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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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Tuesday newspaper round-up: BT, borrowings costs, RBA, tariffs
(Sharecast News) - BT has been blocked from offering rival broadband providers discounted access to its network over concerns that the plans would threaten competition. Openreach, BT's infrastructure division, proposed discounts of up to £9.50 per month to companies such as Vodafone, Sky and TalkTalk for using its broadband network. It had said this would allow broadband providers to offer households value for money. - Telegraph
Monday newspaper round-up: Heathrow, diesel cars, empty homes
(Sharecast News) - Plans for a third runway at Heathrow are once again up in the air after the prime minister refused to say whether he backs the "contested" project which is delayed by up to four years. Over the weekend it emerged that ​Heathrow no longer expects to meet the original 2035 deadline. Instead, the airport hopes to secure planning permission by 2029 and then open the runway "within a decade", meaning it would not be operational until 2039. - Guardian
Friday newspaper round-up: Food and drink trade deficit, datacentre project, Meta, Morgan Stanley
(Sharecast News) - The gap between Britain's food and drink exports and imports has neared its highest this century, as a combination of Brexit, war in the Middle East and US tariffs dented deliveries overseas while imports soared. The UK's food and drink trade deficit has risen to more than £21bn - the largest since 2000 - in what industry leaders said was a "wake-up call" for the government to protect homegrown produce in the interest of national security. - Guardian
Thursday newspaper round-up: Defence contractors, Bentley, McDonald's
(Sharecast News) - Defence contractors have promised to create 40,000 apprenticeships, work experience placements and jobs for young people each year, as Wes Streeting claimed to be overseeing a "ministry for growth". Labour is keen to demonstrate that the rapid increase in defence spending planned for the coming years, which may necessitate tax rises, will result in jobs in the UK. - Guardian

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