Sledgehammers and explosives are used to start destroying production facilities for Syria's chemical weapons arsenal. In a magazine interview, President Bashar Assad again denies his military used the weapons on Syrians.

The death of Miriam Carey, killed by police gunfire Thursday after leading a car chase from the White House to the Capitol, is prompting questions from her family about whether she deserved to die. The incident, which has not yet been explained, has also led experts to analyze the officers' actions.

Heavy snowfall and low visibility have combined to cause crashes and shut down roads. As of Saturday morning, blizzard conditions were still being reported near Badlands National Park.

"There are enough votes in the House of Representatives to make sure that the government reopens today," President Obama told The Associated Press. The shutdown has idled some 800,000 federal workers.

As Republicans and Democrats continue to argue, their positions appear to remain fixed. Looking to put pressure on the administration, the House speaker got emotional Friday morning at a news conference. President Obama responded Boehner can end the shutdown quickly.

The system, which has been traveling through the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall in Louisiana.

NPR's Steve Inskeep says that in his interview with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the Israeli prime minister seemed bent on exposing the other side of Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani.

The insects are the size of an adult's thumb and can sting multiple times, delivering a large dose of venom.

A senior U.S. government official says some intelligence agencies are able to focus only on the biggest threats: counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation. So other issues are falling by the wayside.

The two powerhouses are the most visited sites in the world, according to the U.K.'s Oxford Internet Institute.