Bedugul Coffee: Wednesday Briefing: Brazil COVID-19 deaths on track to pass worst of U.S. wave

Today's top stories

'A biological Fukushima' in Brazil, how General Motors is transforming itself, and another blow for Google

Brazil’s brutal surge in COVID-19 deaths will soon surpass the worst of a record January wave in the United States, scientists forecast, with fatalities climbing for the first time above 4,000 in a day as the outbreak overwhelms hospitals.

"It’s a nuclear reactor that has set off a chain reaction and is out of control. It’s a biological Fukushima," said Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian doctor and professor at Duke University, who is closely tracking the virus.

U.S. President Joe Biden moved up the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility target for all American adults to April 19, but warned that with new virus variants spreading “we’re still in a life-and-death race.”

One in three COVID-19 survivors in a study of more than 230,000 mostly American patients were diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months, suggesting the pandemic could lead to a wave of mental and neurological problems, scientists say.

See our global COVID tracker for the latest on the pandemic.

↑ Passengers travel on a crowded public bus past a banner protesting against Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and his policies on the pandemic, in Rio de Janeiro, April 6, 2021

U.S.

↑ Minneapolis Police Lt. Johnny Mercil answers questions on the seventh day of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 6, 2021 in this courtroom sketch

Prosecutors in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial presented a series of witnesses in a bid to show that the former Minneapolis police officer disregarded his training when he knelt on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Here are the key moments from the seventh day of witness testimony.

Arkansas became the first U.S. state to ban certain types of treatment to transgender youth, overriding a veto by Governor Asa Hutchinson and inviting lawsuits from civil rights groups that have vowed to stop it.

Democratic Representative Alcee Hastings has died at the age of 84, further narrowing the party’s majority in the lower chamber of Congress. Hastings was the first African American elected to Congress in Florida since the post-Civil War period.

Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno announced his candidacy for the Senate, casting himself as a Republican outsider who would protect the “victories” of former President Donald Trump if elected to the seat of retiring Senator Rob Portman.

Business

General Motors CEO Mary Barra is looking well beyond selling vehicles in a push to transform the company's century-old business model. The goal is to become the automative equivalent of Apple.

Google research manager Samy Bengio says he is resigning, according to an internal email seen by Reuters, in a blow to the Alphabet unit after the firings of his colleagues who questioned paper review and diversity practices.

Toshiba is considering a $20 billion offer from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to take it private, a person familiar with the matter says, as the Japanese industrial conglomerate faces pressure from activist shareholders.

Global competition for offshore wind power is so hot that licence auctions now resemble the oil and gas competitions of just a few years ago, and some of the names are familiar too as global oil majors move aggressively into renewable energy.