PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - April 7

April 7 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

- EV targets watered down to help tariff-hit UK car industry

- Britain to dilute rules for smaller private equity firms and hedge funds

- UK to scrap or merge more quangos in anti-regulation drive

- US closes in on critical minerals deal with DR Congo

Overview

- The British government is watering down its targets for electric vehicles, with lower punitive fines, in order to support the domestic car industry after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on the global automotive sector's exports to the U.S.

- The British government plans to water down rules for private equity and hedge funds by introducing a lighter regulatory regime for smaller groups to encourage more investment.

- UK's Cabinet office minister Pat McFadden has written to Whitehall departments demanding they justify the existence of every quango to which decisions are currently outsourced, with a view to closing superfluous agencies and bringing responsibility for decisions back in-house.

- The U.S. is closing on a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo that would see American companies take more control of critical mineral assets in return for greater backing for the embattled Kinshasa government.