All About: US's child migrant detention, Alex Jones Twitter ban, New York's attorney

Passengers and crew on two flights arriving in Philadelphia from Europe on Thursday were screened by medical teams after 12 people aboard became ill with flu-like symptoms, a day after a similar outbreak on a flight from Dubai to New York.

Trump administration seeks to end agreement on child migrant detention

The Trump administration said on Thursday it plans to withdraw from a federal court agreement that strictly limits the conditions under which authorities can detain migrant children, and proposed new rules it said would enable it to detain minors during their immigration proceedings. The administration has long targeted the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 federal consent decree that places significant curbs on how long and in what conditions the government can detain migrant children as it seeks to dissuade migrants from crossing the U.S. southern border.

Passengers suffer illness on separate flights to Philadelphia

Passengers and crew on two flights arriving in Philadelphia from Europe on Thursday were screened by medical teams after 12 people aboard became ill with flu-like symptoms, a day after a similar outbreak on a flight from Dubai to New York. All 250 people on separate American Airlines flights from Munich and Paris were "held for a medical review" as a precaution, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was notified, Philadelphia International Airport spokeswoman Diane Gerace said.

Twitter permanently bans Alex Jones, website Infowars

Twitter Inc on Thursday permanently banned U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website Infowars from its platform and Periscope, saying in a tweet that the accounts had violated its behavior policies. "As we continue to increase transparency around our rules and enforcement actions, we wanted to be open about this action, given the broad interest in this case," the company tweeted. "We do not typically comment on enforcement actions we take against individual accounts for their privacy."

New York subpoenas Catholic dioceses in sex abuse probe: source

New York's attorney general issued civil subpoenas on Thursday to all eight Roman Catholic dioceses in the state as part of a sex abuse investigation, a law enforcement source said. The subpoenas are part of an ongoing civil investigation by Attorney General Barbara Underwood's office into how dioceses reviewed and may have covered up allegations of sexual abuse of minors, said the source, who asked not to be identified.

Gunman slays three at Cincinnati bank before police kill him

A gunman dressed in a business suit opened fire inside a bank in downtown Cincinnati early on Thursday, killing three people and wounding others before being shot and killed by police, authorities said. The shooter began firing inside a loading dock at the Fifth Third Bank headquarters near Fountain Square, police said. He then entered the lobby where he exchanged fire with law enforcement.

Ducking queries on Trump, Supreme Court nominee resumes U.S. Senate test

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will face a final barrage of questions on Thursday in a multi-day U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, as Democrats press him on his independence from the man who nominated him, President Donald Trump. A conservative appeals court judge and former Republican White House aide, Kavanaugh has stressed his independence. But in a more than 12-hour session on Wednesday, he sidestepped questions about the scope of presidential power.

Michael Moore hopes his film is 'beginning of the end' for Trump

Provocative filmmaker Michael Moore said on Thursday he hoped his new documentary would mark "the beginning of the end" for the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump. The liberal activist said "Fahrenheit 11/9," which will get its world premiere at the Toronto film festival later on Thursday, was "a siren call" to what he called a "despairing, dispirited public."

Texas, South Carolina to attend Justice Dept. meeting on social media

The attorneys general of Texas and South Carolina, both Republicans, will send representatives to a meeting called by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to discuss concerns about conservative voices being stifled on social media platforms, making them the first states to show support for the Trump administration's concerns about social media. The U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday that the Sept. 25 meeting would discuss competition issues and whether the social media giants intentionally stifled "the free exchange of ideas."

New York scientists use new DNA tools to identify 9/11 victims

New DNA analysis techniques are helping identify more victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, scientists in the office of New York City's chief medical examiner said on Thursday. Although the death toll after two hijacked airliners crashed into the Twin Towers was 2,753, the remains of more than 1,000 people remain unidentified, to the dismay of their grieving families.

Northern California wildfire threatens homes, closes major highway

An intense wildfire roared unchecked for a second day on Thursday through drought-desiccated timber in Northern California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest, threatening scores of homes and forcing the closure of an interstate highway after motorists had to flee their vehicles. The Delta fire erupted on Wednesday in a canyon along the Sacramento River about 250 miles north of San Francisco and by Thursday morning had scorched more than 15,000 acres, triple the area that had burned some 12 hours earlier.

(With inputs from Reuters)