Labor prosecutors in Brazil filed a lawsuit Wednesday against meatpacking giant JBS, accusing the company of buying cattle from farms where workers were held in slavery-like conditions.

The civil action suit before a labor court in the northern Brazilian state of Para seeks nearly 119 million reais (about $24 million) in compensation, an amount prosecutors say reflects the total value of transactions between JBS and the suppliers.

According to the filing, 53 workers were rescued from properties owned by seven ranchers who supplied the meatpacking company between 2014 and 2025. Those employers were listed in Brazil’s official public registry of companies found to have subjected workers to conditions that are similar to slavery, prosecutors said.

JBS showed “a systematic pattern of negligence,” the prosecutors said. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brazil is the world’s largest beef producer, accounting for about 20% of global production. The South American nation recently surpassed the United States, which now accounts for about 19% of the global beef production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A statement from Brazil’s labor prosecutors noted that cattle ranching accounts for the highest number of rescued workers nationwide and has also been a major driver of deforestation in the Amazon. Para state is part of the Amazon region.

In March, the Office of the United States Trade Representative included Brazil on a list of 60 countries under investigation for forced labor.

JBS is the world’s largest meatpacking company, with a market capitalization of about $17 billion. It operates plants in the U.S., including in Colorado, where workers staged a three-week strike earlier this year.

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Three family members were charged for allegedly assaulting a journalist who writes for a conservative organization during a protest against immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Christopher and DeYanna Ostroushko and their daughter, Paige, were each indicted by a federal grand jury. Christopher and Paige will also be charged with interfering with a federally protected activity.

Christopher Ostroushko also faces state charges of misdemeanor assault, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Community members have continued to protest in opposition to immigration enforcement efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration in the weeks since federal officers’ presence in the Twin Cities was dramatically scaled back. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has used the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling as a short-term holding facility, and the area out front has become a hub of anti-ICE activity.

Widely shared video taken by Turning Point USA contributor Savanah Hernandez outside the Whipple building on April 11 begins with Paige blowing a whistle close to Hernandez’s face. Video from other vantage points shows Hernandez with her hand protecting her face, sometimes pushing back against Paige. The two then tussle.

Hernandez says, “Get away from me.”

Paige pushes Hernandez, who falls back against a fence.

In the moments after, DeYanna and Christopher separately confront Hernandez, as does Paige again.

Christopher Ostroushko “forcefully shoved the victim in the back, head first to the ground,” the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in its statement that there was insufficient evidence to bring state charges against the others involved.

Throughout, others on the scene tried to de-escalate and separate them.

After the April 11 incident, Hernandez said her glasses were broken, she was concussed with a sore neck and back, and her legs were scraped, according to posts on the social platform X. She wrote that she was talking with police about pressing charges.

James Cook, an attorney representing the family, said the videos that have circulated don’t show everything, and he believes the family will be able to provide a “vigorous defense.”

“We think that there’s a lot of things in the videos that provide a means to exonerate,” he said.

The family was regular protesters at the Whipple building to provide “a voice and a demonstration against Metro Surge,” Cook said. He added the Ostroushkos have since been threatened online, and DeYanna and Christopher have both lost their jobs.

“They wish they could turn back the clock,” Cook said. “They wish that things didn’t turn out how they did.”

The Ostroushkos were summoned to appear before a federal judge on May 12.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Wednesday that the Department of Justice will always “punish unhinged acts of political violence.”

“Hernandez was allegedly surrounded, physically assaulted, and shoved to the ground — simply because she was identified by the defendants as a conservative journalist,” Blanche said. “That is NOT ‘peaceful protest.’”

Hernandez said in a post that she was “incredibly grateful to see our justice system at work.” Hernandez did not immediately reply to a request for comment via email or direct message.

ITV’s new crime drama A Taste For Murder made its debut on Monday (April 29) night, but some viewers were left divided

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A Taste For Murder viewers were swift to identify a problem just minutes into the new series.

The fresh ITV crime drama, adapted from Matt Baker’s novel of the same name, premiered on Monday (April 29) evening, yet audiences complained that the plot was “predictable”.

The programme centres on unsuspecting Met police detective DCI Joe Mottram (Warren Brown), who is grappling with his own anguish following the unexpected death of his wife, Sofia.

Travelling to Italy with his daughter Angelica to see his in-laws, he seeks to work through his bereavement but is confronted instead with a succession of baffling cases.

While trying to mend fractured family relationships with his in-laws Chef Gennaro and Elena Da Vinale, who operate a coastal restaurant, Joe becomes embroiled when his nephew and sous-chef Luca is detained for murder after a local man’s body is discovered on the beach, reports the Mirror.

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Participating in the inquiry, Joe conflicts with local Inspector Lara Sarrancino, although the duo ultimately establish a hesitant partnership to uncover the truth behind the mysterious crimes plaguing the apparently perfect island.

Nevertheless, within minutes of the programme beginning, viewers at home were quick to share their responses as they claimed that the storyline was “predictable.”

One viewer posted on X: “Single parent, stroppy teenager. A bit predictable so far. #atasteformurder.”

Another commented: “#atasteformurder Oh god, is it one of those that we will be able to write the script to ourselves.” A third commented: “Always has to be a stroppy teen child in everything #ATasteforMurder.”

A fourth remarked: “So single dad will meet a single female police detective and will hate each other at first but eventually fall in love. #atasteformurder.”

Nevertheless, other viewers appear to be thoroughly enjoying the programme, with one stating: “I am hooked! I really enjoyed Episodes 2 and 3. The family drama is just as good as the mystery. Great show! Love the story line and characters!!”

Another enthused: “I absolutely LOVED the first season! Please renew for a second season!!!”

Meanwhile, another viewer added: “LOVE the episodes so far. Beautifully filmed, fantastically acted, tight plot twists. Please make Season 2 (at least!).”

You can catch up on A Taste for Murder on ITVX

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a defiant and aggressive testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

While the testimony was billed as being about the Pentagon’s budget, it inevitably became about the War in Iran. During the testimony, Hegseth was sometimes outright belligerent. My colleague Holly Baxter said that he sounded increasingly deluded and desperate, hoping to win the support of the audience of one that is Donald Trump.

At one point, he gallingly said that “the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.”

A few days ago, I hid under a table during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as I saw Hegseth bolt out of the Washington Hilton after a shooter allegedly came to try and take out Trump. But here, he showed absolutely zero signs of trying to turn down the tone in the country.

“Choosing to call out Democrats and some Republicans as our greatest threat, amidst all the threats, including an act of war, shows you what a f***ng joke he is,” Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, a West Point graduate, told The Independent. “I asked them questions about six Americans that were killed, and he wouldn’t even answer in a straightforward way.”

Even Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), who represents the Navy-heavy Virginia Beach, grilled Hegseth about the dismissal of the Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.

But if Hegseth had a rough go at it at the House of Representatives, he will have an even tougher time before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

There, he will have to face Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), whom he has tried to punish for a video he put out with Democratic lawmakers saying U.S. servicemembers have a right to refuse illegal orders.

Members who are not on the committee will also be watching Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who voted to confirm Hegseth, but has at times become more critical of the Trump administration while avoiding directly criticizing the president.

“I think that we need details,” Tillis told The Independent. We need to know what the strategic objectives are. What does success look like? What is the build-up for the budget request?”

And this is to say nothing of the Republicans who voted against his confirmation: Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. McConnell especially criticized the Pentagon.

This week, the usually taciturn McConnell put out an op-ed in The Washington Post criticizing the fact that the Pentagon has not spent $400 billion that the Senate set aside for Ukraine.

“Trump’s focus on ending the war is noble,” he said. “But the price and stability of peace matter. The Pentagon’s approach of withholding or slow-rolling support to Ukraine is in effect the same strategy President Joe Biden deployed.”

For someone like McConnell, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on military spending, this was a damning condemnation. McConnell did not mention Hegset,h but it was a clear message for him to get it together.

The Senate as a whole is more hawkish than the House, so Hegseth might not face as much criticism about the war in Iran itself as about his management of the war. And the Senate does not take kindly to people dictating what it cannot know.

A common trait of the Trump White House has been members of the administration avoiding accountability or congressional oversight and then immediately melting in front of a committee.

Homeland Security Kristi Noem avoided the Senate Judiciary Committee for months, only for Tillis and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to eviscerate her. A few days later, she was gone. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi faced a round of tough questioning about files related to Jeffrey Epstein, giving an equally pugnacious performance. By April, she got the boot.

This isn’t to say that Hegseth will suffer the same fate as the ladies. But as more members lose patience with him and as Republicans want to find someone to blame other than Trump, he might be the next sacrificial lamb.

Northumbria Police and the county council are taking steps in a bid to combat the issue following a number of reports from local residents.

Between 2020 and 2023, Cramlington had 694 incidents of anti-social behaviour related to the illegal use of electric and off-road motorbikes – the third highest figure in Northumberland. That figure had been significantly reduced by the police’s Operation Capio, but that work in Cramlington ended last March when Government funding for the operation was pulled.

Cramlington North councillor Wayne Daley described the problem as a “massive issue” for the town and feared someone

He said: “One resident has been in touch to say they were nearly run over by an electric bike. How long is it going to be before someone is seriously injured or killed?

“I don’t want to be in a situation where anybody is injured as a result of these morons. They are idiots.

“Anybody who knows somebody with one of these stupid bikes should report them to the police so they can be seized.”

Privately owned electric scooters are currently illegal to use on public roads, pavements, and cycle lanes in the UK, while electric motorbikes require a driving license to use on the roads legally.

Cramlington Village councillor Mark Swinburn said constituents regularly contacted their local councillors about the problem.

He said: “We get constantly barraged about the number of electric bikes and scooters and asked what we are going to do about it. People have got to report it to the police – the council is not an enforcing authority.

“It’s a difficult situation. People want to see visible action.”

Officers generally do not pursue the vehicles for fear of causing injury to the rider. However, Northumbria Police said it had recently seized a number of vehicles which were being used illegally, and that the bikes and scooters had since been destroyed.

A spokesman for the force said: “We’ve been putting the brakes on illegal riders in Cramlington. Our Neighbourhood team together with council colleagues have been cracking down on motorcycle-related antisocial behaviour following a number of reports from the community.

“Using a range of tactics, we’ve successfully intercepted and seized 11 electric scooters and a Sur-Ron bike – all of which are illegal to ride on public roads, pavements and cycle lanes. A moped linked to reports of antisocial behaviour was also seized.”

A spokesman for the county council added: “We’re working closely with Northumbria Police to tackle illegal motorbike disorder through a coordinated approach that combines enforcement, prevention and community engagement.

“Joint patrols and targeted operations using drone technology are taking place in hotspot areas, supported by the use of police seizure powers where bikes are used illegally or antisocially.

“Alongside this, we’re working with local communities, landowners and partners to improve reporting, protect open spaces and explore diversionary activities, sending a clear message that unlawful and dangerous riding will not be tolerated – while supporting safer alternatives for young people.”

‘Anything we can do to better safeguard victims and children who are impacted by domestic abuse, will be a priority’

There has been “positive” progress on raising awareness of domestic abuse as an offence, the PSNI said as a major inspection report was published.

The third Criminal Justice Inspection (CJI) review of the implementation of Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (NI) 2021 was published on Thursday.

It found there was “positive” progress in raising awareness across the criminal justice system about domestic abuse as an offence.

It also recognised that police officers face a number of “difficult challenges” on a regular basis when dealing with domestic abuse cases.

Detective Chief Superintendent Zoe McKee said they welcomed the findings and the recommendations of the report.

“We continue to work with our partner agencies in the criminal justice system to ensure that we deliver a service that meets the needs and expectations of all victims and witnesses,” she said.

“As an organisation, we have already commenced a body of work to ensure the voices of children who are impacted by domestic abuse cases are clearly heard and feature in investigations.

“This is year three of our delivery of Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (NI) 2021, which saw us equipped with new legislative tools to target those who perpetrate domestic abuse and protect the most vulnerable.

“Anything we can do to better safeguard victims and children who are impacted by domestic abuse, will be a priority.”

Ms McKee continued: “We have delivered specialised training in partnership with Women’s Aid – which has a focus on children as victims of domestic abuse cases and the new legislation that holds perpetrators to account.

“Officers from across different departments within the police service have attended a series of awareness sessions to ensure they have the required awareness and confidence that they need when dealing with such cases.

“We’re also working with our IT systems internally to help develop and implement a technical solution that assists officers in seamlessly adding child aggravators to case files.

“Training programmes for our custody sergeants have also been developed to ensure child aggravator awareness is captured on our internal systems prior to their disposal.

“We also continue to work with colleagues in the Public Prosecution Service to review and improve processes relating to victims, including developing a robust quality assurance process to monitor the appropriate use of aggravators.

“Domestic abuse remains a service priority and we are fully committed to delivering for victims and bringing offenders to justice.”

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The plans include a cinema room and communal areas

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Barclays Bank on Church Street is set to be transformed into a block of more than 100 flats, according to plans. Application documents submitted to Peterborough City Council reveal plans to extend and infill the brutalist-style building to create 104 “high-quality co-living units”.

The ground floor and basement will still be retained for commercial use. Barclays Bank also recently submitted a planning application to take over the former Sports Direct unit on Long Causeway so that it can open a new, larger branch within the city centre.

The company is on a push to re-open high street branches so that it can once again offer an “all-important in-person experience,” rolling back on a wave of closures which has left them with just over 200 branches across the UK.

According to documents labelled “former Barclays Bank” prepared by the FRONT architectural office, the new bedsit-style co-living units will be “affordable housing for professional individuals” within the city centre.

“All residential units have access to communal facilities including kitchens, social spaces, library/reading areas and laundry benefits,” FRONT states. A cinema room and large communal areas are also included in the plans.

While all of the small, single aspect units are designed for single occupancy, they will meet or exceed the minimum HMO (house in multiple occupation) size standards set by Peterborough City Council of 11sq/m for a bedroom and 13 sq/m for a studio (excluding en-suite facilities).

There will be no car parking available, although the revamped basement will offer secure cycle storage capable of accommodating around 120 bikes. The application will now be considered by Peterborough City Council and can be viewed on its planning portal, using reference 26/002223/FUL.

Other members of the public, alongside nightclub security, were forced to step in and Kerr was restrained on the ground until police arrived.

A drunk Scot had to be restrained after threatening to “take a man’s face off” outside a popular nightclub.

Liam Kerr, 44, from Edinburgh, was ‘heavily intoxicated’ outside The Liquid Rooms on Victoria Street during the early hours of September 12, 2025.

Kerr was trying to engage with other people outside the club at around 2am, Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday, reports Edinburgh Live.

Kerr and another man then had some sort of disagreement which saw him push the man on the body and act aggressively. He then uttered threats, including telling the man “I will take your face off.”

Other members of the public, alongside nightclub security, were forced to step in and Kerr was restrained on the ground until police arrived. He was taken to St Leonard’s Police Station.

Kerr, who has several previous convictions, pleaded guilty to threatening or abusive behaviour by shouting, swearing, uttering threats of violence and pushing the victim on the body.

He had pleas of not guilty accepted for an assault charge and a separate charge of threatening or abusive behaviour.

Sheriff Stirling imposed a fine of £150 on Kerr, discounted from £200 due to his early plea.

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