The unemployment rate in the United States in October fell to 5%, official figures show. That compares with 5.1% a month earlier.

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Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has won regulatory approval to pay €1.7bn (£1.25bn) of government bailout funds, beginning the process of repaying the €21bn, external it received during the financial crisis.

Ireland pumped a total of €64bn into its banks during the crisis, which, at almost 40% of annual economic output, was the most expensive rescue in the eurozone.

State-owned AIB's rescue was the biggest bailout given to any Irish bank still trading.

AIB has been in discussions with European regulators about reorganising its capital structure, including how much it can repay the government from the €3.5bn of preference shares it owns in the bank.

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The convicted former finance chief of Enron, the failed US energy giant, has sounded a warning about corporate fraud, saying companies now have even more scope to bend the rules than when he was at the firm.

Andrew Fastow said the tools that companies used to manipulate their financial reports were even "more potent" today.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of securities fraud in 2004 and was sentenced to six years in jail for his role in Enron's collapse. Its bankruptcy in 2001 was the largest in US history.

German cabin crew union UFO called on Lufthansa cabin staff in Frankfurt to stage a second day of strikes on Saturday, the union said. The strike is to last for 17 hours from 0500 GMT and will affect Lufthansa's A320 and Boeing 737 fleets, it added.

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A 62-year-old Scottish trader has been charged in San Francisco with defrauding the US stock market. James Craig, from Dunragit near Stranraer, is accused of tweeting false news designed to make share prices fall, so he could buy and resell shares for profit. Fraudulent tweets were allegedly made about two firms by Mr Craig in 2013. Prosecutors claim shareholders lost more than £1m as a result of his alleged tweets. Read more on the BBC website.

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Alibaba is to buy China's equivalent of YouTube in a deal that could be worth more than $4bn. Youku Tudou said, external it agreed to be bought by e-commerce giant Alibaba for $27.6 a share - that's 35% over Tudou's closing price on 15 Oct, which was when the deal was agreed . "We believe this combination with Alibaba maximizes value for Youku Tudou shareholders and significantly benefits our customers, users and team," said Victor Koo, chairman of Youku Tudou. "We are eager to work with Alibaba to grow our multi-screen entertainment and media ecosystem", he added.

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Shipping and oil giant Maersk saw its profits halve and cut its profit forecast for global sea trade, because it saw demand for shipping containers at its lowest since the 2008 crisis, as well as because of lower oil prices, the firm said in its latest quarterly earnings release, external. The Danish company, which operates the largest container shipping business in the world, warned of the overall slowdown in the industry. It reported a pre-tax profit of $1.07bn for the quarter, down from $2.68bn during the same period last year.

The FTSE has dipped 0.1% ahead of the release of US non-farm unemployment figures out in a few hours. It is currently down 6.78 points to 6358.1. International Consolidated Airlines group is up 2.6% after it announced a new chief executive for its budget arm, Vueling. Satellite and communications business Inmarsat is also one of the biggest winners, up 2.6% after the company reported results which beat expectations.

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India's Tata Motors reported a $65.4m net loss in the three months ending September compared with last year, hit by a one-time charge, after some of its Jaguar Land Rover vehicles were destroyed in a chemical warehouse blast in China's Tianjin in August. It also reported, external slowing sales in China. However, Tata said stronger performance in Europe and North America helped to offset weaker sales in China, with Jaguar Land Rover reporting record sales in October of 41,553 vehicles, up 24% from October last year.

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European plane manufacturer Airbus says it won 910 plane orders in the first 10 months of the year, boosted by China Aviation Supplies Holding Company's decision to firm up an order for 30 A330-300s in October.

Excluding cancellations, net orders stood at 850 aircraft in the period from January to October, Airbus says. 

The company delivered 49 aircraft last month, including 37 A320-family jets, six A330s, four A350 XWBs and two A380 superjumbos.

Total deliveries so far this year stand at 495 jetliners for 81 customers, Airbus says.  

Lufthansa has confirmed the cancellation of 290 flights later today on the first day of a planned week of strikes by cabin crew in a long-running dispute over cost-saving plans at the airline.

Around 37,500 passengers are expected to be affected by the nine-hour strike scheduled to begin at 13:00 (GMT) and affecting the Frankfurt and Duesseldorf airports, Lufthansa says in a statement. 

So it turns out that Asda got its Christmas ad out on Sunday. Oh and Sainsbury's Christmas ad will air sometime after Rememberance Sunday we're told.

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The UK’s trade deficit in goods and services  - that's the gap between what we import and export, and before you ask we're a net importer - was estimated to have been £1.4bn in September, official figures show, external, narrowing by £1.6bn from August. The narrowing is attributed to an increase in the UK's trade in goods - yes we exported more things. That reduced the deficit from £10.8bn in August to £9.4bn in September. The figures jar with the British Chambers of Commerce. The BCC said earlier this week that UK exports were at their lowest level for six years.

And here's another John Lewis meme.

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Proving that you can take any figure you like and spin it: If you wanted to feel better about the UK's manufacturing sector, then you could look at the month-on-month numbers published by the Office for National Statistics , externalinstead. Those show manufacturing output increased between August and September by 0.8% - that's the biggest monthly increase since April 2014. On a month-on-month basis, the manufacturing sector grew 0.4% in August and  contracted 0.7% in July.

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The manufacturing industry slipped further into recession in September, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show., external Manufacturing output slumped 0.6% in the month compared with a year earlier. It is the third month of contraction in UK manufacturing. Overall however, industrial production rose 1.1% in September compared with the same month a year earlier. 

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German airline Lufthansa has said it will probably have to cancel most of its short-haulflights, external on Friday afternoon and evening, after cabin crew union UFO announced a walkout on flights from Frankfurt and Duesseldorf starting from 13:00 GMT. Flight attendants are being called to strike at Frankfurt, Lufthansa's biggest hub, and Duesseldorf until 22:00 GMT.

Lufthansa says it hopes to operate at least eight long-haul flights from Frankfurt on Friday, but that it expects sweeping short-haul cancellations. Full details of the flights affected will be published around 10:00 GMT.

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China's securities regulator said that it will resume initial public offerings, after freezing them since early July, reports Reuters news agency. July's suspension was to reduce volatility in China's stock markets. The China Securities Regulatory Commission made the announcement at a weekly news conference in Beijing, it added.