US Domestic News Roundup: U.S. plan to keep asylum seekers in Mexico sows confusion; Govt partially shut down in fight over Trump's border wall

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. Justice Ginsburg, 85, has malignant nodules removed from lung

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday underwent surgery in New York to remove two cancerous nodules in her left lung, the latest serious health issue experienced by the 85-year-old liberal jurist, a court spokeswoman said. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Ginsburg, who previously bounced back from bouts with colon and pancreatic cancer, underwent a procedure called a pulmonary lobectomy on Friday at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Arberg said that according to the thoracic surgeon, Dr. Valerie Rusch, "both nodules removed during surgery were found to be malignant."

States help run U.S. National Parks in federal government shutdown

While U.S. National Parks will generally remain open with a skeleton staff through the federal government shutdown, Republican governors in at least two states are working to make sure public restrooms get cleaned and visitor centers stay open. The government shutdown of all but essential federal services due to a fight on Capitol Hill over funding for U.S. President Donald Trump's wall on the Mexican border comes at the height of the Christmas travel season.

Roberts, liberal justices snub Trump bid to enforce asylum policy

The Supreme Court on Friday dealt a setback to President Donald Trump by refusing to allow his administration to implement new rules prohibiting asylum for people who cross the U.S. border illegally, with conservative Chief Justice John Roberts joining the four liberal justices in denying the request. The justices on a 5-4 vote rebuffed the administration's bid to put on hold a California-based federal judge's order preventing it from carrying out the policy making anyone crossing the U.S.-Mexican border outside of an official port of entry ineligible for asylum.

Prosecutors close Steven Seagal sex assault inquiry without charges

Los Angeles prosecutors said on Friday they were declining to bring a criminal case against actor Steven Seagal stemming from an allegation that he sexually assaulted a minor in 2002, citing California's statute of limitations. The decision marked the second time this year the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office decided against charging Seagal with a crime in connection with an accusation of sexual assault from more than a decade in the past.

Surge at U.S. border pushes some evangelicals to help asylum seekers

Members of an Arizona evangelical church are for the first time taking Central American asylum seekers into their homes, responding to record arrivals of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border. The predominantly white Central Christian Church, a Phoenix area "megachurch" had in the past assisted Muslim refugees. Church leaders wanted to help another group that lacked support and were portrayed as a threat in areas of the media and politics - asylum seekers.

Government partially shut down in fight over Trump's border wall

The U.S. government was partially shut down early on Saturday in a fierce dispute over President Donald Trump's demands that Congress assign $5 billion for a wall along the border with Mexico. After failing to strike a budget deal on Friday, congressional leaders and the White House pledged to keep talking through the weekend in search of a deal to end the shutdown ahead of the Christmas holiday.

U.S. plan to keep asylum seekers in Mexico sows confusion

Mexican and U.S. officials charged with carrying out a radical new change in U.S. immigration policy to process asylum seekers in Mexico say they have not been informed about how the plan will work in practice . U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and the Mexican government released simultaneous announcements about the plan on Thursday but said details about the rollout would be forthcoming.

Salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey leaves over 200 sick across U.S.

More than 200 people from across the United States have fallen ill, 84 of them hospitalized, from an ongoing salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey products that prompted a second voluntary recall on Friday, the U.S. government said. The latest food-safety advisory from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta came as millions of Americans planned their Christmas holiday menus, updating a notice for contaminated turkey issued in early November.

Dancing FBI agent pleads guilty to accidentally shooting Denver bar patron

An ex-FBI agent who accidentally shot and wounded a Denver bar patron in June after performing a dance-floor back flip pleaded guilty on Friday to misdemeanor assault under a plea deal that spares him from serving jail time, prosecutors said. Chase Bishop, 30, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in Denver District Court for shooting Thomas Reddington in the leg at the Mile High Spirits and Distillery, prosecutors said in a statement.

Michigan charges pharmacists linked to 2012 meningitis outbreak

Michigan prosecutors on Friday filed second-degree murder charges against the co-founder and supervisory pharmacist of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy linked to a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, according to court records. The state court charges came after federal juries in Boston convicted Barry Cadden and Glenn Chin of racketeering and fraud but cleared them of second-degree murder over deaths caused by tainted drugs New England Compounding Center produced.

(With inputs from Reuters)