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British Airways has commented on its plans for flights following the Iranian attack on US airbases in Iraq.

A spokesperson said: "We are in constant contact with our partners around the world to assess the security of our routes, and will always take action where appropriate.

"We would never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so."

Emirates and flydubai have cancelled flights to Baghdad and the US aviation regulator has banned American airlines from flying over Iraq, Iran and neighbouring countries.

Image source, Avanti West Coast

In December, Avanti West Coast took over from Virgin Trains as the operator running the West Coast Main Line.

It has now announced a £642m deal to refurbish the 56 Pendolino trains that run on the line.

A seven-year deal has been agreed between Avanti West Coast and Alstom, which built the fleet.

The firm said that it would create 100 jobs, primarily based in Widnes.

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An advert for People Per Hour has been banned for perpetuating harmful gender stereotypes.

The platform for freelance workers ran a poster on the London Underground, which read: "You do the girl boss thing. We'll do the SEO thing".

The Advertising Standards Authority received 19 complaints about women running businesses being depicted in a "patronising" way.

It decided that the advert reinforced stereotypes that gender is relevant to a job, and that women weren't skilled at using tech.

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Sirius Minerals' share price jumped by 34.56% to 5.5p after it emerged it is in talks with Anglo American about a possible takeover.

Conversely, Anglo American's share price dropped by 2% to £21.16.

The FTSE 100 has opened 0.39% lower at 7,544.29.

The FTSE 250 is down 0.47% at 21,730.32.

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High Street food chain Greggs has reported a rise in sales, as well as a a bonus for its staff.

It said that its workers will share in a £7m one-off payment to be made at the end of January as a special "thank you".

Like-for-like sales - which strip out the impact of store openings and closures - in outlets managed by the company rose by 9.2%.

Total sales in the year to 28 December grew by 13.5%.

The bakery's chief executive Roger Whiteside called it an "exceptional year", and said that growth had been driven by extra visits and demand for its vegan-friendly sausage roll.

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Sainsbury's chief executive, Mike Coupe, has blamed the wider market for the fall in general merchandise over third quarter, which included Christmas trading.

Overall Mr Coupe said he was "very pleased" with Sainsbury's Christmas performance.

Commenting on general merchandise, which includes the Argos brand, Mr Coupe said: "Our store-in-store performance was good, our digital performance was excellent...but the challenge was in a couple of categories, particularly gaming and toys.

"These are the categories that we generally over-trade in and if you take the toy market as an example, it is actually down 20% over the last 2 years, very significant declines.

He added that this year "there wasn't a big gaming release".

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Dubai airlines Emirates and flydubai have cancelled flights to Baghdad on Wednesday following the missile attacks launched by Iran on US bases in Iraq.

Earlier the US aviation regulator banned American airlines from flying over Iraq, Iran and neighbouring countries.

The ban includes the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the decision was in response to heightened military activity, and increased political tension in the region.

Before the latest guidance, the FAA had already prohibited US airlines from flying below 26,000 feet over Iraq and from flying over an area of Iranian airspace above the Gulf of Oman since Iran shot down an American drone in June 2019.

At the same time Singapore Airlines has said that all of its flights would now be diverted from Iranian airspace.

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Anglo American, the mining giant, has confirmed that it is in advanced takeover talks with Sirius Minerals which is mining for potash in North Yorkshire.

Anglo American said a possible offer of 5.5p per Sirius share would value the company at £386m.

The future of the mine has been in doubt after Sirius Minerals was forced to pull plans to raise $500m which would have unlocked further funding for the project.

It is set to be the world's largest mine for polyhalite, a naturally occurring fertiliser which is used in agriculture.

The mine is due to open in 2021 and create more than 1,000 jobs.

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Sainsbury's said like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell by 0.7% in the third quarter.

The supermarket group said like-for-like trade in groceries rose by 0.4% in the 15 weeks to 4 January, while clothing sales rose by 4.4%.

However it recorded a sharp fall in general merchandise.

Sainsbury's, which owns Argos, said like-for-like sales for general merchandise dropped by 3.9%

Chief executive Mike Coupe said: "Argos outperformed the market in consumer electronics, but the toy and gaming markets declined year on year."

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said there are no survivors on the Ukraine International Airlines flight out of Iran

"My sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of all passengers and crew," Mr Zelenskiy said.

Commenting on the site, Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran's emergency services, told Iranian state television "The fire is so heavy that we cannot (do) any rescue... we have 22 ambulances, four bus ambulances and a helicopter at the site."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Investors remain trapped in the Woodford equity income fund, which is being wound up by administrators after being suspended in June last year.

But the annual report for Neil Woodford’s fund management operation shows that he and his business partner took £14m in dividends from the company in the 12 months to last March.

Chris Cummings, head of the Investment Association, said it was “highly unusual” to see any fund suspended at all.

He also told the Today programme that in other cases, fund managers have reduced charges they might take on a fund when it is suspended.

He added that the “main priority” should be the interest of investors.

Some details about the Boeing plane that crashed in Tehran are emerging.

Flight Radar 24, which tracks air traffic in real time, says the model is a 737-800 - not a MAX which have been grounded globally following two crashes - and was delivered new to Ukraine International Airlines in 2016.

It appears from tracking data that the plane crashed shortly after take off.

The air disaster - Boeing's third since October 2018 - comes as the company's new chief executive David Calhoun formally takes over on 13 January. The former chairman of Boeing is replacing Dennis Muilenburg who was ousted in December.

Mr Calhoun has been a director of Boeing since 2009 and was named as chairman last October.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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Oil prices have risen after two bases hosting US troops in Iraq were hit by ballistic missiles.

But Maike Currie, investment director at Fidelity International, tells the Today programme that she expects moves in the markets will remain “contained”, as investors wait to see if the US retaliates.

She described the Middle East as a “constant source of risk”, but added that markets were taking other long-term issues into account, like the US election and Brexit.

BBC Radio 5 Live

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Travelex, the currency exchange group, is in the midst of a cyber attack which has left some customers with no travel money.

The criminals behind the hack told the BBC they are demanding $6m (£4.6m) or company computer systems will be deleted and customer data sold online.

Dr Sandra Scott-Hayward, cyber security expert at Queens University Belfast, says that the attack appears to be "quite sophisticated".

She tells Wake Up To Money that it appears that the attackers have been able to access Travelex's network because of a "software vulnerability in one of their servers".

"This particular attack looks quite sophisticated in the way that it hides itself," says Dr Scott-Hayward.

"The attack will always try to hide where it is on the network and we generally don't find out until much later after an actual attack that data may have been stolen - it takes so long to be discovered on the system."

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Lawyers for ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn have attacked the company, accusing it of conducting a biased investigation of his leadership.

They said the inquiry, which led to his arrest in Japan, was launched with "the specific, predetermined purpose of taking down Carlos Ghosn".

"That investigation was never about finding the truth," they said.

The comments came ahead of a press conference that Mr Ghosn is scheduled to hold in Lebanon later today.

Oil prices have risen following Iran's attacks on US troops in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

But why?

There are fears the escalation of the conflict between the US and Iran could disrupt shipping in the world's busiest sea route for oil, the Strait of Hormuz.

Around a fifth of global oil supply passes through the strait which connects the Gulf with the Arabian Sea.

The Strait of Hormuz is vital for the main oil exporters in the Gulf region - Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, and Kuwait - whose economies are built around oil and gas production. Iran also relies heavily on this route for its oil exports.

Qatar, the world's biggest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), exports nearly all its gas through the strait.

Image source, Getty Images

Asian stock prices were sent lower after two bases hosting US troops in Iraq were hit by ballistic missiles.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index fell by 1.3%, and Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 0.8%, and China's Shanghai Composite was 0.9% lower.

At the same time oil prices have risen over the growing conflict in the Middle East. Brent crude was up by 1.4% at $69.21 per barrelin the middle of the Asian trade, easing back from earlier gains.

So-called safe haven assets, like gold and the Japanese yen, also rose on the news.

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Iranian state media is reporting that 167 passengers and nine crew members were on board the Boeing 737 Ukraine International Airlines flight from Tehran to Kiev.

A spokesperson for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement told the IRNA news agency "obviously it is impossible that passengers" on flight PS-752 are alive.