Thursday newspaper round-up: Prax Lindsey oil refinery, US home ownership, M&S hacker.


The government could save energy users £5bn a year by overhauling the electricity market to stop gas-fired power stations from setting the wholesale price for electricity, according to the former energy tsar. Britain relies on gas plants for about a quarter of its annual electricity use, but they play a much greater role during spells of low wind and low solar generation. – Guardian

Source: Sharecast

A court has frozen £150m of assets belonging to the owner of the collapsed Prax Lindsey oil refinery, an oil tycoon whose whereabouts have been a mystery since the plant’s sudden financial implosion earlier this year. Administrators sifting through the wreckage of five companies in the Prax empire are suing Winston Soosaipillai, better known by his middle names Sanjeev Kumar, for breach of his duties as a director after the energy group’s failure. – Guardian

US home ownership has dropped for the first time in nearly a decade as the White House considers declaring a housing emergency. According to an analysis of US census data by Redfin, US home ownership fell by 0.1pc between April and June to 86.2 million households versus a year ago. Although the decline is small, it marks the first drop in US homeowners since the start of 2016. – Telegraph

The teenage hacking group that brought down Marks & Spencer has claimed responsibility for the cyber attack that has forced Jaguar Land Rover to shut down assembly lines. The cyber groups Scattered Spider and Shiny Hunters said they had been able to exploit a flaw in the carmaker’s IT systems. The groups said they had gained access to customer data. – Telegraph

The leader of Britain's trade unions has urged Labour to fight Reform UK by hitting millionaires, banks and gambling with higher taxes. Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, has published an opinion poll of 5,000 adults. He says the results suggest a significant number of Labour voters are leaning to Reform. – Sky News

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