Brazil Reduces Spending Freeze After Judge Upholds Lula Tax Plan
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government said Tuesday it would freeze a total of 10.7 billion reais ($1.9 billion), down from the 31.3 billion reais it had previously announced in May.
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Forbes
5 minutes ago
- Forbes
Jorge Ramos, On His Digital Reinvention: ‘I'm Not Ready To Retire'
Jorge Ramos, in the studio where he films "Así Veo Las Cosas" — his news series that blends ... More journalism with the intimacy of social media. To Jorge Ramos, neutrality is a four-letter word. After nearly four decades as a Univision anchor — a high-profile perch that eventually turned him into, according to The Guardian, the best-known journalist in the Spanish-speaking world — the 67-year-old Ramos left behind the television news industry that defined much of his career to launch an independent, internet-based news program. His new show, which debuted in June and can be found across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X, is called Asi Veo las Cosas — Spanish for 'That's how I see things.' In other words, it's not the kind of show that clings to the familiar 'voice from nowhere' objectivity that characterizes much of legacy journalism. Instead, Asi Veo las Cosas is largely an extension of Ramos' world view — which he described in a phone interview with me as, basically, 'pro-immigrant, pro-democracy, and pro-freedom.' Why Jorge Ramos believes journalism should take a stand 'I personally have no problem with objectivity,' said Ramos, who was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. in the 1980s to escape press censorship. 'If something is red, we say it's red. If 16 people died, we say 16. And if you make a mistake, you correct it and move on. But sometimes, and I understand this might be controversial in certain places, sometimes as a journalist you have to take a stand. 'I don't think neutrality is a journalistic value.' Of course, no one who's followed his career up to this point needs him to spell that out. After all, he's built a career out of amplifying the voices of marginalized communities and confronting politicians — from calling President Obama 'deporter-in-chief' during a Univision interview in 2014 to his tense exchange with Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro in 2019 at the presidential palace in Caracas, during which he called the strongman 'illegitimate.' And now, he's running a digital platform with a clear point of view, one that's both a reinvention and a return to form — bringing him closer to the audiences he's always fought for. He spends time during his broadcasts, for example, responding directly to viewers. One recent episode found him speaking directly to the camera about a woman named Yocari Villagómez who'd lived in the U.S. for 12 years, with no criminal record. Despite being married to an American citizen, she was told she had to leave — and so made the difficult decision to self-deport to Mexico, with her husband by her side. In recent days, he also traveled to Brooklyn to surprise a young student named Camila who wants to follow in Ramos' professional footsteps. 'I knew that after television I needed to reinvent myself,' Ramos said. 'At 67, I'm not ready to retire. I see the numbers — millions of people viewing what I'm doing online — and the immediate communication I have with the audience that I didn't have before.' Still, he admits the shift comes with challenges. 'I'm still figuring out how to monetize a news operation like the one I'm in,' he added. But for Ramos, the motivation is about more than business. 'I believe that journalists never retire. And I still have a battle to fight.' At the center of that battle is the animating force — contrapoder, a Spanish word that literally means to be against power — that's characterized his work for pretty much the entirety of his career. 'I think that as journalists, we have two main responsibilities: The first one is to report reality as it is, not as we wish it would be. And the second one, which is the most important social responsibility that we have, is to question and to challenge those who are in power. I think if we applied this to every situation – Democrats or Republicans, tyrants or not — and if you as a journalist always try to position yourself as contrapoder, in other words on the other side of power, you will be fine.' This philosophy also places Ramos squarely inside a broader debate about objectivity. For much of the 20th century, American journalism upheld what the Columbia Journalism Review recently described as a belief that 'detached fact-finding' is the highest standard worth pursuing. But critics like NYU's Jay Rosen argue that this approach has granted journalists 'unearned authority' and discouraged them from owning perspectives for which there is no alternative viewpoint. Ramos agrees. For him, neutrality in the face of things like racism, human rights violations, or corruption is actually closer to complicity. In fact, it was watching American journalists freely criticize President Ronald Reagan that convinced him to stay in his adopted country. 'I love this country,' Ramos said of the U.S.. 'This country gave me opportunities my country of origin couldn't. But I've never seen so much fear out there as I see now. However, I think this too shall pass. The essence of the United States — freedom, diversity, opportunity — will prevail. But we have to fight for it. Like never before.'
Wall Street Journal
35 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Trouble at U.S. Customs in Orlando
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged in January to clean house at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Six months later she still hasn't explained the mystery of false travel records at CBP Orlando. As Mary O'Grady explains nearby, the case concerns Filipe Martins, a member of the inner circle of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. A Brazilian court has been using false CBP records to detain Mr. Martins as a flight risk since March 2024 in the investigation of an alleged Bolsonaro coup-d'état against Brazilian President Luiz Inácio 'Lula' da Silva. Mr. Martins ought to be free while mounting his defense. Yet neither Ms. Noem nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio has weighed in on what might be rotten at Orlando. Lawyers for the U.S. government are stonewalling his legal team. The problem is bigger than Mr. Martins, since the falsification of travel data undermines U.S. national security. President Trump announced 50% tariffs on Brazil this month despite a U.S. bilateral trade surplus. In his July 9 letter to Lula, Mr. Trump mentions 'Trade Deficits' in the penultimate paragraph. But his lead gripe is the prosecution of Mr. Bolsonaro, who lost an October 2022 bid for re-election.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Oil Prices Caught Between a $70 Summer and Growing Surplus Fears
(Bloomberg) -- Oil traders are grappling with a tension — there's a growing chorus of warnings about the market weakening later this year and into 2026, but for now prices are holding strong near $70 a barrel. The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Trump Administration Sues NYC Over Sanctuary City Policy France's TotalEnergies SE last week warned the market is facing abundant supply as the OPEC+ group unwinds output curbs, even as slowing global growth weighs on demand. Norway's Equinor ASA said its new Johan Castberg field is operating at full pelt, with a Brazilian offshore asset starting soon, a reminder of additional barrels expected from outside the producer group. Both the International Energy Agency and the US Energy Information Administration earlier this month bolstered their estimates for the surplus they see next year. The two widely-followed forecasters expect supply to eclipse demand by the most since the pandemic, with the IEA's projection at 2 million barrels a day. A surplus that pushes prices lower will help tame inflation, hurt high-cost producers and likely please US President Donald Trump who has called for lower prices since taking office. It's a stark contrast with the here and now, where inventories at key storage hubs remain low, reflected in a bullish market structure that indicates tight supplies. Profits from turning crude into fuels are also far above seasonal norms, underpinning demand for crude. 'One of the issues that has been supporting oil has been the seasonal strength of the summer months,' Francisco Blanch, head of commodities and derivatives research at Bank of America Corp. said in a Bloomberg TV interview. 'Second half of the year the surplus is going to be close to 200 million barrels,' which will ultimately weigh on prices, he added. While most of the IEA's revision of next year's outlook centered on output additions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, who will meet to discuss output levels in early August, there were also some less obvious drivers. Forecasts for the supply of biofuels, which compete with conventional oil, are about 200,000 barrels a day higher than two months ago in the agency's estimates. The US government now sees global oil supplies about 2.1 million barrels a day higher in the fourth quarter of this year than the first, the biggest increase it has seen over the period since February. The two bodies' forecasts constitute an important element in traders' evaluations of how the market will unfold. For now, signs of robust demand remain. Leading oil trader Vitol Group said last week that jet fuel demand has been steadily climbing, with flight numbers reaching all-time highs. US weekly oil-demand figures are the highest this year. That data has been revised higher in final monthly readings for four of the last five periods where complete figures are available. And while the global trade war offers reason to be concerned about consumption, historically demand estimates have tended to be revised higher too, suggesting that the currently-expected surplus could narrow. From 2012 to 2024, the IEA's demand forecasts have ended up being on average close to 500,000 barrels a day higher than when the estimate was first issued, as more data became available. That excludes 2020, when the global pandemic transformed consumption patterns. Still, once the summer's strength wanes, a global surplus is likely to emerge, according to Natasha Kaneva, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s head of global commodities strategy. 'Supply is increasing,' Kaneva said in a Bloomberg TV interview. 'At some point this inventory build will start showing up in visible inventories in OECD countries like the United States. At the moment it's not priced in.' --With assistance from Julian Lee, Grant Smith, Kari Lundgren, Lisa Abramowicz, Scarlet Fu and Romaine Bostick. Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea's Wild Remote Worker Scheme Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
