PRESIDENTIAL RACE-BIDEN

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden is brushing past signs of a Hillary Rodham Clinton resurgence with fresh and direct suggestions he could be on the verge of entering the 2016 presidential race. 

PRESIDENTIAL RACE-CLINTON-AFGHANISTAN

KEENE, New Hampshire — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton says she supports President Barack Obama's decision to keep 5,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he leaves the White House in 2017. 

LAMAR ODOM

LAS VEGAS — Lamar Odom has regained consciousness, and is communicating — speaking and even giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed — just days after being found in extremely critical condition at a Nevada brothel, loved ones say.

DEATH PENALTY-NEBRASKA

LINCOLN, Nebraska — Nebraska's death penalty will stay on the books until voters decide next year whether to keep it, the state's top election official announces. 

IMMIGRANT-BIRTH-CERTIFICATES

SAN ANTONIO — A federal judge has chosen for now not to force Texas health officials to change their stance in denying birth certificates to immigrant families with U.S- born children, saying that the families raised "grave concerns" but more evidence is needed. 

UNITED NATIONS-BRIBERY SCHEME

NEW YORK — Over a prosecutor's objections, bail conditions were set Friday for a Chinese billionaire at the center of a bribery case that has drawn scrutiny into the operations of the United Nations. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox said Ng Lap Seng can be released on $50 million bail, including $20 million cash and a $4 million luxury Manhattan apartment where he will remain until trial under 24-hour guard.