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Shoppers held back on Black Friday spending in November and budget uncertainty hit consumer confidenceBusiness live – latest updatesRetail sales unexpectedly slumped in the crucial run-up to Christmas, as cash-strapped shoppers held back on Black Friday spending, and uncertainty before the budget dampened consumer confidence.Sales volumes in Great Britain fell 0.1% month on month in November, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Continue reading......

Watchdog says banks will be able to respond to changing consumer demands, inflation and new technologyThe limit on contactless spending with a credit or debit card will be scrapped in March 2026, and banks will be allowed to set their own restrictions.The City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said the move would allow banks to respond to changing consumer demands, inflation and new technology. Continue reading......

Class-action lawsuit accused the two companies of conspiring to keep ATM access fees artificially highVisa and Mastercard have agreed to pay a combined $167.5m to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to keep ATM access fees artificially high. The proposed settlement was filed on Thursday in the federal district court in Washington and requires a judge's approval.The accord would pay potentially millions of ATM users who were charged an unreimbursed access fee to withdraw cash from independent, non-bank ATMs. Visa would contribute about $88.8m and Mastercard about $78.7m to a settlement fund. The money would be distributed to eligible customers with qualifying ATM transactions made since October 2007. Continue reading......

'Extraordinary' high court ruling covers Jacob Corlett's attempt to seize back control of parcel delivery firmBusiness live – latest updatesThe former owner of Yodel probably forged his mother's signature in an attempt to seize back control of the parcel delivery company, according to an “extraordinary” ruling issued on Friday by a high court judge.Jacob Corlett, a 31-year-old logistics entrepreneur, launched a takeover of Yodel in January 2024, buying the financially distressed company for just £1 as part of a plan to merge it with his own parcels company, Shift. Continue reading......

Criminal ecosystem made up of mostly male native English language speakers aged from 16 to 25Ransomware hacks, data theft, crypto scams and sextortion cover a broad range of cybercrimes carried out by an equally varied list of assailants.But there is also an English-speaking criminal ecosystem carrying out these activities that defies conventional categorisation. Nonetheless, it does have a name: the Com. Continue reading......

This €90bn agreement won out over a plan to use frozen Russian assets, but has been hailed a 'huge deal for the EU'The EU's failure to agree a “reparations loan” to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets was a political blow to the bloc's big beasts, but the last-gasp alternative it devised will do the job – and marks a potentially significant first.After a marathon 16 hours of talks, EU leaders early on Friday agreed to fund Ukraine, which risked running out of money by next April, with a much-needed €90bn (£79bn) loan. But the solution they came up with was not the one most had wanted. Continue reading......

Games such as Dragon Quest used to mobilize workers to back corporate goals including relaxing environmental rulesToyota, the world's biggest carmaker, is using retro-style video games to rally its US workforce behind its corporate goals, including lobbying to relax environmental rules, the Guardian can reveal.Through an internal platform called Toyota Policy Drivers, employees can play games with names such as Star Quest, Adventure Quest, and Dragon Quest, earning prizes by engaging with company messaging about policy and by contacting federal lawmakers using company-provided talking points. Continue reading......

Japanese conglomerate raises its stake in the firm that owns the intellectual property Charles Schulz created to 80%Business live – latest updatesSony has taken control of Charles Schulz's Peanuts franchise including Snoopy and Charlie Brown in a deal worth C$630m (£340m).The Japanese conglomerate has bought 41% of Peanuts Holdings, which owns the intellectual property Schulz created, from the Canadian children's entertainment company WildBrain. Continue reading......

Inquiry into recent Avanti West Coast train derailment in Cumbria finds sensors may not work if landslips happen quicklyAccident investigators have issued an urgent safety warning that the railway's landslide monitoring equipment may not work when the earth moves suddenly, after discovering sensors did not transmit when a landslip derailed an intercity train.The front wheels of an Avanti West Coast train from Glasgow to London came off the tracks on 3 November when it hit debris washed on to the track by heavy rain near Shap, Cumbria, while travelling at 83 mph. Fortunately, the train stayed upright and only four passengers were injured. Continue reading......

Under changes revealed by regulator, banks and card providers encouraged to set their own maximumsThe £100 limit on contactless card payments will be scrapped next year and consumers could get the ability to spend as much as they want without inputting their pin under changes announced by the UK financial regulator.Currently contactless payments by cards are limited, while payments using mobile phones are not, but the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that from 19 March banks and card providers could set their own maximums. Continue reading......

Researchers noticed 'dramatic' changes in nutrients in crops, including drop in zinc and rise in leadMore carbon dioxide in the environment is making food more calorific but less nutritious – and also potentially more toxic, a study has found.Sterre ter Haar, a lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and other researchers at the institution created a method to compare multiple studies on plants' responses to increased CO2 levels. The results, she said, were a shock: although crop yields increase, they become less nutrient-dense. While zinc levels in particular drop, lead levels increase. Continue reading......

Retailer targets £7m in bonuses as FCA examines scandal in North American armWH Smith will try to take back as much as £7m in bonuses from former executives after it said the UK's financial watchdog had launched a formal investigation into a devastating accounting error linked to its US business.Almost £600m was wiped off the books to paperclips retailer's stock market value overnight in August after it identified errors with accounting for supplier income and provision for lost stock going back to 2023 in its North American arm. Continue reading......

Minister says 'any individual' at low risk from hack, while Sun reports Chinese cyber gang responsible for breach The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was hacked in October, the minister Chris Bryant has said.Bryant, a trade minister in Keir Starmer's government, told Sky News there was a low risk to “any individual” from the cyber-attack. Continue reading......

Two-year deal will cover most of Ukraine's needs, but will be secured against EU borrowing rather than Russian assetsEU leaders have pledged a €90bn loan for Ukraine to meet urgent financial needs, but failed to agree on the preferred option for many of securing that loan against Russia's frozen assets in the bloc.After talks ended in the early hours of Friday, the president of the European Council, António Costa, told reporters: “We committed and we delivered.” He said EU leaders had approved a decision to make a €90bn loan to Ukraine for the next two years backed by the EU budget, which Kyiv would repay only once Russia pays reparations. Continue reading......

Analysis suggests consumption at Northumberland site could be 50 times higher than US operator QTS estimatesThe UK's largest proposed datacentre is understating the scale of its planned water use, according to an analysis.The first phase of construction for the hyperscale campus in Cambois in Northumberland has been given the go-ahead by the local council. The US operator QTS, which is developing the site, has promoted its “water-free” cooling system as proof of its sustainability. Continue reading......

Rejoining Erasmus should just be a first step – as the economic evidence piles up, the need for closer ties with Europe could not be clearerMonth by month, Labour is bringing us closer to Europe. This week, the UK announced it is rejoining the Erasmus+ youth exchange programme. This will open the door beyond the many young people who attend university – its remit includes FE students, apprentices, and youth and school groups. A whoop of excitement greeted the announcement, with opportunities for those involved in education, training, culture and sport, and a commitment to maximise take-up by disadvantaged young people. Widening experience, encouraging adventure: Erasmus+ may help cure Britain's monolingual handicap and the catastrophic decline in language courses. Last year in the UK, less than 3% of A-levels were in languages.This all eludes Europhobes such as Andrew Neil, who posted on X that “extra taxes now being inflicted on working people will be used to finance some 'study' in Barcelona fo...

Exclusive: Labour MP made FoI request more than five months ago seeking information on how savings were calculatedReform-run Kent council has been accused of trying to block scrutiny after it refused, for more than five months, to produce evidence that it had saved more than £40m by cancelling two environmental projects that did not exist yet.Polly Billington, a Labour MP in Kent, first requested background to the claim via a freedom of information (FoI) request in July. She said the subsequent delay had not been explained and seemed to show the council was embarrassed at what the documents would show. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsNon-food retailers, such as department stores and clothing shops, bucked the downward trend last monh with a 1% rise in sales volumes.The ONS says:Department stores' sales volumes rose, which some retailers attributed to longer Black Friday discounting, while retailers of footwear and leather goods also did well. Sales of automotive fuel recovered from last month's fall, returning to just above September 2025 levels.“Retail continued to grow in the three months to November, helped by a strong performance from clothing and tech shops.“This year November's Black Friday discounts did not boost sales as much as in some recent years, meaning that once we adjust for usual seasonality, our headline figures fell a little on the month. Continue reading......

Meetings in Gibraltar are the latest twist in worldwide campaign that is enriching the US president's family One Friday in November, armed police blocked off the road that runs beside Gibraltar's medieval city walls to clear the way for a convoy of blacked-out BMWs. The vehicles pulled up at the offices of Hassans, a law firm.The British enclave in the Mediterranean is a hub for the international ultra-rich, and Hassans counts many of them as clients. But few as highly placed as that day's visitor: Donald Trump Jr, the man running the family business while his father is in the White House. Continue reading......

Bid includes 11 new stadiums but PIF wants to cut costsArchitecture firms asked to resubmit plans, Guardian toldSaudi Arabia's construction of stadiums for the 2034 World Cup is facing delays owing to a desire from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, to scale back costs.The Guardian has been told that several architecture firms awarded contracts to build stadiums in Saudi have been asked to resubmit plans because their designs have been deemed too expensive, and contractors due to start work next year have been told the build will not begin on time. Continue reading......