UNITED STATES-RUSSIA-SYRIA

WASHINGTON — Russia's recent military buildup in Syria has perplexed the Obama administration and left it in a quandary as to how to respond, complicating Washington's efforts to both combat Islamic State extremists and assist moderate rebels trying to oust Syria President Bashar Assad.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE-REPUBLICAN DEBATE

In the first Republican presidential debate, most candidates took a hands-off approach to Donald Trump and hoped the brash billionaire would hurt himself. Instead, he only got stronger. Trump's unexpected durability has led some of his rivals to shift their strategy for Wednesday's second showdown. Now their goal is to engage Trump, without inflicting any damage on their own campaigns.

CONGRESS-IRAN-NUCLEAR

WASHINGTON — For the second time, Senate Democrats block a vote to move forward on a resolution rejecting the Iran nuclear deal, protecting President Barack Obama's key foreign policy initiative. 

MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE SHOOTING

GAUTIER, Mississippi — A university instructor told police he killed his girlfriend at a home they shared and investigators found a note there that said "I am so sorry I wish I could take it back" — but there was no hint he was then headed to kill a colleague, police say.

FATAL FLASH FLOODS

HILDALE, Utah — Rescuers trudge through muddy streambeds in a small polygamous town on the Utah-Arizona border and find the bodies of several children who died when their two vehicles were swept away in a torrent of floodwaters that killed at least 12 people. The same flash floods claimed at least four lives in nearby Zion National Park. By Kimberly Pierceall and Brady McCombs. 

CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES

MIDDLETOWN, California — Some residents cried as they walked through the rubble of their homes while others shared amazing stories of survival as more people returned to their houses and surveyed the twisted metal and smoking ruins left behind by a devastating California wildfire. 

MEXICO-EGYPT TOURISTS

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's Foreign Relations Department say that embassy personnel in Egypt have identified six more bodies as those of Mexican citizens killed in air attack by Egyptian police and military forces.