Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Democrats to open virtual convention with a show of unity for Biden Democrats will kick off a four-day virtual convention on Monday with a display of party unity for U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and the broad coalition aiming to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in November.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump defends U.S. Postal Service changes, supports more in-person voting: Fox News interview

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday defended his administration's efforts to implement changes at the U.S. Postal Service ahead of November's election, despite an outcry from Democrats and other critics, and said he would support efforts to expand in-person voting. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said he would support more voting booths, early voting and other efforts but reiterated his attacks against mail-in voting. Factbox: Who is speaking at the Democratic National Convention - and why

This week's Democratic National Convention will feature a lineup of heavyweight politicians, rising stars and everyday Americans making the case for why Joe Biden should be elected U.S. president on Nov. 3. Here is a look at the speakers who will be featured during four nights of virtual programming kicking off on Monday. Democrats step up pressure against U.S. postal cuts, Pelosi calls lawmakers back to Washington

U.S. Democrats stepped up pressure on Sunday against a cost-cutting campaign by President Donald Trump's appointed Postal Service chief that they fear will hold up mail-in ballots in November's election, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling lawmakers back and several states considering legal action. Top Democrats in Congress called on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and another top postal official to testify this month at a hearing on a wave of cuts that has slowed mail delivery across the country, alarming lawmakers ahead of the Nov. 3 election when up to half of U.S. voters could cast ballots by mail. As Democrats prepare to nominate Joe Biden, widespread fears about unfair election

With less than 80 days to go before the U.S. presidential election, it looks like Joe Biden's race to lose. Yet, as Democrats nationwide gather online this week to nominate him as their party's choice to challenge President Donald Trump on Nov. 3, many fear Biden may just do that - for factors almost entirely out of his control. Factbox: Why North Carolina and Wisconsin, U.S. political convention hosts, matter for Trump and Biden

Democrats and Republicans chose Wisconsin and North Carolina, two battleground states that will help decide the Nov. 3 presidential election, to host their nominating conventions before the coronavirus forced them to scale back the events. Here is a look at how Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are faring in each of the politically important states. Trump offers counter-programming to Democrats with rallies in four states

With visits to four states scheduled, U.S. President Donald Trump plans to inject himself as often as possible this week into Democrats' carefully choreographed plans to nominate Joe Biden as their presidential candidate. At the same time, Trump's travel this week, to states likely to prove crucial to whether he wins a second term, promise to show a framework for how he will campaign this fall, given that the coronavirus pandemic has curtailed the mass arena rallies that the president favors. Thermometer in Death Valley, California shows highest global temperature in over 100 years

A thermometer at Death Valley's Furnace Creek in the Southern California desert has soared to 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 Celsius), the highest global temperature in more than a century, the U.S. National Weather Service said. "If verified, this will be the hottest temperature officially verified since July of 1913," NWS Las Vegas, which owns the automated observation system, said of the reading on Sunday afternoon, emphasizing that it was preliminary. U.S. university insured Chinese student tuition against virus. Then COVID-19 hit

After becoming dean of the University of Illinois business school in 2015, Jeffrey Brown worried that politics or a virus would choke off a major source of revenue for his school: Chinese graduate students. So, in 2017, along with the engineering school, Brown bought insurance worth up to $61 million to protect the university against such losses, including $36 million due to a pandemic. His worst fears came true earlier this year when the coronavirus hit. Explainer: How the coronavirus changed U.S. political conventions, perhaps forever

The U.S. political convention, a presidential campaign ritual dating to the 1830s, is being reinvented on the fly after being short-circuited by the coronavirus pandemic - much like the campaign itself. Here is a look at how the Democratic and Republican conventions will be different this year - and maybe for campaigns to come. Democrats to open virtual convention with a show of unity for Biden

Democrats will kick off a four-day virtual convention on Monday with a display of party unity for U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and the broad coalition aiming to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in November. Biden's top primary rival, Bernie Sanders, former first lady Michelle Obama and Republican John Kasich, a former Ohio governor who ran against Trump in 2016, will headline a parade of speakers appearing from around the country to make a virtual case for a Biden presidency, organizers said.