| Covid-19's march | Global cases surpassed 18 million as deaths near 690,000, with the pandemic adding a million infections every four days. Australia's Victoria state tightened restrictions after declaring a state of disaster, while the Philippines reimposed a lockdown in Manila. - Fatalities in Iran may have been almost three times larger than official counts, the BBC reported, which would put the toll as high as 42,000.
- Hong Kong denied it plans to harvest residents' DNA as part of a China-backed virus-testing blitz, as political mistrust complicates the city's efforts to curb an outbreak.
- Singapore will require some incoming travelers who are serving their 14-day stay-home notices outside of dedicated facilities to wear an electronic monitoring device.
Planning for Biden | Wall Street is starting to envision Washington under Joe Biden — a scenario that many executives say they welcome, given Biden's pro-business inner circle, significant campaign contributions from the financial industry and longtime support of credit card companies located in his home state of Delaware. But, as Robert Schmidt and Jesse Hamilton explain, that upbeat view could underestimate the influence of progressive Democrats who are demanding a clampdown on banks, hedge funds and private-equity firms. - Representative Karen Bass, who's among Biden's potential running mates, said yesterday she's not a "Castro sympathizer" after coming under attack from Republicans for her past support for Cuba.
Challenging Putin | Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing the biggest anti-government protests in years. Despite heavy rain, thousands of residents of the Far East city of Khabarovsk marched Saturday for the 22nd straight day of demonstrations over the arrest of their popular local governor. The Kremlin has refrained from a crackdown so far, even amid signs that public anger is evolving into broader demands for Putin to step down.  Protesters at an unauthorized rally in support of Sergei Furgal, the governor of Khabarovsk region, on July 18. Photographer: Aleksandr Yanyshev/AFP via Getty Images Stalled negotiations | Talks in Washington to break a stalemate over a new virus relief package become increasingly urgent this week with millions of jobless Americans left without additional aid and the Senate scheduled to leave Friday for an extended break. Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on some of the biggest sticking points, including extending supplemental unemployment insurance. Sick aide | Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, a close aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has tested positive for coronavirus as the number of cases in the South Asian nation climbed above 1.7 million. Two chief ministers and one state governor also have been hospitalized with Covid-19. India has the most infections after the U.S. and Brazil — and one of the world's fastest growing epidemics, adding more than 50,000 cases each day. What to Watch This Week - Sri Lanka votes to choose a new parliament Wednesday as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeks to consolidate power and mitigate the economic fallout from the pandemic.
- Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko is due to address the nation tomorrow amid an unprecedented challenge to his 26-year rule, as opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya draws huge crowds to rallies ahead of Sunday's presidential elections.
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Guyana's electoral authorities declared opposition candidate Irfaan Ali president, ending a five-month impasse over who will control the South American economy and its massive offshore oil resources. -
Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned less than seven months into the job, warning that conflicting interests threatened to turn the country, suffering its worst financial crisis in decades, into "a failed state." -
Bondholders in Argentina face a deadline tomorrow to accept a government debt-restructuring proposal. Economy Minister Martin Guzman has floated the idea of putting the negotiation on hold, though the most likely scenario is another extension. Thanks to all who responded to our pop quiz Friday and congratulations to Virgile Salmon, who correctly named Belarus as the nation that accused a Kremlin-linked military contractor of plotting to destabilize the country ahead of presidential elections. And finally … Security forces captured one of Mexico's most wanted men after he threatened President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Jose Yepez, known as "El Marro," leads the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, known for stealing fuel and helping plunge the state of Guanajuato into violence that killed 47 police officers last year. Authorities seized members of Yepez's family in June, leading him to threaten retaliation in a video on social media. "This arrest is a big step toward recovering peace," Guanajuato governor Diego Rodriguez wrote on Twitter.  Aerial picture showing soldiers securing a fuel intake in Guanajuato taken in February 2019 during an operation to fight illegal taps on oil and gas pipelines. Photographer: Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images | 
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