Garth Brooks is accused of rape and sexual assault in a lawsuit The unnamed woman claims Brooks sexually assaulted her several times while she worked for him as a makeup artist. Brooks says the woman is exploiting him for money. Read more on NPR

The October surprise: Harris is navigating a pair of them Devastation left by Hurricane Helene. Escalated tensions in the Middle East. The Harris campaign is navigating a pair of October surprises as Election Day draws closer. Read more on NPR

We visited a Sikh temple that sits at the intersection of multiple election issues NPR visits the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, where a white supremacist mass shooting took place 12 years ago. Read more on NPR

Why did Tim Walz call himself a ‘knucklehead’ this week? Find out in the quiz They debated, they wrote memoirs, they got inaugurated, they turned 100. What else did political people do? Plus: wildlife’s gonna wildlife Read more on NPR

Israeli airstrikes cut off a key crossing between Lebanon and Syria The latest strikes came after Israel warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a United Nations-declared buffer zone. Read more on NPR

The ‘reddit bro’ vs. the ‘wife guy’; plus, Fat Bear Week! Tuesday night, JD Vance and Tim Walz faced off in their first debate. Host Brittany Luse is joined by NPR’s national race and identity correspondent Sandhya Dirks and political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben to discuss how the candidates display competing brands of white masculinity. Then,…

At least 78 people dead after boat capsizes in eastern Congo, official says The governor of the South Kivu province said the death toll was provisional and the number of fatalities could rise further. He said there were 278 people on board, according to local authorities. Read more on NPR

Tensions are rising in the Middle East, but the rise in oil prices is muted – so far Crude oil prices have risen as Iran and Israel trade attacks, but not as much as you might expect. One reason? OPEC+ could pump a lot more oil if it wanted to. Read more on NPR

In Pictures: How one hospital is faring as Sudan’s health care system is devastated by war As the Nobel Peace Prize committee recoqnise the work of Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, shortlisting them for a Nobel Peace Prize, NPR’S correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu reports from one of war time Sudan’s few remaining hospitals, on the edge of…

Ports’ strike ends, as dockworkers reach agreement on wages The International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, representing ocean carriers and port operators, agreed to extend the contract and continue bargaining over all other issues. Read more on NPR