LONDON (ShareCast) - The pint of milk was at the centre of a ferocious supermarket price battle yesterday as Asda and Tesco vowed to cut millions of pounds from customers’ shopping bills this weekend.

Asda said that it was slashing the price of a two-pint bottle of milk from 80p to 50p - its lowest price since 2001. Angry farmers said that the battle could force them out of business. This week, Tesco introduced Fresh ’n’ Lo milk, costing £1.06 for a two-litre bottle. On Wednesday, Asda and Sainsbury’s dropped the price of a two-litre bottle to 99p, reports the Times.

Meanwhile, Tesco is set to open an office in Chicago ahead of launching Fresh & Easy convenience stores there, as it seeks to expand its fledgling convenience store chain beyond the west coast. The retailer has a team of property executives who are poised to move to Chicago to identify potential locations for a distribution centre and store location in and around the Midwest city, reports the Independent.

Willie Walsh, the boss of British Airways has accused rival airline owner Sir Richard Branson of sounding like a "cracked record" over his continuing opposition to the UK flag-carrier's proposed transatlantic tie-up with American Airlines. BA yesterday unveiled its third attempt to seek anti-trust immunity for a joint venture with AA, this time adding the UK carrier's putative merger partner, Spain's Iberia, into the mix, reports the Telegraph.

BP says it is to appeal against yesterday's ruling by a Russian court banning the chief executive of oil joint venture TNK-BP, Robert Dudley, from working in the country for two years. Dudley, who remains at a secret location after fleeing Russia last month alleging a campaign of harassment, was found to have breached Russian labour laws, reports the Telegraph.

Merrill Lynch is unlikely to pay corporation tax in the UK for several decades after $29bn of losses suffered by the US investment bank were charged to its London-based subsidiary. The London losses arose because almost all of Merrill's global activity in the market for collateralised debt obligations - complex debt securities, often backed by subprime mortgages - has been channelled through Merrill Lynch International, its UK-based subsidiary, reports the FT.

Oil demand in Western countries is set for its biggest fall in 25 years as the global economic slowdown intensifies and consumers respond to high prices. Demand in the economies of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries is set to average 48.6m barrels per day this year, a decline of 1.3% or 620,000 barrels from 49.2m in 2007, the International Energy Agency says, reports the Times.

A former senior executive of Belgo Group, is to stand trial on insider dealing charges relating to the takeover of the restaurant chain more than a decade ago. Timothy Power, 43, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday where he was refused bail until his trial, which was set for December, reports the Times.

Property group British Land has delayed the development of its iconic City of London tower known as the "Cheesegrater" until at least 2012 as it announced a 10pc fall in its net asset value in three months. In its first-quarter results yesterday, the company said the development at 122 Leadenhall was to be postponed by at least a year, maybe longer depending on market conditions, writes the Telegraph.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has hit out at the US government's handling of its bail-out of troubled mortgage finance houses Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Greenspan, who stood down from his role at the US central bank in January 2006 after 19 years at the helm, strongly believes that the Fed should have nationalised the institutions when they had the chance, calling the government's handling of the situation "bad", reports the Telegraph.

The eurozone moved closer to recession on Thursday after it emerged that the economy contracted in the second quarter for the first time since the launch of the euro. The economy shrank by 0.2% in the three months to June, as inflation driven by commodity prices wiped out growth. France was hit badly, contracting more than expected, reports the FT.

Desire Petroleum, the Aim-listed oil and gas exploration company, has announced a deal with Arcadia, the ship and rig group, to drill two oil wells in the Falklands by next year. Desire also said it had separately won the right to explore a potentially significant gas-rich field in the Falklands, writes the FT.

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