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Friday newspaper round-up: UK economy, Royal Mail, Twitter

(Sharecast News) - Britain's economy is expected to take until 2024 to recover to pre-Covid levels amid a slowdown for hiring and business investment, as households and businesses struggle with soaring costs. Business leaders have said that there has been a significant decline of key economic indicators in recent weeks, with confidence among company bosses over the growth outlook collapsing to the lowest level since the depths of the Covid crisis. - Guardian The dairy co-operative Arla Foods has announced it will pay its farmers more money for the milk they produce if they meet new environmental sustainability targets. Arla is introducing the "sustainability incentive" with the aim of promoting and funding the reduction of emissions on the farms of its 8,900 members, based in the UK and six other European countries including Denmark, Sweden and Germany. - Guardian

Royal Mail rushed forward the monthly payment into its pension scheme to help prevent a cash crunch, The Telegraph can reveal, after the mini-Budget sent crucial money markets into a tailspin. The company responded to a request from the trustees of the Royal Mail Pension Plan to provide emergency liquidity, amid fears across the City that a run on pension funds driven by products known as Liability-Driven Investments (LDIs) would leave major funds insolvent. The Royal Mail scheme has 124,000 members and liabilities of £11bn. - Telegraph

Households will be offered £20 a month to cut their energy usage during peak hours in a trial scheme from one of the country's biggest suppliers to help avert rolling blackouts this winter. Ovo Energy, which has 4.5m customers, will offer families money if they are able to cut their energy usage by a third between 4-7pm when demand on the grid is highest, amid concern of electricity shortages. - Telegraph

The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that it will downgrade its growth outlook for the world economy as a third of countries are due to fall imminently into recession. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director, said the global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic had suffered a "massive setback" that would wipe $4 trillion off global output until 2026. - The Times

A Delaware judge has given Elon Musk until the end of the month to complete his Twitter takeover, delaying a highly anticipated trial over his bid to terminate the $44 billion deal. The world's richest man must now buy the social media group by 5pm on October 28 if he is to avoid court. - The Times

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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Regional income divide, John Lewis, mortgages
(Sharecast News) - Britain's deep regional income divide has barely changed in 30 years despite the promises of successive governments to narrow the gap, according to a report showing the challenge for Andy Burnham. As the prime minister-in-waiting prepares for government, the Resolution Foundation said almost no progress had been made since 1997 to tackle stark divisions in household income, before housing costs are taken into account, between the richest and poorest parts of the country. - Guardian
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Gambling customers, student loan repayments, Russian bankruptcies
(Sharecast News) - The Scottish government is about to consider a sweeping moratorium on building new datacentres, putting a key plank of the UK's AI strategy at risk. Last Sunday the Scottish National party (SNP)'s national council passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in Scotland. That motion has been sent to the Scottish government to consider. It could apply to all datacentre projects that have not yet received planning permission - although its exact implementation is up to the Scottish government to decide. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: Affordable housing, mobile coverage, unemployment
(Sharecast News) - Half of all affordable housing supply in rural England could be under threat under plans being considered by ministers to relax regulations for private housing developers, according to analysis. The government has proposed ending affordable housing quotas - known as section 106 agreements - for new developments of between 10 and 49 houses in an effort to jumpstart sluggish housebuilding rates. Ministers are due to make a final decision within weeks on whether developers should be allowed to make cash payments to local authorities instead. - Guardian
Friday newspaper round-up: Ineos, EG Group, Hill Group
(Sharecast News) - The boss of Currys has said supplies of air conditioning and fans are "tight" ahead of another UK heatwave, expected next week, after a boom in sales sent retailers scrambling to source new stock. Alex Baldock, chief executive of the electrical goods retailer, said cooling kit had been "flying off the shelves" during June's record heat in England. Sales of fans were up nearly 3,000% over the most recent heatwave weekend compared with a week earlier, while air conditioning sales increased 330%. - Guardian

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