Wednesday newspaper round-up: Imagination, Bombardier, Google, EU pensions

The Chinese takeover of Imagination Technologies was mired in confusion last night as the bidding vehicle, a Silicon Valley-based private equity fund, struggled to recover from claims that ministers could intervene. Speculation is growing that the government will look into the £550 million deal amid fears that another leading British technology company will fall into foreign hands, with some onlookers citing national security issues and talk that Imagination’s computer chip science could be utilised in Chinese military programmes. - The Times

The 10th anniversary of the worst downturn since the Great Depression finds the global economy at risk of a fresh crisis and ill-prepared for the disruption likely from the robot age, the World Economic Forum has warned. The body that organises the annual gathering of the global elite in Davos each January used its annual league table of competitiveness to stress that the failure to push through growth and productivity-friendly policies since the crash of 2007-08 had jeopardised chances of a sustained recovery. - Guardian

Britain is more competitive as an economy on the world stage than at any time in the past decade, according to an influential index. The World Economic Forum said that the UK’s overall “competitiveness” score had increased from 5.49 to 5.50 out of 7, reaching the highest level since the Swiss think tank has been running the global index in 2007. - The Tines

One of Northern Ireland’s largest employers faces paying a punitive tariff on its exports of passenger jets to the US after losing the first stage of an international trade dispute. The US Department of Commerce ruled in favour of Boeing in its legal battle with Bombardier, prompting fears in Northern Ireland that aerospace jobs in the region could be in peril. - Guardian

This year represents the “tipping point” in an electric vehicle revolution that will drive global demand for copper, according to BHP Billiton. Arnoud Balhuizen, chief commercial officer at the global miner, declared that “copper is the metal of the future. - The Times

Britain is fighting a £10 billion demand to fund the rising pensions bill for retired Eurocrats after Brexit. European Union accounts, seen by The Times before their publication tomorrow, reveal that the cost of pensions liabilities for EU officials rose by 5.4 per cent last year to €67.2 billion (£59 billion). The figure has more than doubled in the past decade.

Dyson has unveiled plans to develop and build its own electric car by 2020, gatecrashing the existing market and promising to hire hundreds of people in the UK. Sir James Dyson confirmed the long-rumoured plans, promising to invest £2bn of the company’s money to build a “radical” motor from scratch over the next few years. - Telegraph

Twitter is testing doubling the length of its tweets to 280 characters, a move that overhauls the social network's defining feature. A small percentage of Twitter's 328 million users will find they can post longer tweets from Tuesday evening, with all other users will be able to see them. - Telegraph

The American Chamber of Commerce in Europe has warned that the EU’s plans to take more tax from technology giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon will damage the continent’s economic growth and could lead to a breakdown in cooperation with the US on global tax reform. The European commission, on the prompting of France and Germany, is seeking ways to capture a greater amount of tax from companies that exploit their lack of physical offices in a country to book their profits in low-tax states. - Guardian

Google has offered to ringfence its online shopping business from its dominant search engine in a bid to placate European competition watchdogs and avoid further multi-billion euro fines. Under plans expected to be revealed later this week, the internet giant will force Google Shopping to compete against other price comparison websites for advertising space in Google’s search results. - Telegraph

The former boss and chief operating officer of Afren, a London-listed oil and gas exploration business, are to be charged with criminal offences in relation to an alleged £45m fraud that led to the collapse of the £2bn company. Osman Shahenshah, 55, the ex-chief executive, and Shahid Ullah, 58, formerly chief operating officer, appeared in Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday charged with two counts of money laundering and two counts of fraud. They will face the charges formally on Wednesday. - Guardian