Aug 22 (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
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has challenged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to come up with an alternative to the Irish backstop within 30 days as she suggested that a Brexit deal is "possible". bit.ly/30oYVG7
- Easyhotel Plc has been taken over by a consortium of investors for 139 million pounds ($168.59 million) despite protests from the founder that the offer was "very low". bit.ly/30povdR
The Guardian
- Ryanair Holdings Plc has failed in a legal effort to prevent a 48-hour strike by British pilots in the run-up to the bank holiday weekend, but claimed passengers were unlikely to be affected because it could still run a full schedule on both days. bit.ly/30o545d
- National Grid Plc has been working on a series of software agreements with companies to safeguard the system including General Electric Co to replace its spreadsheet models, which provide estimates of the grid's stability. bit.ly/30mKfax
The Telegraph
- Retail property developer Hammerson Plc has named James Lenton as the new finance chief after coming under pressure from activist investor Elliott to sell assets more quickly. bit.ly/31RH4rF
- The co-founder of Google's London-based artificial intelligence lab DeepMind, Mustafa Suleyman, has been placed on leave amid controversy over some of the company's work. bit.ly/2ZebZ3N
Sky News
- Britain's Department for Transport formally announced a "rigorous" inquiry into the high-speed rail link HS2, which will "inform the government's decisions on next steps for the project". bit.ly/2ZjYlMh
- Ken Hanna, a finance veteran and current chairman of temporary power provider Aggreko Plc, is in talks to become a non-executive director of Interserve Plc. bit.ly/2Ztju7b
The Independent
- National Health Service chiefs have been ordered to repeat Boris Johnson's claim that a no-deal Brexit must be carried out in October if necessary, in a controversial government memo. bit.ly/2ZoOtAW
$1 = 0.8245 pounds Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Sandra Maler
