World

America’s annual rate of  inflation as measured by the official consumer-price index jumped again in March to 8.5%, from 7.9% in February. Inflation is being fuelled by surging energy and commodity prices.

The yields on short-term American bonds rose significantly, an indicator that markets are expecting hefty interest-rate rises from the Federal Reserve. Pressure on bond yields was felt globally. Japan’s central bank offered to buy an unlimited amount of government bonds, an intervention designed to protect its 0.25% cap on Japan’s ten-year yield.

THE BATTLE over Western Sahara has long felt as sluggish as the region’s barely shifting sand dunes. It is almost half a century since Morocco claimed sovereignty over the slice of desert, previously a Spanish possession, that runs 900km (560 miles) along the Atlantic coast, south of Morocco proper.

IF TIME IS money, then Beitbridge must be a most expensive place. Late last year lorries carrying, among other things, cobalt from Congo, copper from Zambia and tea from Malawi snaked for miles as they waited to cross the Limpopo river into South Africa.

THE WORD “robot” was coined in 1920 by the Czech playwright Karel Capek. In “R.U.R.” (“Rossum’s ...