As Tim Walz speaks at the Democratic National Convention tonight, both campaigns are trying to define him. Mr. Walz himself makes it interesting. His career arc spans from representing rural conservatives to signing bills that move Minnesota leftward.

• Abortion votes: Voters in Arizona and Montana will be able to decide whether they want to protect the right to an abortion in their state constitutions. On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court handed down a ruling that clears the way for the issue to remain on the ballot, and Montana’s secretary of state certified its abortion measure to appear on the ballot.
• China trade war: The Chinese Commerce Ministry says it will launch an investigation into subsidies given by the European Union and EU member countries for milk and cheese products, which could lead to tariffs on their export to China.
• U.K. riots: Pakistan’s police say they have arrested Farhan Asif, a freelance web developer, and charged him with cyberterrorism for his alleged role in spreading misinformation on YouTube and Facebook that led to widespread rioting in the United Kingdom earlier this month.

Read these news briefs.

Michelle Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with a speech that went beyond the “Yes, we can!” of yesteryear, our cultural commentator writes, while maintaining a focus on hope, dignity, and inclusiveness.

School choice, civil rights, and a possible Project 2025 agenda are fueling debates in the U.S. about public schooling. How is the undercurrent of education playing out in the 2024 presidential race? 

India has long struggled to tackle gender-based violence. But as Kolkata reels from a brutal attack on a young doctor, some protesters point to neighboring Bangladesh as proof that with enough solidarity, change is possible.

China’s expansions in the South China Sea are shifting power dynamics in the valuable, disputed waterways, complicating efforts to maintain peace.

Tourism is making some of the world’s great tourist destinations unlivable for their own residents. Places like Barcelona are trying to find a balance between affordability for locals and welcoming accommodations for guests.

What could become the world’s largest solar farm – to be built across 47 square miles in Australia’s sunny outback – gained a government green light Aug. 21. That alone is good news for the climate. The $20 billion commercial project would provide enough electricity to power 3 million homes, helping to turn a major coal-mining country into a renewable energy superpower.

Yet the project by Australia’s SunCable company may be about more than clean electrons and a cooler planet. It would also help break a big barrier for expanding clean energy – national borders – and add to a new campaign among 11 Asian countries to cooperate on decarbonization.

Known as the Australia-Asia Power Link, the solar project aims to send at least a fifth of its power – with Indonesia’s permission – through a 2,670-mile subsea cable to Singapore. That island nation has far less land and fewer sunny days than Australia’s Northern Territory. A massive array of batteries would store the electricity for peak use.

“No country can go it alone, nor can governments by themselves make it happen,” said Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong last year when he was prime minister. “When it comes to climate change, only by working together can we get to net zero.”

This example of a cross-regional energy grid will help Southeast Asia transition away from its high dependency on fossil fuels. And it is one more effort to ensure peace in a region beset by China’s maritime aggression, a civil war in Myanmar, and nuclear threats by North Korea.

“The confluence of geopolitical anxieties and uncertainties about growth prospects have sparked a surge of cooperative initiatives in the region,” wrote Watanabe Tetsuya, president of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, in the East Asia Forum.  

The European Union – an icon in how to restore regional peace following devastating wars – started in a similar fashion. After World War II, France and Germany worked together with four other countries to set up a supranational body to govern the coal, steel, and iron industries. The European Coal and Steel Community planted the seed for the creation of the current 27-nation bloc that has become a global champion for rights, liberties – and clean energy.

In 2023, Japan launched a similar effort in collaboration around energy with Australia and nine Southeast Asian nations. Known as the Asia Zero Emission Community, it already has hundreds of carbon-reducing projects in the works.

As Europe has already shown, when countries pool resources and help integrate a region, it cools the passions of nationalism and keeps the peace. It might also help cool the planet.