US Domestic News Roundup: Transgender policy, Self-driving school bus test, Dead Sea

U.S. actress Amber Heard, a star of the upcoming "Aquaman" superhero movie and a U.N. human rights champion, said on Monday her childhood in Texas near the Mexican border helped spark her activism.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. Bible museum says five Dead Sea Scrolls fragments fake

The Museum of the Bible in Washington on Monday said five of its artefacts thought to be part of the Dead Sea Scrolls were fake and would not be displayed anymore. German-based researchers tested the fragments and found five "show characteristics inconsistent with the ancient origin and therefore will no longer be displayed," the museum said in a statement.

Actress Amber Heard says birth on U.S.-Mexico border sparked rights activism

U.S. actress Amber Heard, a star of the upcoming "Aquaman" superhero movie and a U.N. human rights champion, said on Monday her childhood in Texas near the Mexican border helped spark her activism. Her father, a Texas construction worker, accrued more and more godchildren on the Mexican side of the border, and young Amber considered many of them as friends and family.

Judge bars New Hampshire proof of residency requirement for new voters

A New Hampshire judge on Monday put on hold a law requiring some voters to present proof of residency when they register, saying it would lengthen lines at polling places and make it difficult for students, disabled voters and others to cast ballots. The temporary injunction against the Republican-backed law comes two weeks before U.S. Congressional elections that will determine whether opposition Democrats or U.S. President Donald Trump's Republicans retain full control of the federal government's legislative branch.

Trump administration trying to define transgender out of existence: NY Times

The government of U.S. President Donald Trump is attempting to strip transgender people of official recognition by creating a narrow definition of gender as being only male or female and unchangeable once it is determined at birth, The New York Times reported on Sunday. The Department of Health and Human Services has undertaken an effort across several government departments to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex, the Times said, citing a government memo that it obtained.

Lioness kills father of her cubs at Indianapolis zoo

A lioness has killed the father of her three offspring, suffocating her mate by locking her jaws onto his neck at the Indianapolis Zoo in an attack not fully understood by zoo staff. The lions had been held together at the zoo for eight years, producing three cubs in 2015, and zookeepers had never before noticed any aggression between the two, the zoo said in a statement issued on Friday.

U.S. regulator orders halt to self-driving school bus test in Florida

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday said it had ordered Transdev North America to immediately stop transporting school children in Florida in a driverless shuttle as the testing could be putting them at "inappropriate" risk. The auto safety agency known as NHTSA said in an order issued late on Friday that Transdev's use of its EZ10 Generation II driverless shuttle in the Babcock Ranch community in southwest Florida was "unlawful and in violation of the company's temporary importation authorization."

Guard shoots man trying to break into Washington TV station office

A security guard shot and wounded a man who kicked in the front doors of the offices of the Fox 5 channel in Washington on Monday afternoon, the television station and police said. Security camera video aired by the station showed the suspect, who police said was unarmed, kicking through two sets of plexiglass doors that lead into the building's lobby before being shot.

Trump says transgender policy seeks to 'protect the country'

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that transgender issues were in flux and he aims to protect the country after a report that his administration was considering defining gender as male or female based on genitalia at birth drew widespread condemnation. "We have a lot of different concepts right now. They have a lot of different things happening with respect to transgender right now," Trump said amid a protest outside the White House and the outpouring of criticism on social media about the proposal.

State of Play: Democrats threaten Trump's grip on the Great Lakes

Two years ago, Ohio and other states in the former industrial heartlands of the Great Lakes region catapulted Donald Trump into the White House. Today, in the final stretch to November's congressional elections, they are showing that Trumpism has its limits as Democrats make surprising gains in races across the region, according to opinion polls.

U.S. lottery jackpots climb to $2.2 billion combined after no winners

Who wants to be a billionaire? For $2 a ticket, you have a chance to be among the richest people in the world if you beat the longshot odds of 1 in 303 million to win the Mega Millions lottery jackpot of $1.6 billion Tuesday night.

(With inputs from Reuters)