Wednesday newspaper round-up: Inflation, rail strikes, Centrica, Apple, Guardian

(Sharecast News) - Food prices rose by a record 13.3 per cent in December, increasing fears that inflation may not fall as sharply in 2023 as central bankers and economists hope. The war in Ukraine led to sustained rises in the cost of animal feed, fertiliser and energy that squeezed supplies as demand rose, according to the latest monthly shop prices index published by the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ. It is the highest level recorded since the index began in 2005. - The Times Commuters will suffer the worst single day of strike action during a working week for decades as just one in 10 train services runs on what is being dubbed "Tragic Thursday". Children risk missing their first day back at school since the Christmas holidays as the country's train network grinds to a halt under strike action by drivers' union Aslef. - Telegraph

British Gas owner Centrica has expressed "profound concern" over the financial resilience of some of its competitors in the domestic energy market and has written to Citizens Advice to ask for support in its efforts to protect consumers. Centrica's group general counsel, Raj Roy, has written to the charity's chief, Dame Clare Moriarty, to voice concerns over the regulator Ofgem's recent consultation on the financial health of energy suppliers. - Guardian

Apple is worth $1 trillion less than a year ago after the technology group's market value fell to just shy of $2 trillion following a sustained technology rout that has dented shares in the world's largest publicly quoted company. Apple, which started 2022 as the first business to clinch a stock market valuation of more than $3 trillion, began this year as the last to drop out of the $2 trillion club. - The Times

Guardian staff will be forced to work from home for at least another three weeks as the newspaper struggles to recover from a cyber attack. Journalists have been told they will not be able to return to the company's offices in King's Cross until at least Monday, Jan 23 - more than a month after the company's systems were crippled by hackers. - Telegraph

Members of the House of Lords are preparing to slow down attempts to axe thousands of pieces of European Union legislation, with some warning there is no chance of the bill passing by the end of the year as promised. Ministers have promised to review about 4,000 pieces of EU law that derive from Britain's membership of the bloc, and have set a deadline of the end of the year to decide which ones to keep. - Guardian