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5 Things You Need To Know, Today, on Friday 6th January 2023
5. Afghanistan's Taliban government is to sign a contract with a Chinese firm to drill for oil in the country's north.
It would be first major energy extraction agreement with a foreign firm since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.
4. Samsung expects its profits for the last three months of 2022 to fall by 69% to the lowest level in eight years.
The world's biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones and TVs forecast its operating profit for the period fell to around 4.3tn won ($3.4bn; £2.8bn).
3. A new partnership between the satellite phone firm Iridium and chip giant Qualcomm will bring satellite connectivity to premium Android smartphones later in the year.
It means that in places where there is no mobile coverage, handsets can connect with passing satellites to send and receive messages.
2. Britain's services sector ended 2022 in lacklustre fashion, with new orders falling and hiring frozen during December, according to a survey on Thursday that highlighted the likelihood that Britain is already in recession.
The UK Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for December was revised down to 49.9 from an earlier flash reading of 50.0, indicating a very mild contraction in business activity.
1. Big brands including Next, B&M and Greggs have reported a sales boost over Christmas despite rising prices, rail strikes and severe weather.
High Street giant Next said that sales rose by 4.8% in the nine weeks to 30 December after a "dramatic boost" from the cold snap last month.