Business Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) , With one debate and one jobs report to go, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are hurtling towards Election Day in a virtual deadlock, each convinced that victory is within reach if his campaign sticks with its plan. In 16 days, voters will prove one of them wrong.

BUNGANA, eastern Congo (AP) , Fighting may resume soon in eastern Congo if President Joseph Kabila's government does not negotiate with the M23 rebels, said the insurgents' president, Bishop Jean-Marie Runiga, Saturday. "We see that the Congolese army troops are moving, they are preparing a final assault against us.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) , Police say they are investigating whether a Bangladeshi man charged with trying to blow up the Federal Reserve building in New York had connections with radical groups in Bangladesh.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) , The Transportation Security Administration on Friday moved to fire 25 employees at Newark Liberty International Airport and suspend 19 others for what it said was improper screening of checked luggage, the latest in a series of problems at one of the country's busiest airports.

SAO PAULO (AP) , Brazilians plopped down in chairs gathered around sidewalk TVs and sat down to meals with sets looming over their tables Friday night as the country settled in for the final chapter of a smash soap opera that enthralled its fans for months.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) , Lance Armstrong said he has been through a "difficult couple of weeks" and urged supporters of his cancer-fighting charity to stand behind its mission. "The mission is bigger than me. It's bigger than any individual," Armstrong said Friday night in his opening remarks at Livestrong's 15th anniversary celebration.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) , The jurisdiction of a Native American tribal court was challenged Friday by the developer of a popular glass bridge over the Grand Canyon who has been locked in a multi-million dollar contract dispute with an Arizona-based tribe.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Two U.S. sailors are expected to receive administrative punishments, but not be criminally charged, in connection with the prostitution scandal that engulfed U.S. Secret Service and military members preparing for a presidential visit to Colombia earlier this year, a senior military official said Friday.

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) , For the first time on a key Midwestern route between Chicago and St. Louis, an Amtrak passenger train topped 110 mph Friday, ripping through fog-shrouded farm fields and blowing past cars on a parallel highway.

DALLAS (AP) , The man who provides the voice for Big Tex, the giant cowboy at the State Fair of Texas, was greeting people with his usual "Howdy, folks!" in a slow drawl Friday when someone rushed into his trailer to tell him the towering fair icon was on fire.

NEW YORK (AP) , The NHL wiped out the third week of the regular season Friday as the lockout dragged on, leaving no more wiggle room if the league hopes to play a full 82-game schedule. A day after the NHL turned down three counterproposals from players, the league canceled 53 more games. A total of 135 games through Nov. 1 have been scratched, which amounts to 11 percent of the season.

LOS ANGELES (AP) , Newsweek's decision to stop publishing a print edition after 80 years and bet its life entirely on a digital future may be more a commentary on its own problems than a definitive statement on the health of the magazine industry.

NEW YORK (AP) , The release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is a week away, and consumers are in for a shock. Windows, used in one form or another for a generation, is getting a completely different look that will force users to learn new ways to get things done.

NEW YORK (AP) , Tough competition in the U.S. and the weakening economy abroad was a double whammy for McDonald's in the third-quarter, sending the burger chain's net income down nearly 4 percent. ...

NEW YORK (AP) , Poor corporate earnings reports pounded the stock market Friday in a sour end to an otherwise strong week of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 200 points for its worst day in four months.