On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: With Queen Elizabeth II’s death, what changes in the UK?
Reporter Jordan Mendoza explains. Plus, Ukraine pushes Russia back in a part of the country, reporter Medora Lee gives an update on inflation, President Joe Biden pays tribute to 9/11 victims and the Emmy Awards are tonight.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I’m Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 12th of September, 2022. Today, what changes now that Queen Elizabeth II is gone, plus Ukrainian advances, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
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A hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin has left Balmoral Castle in Scotland. It arrived yesterday in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh at the British monarchy’s residence there, the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The arrival came after a slow procession through the Scottish countryside yesterday as mourners packed streets to say goodbye. Her body’s move came a day after her son, now King Charles III, was officially announced as Britain’s monarch on Saturday.
[Trumpet sounds]
King Charles III:
My Lords, ladies, and gentlemen, it is my most sorrowful duty to announce to you the death of my beloved mother, the Queen. I know how deeply you, the entire nation, and, I think I may say, the whole world sympathize with me in the irreparable loss we’ve all suffered.
Taylor Wilson:
King Charles III and his wife, Queen Consort Camilla, will travel to Edinburgh today to take the coffin to St Giles’ Cathedral on the city’s Royal Mile. The coffin will remain there for 24 hours before being flown to London tomorrow. Not only is there a new royal leader of the UK, but a lot of other things in the country will look and sound different, too. Producer PJ Elliott spoke with reporter Jordan Mendoza to find out what exactly is changing.
Jordan Mendoza:
It’s not just we have a new monarch in the royal family. Really a lot of things are going to be changing in the next coming months, next coming years. I think one of the biggest ones is the money’s going to change. On all the sterling pounds that are in the UK, the Queen’s face is on it. Now they’re going to have to start figuring out what type of portrait they’re going to use for King Charles, and then eventually circulate those into the country. So money, I would say, probably is one of the biggest changes that we’ll see in the coming years for the UK.
PJ Elliott:
Is there an idea of how long this is going to take?
Jordan Mendoza:
A lot of these things that are going to be changing, like for money, there really isn’t a known time frame, but other outlets have reported in the UK that it might take about two years before we start seeing bank notes with the King. Other things that’ll be changing, too, stamps will also probably be in the same boat, postboxes. Postboxes are interesting because the postboxes have the Queen’s cipher on it. Now when new postboxes are going to be put in, they’re going to have the King’s cipher in it. The thing about the postboxes with the Queen right now is they weren’t going to be taken out. They’re just kind of going to be left there as historical context of the region, too.
I’d say probably the biggest change that Americans probably would have no idea what to do is their national anthem’s going to change. Even looking at the title of it, before it was God Save the Queen. Now the national anthem’s going to be called God Save the King. In lyrics, it’ll all change, from whenever the Queen is referenced, the King will be referenced and all the pronouns will be changed to he and him. It’s a completely different way of lifestyle in the UK. Because here in the US, our national anthem has stayed the same, no changes, no nothing. You’re here in the UK, and all of a sudden a lot of things are going to be changing in the future.
Taylor Wilson:
Queen’s funeral is set for next Monday at Westminster Abbey.
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Russia’s defense ministry announced this weekend that it’s pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region. That’s after a Ukrainian counteroffensive made big advances there this past week. If Ukrainian moves south of the country, the second largest city could become the biggest battlefield success for the country since they stopped a Russian attempt to take the capital of Kyiv. In a video Saturday night, Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said, “The Russian army in these days is demonstrating the best that it can do showing its back, and, of course, it’s a good decision for them to run.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman said troops would be regrouped to the eastern Donetsk region. Russia says the move is strategic and part of a push to focus on that part of the country. Russia gave similar reasons, though, when it pulled back its forces from the Kyiv region earlier this year.
Still, Russia attacked power stations and other infrastructure across Ukraine yesterday causing widespread outages. Electricity and water have been restored to the area around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Power was out in the city of Enerhodar, where the plant is located, for the past four days.
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The price of goods may be stabilizing, but service costs remain high, which is in turn fueling inflation. Money and Personal Finance reporter, Medora Lee, and producer, PJ Elliott, have more.
Medora Lee:
I think a lot of economists think that probably the overall inflation rate may have peaked, but that’s mostly coming from the decline or the slowdown, I should say, in the prices of goods, things that we can actually buy and pick up physically, furniture and other things. But the problem is inflation will probably stay high for a while because the prices of services continues to rise, and those are the intangibles. I’m sure a lot of people have looked at their rent lately or looked for an apartment, and those prices are continuing to rise, and medical expenses. So things like that are the biggest contributors to inflation on the services’ side. Until those stop rising at a quick pace, inflation is probably going to stay elevated for a while.
PJ Elliott:
Is there any sign from economists on the cost of housing dropping anytime soon with rent being so high?
Medora Lee:
Probably not this year. They think that prices will continue to rise into next year. Rents are a little tricky because they tend to lag because rent prices are negotiated once or twice a year when people have to renew their lease or sign on new apartments. So they’re still catching up to the surge that we saw the past couple of years in home prices.
PJ Elliott:
Is there anything for Americans to be optimistic about in the near future?
Medora Lee:
I think inflation has passed its worst right now if we can continue to keep gas and food prices down. Maybe hopefully people won’t spend too much money and buy more things like they did during the pandemic. But people aren’t expecting us to get down back to the Fed’s goal of 2% anytime soon.
Taylor Wilson:
You can find Medora’s full story in today’s show description.
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President Joe Biden and other leaders paid tribute yesterday to the victims of 9/11 21 years after the terror attacks rocked the country. Biden attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon before saying that the violence changed the country but not the character of the American people, though he also pointed to racism and other divisiveness after the attacks.
President Joe Biden:
We regain the light by reaching out to one another and finding something all too rare, a true sense of national unity. To me, that’s the greatest lesson of September 11. Not that we will never again face a setback, but that, in the moment of great unity, we also had to face down the worst impulses, fear, violence, recriminations directed against Muslim Americans as well as Americans of Middle Eastern and South Asian heritage.
Taylor Wilson:
In New York, the city marked the day with the annual reading of the names of those killed.
Different Speakers:
Anthony Alvarado
Antonio Javier Alvarez
Victoria Alvarez-Brito
Telmo E. Alvear
Cesar Amoranto Alviar
Taylor Wilson:
Vice President Kamala Harris attended the New York event, while First Lady Jill Biden attended the event at the memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where another hijacked plane crashed after a fight between passengers and hijackers. In all, commemorations were more low key than last year’s 20th anniversary of the attacks that led to invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and massive changes to surveillance and foreign policy. Nearly 3,000 people died in the deadliest terror attacks in world history.
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The Emmy Awards are tonight. Among contenders are HBO’s Succession and Starz’ Yellowjackets, along with Netflix’s Squid Game in the drama category among eight nominees in all. In comedy, ABC’s Abbott Elementary and Ted Lasso are up for honors among others. Plus, there’s a limited series award with nominees like The White Lotus and Dopesick. There are also several nominations for the hit show Euphoria. Find a full list and some predictions for what’ll win tonight with a link in today’s episode description. The show is hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Kenan Thompson, and you can tune in at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on NBC.
And you can find 5 Things every morning right here wherever you’re listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show. I’m back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.