The world at 3:30 a.m. Times EDT.
At the Nerve Center, news producer Jerome Minerva can be reached at 800-845-8450 (ext. 1600). For photos, Mike Musielski (ext. 1900). For graphics and interactives, Jen Magno (ext. 7636). Expanded AP content can be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com. For access to AP Exchange and other technical issues, contact customersupport(at)ap.org or call 877-836-9477.
A selection of top photos can be found at: http://bit.ly/APTopPhotos
DEVELOPING
— SPACE SHUTTLE-LAST STOP — Atlantis' move scheduled to begin around 6:30 a.m.
— ECONOMY — Government issues the October jobs report at 8:30 a.m.
— FACTORY ORDERS — Commerce Department reports on orders placed with U.S. factories in September at 10 a.m.
— PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN — Obama has events in Hilliard, Ohio, at 10:20 a.m., in Springfield, Ohio, at 12:55 p.m., in Lima, Ohio, at 3:20 p.m. Romney has events in West Allis, Wis., at 10:55 a.m., in West Chester, Ohio, at 7:30 p.m.; Biden has events in Beloit, Wis., at 12:15 p.m., in Superior, Wis., at 5 p.m.; and Ryan has events in Montrose, Colo., at 12:30 p.m., in West Chester, Ohio, at 7:30 p.m.
— PENN STATE-ABUSE — Court hearing scheduled for 2 p.m.
TOP STORIES
SUPERSTORM SANDY
NEW YORK — The young mother grabbed her two boys and fled their home that was filling with water, hoping to outrun Superstorm Sandy. But rushing waters snatched her 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons from her arms as she tried to escape the epic storm — the latest gut-wrenching blow to New York's Staten Island, an isolated pocket of the city most devastated by the East Coast monster storm that has left more than 90 dead. Frustrations mount about lingering blackouts and swept-away homes, although running trains give many a sense of normal life returning. By Eileen AJ Connelly and Meghan Barr.
AP photos, video, interactive.
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the final throes of a spirited campaign, President Barack Obama and rival Mitt Romney are awaiting one more measure of the nation's economic pulse — a monthly jobs report that will leave an imprint on the last four frenetic days of the presidential contest. Both candidates are plunging into a hectic pace of campaigning, with Obama eager to hold ground in key battlegrounds and Romney pushing to expand the contest to other states, most notably Pennsylvania. By Jim Kuhnhenn and Kent Thomas.
AP photos, videos.
ECONOMY
WASHINGTON — The October employment report the government will release Friday will likely solidify the picture of the U.S. job market that's emerged this year: Companies are hiring steadily but cautiously. And unemployment remains high. By Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber.
AP photos.
SPACE SHUTTLE-LAST STOP
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space shuttle Atlantis' final journey to retirement is down broad industrial avenues, most of them off-limits to the public. So Friday's trek won't replicate the narrow, stop-and-go turns that Endeavour encountered last month while navigating downtown Los Angeles. The mastermind behind Atlantis' slow 10-mile march through Kennedy Space Center is sweating bullets nonetheless. Atlantis is the last of NASA's space shuttles to hit the road. It was the last to blast into orbit, more than a year ago, and its final crew members are expected to join a few dozen other astronauts at the daylong hurrah. By Science Writer Marcia Dunn.
AP photos.
CAMPAIGN-LAWYERING UP
MIAMI — Legions of lawyers are ready to enter the fray in case Election Day turns on a legal challenge. One nightmare scenario would be for the results in a battleground state like Florida or Ohio to be too close to call, with thousands of absentee or provisional ballots yet to be counted. By Curt Anderson and Stephen Braun.
AP photos.
ALGERIA-TERROR TURNAROUND
ALGIERS, Algeria — Weary from years of kidnappings, the inhabitants of Algeria's rugged Kayblie mountains are finally turning against the al-Qaida fighters in their midst and helping security forces hunt them down. And that turnaround is giving Algeria its best chance yet to drive the terror network from its last Algerian stronghold. By Aomar Ouali and Paul Schemm.
AP photo.
MORE ON THE CAMPAIGN
GOP-MINORITY VOTERS
ATLANTA — It's a fairly safe bet, based on polls and history, that non-Hispanic white voters will choose Romney by a wide margin in Tuesday's presidential election. And that's a problem for the GOP. Steep racial divisions this year that put overwhelming numbers of minority voters in Obama's camp mean the Republican Party must attract more nonwhite voters in coming years, or watch Democrats walk away with a sustained Electoral College majority. By Bill Barrow.
AP photos.
— IF ELECTED-ROMNEY — Should he prevail Tuesday, Romney would bring a CEO's eye to the White House and a policy agenda based on a general set of principles and focused more on data than ideology. AP photos.
— IF ELECTED-OBAMA — If he wins, Obama would try to apply the leverage of his victory toward a lasting economic revival on his terms, guided by political lessons learned and the legacy he wants. AP photos.
— HOW AMERICA VOTES — We've come a long way since wooden ballot boxes, lever machine and butterfly balloting.
— REHIRING CONGRESS — They'll be back: Most lawmakers will be re-elected despite low approval ratings from voters.
— CALLING ELECTION-WINNERS — News media play big role in figuring out election winners long before vote count ends.
— PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN-WHAT TO WATCH FOR — Five things to watch for in the final week of the campaign.
— EARLY VOTING UPDATE — Update on party affiliations of people who have already voted in some battleground states.
MORE ON THE SUPERSTORM
— SUPERSTORM SANDY-SHELTERING REFUGEES — Around the New York area, some of those lucky enough to escape the storm's wrath have taken in Sandy's displaced. AP photos.
— SUPERSTORM-NJ — Gov. Chris Christie announces a string of orders and plans intended to speed New Jersey's recovery. AP photos, video.
— PHOTO GALLERY: SUPERSTORM-FROM THE SKY — Federal science crew captures incredible images of devastation along Jersey Shore. AP photos.
INTERNATIONAL
EUROPE-CYCLING BOOM
COPENHAGEN — Cycling through the heart of some European cities can be a terrifying experience as you jostle for space with cars, trucks and scooters that whizz by with only inches to spare. Thankfully for bicycle enthusiasts, a movement is afoot to create more room for cycling in the urban infrastructure. From London's "cycle superhighways" to popular bike-sharing programs in Paris and Barcelona, growing numbers of European cities are embracing cycling as a safe, clean, healthy, inexpensive and even trendy way to get around town. By Jan M. Olsen and Karl Ritter.
AP photos.
DAY OF THE DEAD
Mexicans clean the bones of dead relatives and decorate their graves with flowers and candy skulls. In Haiti, voodoo practitioners circle an iron cross at a cemetery and pour moonshine to honor their ancestors. Some Guatemalans hold a wild horse race to remember loved ones. The colorful and the macabre make Day of the Dead observances. By Luis Andres Henao.
AP photos.
PAKISTAN-AFTER THE FIRE
KARACHI, Pakistan — At the only morgue in Pakistan's largest city lie the blackened remains of 32 people wrapped in white plastic body bags, still unidentified more than a month after a horrific factory fire killed more than 250 workers. Families are enduring an excruciating wait for DNA testing to determine if their loved ones are in the morgue, just one way Karachi remains traumatized by one of the worst industrial accidents in the country's history. By Adil Jawad.
AP photos, video.
DRUG WAR-MEXICO-CARTEL COUNTRY
APATZINGAN, Mexico — Forest-camouflaged pickups roared to life as the Mexican soldiers pulled on their black masks and hoisted their Heckler & Koch G3 assault rifles. The three-truck convoy pulled out of the base to patrol the rugged, mountainous region of the western state of Michoacan, when a raspy voice burst out of an unencrypted radio inside one of the cabs: "Three R's, 53." Three army vehicles, headed your way. It wasn't a soldier's voice. The radio had picked up a call from the Knights Templar, a quasi-religious drug cartel that controls the area and most of the state. By Michael Weissenstein.
AP photos.
IRAQ-IRAN-TOURIST SLUMP
NAJAF, Iraq — The plunge in Iran's currency is proving bad for Iraq's fragile tourist business. Entrepreneurs trying to make a living around Shiite holy sites feel squeezed and hotels are laying off workers as fewer Iranians, the bedrock of the tourist trade here, make the trip. By Adam Schreck and Sinan Salaheddin.
AP photos.
WASHINGTON
US-LIBYA
WASHINGTON — Just days before the presidential election, U.S. officials are striking back at allegations that they failed to respond quickly or efficiently against the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, detailing for the first time a broad CIA rescue effort. By Lolita C. Baldor.
— SECRET SERVICE-SUICIDE — Secret Service agent being investigated for affair with foreign citizen commits suicide.
NATIONAL
ILLINOIS-CHILDREN DEAD
NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Neighbors heard the couple shouting at each other, but they never saw it get physical. Artur Plackowski says his wife recently told him she loved him. But beneath that ordinary domestic facade lay far more violent resentments between the husband and wife, prosecutors say, eventually leading Elzbieta Plackowska to kill her own 7-year-old son, stabbing him 100 times Tuesday, all out of anger at her often-absent, truck driver husband. She then fatally and repeatedly stabbed a 5-year-old girl she was babysitting. By Sara Burnett and Don Babwin.
AP photos.
— PENN STATE-ABUSE — Two Penn State administrators facing new charges they hushed up child sexual abuse allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky are preparing to be arraigned. AP photos.
— INTELLIGENT DESIGN — A former computer specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was not dismissed because he advocated his belief in intelligent design while at work, a Superior Court judge tentatively ruled.
— TRAIN DERAILMENT-FIRE — Emergency workers in Kentucky are increasingly confident that fire crews have contained a three-day blaze spewing flames and smoke from a derailed tanker car, allowing them to focus on untangling other stricken rail cars loaded with toxic chemicals nearby.
ENTERTAINMENT
CMA AWARDS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Winning the Country Music Association Awards' entertainer of the year is a top honor and always counted as a career high point. But for Blake Shelton it wasn't even the most memorable moment of an amazing evening. "The Voice" star took home three trophies, including his third straight male vocalist victory, but nothing compared to sharing song of the year with his wife, Miranda Lambert. The pair wrote "Over You" about the death of Shelton's brother Richie in a car wreck 15 years ago. He said that trophy will always have a special place in their Oklahoma home. By Music Writer Chris Talbott.
AP photos.
— MUSIC-CMA AWARDS-LIST — Winners at the 46th annual CMA Awards.
GETTING ATTENTION
— BRITAIN-AMY WINEHOUSE — Amy Winehouse Foundation says late singer's dresses stolen from her London home.
— NEW ZEALAND-HOBBIT INFLIGHT VIDEO — Air New Zealand finds magic in hobbit flight safety video that's a YouTube hit. AP video.
— SUPERSTORM-SPRINGSTEEN — Rocker Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to Sandy-ravaged New Jersey during shows in New York, Pennsylvania. AP photos.
— MYSTERY MILLIONAIRE — Woman who won $23 million lottery ticket had forgotten to check her numbers, left ticket in car. AP photo.
— BEAR NOT DEAD — Oregon hunter mauled by wounded bear that roused itself and attacked.
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