PwC Australia may lose government audit contract, Treasury head says

By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s Treasury department may not renew a A$1 million audit contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) when it ends this year, an official told a senate hearing amid a scandal over the firm’s misuse of confidential government tax plans. The global professional services firm is reeling after a former Australian tax partner…

Read More

NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters

By Fatos Bytyci LEPOSAVIC, Kosovo (Reuters) – Around 25 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters on Monday, while Serbia’s president put the army on the highest level of combat alert. KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo, condemned the violence. “While countering the most…

Read More

EU, US to weigh China, AI, trade strains at high-level Sweden talks

By Philip Blenkinsop LULEA, Sweden (Reuters) – Top U.S. and European Union officials meet in Sweden on Tuesday to weigh how best to deal with China and cooperate on artificial intelligence and other future technology as well as EU complaints about Trump-era tariffs and U.S. green subsidies. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European…

Read More

Russia hits base in Ukraine in new wave of strikes, Zelenskiy praises Patriots

By Pavel Polityuk and Olena Harmash KYIV (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday its military hit Ukrainian air bases in overnight strikes and Ukrainian forces shelled industrial facilities inside Russia as both sides sought the upper hand ahead of what Kyiv hopes will be a decisive counter-offensive. In a rare acknowledgement of damage to a…

Read More

Serbian president to meet US, Russia, China, EU ambassadors after clashes erupt

(Reuters) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will meet on Tuesday with the ambassadors of the United States, Russia, China, Britain and the head of the European Union mission, the president’s office said late on Monday, after new clashes erupted in northern Kosovo. Vucic put the army on the highest level of combat alert after around…

Read More

Armenia, Azerbaijan trade barbs ahead of new peace talks

(Reuters) – Armenia and Azerbaijan hurled fresh accusations at each other two days before new talks aimed at clinching a peace accord to resolve decades of disputes over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The ex-Soviet states have fought two wars over the region, recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan recaptured…

Read More