| Convention nixed | Trump is seeking to revive his campaign by canceling the multi-day convention for the Republican Party to nominate him for a second term, as Florida, the planned host state, posted record coronavirus deaths. He'd been under pressure to do so as criticism of his handling of the pandemic mounts. - Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen was ordered freed from prison to home confinement as a judge ruled he'd abruptly returned to jail in retaliation for a planned book criticizing his ex-boss.
Ideological shift | Under a leader who returned to power as the coronavirus engulfed Europe, the homeland of Melania Trump is taking a nationalist shift. Prime Minister Janez Jansa — a Marxist-turned right-wing anti-immigrant, a two-time convict and a former dissident journalist — has led Slovenia into the camp of European Union skeptics that laud Donald Trump's brand of polarizing politics, Jan Bratanic and Jasmina Kuzmanovic report. Pension payouts | Chilean President Sebastian Pinera will today sign into law a controversial but popular bill allowing early pension withdrawals amid the pandemic, after bitterly opposing the proposal through its debate in congress. The private pension system is one of the most contentious legacies of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and was a key driver of last year's anti-government protests as pensions often fall below the minimum wage. Grand opening | After a gap of nearly a century, Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia is today echoing with the sound of Islamic prayer, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan among the faithful in the first service since it was converted from a museum back into a mosque. The move — calculated to boost Erdogan's popularity at home and in the Muslim world — drew much international criticism. Still, his supporters are pleased, with hundreds of men sleeping and praying outside overnight.  Istanbul's Hagia Sophia. Photographer: Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Political facade | Morocco's leadership is using Covid-19 to complete a reversal of democratic reforms that made the country a standout in a turbulent region. As Souhail Karam explains, the deep state has taken back control and parliament is being sidelined. But with the North African nation heading for its first recession under King Mohammed VI, the resilience of his 21-year reign will face an unprecedented test. What to Watch: - India slapped trade curbs on some neighbors in a move likely aimed at keeping Chinese businesses out after a border conflict and as economic ties worsen between the two nations.
- Tropical vacation spots across the Caribbean are welcoming back international tourists, but they're giving U.S. citizens the cold shoulder amid fears they might spread the coronavirus.
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been forced to delay until at least Monday the release of Republicans' next major economic relief bill.
Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). In which country is corpse stealing by family members emerging as a challenge to efforts to slow Covid-19? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net. And finally ... Zhang Yiming is a little-known Chinese entrepreneur who built TikTok into one of the most promising franchises on the internet. Now the combative 37-year-old is under pressure from Trump administration threats to ban his app. He's tried building up TikTok's operations in the U.S, reassuring regulators that user data won't be shared outside America, and signaled he'll create 10,000 jobs. It hasn't been enough.  Signage at the TikTok Creator's Lab 2019 event in Tokyo last year. Trump has the power to cripple the business. He could, for example, add TikTok to the U.S. entity list, which would compel American companies such as Apple and Google to drop the service from their app stores. Photographer: Shiho Fukada/Bloomberg | 
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