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Fed Holds Rates Steady Despite Lack of Progress on Inflation

Kevin M. Warsh, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said an “information-rich” period before the central bank’s gathering in December will help officials determine next steps for policy.

© Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Kevin Warsh, the Fed chairman last week said that more had to be done to tame inflation.
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Spain Train Crash Kills at Least 68

The accident, the second in less than a year on the same busy rail line, was one of the deadliest in the country’s history.

© Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Emergency services work at the scene of a crash between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday.
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The Special Ops Podcasts Changing the Narrative of the War on Terror

Veterans’ complaints about the rules of engagement have reached Pete Hegseth and a generation of new recruits.

© Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

Andy Stumpf, a former member of U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 and now host of the podcast “Cleared Hot,” in his Montana studio.
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What We Know About the Deadly Train Crash in Spain

A train accident near Toledo, Spain, which killed at least 68 people, was one of the deadliest in the country’s history.

© Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

A train en route to Seville slammed into another that was parked on the tracks on Wednesday.
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Inside Democrats’ Secret Effort to Stack Alaska’s Midterm Ballot With Another Dan Sullivan

Operatives aligned with Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee for Senate, spent months recruiting candidates to peel votes from Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican.

© Haven Daley/Associated Press

A sample ballot showing candidates for next week’s U.S. Senate race in Alaska lists two Dan Sullivans (highlight added here to both), along with Mary Peltola, the Democrat, and a fourth candidate named Gerald Heikes.
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One Race in Texas Has Become a Referendum on Bigotry in the G.O.P.

Bo French said the presence of Indian American students at a football game was a “problem.” His campaign for Railroad Commission tests whether these biased views are now mainstream.

© Dominic Gwinn/ZUMA Press Wire, via rReuters

Bo French, a candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, drew criticism for his social media posts.
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For Israel’s Neighbors in Middle East, the Election Offers Little Hope of a Reset

Few countries in the Middle East expect a turning point in relations with Israel. But the outcome of the vote has implications for the regional conflict with Iran.

© David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Parts of Lebanon have been greatly damaged in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since March, including the Dahiya neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in the capital, Beirut.
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Texas Senate Rivals Converge on Lubbock, With Trump in the Mix

It was a showdown of sorts in western Texas as James Talarico and Ken Paxton appeared at dueling rallies on either side of a prairie-dog-filled city park.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump with Ken Paxton during a campaign visit in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday.
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Judge Questions Trump Administration’s Need to Target Noncitizen Voters

In the legal tangle between the Justice Department and California, a federal judge on Tuesday deferred a ruling but said the government already had a remedy it could use after the election.

© Philip Cheung for The New York Times

The Trump administration has pressed an effort to disqualify people it says are noncitizens from voting on Nov. 3.
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Iran War Cost Rises to $47.1 Billion, Pentagon Told Lawmakers

The estimate through Oct. 16 shows that bombs, missiles and other munitions accounted for more than 60 percent of expenses.

© Ed Ou/Reuters

A sailor running across the flight deck of the U.S.S. George Washington in the Arabian Sea last month.
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Tennessee Race Is Rattled by a Republican’s Acknowledgment of a ‘Past Indiscretion’

State Senator Brent Taylor, the Republican nominee for a U.S. House seat, responded to a Nashville outlet’s report that he had sent “an unsolicited nude picture.”

© George Walker IV/Associated Press

State Senator Brent Taylor, Republican of Memphis, is favored to flip Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District.
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Political Satire Is an American Tradition. Deceptive A.I. Ads Are Not.

Despite how cringeworthy they are, political campaigns have spent $137 million on A.I.-generated ads for the midterms. And the lack of regulation on these ads is warping our sense of what’s real. The Opinion writer Rotimi Adeoye argues that while this kind of political satire falls under First Amendment protection, “you should be free to fake a politician, but you shouldn’t be free to hide the fact that you did.”
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Justice Dept. Steps Up Moves on Comey and Others as Midterm Elections Near

In some cases, court paperwork bears unmistakable signs of urgency — typos, unorthodox tactics and the signatures of the department’s senior political leadership.

© Steve Helber/Associated Press

Attorney General Todd Blanche announcing the indictment of L. Louise Lucas, a prominent Virginia Democrat, on drug-trafficking charges last week in Norfolk, Va.
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Susan Saint James, Emmy Winner Who Starred in ‘Kate & Allie,’ Dies at 80

In a long career, she was best known for starring opposite Jane Curtin in “Kate & Allie,” a 1980s sitcom about two divorced women raising three children in New York City.

© Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Susan Saint James in 2025. Kate McArdle, her character on “Kate & Allie,” was “a free spirit caught up in the radical movement” of the 1960s, a publicist said, while Allie (Jane Curtin) was a “traditionalist.”
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The Christian Influencer at the Center of Ken Paxton’s New Life

The Texas attorney general has been silent about his relationship with Tracy Duhon, a New Orleans woman who has built a personal brand around faith and redemption.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times; Frederick Breedon/Getty Images for Pure Flix

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E.P.A. to Loosen Methane Rules for Oil Firms

The Biden administration had sought to crack down on methane leaks, a big driver of climate change. Those rules are now being scaled back.

© Susan Montoya Bryan/Associated Press

An oil drilling operation in Carlsbad, N.M.
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