UK Business News

Balfour Beatty celebrates new work

Infrastructure group to manage UK sites for defence technology company and build schools in southeast London and Scotland

Payment hitch hits thousands of Abbey customers

The Spanish bank failed to process payments overnight

• Santander Zero free current account ‘sting’

• Abbey customer loses £10,000 in dispute over fraud

Home loans double as personal borrowing falls

Mortgage lending doubled in November from a year ago but personal loan demand halved as households pay back debt

All aboard for London's new Routemaster

The new bus, which will be 40 per cent more fuel-efficient than conventional diesel buses, will be introduced in 2011

World Business News

Greece sidesteps public sector reform

Government decides best course of action for economy is to chase tax evaders and crack down on corruption

Rio Tinto sells Alcan packaging for $2bn

Sale of unit is part of disposal programme initiated since $38 billion purchase of Canadian aluminium producer

• Two directors depart from Rio Tinto boardroom

• BHP and Rio Tinto to agree $100bn joint venture

Nestle closure in Zimbabwe 'an over-reaction’

International food group is criticised for suspending operations in a dispute over President Mugabe's family's farms

Microsoft fined $290m for patent infringement

US court ruling also prevents Microsoft from selling any versions of Word 2003 or Word 2007 after January 11, 2010

Analysis  

A deal more roadworthy than it seems

Geely takeover of Volvo opens way for Chinese giant to acquire latest technology and open up Mainland market

• First home is more distant than ever

• Bleak tidings in book trade after Borders

No evidence Britons can save the day

The British public seems to have lost the savings habit, and will do until the right products are introduced

Tempus: Gold will still gleam next year

The yellow metal capped a decade-long rally at $1,216 this month, but strategists predict prices of $1,500 within 18 months

Law  

Camra calls on consumers in pub fight

Campaign for Real Ale vows to launch legal challenge to OFT ruling that big pub companies are not behaving anti-competitively

Dickensian ‘logbook loans’ to be banned

Kevin Brennan, the Consumer Minister, says lenders are able to seize cars from vulnerable borrowers without court orders

• How to find the cheapest loan

• Time to crush loan-shark revival

Kuwait Airways edges closer to restitution

New development in 19-year battle by airline over the loss of half its fleet after invasion by Saddam Hussein in 1990

Money  

OFT drops case against banks' overdraft fees

Watchdog will not pursue legal action but admits it is still concerned about high charges

• Dickensian ‘logbook loans’ to be banned

• Bank customers in line for £6bn refund

Pension projections are ‘too optimistic’

Savers in closed with-profit pension funds are being given optimistic assumptions as to what they will receive in retirement

• Retirement planning just got trickier

• Third company snubs government pension work

Where next for the soaring price of gold?

Half the fund managers recently surveyed said the precious metal was overvalued and would fall next year

business travel  

Eurostar services 'to operate normally' this weekend despite strike

Journeys on Friday and Saturday should not be disrupted despite union action over expenses

Hilton hikes Hhonors points for free nights

Hotel group goes against the recent trend of more generous guest loyalty programmes

Profile: Leisure boss John Morphet

The man who runs the estate where Freddie Flintoff and Wayne Rooney have homes shares his views on business travel