Today we'll be discussing some of the biggest stories around the world, including Britain's new inflation figures and the new Chilean constitution. We'll also be talking to Professor Katie Hayward about the UK government's decision to change the Brexit deal and the odds that will lead to a trade war between the UK and the EU, but first the Sri Lankan petrol shortage.

Sri Lanka's government has claimed that it's running very, very low on petrol. They've specifically stated that they only have enough petrol to last one more day, and that this in turn could mean blackouts that last for up to 15 hours a day. Sri Lanka's problems unfortunately don't stop there, either. Sri Lanka is facing an additional shortage of 14 different types of medicine, including heart disease drugs and anti-rabies vaccines. This is all part of Sri Lanka's wider ongoing economic crisis, which was sparked by the COVID pandemic, increased oil prices, and tax cuts by the ruling Rajapaksas. For their part, the government is trying to ease the burden on the country by, for example, planning to privatize Sri Lankan airlines and seeking approval from the treasury to increase bill issuance to 4 trillion rupees, but whether this will be enough is as yet unknown.

Yesterday, President Biden authorized the redeployment of just under 500 U.S. troops in Somalia, reversing a decision made in late 2020 by then President Trump to withdraw from the east African country. A senior administration official said that the move was to enable a more effective fight against Al-Shabab. However, the troops will not be engaging in direct combat, according to the Pentagon, and will instead work on training, advising, and equipping Somali forces. This move still contrasts with Biden's promise to end forever wars, although the administration has described this redeployment as a persistent presence rather than a permanent one. The White House has also pointed out that these American troops have been traveling in and out of Somalia on an episodic basis since Trump's withdrawal, so it's actually a repositioning of forces already in the theater, or at least that's the take of the White House press secretary.

Moving to the UK, The Office of National Statistics has announced that inflation has reached a 40-year high of 9 percent in Britain and has even suggested that it could reach 10 percent later in the year. According to the ONS, about three quarters of this increased inflation figure is due to the rise in energy and gas prices. The UK is also currently living through a cost of living crisis, with many household budgets being pushed to breaking point. In addition to high levels of inflation, Britain's also struggling with surging fuel prices, which in April were the highest on record, as well as higher food prices, which were up 6.7 percent last month, higher water bills, higher energy and gas bills, higher cost of postage and higher interest rates. Clearly, there's a lot of pressure on chancellor Rishi Sunak to bring additional support in to help those who are struggling most.

Next up, Chile's constitutional convention has finalized a new draft constitution that could replace the country's current one that was introduced in 1980 following the Pinochet dictatorship. At a lengthy 499 articles the draft will now be worked on by three commissions to condense it, write a preamble and plot a potential transition from the old constitution to the new one and the country will then approve or reject the final document in a referendum in September. By the way, this whole process came about in the wake of massive nationwide protests in 2019 largely against deep-seated inequality in the country. Then in 2020 Chileans voted overwhelmingly in favor of drafting a new constitution and later delivered a victory to independent left-wing and indigenous groups when electing the convention that's been drafting the document over the last 10 months. So with those influences leading the group it's maybe unsurprising that the convention's president said that this is an ecological and equal constitution with social rights at its very core, but we'll have to wait until later this year to find out if it gets the Chilean people's sign off.

Finally, yesterday the foreign secretary of the UK LIZ trusts set out the government's plan to change the Northern Ireland protocol, the bit of the Brexit deal that handles the Irish border. Trust announced that a bill would soon be introduced in the UK to disapply parts of the protocol in response to what she described as the grave situation in Northern Ireland. The bill is set to ensure that goods not destined for the EU are freed of unnecessary bureaucracy. It would also allow businesses in Northern Ireland to choose between UK and EU standards, as well as allowing the government to tax and spend in Northern Ireland as it wishes. Unlike the last time the UK tried to legislate over the protocol, though, trust is clear that the bill would not break international law. However, the EU have already said that if the UK continues with such a bill it will respond with all measures at its disposal, so it's clear that the two sides disagree on the legality of such a move.