The Economist Latin America September 17, 2022

Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as she lay in state in Westminster Hall in London ahead of her funeral. The 96-year-old monarch died on September 8th at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle. Charles III was proclaimed king in the four nations of the United Kingdom, and in the 14 countries where the British monarch is also head of state. Millions of people in Britain and across the world paid their respects to the queen. Run away, run away! A Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv province won back more land in a week than Russia’s army had occupied in five months. Russian soldiers were caught off-guard. Many fled in disorder, abandoning their guns, trucks and even tanks to the advancing Ukrainians. It was…

America’s annual inflation rate dipped in August to 8.3% from 8.5% in July, but month-on-month the consumer-price index unexpectedly rose by 0.1%. The government had hoped that falling petrol prices, now at a six-month low of $3.70 a gallon, would ease inflationary pressures. But core inflation, which does not include volatile energy and food prices, rose sharply. Household electricity bills were up by 15.8%, year on year, the biggest jump since 1981, and natural gas by 33%. Inflation did fall in Britain for the first time in nearly a year, to 9.9%, mostly because of the decrease in petrol prices. The rate is expected to fall again, given the government’s massive energy-relief package, which will cap household bills. Stockmarkets were rattled by the inflation data, which point to another big rise in…

ONE OF THE many excuses Vladimir Putin has given for invading the country next door is that Ukraine and Russia are “one nation”, which should be united under his benign rule. “Do you still think that?” asked Ukraine’s president, as his troops swept thousands of Russian invaders from Kharkiv province this week. Volodymyr Zelensky’s triumphant sarcasm was justified. The Kharkiv counter-offensive, which began on September 5th, marks the most dramatic Russian reversal since Mr Putin abandoned his effort to seize Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, at the end of March (see Europe section). Its significance is not just the liberation of 6,000 square kilometres of territory in a few days—more than Russia had gained in the previous five months. Nor is it Ukraine’s seizure of the tanks, guns and boxes of ammunition…

Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to file past the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as she lay in state in Westminster Hall in London ahead of her funeral. The 96-year-old monarch died on September 8th at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle. Charles III was proclaimed king in the four nations of the United Kingdom, and in the 14 countries where the British monarch is also head of state. Millions of people in Britain and across the world paid their respects to the queen. Run away, run away! A Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv province won back more land in a week than Russia’s army had occupied in five months. Russian soldiers were caught off-guard. Many fled in disorder, abandoning their guns, trucks and even tanks to the advancing Ukrainians.…

America’s annual inflation rate dipped in August to 8.3% from 8.5% in July, but month-on-month the consumer-price index unexpectedly rose by 0.1%. The government had hoped that falling petrol prices, now at a six-month low of $3.70 a gallon, would ease inflationary pressures. But core inflation, which does not include volatile energy and food prices, rose sharply. Household electricity bills were up by 15.8%, year on year, the biggest jump since 1981, and natural gas by 33%. Inflation did fall in Britain for the first time in nearly a year, to 9.9%, mostly because of the decrease in petrol prices. The rate is expected to fall again, given the government’s massive energy-relief package, which will cap household bills. Stockmarkets were rattled by the inflation data, which point to another big…

ON SEPTEMBER 19TH, as Queen Elizabeth II is laid to rest, London will briefly become the centre of the world. In a distant echo of Britain’s imperial standing of a century ago, heads of state from dozens of countries, including President Joe Biden, will witness funeral rites and flummery in Westminster Abbey, while perhaps a billion or more of their citizens watch at home. That is a function of Elizabeth’s longevity. Her 70 years on the throne began in the twilight of that now-vanished era and were packed with state visits and receptions. But it is also a measure of her success. As King Charles III begins his reign amid strife in Britain, populism in the West and a challenge to democratic systems led by China and Russia, this success…