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Brazil has been the world’s leading coffee producer due to the forced labour of enslaved Africans and Afro-Brazilians“John” was just days from turning 16 when he was allegedly recruited to work on a Brazilian coffee farm that supplies the global coffeehouse chain Starbucks.Soon after his birthday, he embarked on a 16-hour bus journey to the farm in the state of Minas Gerais – only to discover that none of what he had been promised would be fulfilled. Continue reading...

The White House appears to have altered its messaging around the trade war with China, and it seems China views it as a "win" for them. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke to the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, saying that there should be a "de-escalation" of the tit-for-tat tariff increases.Bessent promised that "America First" didn't mean that the country was abandoning trade allies. It does not mean "America alone," he promised. “We’re going to have a fair deal with China,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. But the tough talk with China isn't working, Politico reported.ALSO READ: 'We’ve made a mistake': Trump’s trade war sends GOP into frenzy“If a negotiated solution is truly what the U.S. wants, it should stop threatening and blackmailing China and seek dialogue based on equality, respect, and mutual benefit,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday before Bessent's speech to the IMF. “To keep asking for a deal while exerting extreme pressure is not the right way to deal with China and simply will not work.”A CNN reporter said that this "U-Turn" from Trump shows "the U.S. blinked." Still, Bessent confessed that there isn't a solution coming any time soon. The report said he was "eyeing a two-to-three-year timeline for 'the full rebalancing' of the relationship between the U.S. and China." The goal is to reach a deal sooner, however. Bessent also promised that it "won't take years" to negotiate trade deals with other countries the way it did with renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement into the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement. In those negotiations, it took 18 months to agree. Bessent said the U.S. has a list of things that it wants in trade negotiations and that's why it will go faster. "We know what we want in terms of the non-tariff trade barriers,” he said. “The tariffs are easy. So I don’t think that this is an extended process at all, because, again, the alternative for the countries is going back to that maximum level from April 2, which I don’t think is an appealing alternative.”Read the full report here.

Pete Buttigieg, who served as Secretary of Transportation under Joe Biden, had some advice for Democratic Party leaders before the 2026 midterms.Buttigieg appeared on comedian Andrew Schulz's "Flagrant" podcast — known for its part in the pro-Trump manosphere — where he called out Republicans for not having any answers to some of the most pressing issues of our time.In a promo for the podcast on X, Schulz described Buttigieg as the "future president.""They don't have an answer. Their answer is, 'burn it all down,'" Buttigieg told Schulz. "If we haven't solved poverty, their answer is to slash Medicaid, which is what the Republican budget moving through Congress right now will do is slash Medicaid."ALSO READ: 'Dictatorship, not a town hall': Families 'distraught' as MTG disruptors tased and jailedButtigieg continued, "Medicaid may not be perfect...I know for a fact many issues come up in the way it's administered, the way people have access to it. But I also know for a fact that if your answer to that is just to cut out a bunch of poor people — or VA, like any veteran can tell you the horror stories of all the times things didn't go right in dealing with the VA. "But, if you think the answer is to just cut it, or just privatize it, that's not an answer. We can do better than that. And I think my party's job is to make clear what that looks like and how we would do it better."Buttigieg also posted an article to his Substack titled, "Why I Sat Down for a Two-Hour Podcast That Recently Hosted Trump," concluding that "going everywhere means seeking out audiences that may have never heard our message at all."Some on the left took issue with Buttigieg appearing for an hours-long interview with a pro-MAGA host, but Democratic strategist Mike Nellis posted that Dems could learn a thing or two from Buttigieg's efforts."Anybody mad about Pete Buttigieg going on Andrew Schulz's podcast is not serious about winning elections," Nellis wrote. "You have to meet people where they are—not expect them to come to you. The question you should be asking is why your favorite Democrat isn't going into the lion's den and defending our values?"Watch the Flagrant podcast with Pete Buttigieg here.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions for supporting terrorism, attended fundraiser at Trump’s resortIsrael’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was set to address a meeting at a Yale University Jewish society, a day after being honored at a lavish dinner at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions for supporting terrorism and was considered persona non grata under the Biden administration, attended a fundraising event at the Florida resort on Tuesday, where he told attendees about harsh new measures implemented against Palestinian prisoners. Continue reading...

People traumatised by conflict have queued outside the Saint Vincent de Paul neuropsychiatric hospital in Goma each day since free scheme launchedOn a sunny morning in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where fighting between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese army raged earlier this year, men and women rushed towards a line of chairs outside a medical facility.Since 24 March, the Saint Vincent de Paul neuropsychiatric hospital, a medical facility for people with mental health issues, has been offering free consultations on a first-come first-served basis for people affected by the fighting. Dozens have lined up to be seen each day. Continue reading...

The Brazilian “King of Football” had been treated for colon cancer since 2021.View Entire Post ›

Kanamara Matsuri has been an annual tradition since 1969, and besides being known for its fun, it raises money for a good cause.View Entire Post ›

Numerous passengers traveling on major cruise lines such as Carnival and Disney say in court documents that they were raped and assaulted — oftentimes by crew members.View Entire Post ›