* SPECTRIS: Spectris Plc sold its U.S.-based barcode reader maker to Omron Corp 6645.T for $157 million in cash, the measuring instruments maker said on Wednesday.

* SKY: Rupert Murdoch has pulled his Fox News channel from the Sky platform in Britain, where the government is assessing a bid by the media mogul to buy the broader Sky pay-TV company for $15 billion.

* SHIRE: Shire is weathering a period of a major change well, the company said on Tuesday, as analysts at UBS cut their price target on the stock in response to signs of falling staff satisfaction at the drugmaker.

* BRITAIN PHARMA: The British government has rekindled its industrial strategy, unveiled earlier this year to prepare the economy for Brexit, with plans to boost the country's pharmaceuticals sector via fresh investments and public-private collaborations.

* OIL: Oil prices slid on Wednesday but gasoline spiked to their highest since July 2015 as flooding and storm damage in the wake of Hurricane Harvey has shut one-fifth of U.S. oil refineries, crimping demand for crude but raising fears of a fuel shortage.

* The UK blue chip index FTSE 100 closed down 0.9 percent at 7,337.43 points on Tuesday, as investors dumped risky assets after North Korea fired a missile over Japan.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

TODAY'S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines Multimedia versions of Reuters Top News are now available for: * 3000 Xtra : visit http://topnews.session.rservices.com * For Top News : http://topnews.reuters.com (Reporting by Siju Varghese)