Business News

LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- British Airways' flight attendants voted to strike for 12 days in December, potentially sabotaging travel plans for almost 1 million passengers, the union said.

LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Consumer prices in Britain jumped 1.9 percent in November, largely due to rising fuel costs, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.

The skittish waltz between Wall Street and Washington turned to softer rhetoric and promises of more lending Monday after a one-hour White House meeting.

HOUSTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. Monday said it reached a deal to buy U.S. energy company XTO Energy Inc. for $41 billion.

U.S. markets close higher Monday ... Exxon to buy XTO Energy for $41B ... Toyota gears up for plug-in Prius ... Wells Fargo, Citigroup in TARP payback ... News from United Press International.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Wells Fargo & Co. said Monday it will repay $25 billion it borrowed from the U.S. Treasury under last year's bank bailout program.

NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices held under $70 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday on basic supply and demand fundamentals.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the corn harvest in the 18 largest corn-producing states was 92 percent completed as of Dec. 3.

CHICAGO, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Grain futures closed mostly higher on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday as the dollar index, a measurement against major currencies, dropped 0.31 percent.

MOSCOW, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Russia and the United States seemed to be edging towards the signing of a new nuclear weapons treaty later this month, officials in Moscow said.

NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. markets climbed modestly Monday after Abu Dhabi said it would rescue Dubai with a $10 billion cash infusion to meet a bond obligation.

TOKYO, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. said it would be ready for a large scale release of a plug-in Prius vehicle by 2011.

OTTAWA, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The national net worth of Canada dropped for the third consecutive quarter July through September, Statistics Canada said Monday.

OTTAWA, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- RBC Economics said the Canadian economy would grow in 2010 and 2011 after a 2.9 percent drop in 2009.

DETROIT, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. auto giant General Motors Co. said Monday its chief financial officer, Ray Young, will be reassigned when a new chief financial officer is found.