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Monday newspaper round-up: Four-day week, UK energy, Apple

(Sharecast News) - Fraudsters may have stolen £500,000 from a taxpayer-funded scheme aimed at accelerating the removal of dangerous cladding from buildings, the public spending watchdog has revealed. The National Audit Office said the government decision to prioritise speed in handing out money to building owners had increased its risk of losses from fraud. The warning came in an NAO report into the government's progress in remediating dangerous cladding from blocks after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. - Guardian One thousand workers in the UK will get extra time off with no loss of pay in the first official pilot by the four-day week campaign under the Labour government. The British Society for Immunology and Crate Brewery in Hackney, east London, are among the businesses to have joined the latest trial, which is being led by the 4 Day Week Campaign, as it launches on Monday. - Guardian

Cornwall is home to more solar panels than anywhere else in the country, new figures show, fuelling a growing backlash from local farmers and small businesses. The south-west county now boasts more than 27,000 sites generating solar energy, with even more planned under Ed Miliband's green energy rollout. The spread of solar energy across the Cornish countryside has been welcomed by climate campaigners. However, it has also sparked anger among residents and councillors who claim the local landscape has been ruined by an influx of large glass solar panels. - Telegraph

Shares in Apple will be in focus on Monday after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway continued to slash its stake in the tech company as part of a selling spree that has lifted his cash pile to record levels. The billionaire's industrials-to-insurance conglomerate disclosed on Saturday that it had reduced its position in Apple to $69.9 billion in the third quarter, indicating it had shed a further 100 million shares in the period, or a quarter of its holding. - The Times

The head of the International Energy Agency has backed the government's ambitious plan to clean up Britain's power supply by 2030 so the UK can keep its lead in cutting-edge energy industries. Labour has faced criticism for its ambition to supply almost all the country's electricity with wind, solar and nuclear energy in only six years' time. - The Times

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Thursday newspaper round-up: Youth employment, SpaceX, EY
(Sharecast News) - Britain is slipping down the global league table for youth employment amid a dramatic rise in worklessness that is putting a generation's future at risk, research has warned. Sounding the alarm over a worsening youth jobs crisis, the report from the accountancy firm PwC said Britain's economy was missing out on £26bn a year because of sharp regional divisions in youth joblessness. - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: UK borrowing costs, Channel 4, Anduril
(Sharecast News) - The "premium" that the UK pays to borrow money compared with its international peers may be coming to an end as markets grow more confident about the government's plans, a thinktank has suggested. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that the chancellor Rachel Reeves's announcement in the autumn budget that she would be more than doubling the UK's financial headroom by 2030 from £9.9bn to £22bn had begun to assure bond markets about Labour's fiscal approach. - Guardian
Tuesday newspaper round-up: household spending, British Library, Jamie Dimon, WPP
(Sharecast News) - UK households cut back on spending at the fastest pace in almost five years last month as consumers put Christmas shopping on hold, according to a leading survey. Adding to concerns that uncertainty surrounding the budget has helped dampen consumer confidence, Barclays said card spending fell 1.1% year on year in November - the largest fall since February 2021. The bank said retailers still enjoyed their busiest day of the year so far on Black Friday, with transaction volumes 62.5% higher than the average day for 2025. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: Neso, local authorities, Anglo American
(Sharecast News) - Britain's energy system operator is pulling the plug on hundreds of electricity generation projects to clear a huge backlog that is stopping "shovel-ready" schemes from connecting to the power grid. Developers will be told on Monday whether their plans will be dismissed by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) - or whether they will be prioritised to connect by either the end of the decade or 2035. - Guardian

Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

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