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PwC and EY told a panel of British lawmakers they would mirror a change already underway at another Big Four accounting firm, KPMG, in a bid to end a “perception” of conflict between selling audit and consulting work to the same customer.

Consulting is better paid than audit work, raising concerns that an accountant won’t challenge a company’s management properly regarding an audit for fear of losing more lucrative advisory work.

KPMG said last November it would phase out advisory work for its British accounting clients as the Big Four faced calls from lawmakers to be broken up after the collapse of construction firm Carillion, which KPMG audited.

“We will do a ban on anything for audit clients other than audit related services,” Kevin Ellis, chairman and senior partner of PwC UK told parliament’s business committee.

Aril Fools' Day is an annual celebration commemorated on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. Here are three of the best of all time.

April 1, 1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a huge spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree.

April 1, 1996: The Taco Bell Corporation took out a full-page ad that appeared in six major newspapers announcing it had bought the Liberty Bell—a symbol of American independence—and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. 

April 1, 1992: National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation revealed that disgraced former president Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for president again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage.

Harajuku has become a catwalk for jendaresu-kei (or "genderless style"). Although women who dress in a more stereotypically masculine way may also identify as "genderless," in Japan, the term jendaresu-kei refers to males who are not interested in the typical male dress code of dark suits and dress shoes.

Matching colorfully patterned fabrics and fingernails with "kawaii" (cute) hats and purses, they signal a vibrant new masculine style. But they may also represent wider changes in the way male roles are perceived in Japanese society. 

The trend of young men eschewing Japan's navy blue suits is outlasting the fast cycles of the fashion industry. As a lifestyle, signs of genderlessness are also evident among men far removed from the Harajuku scene.

On the other hand, Ikumen (literally "child-rearing men") may wear suits to work, but they too are breaking with convention by insisting on spending more time at home with their children. This is partly thanks to the work of Fathering Japan, a non-profit organization that encourages men to become "smiling dads" who enjoy playing a more active role in their children's upbringing.

A small cylinder called Le Grand K has defined the kilogram for more than a hundred years.

Le Grand K was forged in 1879 and is held in a locked vault outside Paris—revered and kept under lock and key because its mass, a little over 2 pounds, is the official definition of the kilogram.

If Le Grand K gets heavier or lighter—or absorbs atoms of something from the air—the definition of the kilogram literally changes.

Bill Phillips, a Nobel laureate from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland, told the assembled delegates at the international General Conference on Weights and Measures that basing the kilogram's official definition on a hunk of metal held in a vault was "a situation that is clearly intolerable." His colleagues clearly agreed, as no country voted to keep the old definition. 

Going forward, the world's system of mass measurement will not be based on some special hunk of metal, but rather on unalterable features of the universe—such as the speed of light, time and Planck's constant, a number that helps scientists figure out the energy of a photon of light, given its wavelength.

The new definition of the kilogram will go into effect in May 2019. Meanwhile, Le Grand K will remain in its lonely vault.

Think about what you look for when you’re deciding on the perfect travel destination. Is it rich history? Cultural experiences? Lots of delicious food or shopping opportunities? Comfortable and unique places to stay? Or, perhaps, you just want to go somewhere with truly breathtaking views that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.

Guess what? You can find all of this and more in Japan.

Travelers across the globe love to visit the country for its fabulous natural spas, or even its quirkier relaxation offerings like baths of beer, red wine, or even ramen, for a one-of-a-kind experience.

Tokyo in particular, while being a fast-paced and dynamic city on its own, is also one of the major fashion capitals of the world, with hundreds of distinctive shops, impressive designer stores, and street fashion that is recognized for its creativity and individuality the world over. Plus, it practically goes without saying that the rich, cultural history and delicious food are the key reasons why people want to visit this special country in the first place.

Thanks to Japan’s bustling cities, beautiful countryside, and whimsical experiences, travelers keep coming back for more. That's why Travel + Leisure decided to make the country the 2018 Destination of the Year.

Japan's Cabinet has approved a draft bill that would allow the entry of more foreign blue-collar workers as the country's rapidly aging population faces labor shortages.

The bill is a major revision of Japan's policy on foreign labor. The country has long resisted accepting foreign workers, except for doctors, teachers and others in highly skilled fields. The proposed legislation would create two new visa categories for foreigners employed in more than a dozen sectors facing labor shortages, such as nursing, farming, construction and services.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied that the new policy means Japan is opening its doors to immigrants, to reassure his nationalist supporters. Opponents are concerned about crime and jobs taken away from Japanese, while proponents say foreign workers are indispensable in sectors facing labor shortages.

Under the draft bill, applicants for the first visa category need certain skill levels and Japanese language ability, cannot bring their families, and can stay up to five years. Those in the second category with higher skills can bring their families and eventually apply for permanent residency.

The government has projected that the number of foreign blue-collar workers would be about half a million within a decade.

A European-Japanese spacecraft set off on a treacherous seven-year journey to Mercury to probe the solar system's smallest and least-explored planet.

The BepiColombo mission, only the third ever to visit Mercury, blasted off from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket at 10:45 p.m. local time on Friday, October 19 (0145 GMT on Saturday), according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Few spacecraft have visited Mercury because of the planet's proximity to the sun—less than 60 million kilometers (37.3 million miles) away compared with Earth's almost 150 million kilometers (93 million miles)—which makes any trip there challenging. Surface temperatures on the planet can reach highs of over 400℃ (750℉) during the day and drop to -170℃ (-275℉) at night.

BepiColombo will reach its orbit of Mercury around December 2025. At that point, it will release two separate spacecraft it is carrying: ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). MPO will study Mercury's surface and internal composition, to determine the planet's iron content and examine why its core is partially liquid. MMO will collect data on the planet's magnetosphere and its interactions with the sun.

In the US, the widespread belief that the poor are simply lazy has led many states to impose work requirements on aid recipients—even those who have been medically classified as disabled. Limiting aid programs in this way has been shown to shorten recipients’ lives, creating a difference of more than 20 years in life expectancy between the rich and the poor.

When the wealthy are revealed to be drug addicts, philanderers, or work-shy, the response is at most a collective shrug. At the same time, behaviors indulged in the rich are not just condemned in the poor, but are used as a justification to punish them, denying them access to resources that keep them alive, such as healthcare and food assistance.

We don’t hear much, however, about laziness, drug addiction or promiscuity among the wealthiest members of society. Many even present themselves as homeless—for tax purposes—despite owning multiple residences. Meanwhile, the poor can end up being “resident nowhere” because no one will allow them to stay in one place for very long.

It is as if the right to move around, to take up space, and to direct your own life as you see fit have become luxury goods, available to those who can pay instead of being human rights.

The British government has joined press freedom advocates and journalists in expressing dismay and disgust with Donald Trump's remarks at a rally, where he praised the unprovoked assault on a Guardian US journalist by the state's congressman, Greg Gianforte.

Trump fondly reminisced about the physical assault that occurred on 24 May 2017 when Jacobs, the Guardian's political correspondent, asked Gianforte a question about healthcare policy in the course of a special congressional election in Montana.

In a statement, PEN America, a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression, said Trump's "Explicit praise" for Gianforte's assault "marks a startling new low in terms of the White House's open hostility toward the press".

At the rally, Trump said that anyone who could perform a body-slam, as Gianforte did on Jacobs, was "My guy", and that news of the attack, which occurred the night before the special election, probably helped Gianforte win.