News: RIO UPDATE 1-UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Aug 24

(Adds futures, news items)

Aug 24 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 25 points higher at 6,027 on Monday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures FFIc1 up 0.8% ahead of cash market open.

• PEARSON: Global education publisher Pearson PSON.L has appointed Andy Bird, a media veteran who ran the international arm of The Walt Disney Company, as its new chief executive to see it through the latest bout of turbulence to hit the company.
• J D WETHERSPOON: British pubs operator J D Wetherspoon Plc JDW.L said it expected to incur an annual loss as its pubs were shut during the coronavirus lockdown and it was looking to discuss waivers for the current fiscal year with its lenders in due course.
• BUNZL: Bunzl Plc BNZL.L resumed dividends and reported a 16.6% rise in first-half profit, bolstered by robust demand for facemasks, gloves as well as food packaging for the grocery sector.
• RIO: Rio Tinto RIO.L (RIO) said it will cut the short-term bonuses of some senior executives but stopped short of leadership overhaul following review of the company's destruction of two ancient caves in Australia.
• OIL FIRMS: BP BP.L , Shell RDSa.L and Chevron Corp CVX.N said on Friday they had begun evacuating offshore oil facilities, with two tropical cyclones heading toward the U.S Gulf of Mexico as the already active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season heats up further
• FB/TAX: British finance minister Rishi Sunak plans to drop a tax on technology companies such as Facebook FB.O and Google GOOGL.O because it does not raise much money and could hurt a push for a U.S. trade deal, the Mail on Sunday newspaper said.
• GOLD: Gold prices fell as risk sentiment improved after the U.S. drug regulator authorised the use of blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients as a treatment option.
• OIL: Crude oil prices remained steady as storms closed in on the Gulf of Mexico, shutting more than half the region's oil production.
• The British bluechip index ended lower on Friday and broader stocks lost for the week amid new concern over whether Britain could avoid a hard exit from the European Union by the year-end.

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