Newspaper round-up: 16 April 2007

The £10bn Crossrail project, the creation of which has been debated for 17 years, is finally to get the go-ahead, according to the Sunday Telegraph.Whitehall sources indicated that it was expected to get approval within the next few months "barring a disaster". Construction could start in 2008.

British businesses think it is harder to start a new business venture now than it was 10 years ago, according to a British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) survey, it was revealed in The Guardian today. The BCC, whose annual conference began this week, said 49% of respondents thought it was much harder than in 1997, with 20% saying it was a little harder.

The Sunday Times has claimed that a small Hampshire brick firm, Michelmersh Bricks, is launching a counter-bid for Britain’s third-biggest brick maker, Baggeridge Brick. Baggeridge has already agreed to be taken over by Austria’s Wienerberger for £90m.

Britain’s largest rail freight operator EWS has called for further investment in railways, warning the alternative was road congestion and more pollution. The call, in today's Guardian newspaper, came ahead of the government’s blueprint for the railways, to be published this summer.

Staff from the 2012 Games will go to extraordinary lengths to rescue wildlife from the new Olympic sites, including knocking fish unconscious and luring newts into traps, according to The Observer. It will also launch expeditions at dusk to find bats and create alternative habitats for bees and moths in order to limit ecological damage.