Thursday newspaper round-up: US debt, Oxfam, Mark Zuckerberg, KPMG

(Sharecast News) - US debt reached $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, the US treasury department said, after the government deficit doubled over the last decade. The treasury's latest debt balance showed $40.047tn on Tuesday afternoon, the highest in US history. The milestone marks years of government spending that grew under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. During his first term, Trump approved $8.4tn worth of debt, with a huge chunk going to Covid-19 relief spending, while Biden approved $4.3tn worth of debt, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. - Guardian

Oxfam is reviewing the operations of its three warehouses in Batley, Bicester and Milton Keynes and says it "cannot give guarantees" on the future of its high street shops in a "difficult economic climate". The charity said it had no plans to close warehouses or shops but insiders fear that Batley, which houses Oxfam's main textile recycling centre, will shut as part of a cost-cutting drive because the West Yorkshire site's lease is up for renewal. All three warehouses together employ about 90 people. - Guardian

Mark Zuckerberg sidelined child safety concerns at Meta and parents "cannot trust" the billionaire to protect their kids online, a former engineer has claimed. Arturo Béjar, a whistleblower who worked on Meta's child safety tools for six years, claimed the billionaire tech boss brushed aside concerns about harms to children in pursuit of profits. Mr Béjar said on Wednesday that claims by Mr Zuckerberg in 2021 that the company knew how to make its products safer and would make improvements were untrue. - Telegraph

Household energy bills are on course to soar to their highest level in three years, wiping out any savings from Andy Burnham's VAT cut on electricity. Average energy bills are expected to jump around 4pc from October, according to energy research group Cornwall Insight, representing a £66 increase for a typical household. The analysts said Ofgem's price cap - which limits the average annual energy bill faced by a family home - would rise from £1,663 to £1,729. - Telegraph

KPMG employees in Australia are bracing for sweeping job cuts as the Big Four firm battles to steady itself following a high-profile scandal in its audit division earlier this year. The group's reputation Down Under has taken a battering after it emerged that senior partners were sharing confidential client information to win lucrative work from their clients' rivals. Others were accused of breaching independence rules by accepting freebies such as tickets to Taylor Swift concerts. - The Times