More than 7,000 workers to hold strike vote this week amid accusations of staff shortages and expensive healthcare
More than 7,000 workers at CVS stores across California are holding a strike vote this week after accusing the US’s largest pharmacy chain of shortchanging staff and failing to provide affordable healthcare.
CVS and its union remain far apart in negotiations on a new contract. Their current union contract expired on 30 June 2024.
Continue reading...Labour needs voters to believe politics can make their lives better not that politicians are all the same, hence why the donations row was so damaging
When Keir Starmer wanted to inject a moment of levity into his first speech as prime minister at the Labour conference, he told a story about visiting a holiday cottage in the Lake District where the owner joked about wanting to push him down the stairs.
As lighter moments go, it had a dark edge. It is British humour, of course, but there is a reason it made an impression on Starmer – it’s a microcosm of what he and his closest advisers see as their greatest threat: the cynicism and disdain with which ordinary people view politicians. The view that they are all the same, all on the take. The widespread lack of trust that politics can make lives better.
Continue reading...One mother told Thirlwall inquiry she was unaware for six years anything had happened
Parents of babies attacked by Lucy Letby were not told their children had suffered life-threatening collapses until they were contacted by the police years later, an inquiry has heard.
The parents of one newborn boy said it was “disgusting” they were “kept in the dark” by staff at the Countess of Chester hospital after their son’s health suffered a serious deterioration in June 2016.
Continue reading...A further 175,000 pensioners are likely to stop receiving allowance under such plans, official figures show
A further 175,000 pensioners could lose the winter fuel allowance if the benefit becomes means tested, data suggests.
About 11.6 million people in the UK received the benefit last winter, an increase of 214,000 on the previous year, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The overwhelming majority are to have this removed this winter under plans announced by the Labour government to cut spending on the benefit.
Continue reading...Faulty update from cybersecurity company ground hospitals, airports and payment systems to halt in July
A CrowdStrike senior executive will apologize for causing a global software outage that ground the operations of hospitals, airports, payment systems and personal computers around the world to a halt in July.
Adam Meyers, senior vice-president for counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, is slated to testify before Congress on Tuesday. Meyers will speak to the House homeland security cybersecurity and infrastructure protection subcommittee. In testimony made available before the hearing, he wrote: “I am here today because, just over two months ago, on July 19, we let our customers down … On behalf of everyone at CrowdStrike, I want to apologize.” He will say the company has undertaken “a full review of our systems” to prevent the cascade of errors from occurring again.
Continue reading...Proposals will require financial institutions to share data that may help identify scammers
Labour has promised to crack down on benefit fraud by reintroducing “snooper’s charter” proposals mooted under the last government that would allow welfare officials to request information from claimants’ bank accounts.
A fraud, error and debt bill will require banks and other financial institutions to share data that may help identify benefit fraud as part of a package of measures designed to “catch fraudsters faster” and save £1.6bn over five years.
Continue reading...Amaga pseudobama was first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina and has now spread to Florida and Georgia
A new species of invasive flatworm has been discovered in the United States and has been found in several states in the south, according to a new paper.
The species, named Amaga pseudobama, was discovered by an international team of researchers and first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina. It is thought to be native to South America.
Continue reading...With no diplomatic ‘off-ramp’ the stage is set for more strikes and counter-strikes from an opponent unlikely to bend the knee
It is now clear that last Tuesday’s exploding pager operation was just a first step. What is now unfolding is an Israeli strategy of military escalation against Hezbollah, premised on the risky belief that the militant group can be bombed into a ceasefire before fighting in Gaza ends.
Monday’s wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 558 people and displaced many thousands, and there is little sign of the campaign slowing. Israel’s air force has said it had dropped 2,000 bombs in 24 hours – and there can be little doubt that this is now a full-on war, though it is not yet an all-out conflict.
Continue reading...The singer and actor has revealed the upcoming release of a companion album to her role in Joker: Folie à Deux
Lady Gaga has announced an accompanying 13-song album to her new film Joker: Folie à Deux.
The singer and actor had been teasing the news on social media and has now shared that the album, Harlequin, will be released on 27 September.
Continue reading...US president assumes mantle of elder statesman, defending his foreign policy record and urging Gaza deal
Joe Biden has sought to defend his foreign policy achievements on the world stage with an address to the United Nations general assembly against a backdrop of three brutal, intractable wars that have stymied world diplomats seeking an end to the bloodshed.
Addressing the assembly hall in New York on Tuesday, Biden took on the mantle of elder statesman as he alternated between a message of hope and a full-throated defense of his record on foreign policy.
Continue reading...Trattoria Meloni contains 70 portraits of Italian PM and is near site where arrivals to the EU are processed
A restaurant dedicated to Giorgia Meloni has opened in the vicinity of a camp in Albania where the asylum claims of people who seek to enter the EU by sea will be processed as part of a controversial pact promoted by the Italian far-right prime minister.
Trattoria Meloni, a seafood restaurant in the northern port of Shëngjin, was opened by Gjergj Luca, a restaurant owner who is close to the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama.
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