Paul, Fiorina are off main debate stageDismal polling numbers will keep Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and business executive Carly Fiorina off the main stage Thursday when Republican presidential candidates debate in South Carolina.Fox Business Network, the host of the debate, announced Monday that Paul and Fiorina did not make the cut for the prime-time debate, which will include seven candidates.To qualify for the debate, candidates had to either have placed in the top six in national polls, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by Fox News, or have placed within the top five based on the average of the five most recent polls from Iowa or New Hampshire, the states that will hold the first two primary contests.Paul and Fiorina will join former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania in an undercard debate before the main gathering.Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich will be on the main stage.

Agents to inspect trucks from MexicoSAN DIEGO — For the first time, U.S. border authorities will inspect trucks entering the United States on Mexican soil, working simultaneously with Mexican counterparts.The new facility in Tijuana, which aims to reduce congestion and speed cargo crossings into San Diego, overcame resistance in Mexico to letting U.S. officials carry guns. In April, Mexican lawmakers approved changes to the country’s firearms law to permit foreign customs and immigration officials to be armed on the job.U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske and Mexican Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray were scheduled to open the joint inspection facility Tuesday in Tijuana’s Mesa de Otay section, just blocks from one of the busiest crossings on the 1,954-mile border.Customs and Border Protection provided few details ahead of the ceremony, saying the effort “represents the shared commitment between the United States and Mexico to promote economic growth and prosperity between the two countries connected by more than just a shared border.”

Cosby defense seeks dismissal of chargesPHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby’s lawyers attacked the criminal charges lodged against him as “illegal,” saying they violate a prosecutor’s pledge that he would never be charged over a 2004 sexual encounter with a Temple University employee.That promise led Cosby to testify in a related civil lawsuit without invoking his Fifth Amendment rights, the lawyers said in a court filing Monday. Yet, a decade later, a new prosecutor called the newly released deposition testimony a key piece of evidence that fueled his decision to arrest Cosby last month.From combined wire services