DENVER — Two new gun laws that are set to go into effect in Colorado on Sunday will institute a three-day waiting period for purchases and make it easier for victims and their families to sue gun manufacturers and dealers.

The laws, passed by the legislature in April, were among several gun-violence prevention measures signed into law by Gov....Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Pinellas County high schools will now require permission slips for students to access library books deemed appropriate for juniors and seniors only.

Pasco County school officials are revamping consent forms for after-school activities and events, including football games. If their parents don’t sign, kids can’t go.

...Read more

NEW YORK — An accused drug trafficker was nabbed rolling a suitcase through the Bronx packed with enough fentanyl to kill about three quarters of New York City’s population, authorities said Thursday.

Juan Gabriel Herrara Vargas, 42, was busted Tuesday just blocks away from the Bronx daycare where a 1-year-old boy recently died from ...Read more

A Guatemalan judge facing criminal prosecution for exposing a Supreme Court justice’s attempts to influence him fled the country this week — the latest challenge to a national judicial system plagued by accusations of corruption and political vengeance.

Carlos Ruano, who last month was featured in a Bloomberg investigation about increasing ...Read more

China spends billions of dollars each year to enhance its image around the world, including by sponsoring online influencers and bolstering authoritarian governments through the export of “smart cities” technology, the U.S. government says in a new report.

The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which works to counter foreign ...Read more

Donald Trump is reportedly suing British investigator Christopher Steele, whose infamous dossier alleged embarrassing — and sometimes uncorroborated — allegations about the ex-president and his ties to Russia.

Trump filed his data protection claim against the former spy and his company, Orbis Business Intelligence, in the United Kingdom, ...Read more

An unscheduled Russian military VIP plane touched down in Pyongyang this week, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare trip to his neighbor for talks the U.S. said likely focused on arms transfers.

Tracking data from FlightRadar24 shows the Russian Air Force Ilyushin IL-62M flying from Moscow to Pyongyang, arriving on Tuesday ...Read more

MIAMI — Vice President Kamala Harris brought a very direct message to students with her “Fight for our Freedoms” college tour stop at Florida International University on Thursday.

“I’m clear-eyed that at this moment in our country we are witnessing an intentional, full-on attack against hard-earned freedoms and rights,” she told the...Read more

Forecasters are uncertain of what the next few days hold for both Tropical Storm Rina, which formed Thursday morning in the central Atlantic, and Tropical Storm Philippe as they may interact.

It is unclear how Tropical Storm Rina’s intensity and track forecast could be affected because of its close proximity to Tropical Storm Philippe, which ...Read more

The Powerball jackpot has reached $925 million, becoming the world’s ninth-largest lottery prize after no one had a winning ticket for Wednesday night’s drawing.

There’s a 1 in 292.2 million chance of winning Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing.

Wednesday’s drawing was the 30th in a row without a jackpot winner. There were four ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is charting plans to sell offshore oil drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years, despite objections from environmentalists who argue the move would be disastrous for the climate.

The Interior Department ruled out adopting an offshore oil leasing plan that completely blocked auctions ...Read more

NEW YORK — Donald Trump on Thursday lost his last-ditch attempt to delay his mammoth fraud trial, as New York Attorney General Letitia James informed the court she plans to put him on the witness stand.

A midlevel state appeals court lifted a temporary order pausing the trial scheduled to start next week in the suit accusing Trump, his sons, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The judge who gutted a sexual assault case against a Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend ruled Thursday that the case should go to trial on seven remaining counts, including a charge that they slipped drugs into a woman's drink.

In July, Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Leversen ruled there was not enough evidence...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A suspected drunken driver, who was caught on video drinking a bottle of Modelo beer while behind the wheel, was arrested after slamming into a pedestrian on the Venice Beach boardwalk earlier this week.

Multiple people tried to stop the driver as he drove slowly on Ocean Front Walk on Monday around 10 a.m., said Los Angeles ...Read more

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, along with two Russian cosmonauts, has returned to Earth after being stuck in space for more than a year.

Rubio now holds the record for the longest consecutive time in space as a NASA astronaut, but the new honor was not intentional.

His original mission was meant to last six months, but a coolant leak in the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The family of Eddie Irizarry has sued the now-former Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed him during a traffic stop in Kensington last month, saying his use of lethal force was excessive, unjustified and illegal.

In a wrongful-death lawsuit filed Wednesday in Common Pleas Court, the family says Mark Dial acted “...Read more

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Menendez told his Democratic colleagues at a private luncheon Thursday what he has said through media statements and a public appearance since he was indicted with his wife on federal bribery charges last week: He does not intend to resign.

Menendez’s rejection of calls from more than half the Senate’s Democratic ...Read more

MIAMI — The Surfside town commission voted 3-2 on Wednesday night to accept the plan of a 52-unit luxury condo to be built where the Champlain Towers South collapsed and adjacent to a street designated as the site of a memorial.

The vote came after a nearly six-hour emotional meeting that included insults, expulsions and police intervention. ...Read more

Citing a crushing wave of migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and around the world moving through Costa Rica headed for the United States, the Central American country has declared a “state of emergency” and stepped up deportations.

“The people that arrive are passing across Costa Rica trying to get to the United States, basically,” ...Read more