The fallout from the Joyce and Goyder saga continues.

Qantas has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, and a second class action over cancelled flights only adds to the embattled airline’s woes.

A second class action lawsuit over Qantas’ handling of cancelled pandemic fights has been flagged, a court has been told.

Echo Law lodged a case in the Federal Court seeking refunds and compensation for passengers whose flights were cancelled due to Covid-19 in August.

But during a case management hearing on Thursday, Justice Bernard Murphy was told a second proposed class action, by law firm Piper Alderman, was in the works.

Barrister Thomas Bagley, for Piper Alderman, said the firm had spent the past six months investigating the national carrier, and expected it would be ready to file a case in the coming weeks.....

Here's one to be very worried about.
Bloomberg - Ghost in the Machine: How Fake Parts Infiltrated Airline Fleets

A little-known distributor in London sold thousands of engine components with bogus documentation. Carriers and repair shops are frantically hunting them down.
This spring, engineers at TAP Air Portugal’s maintenance subsidiary huddled around an aircraft engine that had come in for repair. The exposed CFM56 turbine looked like just another routine job for a shop that handles more than 100 engines a year. Only this time, there was cause for alarm.
Workers noticed that a replacement part, a damper to reduce vibration, showed signs of wear, when the accompanying paperwork identified the component as fresh from the production line. On June 21, TAP pointed out the discrepancy to Safran SA, the French aerospace company that makes CFM engines together with General Electric Co.
Safran quickly determined that the paperwork had been forged. The signature wasn’t that of a company employee, and the reference and purchase order numbers on the part also didn’t add up.

Well, the Russia parts problem will be another mess to sort.

Another jumps from the floundering vessel.

Qantas’ loyalty boss Olivia Wirth has announced her resignation – just days after the airline’s chairman revealed he will step aside.

Loyalty has certainly been missing from our national carrier.

Well, the Russia parts problem will be another mess to sort.

It certainly will.

Russia's Aviation Crisis Keeps Getting Worse.

This one is a hot dangerous doozy:


Corner cutting of nuclear proportions as duo admit to falsifying safety tests 29 times
wrote:

Two men this week confessed to deliberately bypassing testing protocols that are essential to keeping nuclear power plants safe. This happened not once, not twice, but 29 times.

... creating false calibration certs ... in several [nuclear power] plants over a period that stretched for over a decade...

... "The false certificates were then sent to the owners of the nuclear plants as part of final testing reports required by NRC regulations on 29 occasions."...

... "... that handled critical components of a nuclear reactor, including nuclear fuel."...

... The pair are scheduled to be sentenced on January 25 next year, with a federal district court judge determining the length, which is max five years...

Now... That is exactly the type of scam that was highlighted in this old film from long ago:

The China Syndrome
wrote:

... follows a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. "China syndrome" is a fanciful term that describes a fictional result of a nuclear meltdown, where reactor components melt through their containment structures and into the underlying earth, "all the way to China"...

How many other examples are there?

Unchecked...?


All in our deadly greedy world of ignorance,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Profits and multimillionaire salaries first, patient healthcare and services and charity languish:

Nonprofit hospitals skimp on charity while CEOs reap millions...
wrote:

Nonprofit hospitals are under increasing scrutiny for skimping on charity care, relentlessly pursuing payments from low-income patients, and paying executives massive multi-million-dollar salaries—all while earning tax breaks totaling billions...

When people's healthcare and their lives are made into a profitable business...

... A VERY profitable business...


Stay healthy folks?
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Yes the greed/profit system over there is absolutely nuts and why it is allowed to continue that way is also nuts.

I wonder what the U.S. would make of our system, even if they could get anything close to it?

not for profit = license to steal
corporation = license to steal
niche market = license to steal
special permit required = license to steal
extreme need = license to steal

I'm sure if you think about it you can come up with half a dozen of more.

Why the surprise?

Money, money, money ...

Cap on bankers' bonuses to be scrapped

Today Richard Goyder found out just how unpopular he really is at the QANTAS AGM, but where was Alan, still hiding in Dublin?

Shareholders reject Qantas pay plan, but push to dump directors fails at turbulent AGM.

The wrap up from today's QANTAS AGM and it's still not looking good.

Qantas burns through remaining goodwill as new CEO Vanessa Hudson sticks to Alan Joyce's old script.

And they still have the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to contend with yet which isn't looking good for them either.

Why oh why are large corporates so prone to attempting a "cover-up"?...


After robotaxi dragged pedestrian 20 feet, Cruise founder and CEO resigns
wrote:

GM-owned Cruise "failed to disclose" full video and key crash details...

... California officials accused Cruise of withholding key information and video after the accident, and the company's self-driving operations are on hold while federal authorities investigate...

... The DMV action came three weeks after a Cruise vehicle hit and dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco. A woman entered a crosswalk at nighttime and was hit by two cars, the second of which was the Cruise vehicle. First, a Nissan Sentra "tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV," ... "The AV detected a collision, bringing the vehicle to a stop; [but] then attempted to pull over to avoid causing further road safety issues, pulling the individual forward approximately 20 feet."...

... The woman suffered severe injuries and was reportedly still in "serious condition" at San Francisco General Hospital in late October...

... "Cruise failed to disclose that the AV executed a pullover maneuver that increased the risk of, and may have caused, further injury to a pedestrian. Cruise's omission hinders the ability of the department to effectively and timely evaluate the safe operation of Cruise's vehicles and puts the safety of the public at risk."...

Can we ever 'trust' the rush to greedy profit?...

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Tesla’s Self-Driving Tech Faces Potential Ban in Britain amid New Autonomous Vehicle Regulations

Tesla, the world’s most valuable carmaker with a $742 billion valuation, is facing a potential roadblock in its plans to sell full self-driving (FSD) technology in Britain. New driverless car laws in the country threaten to bar the sale of Tesla’s advanced automotive technology, creating a significant hurdle to CEO Elon Musk’s ambitious plan of deploying millions of autonomous vehicles.
Understanding Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Technology

Since 2016, Tesla has been selling cars equipped with “full self-driving capability”, charging UK drivers £6,800 for this feature. The technology, however, cannot be activated until approved by regulatory bodies. Despite the highly touted capabilities of FSD, it still requires human monitoring, a stipulation that may not align with Britain’s upcoming legal framework.

Original story in Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/25/tesla-faces-ban-selling-driverless-cars-uk/

"They were hiding behind their lack of policies whilst knowing that the regulations they did have set up were meant to protect profits, not victims," says Kira.

Sadly, it's not just the football world where it occurs
.What many do with status...
A lot of questions, yet very few answers.

How many die for this?...


Crisis in NHS presents ‘business opportunities’, says boss of insurer Axa
wrote:

The growing crisis facing the NHS presents “quite a few business opportunities” for AXA to expand its private healthcare business...

... “With what is happening at the moment, probably the first choice of a doctor that is newly qualified [for their career], it would not be the NHS,” Buberl added, predicting that there would be a lack of incoming medical staff to make up for those retiring.

Buberl said Axa was responding by investing in the UK market, increasing the size of its telemedicine business, where it provides an online conversation with a doctor as an alternative to waiting for a GP appointment, and its support services for medical procedures.

The use of private healthcare has soared in the UK...

... The figures showed that more people were opting to pay for their own treatment, prompting “a new normal” in the country despite a public health service.

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, called on Friday for more private and third sector providers to be used by the NHS to help cut waiting lists...

Profit?

Or healthy patient care and service?

Which one is big business going to sacrifice?


Stay healthy folks!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Ex-Tesla employee casts doubt on car safety

Lukasz Krupski leaked data, including customer complaints about Tesla's braking and self-driving software, to German newspaper Handelsblatt in May.

He said attempts to highlight his concerns internally had been ignored.

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

I wouldn't trust my life with any of those "auto pilot" computer A.I. thingy.
* GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out *

It's not only GIGO, I was wondering why railway drivers earn so much. They have recently been on strike in the UK. And it is because they need drivers who remain alert because they have very little to do except obey the signals and be alert for anything unusual. Most people that apply fail because of this requirement.

So what chance is there that the general public can remain alert in an "auto pilot" car with all the extra problems there can be driving in a city.

More of the same...

Elon Musk's Tesla recalls two million cars over Autopilot defect
wrote:

Tesla is recalling more than two million cars after the US regulator found its driver assistance system, Autopilot, was partly defective.

It follows a two-year investigation into crashes...

... As part of what it has called an "extensive" two year investigation, the NHTSA reviewed 956 crashes where Autopilot was initially alleged to have been in use...

... It comes a week after a former Tesla employee told the BBC he believed the technology was not safe ... "I don't think the hardware is ready and the software is ready." "It affects all of us because we are essentially experiments in public roads", he claimed...

How did that take so long?...

Drive safely??
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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So who cares for the costs and consequences?...


Michelle Mone admits she lied to media over links to PPE firm
wrote:

... conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation and bribery. They both deny wrongdoing...

... “Events so far expose a shocking recklessness by the Conservative government with regard to public money, and a sorry tale of incompetence in relation to the so-called ‘VIP Lane’ for procurement during the pandemic.”...

... In a statement, the NCA, which investigates serious and organised crime, said its investigation, opened in May 2021, was looking into “suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro”.

The government is also suing for the return of the £122m it paid for protective surgical gowns, alleging that they were unsafe to use...

... Streeting said a Labour government would appoint a Covid corruption commissioner to recoup some of the £8bn lost to fraud during the pandemic.

“There’s a fundamental point of principle here, which is in the midst of a deadly pandemic, when so many people rushed to help others in all sorts of ways … there were others who saw the pandemic as an opportunity to make a quick buck at someone else’s expense,” he said.

How many hospitals and how much care would that EIGHT THOUSAND MILLION POUNDS have paid for?

How many people died and suffered needlessly??


Stay healthy folks?
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)