Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including Attorney General Jeff Sessions issuing a sweeping directive to federal agencies to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are being violated; the Trump administration rolling back a requirement under the federal health care law that employers include birth-control coverage in their health insurance plans; a high-ranking diplomatic security officer testifying about what he saw five years ago when attackers overran the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi; a new study revealing that our hair color, mood and sleep patterns are all influenced by our Neanderthal DNA, and more.

Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including Attorney General Jeff Sessions issuing a sweeping directive to federal agencies to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are being violated; the Trump administration rolling back a requirement under the federal health care law that employers include birth-control coverage in their health insurance plans; a high-ranking diplomatic security officer testifying about what he saw five years ago when attackers overran the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi; a new study reveals that our hair color, mood and sleep patterns are all influenced by our Neanderthal DNA, and more.

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1.) In National news Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a sweeping directive to federal agencies Friday to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are being violated.

2.) The Trump administration on Friday rolled back a requirement under the federal health care law that employers include birth-control coverage in their health insurance plans.

3.) Two documents written by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will be unsealed, a federal judge ruled Thursday in a voting rights case against Kobach, now the driving force in President Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity.

4.) Amid reports that President Donald Trump is planning to decertify the Iran nuclear agreement, experts caution that the move could bring a great deal of uncertainty to the international accord.

5.) A high-ranking diplomatic security officer testified Thursday about what he saw five years ago when attackers overran the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

6.) In Regional news Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the Army soldier freed in a prisoner exchange after being held captive by the Taliban for five years, is expected to plead guilty on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, according to reports.

7.) A Ninth Circuit panel seemed interested Thursday in an environmental advocate’s novel argument against what has become an increasingly standard practice in wildlife management – killing droves of one wild species in an effort to benefit another.

8.) From the world of Science comes word our hair color, mood and sleep patterns are all influenced by our Neanderthal DNA.

Nightly Brief

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