Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said U.S. governors should require masks for three months to stop the surge of coronavirus infections across the country, an approach he said would save more than 40,000 lives.President Donald Trump responded by saying such rules would be unenforceable. Cases are rising again in Italy, while Greece is imposing new business restrictions and more infections have appeared in New Zealand. There have been 20.1 million confirmed infections worldwide, and at least 760,000 deaths due to the virus. About one-quarter of all fatalities and more than one-fifth or all infections are in America, where more than one-third of those surveyed said they won’t get vaccinated when a shot becomes available. Read the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories

U.S. retail sales rose at a slower pace last month than expected, according to data from the Commerce Department. A separate report showed consumer sentiment remained weak in August. The Federal Reserve said total output at factories, mines and utilities rose 3% in July from the prior month, which was in line with projections. “The economy still has momentum,” said Michael Gapen, Barclays’s chief U.S. economist. “The open question is whether we are going to have enough momentum to carry that through into September and October.” On Friday, stocks were hanging around their all-time highs while gold has been falling.

Citigroup is trying to recover almost $900 million it mistakenly paid to lenders locked in a bitter fight with Revlon over an asset transfer. Some lenders are refusing to give the money back.

The large majority of U.S. states are set to allow mail-in voting this year in response to the pandemic, and the U.S. Postal Service, already under fire for cutting hours and capacity, has reportedly told a large majority of states that it won’t guarantee delivery of all ballots in time. Former President Barack Obama said Trump is trying to “actively kneecap the Postal Service.” Trump’s threats to veto any bailout bill that includes aid for the Post Office (because he opposes mail-in voting, though he has reportedly requested his own mail-in ballot) set off a firestorm of voter suppression allegations. But the second recession rescue package faces other obstacles. In addition to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s insistence that businesses, schools and colleges be immunized from litigation if employees, customers or students fall ill or die from Covid-19, demands by Democrats for robust financial help to states and cities is also a major sticking point. A Moody’s Analytics report said that, without more assistance, state and local governments will be forced to make budget cuts that could shave as much as 3 percentage points from the pace of economic growth and result in the loss of about 4 million jobs.

Facebook joined a growing list of developers to publicly criticize Apple over its revenue-sharing policy for in-app purchases, suggesting the iPhone maker’s fee structure is hurting small businesses when they can least afford it.

Burundi wants Belgium and Germany to pay $43 billion in reparations for all the damage done during decades of colonial rule over the East African nation.

Foreign investors tempted a year ago into buying Nigerian debt paying 13% interest are now unable to move their cash out of the country. And it gets worse.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. made his clearest statement yet that a grand jury probe of Donald Trump goes beyond investigating 2016 payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

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What you’ll want to read tonight in Bloomberg Green

Blame Climate Change for Your Summer Misery

Cue the headlines showing yet another temperature record above the Arctic circle, fires deep in the Amazon and more intense floods and droughts everywhere in between. Also look for the climate skeptics who say it’s just summer in the northern hemisphere, how it’s been hot in the past and how we need to look at statistics rather than headlines and emotions. Well let’s do just that.

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