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Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers abruptly went on leave on Wednesday from teaching at Harvard University.

Mr Summers' abrupt departure from responsibilities at the American university comes in the wake of recently released emails showing he maintained a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Mr Summers’ spokesperson said.

Mr Summers had already been retreating from his public commitments amid the Epstein fallout, but he had maintained that he would continue teaching economics classes at Harvard.

Yet by Wednesday evening, Mr Summers had not only stepped back from his teaching classes but also as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Centre for Business and Government with the Kennedy Harvard School.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Summers severed ties with OpenAI,

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