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Friday newspaper round-up: Energy bills, ticket touting, BlackRock

(Sharecast News) - The number of people in England and Wales who sought help with energy bills jumped by 20% last year, according to Citizens Advice, which assisted 60,000 households struggling with the soaring cost of gas and electricity. That number was double the figure for 2020, the national consumer advice charity said, with problems with billing being the single most common type of issue raised with its service providers. - Guardian The price at which tickets for live events can be resold is to be capped under "gamechanging" proposals put forward by the government to crack down on touting in the sector. In a move hailed by music industry figures, the culture minister, Lisa Nandy, has launched a consultation that she said would end the "misery" of fans being exploited by touts, some of whom have made huge profits by selling hundreds of tickets a year. - Guardian

More than 100 earthquakes that damaged households across Surrey were likely caused by fracking, according to a landmark study by the University College London (UCL). As part of their findings, researchers suggested that oil extraction from a Surrey well led to powerful tremors across various villages in 2018-19, including Newdigate and Charlwood - which lie just four miles from Gatwick Airport. - Telegraph

BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, is abandoning an influential net-zero alliance after coming under pressure from Republican politicians over its support for "woke" climate policies. The New York-headquartered firm, which manages $11.5 trillion of assets, said it would leave the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Members of the group pledge to support the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including by using their votes on behalf of shareholders at corporate meetings. - The Times

The increase in employers' national insurance contributions will result in an overall slowing of wage growth in the long run, a deputy governor of the Bank of England has said. Sarah Breeden, who is in charge of financial stability at the Bank, said she no longer feared a resurgence in consumer price inflation this year as the economy has slowed, the labour market has cooled and government tax changes to NICs could push down on earnings growth. - The Times

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(Sharecast News) - The UK government will "wait and see" whether tariffs announced by Donald Trump "actually come to pass", a senior minister said. The US president announced what he called "reciprocal tariffs" on all other countries on Thursday evening, claiming it was "fair to all". But it was unclear how this would apply to the UK, especially as Trump suggested his policy regarded VAT as a tariff. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - California's home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims. All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 - more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for "total losses". - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - The British economy is on course to expand by 1.5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned. In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1.2% to 1.5%. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for "all assets" of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI's board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk's unsolicited offer could complicate the company's plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. - Guardian

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