Huge swaths of the U.S. population, mainly those living in Republican-leaning areas, are turning down vaccines against Covid-19, helping to inflate the number of delta variant cases. The virus is killing hundreds of Americans daily, and it’s hard to keep tabs on where the hot spots are around the planet. The World Health Organization told South Africa to brace for a surge of infections after days of riots and looting; Singapore is racing to counter a growing cluster around night clubs, and Australia is paying the price for failing to heed early warnings.

What you’ll want to read this weekend

Pressure is mounting on companies to pass on extra costs to consumers. Lumber futures may have plunged, but it’ll take a while before that feeds through to the checkout counter. Inflation may—or may not—be transitory, depending on who’s talking.

International students are encountering a host of issues just to get to a U.S. campus, though the Biden administration is finally moving toward lifting a ban on travel from Europe. For Americans wanting a new passport, the backlog is up to 18 weeks. Then there’s travel between the U.S. and China, before and after.

The creator of Dogecoin showed up to remind the world that the cryptocurrency he created as a joke is largely a sham. Indeed, adding crypto to your retirement plan could prove disastrous, Alexis Leondis writes for Bloomberg Opinion.

Electronic trash is expected to double in the next 30 years, so making products that last longer can help in a big way. Forest wars are going to play a part in Europe’s big overhaul of its climate policy.

A French startup created a guilt-free version of foie gras, and it tastes delicious. If the grill is more your thing, here are five tips to turn up the heat.

Gourmet fried foie gras

Photographer: Cyril Marcilhacy/Bloomberg

What you’ll need to know next week

• It’s Jeff Bezos’s turn to go to space, and he’s taking a young person.
• Boris Johnson faces a backlash on his plans for “Freedom Day.”
• Netflix’s results may indicate when it will make video games.
• South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, appears in court.
• The Tokyo Olympics start a year late and beset by controversy.

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What you’ll want to read in Businessweek

The Next Pandemic Could Be Averted With AI

Covid-19 has accelerated research efforts into stopping infectious diseases from jumping to humans, and on better vaccines to fight them. The urgency is mounting, but spending on pandemic prevention still needs to increase by about $15 billion a year. Here are five efforts under way to give governments, scientists and companies a head start before the next deadly pathogen emerges.

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