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☆ Britain is 'resolute' on nurses' pay, senior minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The British government is "resolute" it will not budge on nurses' pay, senior minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday, ahead of a planned second nationwide walkout by the profession over an average pay offer of 4% while inflation runs at more than 10%. Its leader Pat Cullen said on Friday that unless ministers "start playing ball by taking part in meaningful negotiations" over pay, nurses would continue to take action. "Governments have had every chance to act but they have chosen to turn their backs on us," she said. Dowden said nurses' pay was recommended by an independent pay review body, which had determined that nurses would receive a minimum rise of 1,400 pounds, equating to about 4% on average. Britain is facing a wave of industrial action this winter, including rail and postal services as well as healthcare.

☆ ‘Porch pirates’ stole an estimated 260 million packages in the last year. How to prevent theft on your doorstep
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Andresr | E+ | Getty ImagesYou may not be the only person eager for packages to arrive at your house. Over the last year, an estimated 260 million delivered packages were stolen, according to a report from SafeWise, an online guide to security and safety products. The total annual lost to this type of theft is an estimated $19.5 billion, according to SafeWise. "The other aspect of this crime that makes it unique and likely to continue increasing is that there's very low risk and very low skill involved," Stickle said. If possible, you should sign up to receive an email or text message when your package is supposed to arrive and when it's actually delivered, Murray said.

The winter holidays are quickly approaching, including Christmas Day one week from Sunday. For anyone who plans to ship holiday items via the U.S. Postal Service, time is running out to get your cards and gifts to your destination on time. The agency has posted its recommended shipping dates for making sure whatever you're sending gets there with time to spare. Holiday shopping volumes are expected to increase by as much as 8% this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

☆ China’s sudden ‘reopening’ reveals new challenges as infections soar
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Yuxuan Zhang | Afp | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Mainland China's swift rollback of many Covid-related restrictions has been unexpectedly sudden, revealing a new set of economic challenges. “Surging Covid infections may offset the positive impact of the easing in the near term." "The rapid surge of infections in big cities might be only the beginning of a massive wave of Covid infections," the analysts said. Get through winter firstSocial activity remains subdued amid the surge of infections and below-freezing weather in northern cities. Management at Chinese travel booking site Trip.com were also reserved in how soon domestic travel would rebound.

☆ Delivery drivers reveal their biggest complaints about customers and why most of them love working during the holidays
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Delivery drivers work double duty during the holidays, but enjoy the extra work due to higher tips. 1 headache reported by the delivery drivers is customers who intercept package deliveries. Food delivery drivers' biggest pet peeve while on the road is people who drive slow in the fast lane. Delivery drivers said Indiana was the worst state to drive in during the holiday season. More than 60% of delivery drivers said they dislike customers who request hidden drop-off locations and who request rush deliveries.

☆ 'What a tragic day': British nurses strike in bitter pay dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Farouq Suleiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/6] NHS nurses take part in a strike, during a dispute with the government over pay, outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, Britain December 15, 2022. An estimated 100,000 nurses will strike at 76 hospitals and health centres, cancelling an estimated 70,000 appointments, procedures and surgeries in Britain's state-funded NHS. "What a tragic day. This is a tragic day for nursing, it is a tragic day for patients, patients in hospitals like this, and it is a tragic day for people of this society and for our NHS," Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, said to the BBC on a picket line on Thursday. Polling ahead of the nursing strike showed that a majority of Britons support the action, but once the walk-outs are underway politicians will be closely monitoring public opinion.

☆ John Lewis stamp: Civil rights hero to be honored next year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Shawna Mizelle | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Washington CNN —The late civil rights trailblazer and congressman John Lewis will be honored on a new postage stamp in 2023, the US Postal Service announced Tuesday. The Georgia Democrat, who dedicated his life to activism and spent more than three decades in Congress fighting for civil rights, will be featured on a stamp using a photograph taken for a 2013 issue of Time magazine, USPS said in a statement. Lewis was widely seen as a moral conscience of Congress because of his nonviolent fight for civil rights. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, a Democrat who introduced and passed a resolution honoring the life of Lewis, has voiced support for commemorating him with a stamp. “Congressman Lewis was an American hero, civil rights icon, and revered citizen of Georgia, fully deserving of this honor,” Ossoff said in a statement last year.

☆ In U.S. Bid to Blunt China’s Pacific Sway, Postal Service Has a Say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Charles Hutzler | Mike Cherney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden held a summit in September with Pacific island leaders in Washington aimed at signaling the U.S. commitment to the region. The U.S. is trying to shore up its influence among Pacific island nations against China’s inroads in the region. First, the U.S. Postal Service needs to get on board.

☆ Britain braces for winter of strike action as nurses walk out
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Sarah Young | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Unions are seeking double-digit pay rises to keep pace with inflation that hit 11.1% in October, the highest in 41 years. Union estimates forecast more than 1 million working days will be lost in December, making it the worst month for disruption since July 1989. Walk-outs in rail by RMT members, which started in June, are the union's biggest action for over 30 years, while for nurses, it is the first ever national strike action in the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) 106-year-old history. MORE PROMINENT UNIONSThe walk-outs end decades of relatively stable industrial relations in Britain, compared to European neighbours such as France and Spain. "I think the world that we're in is one where we get more prominent union activity," Pickering said.

Come next year, Democrats will have unilateral subpoena power in many committees to compel investigative targets to provide documents and testimony — without needing GOP support. “Our committees will have greater oversight ability, subpoena power. Subpoena power can deal with corporate corruption and inequities, and other problems throughout the country,” he said. “And if using subpoena power becomes necessary, then that’s something we can do.”Other Democrats floated industries that could be the targets of the party's subpoena powers. “But having subpoena power for CEOs and billionaires who think they don’t have to come to Congress to explain themselves will be very valuable.”

☆ UK strikes to hit ambulance services, hospitals and trains in the run up to Christmas
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

More than 10,000 ambulance workers represented by the GMB Union will strike again on December 28. Ambulance workers, like others in the UK National Health Service (NHS), “are on their knees,” according to GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison. According to The Times, one million UK workers are set to strike in December and January. The union said that critical care will be exempt from strike action but non-critical services will have lower staffing levels. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 postal workers, has notified Royal Mail of additional walkouts on December 9, 11, 14 and 15.

☆ Colorado grandmother sues police detective following SWAT raid based on false 'Find my iPhone' ping
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The complaint specifies Johnson is suing Staab “in his individual capacity.” Johnson is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages, according to the filing. The complaint contends that Staab's affidavit violated Johnson's right, afforded by the state constitution, to "be free of unreasonable searches and seizures." Staab then used that claim as the basis for the raid, according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver. The filing claims that Staab "acknowledged to Ms. Johnson’s children the harm his DPD officers caused to Ms. Johnson’s well-being, home, and personal property," but that he told them the police department wouldn't pay for repairs from the search. Neither Staab nor the police department apologized for the raid, according to the complaint.

☆ Spanish police find more 'bloody packages' sent to Ukraine missions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MADRID, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Spanish police intercepted three more envelopes containing animal eyes addressed to Ukraine's embassy in Madrid and its consulates in Barcelona and Malaga on Monday, police sources close to the investigation said. Last week, Ukraine said a series of "bloody packages" were sent to its missions across Europe, soon after a letter bomb detonated at Ukraine's embassy in Spain and police defused others sent to, among others, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The postal service's security staff detected the new envelopes during screening on Monday morning and alerted police, the sources said. Ukrainian embassy in Madrid had already received a package with animal eyes on Friday that the interior ministry said carried a foreign stamp. Evidence from that package shared with the postal service helped its staff detect the latest one, police sources added.

☆ Over 60% of people who shop online are 'bracketing' their online purchases — and it's creating a logistical nightmare for retailers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Bracketing" is the practice of buying the same item online in multiple sizes or colors. It's increased with the rise of e-commerce: 63% of shoppers reported bracketing in a 2022 survey. With the holiday shopping season in full swing, retailers are bracing for what at this point is practically an e-commerce tradition: bracketing. Bracketing is especially prevalent when retailers offer free shipping and free returns because customers deem the practice low risk. Bracketing probably isn't a totally fixable problem, but there are some ways retailers can prevent customers from making so many returns.

☆ Results: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski defeated Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska's Senate election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Hanna Kang | Bartie Scott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sen. Lisa Murkowski ran against fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka and Democrat Patricia Chesbro, but the battle was largely between the two Republicans. Tshibaka was endorsed by Donald Trump, while Murkowski had the endorsements of several high-profile Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski defeated Democrat Patricia Chesbro and fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska to represent the state in the US Senate. Her Republican challenger, Tshibaka, raised $4.8 million, spent $4.2 million, and had $692,428 cash on hand, as of October 19. Murkowski benefitted from most of that spending, including a $6.1 million boost from the Senate Leadership Fund, a national Republican super PAC.

☆ British transport cleaning staff to strike over pay - union
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Cleaners will become the latest set of transport workers to strike over pay in Britain, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union said on Saturday, adding to a wave of industrial action sweeping the country. The RMT said its members, working as cleaners throughout the transport network, had voted to hold their first national strike action. It said over 1,000 contracted out cleaners working for the likes of Churchill, Atalian Servest and Mitie (MTO.L) were eligible to strike. The RMT wants the cleaners to be paid 15 pounds ($18.14) an hour, with sick pay, holiday entitlement and better pensions. Railway workers, nurses, doctors and teachers, as well as emergency services, postal services and telecoms workers have either been on strike or plan action.

☆ Cooling job market doesn't take the heat off the holiday hiring spree
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Shannon-Pettypiece-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Shannon Pettypiece | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Retailers are entering the holiday season amid a swirl of mixed economic signals. That leaves companies expecting another busy shopping season as they continue to grapple with a competitive job market. Before the holiday hiring rush, retailers were already looking to fill 800,000 open positions, according to the retail federation. There are some signs though that the labor market is starting to shift in employers' favor. "This speed is imperative during holiday hiring," John Patterson, Macy’s vice president of talent, said in an email.

☆ Don't bank on free returns: 60% of retailers roll out stricter policies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jessica Dickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Roughly 60% of retailers said they're making changes to existing returns policies, with fewer promising free returns, according to a recent survey of retail executives. "These adjustments in return policies are not there to cover costs," Kieboom said. "The more money retailers lose on returns the more they have to make up for that by raising prices," Beitelspacher said. How to avoid return feesStill, shoppers love free returns almost as much as they love free shipping. In fact, 98% of consumers said that free shipping was the most important consideration when shopping online, followed by more than three-quarters who said the same about free returns, according to a recent report by PowerReviews.

☆ UK strikes: Nearly 200,000 British workers are striking on Black Friday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Postal workers are planning further strike action for November 30 and December 1, following walkouts in August and September. “Customers should expect delays to items posted just before, during or just after strike action,” Royal Mail said in a statement. Amid worker strikes, Royal Mail vehicles remain parked at the Tonbridge Delivery Office in Kent, England on November 24, 2022. Strike action will also add to losses facing companies and could prompt further job cuts. Royal Mail says it has not yet been formally notified of these dates.

☆ Fact Check-Images do not show ballots dumped during 2022 midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A Twitter account shared two-years-old images of envelopes scattered by roadways with false claims that thousands of U.S. midterm election ballots were dumped across the country and in Mexico. Reverse image search reveals that the two photographs used in the tweet pre-date the midterm elections. Postal Service (USPS) mail carrier from Hudson County who was arrested on Oct 7, 2020, for discarding post, including 99 general election ballots intended to be delivered to West Orange residents (here). Meanwhile, Pam Smith, president of the non-governmental organization Verified Voting, told Reuters that the organization has seen “no evidence” to support the claim that thousands of ballots have been dumped during the midterm elections. The images that show mail strewn along the side of roadways were captured years before the 2022 midterm elections.

☆ Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski faces off against Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka and Democrat Patricia Chesbro in Alaska's US Senate election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sen. Lisa Murkowski is running against fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka and Democrat Patricia Chesbro to represent Alaska in the US Senate. Tshibaka is endorsed by Donald Trump, while Murkowski has the endorsements of several high-profile Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski faces off against Democrat Patricia Chesbro and fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska to represent the state in the US Senate. Her Republican challenger, Tshibaka, has raised $4.8 million, spent $4.2 million, and has $692,428 cash on hand, as of October 19. Murkowski has benefitted from most of that spending, including a $6.1 million boost from the Senate Leadership Fund, a national Republican super PAC.

Voting in the midterm elections ends on Nov. 8, but there is still plenty of time to cast your ballot. Here's a guide to the most important things you should know as Election Day approaches. Early voting for the the 2022 midterm elections on November 8 has already begun. Start and end times for early voting vary by state, but can extend all the way up to Election Day. You can also drop off your ballot at some in-person polling locations during early voting and on Election Day.

☆ Kyiv residents snap up new stamp celebrating Crimean bridge blast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A woman holds envelopes with the new commemorative Crimea bridge destruction anti-Russian stamps, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, outside a post office in Kyiv, Ukraine November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Murad SezerKYIV, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Residents in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday snapped up a new postage stamp commemorating a blast that damaged a major bridge linking Russia to Crimea in a blow to the prestige of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The bridge - a showcase project of Putin's rule and crucial supply route for Russian forces in Ukraine - was partially wrecked in an explosion last month. Olena Tumanska, who is originally from Crimea, said she hoped for the destruction of the bridge. In April, the national postal service issued a stamp depicting a Ukrainian soldier making a crude gesture at a Russian warship.

☆ If you're voting by mail in the 2022 midterms, here are the deadlines to submit your absentee ballot in each state
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Kayla Gallagher | Taylor Tyson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the deadlines for mail-in ballots in each state. When casting a vote in the 2022 midterm elections, many voters will chose to submit an absentee ballot. You can also drop off your ballot at some in-person polling locations during early voting and on Election Day. Election Day, November 8, is the deadline to postmark absentee ballots in all states. Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, members of the military living overseas and other American citizens living abroad can request absentee ballots and vote in federal elections.

☆ Arizona early voting marred by ballot box intimidation. Courts needs to intervene.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Richard L. Hasen | Richard L. Hasen Is Professor At Ucla School Of Law | Where He Directs Its Safeguarding Democracy Project. He Is An Nbc News Msnbc Election Law Analyst. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

First Amendment rights do not extend to threats of violence and voter intimidation. A great deal of the attention has been on ballot drop boxes. There has been no indication of any widespread fraud through the use of ballot drop boxes. Nonetheless, conspiracy theories about the drop boxes have continued to circulate, fueled in part by a widely debunked film by Dinesh D’Souza, “2000 Mules,” which uses false and unproven claims to try to show drop boxes being used for fraud. Reporting by NBC News shows that ballot drop box conspiracies have flooded Trump’s social media website, Truth Social, and that has led to organizing on the ground, including in places like Arizona.

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