Author: admin@primenews

The union representing thousands of Starbucks workers in the US is staging a walkout on one of the coffee chain’s busiest days of the year. The action comes amid a bitter fight between Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United, which started organising workers at the company in 2021. The two sides are fighting over pay, scheduling and other issues. Roughly 200 stores are expected to be affected by the 16 November work stoppage. Barista Michelle Eisen, one of the union’s leaders, said the company could afford to “do better by its workers”. The protest is the second to coincide with Starbucks’…

Even the biggest British football fans can probably be forgiven for not knowing the name Harun Hamid. The 19-year-old was released by second-tier side QPR at the end of last season and currently doesn’t play for a professional side. But just last month Harun’s name was on the lips of millions of people in Pakistan when he scored the biggest goal in their World Cup qualifying history. His goal saw the country beat Cambodia 1-0 for their first win in five years – putting them through to the second round of qualifying for football’s biggest tournament for the first time.…

One of the UK’s most senior generals was warned in writing in 2011 that SAS soldiers were claiming to have executed handcuffed detainees in Afghanistan. BBC Panorama can reveal that Gen Gwyn Jenkins, who is now the second most senior officer in the British armed forces, received accounts of conversations in which members of the SAS described extrajudicial killings. But instead of referring the evidence to military police, Gen Jenkins placed it in a classified dossier and locked it in a safe. The failure to refer the evidence to military police has previously been disclosed in court, but the identities…

Iceland’s south-western peninsula could face decades of volcanic instability, warns the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). Earthquakes and fears of an impending eruption have led to the evacuation of the small fishing town of Grindavik. After an 800-year hiatus, eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula began again in 2021, which may mark a new “eruptive cycle”, the IMO’s Matthew Roberts says. “We expect to see volcanic eruptions along the peninsula, not just repeatedly in the same location.” This instability, he adds, could last decades. Dr Roberts, who is a managing director in the IMO’s Rekyavik headquarters, takes us into a room where…

A hospital in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, has been evacuated by police after nearby gang violence. More than 100 patients – nearly half of them children – had to be removed from the Fontaine Hospital Center, according to its director Jose Ulysse. The hospital is in the large shantytown of Cite Soleil, where there have been reports of unrest in recent days following the death of a gang leader. Haiti is currently in the grip of unprecedented levels of lawlessness. “There was a gang war, but the war is around the hospital,” Mr Ulysse told AFP news agency, clarifying an…

A Canadian man accused of killing a Muslim family in London, Ontario, wanted to make “all Muslims fearful for their safety”, a jury has heard. Prosecutors said in their closing argument that Nathaniel Veltman had planned to send “a brutal message”. Mr Veltman, 22, faces four first-degree murder charges and one count of attempted murder. He also faces terrorism counts, with prosecutors arguing he targeted the family because of their faith. The jury is now deliberating. The accused faces life in prison if found guilty. Both the defence and prosecutors agree that Mr Veltman was behind the wheel on 6…

Madagascar is holding presidential elections despite an opposition boycott following weeks of protests. A curfew was declared overnight to prevent any trouble. Political tensions have been running high, with the opposition saying that the incumbent, Andry Rajoelina, should be disqualified. There have been six weeks of demonstrations, which have seen opposition supporters clash with police. Angelo Ravelonarivo, a police prefect in the capital of Antananarivo, said the curfew was imposed following “various acts of sabotage” including the “burning of a polling station”. Opposition leaders have complained of an “institutional coup” in favour of Mr Rajoelina. They say he should be…

The final series of Netflix’s The Crown launches on Thursday, with the first four episodes set to be released. Season six of the royal drama will depict the events of the late 1990s, including Princess Diana’s relationship with Dodi Fayed. The new episodes will also show the events leading up to Diana’s death in 1997, and the aftermath. However, the show’s release has been met with criticism over historical inaccuracies. Kelly Swaby, a royal historian, told the BBC: “As a historian it sometimes makes me want to cry. “Viewers often expect a certain degree of accuracy with the show because…

While officials tried to keep expectations low before the meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping on Wednesday, the encounter resulted in agreements on several key issues. “I believe these are some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had,” President Biden said after the meeting. “We’ve made some important progress.” President Xi earlier acknowledged that US-China relations have “never been smooth sailing”. But he added that, for the two superpowers, “turning their back on each other is not an option”. Here are four things we learned from their California talks. 1) There was common ground on climate The…

Changes are being rolled out to the Threads app that will enable users to delete their account while keeping the linked Instagram account. An Instagram account is required to sign up to the Twitter-like app, but users were frustrated that it was impossible to delete Threads alone. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri revealed the change in a post on Threads. Initially hailed as a “Twitter-killer”, Threads struggled to sustain early record-breaking growth. In October Mark Zuckerberg, the head of parent-company Meta, revealed that three months on from its July launch the app was attracting around 100 million monthly users – down by…