President Joe Biden is traveling to hurricane-ravaged Florida with a pledge that federal, state and local governments will work as one to help rebuild homes, businesses and lives. Biden plans to put politics on mute for now to focus on those in need during his tour Wednesday afternoon of Fort Myers, Florida.

Biden plans to meet with residents and small business owners, and to thank government officials providing emergency aid and removing debris. Joining Biden in Florida will be two of his most prominent Republican critics, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott.

This year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded in equal parts to Americans Carolyn R. Bertozzi and K. Barry Sharpless, and Danish scientist Morten Meldal for developing a way of “snapping molecules together." that can be used to design better medicines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia, a move that finalizes the annexation carried out in defiance of international law. Earlier this week, both houses of the Russian parliament ratified treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia.

Iran says an 85-year-old Iranian-American held by Iran has left the country for Oman. The state-run IRNA news agency published video of Baquer Namazi boarding a Royal Oman air force jet in Tehran.

"Best before” labels are coming under scrutiny as concerns about food waste grow around the world. The labels have nothing to do with safety, and some worry they encourage consumers to throw away food that’s perfectly fine to eat.

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step into the legal fight over the classified documents seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate. The Trump team asked the court Tuesday to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, or special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search.

In sports, the Yankees and the Rangers traded wins in a doubleheader but Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole were setting records.

Seventy-nine deaths have been blamed on Ian, including 71 in Florida, five in North Carolina and three in Cuba. Authorities say the death toll could rise as crews continue searching homes in the hardest-hit areas.

The U.S. announced its providing an additional $625 million in military aid to Ukraine, a package that includes additional advanced rocket systems credited with helping the country’s military gain momentum in its war with Russia.

Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets. The scene offered more evidence Tuesday of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week. 

Some of the Supreme Court's conservative justices seem sympathetic to Alabama’s arguments in a case seeking to force the state to create a second Black majority congressional district. It's the latest showdown over the landmark Voting Rights Act.

President Joe Biden spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss their next steps after North Korea conducted its longest ever test launch by firing nuclear-capable ballistic missile over Japan.

As California’s drought deepens, more rural communities are running out of water. Heavy pumping is depleting groundwater supplies that aren’t being replenished by rain and snowmelt.

Thrifters who flock to Goodwill stores will now be able to do more of their treasure hunting online. The Goodwill Industries International Inc., the 120 year-old non-profit organization that operates 3,300 stores in the U.S., and Canada, has launched an online business as part of a newly incorporated venture called GoodwillFinds.

Elon Musk is offering to go through with his original proposal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. The Tesla CEO said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that he notified Twitter of plans to go through with the deal.

The number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August compared with July, a sign that businesses may pull back further on hiring and potentially cool chronically high inflation.

Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner’s daughter who became a pillar of country music, has died. Lynn's family said she died Tuesday at her home in Tennessee. She was 90.

A new report says Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker paid for an abortion for his girlfriend in 2009. Walker has vehemently opposed abortion rights and calls the accusation in The Daily Beast a “flat-out lie."

U.S. officials say Russia is working to amplify doubts about the integrity of American elections while China is interested in influencing policy perspectives in favor of Beijing. That concern aligns with unclassified intelligence advisory obtained by The Associated Press that says China is probably seeking to influence select races to “hinder candidates perceived to be particularly adversarial to Beijing.”

—The Associated Press