Nightly Brief

Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including the International Criminal Court rejected an investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan on the grounds that “lack of cooperation” limited its chance of success; The Justice Department is reportedly looking at making changes to the authority of appellate immigration judges that would give them power to issue decisions binding on the entire immigration system; The man who served as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to the federal government about work he and his firm did for the Ukrainian government that was linked to former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, and more.

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National

1.) Exactly one week after the United States revoked its chief prosecutor’s visa in apparent retaliation for requesting a torture probe, the International Criminal Court rejected that investigation on the grounds that “lack of cooperation” limited its chance of success.

2.) The Justice Department is reportedly looking at making changes to the authority of appellate immigration judges that would give them power to issue decisions binding on the entire immigration system.

3.) The man who served as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of lying to the federal government about work he and his firm did for the Ukrainian government that was linked to former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.

4.) A federal judge on Friday sentenced a political consultant to three years of probation after he pleaded guilty to lobbying for a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party without registering with the U.S. government.

Regional

5.) In his most recent dispatch, Courthouse News’ western bureau chief drives through a blizzard to a property that might be associated with a cult.

6.) Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke was doing a press conference in the summer of 2015 when someone passed him a note and he learned about the terror attack on his city. The message was sparse. Active shooter. Officer down.

Science

7.) Heavy thunderstorms over the Indian Ocean might not mean much to the average Californian, but a study published Friday has uncovered a link between the storms and heat waves in the Golden State.

8.) New research reveals that the smallest members of the coral reef system – bacteria and other microbes – behave much differently at night than during the day, providing insight into a part of an ecosystem literally shrouded in darkness.

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