The AP Posts

A government shutdown is having far-reaching consequences for some, but minimal impact on others. Mail is being delivered. Social Security and Medicare benefits continue to flow, but vacationers are being turned away from national parks and Smithsonian museums. Check out a full rundown of the shutdown's impact — public sector by public sector — after the jump.

Top European officials are keeping a worried eye on the U.S. government shutdown, saying it could pose a risk for the continent's fledgling recovery. The U.S. has the world's largest economy and close business ties with Europe. So the shutdown, which has seen some 800,000 federal employees put on furlough, could hurt growth around the world if Congress does not agree on a new budget deal within days.

The Supreme Court will decide whether a man's Tennessee misdemeanor domestic assault plea should ban him from owning a gun. The high court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal of James Castleman's case.

Hundreds of people lined up in Denver for a free marijuana cigarette Monday as part of a protest against a ballot proposal that would impose high taxes on the drug, which is now legal in Colorado for recreational use. The measure on the November ballot asks Colorado voters to approve a 15 percent excise tax plus a 10 percent statewide sales tax on all retail marijuana purchases.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned there will be "repercussions" against any U.S. military strike launched in response to a chemical weapons attack in his country. "You should expect everything," Assad said in an interview with CBS taped in Damascus. "Not necessarily from the government. It's not only the government...in this region. You have different parties, you have different factions, you have different ideology."

A Senate panel has voted to give President Barack Obama the authority to use military force against Syria in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack. The resolution would permit Obama to order a limited military mission against Syria, as long as it doesn't exceed 90 days and involves no American troops on the ground for combat operations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's election challenger says he would suspend negotiations with the U.S. over a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement until Washington clarifies details about National Security Agency surveillance programs.

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's father has secured documents to visit his son in Russia and plans to discuss how he could fight espionage charges, Lon Snowden and his attorney said Sunday.

Egypt's military has ousted the nation's Islamist president, replacing him with the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, calling for early presidential election and suspending the Islamist-backed constitution.

The FBI uses drones for surveillance of stationary subjects, and the privacy implications of such operations are "worthy of debate," FBI Director Robert Mueller said Wednesday. He said the law enforcement agency very seldom uses drones now, but is developing guidelines that will shape how unmanned aerial vehicles are to be used.

President Barack Obama has chosen a high-powered Washington lawyer with extensive experience in all three branches of the government (and both sides of the aisle) to be the State Department's special envoy for closing down the military-run prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states cannot on their own require would-be voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before using a federal registration system designed to make signing up easier.

Lawyers for a transgender girl and an elementary school that required the fifth-grader to use a staff bathroom instead of the girls restroom clashed before Maine's highest court whether her rights were violated, a case that lays bare the difficult decisions facing school administrators.

The fight for the direction of the Republican Party will be at full tilt on Thursday at a Washington conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group created by former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed. Designed to strengthen the evangelical influence in national politics, the conference gives many religious conservative activists their first look at potential 2016 presidential candidates.

Global energy-generating capacity from renewable sources rose by 115 gigawatts in 2012, compared with 105 gigawatts the previous year, which is great news for both consumers and the environment. The bad news for American workers? China is leading the way.

Two votes to place far-reaching immigration legislation formally before the Senate and open for amendments each drew more than 80 votes Tuesday, reflecting a bipartisan desire to debate the legislation to remake the nation's immigration laws and open the door to citizenship to millions.

Around the country, nuclear power plants are shuttering their doors as the cost of regulations and repairs skyrocket. For major utility corporations, natural gas is a cheaper alternative.

After setting off a storm of criticism from abortion rights groups, upset that a Democratic president had sided with social conservatives, the Obama administration said it will comply with a judge's order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. But in doing so at least one opponent of easy access to the contraception thinks the president is buckling to political pressure, rather than making the health of girls a priority.

Two employees at a Whole Foods Market store in Albuquerque say they were suspended last month after complaining about being told they couldn't speak Spanish to each other while on the job — a claim the company says was a misunderstanding.

As President Barack Obama defends secret government programs that sweep up Internet data and millions of Americans' phone records in their search for foreign terrorists, here is a timeline of controversies surrounding spy programs and privacy.