Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.

In London, I'm Jason Palmer.

And in New York, I'm John Fassman.

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

America's armed forces are struggling to get recruits.

The numbers are as bad as they've been in 50 years.

Thanks to a complex mix of post-pandemic effects and the country's tight job market, American

might might be slipping.

And Joseph Rattsinger was born in a small Bavarian town 95 years ago.

He entered the seminary as a young man.

Eventually becoming Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in over 600 years.

Our obituary's editor reflects on his life and legacy.

But first...

On Sunday, Luiz Ignacio Lula de Silva, or Lula, as he's known, was sworn in as President

of Brazil for the third time.

In a break with an Occurial tradition, his predecessor was not there to mark the

handover.

Jair Bolsonaro, the outgoing right-wing populist, never conceded to feet in the election.

He elected to fly to Florida instead.

Lula wasted no time in laying waste to his record.

He told the country that Bolsonaro and his policies had reaped national destruction.

Destruction that he now has the job of cleaning up.

...