PRESS DIGEST- British Business - Dec 21 (Reuters)

Dec 21 - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

Passengers are facing days of chaos at Gatwick after drones forced the closure of Britain's second-biggest airport. http://bit.ly/2QFBcRb

Prime Minster Theresa May empathised with Jacob Rees-Mogg over his negative press coverage during a "peace" meeting at No. 10 on Tuesday, The Times reported. http://bit.ly/2QI39aR

The Guardian

Almost a third of Britain's electricity came from renewable sources between July and September, as wind turbines and solar panels helped achieve a quarterly record for green energy. http://bit.ly/2QJrhKt

Senior Labour and Conservative MPs are to ramp up efforts to block any possibility of a no-deal Brexit ahead of the vote on Theresa May's deal, with a plan to mandate the prime minister to extend or cancel article 50 if the prospect of crashing out looms. http://bit.ly/2QHDNtO

The Telegraph

Competition authorities from across Europe have united in unprecedented action to block the merger of Siemens AG and Alstom SA, whose trains are widely used across the continent and are under consideration for Britain's controversial High Speed 2 project. http://bit.ly/2QL05Li

Marlboro cigarette maker Altria Group Inc has bought a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs for $12.8 billion as it seeks to gain a foothold in the growing e-cigarette market. http://bit.ly/2QFr2zX

Sky News

The Bank of England has warned of growing risks for the economy, saying Brexit uncertainty has "intensified considerably" as wider global growth takes a turn for the worse. http://bit.ly/2QIneOn

Centrica Plc will lodge an application for a judicial review of Ofgem's decision to alter the period within which wholesale prices were used to set energy price cap. http://bit.ly/2QGDeAu

The Independent

British car manufacturing collapsed by 19.6 percent in November with 129,030 vehicles rolling off production lines, the industry's latest figures show. https://ind.pn/2QJqx89

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)