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Higher prices, less help and a government shutdown all hang over health insurance markets as shoppers start looking for coverage this week.The annual enrollment window for millions of people to pick an individual plan opens Saturday in nearly all states, and a heavy dose of politics weighs on this year’s search.The federal government shut down earlier this month as Democrats in Congress demanded negotiations to extend enhanced tax credits that have helped people buy coverage the past few years. Republicans say they won’t negotiate until Democrats vote to reopen the government.Stuck in the middle are insurance customers, many of whom…

Uber said Wednesday that the San Francisco Bay Area will be the first market for its specially built autonomous taxi, which is expected to launch in late 2026.The San Francisco-based ride-hailing company said in July it was developing a robotaxi with the electric car company Lucid and the self-driving technology company Nuro Inc. The vehicle is exclusive to Uber but is based on the Lucid Gravity SUV.Uber said Lucid recently delivered test vehicles to Nuro. Uber said it plans to have 100 test vehicles on the road in the coming months.Within six years, Uber said it plans to deploy 20,000…

Many NFL teams have lost star players to season-ending injuries this season, or played without them for significant stretches — but a new poll finds that many football fans want more games, even if it means more risk.A new Quinnipiac poll found about half of NFL fans say the league is doing enough to protect players from serious injuries. Most fans, 60%, support expanding the season, including many who say the move for players — which would include a salary increase — is worth the increased risk of injury. The NFL is nearing the midpoint of a season marked by…

There was a knock on the door and then came the gasps and cheers. The children of Edward Betham School had been presenting their projects on role models to some of the assembled teachers at the school – within seconds of arriving at the primary school in Greenford you quickly understand there was only ever going to be one.After all, the pupils see their idol everyday on the mural in the playground – the smile is unmistakeable – but no one was expecting Bukayo Saka to walk into their lesson on a Wednesday afternoon.Over the next hour Saka listens, laughs,…

WASHINGTON (AP) — When he was elected the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee in June, Rep. Robert Garcia at once gained a powerful perch and a pressing problem.Colleagues elected Garcia with a mandate to hold President Donald Trump’s administration to account. He’d pitched himself as an energetic personality who cared about good governance and accountability. But with Democrats locked out of power, he had few tools available to carry out his mission besides strongly worded letters to federal agencies and speeches during committee hearings.Then came a renewed burst of public attention to the case of Jeffrey Epstein and…

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Dijana Hrka’s world fell apart on Nov. 1 last year, when tons of concrete crushed her son to death at a train station in Serbia. The partial building collapse killed 16 people and has sparked countrywide anti-government protests.The 47-year-old Hrka has become the rare family member of those killed to speak out. She has appeared at protests to the applause of thousands of mostly young people who accuse autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic ‘s government of corruption in construction and other matters.She will join tens of thousands of protesters again on Saturday for the anniversary of the…

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Melissa barreled toward eastern Cuba, where it was expected to make landfall as a major storm early Wednesday after pummeling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.More than 700,000 people were evacuated in Cuba, according to President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and forecasters said the Category 3 storm would unleash catastrophic damage in Santiago de Cuba and nearby areas. Residents continued to evacuate from their homes in Cuba as Hurricane Melissa battered its way through the Caribbean and was expected to arrive on the island’s shores. (AP video shot by: Ariel Fernández,…

BERLIN (AP) — The organization that handles claims on behalf of Jews who suffered under the Nazis said Wednesday that Germany has agreed to extend another $1.076 billion (923.9 million euros) for Holocaust survivors ‘ home care around the globe for the coming year.The compensation was negotiated with Germany’s finance ministry and is the largest budget for frail and vulnerable Holocaust survivor home care in the organization’s history.“This historic increase to home care funding reflects the complex and growing needs of Holocaust survivors worldwide,” said Gideon Taylor, the president of the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany,…

NEW DELHI (AP) — Cyclone Montha was weakening Wednesday after battering India’s eastern cost with torrential rains and gusty winds as relief teams raced to restore power and clear debris across southern Andhra Pradesh and neighboring Odisha state.The storm made landfall with top sustained winds of 100 kph (62 mph) late Tuesday night near the port city of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, uprooting trees, damaging roads and flooding low-lying villages before losing some strength as it moved inland.The storm was likely to move northwest across coastal Andhra Pradesh and southern Telangana state as it weakened to a depression, the Indian…

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Voters and leading contenders cast their ballots across the Netherlands on Wednesday in a close-run snap election called after anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders brought down the last four-party coalition in a dispute over a crackdown on immigration.The campaign echoed issues that resonate across Europe, focusing on how to rein in migration and tackle chronic shortages of affordable housing. But in a country where coalition governments are the norm, it’s unclear if parties will work with Wilders again, even if his Party for Freedom repeats its stunning victory from two years ago.Mainstream parties have already ruled…