Washington D.C

Major American cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Portland and Pittsburgh, are on a heightened alert in bracing for protests and potential violence this coming weekend, reports Xinhua news agency.

The bill bans the sale, transfer, distribution, manufacture and importation of 62 gun models it defines as "assault weapons", including AR-15s, AK-47s and similar high-powered rifles that have been used to carry out the mass shootings across the US, Xinhua news agency reported. "These weapons of war, assault weapons, have no reason other than mass murder," Inslee said at the signing ceremony on Tuesday. "Their only purpose is to kill humans as rapidly as possible in large numbers."

The Monday early morning arrests of the two by federal officials brought to an end the saga of a Chinese "police station" operating brazenly in New York City. "This prosecution reveals the Chinese government's flagrant violation of our nation's sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City," said Breon Peace, the federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York.

Police said the gunfire on Tuesday erupted around 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time in northeast Washington shortly after a funeral ended for someone who was fatally shot in March. At least four people were shot, according to Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee. One man died at the scene and three more people -- two men and a woman -- were reportedly taken to the hospital in critical condition.