Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Funding high-risk, high-return technology research often falls to governments,

and perhaps the best record is Americas.

Its blue-sky program called DARPA has been so successful that lots of countries are now looking to copy it.

And ahead of today's private funeral of Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia,

our obituaries editor reflects on his life,

a reformer who railed against British colonial rule, an icon of nonviolent struggle,

but in the end, not the savior of his country that he longed to be.

First up, though, Russia is in the midst of its third and most severe wave of COVID-19, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant. Daily deaths have reached six or 700, the highest figures since the coronavirus struck.

The official overall death toll for Russia has surpassed 130,000. But according to the economist's own figures on excess deaths throughout the pandemic, the real tally is closer to half a million,

which suggests significant undercounting.

Vaccines should be the saving grace.

After all, back in August, Russia was the first country to register a COVID vaccine,

its homemade Sputnik V.

In May this year, President Vladimir Putin described the jab as being among the most reliable and safest available.

They are also very modern, and, no-suebbed-soumnia,

as simple and secure, he said, as a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

It's a very, and a notewishn as an as a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

And yet, despite Russia's ready supply of vaccines and a mass inoculation drive

that started relatively early in December 2020, just 17% of the population has received at least one dose.

...