Tuesday newspaper round-up: Amazon, BSkyB, Ebola, Chinese investment

Online retailing giant Amazon has come under scrutiny from the European Union (EU) because of an unorthodox deal with Luxembourg, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, a tax deal struck between Amazon and the tiny European state allegedly allowed the American firm to reap potentially illegal state subsidies for its European operations over almost ten years.

The total number of new cars sold in the UK in 2014 has reached almost two million, as the economy continues to strengthen, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.

According to data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), almost 430,000 new cars were sold in September, the highest total for the month in over 10 years and a 5.6% increase year-on-year.

The number of new cars sold in the UK has increased 18% since March, a promising sign according to SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.

“September’s strong performance underlined the continuing robustness of the UK new car market, particularly in the context of last September’s bumper volumes,” he said.

BskyB shareholders have given the green light to the proposed takeover of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The broadcaster's shareholders have “overwhelmingly” expressed themselves in favour of the company's plan to buy Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia from Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, the broadsheet added.

BskyB will pay £7.4bn for the double takeover paving the way to the formation of a pan-European platform called Sky Europe, which the broadcaster say will maximise its growth opportunities outside Britain’s satellite TV market.

The first case of an Ebola infection outside of Africa was reported overnight in Spain. That comes amid warnings that the virus has been impacting on economies across Africa despite the original focus having only been in three countries, the Financial Times reports.

The model of Chinese outbound investment underwent a transformation during the worst years of the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone and is set to continue steadily over the coming decade. Those are the findings of a Financial Times study tracking international investment flows.

From a nadir of just €6.1bn in 2010 the stock of Chinese direct investment in the EU rose to nearly €27bn by 2012, figures collated by Deutsche Bank show. That is part and parcel of the country's "going out" policy, set in 1999, as part of which investors and migrants have built up China's strength in new markets.