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Monday newspaper round-up: Gas prices, Virgin Money, OneWeb

(Sharecast News) - Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, will hold an emergency summit with gas industry chiefs on Monday morning in an effort to contain the fallout caused by soaring market prices on consumers and businesses. Mid-level suppliers will be placed into administration if they fall into trouble this winter in an attempt to protect consumers from costlier bills, he revealed on Sunday, after spending a frantic weekend thrashing out contingencies for Britain's looming gas crisis. - Guardian Campaigners have issued fresh calls for a windfall tax on companies that prospered during the pandemic, after research highlighted six firms that increased their profits by a total of £16bn. The outsourcing firm Serco and online clothes retailer Asos were among the companies that saw their global profits more than double over the last financial year, while one investment trust, Scottish Mortgage, saw its returns grow to nine times the average of preceding years. - Guardian

Brussels has opened the door to investing in OneWeb, the UK taxpayer-backed ­satellite broadband company, raising the prospect of a tie-up between Britain and the EU against Elon Musk's Starlink system. The European Commission has asked industry players and individuals to weigh in on the merits of backing a non-EU satellite provider as the bloc seeks to avoid being left behind in a global internet space race. Brussels has spent millions putting together proposals to build its own constellation of internet satellites but has made slow progress. - Telegraph

Virgin Money has been accused of "leaving charities in the lurch" by rejecting several takeover offers for its doomed charitable arm before pressing ahead with plans to shut it down. The Telegraph has learnt that the high street lender received a buyout offer from Virgin Money Giving's management, as well as a "blank cheque" proposal from a British entrepreneur. - Telegraph

Supermarket chains are trying to secure supplies of carbon dioxide after government talks with a big producer of the gas ended last night without a solution. Worries about empty shelves are increasing after operations at two fertiliser factories in northern England, which play a key role in the production of CO2, were shut last week because of the rising price of natural gas. - The Times

Pharmaceutical industry conferences have begun barring Vectura after Philip Morris International, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, acquired the respiratory drugs company last week in a contentious £1 billion takeover. The Drug Delivery to the Lungs conference (DDL), billed as the premier conference and industry exhibition dedicated to pulmonary and nasal drug delivery, has terminated Vectura's sponsorship and the company's representative has stood down from its committee. - The Times

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Tuesday newspaper round-up: Trump tariffs, European insurers, high streets
(Sharecast News) - Donald Trump announced a new 50% tariff on automobiles and crucial raw materials from Canada, the latest deterioration in trade relations between the two neighbours with historically strong economic ties. The US president said that the increased tariffs would start on 1 January 2027 on all cars, trucks, automobile parts and steel. He also derided the nation's tariffs on American farmers, writing on social media that Canada has been "ripping off" the US "for years". - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: UK productivity, Shein, Poundland
(Sharecast News) - Productivity in the UK - a vital measure of economic health - is growing more strongly than official figures suggest, according to analysis from the Resolution Foundation. The thinktank suggests the chancellor, John Healey, may have inherited an economy finally starting to emerge from the long shadow of the 2008 global financial crisis. Productivity measures the economic output produced by each worker, and is a crucial determinant of growth. - Guardian
Friday newspaper round-up: Cash stocks, Specsavers, TfL
(Sharecast News) - The number of banknotes in circulation in the EU is increasing despite widespread smartphone payments, new data shows, with wildfires ripping through parts of Europe fuelling demand for an emergency stash of cash. While cash plays second fiddle to contactless payments in many cities across Europe, the amount in circulation is actually going up, Philip Lane, the chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), said at the MacGill summer school conference in Ireland. - Guardian
Thursday newspaper round-up: US debt, Oxfam, Mark Zuckerberg, KPMG
(Sharecast News) - US debt reached $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, the US treasury department said, after the government deficit doubled over the last decade. The treasury's latest debt balance showed $40.047tn on Tuesday afternoon, the highest in US history. The milestone marks years of government spending that grew under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. During his first term, Trump approved $8.4tn worth of debt, with a huge chunk going to Covid-19 relief spending, while Biden approved $4.3tn worth of debt, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. - Guardian

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