Crispin Odey drops £79m libel claim against FT over sexual misconduct allegations

Crispin Odey, the former hedge fund manager, has dropped his £79m libel claim against the Financial Times over its reporting of sexual misconduct allegations against him, his lawyers have said.In 2023, the FT published several articles from 20 women alleging sexual assault and harassment against Odey, covering a period of five decades. He has previously denied the allegations against him.On Friday, lawyers for the former hedge fund tycoon, 67, said he had been “forced to accept” that the newspaper was “likely to succeed in establishing” its public interest defence.A letter said: “Having just endured the stress and strain of a three-week trial in the Upper Tribunal, he does not wish to pursue another lengthy trial at considerable cost, only to fail on the issue of public interest, even if he was successful, as he believes he would be, in demonstrating that he is not the violent predator he was presented as being in the articles

Starbucks’s retail arm gets £13.7m tax credit even as sales increase

Starbucks’s UK retail arm received a £13.7m corporation tax credit last year, even as its sales increased 6% and it added more than 90 stores.The credit, which can be used to offset future tax bills, comes after losses widened to £41.3m in the 12 months to the end of September – almost matching the £40m it paid in royalty and licence fees to its parent company.Starbucks said price increases, new loyalty schemes and the introduction of “freshly baked in-store food” had helped to increase sales to £556

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home targeted with molotov cocktail

A 20-year-old man allegedly tossed a molotov cocktail at the home of Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, before the sun rose on Friday, according to statements from San Francisco police.The suspect, who allegedly threw the fire bomb at the $27m North Beach residence around 4.12am, has been arrested but not identified. The same person allegedly threatened to torch OpenAI’s headquarters in the city. No injuries were reported

Amazon to finally launch Leo satellite internet in ‘mid-2026’, says CEO

Amazon has said its long-awaited satellite internet rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink will finally go live in “mid-2026”.The chief executive, Andy Jassy, said in a letter to shareholders that the technology company was “on the verge of launching Amazon Leo” and had secured “revenue commitments from enterprises and governments” for the scheme.Originally conceived in 2019 as Project Kuiper before being renamed last year, Leo now has 200 low-orbit satellites in space, with Jassy promising “a few thousand more” in the years to come.While on track to make Leo the second commercial satellite presence in space, the plans would still leave it far behind SpaceX’s Starlink, which has nearly 10,000 satellites in space and aims to have as many as 42,000 operational in the future.Jassy promised Leo would incorporate the successful Amazon Web Services cloud computing software into its function, writing: “Leo will seamlessly integrate with AWS to enable enterprises and governments to move data back and forth for storage, analytics, and AI

Gambling is easy, right? Wrong: it turns out betting on sport is designed to disturb you | Barney Ronay

Welcome to How I Beat The Bookies: My Gambling Journey. Yes, my extreme methods can work for you. But only in the usual way. Which is to appear very briefly to work and then not to work at all.First it is necessary to address the latest blow to English football’s otherwise watertight economy

Tyson Fury’s latest return unlikely to save heavyweight era reaching its end

Arslanbek Makhmudov shouldn’t be much of a test but Gypsy King and his battered old rivals are fading away“I’ll make this short and sweet,” Tyson Fury said in a brief video he posted online on 13 January 2025. “I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing. It’s been a blast and I’ve loved every single minute of it. I’m going to end with this: Dick Turpin wore a mask. God bless everybody