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More than 2 million customers across Florida had lost power. Paul Ratje for The New York Times |
Hurricane Milton plowed into Florida
Hurricane Milton crashed ashore Florida’s Gulf Coast last night, knocking down trees, ravaging homes and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. The Category 3 hurricane was the second powerful hurricane to pound the region in less than two weeks. The storm battered the state for much of the day, with heavy winds, pelting rain and a spate of tornadoes thrashing cities far from its center. Here’s the latest.
Residents in Tampa, near where the storm made landfall, rushed to flee yesterday as officials warned that time was running out to evacuate. They carried sleeping bags, backpacks and beloved pets as they dashed to emergency shelters around the state. This is what it looked like on the ground.
President Biden pledged the full support of the federal government, but officials said that falsehoods and rumors spreading online about its response were harming relief efforts.
Climate change: Raymond Zhong, a Times climate reporter, explained how rising ocean temperatures contributed to the quick explosion of strength by Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

Kamala Harris more than doubled Donald Trump’s cash haul in both July and August. Dave Sanders for The New York Times |
Harris is said to have raised $1 billion in just 80 days
Vice President Kamala Harris has raised $1 billion in less than three months as a presidential candidate, according to people with knowledge of her fund-raising haul. No candidate has ever raised so much money so fast. And it’s more than what Donald Trump has announced raising in all of 2024.
The haul is being spent on a wave of television and digital advertising and an expansive operation of offices and staff in the seven battleground states and beyond.

Shelters in Lebanon are filling up beyond capacity, humanitarian officials warned. Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times |
Nearly a million people have been displaced in Lebanon
As Hezbollah militants fired rockets and fought ground battles with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon yesterday, the U.N. warned that nearly a million Lebanese had fled the spreading war.
In a sign of the conflict’s growing scale, Israeli evacuation orders now cover a quarter of Lebanon’s land area, according to the U.N. The number of displaced people is nearly on par with the total during the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel.
For more: New images showed the destruction in Lebanon along its border with Israel.
Diplomacy: President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke yesterday for the first time since August, their offices said. The conversation comes during a low point in the United States and Israel’s relationship.
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Science: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three researchers for their use of advanced technology to predict and create proteins. Britain: Two finalists emerged from the race to lead the Conservative Party. E.U.: After the Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary finished a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, progressive members started singing “Bella Ciao,” an Italian antifascist resistance song from the World War II era. Ukraine: A meeting of Western leaders in Germany to show support for Kyiv’s war effort against Russia was postponed after President Biden canceled his trip. Boeing: Months before the deadly Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crash, the aircraft manufacturer turned aside urgent questions about the plane’s issues. Haiti: Since their arrival in June, Kenyan police officers have pushed out gangs from some parts of Port-au-Prince, but they are vastly outnumbered. Mozambique: Daniel Francisco Chapo, the governing party’s candidate in the presidential election, is expected to prevail in the race and confront the country’s Islamic State-backed insurgency. Iceland: A building in Reykjavik that houses a penis museum is also a virtual haven for perpetrators of identity theft, ransomware, disinformation and fraud. |
SPORTS NEWS |
Soccer: We spoke with Callum Gribbin, formerly of Manchester United, about the unseen challenges that can trip up even the most talented players. Formula 1: In collaboration with Red Bull, the automaker Ford will return to the circuit in 2026. A look at how the deal came together. |
MORNING READ |

The Nobel Prize for Literature, which will be announced today, is considered the pre-eminent global arbiter of literary greatness. But the notion that a conclave of learned Scandinavians decides which writer matters most each year seems quaint, if not absurd, writes A.O. Scott, a Times critic at large.
ARTS AND IDEAS |
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Justin Lane for The New York Times |
The Met wades into the politics of race relations.
The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced yesterday that its spring 2025 blockbuster fashion show will be “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” focusing on the history of the Black dandy and the way peacocking goes beyond aesthetics and into empowerment. The chairs of the gala that will open the show include ASAP Rocky, Colman Domingo and Pharrell Williams. LeBron James will be the honorary chair.
It’s the first fashion exhibition at the Met to focus solely on the work of designers of color, as well as the first in more than two decades to center explicitly on men’s wear. The show, which opens in the spring, is another step in the Costume Institute’s efforts to rectify its own failures in diversity and inclusion, said the curator in charge.
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Cook: This bangers with mashed winter squash and fried sage is an autumnal spin the traditional British dish