LOS ANGELES -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection's computer system suffered a breakdown for a few hours Friday that slowed international passenger processing at airports nationwide. Friday afternoon, Customs tweeted that "affected systems are coming back online ... " but no reason was given for the problem.

L.A.'s airport on Friday afternoon ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Senior Democratic members of Congress are considering action against top emissaries of the Israeli government and the Trump administration for their roles in Israel's decision to bar two House members from entering the country.

About a dozen lawmakers, including senior Jewish members, began discussions on Friday morning over ways ...Read more

JERUSALEM -- Israel reversed itself, again, on Friday in announcing that Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib could visit, but only to see her grandmother. Tlaib said: No thanks.

The Michigan congresswoman said Israel's decision to admit her to the country on "humanitarian grounds" was an attempt to silence and humiliate her.

It was the second flip-...Read more

Stowaway found on flight from Havana to Miami

MIAMI -- A stowaway was found early Friday on a flight that arrived at Miami International Airport from Havana.

A Miami airport spokesman confirmed to the Miami Herald that the man was found hiding in the plane and said he was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Customs and ...Read more

MIAMI -- The New York City medical examiner's office has ruled that Jeffrey Epstein's death was a suicide by hanging.

The official statement wasted few words, and it was far from clear that it would calm the storm of conspiracy theories swirling around the multimillionaire's death.

In a statement attributed to Chief Medical Examiner Barbara ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Another victim of California's deadly Camp fire was identified by the Butte County Sheriff's Office on Friday afternoon.

The remains of Judith Sipher, 68, of Paradise had previously been tentatively identified by the Sheriff's Office, and its confirmation brought the total number of named dead to 81 out of the wildfire's ...Read more

BEIRUT -- At least 17 civilians were killed Friday by airstrikes conducted by Syrian and Russian warplanes, most of them in a camp for displaced people in Idlib province, a monitor group and activists said.

Fifteen people, among them six children, were killed when a Russian airstrike targeted a camp for displaced people near the town of Hass in...Read more

DETROIT -- Paul Whelan, a Novi man who has been held in a Russian prison for more than seven months on espionage charges, has a hernia and may need surgery, his English-speaking lawyer, Olga Karlova, told the Detroit Free Press on Friday.

"Paul had some problems with his hernia last week on Friday," Karlova said in an email. "He was examined by...Read more

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Gunfire erupted Friday morning near the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica when a guard carrying money from an armored truck shot at a man armed with a knife who police say tried to rob him.

A Brinks security guard fired three rounds at the man near 3rd Street and Arizona Avenue about 11:15 a.m. after the man ...Read more

NEW YORK -- Jeffrey Epstein died of suicide by hanging in his cell, New York City's chief medical examiner has concluded, according to a person familiar with her report, a finding that casts aside conspiracy theories that he was murdered to silence him.

The medical examiner, Barbara Sampson, autopsied Epstein's body on Sunday, the day after he ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Two South Carolina researchers have discovered a species of prehistoric shark, along with dozens of other fossils from prehistoric sea creatures.

David Cicimurri, curator of the South Carolina State Museum's natural history collection, worked with James Knight, of the University of South Carolina Aiken Department of Biology ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a partial victory for President Donald Trump, a federal appeals court decided Friday to remove a nationwide injunction against a new rule that would deny asylum to the vast majority of immigrants at the southern border.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar, a San Francisco-based Obama appointee, issued a nationwide ...Read more

DAYTON, Ohio -- Following a public spat with President Donald Trump, Nan Whaley was assigned a security detail for just the third time while serving as Dayton's mayor.

A two-person team of police detectives watched over the mayor around the clock for six days after she received angry and abusive phone calls and messages via email and social ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee will consider three gun control bills when it convenes Sept. 4, an early return from a summer break that could lob political pressure onto Senate Republicans to respond to recent mass shootings.

The committee announced Friday it will mark up a bill to outlaw large capacity magazines and other ...Read more

It is no surprise that Tiffany Burris was distraught Wednesday. Her 3-year-old son, Tyaan, was among those confined to the Precious Babies day care center in North Philadelphia for hours while a gunman was locked in a standoff with police nearby.

"I couldn't stop crying and shaking," she said. "Bullets have no name on them."

But mass shootings...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California on Friday sued the Trump administration to challenge the legality of a new "public charge" rule that could deny green cards to immigrants who receive public assistance, including food stamps, Medicaid and housing vouchers.

The lawsuit was filed by state Attorney General Xavier Becerra in federal court in ...Read more