Wednesday newspaper round-up: Autumn Statement, Rio Tinto, US dollar

Theresa May and Philip Hammond have ended weeks of fraught Autumn Statement negotiations by agreeing measures to help key voters known in Whitehall as “Jams” — people who are “just about managing”. Downing Street and Treasury officials have spent weeks in tough talks, with the prime minister demanding that her government’s first big economic event next week should have more measures to help working class voters left behind by globalisation. – Financial Times

Rio Tinto’s lawyers uncovered more than a year ago internal emails about a questionable $10.5m payment to a consultant, but the mining company did not alert law enforcement authorities and investors about the matter until last week. The Anglo-Australian group said on November 9 it had notified authorities after discovering emails from 2011 that referred to the payment to the consultant, who helped head off a threat to Rio’s claim to the giant Simandou iron ore project in Guinea. – Financial Times

The soaring US dollar is causing mounting strains for the global financial system and ultimately threatens to set off a full-blown banking crisis in emerging markets, the world’s top’s economic watchdog has warned. “We have all the symptoms of a dollar shortage,” said Hyun Song Shin, chief economist at the Bank for International Settlements. - Telegraph

Google has announced plans to hire more than 3,000 new staff in the UK in a major boost to Britain’s technology sector after Britain’s vote to leave the EU. Announcing plans to expand the internet giant’s new London campus in King’s Cross, its chief executive Sundar Pichai said the investment showed Google was “committed to the UK”. – Telegraph

The outgoing US president, Barack Obama, has used his final trip to Europe to call for action to put Greece on a path to “durable” economic recovery, including the possibility of debt relief. Making his first stop in Athens in a farewell tour aimed at safeguarding his legacy, Obama made the strongest case yet for the debt-stricken country to be given some slack. He said: “To the rest of Europe I will continue to emphasise our view that austerity alone cannot deliver prosperity.” – Guardian

The Pension Protection Fund was attacked by MPs last night afterThe Times revealed that it paid a public relations firm more than £600,000 over the past two years. Lansons Communications is paid a £194,400 annual retainer by the fund, the pensions lifeboat for failed companies. Since January 2015 it has received another £249,200 in “additional payments”. The PPF is funded by a levy on final salary schemes. – The Times

The Serious Fraud Office has launched a legal action to prevent a former top Barclays banker from publicly discussing his role in the bank’s contentious Qatari fundraising at the height of the financial crisis. The SFO will next week ask for a gagging order at an employment tribunal brought by Richard Boath, the bank’s former head of financial institutions, over allegations of unpaid wages and unfair dismissal. – The Times