Here are the top business stories making the headlines in the morning newspapers.


Stranded workers get home

Offshore workers who feared they would have to spend Christmas in the North Sea after weather conditions cancelled helicopter flights are now expected to get home.

The BBC says about 300 staff, many of whom are Scottish, had been unable to leave the Danish sector as scheduled.

TotalEnergies said a phenomenon called "triggered lightning" was responsible for the disruption.

The firm added that the number of stranded personnel in the North Sea had been "substantially reduced" in the past days, and it expected to bring them all back onshore by last night.

"This has been possible thanks to both weather improvements, the extra efforts to hire more helicopters and to commit three ships to get everyone transported safely onshore."

Whisky in demand

More than £50million of whisky has been sold through a Perth-based online auction house this year.

Whisky Auctioneer recorded 2.2million bids this year across 115,000 lots which were shipped to buyers in 67 countries around the world.

The BBC says the Scottish company, owned by entrepreneur Iain McClune, employs 74 people, having added 21 new staff this year across the UK and Germany.

Mr McClune, said: "2022 was another year of progress at Whisky Auctioneer, with the opening of our London office, record-breaking results and the development of new and continued partnerships across the whisky industry.

"2023 will be our 10th anniversary which we are excited to celebrate, and I can't wait to see how the next decade unfolds."

Disruption expected at airports

Hundreds of thousands of travellers arriving in the UK have been told to expect disruption as passport control workers begin strikes.

Border Force staff are the latest UK workers to take action as rises in the cost of living outpace pay.

The BBC says the military as well as civil servants have been drafted in at six major airports and one port.

About 1,000 Border Force workers, many of whom check people's passports as they arrive in the UK, will strike from December 23 to 26 and December 28 to 31.

They will walk out at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow airports, and the Port of Newhaven.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union are in a long-running dispute with the government over pay, jobs, pensions and conditions.

North Sea strikes

There will be fresh North Sea strikes impacting more than a dozen assets operated by Repsol Sinopec and BP.

Energy Voice says more than 200 workers employed by energy services group Petrofac are to take further action in an ongoing and bitter dispute over pay and conditions.

From today, around 170 crew members on Repsol Sinopec installations are downing tools for 48-hours, trade union Unite has confirmed.

Home detention for ex-boss of FTX

Former FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried will face home detention while awaiting trial in the US on charges that he defrauded customers and investors of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.

A US judge said the 30-year-old former billionaire could be released to his parents on a $250million (£207million) bond.

At the hearing, Mr Bankman-Fried did not admit or deny guilt.

He has previously distanced himself from the charges, which have shaken the entire crypto industry.

"I didn't knowingly commit fraud. I don't think I committed fraud. I didn't want any of this to happen. I was certainly not nearly as competent as I thought I was," he told the BBC, shortly before his arrest in the Bahamas, where he lived, and FTX was based.

Two of Mr Bankman-Fried's closest colleagues pleaded guilty to fraud on Wednesday and are helping with the investigation.

Federal prosecutors in New York have accused Mr Bankman-Fried of unlawfully using customer deposits made at FTX to fund his other crypto firm, Alameda Research, buy property and make millions of dollars in political donations.

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