Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top CNS stories for today including President Donald Trump unveiled broad changes to the immigration system, with a focus on enticing skilled workers into the United States; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020; The European Union is left in the middle as tensions escalate between the United States and Iran, and more.
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National
1.) With a focus on enticing skilled workers into the United States, President Donald Trump unveiled broad changes to the immigration system Thursday.
2.) The Senate confirmed a New Orleans attorney to a seat on a Louisiana federal court Thursday, overcoming objections from Democrats concerned about her views on abortion rights.
3.) With an announcement Thursday that he will seek the Democratic nomination in 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio set himself apart from others in the already crowded field by sparring publicly with President Donald Trump.
4.) Presidential candidate and Washington Governor Jay Inslee added an economic plan Thursday to the clean energy policy he announced earlier this month, saying his agenda to get to net-zero climate pollution by 2045 will create 8 million jobs.
Science
5.) A new study released Thursday reports that the beaches of Australian islands are littered with an alarming volume of plastic debris.
6.) As the planet warms, plants are keeping the pace to process carbon dioxide and slow the effects of human-caused climate change, according to research published Thursday in Trends in Plant Science.
International
7.) Europe is often described as an economic giant, but a dwarf in the push and shove of world politics. This status is being put to the test once again as tensions escalate between the United States and Iran, leaving the European Union in the middle and potentially unable to salvage the Iran nuclear deal.
8.) Backing a new tax on Poland’s retail sector, the European General Court ruled Thursday that EU regulators were wrong to classify the measure as state aid.
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