Jan 16, 2019 - World

Senate upholds lifting sanctions on Deripaska-linked companies

Photo: Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images

The Senate voted on Wednesday to uphold a Treasury Department ruling that would lift economic sanctions against companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, despite a wave of defections from 11 Republican senators.

The big picture: Treasury's decision came last month after the companies in question reduced their relationship with Deripaska, complying with U.S. requirements. And Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged GOP senators not to support the Democratic-backed measure to keep the sanctions this week, per the Washington Post, arguing afterward that the Trump administration had long been tough on Russia.

Go deeper: Congress can improve sanctions policy, but Rusal is a poor target

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Mike Allen, author of AM
48 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Biden pushes unity message in new TV wave

A fresh Joe Biden ad, "New Start," signals an effort by his campaign to make unity a central theme, underscoring a new passage in his stump speech that says he won't be a president just for Democrats but for all Americans.

What he's saying: The ad — which began Friday night, and is a follow-up to "Fresh Start" — draws from a Biden speech earlier in the week in Manitowoc, Wisconsin:

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Axios
Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 6:30 p.m. ET: 32,390,204 — Total deaths: 985,302 — Total recoveries: 22,286,345 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 6:30 p.m ET: 7,020,967 — Total deaths: 203,481 — Total recoveries: 2,710,183 — Total tests: 98,476,600 — Map.
  3. States: "We’re not closing anything going forward": Florida fully lifts COVID restaurant restrictions — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam tests positive for coronavirus.
  4. Health: Young people accounted for 20% of cases this summer.
  5. Business: Coronavirus has made airports happier places —The expiration of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance looms.
  6. Education: Where bringing students back to school is most risky.
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Jonathan Swan, Alayna Treene, Sam Baker
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Trump prepares to announce Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court replacement

Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Photo: Matt Cashore/Notre Dame University via Reuters

President Trump is preparing to nominate federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, a favorite of both the social conservative base and Republican elected officials, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republican sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Barrett would push the already conservative court further and harder to the right, for decades to come, on the most important issues in American politics — from abortion to the limits of presidential power. If confirmed, she would give conservatives a 6-3 majority on the high court.

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