KRGV.com

WASHINGTON (AP) Time for fiscal cliff deal-making is almost up with no agreement in hand yet. But Senate leaders from both parties are expressing optimism. So is President Barack Obama. House Speaker John Boehner says he's awaiting the outcome of efforts in the Senate.

UNDATED (AP) An Indian woman who was gang-raped and beaten on a bus in New Delhi died Saturday at a Singapore hospital. Her ordeal galvanized Indians to demand greater protection for women from sexual violence that impacts thousands of them every day. Indian police have arrested six people in connection with the attack.

CHICAGO (AP) Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says the city has logged its 500th homicide of the year. McCarthy issued a statement Friday calling the milestone a "tragic number that is reflective of the gang violence and proliferation of illegal guns that have plagued some of our neighborhoods."

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) Two people are dead and two others severely injured in Riverside, Calif., where a car plowed into a bus bench. Four people waiting for a bus were hit.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The waiting is over for same-sex couples in Maine's largest city. Officials began issuing marriage licenses at the stroke of midnight as the state's voter-approved same-sex marriage law took effect. Maine and two other states are the first to do so by popular vote.