| Leadership matters | While the final scorecards on handling the coronavirus aren't in, it's clear some leaders have revealed their weaknesses: Xi's fondness for secrecy, Trump's tendency toward politicization and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's bluster, which almost cost him his life. As Marc Champion explains, much of the political impact from mistakes has been obscured by a "rally around the flag" effect, but that's starting to fade. Bread lines | Food bank volunteers in Europe are seeing new faces among the people who are struggling to feed themselves. The surge in bread lines is a sign that Europe's safety nets are failing to catch new classes of vulnerable people, even with vast emergency aid programs. An economy in deep recession raises the specter of an increase in income inequality in a region that's traditionally better at tackling the problem than the U.S.  Covid campaigning | Trump credits his signature rallies for his improbable White House victory and the roaring economy he once presided over as his best argument for re-election. But with the pandemic destroying both, he's trying to compensate by turning official events into the next best thing. The visits, often to see manufacturers of medical equipment, feature the same themes and campaign tactics. Default time | Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez faces a defining moment as the nation braces for its ninth sovereign debt default. After five months in office grappling with recession, 50% inflation and a crash in the unofficial peso rate, Fernandez is trying to strike a deal with bondholders over the coming weeks to prevent more chaos. But his administration is planning to miss a delayed interest payment on about $500 million due today. Bloody summer | When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took control of the disputed Kashmir region last August, he said it would bring India's only Muslim-majority state closer to the rest of the country and improve its economy. Nine months on, all signs are pointing in the opposite direction. As melting snow opens mountain passes in the Pir Panjal Ranges that militants from Pakistan use to cross into India-controlled Kashmir, security chiefs are seeing an upswing in violence. What to Watch: Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). Besides the U.S., which country is in a trade spat with China over its calls for an investigation into the origin of Covid-19? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net. And finally ... Bananas have a claim to be the modern world's first globalized product and are still the most exported fruit on the planet. Yet the trade that began some 130 years ago is now a potent symbol of the underlying fragility of globalization. As Alan Crawford and Stephan Kueffner explain, how it adapts and responds may suggest a path toward rebuilding international consensus in the post-pandemic era.  Workers harvest bananas at a plantation in Milagro, Ecuador on May 13. Photographer: Vicente Gaibor | 
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