Russia shows first sign of recession as GDP contracts

The Russian economy contracted by 0.5% in November, the first fall in national output - Gross Domestic Product - since October 2009, official figures show.

The Russian government expects a 0.8% decline in GDP next year, compared with 0.6% GDP growth in 2014 as a whole.

The rouble fell to a rate of 57 to the dollar on Monday, a fall of more than 6%, after some gains last week.

Russia's economy, heavily reliant on energy exports, has been hit by the oil price slump and Western sanctions.

The sanctions, imposed because of Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, target the oil and gas industries as well as banks, arms manufacturers and the wealthy elite close to President Vladimir Putin.

Russia blocked most imported Western food in retaliation for the measures.

The rouble has lost half its value against the dollar this year.

The Russian ministry for economic development said the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and service sectors all contracted in November. Energy, mining and the retail trade showed continued growth.

Insurance for banks

President Putin signed a law on Monday doubling the deposit guarantee for bank accounts, to 1.4m roubles (£16,290; $25,370).

The last time Russia suffered a major economic crisis, in 1998, many ordinary Russians saw their bank savings wiped out.

Mr Putin has also given the Russian central bank the power to recapitalise the country's biggest retail bank, Sberbank, directly with soft loans. The total must not exceed Sberbank's capital as measured on 1 January 2015.

The "subordinated debt" issued by the central bank, if Sberbank needs it, will not have to be repaid until other loans have been paid off. It is a cushion in case Sberbank gets into financial difficulty.

Other banks can be recapitalised by the central bank through Russia's deposit guarantee agency, using federal government bonds.

First Automatic Bug Update To Macs Sent By Apple

Apple has sent out its first automatic security update for Mac computers as researchers warn about new bugs.

Experts claim the bugs could mean hackers are able to gain remote control of machines.

Previously, Apple has released its security patches through its regular software update system which requires user approval.

The technology company has pushed out the software to fix critical security vulnerabilities in a component of its OS X operating system called the network time protocol (NTP).

NTP is used for synchronising clocks on computer systems.

An Apple MacBook Pro shows an image of former boss Steve Jobs

"The update is seamless," said Apple spokesman Bill Evans. "It doesn't even require a restart."

The bugs were mentioned in security bulletins on Friday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute.

Carnegie Mellon identified dozens of technology companies, including Apple, whose products might be vulnerable.

Mr Evans said Apple decided to deliver the NTP bug fixes because it wanted to protect customers as quickly as possible due to the severity of the vulnerabilities.

The company does not know of any cases where vulnerable Mac computers were targeted by hackers looking to exploit the bugs, he added.

Apple developed technology for automatically pushing out security updates two years ago but has never previously used it.

North Korea struggles to stay online

North Korea appears to have suffered a second internet blackout, according to internet performance measuring firm Dyn Research.

On its Twitter feed, the firm reported a second outage this afternoon - which was restored less than an hour later.

"Internet of North Korea down again at 15.41 UTC. Second blackout since last night's restoration of service," the tweet read.

The first outage saw large parts of the internet unavailable in North Korea.

Officials have not yet commented on the issue.

Speculation is rife about the source of the blackouts, following a cyber security row with the US.

China has denounced reports suggesting it was responsible. US officials have not commented on any possible American involvement.

The US had said it would launch a proportional response to the hacking of Sony Pictures, after an FBI investigation appeared to show that North Korea was behind the hack attack which led to films and private emails being leaked online.

The Interview, which depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was cancelled by Sony following threats from hackers.

French jobless total at new record high

The number of people seeking work in France has risen to a record high, official figures show.

The jobless total rose by 27,400 in November to 3,488,300 - the highest level yet seen.

That means the number looking for a job has risen by 5.8% in the past year.

The claimant count rose in November for the third month in a row, and official government estimates suggest the economy will have grown by just 0.4% this past year.

The jobless figures count the number of people claiming benefits and looking for work with the National Agency for Unemployment.

The alternative international measure of unemployment, devised by the International Labour Organisation and based on a regular survey, says that unemployment in France rose to 2.84 million in the third quarter of the year, giving an unemployment rate of 9.9%.

President Francois Hollande, elected in 2012, made the creation of more jobs a key feature of his election campaign.

He recently stated that if he failed in this aim, he would not stand again in the 2017 presidential elections.

The latest attempt to rouse the economy from stagnation and to create more jobs was announced earlier in December.

The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, and the Economy Minister, Emmanuel Macron, outlined plans that included increasing the number of businesses operating on Sundays, and opening up regulated sectors, such as certain professions, to competition.

It is not obvious this strategy would succeed in reviving the economy, even if implemented fully.

The deregulation plan produced immediate protests by thousands of people in Paris and faces opposition from within the ruling Socialist Party.

Tripadvisor fined by Italian competition regulator

Italy's competition watchdog has fined travel website Tripadvisor €500,000 (£392,000) for publishing misleading information in its reviews.

The regulator began a seven-month investigation following a complaint from a consumer group and hotel owners.

Tripadvisor was accused of presenting its reviews as "authentic and genuine" despite not taking measures to avoid contributors publishing false opinions.

The US company said it disagreed with the decision and would appeal.

Tripadvisor publishes reviews of hotels and restaurants, and other travel information. But there has been criticism that the reviews cannot always be trusted.

The Rome-based regulator said Tripadvisor and its Italian arm should stop "publishing misleading information about the sources of its reviews", adding that the practice started in September 2011.

But the company said in a statement: "Our systems and procedures are extremely efficient in protecting consumers from a small minority of people who try to con our system.

"We firmly believe that Tripadvisor is a force for good, both for consumers and the hospitality industry."

Air China buys 60 Boeing aircraft for $6bn

China's national airline, Air China, is to buy 60 Boeing 737 aircraft in a deal worth more than $6bn (£3.8bn) at list prices.

The aircraft will be delivered between 2016 and 2020, according to a regulatory filing by the airline.

The deal includes Boeing's "next generation" 737 and 737 MAX aircraft, known for their fuel efficiency.

In September, the world's biggest aircraft maker delivered the first of its seven 747-8 aircraft to Air China.

"We are excited to see that the 737 family will play a significant role in Air China's continued success," said Ihssane Mounir, Boeing's Northeast Asia vice president of sales and marketing in a statement.

In October, rival Airbus announced plans to open a second manufacturing plant in China in an attempt to boost sales of its A330 jetliner in the world's fastest growing aviation market.

Boeing, meanwhile, said in September that China would need more than 6,000 aircraft in the next 20 years as the leisure travel market booms in the world's second largest economy.

Sony threatens to take legal action against Twitter over leaked emails

Sony Pictures Entertainment is threatening to sue Twitter if the company doesn't suspend accounts containing links to hacked emails.

The film company's lawyer David Boies has sent a letter to the social network demanding that accounts sharing information be shut down.

US website Motherboard has posted a letter sent from Boies to Twitter.

In it one user is singled out, Val Broeksmit, who tweets screenshots of Sony emails as @BikiniRobotArmy.

In the letter to Twitter, Sony's lawyer says Twitter should "comply with all future requests with regard to any other account holder seeking to disseminate the Stolen Information via Twitter".

The letter also asks the network to send a copy to @BikiniRobotArmy user Val Broeksmit, advising him to stop publishing stolen information.

It continues: "If Twitter does not comply with this request, and the Stolen Information continues to be disseminated by Twitter in any manner, SPE will have no choice but to hold Twitter responsible for any damage or loss arising from such use or dissemination by Twitter."