The heads continue to roll at PwC as business declines. Could that be due to a lack of trust?

Hundreds of PwC Australia staff have lost their jobs as part of widespread cuts made within the firm.

PwC Australia staff have been told 366 jobs will be axed as part of widespread cuts announced within the firm on Wednesday.

The firm’s 7200-strong staff were informed at midday on Wednesday that 329 staff and up to 37 partners were losing their jobs major restructure.

All staff who will be included in the cuts will be informed within the coming days about their future with the company.

Anyone affected may be invited to apply for new roles created by the changes in the business structure, PwC said.

The affected partners will be bring forward their retirements over the next nine months to assist the business.

The restructure is reportedly to ensure the business model is simplified in the wake of a controversial year in business.

PwC’s tax practice was discovered to have misused confidential government briefings to assist clients bend the impending tax laws.

“This has been a very challenging and complex process, but an important one, as we realign our business structure with our new long-term strategy,”

PwC Australia CEO Kevin Burrowes said in a statement........

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He’s no Billy the Kid: Elderly robber allegedly holds up NYC bank — nearly 31 years after last heist

A pistol-packing septuagenarian allegedly held up an Upper East Side bank last week — nearly 31 years to the day after his last bank heist.

Authorities said Sherrod Young of Harlem was foiled by modern-day technology in the March 24 robbery, which stunned his family.

“It’s shocking to everybody,” his sister, Sadie Randolph, told The Post. “My brother is 73 years old. It was such a surprise to everyone.”

The ironically named Young — who has four grown children — entered a TD Bank around 12:15 p.m. on 3rd Avenue and East 96th Street, wearing sunglasses and a mask and waving a loaded .45 caliber Ruger pistol and demanded cash, authorities said.

... Young’s last bank job was at a Bronx bank on St. Patrick’s Day 1994, the FBI said, without providing specifics.

He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of bank robbery and was sentenced to 18 months to three years in prison, the complaint states.

How could Transit Authority officials let this happen?
Lots of questions to ask and be answered.

Death Behind The Wheel: How The CTA Failed A Driver In Crisis
Note: CTA is the City of Chicago Transit Authority public bus & train system.

Antia Lyons passed out on her bus and later died — and no one noticed for nearly an hour. Her death raises questions about the safety of the CTA’s workforce.

AI-powered home security camera system strikes back with paintballs and tear gas

A company from Slovenia, called PaintCam, is shaking things up in the security world. They’ve come up with this wild new gadget, the PaintCam Eve. It’s not just another security camera watching over your house. This thing packs a punch with paintball and tear gas projectiles to really give intruders a surprise they won’t soon forget.

...PaintCam does offer users a significant degree of control. The system alerts the homeowner when an unknown person is detected in the company of someone known, asking whether to “take the shot” or not.

I don't know if it is a good idea to fend of intruders with tear gas or paint balls. They may get angry and decide to burn your house down.

This is a bit of a double banger story so I'll stick it here.

A sex predator is on the run in Germany while Modi tries to deny that he's turning India into an authoritarian state.

Almost 300 sex abuse videos made by Prime Minister’s political ally rocks India.

A politician linked to one of the world’s most powerful men has been embroiled in a massive scandal in the middle of the nation’s general elections.

Current Indian Prime Minister Modi, who is tipped to reclaim the position after 10 years in power, has been thrown a political curveball after recently posing for a picture with Prajwal Revanna, who is now being accused of sexual abuses allegedly caught on camera.

Revanna, is a member of the Janata Dal, which is currently in alliance with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The 33-year-old, who is also the grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, had allegedly filmed himself sexually abusing multiple women.

Almost 300 videos are believed to have been leaked by his former driver.

Prajwal has denied the allegations, claiming the videos were doctored, and has fled for Germany after being suspended by his party, Janata Dal (Secular).......

......Earlier this week, Mr Modi denied that his country was sliding towards autocracy, following accusations that his government orchestrated criminal probes to weaken rivals ahead of an ongoing general election.

The Indian leader, 73, remains resoundingly popular after a decade in office, and he is widely expected to win a third term when the six-week-long national polls conclude in June.

His prospects have been further bolstered by several criminal investigations into opponents, including a tax probe that in February froze the bank accounts of Congress, India’s largest opposition party.......

Well it doesn't look like Georgia will be joining the E.U. anytime soon all because of the fallout over its "foreign agents" law which locals refer to at the "Russian Law".

Georgian police disperse protesters as parliament approves 'foreign bill' second reading.

....Georgian critics have dubbed the bill "the Russian law", saying it is inspired by laws used to suppress dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia. Russia is unpopular among many in Georgia, which lost a brief war with Moscow in 2008.

Both the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, condemned the violence. The EU gave Georgia candidate member status in December but has said the bill could halt its integration into the bloc.

Police cleared the crowd by the parliament building using tear gas and stun grenades fired from within the fortress-like complex. Water cannon were also deployed.

Protesters regrouped, with some lighting a bonfire outside parliament, and others attempting to build makeshift barricades to block key roads. A Reuters eyewitness saw at least one man carried away from the action, his face bloodied.

The protests have pitched the ruling Georgian Dream party against a coalition of opposition parties, civil society groups, celebrities and the country's figurehead president, all of whom oppose the bill.

Parliament, controlled by Georgian Dream and its allies, voted along party lines to advance the legislation, prompting a wave of boos from thousands of protesters outside. The bill must pass one more vote in parliament before becoming law......

I wonder how much PooTin is paying these clowns who're going against the will of the people.

No country will join the EU any time soon. EU accession is mythically exaggerated. It must be the culmination after integrating an entire society; like a naturalization ceremony. Nothing fundamentally broken can be repaired by 'joining'. But the decade(s)-long accession process is a wonderful time to achieve fundamental changes in a country against normally insurmountable force of inertia. Accept it or forget it!

There are still some weaknesses, e.g. Hungary's (political) evolution into an absolutist monarchy. Then there are almost hopeless cases: Türkiye, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Hercegovina. As long as the Sultan reigns or Putin interferes there, nothing will change. Serbia and Bosnia are further away than they were a decade ago. Nationalism and hatred are flourishing. A continuation war of the late 1990s can break out at any time.

I have no opinion about Georgians. I don't know any. But the current government seems to be totally infiltrated by Putin. Money or corruption is not sufficient to achieve this degree of appeasement towards Putin. But imagine, what will be possible in the Caucasus if Putin's power wanes... Interesting times ahead...

Never forget: Putin also occupied two regions of Georgia. (He's seems addicted to warm, southern lands, never hesitates to get more of it).

This takes things to a whole new level.

Neom: Forces 'told to kill’ to clear land for eco-city

Saudi authorities have permitted the use of lethal force to clear land for a futuristic desert city being built by dozens of Western companies, an ex-intelligence officer has told the BBC.

Col Rabih Alenezi says he was ordered to evict villagers from a tribe in the Gulf state to make way for The Line, part of the Neom eco-project.

One of them was subsequently shot and killed for protesting against eviction.

Col Alenezi ... said the April 2020 order stated the Huwaitat was made up of "many rebels" and "whoever continues to resist [eviction] should be killed, so it licensed the use of lethal force against whoever stayed in their home".

And much, much more. It's wrong on so many levels.

18-year-old charged with overturning port-a-potty, trapping a mom and her daughter inside

Witnesses told Manchester, New Hampshire police that the man and woman had been arguing near the port-a-potty at Derryfield Park on Wednesday.

When the woman, who apparently didn’t know the 18-year-old man, went inside the port-a-potty to help her daughter, the man pushed it over and it landed with the door on the pavement.

Bystanders ran over and overturned the toilet, freeing the woman and child who reported being covered in feces and bodily fluids, police said.

The woman and child were not hurt. The man was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and criminal restraint.

He was also charged with simple assault for throwing something at one of the officers, police said.

I guess that that is what you get for being a PooTin lover while going against your peoples' wishes.

European leader shot multiple times, ‘fighting for life’.

He has survived, but will this show him the error of his ways?

I guess that that is what you get for being a PooTin lover while going against your peoples' wishes.

European leader shot multiple times, ‘fighting for life’.

He has survived, but will this show him the error of his ways?

He's not a convinced Putin lover. More a populist who adapts his opinion to his supporters'. His peoples' whishes? What are their wishes? This country is divided like the U.S. or other Western nations now. There's the progressive, liberal pro-EU faction in the few large (economically growing) cities. And there's the countryside; different problems, different opinions. This PM was elected with the strongest support from the countryside. Many ordinary people are pro-Russian there. Don't ask me why---amnesia? So Fico ordered his government to meet in this small provincial town.

I don't like this guy either. He seems to be a corrupt Mafia Don like Orban. But hopefully we can maintain civilized political discourse in Europe without guns.

The difficulties of being a god above others:


Starlink internet shutdown in Sudan will punish millions, Elon Musk warned
wrote:

With a widespread telecoms blackout already in place, emergency help and humanitarian aid at risk if satellite service withdrawn, say NGOs...

... Sudan has been grappling with a widespread telecommunications blackout for several months, with many aid groups using Starlink to operate during the humanitarian crisis which the UN has warned is the largest in decades.

However Starlink, the satellite arm of Musk’s SpaceX, recently said that it will remove its services in Sudan by restricting roaming in jurisdictions where it was not licensed...

Reminds me of:

Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers


Really all 'just' a 'game'?...

Be Excellent to All!
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)

Georgina has an image problem and is using wealth and sport sponsorship connections to fix it.

Olympian Kyle Chalmers helping campaign to take down Gina Rinehart portraits.

Swimming superstar Kyle Chalmers has emerged as one of the figures behind the push to have two portraits of mining magnate Gina Rinehart removed from the National Gallery of Australia (NGA).

Billionaire Rinehart has poured in almost $40 million since 2012 to help fund the pursuits of Australian swimmers through her company’s Hancock Prospecting Swimmer Support Scheme.....

I reckon that the portraits look pretty good for a woman that steals from her own kids and others.