Friday newspaper round-up: Salisbury attack, asteroid, Corbyn, Nex, Snap, HSBC, Google
The West united against President Putin’s regime yesterday as America announced tougher sanctions against Moscow and joined France and Germany in an unequivocal condemnation of the Salisbury chemical attack. In an unusual joint statement, the leaders of France, Germany, the US and Britain said there was “no plausible alternative explanation” for the poisoning other than that it was the work of the Kremlin. - The Times
Nasa has drawn up plans for a huge nuclear spacecraft capable of shunting or blowing up an asteroid if it was on course to wipe out life on Earth. The US space agency published details of its Hammer (Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response) deterrent, an eight tonne spaceship which could deflect a giant space rock. - Telegraph
Jeremy Corbyn has defied critics in his own party and warned the prime minister against “rushing way ahead of the evidence” over the Salisbury poisoning, in what he called the “fevered” atmosphere of Westminster. The Labour leader used an article in the Guardian to urge the government to take a “calm, measured” approach – and warn against the drift towards a “new cold war” with Russia. - Guardian
Up to 10 people have been killed when a newly installed pedestrian bridge spanning several lanes of traffic collapsed at Florida International University on Thursday. Cars were waiting for the lights to change when the 950-ton 'instant bridge', which was installed in just six hours on Saturday, crumbled and fell on the waiting traffic on the busy, seven lane 8th Street, which runs from downtown Miami all the way to the Everglades. - Daily Mail
Michael Spencer, one of the City’s most colourful figures, may finally be on the verge of bowing out with a potential multibillion-pound sale of his electronic trading business Nex to its American rival CME. Nex confirmed to the stock exchange yesterday that it had received a “preliminary approach” from CME, the world’s largest futures exchange which is based in Chicago. - The Times
Rihanna wiped around $1bn (£720m) off Snapchat’s parent company on Thursday when she criticised the messaging app for hosting an advert that appeared to make light of her history as a victim of domestic violence. Shares in Snap Inc fell almost 5pc as the popstar criticised the app on Instagram, Snapchat's main rival. - Telegraph
Men are paid two and a half times more per hour than women on average at banking group HSBC, the largest gender pay gap reported to date by a major UK company. The gender pay report from the UK’s largest bank, published on Thursday, reveals that less than a quarter of its most senior staff are female, while more than two-thirds of those in junior roles are women. - Guardian
Debt levels in the UK are very close to their September 2008 peak and a ‘significant’ number of households are in ‘so deep’ that even a small change to their circumstances could tip them in financial trouble, a city regulator has warned. Talking to a conference for the credit industry, the executive director of supervision at the Financial Conduct Authority, Jonathan Davidson, said that although today’s conditions are different from ten years ago, worrying numbers of households were at risk. - Daily Mail
Google has spent tens of millions of pounds funding think tanks that have published papers supporting its policy interests. A report seen by The Times examined the financial backing of five institutions in Britain and Europe. The academic groups also stage events that allow Google lobbyists to rub shoulders with ministers and policymakers who might not attend those run under the technology company’s branding.
World leaders have been warned that a Donald Trump-inspired trade war could trash the global economic recovery with protectionist policies tearing up global supply chains and killing off the green shoots of productivity growth. - Telegraph
The government of Gibraltar has warned that it could rescind the rights and protections enjoyed by Spanish and other EU nationals living and working in the territory if Madrid uses its veto to exclude the Rock from any Brexit deal between the EU and the UK. - Guardian
Britain will be hit by more than a foot of snow by the end of the weekend as the country feels as cold as -7C (19F). Scotland faces up to eight inches of snow and eastern England will get ten inches between today and Saturday, before a further eight inches falls over South East England on Sunday, according to the Met Office. - Daily Mail
The battle for GKN intensified yesterday after Rolls-Royce became the latest company to intervene when it raised no objections to a takeover by Melrose. Rolls-Royce, the aerospace company, told The Times that GKN was a “valued partner”, but there was “no reason to believe our relationship would change in the event of a change of ownership”. - The Times
Industrials entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta will build the world’s biggest battery in South Australia, officials said on Friday, overtaking US billionaire Elon Musk’s project in the same state last year. - Telegraph
The music streaming service Spotify has told investors it can become profitable and fend off bigger rivals such as Apple and Amazon, as it announced its shares will on the New York stock exchange on 3 April. - Guardian
Cineworld posted blockbuster results as it prepares to make its US debut after buying Regal Entertainment – making it the second-largest chain in the world. Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Dunkirk helped push Cineworld's profits up by almost 23 per cent last year to £120.5m. - Daily Mail