Monday newspaper round-up: Spain, US deficit, Vodafone...

According to the Financial Times, Spain's centre-right Popular Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, won the biggest election victory in the country's history yesterday, "consigning the incumbent Socialists to the political wilderness and making them the latest casualties of the eurozone's deepening sovereign debt crisis." The Popular Party secured 186 seats in the 350-seat lower house of parliament, the paper says."The bipartisan committee tasked with reducing America's $15tn (£9.5tn) budget deficit looks close to admitting defeat as its deadline looms," writes the Guardian. The paper says that while the committee has until Wednesday to report a plan to cut $1.2trn from the US's deficit, it is expected to reveal today that there would be no deal. Failure to agree on a plan would "trigger automatic cuts to defence and social welfare programmes starting in 2013," the Guardian says.According to the Times, police raided Vodafone's India head offices yesterday as part of a multi-billion-pound corruption investigation. "In the latest twist to a scandal that has rocked India's business and political elite and robbed taxpayers of as much as $7bn (£4.4bn), Vodafone confirmed that agents from the Central Bureau of Investigation had spent seven hours on Saturday searching its offices in Mumbai and Delhi," the paper says."Thomas Cook is planning to close about 200 of its high-street travel agencies in a move which threatens more than 1,000 jobs," reports the Independent. The paper writes that the FTSE 250 travel company, which had already revealed the closure of 75 shops, will report on Thursday that a further 125 will be added to the list, due to its "wide-ranging review of its UK operations"."The gap between Britain's highest earners and its lowest has reached an all-time high, highlighting the extent to which the economic downturn has hit the poorest households," according to the Telegraph. The paper says that more than 50% of those with an annual salary less than £15,000 have said that their finances have deteriorated in the last three months, compared with just under 20% of those in the highest income bracket, according to a Markit survey.Some 70% of business leaders said that the economic outlook has worsened since August, as fallout from the Eurozone crisis rattles confidence, writes the Daily Mail. "A survey from the CBI, which holds its annual conference today, will act as a stark reminder to George Osborne of the challenges facing him when he delivers his Autumn Statement in eight days."Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is reportedly planning a "tax raid" on pensions which could cost savers up to £100,000 each, according to the Daily Mail. "Tax breaks worth £7bn which encourage millions of hard-working Britons to save for retirement could be axed by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement next week," the paper writes.BC