Tuesday newspaper round-up: Rail strikes, gas shortages, easyJet

(Sharecast News) - Shoppers tearing their hair out in the search for Christmas presents online amid strike-hit parcel deliveries have been urged to try a low-tech solution: their local high street. With a quarter of annual toy sales rung up in December, the boss of The Entertainer toy chain told the Guardian it had been forced to extend its delivery window to up to seven days and drop its next-day offer due to the holdups. - Guardian

Thousands of rail workers have rebelled against union leaders by voting in favour of a pay deal. Some 36.4pc of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) members backed an offer of a 9pc pay rise in a show of defiance against leader Mick Lynch. Mr Lynch, however, insisted that there was a "huge rejection" of the offer among RMT members, with 63.6pc of those voting against the pay deal. The rebellion was not enough to call off strikes over Christmas and the New Year. - Telegraph

Rolls Royce has long been at the vanguard of Britain's nuclear industry, with more than half of the UK's £385m fund to support advanced projects in the field allocated to Rolls's mini-nukes programme. But the company's dominance is now being challenged by a new breed of scrappy start-ups who believe their technology could make Britain a world leader in nuclear power. - Telegraph

Europe must take urgent action to prevent a gas shortage next year in the absence of supplies from Russia, the European Commission and the International Energy Agency have warned. Gas demand must be reduced by improving energy efficiency and by installing more renewable power generation and electric heat pumps, they said, while gas supplies must be bolstered by jointly procuring more gas from elsewhere. - The Times

EasyJet's chief executive was handed a pay package worth almost £3 million this year even after the airline made a substantial loss and was forced to cancel thousands of flights because of a lack of staff. Johan Lundgren has been given an annual bonus of £1.2 million on top of his fixed pay of £833,000, as well as shares worth £925,000. Kenton Jarvis, the chief financial officer, received a total of £2.1 million - his salary and other benefits are worth £860,000, plus £1.26 million in variable compensation. - The Times