The former Premier League champions have strongly refuted breaking financial rules during their dominant run in the world’s richest football league
Sep 25, 2026
Starbucks plans to close 250 North American stores later this week. It is the second big round of store closures under Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol , who joined the company in 2024. Last September, Starbucks closed 627 stores in North America and Europe. In a letter to employees, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams said the locations targeted either aren't delivering acceptable financial results or can't provide the kind of experience that Starbucks wants for customers and employees. The company didn't say Thursday which coffeehouses will close or how many are located in the U.S. Starbucks Workers United, which represents workers at the 700 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores that have voted to unionize , said 20 unionized stores are among the 250 that are closing, or 8% of the total. Starbucks stores have been voting to unionize since late 2021, but the union and the company have yet to reach a labor agreement. Grams said Starbucks is continuing to retrofit its North American coffeehouses to make them cozier and more inviting. The company expects 1,500 stores will be
WASHINGTON — Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday the United States and China reached a new trade arrangement, according to a report, as he and U.S. President Donald Trump held a summit in Washington to discuss artificial intelligence (AI), trade, security and other key issues. Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi made the remarks during the White House summit, calling the arrangement "good news for industries and people of both countries, as well as the global economy," while noting that a stable economic relationship requires "expanding the list of cooperation and shortening the list of problems." It did not elaborate on the arrangement, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told Fox News that Washington and Beijing agreed to extend their trade truce by two months until Jan. 10. During the summit, Trump and Xi also exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula, the situation in the Middle East, and the war between Russia and Ukraine, according to the news outlet. Ahead of the summit, Trump and Xi were expected to touch on North Korea-related issues, as Trump hopes to have a me
RIYADH/CAIRO — Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold an urgent, high-level meeting under a joint defence pact to discuss ways to support the kingdom amid attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, while Tehran sought to distance itself from the rapid advance of its Houthi allies. The Houthis have launched strikes on the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and repeatedly fired into Saudi Arabia, disrupting oil flows from the world's largest energy exporter, as part of a wider Middle East war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February. The Houthis said they had fired dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets on Thursday, while authorities in Saudi Arabia said they had intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Houthi fighters. Saudi Arabia earlier had issued emergency alerts for areas including the holy city of Mecca, Jeddah and Yanbu, the main Saudi Red Sea oil port. Saudi Arabia's top religious authority called on soldiers in the kingdom to be ready to lay down their lives to fight the Houthis until the group is ousted from power, a statement posted on the Saud
UNITED NATIONS — The catastrophic Nepal flooding last month was "not just a local tragedy, it was a warning to the world," the country's Prime Minister Balendra Shah told the United Nations on Thursday. Shah said a warming climate was "destabilizing the fragile Himalayan ecology," melting permafrost and glaciers and accelerating hazards. He urged the international community to help bear the cost of adapting to climate change, because "Nepal cannot build resilience alone against a crisis made worse by the failure of global governance."
PARIS — Pope Leo arrived in France on Friday for a whirlwind four-day visit, saying he wished to be a pilgrim of peace for a world at war, on a trip during which he is also hoping to repair the Catholic Church's standing after abuse scandals. Leo was greeted at the Paris Orly airport, under a clear blue sky, by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, and by children who sang for him and asked for autographs. He will also travel to the famed Catholic shrine at Lourdes, in the southwest, and to Metz, on the German border. During the Sept. 25-28 trip, he is set to renew calls for global rules on artificial intelligence (AI) development, while laying out a vision for Europe's future. Telling reporters on the plane to Paris that he was coming to convey a message of peace, Leo added: "It is a message which at this time, as we all may know, is particularly important." Leading Leo's agenda on Friday are speeches to Macron and other French leaders at the Elysee Palace and to staff at the headquarters of the U.N. culture and education body, UNESCO, which is facing budget shortfalls afte
ATHENS, Greece — A powerful blast shook the Greek capital’s tourist district of Plaka, near the ancient Acropolis, on Friday morning, causing a building to collapse and injuring at least two people who had to be rescued from an adjacent building, authorities said. The fire department said the explosion occurred in an old two-story building in the Plaka district, the historic part of Athens that lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill, Greece’s most visited ancient monument. The building collapsed, while neighboring buildings were also damaged. Firefighters rescued two women from an adjacent building, with police saying both were being transported to a hospital. Local media said a passerby was also slightly injured by the blast. Police cordoned off the area, while the fire department said rescue crews were checking whether any more people might be trapped. Video footage from the scene showed rubble strewn across the street, with parked cars smashed by falling debris. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, but local media said a gas leak was suspected.
Tehran — Iran has threatened neighbouring countries if they choose to enforce new US aviation sanctions that have led to restrictions on international flights to and from the country. The warning came as Iranian carriers cancelled a number of international flights after the US threatened airports and aviation service providers with secondary sanctions if they did business with Iranian airlines. "Aligning with the United States in implementing hostile policies will remain etched in the memory of the Iranian people," Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, wrote on X on Friday. "Airspace is either open to all or to no one," he continued. "If Iran is denied the right to fly and access airport services, no country in the region will have it either." This week several countries stopped doing business with Iranian airlines and are refusing to allow them to use their airspace. Only a handful of Iranian airlines are still flying from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport to destinations including Russia, China and Turkey. Istanbul in particular is an important hub for trave
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump is taking Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the National Archives on Friday, showing off the sacred texts of U.S. democracy to the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country to cap off a three-day state visit criticized for being heavy on pomp and light on substance . Xi is expected to depart Washington after touring the nation's vault of records, where the Declaration of Independence , the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are held. The two leaders have made a show of working to preserve harmony between the world's two largest economies, though there were no major breakthroughs on issues such as trade or the safety of artificial intelligence . Trump, a Republican, has been seeking to demonize Democrats as communists during the run-up to the November midterm elections, a message that has been muddied by the red-carpet treatment he has given Xi this week. The visit comes as the U.S. celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, and Trump said Thursday that he wanted to show Xi “some of the greatest treasures of that proud hist
BURJ QALAWAY, Lebanon — In southern Lebanon, eight-year-old Yara Ajami started the academic year this week in a doorless, windowless classroom after her school was destroyed by an Israeli strike. Well known in the area for its excellence, Ajami's elementary school in Burj Qalaway was struck by Israel in May, two months after Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking its southern neighbour. "We are happy to be back (to school), but we were happier before. We used to draw, play, but now there are no desks or chairs," the young girl with braided hair said as she climbed a bare concrete staircase. Rather than go to their old school building, Ajami and the other students returning to classes after the summer break on Monday were diverted to a nearby structure still under construction that was being built to house preschoolers. The sun shone through unglazed windows into unfinished classrooms as children followed their lessons, while outside clumps of twisted rebar jutted from the ground like dead bushes where walls used to stand. The students come from areas heavily hit
Zelenskyy says Trump approved licences for Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles as the US proposes UAE for technical-level Ukraine-US-Russia talks.
The Bagmati River overflowed its banks following persistent rainfall in Nepal, triggering landslides. Travel advisory has been issued.