville, Tennessee. Proceeds

AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have discovered the oldest-known fossil of a giant tadpole that wriggled around over 160 million years ago. The new fossil, found in Argentina, surpasses the previous ancient record holder by about 20 million years. Imprinted in a slab of sandstone are parts of the tadpole’s skull and

Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — Three 18-year-old men believed to be involved in an auto theft ring have been charged four months after the fatal shooting of a suburban sheriff’s deputy who pursued a stolen SUV into Detroit. Authorities say Wednesday that the man who shot Oakland County sheriff’s Deputy Bradley J. Reckling on June

Associated Press Some are well-worn warnings as familiar as the changing of seasons. Others are slow burns that end with a bang. Still others are just plain eerie. Stories of spiritual entities, paranormal activity and creepy cryptids are passed through generations the world over, becoming local legends that only sometimes reach across borders and cultures.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities say three soldiers and eight militants were killed after security forces backed by military helicopters raided a hideout in a former stronghold of insurgents in a restive province bordering Afghanistan. Police said Wednesday a local militant commander is believed to be among those killed in the operation in Bannu,

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah’s newly named leader Naim Kassem has said in his first public comments that the militant group will keep fighting in its ongoing war with Israel until it is offered cease-fire terms it deems acceptable. “If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according

AP Medical Writer People prone to seasonal depression are bracing themselves as winter approaches. Many have found strategies to get through the dark days. Depression that begins in the fall and eases in the spring or summer is called seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Doctors recommend starting the morning by sitting near a special device

NEW YORK (AP) — Reddit has turned a profit for the first time as a public company. The social platform claimed a profit of $29.9 million, or 16 cents per share, for the period ending in September, and reported sales of $348.4 million, an amount surpassing the $312.8 million analysts had projected. Reddit also grew

Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) — The United States and other mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict during the Biden administration’s final months. Negotiations on both fronts have been stalled for months and none of the warring parties

ISTANBUL (AP) — State media say a mayor from Turkey’s main opposition party has been detained on suspicion of being a member of a banned Kurdish militant group. Ahmet Ozer, mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district for the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, was arrested by anti-terrorist police on Wednesday over alleged connections to the Kurdistan

Associated Press The groups promoting abortion-rights amendments on the ballots in nine states have outraised their opponents by more than 6 to 1 and are spending far more on ads. The majority of the money is being raised and spent around the question before voters in Florida. There’s been an influx of campaign funding in

Associated Press RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The head of the U.N. agency caring for Palestinian refugees says that newly passed Israeli laws effectively banning its activities in Israel will leave a vacuum that will cost more lives and create further in Gaza and the West Bank. Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, told The