A-Z of the Sunday newspapers

THIS Is Money reads the Sunday papers so you don't have to. Here is this week's run-down of who is making the headlines on the City pages:

The Business

BP
The oil giant BP is lobbying the European Commission to relax its competition rules in order to allow mega-mergers between French, British, Italian and Scandinavian oil companies.

Airbus
Airbus is hoping to secure its first Chinese order for the A380 superjumbo - a deal for up to 10 aircraft worth £1.4bn - in time for President Jacques Chirac's visit .

Kerry Packer
Media Tycoon Kerry Packer, Australia's richest man, is planning more casions in Britain as part of a £300m assault on the UK gaming market.

Vodafone
Vodafone will on Monday face flak over its aggressive Christmas marketing campaign for 3G. growing number of investors believes that by trying to justify the tens of billions spent on 3G licence at the height of the boom, the company may damage margins by subsidising handsets.

Independent on Sunday

BBC Worldwide
The BBC is considering a radical, two-pronged restructuring of its Worldwide commercial arm that could result in a flotation of the business. Worldwide is estimated to be worth £2bn.

Sainsbury
Justin King, the chief executive of J Sainsbury, is planning to cut hundreds of head-office jobs in the latest attempt to revive the ailing supermarket

Wentworth
The Irish billionaire Sean Quinn's quest for control of Wentworth is expected to receive a boost this week with the backing of the Surrey golf course's biggest shareholder. Property company Chelsfield owns 60% of Wentworth and is considering Mr Quinn's £122m offer this weekend.

The Observer

Pensions
Millions of people may receive only minimal benefits from their private pensions because of the government's state pension regime, according to experts.

Jarvis
The former chairman and chief executive of Jarvis, Paris Moayedi, has shocked the Square Mile by selling all his shares in the embattled engineering and services company for around £1.77m.

Housing marketFresh evidence that Britain's housing market has ground to a halt will emerge this week as Nationwide reveals that estate agents saw little pick-up in business in September.

Sunday Telegraph

Unilever
Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods group which last week issued a profits warning, is planning to prune thousands of its top 18,000 middle-management positions as it seeks to cut costs and eliminate bureaucracy.

BAE
BAE Systems, Britain's largest defence contractor, has reached outline agreement with the Government on a proposal to merge the country's naval shipyards. Under the proposal BAE would merge its three shipyards - Govan and Scotstoun on the Clyde, and Barrow-in-Furness - with yards owned by VT Group, Babcock and Swan Hunter at Portsmouth, Rosyth and Wallsend respectively.

Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is to expand into Russian television, with plans to create a pay-to-view platform and produce programmes.

Celtel
Celtel, the pan-African mobile phone network operator, is to float for about $2bn (£1.1bn) on the London Stock Exchange early next year.

Sunday Times

P&O
Lord Sterling, chairman of P&O, will this week announce the biggest ever overhaul of the group‘s loss-making cross-Channel ferry business. Sterling is preparing to announce the staggered reduction of up to 1,000 jobs at Dover, Portsmouth and Calais — equivalent to 15% of the workforce employed in its ferry business.

Kingfisher
Gerry Murphy, the chief executive of Kingfisher, the retail group, has expressed an interest in bidding for Howdens, the builders‘ merchant owned by troubled retail group MFI. John Hancock, MFIs beleaguered chief executive, is understood to have met his Kingfisher counterpart last month, when Murphy declared his interest in acquiring Howdens. Hancock is believed to have rebuffed the approach.

Barclays
The president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, is understood to have given his support to Barclays' move to become a majority owner of Absa, the country's largest retail bank. John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, his board colleague David Roberts and former chairman Sir Peter Middleton have all held secret talks with Mbeki and other senior government officials in recent weeks to secure their approval.