The Economist Latin America January 9, 2021

Indonesia, Japan and South Korea were among the Asian countries imposing new restrictions in an effort to battle a surge in covid-19 infections in the region. Vaccinations in Japan are not expected to begin until the end of February. India’s drug regulator approved the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. It also cleared Covaxin, a vaccine developed by an Indian company that is still in the clinical-trial stage. A national lockdown in Germany was extended by three weeks, to January 31st. Strict curbs on travel were imposed in areas with the highest infection rates. Israel continued to lead the world in vaccination per person, inoculating 16% of its people by January 5th. Russia said it had vaccinated 1m people with the Sputnik V jab. Many Russians are refusing it; Vladimir Putin says he will have the jab,…

Politics Despite the storming of the Capitol building by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, more than 100 Republican congressmen and a handful of senators persisted in their challenge to the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in America’s presidential election. The protesters were egged on by Mr Trump. Rather than condemn the violence he said they were “very special”. Mr Biden’s win was eventually confirmed by Congress. Earlier, ten former secretaries of defence, including Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, felt it necessary to write an open letter reminding the armed forces of their “solemn obligations” to support the constitution. Democrats won both run-off elections in Georgia for Senate seats, giving the party control of the chamber. Raphael Warnock was one of the victors. He is the first black person…

Politics Despite the storming of the Capitol building by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, more than 100 Republican congressmen and a handful of senators persisted in their challenge to the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in America’s presidential election. The protesters were egged on by Mr Trump. Rather than condemn the violence he said they were “very special”. Mr Biden’s win was eventually confirmed by Congress. Earlier, ten former secretaries of defence, including Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, felt it necessary to write an open letter reminding the armed forces of their “solemn obligations” to support the constitution. Democrats won both run-off elections in Georgia for Senate seats, giving the party control of the chamber. Raphael Warnock was one of the victors. He is the first black person from the…

Indonesia, Japan and South Korea were among the Asian countries imposing new restrictions in an effort to battle a surge in covid-19 infections in the region. Vaccinations in Japan are not expected to begin until the end of February. India’s drug regulator approved the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. It also cleared Covaxin, a vaccine developed by an Indian company that is still in the clinical-trial stage. A national lockdown in Germany was extended by three weeks, to January 31st. Strict curbs on travel were imposed in areas with the highest infection rates. Israel continued to lead the world in vaccination per person, inoculating 16% of its people by January 5th. Russia said it had vaccinated 1m people with the Sputnik V jab. Many Russians are refusing it; Vladimir Putin says he will…

FOUR YEARS ago Donald Trump stood in front of the Capitol building to be sworn into office and promised to end “American carnage”. His term is concluding with a sitting president urging a mob to march on Congress—and then praising it after it had resorted to violence. Be in no doubt that Mr Trump is the author of this lethal attack on the heart of American democracy. His lies fed the grievance, his disregard for the constitution focused it on Congress and his demagoguery lit the fuse. Pictures of the mob storming the Capitol, gleefully broadcast in Moscow and Beijing just as they were lamented in Berlin and Paris, are the defining images of Mr Trump’s unAmerican presidency. The Capitol violence pretended to be a show of power. In fact it…

THE URGENCY of vaccination against covid-19 is growing by the day. Two new variants of the virus, spotted in Britain and South Africa, are spreading around the world (see Britain section). Although they do not seem to be more deadly, they are a lot more contagious, threatening to overwhelm hospitals with patients too numerous to be treated. Salvation lies in rapid vaccination. However, vaccines will remain scarce throughout 2021, even as deaths mount along with the sense that protection lies tantalisingly out of reach for billions of people (see Briefing). Getting the details right could save hundreds of thousands of lives. Getting them wrong will shatter people’s faith in their governments, in the benefits of public health and in the world’s ability to work together. Start with government, where accusations have already…