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What you need to know about the coronavirus today

France says it must move fast
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the government must move fast to head off a deadly new wave of the coronavirus as its reproduction level has jumped, with infections surging in the Paris region and among young people.

France’s COVID-19 reproduction “R” number is now 1.4, Castex told a news briefing, indicating that the overall epidemic is growing. “The virus is spreading all over the country,” he said. “The spread of the epidemic can be exponential if we do not react quickly.”

Grandparents are being told not to pick up their grandchildren from school as the government is worried about hospitals being overwhelmed.

A handshake and a dearth of masks
When Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump greeted supporters at an outdoor venue on Wednesday night for the Republican National Convention, there were few masks in sight - and Pence exchanged at least one handshake. The scene provided a stark contrast to last week’s nearly all-virtual Democratic convention, when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris scrapped plans to travel to Wisconsin because of the coronavirus and instead delivered speeches in a mostly empty event center.

South Korea probes virus outbreak in apartment block
South Korea is investigating a new coronavirus outbreak among about 28 people in an apartment block in Seoul, the capital, as it reported the biggest daily rise in infections since March. City officials planned to test 500 residents at a temporary site in front of the block and sent a team of specialists to investigate how people on five different floors got infected, an official said.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Jobs, WPP, Betting, Chinese dairy.
Recruitment agency Hays plans staff cuts, and advertising giant WPP will resume dividend payouts. Plus: The vice industries that may do well even after lockdown. Catch up with the latest financial insights.

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Top News

Hurricane Laura made landfall early today in southwestern Louisiana as one of the most powerful storms to hit the state, with forecasters warning it could push a massive wall of water 40 miles inland from the sea.

A hurried evacuation of a half million Texas and Louisiana residents ahead of the storm has clogged highways, while COVID-19 precautions slowed public transportation for evacuees who needed it and complicated temporary housing arrangements.

Republican National Convention
Vice President Mike Pence cast the re-election of President Donald Trump as critical to preserving America’s safety and economic viability, while cautioning Democrat Joe Biden would set the country on a path to socialism and decline. Here are four takeaways from Day Three.

“The hard truth is you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” Pence told the crowd seated on a lawn at historic Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

Civil unrest
Wisconsin - Investigators of a shooting by a white police officer that left a Black man, Jacob Blake Jr., paralyzed and the town of Kenosha, Wisconsin, torn by civil strife found a knife belonging to Blake at the scene of the confrontation, the state attorney general said on Wednesday.

Minnesota - The governor of Minnesota declared a state of peacetime emergency in the city of Minneapolis after violent protests erupted on Wednesday night following the death of a Black homicide suspect who police say shot himself.