Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top eight stories for today including supporters of a Belarusian opposition figure say a video of him confessing to trying to bring down the government was made under duress; The U.S. economy added 559,000 jobs; Facebook said it will suspend former President Donald Trump from its platform for at least two years, and more.
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National
1.) The U.S. economy added 559,000 jobs last month, an uptick that would be impressive in normal times but one that is seen as modest during a pandemic recovery.
2.) Facebook said it will suspend former President Donald Trump from its platform for at least two years, meaning the earliest he would be allowed to post is January 2023.
3.) Stitching back up environmental protections unraveled by former President Donald Trump, the Biden administration set its sights Friday on five rules that have been making it harder these last four years for the United States to keep species off the brink of extinction.
Regional
4.) A federal judge in Montana rebuffed efforts by the Biden administration to pause a lawsuit by several states, tribes and environmental groups seeking to end coal mining lease sales on federal land.
5.) Drug reform is seeing some wins after an otherwise conservative Texas legislative session. The Republican-controlled statehouse this year passed a range of modest reform measures, proving that even in right-wing states, some politicians are moving beyond the war on drugs.
6.) The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that a woman arrested for drug possession was unlawfully seized without probable cause when a police officer took her driver’s license to his squad car for a background check and didn’t give it back while questioning her.
International
7.) A Belarusian opposition figure arrested after his Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk is seen on a state television show confessing about his role to bring down the government and describing the opposition leaders as “money launderers.” Roman Protasevich’s supporters say the video was made under duress.
8.) Four days of hearings kicked off on Friday in London by a so-called people’s tribunal into allegations that China is committing crimes against humanity and genocide against ethnic Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic minority groups.
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