Starbucks Workers Launch ‘Red Cup Rebellion,’ Verizon Plans 15,000 Layoffs, Fed Sends Mixed Signals on December Cut, and New Hitler DNA Findings Spark Global Debate
- oyinmary321
- Nov 14
- 8 min read
15th November 2025
Starbucks baristas across the U.S. are staging a nationwide “Red Cup Rebellion,” escalating pressure on the coffee giant during one of its busiest promotional days. Verizon’s new CEO is preparing the company’s largest-ever layoffs, slashing 15,000 jobs as the telecom battles slowing growth and fierce competition. At the Fed, policymakers are openly split on whether December brings another rate cut, pushing market odds below 50%. And in a story stirring intense controversy, researchers say DNA testing indicates Adolf Hitler likely suffered from Kallmann Syndrome, reigniting debates about the limits of genetic research. All this and more in today’s Read It And Eat!
Major Headlines
Starbucks workers strike at some stores nationwide in 'Red Cup rebellion,' union says
Starbucks baristas are set to walk off the job in dozens of U.S. cities on Thursday, aiming to galvanize public support and pressure the company on “Red Cup Day,” the coffee giant's annual holiday promotion. More than 1,000 Starbucks workers will go on strike at about 65 stores scattered across states as far-flung as California, Texas and Pennsylvania, Starbucks Workers United(SWU), the union representing the workers, told ABC News in a statement.
Union members say Starbucks has failed to make new proposals on key issues like staffing levels and pay since the labor group rejected a company offer in April. The workers also seek to resolve hundreds of allegations over illegal labor practices, including claims of retaliation targeting union members. “We’re turning the Red Cup Season into the Red Cup Rebellion. Starbucks’ refusal to settle a fair union contract and end union busting is forcing us to take drastic action,” Amos Hall, a barista at a store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told ABC News in a statement. In a statement to ABC News, Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson downplayed the scale of the anticipated strike and faulted the union for what she described as a refusal to bargain with the company.
“We are disappointed that Workers United, who only represents around 4% of our partners, has voted to authorize a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table. When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” Anderson said. “Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners,” Anderson added.
As of Thursday afternoon, 99% of Starbucks stores remained open amid the strikes, Anderson said. Anderson contested the union’s characterization of the impasse in negotiations, saying the union brought an incomplete proposal to its members for the ill-fated vote in April. Starbucks Workers United said it represents more than 12,000 unionized baristas at over 600 stores. The company provided ABC News with a lower estimate, saying the union counts 9,500 members at about 550 locations. ABC News
Verizon to cut about 15,000 jobs as new CEO restructures, source says
Verizon's new CEO (VZ.N), is planning to cut about 15,000 jobs in the U.S. telecommunications company's largest ever layoffs, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, outlining some of the executive's first efforts to restructure in the face of rising competition. The wireless carrier faces mounting market pressure amid concerns over a shrinking pool of new customers as older rivals offer cheaper plans and cable operators jump into the fray.
The layoffs, affecting about 15% of Verizon's workforce, are set to take place as soon as next week, the person said, and follow years of efforts to cut jobs and costs. The cuts will reduce non-union management ranks by more than 20% and Verizon also plans to turn about 180 corporate-owned retail stores into franchised operations, the source added. Verizon CEO Dan Schulman was appointed in early October, arriving from the helm at PayPal as promotions by rivals AT&T (T.N), and T-Mobile (TMUS.O), have intensified, particularly around the launch of new iPhone models, with aggressive discounts and trade-in deals to retain subscribers and win new customers.
Verizon needs aggressive change including "cost transformation, fundamentally restructuring our expense base," Schulman said last month. "We will be a simpler, leaner and scrappier business." Verizon added just 44,000 monthly bill-paying wireless subscribers in the third quarter, lagging AT&T. T-Mobile led with more than 1 million net subscriber additions. Cable operators like Comcast (CMCSA.O), and Charter (CHTR.O), are shaking up the wireless market by bundling mobile plans with high-speed internet.
Verizon's shares rose about 1.5% on the news. They have largely stagnated over the last three years, with a gain of 8% compared with the S&P 500's near-70% rise. Schulman, a Verizon board member for seven years, has said he does not want to hike prices and seeks to be more customer-focused. Verizon maintains the highest prices in the sector. "Our financial growth has relied too heavily on price increases, a strategic approach that relies too much on price without subscriber growth is not a sustainable strategy," he said last month. Reuters
Fed’s December rate cut looks increasingly like a toss-up
Citing worries about inflation and signs of relative stability in the labor market after two U.S. interest rate cuts this year, a growing number of Federal Reserve policymakers are signaling reticence on further easing, helping push financial market-based odds of a reduction in borrowing costs in December to below 50%.
As if to underscore the knife-edge decision, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly until now a firm supporter of the Fed’s rate cuts said on Thursday any decision about four weeks ahead of the next policy meeting is "premature." "I have an open mind, but I haven’t made a final decision on what I think, and I’m looking forward to debating with my colleagues," Daly said during an event in Dublin, Ireland.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who, like Daly, said just a couple months ago that he felt a third rate cut by the end of this year would be warranted, told Bloomberg News on Thursday that he had opposed last month’s rate cut because of resilience in the economy, and is on the fence about December. "We have inflation that’s still too high, running at about 3%," he said in brief welcoming remarks earlier in the day at a conference hosted by his regional Fed bank. "Some sectors of the U.S. economy look like they’re doing great. Some sectors of the labor market look like they’re under pressure."
Short-term interest rate futures, the best real-time gauge of financial market expectations for Fed policy, now reflect a 47% chance that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee will lower borrowing costs on December 10, when the Fed wraps up its last policy meeting of 2025. Earlier this week the contracts indicated a 67% likelihood of a cut. Investing
Hitler’s DNA reveals Nazi leader likely had syndrome that can affect genitals, researchers say
Adolf Hitler most likely suffered from a rare genetic condition called Kallmann Syndrome, researchers and documentary makers said Thursday, following DNA testing of the Nazi dictator's blood. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the syndrome can "disrupt the process that drives puberty" and manifest in symptoms that include undescended testicles and a micropenis.
The research also quashes the suggestion that Hitler had Jewish ancestry, the researchers say. Popular World War II songs often mocked Hitler's anatomy but lacked any scientific basis. The findings by an international team of scientists and historians now appear to confirm longstanding suspicions around his sexual development. "No one has ever really been able to explain why Hitler was so uncomfortable around women throughout his life, or why he probably never entered into intimate relations with women," said Alex Kay of the University of Potsdam. "But now we know that he had Kallmann Syndrome, this could be the answer we've been looking for."
The research findings are featured in a new documentary, "Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator," due to be broadcast on Saturday. The testing was made possible after researchers obtained a sample of Hitler's blood from a piece of material taken from the sofa on which he shot himself. The testing found a "high likelihood" that Hitler had Kallmann Syndrome, though Britain's Guardian newspaper said in a Thursday article critical of the upcoming documentary that, "in their attempt to authenticate the blood," the research team "failed to get a fresh DNA sample from any of Hitler's surviving relatives in Austria and the U.S., who are all understandably reluctant about media exposure."
The testing of Hitler's DNA showed "very high" scores in the top one percent for a predisposition to autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, program makers Blink Films said. The Guardian article, however, said that many scientists aren't comfortable using the kind of genetic testing cited by the researchers, known as "polygenic risk scores," to indicate an individual's likelihood of developing such disorders. "Polygenic risk scores tell you something about population at large, not about individuals," honorary professor David Curtis, at University College London's Genetics Institute, told the Guardian. "If a test shows you to be in the upper percentile of polygenic risk, the actual risk of acquiring a condition may still be very low, even for conditions that are strongly influenced by genetic factors."
The research team stressed that such conditions, even if Hitler did have them, also could not explain or excuse the Nazi leader's warmongering or racist policies. CBS
Minor Headlines
UK's Reeves abandons plans to raise income tax rates, roiling markets Reuters
BYD shifts away from in-house payment system that strained suppliers, sources say Reuters
Michael Burry of 'Big Short' fame is closing his hedge fund Reuters
Drone, missile attack on Kyiv injures 26, damages buildings Reuters
India's top court asks lawyers to argue online as air quality worsens Reuters
Anthropic says Chinese hackers used its Claude AI chatbot in cyberattacks CBS
US law firm McDermott Will & Schulte weighs sector’s first private equity tie-up Financial Times
Jack Dorsey funds diVine, a Vine reboot that includes Vine’s video archive TechCrunch
Earnings
Finance
KKR beat Q3 earnings estimates on a its best fundraising haul since 2021 but disclosed a $350M fee refund tied to an underperforming Asia PE fund; execs see nothing alarming in rising credit defaults (BBG)
Brookfield posted a record Q3 earnings amid record fundraising and deployment of capital, particularly in infrastructure, transition, and credit; execs called the recent credit turmoil 'isolated' (BBG)
eToro beat Q3 profit estimates with net contribution up 28% as retail investors fueled trading activity (RT)
Circle beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates as USDC circulation more than doubled, though reserve return rate fell 96 bps to 4.15%, fueling concerns that lower rates will slow profits (BBG)
Entertainment
Six Flags missed Q3 revenue estimates as lower in-park spending offset modest attendance gains; the firm may sell underperforming parks amid activist pressure from a Jana Partners and NFL star Travis Kelce (WSJ)
Paramount Skydance missed Q3 revenue estimates but announced plans to invest over $1.5B in programming and target $3B in cost savings, including 1.6k additional job cuts (BBG)
Consumer
Wendy's beat Q3 sales estimates as same-store sales fell 3.7%, declining less than expected, while maintaining its FY outlook after previous cuts (BBG)
Instacart beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates on 10% sales growth and issued strong guidance under new CEO Chris Rogers as more consumers turned to online grocery delivery (CNBC)
Technology
CoreWeave beat Q3 revenue estimates as sales more than doubled on new deals with large firms including Meta and OpenAI, though it cut FY guidance due to a customer contract delay (CNBC)
Cisco beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates and issued an upbeat Q2 forecast as $1.3B in AI-related orders underscored growing momentum in its AI initiatives (CNBC)
Foxconn beat Q3 earnings and revenue estimates on strong AI server demand and expects continued quarterly growth in H2 as AI and ICT product demand strengthens (CNBC)
Crypto & Blockchain
TeraWulf beat Q3 revenue estimates on an 87% increase thanks to rising Bitcoin prices and expanded mining capacity but posted a wider-than-expected loss amid derivative liability revaluations (DC)
Mining & Energy
Comments