1 A strike by baggage handlers and check-in staff at 18 airports across Britain was called off last night, but rail commuters are being threatened with further walkouts. The RMT, one of the unions behind the cancellation of Southern Rail services, is threatening walkouts on London underground early next year. British Airways cabin crew are set to strike from Christmas day and Virgin Atlantic pilots plan to work to rule from Friday.
2 Vodafone has retained its reputation as Britain’s worst mobile operator for customer service for a second year, racking up more than double the number of complaints as its rivals.
3 Fracking is expected to start in North Yorkshire after the High Court rejected a legal challenge by environmental campaigners. A judge ruled against Frack Free Ryedale and Friends of the Earth, who had argued that North Yorkshire council failed to properly consider the contribution of fracking to climate change when granting permission to the fracking company Third Energy.
4 Shampoo sales have fallen sharply as the nation embraces bad hair days, according to analysts who have recorded a £23 million plunge in the market. Sales of Head & Shoulders and Pantene dropped by up to 7.9 per cent from last year and Herbal Essences recorded a loss of £3.2 million.
5 Employers should be threatened with huge fines to prevent a repeat of the BHS debacle in which Sir Philip Green walked away from pension promises to 20,000 former workers, MPs say today.
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6 Uber lost more than $2 billion in the first nine months of the year as it poured money into expanding its taxi-hailing app across the world, leaked details about the company’s financial performance suggest. Uber is believed to have lost $800 million in the third quarter and at least $1.2 billion in the first half.
7 Retailers are enjoying their strongest sales growth in more than a year as Black Friday discount sales and an early Christmas shopping spree look set to bring a positive end to the year for the high street.
8 Lloyds Banking Group has agreed to buy MBNA for £1.9 billion from Bank of America in a move that will see the lender become a much bigger player in Britain’s £146 billion-a-year credit card industry.
9 House prices will rise by 3 per cent next year — more than previously forecast. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that the shortage of homes available meant prices would continue to rise.
10 Businesses need to enjoy “barrier-free” access to the European Union once Brexit negotiations have been completed, the CBI has warned. It said the country should be free of tariffs with “minimal” non-tariff barriers across all sectors.