PRESS DIGEST-British Business - March 3

March 3 (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

- Canadian-American firm Brookfield BN.TO will launch Brookfield Wealth Solutions (BWS), its insurance spin-off, as an entrant into UK's bulk annuity pensions market.

- Oxfordshire-based First Light Fusion has landed a contract with NASA to help the U.S. space agency develop materials to protect space stations and satellites from the impact of space debris.

The Guardian

- British housing minister Matthew Pennycook has promised to abolish the centuries-old leasehold system in England and Wales before the end of this parliament, as the government takes the next steps towards an outright ban on new leasehold developments.

- TikTok is to be investigated by the UK's data protection watchdog, which is looking into whether social media algorithms are serving up inappropriate or harmful content to children.

The Telegraph

- Lloyds Bank LLOY.L has reversed its policy on including long-haul flights in its net-zero emissions calculations, opting to exclude international business travel and focus solely on UK-based travel, marking a significant reduction in its climate pledge.

Sky News

- Private equity firm Inflexion is exploring a sale of cloud hosting provider ANS, formerly UKFast, with a targeted valuation of 400 million pounds ($503.88 million).

- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested a coalition of European allies could step up and defend a potential deal for Ukraine to "guarantee the peace".

($1 = 0.7938 pounds)