The Economist Latin America July 10, 2021

Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, was in a serious but stable condition in hospital after contracting covid-19. In a reciprocal deal Israel said it would send 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that are about to expire to South Korea, where infections are rising. South Korea will return the same number of freshly produced jabs to Israel in September and October. Sydney’s two-week lockdown was extended for another week. Australia’s vaccine programme is not going well. A study found that men in England have been 30% more likely than women to test positive for covid-19 recently. It blamed football fans cramming into pubs to watch the Euro tournament. England beat Denmark 2-1 to reach its first international final since the World Cup in 1966, which, as one or two locals recall, England won. →…

Politics Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, was shot dead at his private residence. The police said that they killed four suspects during a gun battle and had arrested two others. It was unclear who ordered the assassination, or why. Claude Joseph, the interim prime minister, who was due to be replaced this week, said he would take charge as interim president. The opposition had been seeking Mr Moïse’s removal from office, saying his term had expired. In February the government claimed it had uncovered an attempted coup against him. American forces left Bagram airfield, near Kabul, which had been their biggest base in Afghanistan. A small number remain in the capital, largely to protect the American embassy. After 20 years America has effectively given up on the war in Afghanistan, which now looks…

Politics Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, was shot dead at his private residence. The police said that they killed four suspects during a gun battle and had arrested two others. It was unclear who ordered the assassination, or why. Claude Joseph, the interim prime minister, who was due to be replaced this week, said he would take charge as interim president. The opposition had been seeking Mr Moïse’s removal from office, saying his term had expired. In February the government claimed it had uncovered an attempted coup against him. American forces left Bagram airfield, near Kabul, which had been their biggest base in Afghanistan. A small number remain in the capital, largely to protect the American embassy. After 20 years America has effectively given up on the war in Afghanistan, which…

THE PANDEMIC caused a fearsome economic slump, but now a weird, exhilarating boom is in full swing. The oil price has soared, while restaurants and haulage firms are having to fight and flatter to recruit staff. As listed firms signal that profits will hit an all-time high this year, stockmarkets are on a tear. An index produced by JPMorgan Chase and IHS Markit suggests that global growth is at its highest since the exuberant days of 2006. Any escape from covid-19 is a cause for celebration. But today’s booming economy is also a source of anxiety, because three fault lines lie beneath the surface. Together, they will determine who prospers, and whether the most unusual recovery in living memory can be sustained. The first fault line divides the jabs from the jab-nots.…

Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, was in a serious but stable condition in hospital after contracting covid-19. In a reciprocal deal Israel said it would send 700,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine that are about to expire to South Korea, where infections are rising. South Korea will return the same number of freshly produced jabs to Israel in September and October. Sydney’s two-week lockdown was extended for another week. Australia’s vaccine programme is not going well. A study found that men in England have been 30% more likely than women to test positive for covid-19 recently. It blamed football fans cramming into pubs to watch the Euro tournament. England beat Denmark 2-1 to reach its first international final since the World Cup in 1966, which, as one or two locals…

“I WANT TO talk about happy things, man!” protested President Joe Biden in early July, when reporters asked him about the imminent withdrawal of the last American forces from Afghanistan, expected some time in the next few weeks. No wonder he wants to change the subject: America has been fighting in Afghanistan for 20 years. It has spent more than $2trn on the war. It has lost thousands of its own troops and seen the death of tens of thousands of Afghans—soldiers and civilians alike. Now America is calling an end to the whole sorry adventure, with almost nothing to show for it. True, al-Qaeda, which sparked the war by planning the 9/11 attacks from Afghanistan, is no longer much of a force in the country, although it has not been…