Brazil’s new dawn

Hello from London,

A colossal in-tray awaits Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s new president-elect who won Sunday’s vote by a razor-thin margin. When the former metalworker takes power on January 1, he will set out on a programme of reforms aimed at undoing “Bolsonarismo”, and uniting a nation divided and marred by four years of anarchic far-right rule.

Lula has?promised zero deforestation?as well as more state spending on infrastructure and social welfare. On the election’s losing side, Jair Bolsonaro has?appealed to his supporters protesting against the result?to end the road blockades, although he has not yet publicly conceded defeat.

Meanwhile, in the biggest business story of the week, Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has its own winners and losers, with the billionaire now planning to?cut up to half the company’s workforce. Eagerly watching Musk’s next moves will be?the banks that agreed to lend him $12.7bn?and now are struggling to offload that debt.

My choices this week

1.?“It is a curious experience, as an adult, to be driven somewhere without having any idea of the destination,” writes Thomas Hale in his?raw account of 10 days in quarantine?in Shanghai. China’s “zero-Covid” stance is set to continue indefinitely despite its 91 per cent vaccination rate.

2.?Our investigations team has spent weeks tracing the?illicit grain trade out of occupied Ukraine. It reveals a complex shadow operation managed by private companies and arms of the Russian state itself.?(Free to read)

3.?German chancellor Olaf Scholz is?struggling to navigate relations with China?— a country that was once one of the most exciting markets for German business, but has become one of its biggest risk factors.

4.?Frustration is boiling over at Meta shareholder meetings, as investors struggle to swallow the social media company’s ballooning costs. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg?stunned Wall Street with plans?to ramp up its lossmaking effort to build the metaverse.

5.?How will UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt find ￡50bn to fill what Treasury officials say is an “eye-watering fiscal black hole”? We?weigh the likelihood of each of his options in this excellent interactive piece.?(Free to read)

6.?“If Russia discovers that it can succeed in wars of aggression by simply threatening to use nuclear weapons, another dystopian future beckons,” writes Gideon Rachman in his column, which?gives a fascinating insight into the various nuclear threats?facing the world and the diplomacy routes around them.

Thanks for reading,

Patrick

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