(Reuters) – -Ahead of the final weekend before Election Day, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will barnstorm across battleground states in the Midwest, including Wisconsin, where the coronavirus pandemic has exploded anew.

-Trump and Biden showcased their contrasting approaches to the pandemic as they rallied supporters on Thursday in the battleground state of Florida.

-Politics aside, there is one outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election that could bring some relief to Pentagon planners: a clear-cut victory. By either candidate.[L1N2HK3MI]

-A federal appeals court said on Thursday Minnesota’s plan to count absentee ballots received after Election Day was illegal, siding with Republicans in the battleground state. This came a day after the U.S. Supreme Court left in place North Carolina and Pennsylvania’s extended deadlines for receiving mail-in ballots.[L1N2HK33B]

-Trump’s differences with Biden extend into space: with the two candidates offering contrasting visions for a moon mission and funding for the International Space Station. [L1N2HJ2BD]

BY THE NUMBERS

– More than 80 million Americans have cast ballots in the U.S. presidential election, according to a tally on Thursday from the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida, setting the stage for the highest participation rate in over a century.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

– Faced with a veto from the United States, the World Trade Organization has two unpalatable options for selecting its next leader – override its biggest paymaster with a vote or hope for a change of U.S. president and wait until he takes charge.

INVESTOR VIEW

-Biden, seeking to allay concerns that his plan to fight climate change would harm the economy, has promised a “clean energy revolution that creates millions of unionized middle-class jobs” if elected. That vision, however, would require policy makers and clean-energy companies to overcome some major challenges in replacing the number and quality of fossil-fuel jobs that could be lost in a transition away from coal and oil.