Ørsted files legal challenge against US government over windfarm lease freeze

Europe’s biggest offshore wind developer is taking the Trump administration to court over its decision to suspend work on a $5bn project on the north-east US coast.Denmark’s Ørsted filed a legal challenge on Thursday against the White House’s decision 10 days ago to suspend the lease for its Revolution Wind site as part of a sweeping move halting all construction of offshore wind.The attempted injunction is the latest in a series of legal volleys between the renewables industry and Donald Trump, whose administration has sought to block major offshore wind projects from moving ahead since his re-election.Trump, a vocal supporter of the fossil fuel industry, opposes renewable energy, and wind in particular, saying he finds turbines ugly, costly and inefficient.On 22 December, officials from the Department of the Interior suspended the leases for five large offshore wind projects that are under construction in US waters over unspecified “national security risks”

UK house prices unexpectedly fell at end of year, Nationwide says

UK house prices fell unexpectedly in December, according to a top mortgage lender, with the market finishing the year with the weakest annual growth in more than 18 months.The average property price slumped by 0.4% to £271,068 compared with November, according to Nationwide, confounding City forecasts of a 0.1% rise.The UK’s biggest building society also said that the rate of annual house price growth slowed to 0

Uber rewrites contracts with drivers to avoid paying UK’s new ‘taxi tax’

Uber has swerved paying millions of pounds to the UK exchequer under Rachel Reeves’s new “taxi tax” after the ride-hailing app rewrote contracts with its drivers.The move came as rules announced in November’s budget took effect, which adjusted how VAT is payable on minicab fares and would have resulted in the whole Uber fare becoming subject to the 20% sales tax.In November, Reeves told the Commons the changes would end up “protecting around £700m of tax revenue each year”.However, updated terms issued to Uber drivers from January 2026 mean the technology firm will act as an agent, rather than as the supplier, of transport services outside London. The move means drivers make a contract directly with their passengers – so they must charge any VAT due on the fare, while Uber only adds VAT to its commission

Apple reportedly cuts production of Vision Pro headset after poor sales

Poor sales have reportedly forced Apple to cut production of the Vision Pro headset that it had hoped would herald a new era in “spatial computing”.The tech company also reduced marketing for Vision Pro by more than 95% last year, according to the market intelligence group Sensor Tower in figures first reported by the Financial Times.Apple continues to sell iPhones, iPads and laptops in the millions each quarter, but analysts say sales of Vision Pro headsets, which cost at least £3,199 ($3,499) each, have been sluggish.Apple has not released sales figures for the device, but the market research group International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates it will have sold only 45,000 in the last quarter of last year.IDC said Apple’s Chinese producer, Luxshare, had stopped production of the headset at the start of 2025, and Apple has not expanded direct sales beyond a select 13 countries

Eternal 31 makes Crawley the tallest small person in England’s Ashes pyre

It seems a little distant now, a little by-the-by, that this Ashes series was billed, among other things, as a referendum on Zak Crawley’s England career. The tour he was groomed for. The hidden sub-menace in his one-year central contract offer. Here was a chance to justify the high-wire walk of the last few years, to find an answer, perhaps, to the eternal question: is Zak Crawley actually any good?In the event other things have happened, other warning lights blinked, other elements of England’s collective failure creaked more urgently. Shoaib Bashir, the project spinner, plucked from social media for this tour, is in the 12 for Sydney

Reluctant trailblazer Khawaja confronts racial stereotypes before Sydney farewell | Taha Hashim

More than half an hour into the press conference, with his retirement from Test cricket confirmed, Usman Khawaja was asked about the role of opening the batting and its relevance in the modern game. He answered with ease, detailing the specific mental challenges of facing the new ball. Minutes later, he was asked how Australia can unite after last month’s terrorist attack at Bondi Beach. Again, there was little hesitation before the lengthy reply. He cited the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, politicians who “try to divide and conquer” and closed with his reflections on the tragedy itself