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5 Things You Need To Know, Today, on Friday 28th January 2022
5. China Unicom has become the latest Chinese telecoms giant to be banned from the US over "significant" national security and espionage concerns.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it had voted unanimously to revoke authorisation for the company's American unit to operate in the US and the firm must stop providing telecoms services in America within 60 days.
4. The US economy expanded at its fastest rate in decades last year as it roared back from pandemic lockdowns.
Official figures from the Commerce Department showed the economy grew by 5.7% - its best performance since 1984.
3. Apple sales soared in the key Christmas shopping season, despite constraints due to a global shortage of microchips.
Sales at the iPhone giant rose 11% to a record $123.9bn (£92.6bn) in the October to December period, beating forecasts and pushing shares up by more than 4%.
2. Britain hopes to secure significant progress in post-Brexit trade talks with the European Union by February and win the support of pro-British unionists in Northern Ireland opposed to the current arrangements, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said there was a key window between now and the end of February to get a deal.
1. The number of shuttered shops in Britain edged lower for the first time in four years in the final quarter of 2021, providing a glimmer of hope for the country's beleaguered shopping destinations.
A joint report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Local Data Company (LDC) said Britain's shop vacancy rate was 14.4% in the fourth quarter of 2021, 0.1 percentage points below the third quarter level.