What is the £1.3bn MFS mortgage scandal and what is private credit?

A £1.3bn worldwide asset freezing order has been granted against the tycoon accused of fraud after his UK mortgage lending business collapsed.Paresh Raja, the founder and chief executive of Market Financial Solutions (MFS), is now barred from dissipating assets worth up to the suspected value of funds allegedly missing from his mortgage and buy-to-let lending company, after orders from courts in London and Dubai.The orders, which follow an application from insolvency practitioners at AlixPartners, also impose a travel ban on Raja, who is now thought to be in the Emirates.A spokesperson for AlixPartners said: “We welcome the granting of these applications which follow two weeks of intense analysis and investigation into the operations and affairs of MFS and Paresh Raja

Rolls-Royce scraps goal to go all-electric by 2030

Rolls-Royce has abandoned its goal to sell only electric cars by the end of the decade.The luxury car company launched its all-electric Spectre model in 2022, saying at the time that it would end production of its vehicles with V12 internal combustion engines by the end of 2030.However, the chief executive, Chris Brownridge, who took the top job in 2023, said the company would continue to sell cars with the V12 engines as there was demand from clients.“For every client who is unsure whether our Spectre is right for them, there will be one that says ‘I love it’,” he said. “We can respond to our client demand … we build what is ordered

Actors, musicians and writers welcome UK U-turn on AI use of copyrighted work

Actors, musicians and writers have welcomed the UK government’s decision to backtrack on plans to let AI firms use copyright-protected work without permission.Technology secretary Liz Kendall said it no longer had a “preferred option” on copyright reform, having previously supported a proposal allowing tech companies to take copyrighted work – unless rights holders opted out of the process.“We have listened,” said Kendall on Wednesday, “we have engaged extensively with creatives, AI firms, industry bodies, unions, academics and AI adopters, and that engagement has shaped our approach. This is why we can confirm today that the government no longer has a preferred option.”The proposal had triggered a backlash from Elton John, who called the government “absolute losers” over the plans

How AI is actually changing day-to-day work

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, chuffed about One Battle After Another’s big win at the Oscars. This week, we’re examining how artificial intelligence is changing the everyday reality of white-collar work in the US, the roots of the current appetite for AI in war, and the United Kingdom’s phantom datacenters.As part of the Guardian’s Reworked series on AI’s effect on modern work, we published two stories this week on how specific jobs are changing: those of university professors and Amazon’s technical employees. Both groups are wrestling with profound shifts

Jack Draper adds new string to his bow as he rebuilds his game

Two and a half hours into one of the most unforgettable battles of his career, Jack Draper resolved to attack without hesitation, regardless of the outcome. On two pivotal points in his Indian Wells fourth-round match against Novak Djokovic, at 4-4 in the tie-break and then on match point at 6-6, Draper forced himself inside the baseline and unleashed two backhands, those shots driving him to victory.It would have been understandable for Draper to have played passive tennis in those decisive moments. Not only did Indian Wells mark his second ATP tournament back after sustaining a bone bruise to his left arm that forced him off the tour for seven months, the injury has forced him to make dramatic changes to his game.Draper returns to the circuit using natural gut strings in a hybrid string setup

Judge in rugby brain injury lawsuit tells legal teams to hurry up as cases drag on

The judge overseeing the pretrial phase of the two landmark litigation cases about brain injuries in rugby has issued another rebuke to the legal teams on both sides over their lack of progress.Senior Master Jeremy Cook started the latest round of case management hearings by reminding both the defendants and the claimants that “it won’t have escaped anybody’s notice that some of these claims are now over five years old, and we haven’t made much progress”.Since the cases involve claims of degenerative brain diseases, Cook said, time is at a premium. He has told both sides to provide him with written updates between now and a scheduled case management hearing in October, when both sides will be required to have identified their lists of 28 lead claimants from among the hundreds involved.The idea is these 28 will then be whittled down into a smaller group, who will represent the entire cohort