A series of explosive devices were discovered Wednesday, including two sent to former Democratic U.S. presidents. Bombs were sent to Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Representative Maxine Waters of California and former Attorney General Eric Holder. All are Democrats. Also targeted was former CIA Director John Brennan, at CNN's New York headquarters. Here's the latest. —Josh Petri

Here are today's top stories

The sell-off in U.S. stocks accelerated, wiping out gains for the year in both the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

A record surge of suicides in troubled Venezuela is wearing down doctors. Such deaths are becoming ordinary in a population plagued by hyperinflation, hunger and mass emigration.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has come under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump over the central bank’s gradual increase of interest rates. Here's how Trump can (and can't) influence the Fed.

The slow drip of the current stock sell-off is getting worse than past flash crashes. And the rift between Wall Street and Main Street is getting wider.

Brands desperate to figure out what Chinese consumers want have turned to Alibaba for data on the legions of shoppers using it's various platforms. And that's how Spicy Snickers came to be.

A few months ago, lawyers for Exxon Mobil stood before a judge and told New York’s attorney general to "put up or shut up" after investigating the company’s public disclosures about climate change, saying it should sue the company or move on. Today, New York sued.

What's Joe Weisenthal thinking? The Bloomberg news director is keeping a close eye on the housing market. During yesterday's turmoil, homebuilder stocks outperformed the market. But today's data show new home sales fell more than estimated in September. There could be a peak-pessimism parallel between the economic data and what stocks are pricing-in with respect to housing.

What you'll need to know tomorrow

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The Unsolved Murder of an Unusual Billionaire

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