Friday newspaper round-up: Reckitt Benckiser, workers' pay, Brexit bill
The manufacturer of Nurofen has been fined $6m for misleading consumers. The federal court increased the penalty from $1.7m to $6m after an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. In December 2015 the federal court found the British company Reckitt Benckiser, the manufacturer of the painkiller, had engaged in “misleading conduct” by representing that its Nurofen Specific Pain products targeted a type or area of pain despite being identical, and ordered they be removed from supermarket shelves within three months. – Guardian
The top 10% of highest paid workers in Europe together earn almost as much as the bottom 50%, according to a report from the International Labour Organization that calls on governments and companies to do more to ensure the fruits of economic growth are shared out. The UN agency used its latest report into global wage trends to examine earnings inequality between different earners within firms and between firms. It also found startling discrepancies between men and women’s salaries at senior level in Europe with a gender pay gap of more than 50% for chief executives. – Guardian
Britain will be presented with a £50 billion “exit bill” by the European Union as soon as Theresa May triggers Article 50, the chief negotiator for Brussels is warning. Michel Barnier has told colleagues that the UK must keep paying “tens of billions” annually into the EU budget until 2020. - Telegraph
House price growth in London has slowed to the lowest rate in more than three years, according to research. A report by property market analysts Hometrack found that the rate of house price growth in the 12 months to November in the capital fell to 7.6pc, the lowest level for 39 months, and far below the same period last year, when growth was at 11.8pc. – Telegraph
London could be deprived of one of its most lucrative areas of financial business in clearing certain euro-denominated transactions, under new rules being considered by the European Commission. The precise form of any rule change has yet to be decided by Brussels, although the commission is reported to be considering regulations to give the European Central Bank an oversight on the location of key market infrastructure, such as clearing houses. – The Times
Policymakers at the Bank of England voted unanimously to keep interest rates at a historic low of 0.25 per cent this month and said the rate of inflation would rise at a slower pace than expected due to the recent rise in the value of the pound. All nine members of the rate-setting monetary policy committee (MPC) voted to retain the Bank’s three main stimulus measures, including maintaining the asset purchase programme, known as quantitative easing. – The Times