Thursday newspaper round-up: StanChart, Big Six, Centrica...

24th Jul 2014 07:16

The directors of Standard Chartered rushed out a statement last night, giving emphatic support to the chairman Sir John Peace and chief executive Peter Sands amid growing shareholder pressure for heads to roll at the embattled blue-chip bank. Institutional shareholders contacted by The Times said there was a widespread feeling that the leadership team needed refreshing after two profit warnings in seven months and pointed to Mr Sands as their preferred scalp. - The TimesBritain's top competition watchdog will on Thursday set out a catalogue of concerns about the UK energy sector as it begins an 18-month investigation that could result in the Big Six suppliers being broken up. The Competition and Markets Authority will lay out the terms for the biggest ever inquiry into the UK energy market, after regulator Ofgem concluded that profits and prices were too high, leaving millions of households paying too much for their gas and electricity. - The TelegraphHe was one of the three musketeers to the Sun King at BP. Now he is about to take on a job that will make him about as popular as Cardinal Richelieu. Centrica, the company best known as the owner of British Gas, is on the verge of appointing Iain Conn, the once young high-flyer and now senior director at BP, to become its chief executive. - The TimesBritain will review its outstanding arms deals with Russia, David Cameron has pledged as the MPs called on the Government to clarify its position on weapons sales. The news came after a committee of MPs disclosed that more than 200 licences to sell British weapons to Russia are still in place. - The TelegraphThe two week offensive in Gaza, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children in the crowded coastal enclave, could have seen war crimes committed by Israel, the UN's top human rights official has warned. The remarks from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in Geneva came a week after Israel escalated its Operation Protective Edge - launched with the stated purpose of halting Hamas rocket fire - from aerial bombardments into a ground campaign that has resulted in a sharp increase in Palestinian casualties. - The IndependentUkraine has accused rebels of shooting down two fighter jets on Wednesday close to where the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, killing all 298 passengers on board. [...] A separate statement from Ukraine's Security Council on Wednesday said preliminary information suggested the missiles had been fired from Russia. Moscow has not responded to the claim. - The IndependentBC