Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Hundreds of British Airways flights were expected to be cancelled because of a cabin crew strike today despite an eleventh-hour peace overture from the Unite union. The airline remained focused on flying as many passengers as possible throughout the first of three five-day strikes even though Tony Woodley, the union's joint leader, had offered to call off the walkout if travel concessions for its members were reinstated. BA in turn urged Unite to suspend the strike and return to Acas, the conciliation service, the Times reports.George Osborne will unveil a £6bn package of spending cuts on Monday that will lead to the elimination of thousands of civil service jobs, sweeping efficiency measures across Whitehall and "painful" retrenchment in the wider public sector. In the first major economic statement from the coalition Government, the Chancellor will announce a new era of austerity for state employees and public bodies. Whitehall officials and other bureaucrats will be among the first to feel the effects of the cuts, the Telegraph reports.Investors are braced for fresh turbulence in European bank shares after Spain's authorities stepped in to rescue Cajasur, one of the country's largest regional lenders. The Bank of Spain intervened over the weekend after merger talks with Unicaja broke down. Cordoba-based Cajasur can draw €550m (£477m) immediately from the state's Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring. "This will guarantee that it can continue to operate and fulfil its obligations," said the central bank, the Telegraph reports. The Obama administration is facing a rising tide of anger against its handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and acknowledged on Sunday that it did not have the technical capabilities to step in and fix the gusher on its own. Under scrutiny, the White House delivered mixed messages about BP's role in the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Ken Salazar, secretary of the interior, lashed out against the company at a news conference on Sunday, saying it had missed "deadline after deadline" in attempts to seal the oil well and he was ready to "push [BP] out of the way" if necessary, the FT reports. Tidjane Thiam, the chief executive of Prudential, has come out fighting by personally insisting he will put £1.5m of his own money into the rights issue to fund its $35.5bn (£25bn) bid for AIG's Asian business, as he seeks to gain investor support for the cash call. The pledge over the weekend to take up his full allocation in the $20bn rights issue came as it emerged that parent AIG had dusted off plans to list its Asian division, AIA, in the event of Prudential's takeover failing, the Independent reports.Marks & Spencer is expected to a post a 5 per cent rise in full-year profits tomorrow, the last set of results presented by the high-street bellwether's chairman, Sir Stuart Rose. The retailer, above promoted by Danni Minogue, is set to deliver annual pre-tax profits of £632.9m for the 52 weeks to 27 March, compared with £604.4m for the same period a year ago. The improved performance will enable M&S staff to share a bonus pot of £80m, the Independent reports. Lloyds Banking Group is under attack from politicians and rivals over "perverse" pay practices in its private equity arm that encourage staff to gamble with taxpayers' money. In stark ­contrast to the bulk of the industry, Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) - the state-backed bank's private equity arm - pays out on individual deals, which means even if nine make a loss, directors profit if a tenth makes money, the Telegaph reports.Millions of savers with Northern Rock will lose the unlimited guarantee on their deposits after the Government lifts the measure on all variable-rate accounts today.The move, which brings the bank in line with its competitors, reduces the guarantee to the first £50,000 for each customer under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Existing fixed-rate accounts will continue to benefit from the unlimited guarantee until their agreed term expires, the Times reports. The American group plotting a takeover bid for Chloride has been secretly canvassing the British company's shareholders to gauge support for a deal ahead of an expected fall in profits. Emerson approached Chloride shareholders last week to try to pressure its managers to come to the table before the publication of its results this morning, The Times has learnt.The City watchdog has scuppered a leading Morgan Stanley banker's move to Nomura, in a fresh sign of it wielding its appointments veto more vigorously. John Hyman was to join the Japanese bank as co-head of global finance. Nomura confirmed yesterday that he would not be joining, but declined to explain further. However, it is understood that he has fallen foul of the Financial Services Authority's vetting process, the Times reports.