Friday newspaper round-up: Fuel prices, Microsoft, Aviva

(Sharecast News) - Pressure is mounting on petrol station owners to slash fuel prices after accusations of not passing on falling wholesale costs to drivers. The average price of petrol in the UK fell by 8p a litre in December to 151p and diesel by 9p to 174p, according to the RAC. But the motoring group accused retailers, including the largest supermarkets, of not cutting prices quickly or significantly enough compared with the falls in wholesale costs. - Guardian Microsoft is reportedly in the works to launch a version of its search engine Bing using the artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT, launched by OpenAI. The Information reported the news on Tuesday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the plans. - Guardian

Margaret Thatcher's efforts to turn Britain into a "property-owning democracy" appear to have been reversed after the census revealed that home ownership had plummeted to its lowest level since 1983. The proportion of homes owned in England fell from 64.1pc to 62.3pc between 2011 and 2021, data shows. This is the lowest level since 40 years ago, when the figure was 61.4pc. - Telegraph

Ireland plans to sue the EU for "overreach", as a row between Dublin and Brussels over how to regulate Big Tech escalates. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has announced plans to take the European Data Protection Supervision Board (EDPB) to the EU Court of Justice, accusing the Brussels-based body of overstepping its authority. - Telegraph

Manchester's grade II-listed Corn Exchange has been sold to a wealthy Middle Eastern businessman for about £40 million. It had been owned since 2005 by Aviva who paid about £67 million. The insurer also spent £30 million clearing out the old retail units and converting the interior to a hotel, bar and restaurants, including Pizza Express and Zizzi's. - The Times