Thursday newspaper round-up: Aslef, unemployment, Microsoft

The co-founders of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firm have announced their support for Donald Trump’s bid for re-election, and plan to make substantial donations to back him further. Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, the heads of Andreessen Horowitz, commonly known as A16Z, revealed their plans in a sprawling 90-minute podcast, in which they argued that the future of “American innovation” required a Trump victory. – Guardian

Talks between the train drivers’ union Aslef and the Department for Transport (DfT) will take place next week as the new Labour government seeks a swift resolution to the long-running national pay dispute. Aslef’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, said he believed fresh talks “can and will get a deal”, more than two years on from the start of a series of strikes by drivers that have halted train services around the country. – Guardian

More than 250,000 young people risk missing out on jobs if an overhaul of the minimum wage by Angela Rayner backfires, experts have warned. A radical change to workers rights championed by the Deputy Prime Minister and set out in the King’s Speech includes plans to remove “discriminatory age bands” that mean a lower wage is paid to younger people. – Telegraph

London-listed companies are back in favour with investors ahead of their European rivals, according to one of the world’s biggest fund managers. The latest edition of Bank of America’s European fund manager survey included the views of 242 fund managers with a combined $632 billion of assets under management. It was carried out between July 5 and 11. – The Times

Microsoft has concluded diversity is “no longer business critical” and has laid off staff working on inclusion initiatives, a former employee has claimed. The technology company has disbanded a team working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies because of “changing business needs”, according to the former Microsoft team leader. - The Times