Military personnel stood in for passport control staff at UK airports on Friday as Border Force officers walked out in an escalating wave of public sector strikes over pay.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay, writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, accused the unions of making a "conscious decision" to "inflict harm" on patients.

UK nurses on Tuesday staged a second one-day strike amid an increasingly acrimonious fight with the government for better wages and warnings that patient safety could be jeopardised.

UK nurses stage unprecedented walkout

British inflation slowed more than expected in November but remained near the highest level in more than 40 years, official data showed Wednesday, as a cost-of-living crisis sparks fresh UK strikes.

Average pay for British public sector workers fell to a 19-year low in October, after adjusting for inflation, according to official data on Tuesday that underscored why so many are going on strike.

The United Kingdom recorded the highest number of working days lost to labour disputes in October for more than 10 years, official data showed on Tuesday, as employees went on strike to demand higher pay in the face of soaring inflation.

Up to 100,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will hold a one-day stoppage on Thursday

British nurses will go on strike this week, hitting already stretched hospitals and cranking up pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to quell the biggest wave of industrial action to hit the country in decades.

The Bank of England will add another 50 basis points to Bank Rate next week and take borrowing costs to 3.50%, despite the economy falling into recession, as it battles inflation running at more than five times its target, a Reuters poll found.

More than 1,100 union employees at the New York Times Co will walk out for one day on Thursday, the union said, citing the company's "failure to bargain in good faith," after setting a deadline for a contract last week.

The five sentenced to death were convicted of "corruption on earth" -- one of the most serious offences under Islamic sharia law in Iran.

Inside five white tents outside the Uiwang container depot near Seoul, about 200 striking truckers huddle around gas heaters

Numerous other public and private sector staff, from lawyers to airport ground personnel, have also held strikes this year

Wage increases are usually set by collective bargaining between the Austrian Economic Chambers and unions representing different branches.

Dozens of Zara shop assistants protested in Madrid on Thursday outside the global fashion giant's largest store to demand higher pay, and some workers in its home town in northwest Spain went on strike on the eve of its Black Friday sales campaign.

Numerous other public and private sector staff, from lawyers to airport ground personnel, have also held strikes this year.

Tesco, one of Britain's largest private-sector employers, is offering its staff advances on their pay in the latest sign of the distress arising from a worsening cost-of-living crisis.

Workers at more than 100 U.S. company-owned Starbucks locations plan to strike for one day on Thursday to protest what they say is illegal retaliation against their union organizing.

The tour is one of the major CS:GO circuits featuring top competitions in well-known cities like Katowice, Poland, and Cologne, Germany.

Oil prices fell for a second day in early Asian trade on Thursday as concerns over geopolitical tensions eased and rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in China added to demand worries in the world's largest crude importer.

European shares fell on Wednesday, with Mercedes Benz Group leading losses in automobiles stocks, while a blast in Poland kept sentiment subdued and pushed up defence stocks.

Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) economies will hold a second day of talks on Wednesday, although the schedule at the summit was disrupted by an emergency meeting to discuss reports of a missile landing in Polish territory near Ukraine.

Britain will Thursday hike taxes and slash public spending in a government budget that signals a return to austerity despite a cost-of-living crisis and recession headwinds.

Greek workers went on a day-long strike on Wednesday, demanding higher wages to cope with surging inflation, as Europe's soaring energy prices and living costs trigger industrial action and protests across the continent.

England football fans flying to the World Cup in Qatar face delays and cancellations after staff at Heathrow Airport on Friday announced a three-day strike in a dispute over pay.

Pilots at Delta Air Lines have voted to authorize a strike if negotiators cannot reach agreement on a new employment contract, their union said on Monday.

Hundreds of Apple workers in Australia are set to strike again after almost two-thirds of employees rejected a pay and benefits deal, the latest escalation of a fight that has seen weeks of walkouts at stores around the country.

The French government on Wednesday ordered some staff at an Exxon Mobil depot back to work and warned a TotalEnergies' depot could be next, risking a wider conflict with trade unions as it battles to secure petrol supplies following weeks-long strikes.

Nuclear-armed North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years on Tuesday, prompting a warning for residents to take cover and a temporary suspension of train operations in northern Japan.