WHEN THE boxer Mike Tyson was asked ahead of a fight whether he was concerned about an opponent’s plan, he was blunt: “Everybody has a plan ‘til they get punched in the mouth.” With NATO it has been the other way around.
WINTERS IN LIMA, Peru’s capital, are dreary. By now the city is normally enveloped in a cold mist. This year, though, daytime temperatures are around 21°C (70°F). Ice-cream sellers are still doing brisk business at Lima’s beaches. “Will there be a winter this year?” ask headlines in local newspapers.
FEW QUESTIONS in the Middle East evoke such dread as “why aren’t you married?” It signals a judgmental grilling. Anyone can play interrogator: parents, taxi drivers—even an American president.
ON JULY 1ST Elon Musk caused a stir by limiting the number of tweets visible to Twitter users in a single day. Perhaps he was inspired by the High Court of Karnataka, a big south-Indian state, which the day before had issued its own argument for restricting tweets.
Get ready for some big British celebrations in 2030. By then, if Rishi Sunak is to be believed, the country will be “a science and technology superpower”.
The Federal Reserve decided to leave its key interest rate unchanged at a range of 5% to 5.25%. It was the first time that America’s central bank left the rate on hold following ten consecutive increases, which started in March 2022. However, it indicated that it would probably lift the rate twice again this year.
Elon Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino as chief executive of Twitter, five months after he said he would relinquish the role. Mr Musk took over the company last October. Ms Yaccarino comes from NBCUniversal, where she was in charge of advertising.
In an attempt to stave off more banking turmoil, regulators in California took control of First Republic Bank, a regional lender based in San Francisco, and placed it into federal receivership. Much of the bank was then sold to JPMorgan Chase following a bidding auction.
Elon Musk said he would launch a new artificial-intelligence platform called TruthGPT as a rival to ChatGPT and other generative-AI bots, somewhat contradicting his recent call for a moratorium on developing such technology.
Oil prices rose sharply after OPEC+ announced a surprise cut to production. The cartel said it wanted to support stability in the market, which is another way of saying it didn’t like the dip in oil prices in mid-March. It also wanted to deter speculators who have been betting on softer oil prices.
The Economist is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally that focuses on current affairs, International Business, politics, Technology, and Culture.
The Economist is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally that focuses on current affairs, International Business, politics, Technology, and Culture.
The adage that Europe is forged in crisis may be about to acquire a refinement. By the time a response to any given crisis is operational, which takes a while in a 27-country bloc, there is a good chance that the crisis will be more or less over.
“It is time for the left to come to power,” says Nicole Gómez, a student in Bogotá. “We are tired of the inequality, and of everything staying the same.” She and the rest of the Colombian electorate go to the polls on May 29th to elect a new president. The right-wing incumbent, Iván Duque, is stepping down after his constitutionally-allotted one term in office.
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