Good morning. These are today’s top stories:
Conservative Political Action Conference begins
This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference kicks off today in Maryland. The event, which ends Saturday, will feature remarks from leaders of the conservative movement and the Trump administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Senior Counselor Steve Bannon.
President Trump rescinds bathroom rules for transgender students
President Donald Trump’s Administration has retracted guidelines created under President Barack Obama that said schools across the country had to allow transgender students to use public bathrooms that aligned with their identified gender. The Obama directive “did not contain sufficient legal analysis,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement as one of the reasons for the change.
North Korea says it didn’t kill Kim Jong Un’s half-brother
North Korea claims it had nothing to do with the mysterious death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother Kim Jong Nam. Nam was killed in Malaysia last week.
NASA finds habitable Earth-like planets
NASA has discovered, for the first time ever, seven Earth-size planets outside our solar system that could be suitable for life. The exoplanets orbit a single star relatively close to Earth. “I think that we’ve made a crucial step towards finding if there is life out there,” University of Cambridge astronomer Amaury Triaud, one of the researchers, told reporters after the space agency made its announcement.
Katy Perry appears to mock Trump at BRIT Awards
Pop star Katy Perry performed her latest single Chained to the Rhythm at yesterday’s BRIT Awards, considered the British version of the Grammys. Social media users were quick to compare two dancing skeleton props she used onstage to Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May.
Also:
A former USA Gymnastics doctor has been charged with sexual assault.
Hundreds of people protested in Anaheim, Calif. after a purported police gunfire video went viral.
Muslim-Americans helped raise more than $113,000 to help a vandalized Jewish cemetery repair hundreds of gravesites.
Cats don’t increase your risk for developing mental health problems, a new study has found.
McDonald’s will sell $1 sodas of any size starting in April.
The Morning Brief is published Mondays through Fridays. Email Morning Brief writer Melissa Chan at melissa.chan@time.com.
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