Gina Rinehart and rival heirs brace for court verdict on claim to billion-dollar fortune

Gina Rinehart faces the possibility of losing billions of dollars in riches from her Pilbara iron ore empire and her mantle as Australia’s wealthiest person when a long-awaited court verdict is delivered in Perth on Wednesday.The Western Australian supreme court judgment will rule on whether Rinehart must share the spoils of some of Hancock Prospecting’s most lucrative iron ore projects with the family of her late father’s business partner.At stake is billions of dollars in royalties and assets arising from the tenements pegged out by her father, mining pioneer Lang Hancock, and his business partner Peter Wright, through the Hanwright partnership in the 1950s and 1960s.At the centre of the claim is the lucrative Hope Downs mining complex near Newman in north-west Western Australia which is a joint venture between Hancock Prospecting and Rio Tinto, and which delivered a $832m profit to Hancock Prospecting in 2025.The Wright family heirs, including billionaire Angela Bennett and her nieces Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt, claim they are entitled to an equal share of the 2

HSBC says Iran war is hitting confidence as businesses warn over economic risks

HSBC bosses have said the Iran war is already hitting global economic confidence, as a string of business leaders warned over the impact of the conflict.Georges Elhedery, the Lebanon-born chief executive of the bank, told Bloomberg Television at a HSBC conference in Hong Kong: “We’re saddened and concerned with what’s happening in the Middle East, and we’re concerned not just with what’s happening but also with how long this will take.“Unfortunately, some of these uncertainties have initially started to weigh on general confidence. We worry that the continuation of this conflict will have that impact globally way beyond the Middle East,” he said, pointing to the price of goods, oil and refined products, but also fertilisers and metals.After rising above $100 (£74) a barrel on Monday, Brent crude dipped 0

Elon Musk’s X cuts payments to users who post clickbait

Elon Musk’s X has reduced payments to users who post clickbait and recycle news stories as it warned account holders against “flooding the timeline” with low-quality content.Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, wrote on the social media platform that all “aggregators” – users who quickly repackage and repost news from other accounts – had received less money from the creator revenue sharing programme.Under the scheme, X gives a share of advertising revenue to creators who have at least 500 verified followers and generate at least 5m views over a three-month period. Bier wrote that aggregators had their payouts reduced by 60% and that total will be reduced by a further 20%.“It became abundantly clear: flooding the timeline with 100 stolen reposts and clickbait everyday crowded out real creators and hurt new author growth,” he wrote

Booking.com warns customers of hack that exposed their data

The accommodation reservation website Booking.com has suffered a data breach with “unauthorised parties” gaining access to customers’ details.The platform said it “noticed some suspicious activity involving unauthorised third parties being able to access some of our guests’ booking information”.“Upon discovering the activity, we took action to contain the issue,” it said. “We have updated the pin number for these reservations and informed our guests

Boss of the Bronx: the turbulent reign of George Steinbrenner, baseball’s ultimate showman

A new book looks at how an eccentric shipping magnate ushered in a long run of success for the New York YankeesGeorge Steinbrenner could be quite the pitchman – whether selling New York to free agents or starring in Pepto-Bismol TV ads alongside Billy Martin. And now a new book remembers the late Yankees owner and the dynasty he founded.The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner flows from the pen of sports journalist and author Mike Vaccaro. As the New York Post’s lead sports columnist for more than two decades, Vaccaro has witnessed the Steinbrenner dynasty from a rarefied perspective – the journalistic equivalent of a seat along the third-base line.Vaccaro remembers the first one-on-one phone call he got from Steinbrenner

Ben Stokes plays down talk of McCullum disagreement but plans ‘different’ path to success

Ben Stokes has moved to play down suggestions of a disagreement between himself and Brendon McCullum, insisting he and the England head coach remain aligned despite an Ashes defeat that, at times, suggested otherwise.In a video released by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday, the England Test captain stressed that he and McCullum agreeing with each other all the time would be “unhealthy”. They continue to share the same overall vision for the team, he added, but things will look “different” this summer.Stokes said: “As similar as me and Brendon are, we’re also dissimilar in other areas as well. But the thing we both want is to be as successful as we possibly can