The Guardian: “The former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has confirmed he will kickstart his campaign to reclaim the presidency from his right-wing adversary Jair Bolsonaro next month, comparing their rivalry to a clash of the titans between Liverpool and Manchester City.”

“Lula’s desire to secure a third term as the leader of Latin America’s largest democracy has been an open secret since he recovered his political rights last year when a series of corruption convictions against him were quashed.”

“President Xi Jinping defended China’s lockdown-dependent approach to fighting the pandemic, even as he sought to reassure the world that the country was still committed to opening its economy,” Bloomberg reports.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports Shanghai reported “a sharp increase in its number of seriously-ill Covid patients.”

“Momentum is building in Sweden for the country to apply for NATO membership after its biggest selling newspaper endorsed the move and an opinion poll showed a record number of Swedes supported the idea,” the Financial Times reports.

“The debate over membership of the western military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been slower to ignite in Sweden than in neighboring Finland, where an application is expected in the coming weeks.”

“The main obstacle to Swedish membership has been the ruling Social Democrat party, which has long been ideologically opposed to Nato and wedded to Sweden’s 200 years of neutrality.”

“President Biden on Thursday announced a ban on Russian-affiliated ships from U.S. ports and said he would send an additional $800 million in resources to help Ukrainian forces — a package that includes heavy artillery and tactical drones,” the Washington Post reports.

“Biden also announced $500 million in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian government.”

New York Times: “No French president has been the object of such intense dislike among significant segments of the population as Mr. Macron — the result, experts say, of his image as an elitist out of touch with the ordinary French people whose pensions and work protections he has threatened in his efforts to make the economy more investor-friendly.”

“Just how deep that loathing runs will be a critical factor — perhaps even the decisive one — in the election against his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen. Recent polls give Mr. Macron a lead of around 10 percentage points — wider than at some points in the campaign, but only a third of his winning margin five years ago.”

Meanwhile, Eurointelligence watched last night’s debate and concludes that Le Pen “did not succeed in extending much beyond her existing far-right constituency.”