PRESS DIGEST - British business - Oct 2

The Times

FRENCH PUT SPANNER IN THE WORKS OF BAE MERGER PLANS

A new hurdle to the 27 billion pound tie-up between BAE Systems and EADS was put up by the French on Tuesday as the country's largest industrial shareholder in EADS said that the 60-40 merger terms were unsatisfactory.

FOUR CHARGED AFTER 'BIGGEST' FSA INVESTIGATION

Four men, including a former senior broker at Deutsche Bank , were charged with a 3 million pound ($4.84 million)insider trading conspiracy on Tuesday.

The Telegraph

HESTER: RBS IS 'POSTER CHILD' FOR BANKING FAILURES

Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland , has admitted the institution is a "British poster child for what went wrong in banking".

JJB SPORTS GOES INTO ADMINISTRATION

Britain's battered high street has suffered another major blow after administrators managed to save just 20 JJB Sports

stores, with the demise of the retailer costing 3,500 jobs and leading to the closure of 160 shops.

The Guardian MILIBAND VOWS TO PREPARE TEENAGERS FOR WORK

The leader of Britain's Labour Party Ed Miliband will on Tuesday put himself on the side of the "forgotten 50 percent" by drawing on his state school roots and promising to reform an education system.

The Independent MINING MEGA-MERGER SET TO GO AHEAD

Shareholders are set to approve Glencore and Xstrata's long-awaited 56 billion pound merger agreement after eight months of talks, despite substantial opposition to the deal, a leading investor predicted on Tuesday.

($1 = 0.6192 British pounds) (Reporting by Stephen Mangan)

((stephen.mangan@thomsonreuters.com)(+44)(0)(20 7542 7931))

Keywords: PRESS DIGEST BRITISH BUSINESS OCT 2