Wednesday newspaper round-up: German economy, Microsoft, Asda/Co-op

(Sharecast News) - Germany will avoid a recession this year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has insisted, despite the energy crisis which has ravaged its economy. Mr Scholz said that new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on the Baltic and North Sea coasts would help cushion the blow from the energy crisis on Germany's crucial manufacturing sector. - Guardian China has extended the olive branch to Western democracies and global capitalists alike, promising a new era of detente after the coercive "wolf warrior" diplomacy of the last five years. Vice-premier Liu He, the economic plenipotentiary of Xi Jinping's China, told a gathering of business leaders and ministers in Davos that China is back inside the tent and eager to restore the money-making bonhomie of the golden years. - Guardian

Microsoft is preparing to axe thousands of jobs in the latest move by one of the world's biggest technology companies to reduce its workforce in the face of a slowing global economy. Sky News has learnt that the US software giant could announce plans to cull a significant number of posts around the world within a matter of days. - Sky News

About £260 million intended to support self-employed people during the pandemic was stolen, tax officials have told MPs. In the 2020-21 financial year, HM Revenue & Customs said that criminals accounted for a third of the "fraud and error" losses in an income support scheme for the self-employed. - The Times

Asda's £600 million takeover of the Co-op's petrol forecourts is being investigated by the competition watchdog. Asda, owned by the Lancashire-based billionaire Issa brothers and the private equity firm TDR Capital, agreed in August to buy 132 petrol stations and attached convenience stores from the Co-op. The deal was completed towards the end of last year and led to 2,300 workers moving to the supermarket giant. - The Times