Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have announced a disaster relief center to be built in Mumbai to help people battle Covid-19 as the couple marked their third anniversary earlier this week.
A Community Relief Centre will be built in collaboration with World Central Kitchen (WCK), the couple said. Announcing the plans on their official website Archewell, the Sussexes promised the proposed centre will “provide relief and resilience as well as healing and strength.”
“Archewell Foundation and World Central Kitchen will establish our latest community relief center in Mumbai, India, which is also home to Myna Mahila, an Indian organization focused on women's health and employment opportunities that The Duchess of Sussex has long supported,” the website says.
The joint effort with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's nonprofit Archewell Foundation aims to develop a series of relief centers in regions of the world that are prone to climate disasters.
Mumbai’s Community Relief Centre will be the third of its kind with the first two announced in Dominica and Puerto Rico. It will be equipped with a kitchen like this one installed in Dominica, to help feed the poor, unwell and destitute.
During future crises, these centres can be quickly activated as emergency response kitchens or vaccination sites and through calmer times they can serve as food distribution hubs, schools, clinics, or community gathering spaces for families, the Archewell Foundation said.
The announcement of the Mumbai relief centre comes after the couple demanded the equal distribution of Covid vaccines around the world and backed US president Joe Biden's calls for big pharma companies to waive vaccine patents for poorer countries.
Earlier this month they wrote letters to the CEOs of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Norovax to 'temporarily suspend' intellectual property rights to help those in developing countries gain access to jabs.
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, in Scunthorpe, northern England, Britain, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Dominic Lipinski
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. (Representational image: iStock)
FBU chief raises concern over rise in racist online posts by union members
THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) and other trade unions are increasingly concerned about a rise in racist and bigoted online comments by their own members and officials, according to Steve Wright, the FBU’s new general secretary, speaking to the Guardian.
Wright said internal inquiries have revealed dozens of cases involving members using racist slurs or stereotypes, often aimed at asylum seekers.
He said similar issues were reported in other unions, prompting a joint campaign to counter false narratives around immigration and race promoted by far-right groups online.
“People with far-right views are becoming more brazen in what they do on social media, and I’ve witnessed it with my own union around disciplinary cases and the rhetoric of some of our own members,” Wright said to the newspaper.
He added, “Some of our members and sometimes our reps have openly made comments which are racist and bigoted. In my time in the fire service, that has gone up.”
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. A formal statement addressing far-right narratives will be launched at the union’s annual conference in Blackpool next month.
Wright cited the influence of social media and figures like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage as factors contributing to these incidents. “It feels like an itch that we’ve got to scratch,” he said.
The FBU barred a former official last year for allegedly endorsing racist content on X, including posts from Britain First and Tommy Robinson.
Wright also warned that the union could strike if the government moves to cut frontline fire services.