UK halves subsidies for Drax and says it must use 100% sustainable wood

The UK government has halved subsidies for the Drax power station and ordered it to use 100% sustainable wood after sustained criticism over its business model.The large power plant in North Yorkshire would play a “much more limited role” in future, the government said.The plant is an important generator of electricity for the UK, but has been criticised for burning wood pellets sourced from forests in the US and Canada.The government has agreed a new deal with the power producer that will halve subsidies between 2027 and 2031, saying that Drax will provide power only when it is “really” needed. It estimates that this will save consumers £170m a year

Fraud trial of Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ honoree set to lift lid on startup culture

Charlie Javice has joined an undesirable club struck by the “Forbes 30 Under 30 curse”, a term for the high-flyers identified by the business title as up-and-comers who ended up in legal trouble. The entrepreneur has joined a list that includes the pharmaceuticals fraudster Martin Shkreli and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison.The strength of the Forbes “curse” will be tested this week in New York as Javice, 31, goes on trial on four counts of fraud relating to the $175m (£141m) sale of Frank, a student financial aid application assistance company she founded aged 24, to JP Morgan Chase. The deal quickly soured, and has descended into a legal wrangle that has been compared to the case of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.Frank’s premise was simple – to help steer students through the complexity of applying for student loans

Man who lost bitcoin fortune in Welsh tip explores purchase of entire landfill

A computer expert who has battled for a decade to recover a £600m bitcoin fortune he believes is buried in a council dump in south Wales is considering buying the site so he can hunt for the missing fortune.James Howells lost a high court case last month to force Newport city council to allow him to search the tip to retrieve a hard drive he says contains the bitcoins.The council has since announced plans to close and cap the site, which would almost certainly spell the end of any lingering hopes of reaching the bitcoins. The authority has secured planning permission for a solar farm on part of the land.Howells, 39, said on Monday it had been “quite a surprise” to hear of the closure plan

‘Mass theft’: Thousands of artists call for AI art auction to be cancelled

Thousands of artists are urging the auction house Christie’s to cancel a sale of art created with artificial intelligence, claiming the technology behind the works is committing “mass theft”.The Augmented Intelligence auction has been described by Christie’s as the first AI-dedicated sale by a major auctioneer and features 20 lots with prices ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 for works by artists including Refik Andanol and the late AI art pioneer Harold Cohen.A lettter calling for the auction to be scrapped has received 3,000 signatures, including from Karla Ortiz and Kelly McKernan, who are suing AI companies over claims that the firms’ image generation tools have used their work without permission.The letter says: “Many of the artworks you plan to auction were created using AI models that are known to be trained on copyrighted work without a licence. These models, and the companies behind them, exploit human artists, using their work without permission or payment to build commercial AI products that compete with them

Travis Kelce declines to address retirement rumours after Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss

Travis Kelce did not address rumours that he intends to retire as he contemplated his team’s heavy defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s Super Bowl.The Kansas City Chiefs star will turn 36 at the start of next season, an age at which most NFL players have long since retired, and he has already built a lucrative off-field career, which includes a series of endorsements and a wildly popular podcast with his brother, Jason.Kelce did not attend the postgame press conference in the Superdome after the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Eagles but did briefly answer questions in the locker room. “We haven’t played that bad all year,” said Kelce. “[We] just couldn’t find that spark, couldn’t find that momentum

Patrick Mahomes was chasing Super Bowl history. He left humbled and harassed

The Chiefs may well contend for the championship again next season. But Sunday’s loss to the Eagles exposed problems that had been there all yearSome losses sting. Others echo throughout a career. The Philadelphia Eagles pummeled the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, ending any hope of a historic three-peat. It was a humbling