Facebook bug sees Zuckerberg pictures posted online

Pictures showed Mr Zuckerberg and his girlfriend cooking 

A series of private pictures of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have been posted online by "hackers" to highlight a bug in the social network.

In total 14 pictures of Mr Zuckerberg were posted to image site Imgur under the headline: "It's time to fix those security flaws Facebook".
The bug related to tools designed to allow users to report inappropriate images.
Facebook said that it had fixed the glitch.
Privacy

Mr Zuckerberg and... a chicken

"Earlier today, we discovered a bug in one of our reporting flows that allows people to report multiple instances of inappropriate content simultaneously," the firm said in a statement.
"The bug allowed anyone to view a limited number of another user's most recently uploaded photos irrespective of the privacy settings for these photos.
"This was the result of one of our recent code pushes and was live for a limited period of time. Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm the bug has been fixed," the statement read.
The BBC asked Facebook's permission before publishing the photographs of Mr Zuckerberg. The firm said that as the pictures were now in the public domain it would not be pursuing copyright infringement claims.
Loophole The bug was discovered by members of a bodybuilding forum who went on to post step-by-step instructions on how to view private photos.
When users reported a public profile picture of someone as inappropriate, they were invited by Facebook to view more of the person's pictures to look for similar content. The thumbnails shown to them were easy to enlarge and download.
The "hackers" used the loophole to break into Mr Zuckerberg's pages, as the most high profile member of Facebook's 850 million users.
The images of Mr Zuckerberg included shots of him preparing food with his girlfriend, holding a chicken by the leg and meeting US President Barack Obama.
The embarrassing incident comes a week after the Federal Trade Commission slammed changes made to Facebook's privacy settings two years ago. It accused the social network of deceptive practices and demanded it subject itself to regular audits over the next 20 years.

Industrial output in Italy and Germany diverge

  Italian factories are having a tough time 

Industrial production in Italy and Germany diverged more than expected in October, figures show.

While factory output in Italy fell 0.9% versus a month earlier, in Germany it rose 0.8%. Analysts had expected more moderate change in both cases.
The German figure marked a moderate rebound from a 3.8% cumulative fall over the previous two months.
But the German economy ministry said that the outlook remained muted for the coming months.
The turnaround was driven by demand for durable consumer goods and capital goods for industry, both of which can be volatile and react strongly to changes in the economy.
The production figures follow data on Tuesday that showed industrial orders in Germany rose 5.2% in October.
Separate figures in the UK showed industrial output fell 0.7% in October, the fastest fall for six months.
Eurozone crisis The latest output data adds to a widening gap between Germany and Italy over the past year.
German industrial output in October was up 4.1% versus a year ago, whereas in Italy it was down 4.2%.
The Italian economy is widely expected to shrink in the fourth quarter of the year due to the uncertainties and borrowing problems created by the eurozone debt crisis.
"[The October data] is weaker that we expected," said Chiara Corsa, economist at Unicredit, Italy's biggest bank.
"[It] confirms our idea that output and gross domestic product will both fall in [the fourth quarter], even if there is a rebound in output in November as we expect after two steep monthly declines."

Eurozone: France and Germany urge common taxes

 

The Franco-German alliance is going at full throttle ahead of the summit 

The leaders of France and Germany have called jointly for eurozone countries to have common corporation and financial transaction taxes.

The tax policy would apply initially to the 17-member eurozone. France has long complained about Ireland's low corporation tax rate of 12.5%.
The proposal came in a letter to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, on the eve of a key EU summit.
Both countries want changes to the EU treaties to enforce budget discipline.
The push for EU tax harmonisation is highly controversial. The UK especially has for years resisted moves towards tax harmonisation in the 27-nation bloc.
Safeguards "We must strengthen growth through competitiveness and convergence of the economic policies of eurozone members at least," said the letter from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

There are elements in there to upset almost everyone. Britain certainly won't sign up to any financial transaction tax. Ireland jealously guards its low corporate tax rate. There are obstacles at every turn.
Even France and Germany have disagreements, but they still want a deal involving all 27 member states. If they can't get one, they plan to proceed with the 17 members of the eurozone, and any other country which wants to join them.
So the intricacies of treaty change will loom large over this summit, but there is also a bigger picture. The EU needs to rebuild market confidence around the eurozone, and offer better protection to countries like Italy which have huge debts.
That means more work on creating a financial firewall to shield countries in trouble, and it means making sure that member states who have announced savage austerity programmes actually implement them. Without all of that, the eurozone will remain in real peril.

It called for "a new common legal framework fully compatible with the internal market", covering:

• financial regulation;
• the labour market;
• convergence and harmonisation of the corporation tax base and introduction of a financial transaction tax;
• policies that support growth and a better use of European funds within the eurozone.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday that he would seek safeguards for London's powerful financial sector at Friday's summit in Brussels.
Continue reading the main story

Crisis jargon buster

Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:

AAA-rating

AAA-rating

The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule. 

"The more eurozone countries ask for, the more we will ask for in return," he said.

Mr Cameron argues that a financial transaction tax would work only if adopted globally.
The BBC's Chris Morris, in Brussels, says positions appear to be hardening.
A senior German official told the BBC he was more pessimistic than he had been a week ago. Some countries still did not understand just how serious the situation was, he said.
He dismissed as a "trick" talk of introducing a new fiscal agreement for the eurozone within existing treaties.
The Merkel-Sarkozy letter called for "a renewed contract between the euro area member states".
"The current crisis has clearly exposed the deficiencies in the construction of EMU [European Monetary Union]," it said.
"Alongside the single currency, a strong economic pillar is indispensable, building on enhanced governance to foster fiscal discipline as well as stronger growth and enhanced competitiveness."
But an EU commissioner publicly derided the idea that sanctions alone could compel euro member states to abide by the rules.
"Automatic sanctions are a joke. Fiscal union needs collective, democratic decision-making that can respond to challenges & manage agg. [aggregate] demand," Laszlo Andor.
He told the BBC that smaller EU states were disgruntled at the dominance of France and Germany in the decision-making process.
"Certainly very often when we speak with other member states, other than these two, yes you hear a certain disappointment and or even bitterness about how certain deals or bargains are handed out without the official meetings... and other countries might be taken for granted," he told the BBC's World Tonight programme.
"Of course it's very important, more important than ever, that leaders of Germany and France agree... But I think it's also important to have a very inclusive debate and look at all the options the European Commission has put forward," Mr Andor said.

China warns of 'severe challenges' to exports to West

  Sales to Europe and the US comprise just under 40% of China's total exports, but have been falling 

China faces "severe challenges" to its exports due to economic difficulties in key Western markets, the country's commerce ministry has warned.

Data due to be released on Saturday will show a sharp slowdown in export growth in November, the ministry said.
Sales to Europe and the US, which comprise about 40% of total exports, were not expected to recover next year.
The ministry said China would instead target exports to developing markets in Asia and Latin America.
Weaker manufacturing China will also try to boost its imports from the West, the ministry said, in order to help support their economies and to balance out China's trade surplus.
Exports to the European Union fell 9% in October versus a year ago, and exports to the US fell 5%.
The country's total exports, however, were still up 15.9%, thanks in part to booming demand from Latin America.
But it was the weakest annual growth rate in two years, and exports were sharply down compared with a month earlier.

Next year there won't be fundamental improvement in Europe or the United States”

Wang Shouwen Chinese Foreign Trade Director

"There is a lot of concern in Beijing about weakening demand from the developed world, especially from Europe," said Michael Pettis, economics professor at Peking University.

"China is still overly reliant on domestic investment and net exports to generate growth," he added, noting that Beijing was also recognising that further debt-fuelled growth in domestic investment was storing up problems for the economy and the country's banks.
The poor performance was mirrored by a recent manufacturing survey, which indicated that the sector contracted in November for the first time since the 2008-09 Western recession.
The commerce ministry also blamed rising wages in China for hurting its trade competitiveness.
'Not realistic' "Next year, I think that we will face severe challenges in our exports and imports," said Foreign Trade Director Wang Shouwen.
"There won't be fundamental improvement in Europe or the United States, and costs at home will stay as high as this year, so the foreign trade situation will be severe next year.
"However, some developing and emerging economies are enjoying sound economic performances, so we will attach more importance to exports to these countries."
But China's plan to focus on developing markets is not realistic, according to Professor Pettis.
"Europe, the US and Japan account for more than two-thirds of the rest of the world's consumption, and it is hard to imagine that the developing world can replace them over the next several years.
"To make matters worse, much of the growth that is occurring in the developing world is driven by Chinese demand for commodities.
"So if China is serious about reducing it's over-reliance on investment it will have the unfortunate consequence of reducing growth in the developing world just when China needs it most."
Attempts to increase its exports to the developing world may also meet with resistance.
Recent data showed that Brazil's economic growth had slowed to a standstill.
The country - Latin America's biggest - has previously complained about the threat to its own export competitiveness posed by the weakness of Western currencies.
Meanwhile in India, the mood may be turning against opening up the country's economy to foreign competitors.
The government suspended plans to let global supermarkets compete in the country, following political uproar and public protests.

Syria's Bashar al-Assad 'feels no guilt' over crackdown

 

Bashar al-Assad told ABC's Barbara Walters that he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters 

Syria's president has said that he feels no guilt about his crackdown on a 10-month uprising, despite reports of brutality by security forces.

In an interview with the US network ABC, Bashar al-Assad said he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters but admitted "mistakes" were made.
He said he did not own the security forces or the country.
At least 4,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, the UN says.
However, Mr Assad said the UN was not credible.
Syria blames the violence on "armed criminal gangs".
The US later rejected President Assad's assertions that he did not order the killing of protesters.
"It is just not credible," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"The United States and many, many other nations around the world who have come together to condemn the atrocious violence in Syria perpetrated by the Assad regime know exactly what's happening and who is responsible."

Mr Assad's interview comes a day after the US announced that its ambassador in Syria, Robert Ford, would return to Damascus after he was withdrawn in October because of security concerns.
France's ambassador returned on Monday.
'Big difference' Responding to questions from veteran presenter Barbara Walters about the brutality of the crackdown, Mr Assad said he did not feel any guilt.
"I did my best to protect the people, so I cannot feel guilty," he said. "You feel sorry for the lives that has [sic] been lost. But you don't feel guilty - when you don't kill people."
"We don't kill our people… no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person," he added.
The security forces were not his, nor did he command them, the Syrian president said.
"There was no command, to kill or to be brutal," he said.
"I don't own them, I am president, I don't own the country so they are not my forces."

President Assad's responses to ABC's questions about security showed that he was keen to deflect allegations of brutality levelled against his security forces.
By giving the interview in the first place, he was clearly concerned to reach out to American public opinion and policy-makers to correct the wrong impressions he believes they are being given about what is happening in Syria.
While not denying excesses, he challenged the "false allegations" on which much of the media - and the UN's Human Rights Commission - based their conclusions.
He appeared confident that his embattled regime would weather the internal challenge as well as outside pressures from sanctions.
He believed the majority of Syrians - who he said were neither for nor against the regime - would be won over by reforms which he said would give other parties a chance.

Instead he blamed the violence on criminals, religious extremists and terrorists sympathetic to al-Qaeda, who he said were mingling with peaceful protesters.

He said most of those killed were from government supporters, with 1,100 soldiers and police among the dead.
Those members of the security forces who had exceeded their powers had been punished, he said.
"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," he said.
"There is a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference."
When challenged about reports of house-to-house arrests, including of children, Mr Assad said the sources could not be relied upon.
"We have to be here to see. We don't see this. So we cannot depend on what you hear," he said.
The United Nations, which has said the Syrian government committed crimes against humanity, was not credible, Mr Assad said.
He described Syria's membership of the UN as "a game we play".
Asked if he feared sharing the fate of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi or ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Mr Assad said the only thing he was afraid of was losing the support of his own people.

Twitter's top 2011 hashtags: #egypt and #tigerblood

Tweeters showed interest in the Arab Spring 

The most popular hashtags of 2011 have been revealed, illustrating how Twitter spans diverse topics from politics to celebrity gossip.

Hashtags are used to group together tweets relating to the same subject.
Top of the list was #egypt, followed by #tigerblood.
The first refers to the unrest in Egypt during the spring of 2011 while the second references a comment made by actor Charlie Sheen, following his sacking from a hit US comedy.
Sheen made the headlines in 2011 for a series of often rambling public rants which culminated with the comment to online celebrity gossip site RadarOnline: "My fangs are dripping tiger blood."
At the same time, he joined Twitter and racked up one million followers in the first 24 hours, believed to be a record for the site.
He used the site to comment on the dispute between him and the Two And A Half Men show's producers, at one point tweeting: "I'm looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood."

TOP TWITTER HASHTAGS

• #egypt
• #tigerblood
• #threewordstoliveby
• #idontunderstandwhy
• #japan
• #improudtosay
• #superbowl
• #jan25

Twitter also released details about the hottest topics in a range of subjects, including the most talked about actors, countries and news topics.

The resignation of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, which triggered a series of uprising across the Middle East and Africa, topped the news list, followed by the US special force's fatal raid on Osama bin Laden's home. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami ranked in third place.
In the food category the McLobster took top place after it trended on rumours that fast food chain McDonald's was to roll out the crustacean-based sandwich across the US. Previously it had only been available in Canada.
A teenager who was unknown at the start of the year topped the music list. Would-be popstar Rebecca Black was propelled into stardom when her debut single Friday was released on YouTube to widespread mockery. At the time of its release, the song ranked top in global trending topics on Twitter, surpassing the Japanese earthquake crisis.
Perhaps suprisingly teen hit Justin Bieber did not feature in the top names.

TOP 10 TECH TOPICS

• Mac App Store
• Sony NGP
• Guitar Hero
• Mozilla Firefox
• Duke Nukem Forever
• iPad
• iPhone
• Nintendo 3DS
• Mortal Kombat
• iPod

As well as featuring in the top hashtags, Charlie Sheen's off-screen antics also moved him to the top of the most talked-about actors

British talent in the top 10 including Ricky Gervais, off the back of his controversial Golden Globes appearance, Colin Firth, who won the best actor Oscar for his performance as King George VI in The King's Speech and Pete Postelthwaite, a British character actor who died in 2011.
"Among other things, we saw history unfold in the Middle East, mourned the passing of Elizabeth Taylor, celebrated National Whipped Cream Day, and cheered for the Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers and Wayne Rooney," Dominican Republic Lawyers
"More than anything, these trends demonstrate how Twitter connects people with common interests. Instead of watching the news, the Super Bowl and Pretty Little Liars at home alone, we watched them together on Twitter," it added.

Brazil's economic growth stalls in third quarter

Brazil's interest rate is still one of the highest in the world 

Brazil saw its economic growth stall for the three months to the end of September, official figures show.

Its GDP growth was zero compared with the previous quarter, said the country's IBGE statistical bureau.
The government now expects 3.5% growth in 2011, as against 7.5% last year.
Brazil's main interest rate, known as the Selic, has been cut from 12.5% to 11% since August in a bid to boost growth, but is still the highest in the G20 group of leading economies.
Brazil's central bank has had high interest rates for many years, encouraged by fears of a return to the runaway inflation that plagued the country in the 1980s and early 1990s.
"The central bank's decision to cut interest rates early has been fully vindicated and the Selic will probably fall further - perhaps to 9.5% in the first half of next year," said analyst David Rees of Capital Economics.
"Another relevant factor was the worsening situation in the eurozone in the third quarter, which had a big impact on investments," said Andre Perfeito, chief economist at Gradual Investments.
Chinese competition Brazil's farming sector grew by 3.2%, while its service and industrial sectors shrank by 0.3% and 0.9% respectively compared with the previous three months, said the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The largest buyer of Brazilian foodstuffs is China, which overtook the US as Brazil's largest trading partner in 2009.
Although Brazil currently sells more to China than it imports, Brazilian manufacturers have complained that their industries are being affected by cheap mass-produced goods from the Asian giant.
Earlier this year, Brazil imposed a new tariff of $4 a kilo on Chinese synthetic fibres, which are already subject to a 26% import tax.

Apple in EU e-book market probe

  Apple's iBook store is likely to come under scrutiny

 

Apple and five publishers are to be investigated over anti-competitive practice in the e-book market, says the European Union's anti-trust watchdog.

As well as the tech giant, the inquiry centres on Hachette Livre, Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holzbrinck.
The Commission said it would focus on alleged illegal agreements restricting competition in the EU.
The UK's Office of Fair Trading has already carried out a similar inquiry.
The character and terms of agreements that the companies made with agencies are to be examined for breaches of EU rules on cartels, the Commission said.
The Office of Fair Trading has now finished its own investigation, but continues to work closely with the Commission, which is extending the scope of the inquiry across the whole of Europe.
The Commission carried out "unannounced inspections" on the companies in March 2011 as part of its investigations at premises in several European countries.
Apple's iBook store, which supplies e-books to the company's iPad tablet computer and the iPhone, is likely to come under scrutiny.
The EU announced an investigation into Google for potential anti-competitive behaviour in November.

Olympus investigation panel finds 'rotten' management

 

Former Olympus chief executive Michael Woodford speaks to the BBC 

A panel appointed by the board of scandal-hit Olympus has said the "core part of management was rotten", but has found no link to organised crime.

The independent investigation found the camera-maker had concealed business and investment losses that ultimately rose to 132.22bn yen ($1.7bn; £1.09bn).
The panel is urging legal action against those who were involved in the cover-up.
It has also said that those who knew about the situation should be replaced.
Losses 'hidden' The 178-page report was commissioned by the Olympus board and undertaken by an independent panel.
It was headed by a former Supreme Court judge, Tatsuo Kainaka, and its findings are based on voluntary hearings and company computer analysis.
The panel recommended significant changes to the board and listed 10 reasons why the scandal took place at the 92-year-old company.
They ranged from poor quality personnel management to incompetent external auditing.

Olympus shares have lost three-quarters of their value since 14 October

The panel laid the blame for cooking the books over 13 years mostly on two executives, former executive vice-president Hisashi Mori and ex-internal auditor Hideo Yamada.
The panel found no evidence that either executive had gained personally and both have resigned since the scandal came to light.
According to the report, the aim of the two men was to hide losses made from bad investments during the 1990s as the Japanese stock market crashed.
They pointed to the involvement of "external players" that allowed the fraud to persist. "[They] assisted in the concealment while knowing full well that such accounting practices were illegal," the report said.
The independent committee was also critical of Olympus' auditors during the years under investigation, KPMG AZSA and Ernst & Young ShinNihon.
However, in the final analysis, the panel blamed bad corporate governance by the executive management team. "Past [Olympus] presidents had low esteem for transparency and governance," said the report.
'Yes men' Olympus shares have plunged since its sacked chief executive, Michael Woodford, blew the whistle over his concerns about dubious accounting practices at the firm.
The controversy surrounds the payments made by Olympus to financial advisers as part of its acquisition of companies including British firm Gyrus.
The payments came to light when Mr Woodford claimed that he had been forced out of the company for raising questions about these and other accounting practices in October 2011.
Olympus originally denied any malpractice, but eventually acknowledged that it had used acquisitions, including that of Gyrus, to hide investment losses.
Mr Woodford told the BBC that the report showed "the existing directors are 'yes men' who did not react... and have passed their sell-by date".
Mr Woodford resigned from the board last week to concentrate on a campaign to oust the other board members of Olympus. He told the BBC, "They [the Olympus board] should not choose the next management team."
Mr Woodford also said he was in talks with several of Olympus' shareholders. He has said he would be prepared to return to the chief executive position.
He added that there needed to be a change in the whole of Japanese company culture: "Japan has to change its corporate governance and have powerful non-executives."
Shinsuke Amiya, an MP and member of the Japanese ruling party's panel on corporate governance, said they would use the Olympus report to discuss how to recover market trust. They could make it mandatory to appoint external board members.
Investigation continues Although the report is stronger than expected, it does not contain any real new evidence about what happened at the company.
The independent panel which compiled the report was not authorised to pursue a criminal investigation.
Olympus remains under joint investigation by Japanese police, prosecutors, the markets regulator, UK's Serious Fraud Office and the FBI in the United States.
After the report was released, trading in Olympus shares was halted in Tokyo.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange says it is assessing the report and may consider delisting Olympus.
The exchange has already warned that the company may be delisted if it fails to file its accounts report by 14 December.
Even if Olympus hits the deadline, the Tokyo Stock Exchange can still delist the company if it finds it has mis-stated its accounts or had dealings with organised crime.