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Biden lays out his case

Balance of Power
Bloomberg

To hear Joe Biden tell it, the choice couldn't be starker.

The former vice president challenged Americans to embrace the "path of hope and light" as he accepted the Democratic Party's nomination last night.

As Justin Sink reports, it was an emotive and emphatic speech that cast November's election as not merely the choice of a president but a fundamental referendum on the nation's character.

"May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight," Biden said, vowing to "be an ally of the light, not the darkness."

The speech to a near-empty auditorium, because of the coronavirus pandemic, capped four days of events aimed at energizing Democrats — and non-Democrats who don't necessarily want to back Donald Trump — to turn out and vote for change on Nov. 3.

Republicans hold their own convention next week, an event that will provide a sharp counterpoint to Democrats' vision for and of America.

Trump already has spent weeks making the case against "Slow Joe Biden." 

Next week he'll have the spotlight. And that's where Trump's most comfortable.

Kathleen Hunter 

Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris next to Jill Biden outside the Chase Center yesterday during the convention in Wilmington, Delaware.

Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

Click here for Bloomberg's most compelling political images from the past week and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

Global Headlines

Diplomatic wrangling | Secretary of State Michael Pompeo notified the United Nations of the U.S. demand to reinstate global sanctions against Iran and accused European allies who oppose the move of appeasing Tehran. France, Germany and the U.K. said they remained committed to the 2015 nuclear deal, while diplomats from several nations indicated they saw no need for further steps because the U.S. action was void of meaning.

Under arrest | After former top Trump aide Steve Bannon joined the online campaign We Build the Wall to raise private funds for the construction of a barrier along the Mexico border, he made clear there'd be "no deals I don't approve." That's according to an indictment unsealed in federal court yesterday after Bannon was arrested aboard a yacht in Long Island Sound and charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and launder money in the project.

Campaign 2020 

There are 74 days until the U.S. election. Here's the latest on the race for control of the White House and Congress.

The Republican National Convention will feature a number of rising stars, including former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senators Tim Scott and Joni Ernst, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.

Other developments:

Sign up to receive daily election updates as a direct mobile notification on Twitter. Simply click on this link and like the tweet.

Medical fight | A doctor at the Siberian hospital where Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after a suspected poisoning said today that tests showed no traces of toxins. Aides to the Kremlin critic insist he was poisoned and have blamed President Vladimir Putin. They say the hospital is refusing to release Navalny for medical treatment abroad after a plane arrived ready to transport him to Germany.

Navalny speaks with journalists during a rally in Moscow on July 19.

Photographer: Maxim Zmeyev/AFP via Getty Images

After Lukashenko | While Putin is publicly supporting his besieged ally Alexander Lukashenko after disputed elections, some around the Kremlin leader are starting to imagine life without Belarus's longtime ruler, Irina Reznik and Evgenia Pismennaya write. Lukashenko may not survive the backlash against him and Russia may gain more by reaching an understanding with the opposition than by intervening to prop up his regime, according to people with access to Putin's inner circle.

Food security | As China confronts the pandemic, devastating floods, locusts and tensions with its biggest trading partners, a new campaign to prevent Chinese citizens from wasting food is raising questions about the country's ability to feed its population of 1.4 billion. However, experts suggest President Xi Jinping's "Clean Plates" campaign could be focused on reducing China's dependence on food imports in preparation for possible Covid-19 related supply disruptions.

What to Watch

  • U.K. and European Union officials fear they're at risk of failing to nail down a Brexit deal after a British attempt this week to reboot the discussions faltered.
  • U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will be asked today when he testifies before a Senate panel to justify postal service cutbacks before an election in which mailed ballots are expected to reach record numbers.
  • India is stepping up its curbs on Chinese activity in the country, adding extra scrutiny for visas and reviewing Beijing's links with local universities as relations continue to worsen.

Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). The president of which African nation was overthrown this week in a military coup? Send us your answers and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

And finally ... The church at the center of South Korea's new coronavirus outbreak has proved key to boosting South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating. His popularity rose for the first time in three months after he confronted the Sarang Jeil Presbyterian Church — which has been connected to the surge in infections — calling for those who illegally act against the government's quarantine measures to be arrested.

Government officials wearing protective clothing stand at a temporary checkpoint to restrict access to the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul on Aug. 17.

Photographer: Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images

 

 

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