Last dance

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( Today could well be Donald Trump’s last hurrah. Despite his best efforts to overturn his November loss, Trump faces the [final](, official act by Congress confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, [Josh Wingrove]( and [Nancy Cook]( report. Meanwhile votes counted so far from Georgia’s two Senate runoff [elections]( suggest Democrats have a decent chance of taking control of the chamber, decreasing the ability of Republican lawmakers to stonewall Biden’s agenda. Congressional confirmation will close the last pathway for Trump’s supporters to block Biden from moving into the White House on Jan. 20. With a group of Republican lawmakers prepared to [object]( to the process of counting Electoral College votes, what used to be a mere formality has morphed into an unprecedented drama. Trump is putting heavy pressure via his Twitter feed on Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electors, claiming without proof they were fraudulently chosen. He’ll also address a rally near the White House, putting officials in Washington D.C. on alert for potential [violent]( clashes between his supporters and other protesters, [Justin Sink]( and [William Turnton]( write. Efforts to stop Biden’s confirmation are [set]( to fail, as the Democratic-controlled house can overrule any objections. But the dust will take time to settle, not least for Republicans who embraced a man that history may judge as the most controversial American president. — [Michael Winfrey]( Raphael Warnock, who defeated Republican Kelly Loeffler to become Georgia's first Black senator, speaks in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta yesterday. Photographer: Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images Tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. Global Headlines [Police sweep]( | Biden’s pick for secretary of state denounced Hong Kong’s arrest of dozens of opposition figures under a controversial national security law. Police said they picked up 53 people in the operation, including several prominent former lawmakers and an American lawyer, over an informal primary held last July to choose candidates for a legislative election that was subsequently postponed by the government. - The New York Stock Exchange is considering reversing course a [second time]( to delist three major Chinese telecom firms as it struggles to interpret an executive order Trump issued on Nov. 12. - Trump signed an order [banning]( U.S. transactions with eight Chinese apps including Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s digital wallets. [Probe delayed]( | In a rare rebuke, the World Health Organization expressed disappointment with China for delaying the travel of experts to the country to investigate the origin of the coronavirus. It comes despite months of planning between Chinese officials and the WHO team, fueling concerns that Beijing is obstructing efforts to trace the origins of a pandemic that’s killed more than 1.8 million people worldwide. [Pandemic pressure]( | Chancellor Angela Merkel called an emergency cabinet meeting on Germany’s Covid-19 vaccine program amid friction within her government over claims the rollout has been too slow. It comes after senior members of her Social Democrat partners questioned ceding responsibility for procuring vaccines to the European Union, as party tensions rise before September’s national elections. [Sounding bleak]( | Kim Jong Un issued a dire warning at North Korea’s first ruling party congress in five years, saying development plans fell far short of their goals and the party would explore a “new path” for a “big leap forward.” There was no mention so far in state media coverage of the congress — convened to draft a new economic plan and set to run for several days — of any plan to revive talks with the U.S. on the regime’s nuclear arms program under a Biden presidency. Kim at the congress in Pyongyang yesterday. Independent journalists were not given access to the event with this image distributed by the North Korean government. Photographer: 朝鮮通信社/KCNA via KNS [Tracing controversy]( | Singapore’s government defended the use of contact tracing data in police investigations, as a senior lawmaker said information from the widely-adopted Covid-19 tracker program has already been deployed to assist in a murder case. The revelation adds to privacy concerns, with an opposition lawmaker cautioning it could lead to lower usage of the app. Paid Post [QuickBooks Online]( is designed to slash the time you spend managing your business finances by helping you create invoices, track cash flow, and so much more with an affordable monthly subscription. No software installation needed. Get organized now! [Save 50% off Quickbooks Online today](. Intuit Quickbooks What to Watch - Saudi Arabia surprised the market with a [large cut]( in crude production, an assertion of primacy over the global oil industry from the kingdom’s de-facto ruler that also papers over cracks in the OPEC+ coalition. - Tens of millions of vaccine doses are [sitting in storage]( in India despite being authorized for use as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government haggles over pricing with the producer. [And finally]( ... The U.K. is back at the epicenter of Europe’s struggle to contain Covid-19 and that’s raising concerns about an already-stretched healthcare system, with medical staff warning they may be forced to turn people away from hospitals. “There are so many thousands of patients coming in,” says Tom Dolphin, a consultant anesthetist at a London hospital. “The worrying thing is we probably haven’t seen the peak yet from the patients coming who got infected over Christmas and the New Year period.” An ambulance at the Royal Free Hospital in London, U.K. on Monday. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022