Latest News from AU Financial Review
AU Financial Review
20 minutes ago
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
US to support Indo-Pacific allies against ‘imminent' China threat: Hegseth
Singapore | US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday that they will not be left alone to face increasing military and economic pressure from China, while insisting that they also contribute more to their own defence. He said Washington will bolster its defences overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats by Beijing, particularly in its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. China has conducted numerous exercises to test what a blockade would look like of the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own and the US has pledged to defend.
AU Financial Review
2 hours ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
At Amazon, coders' jobs have begun to resemble warehouse work
Since at least the industrial revolution, workers have worried that machines would replace them. But when technology transformed auto-making, meatpacking and even secretarial work, the response typically wasn't to slash jobs and reduce the number of workers. It was to 'degrade' the jobs, breaking them into simpler tasks to be performed over and over at a rapid clip. Small shops of skilled mechanics gave way to hundreds of workers spread across an assembly line. The personal secretary gave way to pools of typists and data-entry clerks.
AU Financial Review
3 hours ago
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
On the campaign trail, Elon Musk juggled drugs and family drama
As Elon Musk became one of Donald Trump's closest allies last year, leading raucous rallies and donating about $US275 million ($428 million) to help him win the presidency, he was also using drugs far more intensely than previously known, according to people familiar with his activities. Musk's drug consumption went well beyond occasional use. He told people he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use. He took Ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. And he travelled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall, according to a photo of the box and people who have seen it.
AU Financial Review
4 hours ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
ATO loses $1bn tax dispute with Alcoa as US companies play hardball
The Australian Taxation Office has conceded defeat in its $1 billion-plus tax dispute with Alcoa following a six-year battle with the US aluminium giant. The ATO has declined to appeal a tribunal ruling against it, effectively ending the case, and will now be required to pay Alcoa $107 million in tax refunds. The defeat is a blow for Canberra, which is fighting to recoup billions of dollars in alleged unpaid taxes from several big US companies.
AU Financial Review
6 hours ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Trump says he plans to double steel tariffs to 50pc
West Mifflin, Pennsylvania | US President Donald Trump said Friday that he's doubling the tariff rate on steel to 50 per cent, a dramatic increase that could further push up prices for a metal used to make housing, autos and other goods. Trump spoke at US Steel's Mon Valley Works–Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh to discuss investments by Japan's Nippon Steel. AP
