T wo major tech companies are trimming their workforce as part of plans to cut costs and focus on growth areas. In the United States, Microsoft has launched a voluntary exit programme for about 60,000 employees worldwide. This represents about 27 percent of its 223,000 workforce. The move comes just days before the company is expected to release its first quarter earnings for fiscal year 2027. The company says it needs to control its operating expenses as it plans to spend about $175 billion this year on new technology, especially artificial intelligence infrastructure. The buyout offer is for employees at Level 70 and below in its software, human resources and gaming units, including Xbox and Copilot teams. It covers workers in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. Staff in data centres and sales teams are not affected. Microsoft says the plan will help protect its profit margin, which currently stands at about 46.8 percent. The same cost-cutting trend is playing ou...

A merican singer Chris Brown will not go to prison for a violent attack in a London nightclub, a court ruled on Monday. A judge at Southwark Crown Court gave Brown an eight-month jail term but suspended it for 12 months. This means he will only go to prison if he commits another offence within the next year. The incident happened in the early hours of February 19, 2023, at Tape, a private members club in Mayfair, London. Brown hit music producer Abraham "Abe" Diaw on the head twice with a tequila bottle. Mr Diaw was taken to hospital for treatment. Brown did not act alone. His vocal coach, rapper Omololu Akinlolu, joined in the attack. He also admitted his role and was given a four-month suspended sentence. Both men were ordered to pay £1,500 in costs. The judge, Tony Baumgartner, said what Brown did was dangerous. He described the attack as intense and said Mr Diaw could have been badly injured. " Hitting someone with a glass bottle was plainly dangerous," the judg...