COVID-19 in Wisconsin: 480 new cases
State health officials reported at least 480 new positive coronavirus cases in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
Sanctions follow allegations of election interference and a hacking campaign
Find a flick with our weekly guide to classic movies, cult favorites, film festivals, etc., playing now or coming soon to a theater, drive-in, pop-up or rooftop near you.
Negotiations to bring the United States back into a landmark nuclear deal with Iran resumed Thursday in Vienna amid signs of progress — but also under the shadow of an attack this week on Iran's main nuclear facility. After more than two hours of talks characterized by Russia's delegate as generally positive, issues were turned back over to two working groups for continued discussion and refinement. In 2015, Iran signed an agreement with the U.S., Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain that was intended to set limits on Tehran's nuclear program in order to block it from building a nuclear weapon — something it insists it doesn't want to do.
A Russian intelligence agent accused of attempting to undermine US election integrity and sow disinformation was among Kremlin-linked figures targeted in Russian sanctions announced on Thursday. Federal authorities alleged that Konstantin Kilimnik "provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy" for former president Donald Trump in 2016. The allegations connect to findings from Robert Mueller's investigation and congressional investigations that assessed Mr Kilimnik was fed information by former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
The US is to pull its forces out of Afghanistan by September - how much has it spent on the war?
What’s the story? Ministers, Whitehall mandarins and a former prime minister have become embroiled in a major lobbying scandal after it emerged that David Cameron had been quietly pushing for a beleaguered finance company to receive Covid bailouts from the Treasury. After leaving office in 2016, Mr Cameron took on a job with Greensill Capital, a “supply chain finance” company that offers short term credit to firms to help them pay invoices more quickly. The company is run by Lex Greensill, who worked in Government during Mr Cameron’s time in office and was awarded a CBE for his work on a similar finance scheme for government departments. It has emerged that Mr Cameron privately lobbied ministers, senior Government officials and the Bank of England to attempt to secure a coronavirus support payment for Greensill last year. The former prime minister told an official it was “nuts” that supply chain finance firms were excluded from the Government’s support schemes and asked Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, to look again at whether Greensill could be given a bailout from the Treasury. Mr Cameron’s attempts were resisted – and investors withdrew their money from the company earlier this year after raising concerns about its viability. The firm has since filed for insolvency protection and threatens to bring Liberty Steel, a major UK manufacturer, with it. But the saga has raised questions about how lobbying in Westminster works, and whether former public servants like Mr Cameron should be allowed to use their contacts for private enterprise – and profit. The consultant lobbying regulator, which monitors freelance lobbyists in the UK, concluded that since Mr Cameron was an employee of Greensill, it was not equipped to regulate his activities. Boris Johnson now faces calls to increase the scope of lobbying rules to create greater transparency, while critics of Mr Cameron point out that it was under his government that an attempt to establish more rigorous rules was voted down by Tory peers. Mr Johnson has now set up an independent inquiry chaired by Nigel Boardman, a senior corporate lawyer, to investigate Mr Cameron’s lobbying and Mr Greensill’s involvement in Government under the Cameron government. Labour says the inquiry is likely to be a “Conservative cover-up” and is calling for another inquiry into cronyism led by MPs. Looking back The messages from Mr Cameron to decision-makers in Whitehall make for extraordinary reading. They have all been uncovered by reporters – largely from the Financial Times and Sunday Times – because there is no requirement for communications of that nature to be released by Government departments. Mr Cameron contacted Mr Sunak and two of his junior Treasury ministers (John Glen and Jesse Norman) about Greensill’s eligibility for Covid payments, and arranged a “private drink” with Matt Hancock to discuss a payment scheme that was eventually rolled out in the NHS. Mr Cameron says he believed Greensill’s supply chain model could have been integrated into the Government’s bailout scheme – known officially as the Covid Corporate Financing Facility – and points out that a similar idea was used following the financial crash in 2008. “What we need is for Rishi (Sunak) to have a good look at this and ask officials to find a way of making it work,” Mr Cameron wrote last year. Mr Cameron has released a statement that says while he can “understand the concern” about lobbying from former PMs, he thought it was “right” that he represented the company to the Treasury because it was involved in financing a large number of UK firms. He denies that he was given share options in the company worth $60 million, and says the true figure was far lower. Given the company’s insolvency, they are now worthless anyway. Anything else? One of the few organisations that monitors lobbying and the business activities of former ministers is the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) and is run by Eric Pickles, a former Tory MP. Yesterday Mr Pickles revealed that a senior civil servant was granted permission to join Greensill Capital while still working at the highest levels of government in 2015 – when Mr Cameron was still prime minister. Bill Crothers was head of Whitehall procurement, in control of a £15 billion annual purchasing budget, when he took on an external role as part-time adviser to the finance company's board. Labour said the news was “extraordinary and shocking” and is pushing for a wide-ranging inquiry led by MPs. The party will use an opposition day motion today that will establish the parliamentary inquiry if Tory MPs do not vote it down. A Labour source this week noted that in The Thick of It, a political sitcom generally held to be an exaggerated representation of Westminster, there is a judge-led inquiry into one leaked email – let alone a major lobbying scandal involving a former PM. The Government has already announced there will be an independent inquiry – and has expanded its scope to include Mr Crothers’ second job – but the story now threatens to become a broader outcry about lobbying in Westminster. It is thought that many civil servants have second jobs as advisors on company boards, and ministers often hold meetings with lobbyists without declaring them to the Cabinet Office. And while Labour has been highly critical of the Government’s “cronyism” during the Covid crisis, many Labour MPs are themselves former lobbyists. The Refresher take The unedifying text messages sent by David Cameron to government officials are only the beginning of a political scandal that will almost certainly claim more scalps. Whether or not Labour succeed in establishing a parliamentary inquiry into lobbying, there is now much greater scrutiny on the well-oiled revolving door between big business and the Government. While much of the murky behaviour is actually within the existing lobbying rules, ministers now rightly face growing calls to expand the regulations to tackle the various “private drinks” between old friends that seemingly inform official decision-making. This was first published in The Telegraph's Refresher newsletter. For more facts and explanation behind the week’s biggest political stories, sign up to the Refresher here – straight to your inbox every Wednesday afternoon for free.
The La Soufriere volcano has erupted multiple times since Friday, and the damage to St Vincent is shocking
Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in recent months, with civilians paying a heavy price, writes Borzou Daragahi
Anas Sarwar has accused an SNP-run council of dispatching cleaners to tidy the streets of Nicola Sturgeon's constituency shortly before an election photocall he held on Thursday to highlight their dirty condition. The Scottish Labour leader claimed that cleansing workers in Glasgow Southside, which is the First Minister’s constituency, told him they were ordered to do a clean up operation ahead of his visit to the Govanhill area. The Daily Telegraph photographed three bin lorries and street cleaners that turned up shortly before Mr Sarwar's election stop. Local residents said it was not the normal day for the refuse collections to occur. Ms Sturgeon has faced repeated accusations throughout the Holyrood election campaign of dropping the ball in her own backyard, with cleansing, poverty and housing being huge issues in Glasgow Southside. “I met cleansing workers there who were telling me about the huge cuts they’ve seen, not just in terms of staff but also in terms of the investment they’ve had,” he said.
A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent.
Kristen Clarke sits for confirmation hearing as assistant attorney general nominee for DOJ Civil Rights Division.
The bill aims to expand the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to 13
Boston marked eight years since the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon killed three people and injured scores of others on Thursday with quiet moments of reflection and small acts of kindness. Acting Mayor Kim Janey visited fire stations that had been critical in the response to the attack, as well as the memorials marking the spots where the two pressure cooker bombs detonated near the downtown finish line of the storied race. The city's first female and Black mayor then joined Gov. Charlie Baker to lay a wreath at the site where 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, 23-year-old Lingzi Lu, and 8-year-old Martin Richard died.
Greece and Libya are to discuss delineating maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean, the Greek prime minister's office said Wednesday after a meeting between the prime minister and the head of Libya's Presidential Council. The talks in Athens with Mohamed al-Menfi, who previously served as an ambassador to Greece, came a week after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Tripoli to meet with the new interim Libyan government. The interim government took office last month, replacing two rival administrations that had governed the eastern and western parts of a country torn apart by war.
The war in Afghanistan has cost more than $2 trillion and more than 2,300 American lives. More than 38,000 Afghan civilians have been killed.
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Mark Giordano had a goal and an assist, Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 shots and the Calgary Flames beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 Wednesday night. Noah Hanafin, Josh Leivo and Sean Monahan also scored, and Chris Tanev had two assists. The Flames have won three straight to pull four points behind the Canadiens for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division, though Montreal has three games in hand.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Kabul on Thursday to show support for the Afghan government and civil society a day after President Joe Biden said he was pulling out American forces after nearly 20 years of war. Biden said U.S. objectives in Afghanistan had become "increasingly unclear" over the past decade and set a deadline for withdrawing all U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan by Sept. 11, exactly two decades after al Qaeda's attacks on the United States that triggered the war. Foreign troops under NATO command will also withdraw from Afghanistan in coordination with the U.S. pullout.
Downing Street was under mounting pressure on Thursday night over the Greensill scandal after it was reported that a second official in the Cabinet Office had been hired for the firm while working for the civil service. David Brierwood, a former banker at Morgan Stanley, appears to have joined the firm as a director two months after he joined the department as a crown representative in 2014. It comes just days after it emerged that Bill Crothers, the former Government’s former chief commercial officer, had also taken on a role advising Greensill two months before he left the civil service in 2015. Separately, allies of Lord Heywood, the former civil service chief who died in 2018, on Thursday night claimed he had been unfairly impugned for his role in the scandal. They pushed back against criticism of the former cabinet secretary amid claims he brought the Australian financier Lex Greensill into the Government fold a decade ago. Questions over Mr Greensill and his eponymous company have mounted following the disclosure that David Cameron lobbied ministers to increase access to Covid loan schemes for the firm, for which he was a paid adviser.
Amazon has accused Parler, the social network known as a conservative alternative to Twitter, of trying to conceal its ownership amid a legal dispute between Amazon and Parler stemming from the U.S. Capitol riots. Angelo Calfo, an attorney representing Parler, disputed Amazon's claim and argued that the burden was on Amazon to prove who owns Parler, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday. “This is a ginned-up effort to try to throw mud at Parler, when Parler has been completely clear about its ownership,” Calfo said.