March 15 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories

on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not

verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

- Britain's biggest pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca ( AZN )

has struck a deal worth more than $1 billion to acquire

a French rare diseases company Amolyt Pharma as it seeks to

bolster its drugs pipeline.

- Wael Sawan, chief executive of Shell said that

the group would aim to cut the net "carbon intensity" of its

products by between 15% and 20% by 2030 compared with its level

in 2016 and that it had scrapped a 2035 target altogether.

The Guardian

- The EU is calling on eight major tech companies including

Google , Facebook and X, formerly known as

Twitter to detail how they identify and tackle deepfake material

amid concerns about the use of the technology to influence

elections.

- The UK and Turkey have started talks about a post-Brexit

free trade agreement targeting the service sector of the

economy, the UK government said there were "huge opportunities"

for British businesses in exporting to Turkey.

The Telegraph

- Cigarette maker Altria Group ( MO ) said that it would

sell 35 mln shares in AB InBev. Altria ( MO ) currently owns

around 10% stake of AB InBev valued at around $12.7 billion.

- Mark Harper, UK Transport Secretary said Britain will use

"robust" trade sanctions to prevent China from flooding the car

market with cheap electric vehicles (EVs).

Sky News

- Belgian insurer Ageas who is pursuing a takeover

of its London-listed rival Direct Line Group, is facing

opposition from one of its own leading shareholders to a

potential deal.

- Air travel chaos caused by UK air traffic control (ATC)

system fault in August last year, that led to delays for more

than 700,000 passengers was fuelled by a "lack of planning" and

engineers working from home, investigators have said.

The Independent

- Russia is believed to have jammed the satellite signal on

an aircraft used by UK defence minister Grant Shapps to travel

from Poland back to Britain.

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)