What happened
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won a fourth presidential election, defeating right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro after recovering from a first-round defeat three weeks ago.

Lula, who previously governed from 2003 to 2010 before returning to office in 2023, revived his campaign through large public rallies and an extensive social media drive. His victory “bucked a wider trend in Latin America”, said Marina Rossi on the BBC, where voters have “punished incumbents and turned to the right”. Countries including Argentina, Chile and Colombia have all recently opted for right-wing leaders.

Who said what
Before the vote Lula pledged to unite Brazil’s divided population and create a fairer society, declaring that the country would “never fit into anyone’s back yard” in response to US influence.

Environmental campaigners welcomed his re-election, having feared that a Bolsonaro presidency could weaken protections for the Amazon rainforest and benefit mining and agribusiness interests.

This was a “stunning comeback” just weeks after losing the first round of the election, said Catherine Osborn on NPR. Lula is Brazil’s first presidential candidate to finish second in the first round and win the run-off, and the first to be elected four times.

What next?
Lula’s new term begins on 5 January next year, but governing will be difficult. More than 48% of voters backed Bolsonaro, while the country’s Congress is the most right-wing it’s been since Brazil’s return to democracy.

The result “deals a setback to US President Donald Trump”, said Marina Dias in The Washington Post. Trump has “sought to build a conservative, US-aligned bloc across Latin America with Argentina, Colombia and others”.

What happened
Opposition parties and financial institutions are preparing for the possibility of an early UK general election amid speculation that Andy Burnham could seek a fresh mandate after Wednesday’s Budget.

The expectation of a Labour victory has grown following an Ipsos poll putting the party on 32% support, eight points ahead of the Conservatives and 12 ahead of Reform UK. Kemi Badenoch’s allies reportedly consider an early contest to be highly likely and are already selecting candidates for key constituencies.

Who said what
ING economist James Smith said an early election was “under priced”. The City is “increasingly expecting Mr Burnham to go to the polls next year”, said Eir Nolsøe in The Telegraph, with some “interpreting John Healey’s expected low-key maiden Budget on Wednesday as a sign the prime minister is laying the ground for a snap election”.

But polling expert John Curtice cautioned that the government had yet to demonstrate an economic recovery, adding: “We are not in early election territory yet.”

What next?
Healey is expected to limit any tax changes in the Budget, potentially increasing the profit levy on banks while avoiding rises in income tax, VAT and national insurance.

As a super El Niño intensifies in the Pacific Ocean, coastal beach erosion is devastating Southern California and beyond. But concrete reef structures powered by artificial intelligence could help to combat the environmental crisis. They can help beaches recover and even predict future erosion patterns.

Born from a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the company Coastal Assembly uses AI – along with satellite and ocean data – to “predict coastal erosion patterns and create submerged structures that harness currents to coax the beach back”, said The New York Times. It has placed 54 marine-concrete artificial reef structures near the JW Marriott Maldives Resort & Spa, helping the ocean “build about 90 feet of new beach in six months”, according to AccuWeather.

After two years the beach has now “doubled in size” and the artificial reef is “filled with new coral and marine life, from fish to sea anemones”, said business magazine Fast Company. The usual solution to coastal erosion is to “dredge sand to try to replace what was lost”. But that “works only temporarily, and it harms marine ecosystems”. Coastal Assembly’s method has the “potential to aid communities in adapting to climate change by reducing the time and cost of complex coastline modelling and predicting the areas most vulnerable to erosion”, added the Times.

Time will tell if artificial reefs can be a long-term solution. Beaches are “our primary natural defense to backshore erosion and coastal flooding”, coastal geomorphologist Adam Young told AccuWeather. “Without that sand buffer, waves have less distance to lose energy before reaching roads, homes and bluffs.”