What the Sunday papers said

The Independent on Sunday: Banks to get €500bn of cheap loans from ECB

The European Central Bank is set to flood banking markets with €500bn (£424m) of cheap loans this week, taking its financial support of the European Union to €1trn in only three months. The ECB will set out the second distribution of three-year loans to private banks and other firms, known as the longer-term refinancing operations (LTRO), on Wednesday.

The Mail on Sunday: North to pump water to drought-stricken South

United Utilities has drawn up plans to lay a £2.6bn water pipe alongside the proposed high-speed rail line from London to Birmingham and beyond to bring water from the North to the dry South. The listed utility giant said it will present its plans to the Government imminently.It expects the pipe to cost £7m a mile to install.

The Sunday Telegraph: Starbucks set to expand with 300 new stores

Cafe chain Starbucks will open 300 new outlets across the UK in the next five years, taking its total in Britain past 1,000. A relaunch will also see individual stores adopting localised décor rather than following a standardised design. Michelle Gass, president of Starbucks' operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said she wanted her coffee brand to become as common across the EU as it is in Manhattan.

The Sunday Times: Lord Browne plans new North Sea empire

Meanwhile Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP, is working on plans to build a new North Sea empire. The European division of the US investment fund Riverstone, which Lord Browne runs, is in advanced talks with the North Sea producer Fairfield Energy to buy up to half of the company and use it as a vehicle to buy fields put up for sale by major operators including BP.