MIDLAND CITY, Ala. — The man who held a 5-year-old boy captive for nearly a week engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents storming his underground bunker before he was killed during the rescue operation, the FBI said Tuesday night. Also, bomb technicians scouring the property found two explosive devices, one in the bunker, the [...]

ATLANTA — Commemorative events for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. slid seamlessly into celebrations of the swearing-in Monday of the nation’s first black president, with many Americans moved by the reminder of how far the country has come since the 1960s. “This is the dream that Dr. King talked about in his speech. We [...]

WASHINGTON — Facing powerful opposition to sweeping gun regulations, President Barack Obama is weighing 19 steps he could take through executive action alone, congressional officials said. But the scope of such measures is limited. The steps could include ordering stricter action against people who lie on gun sale background checks, seeking to ensure more complete [...]

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan policewoman walked into a high-security compound in Kabul Monday and killed an American contractor with a single bullet to the chest, the first such shooting by a woman in a spate of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies. Afghan officials who provided details identified the attacker as police [...]

LAHORE, Pakistan — Under police guard, thousands of health workers pressed on with a polio immunization program Thursday after nine were killed elsewhere in Pakistan by suspected militants who oppose the vaccination campaign. Immunizations were halted in some parts of Pakistan and the U.N. suspended its field participation everywhere until better security was arranged for [...]

PHILADELPHIA — When it comes to making coins, the Mint isn’t getting its two cents worth. In some cases, it doesn’t even get half of that. A penny costs more than two cents and a nickel costs more than 11 cents to make and distribute. The quandary is how to make coins more cheaply without [...]

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Walter Samaszko Jr. was a loner whose death went largely unnoticed. That all changed when a crew sent to clean out his house found a fortune stashed away in the garage of his modest ranch-style home. There were ammunition boxes stuffed with thousands of gold coins, from Austria, Mexico and the [...]

ATLANTA — It’s odorless, colorless and deadly. And if carbon monoxide is leaking in a school, it might not be detected until people are ill. A leak at an Atlanta elementary school that sent 42 students and seven adults to hospitals had school officials considering whether to install carbon monoxide detectors, a possibly life-saving move [...]

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — An attack at a community college in central Wyoming and another location nearby left three people dead Friday morning — a faculty member, another person, and the suspect, who police say used a sharp-edged weapon in the killings. Police found two of those killed at a science building on the Casper College [...]

TAMPA, Fla. — A documentary says a Florida death-row inmate might have been involved in the murder of O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife and her friend, a claim being criticized by one victim’s family and being looked at skeptically by a detective who has dealt with the convict. The Investigation Discovery show, “My Brother the Serial Killer,” [...]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — There’s a new superpower growing in the Great Plains and the South, where bulging Republican majorities in state capitols could dramatically cut taxes and change public education with barely a whimper of resistance from Democrats. Contrast that with California, where voters have given Democrats a new dominance that could allow them [...]

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday considered curbing police use of drug-sniffing dogs as lawyers argued that using a dog’s hypersensitive nose outside a home to indicate the possibility of illegal substances inside amounts to an unconstitutional breach of privacy. Justices also are considering making states prove in court how well-trained and effective those [...]

WASHINGTON — One week before a close election, superstorm Sandy has confounded the presidential race, halted early voting in many areas and led some to ponder whether the election might even be postponed. It could take days to restore electricity to more than 8 million homes and businesses that lost power when the storm pummeled [...]

PARIS — France will move surveillance drones to West Africa and is holding secretive talks with U.S. officials in Paris this week as it seeks to steer international military action to help Mali’s feeble government win back the northern part of the country from al-Qaida-linked rebels, The Associated Press has learned. France and the United [...]