MyBudget blames ransomware hack for system outage affecting thousands of customers
BlueScope confirms a 'cyber incident' is disrupting its operations
While the ATO has declared that it will take an “understanding and sympathetic” compliance approach when reviewing JobKeeper turnover projections, practitioners have now been urged to document their work as much as possible to cover all the bases when the ATO comes knocking.
“[The payments are going to flow] without much testing going on; in other words, the Tax Office isn’t going to be able to sit there and scrutinise everybody’s JobKeeper application now,” the Tax Institute’s senior tax counsel, Professor Robert Deutsch, said on Accountants Daily Insider.
Should We Be Afraid Of AI?
“Many people were likely stunned to read recently the announcement by Microsoft that AI was proving to be better at reading X-rays than trained radiologists. Most newspaper readers don’t realize how much of their daily paper is now written by AI. That wasn’t supposed to happen; robots were supposed to supplant manual labor jobs, not professional brainwork. Yet here we are: AI is quickly gobbling up entire professions—and those jobs will never come back.” – Scientific American
Opportunity Lost: how successive government policies disadvantaged young Australians
Security report reveals some COVIDSafe information could go overseas
CHINA HAS ARRESTED HUNDREDS FOR SPEAKING OUT ABOUT CORONAVIRUS, REPORTS SHOW.
Gizmodo – “A bipartisan amendment that would have prohibited law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, from obtaining the web browsing and internet search histories of Americans without a warrant failed to pass in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday by a single vote. Twenty-seven Republicans and 10 Democrats voted against the amendment to H.R. 6172, which will reauthorize lapsed surveillance powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The amendment offered up by Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, and Sen. Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, would have forced the government to get a warrant before obtaining the internet search history of Americans. Under Section 215 of the Act, the government can compel phone companies and internet service providers to turn over such data, if it is deemed vaguely “relevant” to a terrorism or counterespionage case. In a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Sen. Wyden questioned whether law-abiding Americans should have to “worry about their government looking over their shoulders” at all times of the day.
WELL, THE COMMUNISTS ARE TO BLAME: Most Americans Blame China for Spread of Coronavirus After 83K Dead, Millions Jobless.
Just to be clear, Americans blame the mainland People’s Republic of China and not the well-run Republic of China on Taiwan
University of Arkansas professor arrested for hiding ties to China | The College Fix.
“These materially false representations to NASA and the University of Arkansas resulted in numerous wires to be sent and received that facilitated Ang’s scheme to defraud,” the release said.
Ang has worked at UA since 1988 and is a 1980 graduate of the school. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted
Australia faces highest risk of war or economic crisis in 60 years, landmark Defence review finds
A report by the Department of Defence shows Australia is unprepared for a major security or economic crisis despite being at the greatest risk of one for 60 years.
If Your Boss Is Putting Your Life at Risk – Read This Tribune. From the UK.
Mitch McConnell Moves to Expand Bill Barr’s Surveillance Powers The Daily Beast
A Very Political Prosecution Craig Murray
One Billionaire Leader Is Having a Good Virus Crisis Bloomberg. “Billionaire leader.” What’s “Crassus” in Czech?
COVID-19 Impacting Weather ForecastsThe Maritime Executive
We Can’t Stop the Coronavirus Unless We Stop Corruption Foreign Policy. Especially in failed states like our own.
Gizmodo – “A bipartisan amendment that would have prohibited law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, from obtaining the web browsing and internet search histories of Americans without a warrant failed to pass in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday by a single vote. Twenty-seven Republicans and 10 Democrats voted against the amendment to H.R. 6172, which will reauthorize lapsed surveillance powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The amendment offered up by Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, and Sen. Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, would have forced the government to get a warrant before obtaining the internet search history of Americans. Under Section 215 of the Act, the government can compel phone companies and internet service providers to turn over such data, if it is deemed vaguely “relevant” to a terrorism or counterespionage case. In a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Sen. Wyden questioned whether law-abiding Americans should have to “worry about their government looking over their shoulders” at all times of the day.
US global affairs magazine Foreign Policy has obtained a treasure trove of raw data assembled by China’s military-run National University of Defense Technology.
America’s digital Sputnik moment The Hill
Sweden’s Coronavirus Strategy Will Soon Be the World’s | Foreign Affairs
Sweden’s Coronavirus Strategy Will Soon Be the World’s | Foreign Affairs
There are good reasons for countries to begin easing their restrictions. It will take several years to tally the total number of deaths, bankruptcies, layoffs, suicides, mental health problems, losses to GDP and investments, and other costs attributable not just to the virus but to the measures used to fight it. It should already be obvious, however, that the economic and social costs of lockdowns are enormous: estimates from the OECD suggest that every month of pandemic-related restrictions will shrink the economies of advanced countries by two percent. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, according to the OECD, will see their economies shrink by more than 25 percent within a year. Unemployment is rising to levels unheard of since the 1930s—fueling political backlash and deepening social divisions