FTSE 100 closes near record high as Santa Rally builds, despite weak retail sales – as it happened

British retailers have suffered a slump in sales in the run-up to Christmas, and are gloomier about their prospects for the start of 2026, a new survey shows.In another sign that the UK economy is struggling, the Confederation of British Industry has reported that retail sales volumes fell at an accelerated rate in the year to December.This pulled the CBI’s gauge of how retail sales compared with a year earlier worsened to -44 in December from -32 in November.The new year is expected to start on a gloomy note for the retail sector. Retailers anticipate that annual sales will fall sharply next month, with expectations at their weakest since March 2021

Independent businesses: have your online sales been affected by the rise of AI?

We’d like to find out more about how your business has been affected by changes to online searches amid the rise of AI.Independent businesses have traditionally relied on online advertising for increased visibility and sales, even if they are based on the high street. However, with the introduction of AI mode and AI Overview summaries on Google, and the proliferation of LLMs such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini, people are altering their search habits, which may affect the online visibility of small businesses.With this in mind, we want to find out if there have been any changes to organic traffic to your business site or online sales in recent months. Are customers still able to discover your company online? Have you found new opportunities or have there been significant challenges? How is your business innovating to get seen online? Are you changing strategy?We’d also like to hear from customers – have you found it harder to track down independent retailers, or find relevant products online?You can tell us by using the form below or by messaging us

The Com: the growing cybercrime network behind recent Pornhub hack

Ransomware hacks, data theft, crypto scams and sextortion cover a broad range of cybercrimes carried out by an equally varied list of assailants.But there is also an English-speaking criminal ecosystem carrying out these activities that defies conventional categorisation. Nonetheless, it does have a name: the Com.Short for community, the Com is a loose affiliation of cybercriminals, largely native English language speakers typically aged from 16 to 25. Its activities run from crippling the IT systems of British retailers to phoning in bomb threats to schools and encouraging teenage girls to harm themselves

Sony collars Snoopy in £340m deal to take control of Peanuts franchise

Sony has taken control of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts franchise including Snoopy and Charlie Brown in a deal worth C$630m (£340m).The Japanese conglomerate has bought 41% of Peanuts Holdings, which owns the intellectual property Schulz created, from the Canadian children’s entertainment company WildBrain.The deal raises Sony’s total stake, which it began building in 2018, to 80%. The Schulz family owns the remaining 20%.Peanuts, which first appeared as a comic strip in seven newspapers in 1950 and ran daily until the cartoonist’s death in 2000, has gone on to become a global franchise spanning TV, toys, films and theme park attractions

Anthony Joshua calls out Tyson Fury after sending Jake Paul to hospital with broken jaw

Anthony Joshua wasted little time early Saturday morning in Miami turning the page from spectacle to ambition, calling out Tyson Fury moments after stopping Jake Paul in a bout that ended with the YouTuber-turned-boxer driving himself to hospital with a suspected broken jaw.Joshua halted Paul in the sixth round of Friday night’s heavyweight contest at the Kaseya Center, dropping him four times in a one-sided fight that had been built as a Netflix-backed global event. Afterwards, the former two-time unified champion was blunt in his assessment of both his performance and what should come next.“It wasn’t the best performance,” Joshua said. “The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him

Anthony Joshua knocks out Jake Paul in sixth round of heavyweight fight – as it happened

That’s all for tonight. Thanks for following along with us and be sure to check out the full ringside report from tonight’s main event as well as the four women’s title fights on the undercard.Paul says he’s not surprised he lasted six rounds with Joshua. “I just got tired, to be honest,” he says. “It was just so much handling his weight