Thursday newspaper round-up: trade war, Brexit meeting, retail jobs, Facebook

Donald Trump and European Union officials stepped back from a trade war on Wednesday as they struck a deal to work towards “zero” tariffs, barriers and subsidies. The EU also agreed to buy billions of dollars worth of American exports, including soya beans and natural gas, and work to reform international trade rules. - Guardian

European leaders plan to let Theresa May sell her Brexit blueprint directly to member states in an effort to kickstart stalled talks on Britain’s departure. A meeting in Salzburg in September is being lined up as the venue where the prime minister can hold direct talks to avert a no-deal Brexit. The proposal emerged after the intervention of Angela Merkel, who is concerned at the apparent drift in the talks. - The Times

Nearly a fifth of British retailers are planning to cut the number of people they employ in the next three months as the high street continues to suffer from rising costs and a shift to buying online. The number of people employed in the retail sector, the UK’s biggest employer, has already dropped nearly 3% in the past three months, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Redundancies rose to three times the level this time last year. - Guardian

The Scottish parliament’s Brexit bill is “perfectly practical” and in keeping with EU principles of legal certainty and continuity, the supreme court has heard. Backed by senior legal representatives from Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland’s chief legal officer, James Wolffe QC, argued on Wednesday that the emergency bill – designed to sidestep Westminster by taking direct control over the repatriation of significant EU legislation – should not be struck down because it does not cut across EU or UK laws. - Guardian

Facebook stock price tumbled more than 20% in after-hours trading, after the company’s chief financial officer said revenue growth would “continue to decelerate in the second half of 2018” as the company increased its investment in security and privacy. In its earnings report for the second quarter of 2018, Facebook just missed Wall Street’s estimates on revenues and user growth, though it still made $13.2bn – a 42% year-on-year increase. - Guardian

Qualcomm chief financial officer George Davis said Apple likely won’t use its cellular modems in the next iPhones, cutting the chip maker out of one of the consumer electronics industry’s best-selling products. In prepared remarks during an earnings call with analysts Wednesday, the CFO said Qualcomm expects Apple to use a competitor’s modem in the new iPhones and will only use Qualcomm’s modems in older models. - Telegraph

MPs have told the chancellor to take more responsibility for the poor state of family finances in a report that calls for the abolition of a “perverse” savings account that they claim discourages people from investing in pensions. The Treasury select committee warned Philip Hammond that the “health and sustainability” of households was under growing pressure because of years of weak income growth, a growing pile of personal debt, the emergence of the gig economy and an ageing population. - The Times

Automatic pensions enrolment is key to funding a new era of retirement which is increasingly reliant on private savings rather than the public purse, MPs will say today – but it relies on contributions being raised. The pensions triple lock in particular will become too expensive for the state to bear and will have to be scrapped, leaving pensioners in need of more private incomes, the Treasury Select Committee said. - Telegraph

ITV is preparing to remove programmes such as Broadchurch and Victoria from Netflix as it plans to launch a rival subscription streaming service alongside the BBC and Channel 4. Dame Carolyn McCall, ITV’s chief executive, said the broadcaster is ready to pull down its archive of hit shows from Netflix to support plans for a competitor backed by Britain’s main channels. - Telegraph