April 29 (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

- Alex Mahon, the boss of Channel 4 is leaving her post this summer as the broadcaster prepares to install a new chairman.

- Airbus AIR.PA is to take control of much of the Spirit AeroSystems SPR.N business in the UK and the historic Short Brothers factory in Belfast is to be broken up between the European aircraft manufacturer and its U.S. rival Boeing BA.N.

The Guardian

- Diplomats from eight southern and east African countries have signed a letter calling on the UK government to support a private member's bill that aims to speed up debt restructurings, after economic crises meant countries were unable to pay back loans.

The Telegraph

- Downing Street has drafted a proposed joint statement with the EU that commits the UK and EU to rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump's most controversial policies.

- British firms working in defence and intelligence fields have instructed their staff against connecting their mobile phones either via Bluetooth or charging cable into Chinese-made cars.

Sky News

- Montagu Private Equity and Bridgepoint are among the buyout firms which are interested in bidding for Escode. Deal for Escode could be worth between 300 million-400 million pounds ($537.32 million).

The Independent

- Hundreds of agency workers at Marks & Spencer MKS.L have been told not to come into work as the retailer continues to deal with the fallout of a cyberattack which has seen the company lose 650 million pounds of value in a matter of days.

($1 = 0.7444 pounds)

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

((globalnewsmonitoring@thomsonreuters.com))