Chris Rokos hedge fund ends talks with Peter Mandelson on advisory role

A $22bn (£16bn) London hedge fund has “terminated” talks with Peter Mandelson over an advisory role after emails revealed that the former UK business secretary may have leaked sensitive government information to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Rokos Capital Management (RCM), which is run by the financier Chris Rokos, had been in discussions to hire Mandelson, who had been searching for a new role after being sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US in September following pressure over his ties to Epstein.However, Mandelson resigned from the Labour party on Sunday, after the US Department of Justice released millions of additional documents that shed new light on the extent of his relationship with Epstein.Those emails not only showed the extent to which Mandelson stayed in contact with Epstein after Epstein’s first prison sentence for child sex offences in 2008, but also that in 2009 he apparently forwarded to Epstein highly sensitive information he had received as business secretary under Gordon Brown, including government responses to the global financial crisis.The Metropolitan police have launched a criminal investigation into Mandelson over allegations he leaked market-sensitive emails to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial over child sex trafficking charges

US agency investigates Nike for alleged discrimination against white workers

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has launched an investigation into Nike over allegations that the sports giant discriminated against white employees and job applicants.The federal agency is demanding that Nike turn over information related to the allegations, including the company’s “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-related 2025 Targets and other DEI-related objectives”, it announced on Wednesday.Nike, which described the escalation as “surprising and unusual”, insisted that it adheres to “all applicable laws” on discrimination. It comes amid a broader crackdown by Donald Trump’s administration on diversity initiatives, which he has repeatedly decried as “radical”.“When there are compelling indications, including corporate admissions in extensive public materials, that an employer’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-related programs may violate federal prohibitions against race discrimination or other forms of unlawful discrimination, the EEOC will take all necessary steps – including subpoena enforcement actions – to ensure the opportunity to fully and comprehensively investigate,” said EEOC chair, Andrea Lucas

Google parent earnings beat projections amid plans to invest deeply in AI

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, and is planning a sharp increase in capital spending in 2026 as it continues to invest deeply in AI infrastructure.Alphabet on Wednesday reported profit of $34.5bn in the recently ended quarter, as revenue from cloud computing soared 48%.The company also forecast spending between $175bn and $185bn this year, a figure much higher than analysts’ expectations of roughly $115bn.In an earnings call, investors pressed Alphabet’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, on the significant increase

Condemnation of Elon Musk’s AI chatbot reached ‘tipping point’ after French raid, Australia’s eSafety chief says

The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, says global regulatory focus on Elon Musk’s X has reached a “tipping point” after a raid of the company’s offices in France this week.The raid on Tuesday was part of an investigation that included alleged offences of complicity in the possession and organised distribution of child abuse images, violation of image rights through sexualised deepfakes, and denial of crimes against humanity.A number of other countries – including the UK and Australia – and the EU have launched investigations in the past few weeks into X after its AI chatbot, Grok, was used to mass-produce sexualised images of women and children in response to user requests.Inman Grant told Guardian Australia: “It’s nice to no longer be a soloist, and be part of a choir.“We’ve been having so many productive discussions with other regulators around the globe and researchers that are doing important work in this space,” she said

‘I would call it a miracle’: Italy’s motley crew prepare for T20 Cricket World Cup

In a basement office in the north of Rome, Riccardo Maggio is unpacking boxes of blue jerseys with “Italia” written on them. He sighs when the landline phone rings again, and then again. Maggio is on his own, multitasking in the headquarters of the Italian Cricket Federation, tucked away in the building that houses the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni), the governing body for national sports.The room is small and improvised, its shelves cluttered with old trophies, faded photographs of players and souvenir cricket bats. The base for Italian cricket is hardly the nucleus of a global sporting moment

Heated rivalries and curling couples: 10 things to look out for at the Winter Olympics

Stars could align for USA and Canada in ice hockey, while hosts Italy are getting their downhill hopes upAll eyes are on the, ah, essentials of the Norwegian men’s ski jump team as they try to recover from one of the great botched crotch stitch switch scandals of 2025. Two of their gold medal-winning athletes from Beijing 2022, including the defending Olympic champion on the long hill, were banned for three months after a whistleblower published a video of their coach tampering with the (strictly regulated) crotch stitching on their jumpsuits at the Nordic world championships last year, in an attempt to make them more aerodynamic by adding padding. Groin-gate led to a national debate about ethics in sport and a complete overhaul of the rules. We’re told doctors are now using “3D measurements” to carefully scrutinise all competing athletes before competition.After a 12-year holdout, the National Hockey League has finally agreed to let its players participate in the Olympics again, which means the ice hockey tournament at Milano Cortina is going to be a proper test of the world’s best for the first time since Sochi in 2014