s first primetime speech as Trump's running mate; Biden contracts Covid as his path to victory narrows; Bangladesh protesters call for a nationwide shutdown; and the Paris mayor tests the waters ahead of the Olympics. It's Thursday, July 18th. This is Reuters World News. Bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines. In 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool. Vance has taken his moment in the spotlight, to sell himself to the nation at the Republican National Convention, and pick up his nomination officially. And I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to say, I officially accept, I'm Your nomination to be Vice President of the United States of America. Donald Trump's running mate pitched himself as the son of a neglected industrial Ohio town, who would fight for the working class, if elected Vice President in November. This moment is not about me; it's about all of us, and it's about who we're fighting for. It's about the autoworker in Michigan, wondering why out-of-touch politicians are destroying their jobs. Democrats have pounced on the election campaign for the first time in a decade, and it's not just on Trump's VP pick; portraying him as a loyal extremist. Here's Vice President. Kamala Harris in a video posted to her social media account: Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda. And make no mistake, J.D. Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country. Meanwhile, at President Joe Biden's campaign headquarters, another blow: Biden has tested positive for COVID and is self-isolating in Delaware. Where he continues to face growing calls to step down. California Representative Adam Schiff has become the latest, and most high-profile Democrat, to call on Biden to step aside. ABC News is also reporting that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has also told Biden he should end his campaign. Biden campaign officials have acknowledged there are warning signs in key battleground states. Political reporter Jarrett Renfrow told the Times that Biden's campaign is not over yet, but the potential cover-ups within the campaign. In 2020, Biden won a lot of states that people were surprised Georgia was one, Nevada, Arizona, and did well on his way to a sweeping victory. Right now, those same states seem very challenging for the Biden campaign, and there's really a much narrower path for Biden's victory, and that path involves the blue wall; Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and a weird congressional district in Nebraska. So as it stands, if Biden wins the election, it's going to be a very challenging time for him. Biden wins Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, and loses all the other states, the battleground states he won, The Georgias, the Nevadas, the Arizonas. He will only have 269 electoral votes, that's one vote shy of the 270 needed to win. He has to go fishing for one more vote, And that vote most likely would come from a congressional district in Nebraska, That is essentially Omaha, Nebraska, Nebraska is one of two states that allocates their electoral votes by congressional districts. Bonta dieta has guaranteed their voters Telegraph back to you, Telegraph, in every congressional district. Biden won that congressional district and its lone electoral vote in 2020. If he doesn't win and Trump wins, we would have a 269-269 tie, which would be chaotic. But there are optimists in the Democratic Party, Biden among them, who dismiss the panic. What's their take? He just thinks that the Democrats are going to come home eventually. And there is enough tough anti-Trump sentiment out there that will ride him to victory. And quite frankly, there's not really much of a path for him to exit at the moment anyway. I think the Democratic Party would need some kind of variable that we don't see to kind of get him out. Germany plans to halve its military aid to Ukraine next year. The decision comes at a time when worries are mounting over U.S. appetite for support for Kiev if Donald Trump wins. Donald Trump returns to the White House. Germany hopes Ukraine will be able to foot more of the bill with loans from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets approved by the G7. South Korea's top court has upheld a ruling that a same-sex partner is eligible for spousal health benefits. The move rubber stamps an earlier decision that the National Health Insurance Service should provide equal coverage to a gay couple who filed a suit against the agency for canceling. China says it has stopped arms control talks with the U.S. The foreign ministry says the move is in protest of Washington's arms sales to Taiwan, which China claims as its territory. It's a potentially serious setback for global arms control efforts as Beijing joins Moscow in refusing to continue negotiations on how to curb a nuclear arms race. Time for markets now, and as they say, the chips are down. This week's tech share sell-off gained momentum after a report that the United States was considering tighter curbs on chip exports to China, that's added to comments on Taiwan by Donald Trump that stirred geopolitical concerns over the sector. And if you're interested in risk and economics, check out this week's edition of Econ World with Carmel Crimmins, it's available now wherever you get your podcasts. Protests in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, which have led to universities being shut down, students have demonstrated for several weeks against a quota system for government jobs. And but this week those protests turned deadly, at least six people have died, the anger centers on public sector jobs, a system that's been reintroduced. Allows almost a third of those jobs to be reserved for family members of freedom fighters from the War of Independence in 1971. Sudipto Ganguly is covering this story and explained that this reduction in available jobs has come at a time of concerns about unemployment. The Thaka, at the start of this month, allowed Shaykh Hasina's government to reintroduce the 30% quota into the government jobs, so basically it means there will be fewer jobs and prospects for the students who are protesting. Why we're talking about government jobs because government jobs give you proper wage hikes every year, there are lots. Of privileges so it's always very lucrative for youth basically who are losing out in debt to the government jobs so it's always very looking to start their career. So this led to the protests. It started sporadically, but what Sheikh Hasina did was use a term called the Razakas. This is a term which are used for people who collaborated with the Pakistani army in 1971. That must have angered the protesters. Is there any likelihood she will back down here? We have to remember Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. So she has always been sympathetic towards the freedom fighters and their families. In 2018, she was forced to withdraw this reservation in jobs. Once again, it was protests by the students. This time, Sheikh Hasina seems to be more staunch and she has absolutely declined to talk to the protesting students. The driver of a car that plowed into the terrace of a cafe in Paris yesterday has been arrested, according to prosecutors. The incident left one dead and six injured. France is on high security alert ahead of the Paris Olympics that start on July 26th. Over 100 heads of state and government are set to attend the opening ceremony, with no changes to security planned after the weekend attack on Donald Trump. Lambis Konstantinidis is main operations center chief. As I mentioned, we have very close collaboration with the U.S. security services and its secret service. So we're very confident that we're on the same page, but we have not had to change any of our plans as a result of that very unfortunate incident. The mayor, at least, is keen to prove Paris can make a splash with the games. Anne Hidalgo finally took a dip in the river to try and convince doubters that its waters will be clean enough to hold swimming events. Was she insane? Sorry, sorry. She says not, and that the water was a little cold, but good. Before we go today, it's time for our recommended read. It's a story looking at how Israel can build energy resilience for times of war by building microgrids, which can isolate from a national power network if necessary, and operate independently. You can find a link to it in today's pod description. And for more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. To never miss an episode, subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.