U.S. airport immigration computers go down temporarily - agency

WASHINGTON - Immigration desk computers at various airports went down for about two hours on Monday, causing long lines for travelers entering the United States after year-end holidays, according to Customs and Border Protection and posts on social media.

The processing system outage began at about 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT) and was resolved about 9:30 EST (0230 GMT), the customs agency said in a statement. All airports were back on line after wait times for travelers that were longer than usual, it said.

"At this time, there is no indication the service disruption was malicious in nature," the agency said. It gave no explanation for the disruption and said travelers were processed using alternative procedures.

Travelers entering the United States from overseas posted photos on social media of long lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

"No one has been getting past JFK Airport immigration for the last hour. Line is a few 100 deep. Seems like their system did completely go down. Happy New Year!" said Jessica Yang, a program manager at Microsoft, in a Twitter post.

Other airports, including Denver International Airport, also said they were affected. A similar computer outage occurred a year ago.

"Operations returning to normal as @CustomsBorder computer issue resolved. Issue affected other US airports. Thanks for your patience," Miami International Airport said in a Twitter post.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pokemon GO blamed for illegal border crossing from Canada to U.S.

Two youths unaware of their surroundings when they were playing Pokemon GO on their cell phones made an illegal border crossing this week from Canada into the United States in a remote part of Montana, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said.

The two, who were not identified, were found by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Thursday, with their attention affixed to their phones as they were trying to hunt down cartoon characters on a journey that took them over the border.

"Both juveniles were so captivated by their Pokemon GO games that they lost track of where they were," said Michael Rappold, a spokesman for the agency.

The two were reunited with their mothers at a nearby border patrol station, the agency said.

The game has been an unexpected success from Spain to Australia, doubling Nintendo's value since the game's launch in the United States earlier this month.

Using mobile devices, players search for virtual Pokemon characters that appear to pop up at office spaces, restaurants, museums and other places. Players score points in various ways, including capturing the Pokemon characters with a flick of a finger on their phone screen.

The game was also to blame for a rash of car accidents and a slew of mishaps stemming from distracted players.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bernard Orr)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com