LONDON — British writer Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for fiction on Tuesday with “Orbital,” a short, wonder-filled novel set aboard the International Space Station that ponders the beauty and fragility of the Earth.

Harvey was awarded the 50,000-pound ($64,000) prize for what she has called a “space pastoral” about six orbiting astronauts, which she began writing during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The confined characters loop through 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets over the course of a day, trapped in one another’s company and transfixed by the globe’s ever-changing vistas.

“To look at the Earth from space is like a child looking into a mirror and realizing for the first time that the person in the mirror is herself,” said Harvey, who researched her novel by reading books by astronauts and watching the space station’s live camera. “What we do to the Earth we do to ourselves.”

She said the novel “is not exactly about climate change, but implied in the view of the Earth is the fact of human-made climate change.”

She dedicated the prize to everyone who speaks “for and not against the Earth, for and not against the dignity of other humans, other life.”

“All the people who speak for and call for and work for peace — this is for you,” she said.

Writer and artist Edmund de Waal, who chaired the five-member judging panel, called “Orbital” a “miraculous novel” that “makes our world strange and new for us.”

Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, noted that “in a year of geopolitical crisis, likely to be the warmest year in recorded history,” the winning book was “hopeful, timely and timeless.”

Harvey, who has written four previous novels and a memoir about insomnia, is the first British writer since 2020 to win the Booker. The prize is open to English-language writers of any nationality and has a reputation for transforming writers’ careers. Previous winners include Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Hilary Mantel.

De Waal praised the “crystalline” writing and “capaciousness” of Harvey’s succinct novel — at 136 pages in its U.K. paperback edition, one of the shortest-ever Booker winners.

“This is a book that repays slow reading,” he said.

He said the judges spent a full day picking their winner and came to a unanimous conclusion. Harvey beat five other finalists from Canada, the United States, Australia and the Netherlands, chosen from among 156 novels submitted by publishers.

American writer Percival Everett had been the bookies’ favorite to win with “James,” which reimagines Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of its main Black character, the enslaved man Jim.

The other finalists were American writer Rachel Kushner’s spy story “Creation Lake”; Canadian Anne Michaels’ poetic novel “Held”; Charlotte Wood’s Australian saga “Stone Yard Devotional”; and “The Safekeep” by Yael van der Wouden, the first Dutch author to be shortlisted for the Booker.

Harvey is the first female Booker winner since 2019, though one of five women on this year’s shortlist, the largest number in the prize’s 55-year history. De Waal said issues such as the gender or nationality of the authors were “background noise” that did not influence the judges.

“There was absolutely no question of box ticking or of agendas or of anything else. It was simply about the novel,” he said before the awards ceremony at Old Billingsgate, a grand former Victorian fish market in central London.

Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize is open to novels originally written in English published in the U.K. or Ireland. Last year’s winner was Irish writer Paul Lynch for post-democratic dystopia “Prophet Song.”

Lynch handed Harvey her Booker trophy at the ceremony, warning her that her life was about to change dramatically because of the Booker publicity boost.

Harvey said she was “overwhelmed” but remained down-to-earth about spending her prize money.

She said she’d disburse “some of it on tax. I want to buy a new bike. And then the rest — I want to go to Japan.”
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new york — Lou Donaldson, a celebrated jazz saxophonist with a warm, fluid style who performed with everyone from Thelonius Monk to George Benson and was sampled by Nas, De La Soul and other hip-hop artists, has died. He was 98. 

Donaldson died Saturday, according to a statement on his website. Additional details were not immediately available. 

A native of Badin, North Carolina, and a World War II veteran, Donaldson was part of the bop scene that emerged after the war, and early in his career recorded with Monk, Milt Jackson and others. Donaldson also helped launch the career of Clifford Brown, the gifted trumpeter who was just 25 when he was killed in a 1956 road accident. Donaldson also was on hand for some of pianist Horace Silver’s earliest sessions. 

Over more than half a century, he would blend soul, blues and pop and achieve some mainstream recognition with his 1967 cover of one of the biggest hits of the time, “Ode to Billy Joe,” featuring a young Benson on guitar. His notable albums included “Alligator Bogaloo,” “Lou Donaldson at His Best” and “Wailing With Lou.” Donaldson would open his shows with a cool, jazzy jam from 1958, “Blues Walk.” 

“That’s my theme song. Gotta good groove, a good groove to it,” he said in a 2013 interview with the National Endowment for the Arts, which named him a Jazz Master. Nine years later, his hometown renamed one of its roads Lou Donaldson Boulevard.
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NEW YORK — John Albert’s daughter didn’t go to school on Friday. And he couldn’t be happier about it.

For the first time, the high school senior and all of New York City’s public school students have the day off to mark the holiday of Diwali, celebrated in India and among the global Indian diaspora as the victory of light over darkness and marked by communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.

To get the holiday added to the school calendar, where it joins other days off for Rosh Hashanah, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr as well as federal holidays like Veterans Day, Christmas and Memorial Day, took years of pushing from those in New York’s South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities like Albert. But it was worth it.

“It was this feeling of wanting to weave our culture into New York,” he said.

From religious and cultural holidays to region-specific commemorations to days meant to honor the towering figures and moments of U.S. history, the holiday calendars across the 50 states and the country at large are increasingly diverse ones, a reflection of and a window into the many communities that make up the American whole.

Recognizing holidays creates community

Including a smaller culture’s or community’s special days as something to recognize in the larger general culture is an act of unity, said Lauren Strauss, professor of modern Jewish history at American University.

“By doing that in an American context and by including a Muslim feast for the end of Ramadan and by including Diwali and including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, my goodness. You’re just saying it out loud, aren’t you? You’re saying that these cultures, these people, they aren’t visitors, that they are a permanent part of this community, that it is multicultural and multiethnic,” she said.

“Whether or not you think it’s good or bad, certainly it paints a different picture of what it means to be American and what the American calendar is.”

A look at what days are marked as holidays in places around the country can be a crash course into what matters in those places. Louisiana, home to New Orleans, takes a day for Mardi Gras. In Hawaii, the state marks a day for King Kamehameha, who united the Hawaiian islands, as well as a day for becoming a U.S. state. California and some other states mark Cesar Chavez Day, named for the civil rights and labor movement activist. In Texas and in the southwest, there are celebrations scheduled for Friday marking Day of the Dead, the Mexican cultural remembrance of loved ones who have passed.

The federal government, in addition to the 11 days that are days off for federal workers, has a host of days that it marks as national observances, like Harriet Tubman Day in March and Patriot Day on September 11.

It keeps greeting card companies on their toes.

“Celebrating holidays and occasions, big or small, with the people we care about is a vital thread that runs through our shared human experience,” Kelly Ricker, chief product officer at American Greetings, said in a statement. The company is “studying and talking to consumers, continuously” to keep up with the kinds of cards people are looking for.

When Chris Sargiotto started his greeting card company Apartment 2 Cards about 15 years ago, the holiday offerings were limited to Christmas and Hanukkah. In recent years, he’s added Kwanzaa and Ramadan, and is looking to bring Diwali cards onto the roster for next year.

The additional holidays were added because of requests from his customers, the stores around that country that stock Apartment 2 cards, a reflection of increasing demand.

“It was stores asking for it because of their customers are asking for it,” he said. “Whenever we introduce one of these specific cards, it seems to take off. So I think there definitely is the need for these.”

There can be challenges as well

But a holiday is not always uncontested. Take mid-October, when the federal government recognizes Columbus Day. It was added to the federal calendar in the 20th century after efforts from Italian Americans, who pushed for it as a way to stake their community’s place in America.

In the decades after though, Indigenous communities pushed back, citing the impact of colonization on their people and the continuing challenges. That has led to the spread of Indigenous People’s Day marked on the same day, which while not a federally recognized is recognized in states around the country.

And sometimes there’s some learning that needs to happen as well. In Montville, New Jersey, the police department this month put a post on Facebook explaining to the community that with Diwali approaching, they would be more likely to see swastikas, a variation of which are ancient sacred symbols in some religions and not deployed in the way Hitler and the Nazis did.

With both Jewish and Hindu communities in the town, it was done in an attempt to forestall misunderstanding, said Chief Andrew Caggiano, and has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said, “to raise awareness about other cultures that are that are in our community and that are part of our community at this point.”
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MEXICO CITY — Every year this time Mexico erupts in celebrations during the Day of the Dead. Families gather at cemeteries across the country on November 1 to reconnect with their dead just as their ancestors have done for centuries. 

For many more in small communities, it’s also about preserving the core of their traditions as celebrations in places in bigger hubs have increasingly been marked by mass tourism. 

“We’re conserving our tradition, part of our heritage that my mother instilled in me,” said 58-year-old Antonio Melendez. “We can’t let it be lost.” 

Observance dates back centuries

Melendez was among throngs of people gathered in the cemetery, tucked away in the maze of canals and brick buildings in Xochimilco, a borough in south of Mexico City that has long carried on traditions that have faded away in other parts of the country. 

He gathered with his two daughters around the grave of his mother, marked by orange flower petals spread out in the shape of a cross and bouquets of pink flowers, his mother’s favorite color. 

Melendez said she died last year, and the loss was still fresh, so he was trying to remember her by continuing with the same rituals he watched her carry out growing up, this time with his daughters. He started preparing for the celebration four days before, making tamales from scratch and building a small altar for her in their home. 

Day of the Dead dates back centuries to ancient Indigenous civilizations, which would organize parties when someone died to guide them on to the next life, and lay out food in altars to nourish them on their journeys. 

When Spanish colonizers arrived and began forcing Catholicism upon Indigenous communities, they would mix Indigenous traditions with Catholic holidays. Celebrations of the dead then synced up with All Saints Day on November 1, ending on November 2. 

While celebrations begin ramping up at the end of October, Mexican tradition says that on that night their deceased are closest to the living world, and people hope to keep them company. Each family celebrates in different ways. 

In San Gregorio Pantheon, elderly women carry massive bundles of orange flowers, the iconic flower of death. Some families sob into each other’s arms. Others sit alone next to loved one’s graves in silence. Many more drink mezcal and tell stories of their family members. 

‘It’s like being with them’

Gathered with her daughter and granddaughter, 60-year-old Beatriz Chavez kneels at the graves of her son, nephew and father, quietly lighting candles. 

“It’s like being with them one more year, feeling like even if they don’t see them, we feel like we’re closer to them,” Chavez said, noting that she planned to sleep in the graveyard, just like she did every year since her father died when she was 10. 

Over the years, the tradition has been the focus of the Disney film Coco. A Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City was also featured in a James Bond film, despite such a parade not existing in real life. Annual celebrations later adopted the idea of the parade from the movie. 

Now, people from all over the world have flocked to the Latin American nation, eager to experience the rich tradition for themselves. 

But once quaint celebrations in hubs for the Day of the Dead like Mexico City, Oaxaca and Michoacan have started to brim with tourists, who snap photos of mourners. In recent years, many Mexicans have also started to mix the celebration with Halloween. Other new traditions — such as the James Bond parade — have popped up. 

Some, like Melendez, prickle at the shifts. 

“Here, Halloween isn’t ours, it’s Day of the Dead,” he said. “It’s sad because it’s getting distorted. We’re losing the essence of who we are. This is a part of us, our roots.” 

For Melendez, it adds an extra level of importance to the celebration in their small cemetery, which he and others say has stayed true to the centuries-old traditions. 

It coincides with a larger conversation playing out across Mexico amid an influx of American “expats” and tourists. As more move to or travel to Mexico City, rents have gotten so high that many Mexicans have been pushed out of areas they’ve lived in for much of their lives, leaving frustration simmering in much of the city. 

Those who wander the graves and sell flowers and food in the streets see the changes less as a loss of tradition, and more as an evolution — a way for younger generations to continue passing on their heritage in their own ways, and share it with new audiences. 
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tokyo — Hello Kitty turned 50 on Friday. Befitting a pop icon at midlife, the bubble-headed, bow-wearing character’s fictional birthday has brought museum exhibits, a theme park spectacle and a national tour. And that’s just in Japan, her literal birthplace but not the one listed in her official biography. 

Confused? Welcome to the party. If there’s one thing about Hello Kitty, it’s that she’s proven adaptable and as much a study in contrasts during her long career. She — and Kitty is a she, according to the company that owns her — may have been conceived as a vessel for the feelings of others, but some women see an empowering symbol in her mouthless face. 

“Shrewd” is how Mika Nishimura, a design professor at Tokyo’s Meisei University, describes the way Hello Kitty conquered the worlds of commerce, fashion and entertainment. As a tabula rasa open to interpretation, the non-threatening creation was the perfect vehicle for making money, she said. 

“American feminists have said she doesn’t say anything and acquiesces to everyone. But in Japan, we also see how she may appear happy if you’re happy, and sad if you’re feeling sad,” Nishimura told The Associated Press. “It’s a product strategy that’s sheer genius. By being so adaptable, Kitty gets all those collaborative deals.” 

The character’s semicentennial is evidence of that. Sanrio, the Japanese entertainment company that holds the rights to Hello Kitty’s name and image, kicked off the festivities a year ago with an animation account on TikTok, Roblox games and an avatar for the social networking app Zepeto. 

There have been anniversary editions of merchandise ranging from pet collars, cosmetics and McDonald’s Happy Meals to Crocs and a Baccarat crystal figurine. A gold coin pendant with the image of Hello Kitty holding the number 50 is selling for about 120,000 yen ($800), while a Casio watch costs 18,700 yen ($120). 

But first, more on the origin story. 

Unlike Mickey Mouse and Snoopy, Hello Kitty didn’t start as a cartoon. A young Sanrio illustrator named Yuko Shimizu drew her in 1974 as a decoration for stationery, tote bags, cups and other small accessories. The design made its debut on a coin purse the next year and became an instant hit in Japan. 

As Hello Kitty’s commercial success expanded beyond Asia, so did her personal profile. By the late 1970s, Sanrio revealed the character’s name as Kitty White, her height as five apples tall and her birthplace as suburban London, where the company said she lived with her parents and twin sister Mimmy. 

“The main theme of Hello Kitty is friendship. When I first created it, I made a family of which Kitty was a part. But then Hello Kitty started to appear in other settings as the character grew,” Shimizu told the BBC in June. “Sanrio put a lot of effort into building the brand into what it is today.” 

At some point, Sanrio designated Kitty’s birthday as November 1, the same as Shimizu’s. Her background was embellished with hobbies that included playing piano, reading and baking. Her TV appearances required co-stars, including a pet cat named Charmmy Kitty that made its debut 20 years ago. 

But Hello Kitty’s 40th birthday brought an update that astonished fans. Sanrio clarified to a Los Angeles museum curator that Kitty, despite her feline features, was a little girl. A company spokesperson repeated the distinction this year, renewing debate online about the requirements for being considered human. 

“She is supposed to be Kitty White and English. But this is part of the enigma: Who is Hello Kitty? We can’t figure it out. We don’t even know if she is a cat,” art historian Joyce S. Cheng, a University of Oregon associate professor, said. “There is an unresolved indeterminacy about her that is so amazing.” 

Part of the confusion stems from a misunderstanding of “kawaii,” which is Japanese for “cute” but also connotes a lovable or adorable essence. Sanrio recruited Shimizu and other illustrators to create “kawaii” characters at a time when cute, girlish styles were popular in Japan. But the word is used often in Japanese society, and not only to describe babies and puppies. 

An elderly man, something as innocuous as an umbrella, a subcompact car or a kitchen utensil, or even a horror movie monster can get labeled “kawaii.” By Western standards, the idea may seem embarrassingly frivolous. But it’s taken seriously in Japan, where the concept is linked with the most honorable instincts. 

The complexity of “kawaii” may help explain Hello Kitty’s enduring appeal across generations and cultures, why Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne released a song titled “Hello Kitty” a decade ago, and why Britain’s King Charles wished Hello Kitty a happy 50th birthday when he hosted Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at Buckingham Palace in June. 

Although Hello Kitty may seem to embody the self-sacrificing woman stereotype, it’s revealing that three women have served as the character’s chief designers at Sanrio. Yuko Yamaguchi, who has held the role since 1980, is credited with keeping the character both modern and timeless, giving Kitty black outfits or false eyelashes as trends dictated but never removing the bow from her left ear. 

“Hello Kitty, this cultural object, has something to tell us about the history of women in East Asia, and how East Asian women modernized themselves and became professional citizens in a modern society,” the University of Oregon’s Cheng said. 

Sanrio has come up with hundreds of creatures, all adorable and cuddly, but none with the lasting power of Hello Kitty. Forget the understated wabi-sabi aesthetic historically associated with Japan. A chameleon-like cat-girl who reflects unabashed kitsch is the cultural ambassador of a consumer-crazed, happy-go-lucky nation. 

“It’s the anti-wabi sabi, wanting to be as flashy and as bling-bling as possible, like Lady Gaga. In your face, but that’s actually part of the genius, too. It’s powerful,” Cheng said. 

Leslie Bow, a professor of English and Asian American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that while many Asian and Asian American women see Hello Kitty as a symbol of defiance, the protective, caretaking instinct aroused by “kawaii” isn’t without power. 

“We take care of our siblings, our babies, our pets, because we are in control. We control their actions. And so that is also the dark side of cute,” Bow said. 

Sanrio has taken advantage of the character’s adaptability by allowing relatively unrestricted use of her image in return for a licensing fee. 

Just about anything goes for the wee whiskered one, from a growing global empire of Sanrio-sanctioned Hello Kitty cafes to an “augmented reality” cellphone app that shows Kitty dancing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, London’s Big Ben and other tourist landmarks. 

On the unsanctioned side, Hello Kitty even has shown up on guns and vibrators. 

During a presentation earlier this year in Seoul, Hello Kitty designer Yamaguchi said one of her unfulfilled goals was finding a way “to develop a Hello Kitty for men to fall in love with as well.” But she’s still working on it. 

“I am certain the day will come when men are no longer embarrassed to carry around Hello Kitty,” entertainment news site Content Asia quoted Yamaguchi as saying. 
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KARACHI, Pakistan — Attiq Ur Rehman is determined to follow his dream to become Pakistan’s first professional surfer despite his father’s concern for his future, a lack of equipment and the messy waves near Karachi.

“I don’t care about the money right now. I just want to compete,” the 21-year-old says, shrugging off his father’s plea to take up fishing so he can get married and support his family. “It’s my surfer attitude.”

Rehman’s family are part of a poor coastal community in southern Pakistan that usually make a living from fishing or as lifeguards watching over more affluent residents of Karachi when they come for a day at the beach.

His father makes the equivalent of $100 a month to feed a family of 10 through fishing.

“I told him a thousand times (to stop surfing) but he still doesn’t listen,” said Rehman’s father, Muhammad Rafiq.

Rehman was a lifeguard but gave it up to concentrate on his surfing, which he started at age 9, and founded a new community that calls itself “Surfers of Bulleji.”

The group has grown to around 50 and has gone viral on social media in a country where cricket and hockey are the main sports.

The group consists of surfing enthusiasts from surrounding coastal villages, some as young as 8.

On a sunny day, their passion for surfing is on display with the right window for waves to surf along a near-empty beach close to the metropolis of 20 million.

One of cohort, Mujahid Baloch, a 24-year-old fisherman, first saw surfing on social media and instantly took a shine to it.

“Slowly, through watching, we learned. No one taught us,” he said.

Though Sri Lanka and the Maldives to the south are on global surfers’ hit lists, Pakistan’s arid 1,000 kilometers of coastline is usually poorly suited for surfing, relying on local winds to generate waves that are often small and messy, or rare cyclone swells.

“When all of Karachi was being given an advisory to stay away from the sea, and a cyclone was approaching, me and the boys were getting ready to go to the beach,” said Rehman. “The waves were ideal for us.”

While an occasional visiting surfer might join them for a paddle and some other villages along the coast have small surfing groups, competition with global peers is a challenge. The International Surfing Association has 116 member countries, including places such as Ukraine and land-locked Switzerland, but Pakistan is not on the list.

Still, members of Surfers of Bulleji idolize American professional surfer Kelly Slater, whose videos they often watch awestruck, and wish to emulate his skill.

But access to surfing equipment is limited in Pakistan, with the group sharing about 25 surfboards and pitching in for repairs when they are needed.

They sometimes find discarded boards in large containers of junk brought to Pakistan from around the world. They buy these junked boards for as little as $35 and repair them using basic materials like glue and resin.

“If it breaks, we repair it. Because we don’t have surfboards here,” Baloch said. Pointing to a piece of foam, he said it was found at sea and shaped into a makeshift board. “If we find more such foam, we can make our own boards here,” he said.

“Our community is getting bigger and stronger, so the shopkeepers know we will come and keep such finds safe for us,” Rehman said.
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New York City recently hosted the world’s largest Halloween parade, bringing together the city’s spookiest and most spectacular characters. Here’s Aron Ranen with the story.
Camera: Aron Ranen
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NEW DELHI — As India gears up for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, people are divided over whether they should celebrate by setting off firecrackers, which worsen the country’s chronic air pollution.

Diwali, which will be celebrated Thursday, is marked by socializing and exchanging gifts with family and friends. Many Indians light earthen oil lamps or candles. But every year the festivities are tinged with worries over air pollution, as smoke-emitting firecrackers cause toxic smog that can take days to clear.

The capital, New Delhi, which is among India’s worst cities for air quality, is particularly impacted by the problem and is usually shrouded in toxic gray smog a day after Diwali. Authorities there and in some other states have banned the use and sale of firecrackers since 2017, asking people to opt for more sustainable options like environmentally friendly firecrackers and light shows, but the rule is often flouted. Firecrackers can be easily bought from roadside stalls and stores.

Some residents in New Delhi say the ban doesn’t make much difference, while others see it as a necessary measure to fight pollution.

Vegetable vendor Renu, who only uses one name, loves celebrating Diwali in the city. Every year her kids set off firecrackers at night. She tells them to be careful but not to refrain from using them.

“Diwali is a day of celebration and happiness for us which comes only once a year, and I feel the ban should not be there,” she said.

Others are against it.

Unlike most kids, Ruhaani Mandal, 13, doesn’t light firecrackers. She acknowledges it is fun but says it is hazardous for people and animals.

“I have seen firsthand the struggle of my father, who has lost his sense of smell due to pollution, and I see how his health worsens after Diwali celebrations,” she said.

New Delhi and several northern Indian cities typically see extremely high levels of air pollution between October and January each year, disrupting businesses and shutting schools and offices. Authorities close construction sites, restrict diesel-run vehicles and deploy water sprinklers and anti-smog guns to control the haze and smog that envelopes the skyline.

This year, thick, toxic smog has already started to engulf New Delhi. On Wednesday, authorities reported an AQI of over 300, which is categorized as “very poor.”

Several studies have estimated that more than a million Indians die each year from air pollution-related diseases. A high level of tiny particulate matter can lodge deep into the lungs and cause major health problems, including chronic respiratory diseases.

New Delhi’s woes aren’t only due to firecrackers. Vehicular emissions, farm fires in neighboring states and dust from construction are the primary causes of the capital’s air pollution woes. But health experts say the smoke emitted from firecrackers can be more hazardous.

“The smoke that is produced by firecrackers contains heavy metals like sulphur, lead and toxic gases like carbon monoxide and fumes of heavy metals that are dangerous to our respiratory system,” said Arun Kumar Sharma, a community medicine professor at New Delhi’s University College of Medical Sciences.

Meanwhile, authorities in New Delhi have largely failed to enforce a strict ban on the use of firecrackers to avoid offending millions of Hindus across the country, for whom Diwali is one of the biggest festivals. To sidestep the ban, many sellers offer firecrackers online, some with the convenience of home delivery.

Shopkeeper Gyaanchand Goyal said the ban on firecrackers has disadvantaged sellers like him and affected their biggest source of income during the festive season.

“The government enforces a restriction on firecrackers solely to demonstrate their commitment to the environment. Other than that, I don’t think there are any other consequences of this ban,” he said.
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washington — President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, who dressed as a giant panda, hosted trick-or-treaters on the White House South Lawn on Wednesday for the last time.

The first lady had participated in the National Zoo’s announcement earlier this year that pandas would be returning to Washington. They arrived in the nation’s capital in mid-October and Jill Biden donned the panda suit Wednesday as a “welcoming gesture,” the White House said.

Jill Biden added an educational theme to the event and named it “Hallo-Read” to help encourage reading. She has been a teacher for 40 years. Earlier Wednesday, she read a short story about spooky pumpkins to a group of costumed children gathered on the lawn.

She and the president later ventured outside at sunset and spent about an hour handing out treats. Biden, in a suit and tie, dropped boxes of White House Hershey’s Kisses chocolates in the kids’ tote bags while the first lady handed out copies of “10 Spooky Pumpkins.”

Up to 8,000 people, including students and children tied to the military, were expected to pass through the White House gates during the day.

A large orange moon and a sign that said “Hallow-Read at the White House” decorated the south face of the executive mansion. The decorations also included cardboard representations of Willow, the family cat who is rarely seen in public, and stacks of books. Giant pumpkin decorations flanked the door.

Biden dropped his bid for reelection in July. He leaves office in January.
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LUCKNOW, INDIA — Millions of Indians began celebrating the annual Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, by symbolically lighting a record 2.51 million earthen oil lamps at dusk on Wednesday on the banks of the Saryu River in a northern Indian city they believe to be the birthplace of the deity Lord Ram.

Diwali is the most important festival of the year in India — for the Hindu majority in particular. It is marked by socializing and exchanging gifts with loved ones. Many light earthen oil lamps and candles, and fireworks are set off. In the evening, a special prayer is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who is believed to bring luck and prosperity.

A Guinness World Records team presented a certificate to Uttar Pradesh state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, acknowledging the unprecedented number of oil lamps, exceeding last year’s 2.2 million. Drone cameras closely monitored the event.

The celebrations took place within the northern city of Ayodhya where Prime Minister Narendra Modi nine months ago opened a controversial Hindu temple built on the ruins of a historic mosque following a Supreme Court decision, seen as a political win for the populist leader. The establishment of the temple dedicated to Lord Ram fulfilled a long-standing demand by millions of Hindus.

On Wednesday, thousands of volunteers lit lamps, called “Diyas,” along riverbanks, lanes, fronts and roofs of homes.

“More than 30,000 volunteers, primarily college students, worked meticulously to maintain the systematic pattern of burning lamps for the prescribed time,” said Dr. Pratibha Goyal, vice chancellor of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, who coordinated the massive effort.

The earthen lamps lit along 55 riverfront steps of the river Saryu created a captivating display throughout 1.5 kilometers (1 mile). As the lamps remained lit for over five minutes, government spokesperson Shishir Singh said Ayodhya achieved its seventh consecutive world record for the largest display.

Singh said that around 91,000 liters of mustard oil were used to light the lamps.

The event transformed Ayodhya into a city of lights amid devotional bhajan singing. A laser show depicting scenes from the epic Ramayana added to the immersive experience, and an eco-friendly fireworks show lit the skyline. Traditional decorations, including elaborate arches and grand gateways along the main highways, were in abundance, capturing the festive atmosphere as folk cultural performances drew pilgrims to the streets.

The festival also featured a massive praying ceremony performed by 1,100 priests along riverbanks.

Security was tightened across the city. Paramilitary commandos, bomb detectors, dog squads, face-recognition technology and monitoring drones were deployed throughout the city, police officer Rajkaran Nayyar said.

Major Hindu festivals such as Dussehra and Diwali are associated with tales of Lord Ram extolling the virtues of truth, sacrifice and ethical governance.

Diwali’s main festival celebrations will be held across the country on Thursday.
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Archaeologists in Cambodia have unearthed a dozen centuries-old sandstone statues in a “remarkable discovery” at the Angkor World Heritage Site near the city of Siem Reap, authorities said Wednesday.

The statues — depicting “door guardians” — were discovered last week near the north gate leading to the 11th-century Royal Palace at Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Khmer Empire, said Long Kosal, spokesperson for the Apsara National Authority, the government agency that oversees the archaeological park.

Teams were assessing the ancient gate’s structure and searching for fallen stones around the portal on the north side of Angkor Thom, one of four entrances to the complex, when the discovery was made.

The statues depict guardians standing at attention and vary in size from about 1 meter to 110 centimeters (about 39 to 43 inches). They were found buried at depths of up to 1.4 meters (4.5 feet), and some are in surprisingly good shape, with each featuring unique facial hair ornaments, adding to their distinctiveness, archaeologist Sorn Chanthorn said.

“Experts believe these door guardian statues exemplify the Khneang Style, aligning with the construction period of the 11th-century palace.” the Apsara National Authority said.

Angkor Thom is part of the Angkor Archaeological Park, a complex that sprawls over some 400 square kilometers (155 square miles), named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and one of Southeast Asia’s most popular tourist destinations.

It contains the ruins of Khmer Empire capitals from the 9th to 15th centuries, including the temple of Angkor Wat.

The site, near Siem Reap, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh, drew more than 500,000 international visitors in the first half of 2024, according to Cambodia’s Tourism Ministry.

The archaeological dig was a collaborative project between Apsara and the China-Cambodia Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor, Apsara said.

Following the discovery of the statues, the archaeological team carefully documented their positions before removing them for cleaning and restoration. They will eventually be returned to their original locations, authorities said.

Many Khmer cultural treasures were looted during the long period of civil war and instability when Cambodia was ruled by the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

Cambodia has benefited from a trend that in recent decades has seen the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures taken from their homelands. In August, it celebrated the return of dozens of artifacts from museums and private collections abroad.

It has also come under criticism for efforts to clean up the Angkor site, which has involved relocating thousands of families in what Amnesty International has condemned as a “gross violation of international human rights law.”

At its meeting in July, the U.N.’s World Heritage Committee recommended that Cambodia invite a new team of experts to monitor the situation.
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