Author: admin@primenews

Barclays is cutting 900 UK jobs as it looks to reduce costs, the trade union Unite has said. The union said the “disgraceful” move in the lead-up to Christmas would boost the bank’s “massive profits”. Jobs will go across several back-office divisions, including compliance, finance, legal, policy, IT and risk, according to Unite. Barclays has not confirmed numbers, but said it was taking action to “simplify the business”. Affected staff were told at lunchtime on Tuesday, Unite said. It said it was pressing Barclays to avoid all compulsory redundancies and redeploy staff in the impacted areas of the business. The…

Family members of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting victims offered to settle the $1.5bn (£1.32bn) debt owed by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. They said they would accept the sale of Mr Jones’s assets, or a minimum of $85m (£67m) over 10 years. Mr Jones admitted making repeated false claims about the deaths, which led to harassment of the victims’ families. The Sandy Hook families sued Jones over those false claims and won the $1.5bn judgement last year. Mr Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, have since filed for bankruptcy, but a judge ruled last month it would not…

Bare benches for beds in “suffocating”, airless rooms. Little to no food. A child captive forced by Hamas to watch the carnage of 7 October on video. Stories emerging from those freed from Gaza – mostly through their relatives – paint a picture of weeks spent in squalor, uncertainty and fear. One hostage, Ruti Munder, 78, said she learned her son was killed in Israel by listening to a radio used by guards. Deborah Cohen claimed her 12-year-old nephew was made to watch videos of the Hamas rampage through southern Israel. More than 60 of the estimated 240 people taken…

After a gunman shot three students of Palestinian descent in the US state of Vermont, police quickly made an arrest. But days later, they are still searching for a motive and say there is not yet enough evidence to call it a hate crime. When Jason Eaton allegedly approached three young men with a handgun in a quiet Burlington neighbourhood on Saturday evening, he did not say a word. He then fired at least four shots at close range, police said, striking each of the students. Relatives of the victims, who have survived the shooting, believe the attack was a…

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has agreed to buy a 10% stake in Heathrow airport from Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial. Another 15% in its parent company, FGP Topco, will be sold to French-based private equity fund Ardian. Ferrovial, which has owned a stake since 2006, announced that the deal was worth £2.37bn ($3bn). The transaction is still subject to regulatory conditions, according to the firm. If approved, the deal would end Ferrovial’s investment in the UK airports’ operator which started at 56% but was reduced to 25% by 2013. Other stakeholders in FGP Topco include Qatar Investment Authority, Caisse…

Pakistani police are investigating the so-called “honour killing” of a young woman who appeared in a viral photo that police suspect was doctored. Authorities in remote Kohistan said the 18-year-old was shot dead by her father and uncle last week on orders from elders of a tribal jirga (council). Her father was arrested on a murder complaint and her uncle is on the run, police say. She has not been named. The man in the photo, whom the jirga wanted dead, is in protective custody. Two others – a young woman and a young man – also received death threats…

Australia’s prime minister has given a national apology to survivors of the thalidomide scandal and their families. It comes over 60 years after the morning sickness drug started causing birth defects in babies globally. “This apology takes in one of the darkest chapters in Australia’s medical history,” Anthony Albanese told parliament on Wednesday. It is the first time the government has acknowledged its role in the tragedy. “To the survivors – we apologise for the pain thalidomide has inflicted on each and every one of you each and every day. We are sorry. We are more sorry than we can…

Rescuers in India have freed 41 workers who had been trapped in a collapsed Himalayan tunnel for 17 days. Miners drilled the final section by hand to reach the workers in the 4.5km (3-mile) tunnel in Uttarakhand. The men, who were brought out in wheeled stretchers through a 90cm (3ft) wide pipe, were taken to hospital for check-ups. No one was injured. Marathon efforts to free them from the Silkyara tunnel which collapsed on 12 November overcame numerous setbacks. The mission was ultimately completed on Tuesday evening thanks to the efforts of a group of “rat-hole” miners, who used hand-held…

No 10 is embroiled in a deepening row with Athens after cancelling a meeting between Rishi Sunak and the Greek PM. Downing Street believed it had assurances that Kyriakos Mitsotakis would not speak publicly about the Parthenon Sculptures – also known as the Elgin Marbles – on his UK visit. A Greek source has denied this. On Sunday, Greece’s leader told the BBC that having some of the treasures in London and others in Athens was like cutting the Mona Lisa in half. No 10 then scrapped the PM’s meeting with Mr Mitsotakis at late notice. Labour has described the…

“All the rich can afford a new car,” an elderly British woman commented at a recent protest in London against plans to expand a toll on older, polluting vehicles to outer suburbs of the city. “It’s affecting so many poor people… Everybody wants clean air but it’s all about money,” she told Times Radio. Her comments encapsulate growing resistance to pro-climate measures because of the costs they can impose on already stretched household budgets or the hassle they add to daily lives. Many people have seen their incomes eroded over the past 18 months by soaring food and energy bills and high borrowing costs. Even…