The media tycoon Richard Desmond is set for a courtroom showdown with the Gambling Commission that could cost good causes tens of millions of pounds, the Guardian has learned, after he rejected a settlement offer linked to his failed bid to run the National Lottery. Desmond launched a high court challenge in 2022 after the…

Barcombe, East Sussex This converted tin-clad chapel, with a cedar-clad, box-shaped extension, is four miles from Lewes. The arched front door opens into a vast open-plan kitchen-dining-living room designed for hosting large gatherings. The space is made to seem even more voluminous because of the pitched ceiling. There are two bedrooms off this space and…

I recently sent a parcel – of three secondhand books – by Royal Mail to Ireland, a fortnight before a birthday, paying £14 postage. Three weeks later it was returned to me having failed An Post’s requirement for the correct CN22 customs declaration, but without further explanation. I trusted Royal Mail to understand the rules.…

The grocery industry watchdog is to make a rare intervention in a Yorkshire sprout grower’s £3.7m legal case against Aldi over the discount chain’s decision to terminate a long-term supply deal. In papers filed at the high court, W Clappison Ltd, which produced sprouts for Aldi’s UK arm for 13 years, said its supply agreement…

NEW YORK CITY, NY – SEPTEMBER 21: Anna Leigh Waters of the New Jersey Fives rallies the ball during a Major League Pickleball match on September 21, 2024 at Wollman Rink in New York, New York. (Photo by Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images Pickleball is paying…

A drone or SUAV, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Richard Newstead | Moment | Getty Images The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday temporarily banned drone flights over 22 areas across New Jersey amid complaints of strange and often bright drones in the night sky. “At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary…

Asked by the liaison committee about his five months as prime minister, Starmer said he was in a better position ‘to change lives’ than he was before being in power. He decried, however, the state in which the previous Conservative government had left the country, citing the economy and prisons as two of the main…

Customers shop at a Nike store in an outlet mall in Los Angeles, Nov. 8, 2024. Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images Nike on Thursday will report its fiscal second-quarter earnings, its first quarterly earnings under new CEO Elliott Hill, who is expected to lay out the early innings of a strategy to…

Investors own more than 131,000 homes in the Las Vegas Valley now. Las Vegas Review-journal | Tribune News Service | Getty Images Sales of previously owned homes rose 4.8% in November compared with October, according to the National Association of Realtors. That put them at a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.15 million units. Sales…

A ticket inspector’s bilingual greeting to a Flemish train passenger has created a political war of words – and an official complaint – in language-divided Belgium. The country’s language watchdog is investigating after a Dutch-speaking commuter protested a conductor’s use of “bonjour” – French for “good morning” – to welcome him onboard during a rush-hour…