Tomorrow's Newspapers Online. The Sun / United Ki

MtGox filed for bankruptcy in Japan on Friday. It came after the site had closed down after losing an estimated 750,000 of its customers' bitcoins.

"Illegal access through the abuse of a bug in the bitcoin system" meant a "high probability" the bitcoins had been stolen, it said in a statement.

Investigations are under way, it added.

Much of the statement released on MtGox's website confirmed details contained in a leaked document that surfaced just days before the bankruptcy application.

'Crimes punished' As well as the 750,000 customers' bitcoins that were lost, the company also said it had lost approximately 100,000 of its own. This amounts to nearly $500m (£300m).

It also said MtGox accounts held with financial institutions currently held approximately 2.8bn yen (£16.5m) less than the amount MtGox users had deposited. To "establish the truth" about what had happened a "huge amount of transaction reports" would need to be investigated, the statement said. Because of this MtGox could not give an exact amount of missing deposit funds or the total amount of bitcoins that had disappeared.

MtGox also said that it had appointed an expert to look at the possibility of criminal proceedings.

"We will make all efforts to ensure that crimes are punished and damages are recovered," it said.

The possibility of continuing as a business in order to pay back creditors was also being explored, the company said.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) announced partnerships with a number of major automakers Monday on a new system that integrates the iPhone with in-car entertainment systems.

Known as CarPlay, the setup includes a console touchscreen as well as buttons on the steering wheel that activate Siri, Apple's voice command system. CarPlay allows drivers to make calls, listen to voicemails, hear and dictate text messages, get directions via Apple Maps and access Spotify and other music services.

The first vehicles featuring CarPlay will debut later this year from Volvo, Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. It will be available "down the road" from automakers including BMW, Ford (F, Fortune 500), GM (GM, Fortune 500), Honda (HMC), Hyundai and Toyota (TM), Apple said.

Ferrari called CarPlay a "smarter, safer and more fun way to use iPhone in the car." Volvo said the partnership with Apple "promises to transform the in-car experience." CarPlay users enable the system by connecting their iPhones to their cars using Apple's lightning charger cable. The system is only compatible with the iPhone 5, 5c and 5s.

Apple's announcement marks a push ahead of its tech-industry competitors working to integrate smartphone technology into cars. Related: Blackberry stock rises on Ford tie-up reports

In January, Google announced a partnership with Audi, GM, Honda and Hyundai promising to bring its Android operating system to cars starting this year. Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPhone and iOS product marketing, said CarPlay "lets drivers use their iPhone in the car with minimized distraction." Cell-phone use is a leading contributor to "distracted driving" accidents, which killed 3,328 people and injured 421,000 in 2012, according to government statistics. A number of states have enacted laws in recent years banning texting or talking on cell phones while driving. In 2009, President Obama issued an executive order prohibiting federal employees from doing so while on the job.

Part of the reason cell phone use is dangerous for drivers is because it can force them to take their eyes off the road and their hands off the steering wheel. But the National Safety Council warns that even hands-free cellphone use can significantly increase the potential for accidents.

His comments came after Daimler's Mercedes-Benz said it would make cars compatible with new software developed by Apple, known as CarPlay.

Daimler will also be offering compatibility to Android-based devices, the company added.

"Virtually no product, including the automobile, is purchased or used in a vacuum," Zetsche said at a Daimler event in Geneva, on the eve of the city's motor show.

"We all know that the iPod for example, was not just a game changer based solely on design or technology. It is also about the convenient connection to iTunes," Zetsche said, adding that "customers are buying the total package."

Mercedes unveiled a new service brand "Mercedes me" which allows clients to gain access to a raft of mobility services including its car-sharing business car2go, or myTaxi.

It also allows people to find out where their car is parked or to book a service appointment using their mobile phone.

The offering is part of a raft of initiatives from carmakers aimed at using software to make their vehicles more appealing to drivers.

Ola Kaellenius, Mercedes-Benz board member responsible for sales and marketing, said Daimler wanted to get away from the idea that service only meant "maintenance."

"One important aspect here is that we no longer expect our customers to come and find us. We go and find them," Kaellenius said, adding a smartphone was one of the main ways to connect to them.

"As early as this summer, we will begin to equip our cars with the hardware necessary to connect them to our customers' digital life and make them virtually accessible, all the time and everywhere."

Separately, Daimler said global sales of Mercedes-Benz luxury vehicles had risen by a double-digit percentage in February.

There are no signs that Maduro, who says the protests are part of a U.S.-backed coup plot, could be ousted in a Ukraine-style overthrow despite widespread discontent with soaring inflation and chronic product shortages.

Government leaders have urged Venezuelans to skip the protests and make their traditional trips to the beach during the Carnival holiday. State television was filled with images of packed beaches and smiling holidaymakers.

Opposition marchers that ranged from students to middle-aged professionals and senior citizens filled a square in the east of Caracas to protest problems including 56 percent annual inflation and one of the world's highest murder rates.

"We have nothing to celebrate at the beach," said Carlos Torres, 34, an engineer. "Going on vacation would give credence to the government's version that there's nothing going on."

The unrest evolved from sporadic regional protests into nationwide movement after three people were shot dead following a February 12 march. At least 17 people have been killed in the South American nation's most violent unrest in a decade.

Maduro sought to take the steam out of the protests by extending the usual four-day Carnival holiday by two days.

Opposition moderates question the demonstrator's tactics of blocking streets, setting up barricades and exchanging volleys of rocks with police and security forces. They say this may backfire and boost support for Maduro.

Violent street protests helped briefly drive late socialist leader Hugo Chavez from power in a 2002 coup.

The opposition repeatedly staged street protests later that year as well as in 2004, but they fizzled out as protesters grew weary of blocked streets and barricades made from smoldering trash.

PUSH FOR SOLIDARITY AT OSCARS

Maduro's adversaries, tweeting to stars under the hashtag #OscarsforVenezuela, sought to persuade Hollywood stars, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Penelope Cruz, to make statements of solidarity during Sunday's broadcast of the Academy Awards.

Celebrities including Madonna and Cher have chimed in over social media, criticizing the government for what they called excessive use of force against protesters.

Best picture

Winner: 12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best picture nominees in profile Best director

Winner: Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity

Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave

Alexander Payne - Nebraska

David O Russell - American Hustle

Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street

Director profiles

Best actor

Winner: Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

Christian Bale - American Hustle Bruce Dern - Nebraska Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave

Actor profiles

Best actress

Winner: Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine Amy Adams - American Hustle Sandra Bullock - Gravity Judi Dench - Philomena Meryl Streep - August: Osage County

Actress profiles

Best supporting actor

Winner: Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper - American Hustle

Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave

Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street

Supporting actor profiles

Best supporting actress

Winner: Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave

Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle

Julia Roberts - August: Osage County

June Squibb - Nebraska

Supporting actress profiles Best adapted screenplay

Winner: 12 Years a Slave

Before Midnight

Captain Phillips

Philomena

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best original screenplay

Winner: Her

American Hustle

Blue Jasmine

Dallas Buyers Club

Nebraska

Best animated feature

Winner: Frozen

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Ernest and Celestine

The Wind Rises

Best animated short

Winner: Mr Hublot

Feral

Get a Horse!

Possessions

Room on the Broom

Best cinematography

Winner: Gravity

The Grandmaster

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Prisoners

Best costume design

Winner: The Great Gatsby

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

The Grandmaster

The Invisible Woman

Best documentary feature

Winner: 20 Feet from Stardom

The Act of Killing

Cutie and the Boxer

Dirty Wars

The Square

Best documentary short

Winner: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Cavedigger

Facing Fear

Karama Has No Walls

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Best film editing

Winner: Gravity

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

The Moscow stock market fell by 11.3 percent, wiping nearly $60 billion off the value of Russian companies in a day, and the central bank spent $10 billion of its reserves to prop up the rouble as investors took fright at escalating tensions with the West over the former Soviet republic.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned Moscow of "increasing political and economic isolation" if it did not withdraw troops and the European Union threatened unspecified "targeted measures" unless Russia returns its forces to their bases and opens talks with Ukraine's new government.

In his first public appearance for nearly a week, Putin flew to watch military maneuvers in western Russia in what appeared designed as a show of strength.

Russia's Black Sea fleet denied reports that it had given Ukrainian forces in Crimea an ultimatum to surrender by early on Tuesday or face a military assault, Interfax news agency said after earlier reporting such a threat.

The State Department said that if true, an ultimatum would be a dangerous escalation of the crisis. The United States was likely to move down the path of imposing sanctions, it said.

Ukraine's acting president said Russia's military presence in Crimea was growing, without giving details, and Ukrainian officials said Russia was building up armored vehicles on its side of a narrow stretch of water closest to Crimea after Putin declared at the weekend he had the right to invade his neighbor to protect Russian interests and citizens.

Both sides have so far avoided bloodshed, but the market turmoil highlighted damage the crisis could wreak on Russia's vulnerable economy, making it harder to balance the budget and potentially undermining business and public support for Putin.

Russian Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach said market "hysteria" would subside but strains with Brussels and Washington - which has threatened visa bans, asset freezes and trade curbs - would continue to weigh on the economy.

On the ground in Perevalnoye, half way between the Crimean capital of Simferopol and the Black Sea, hundreds of Russian troops in trucks and armored vehicles - without national insignia on their uniforms - were surrounding two military compounds, confining Ukrainian soldiers, who have refused to surrender, as virtual prisoners.

Ukraine mobilized for war on Sunday and Washington threatened to isolate Russia economically as Moscow's biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War unfolded.

The S&P 500 had closed at a record high on Friday, and profit-taking was expected on Wall Street due to the political uncertainty. The index found some support when it fell to 1,840, but broke through it after the first attempt. The S&P 500 extended losses in early afternoon trading and then recovered slightly to hover near the support level.

"There's been a very significant rally," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey. "If you need an excuse to sell, this is a good one."

Russian stocks and bonds fell sharply and the central bank raised interest rates to defend the ruble.

The market rout highlighted the damage that the crisis could do to Russia's vulnerable economy, making it harder to balance the budget and potentially undermining business and public support for Putin.

The Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX.P) fell 8.9 percent in heavy volume, hitting a session low of $22.16, its lowest in 4-1/2 years.

Energy stocks could lose if relations between the United States and Russia deteriorate further. Volatility is likely to spike alongside the uncertainty of the situation.

"Anything that involves a boycott of Russian supplies, which are very significant, could impact the energy sector dramatically," said Meckler.

"In situations like this, you see very quick reactions reverse as people understand the scenario and how things play out."

Both Brent and U.S. crude prices rose more than 2 percent each. The S&P energy sector index .SPNY, which opened higher, was down 0.6 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 207.75 points or 1.27 percent, to 16,113.96. The S&P 500 .SPX lost 19.45 points or 1.05 percent, to 1,840. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 58.584 points or 1.36 percent, to 4,249.534.

Gold prices hit a four-month high as investors sought safe-haven assets, boosting gold stocks.

The latest of a series of weather systems to pummel the winter-weary eastern United States, the storm was expected to blanket the U.S. capital with up to 9 inches of snow as it swept from the Mississippi Valley to the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic states, the National Weather Service said.

Brian Hurley, a weather service meteorologist, said temperatures would be about 30 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) below normal as a cold front gripped from the Great Plains to the Atlantic coast.

"It's really, really cold, temperatures dropping into the teens (Fahrenheit, minus-7 to minus-10 Celsius) and the normal highs are around 50 (10C) at this point," said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Although the snow is expected to bypass northern cities including New York and Boston, by early on Monday New York's temperature had already peaked at 23 F (-5 C), he said.

"This is yet another in a series of arctic outbreaks all winter," Hurley said.

Freeze warnings were in place from the Canadian border into Texas. The main electric grid operator for most of Texas issued a conservation alert due to expected higher power demand.

The storm shrouded the Capitol in snow and prompted the U.S. government to shutter its Washington area offices, keeping hundreds of thousands of federal workers at home. Congress put off scheduled votes because of the bad weather.

The governors of New Jersey, Delaware, Mississippi and Tennessee declared states of emergency, and schools and local governments throughout the area closed. Maryland state offices shut down and West Virginia state workers were on a delayed schedule.

In Philadelphia's downtown Gallery mall, Juanita Thomas, 57, was waiting to go to her local bank, which planned to open two hours late due to the storm. She had no complaints about the repeated snowstorms that have clogged the city's streets and shut down schools.

"I wish it would have snowed on Christmas for my grandkids," Thomas said. "God's giving it all to us now."

About 2,250 flights were canceled and 1,200 were delayed on Monday because of the storm, according to the airline tracking site FlightAware.com.

"This is not a threat: this is actually the declaration of war to my country," Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, head of a pro-Western government that took power when Russian ally Viktor Yanukovich fled last week, said in English.

Putin obtained permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, spurning Western pleas not to intervene.

Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea - an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base. On Sunday they surrounded several small Ukrainian military outposts there and demanded the Ukrainian troops disarm. Some refused, leading to standoffs, although no shots were fired.

Russia has staged war games with 150,000 troops along the land border, but so far they have not crossed. However, pro-Russian demonstrators have marched in the east of the country and have raised Russian flags over government buildings in several cities, in what Kiev says is a move orchestrated by Moscow to justify a wider invasion.

Ukraine's security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert.

The Defense Ministry was ordered to stage a call-up of reserves - theoretically all men up to 40 in a country with universal male conscription, though Ukraine would struggle to find extra guns or uniforms for significant numbers of them.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Russia for what he called an "incredible act of aggression" and threatened "very serious repercussions".

"You don't just, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext," Kerry told CBS program Face the Nation.

Kerry said Moscow still had a "right set of choices" to defuse the crisis. Otherwise, G8 countries and other nations were prepared to "to go to the hilt to isolate Russia".

"They are prepared to isolate Russia economically. The rouble is already going down. Russia has major economic challenges," he said. He mentioned visa bans, asset freezes and trade isolation as possible steps. A Kremlin spokesman declined to comment after Kerry's remarks.

THREAT TO EASTERN UKRAINE

[A] self-described conservative think tank was pushing a shareholder proposal that would have required Apple to disclose the costs of its sustainability programs and to be more transparent about its participation in "certain trade associations and business organizations promoting the amorphous concept of environmental sustainability"...

During the question and answer session, however, the NCPPR representative asked Mr. Cook two questions, both of which were in line with the principles espoused in the group's proposal.

The first question challenged an assertion from Mr. Cook that Apple's sustainability programs and goals—Apple plans on having 100 percent of its power come from green sources—are good for the bottom line. The representative asked Mr. Cook if that was the case only because of government subsidies on green energy. Mr. Cook didn't directly answer that question, but instead focused on the second question: the NCPPR representative asked Mr. Cook to commit right then and there to doing only those things that were profitable.

What ensued was the only time I can recall seeing Tim Cook angry, and he categorically rejected the worldview behind the NCPPR's advocacy. He said that there are many things Apple does because they are right and just, and that a return on investment (ROI) was not the primary consideration on such issues.

"When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind," he said, "I don't consider the bloody ROI." He said that the same thing about environmental issues, worker safety, and other areas where Apple is a leader.

As evidenced by the use of "bloody" in his response—the closest thing to public profanity I've ever seen from Mr. Cook–it was clear that he was quite angry. His body language changed, his face contracted, and he spoke in rapid fire sentences compared to the usual metered and controlled way he speaks.

He didn't stop there, however, as he looked directly at the NCPPR representative and said, "If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock."

Obama has made reducing the gap between the rich and the poor a centerpiece of his agenda for his next three years in office. But he is limited in his ability to offer bold new initiatives because of a budget accord he reached in 2011 with House of Representatives Republicans that puts strict curbs on both domestic and military spending.

An agreement reached in December between congressional Republicans and Obama's Democrats allowed a slight easing of curbs on spending in the current 2014 fiscal year, but outlays will be essentially flat in fiscal 2015, which begins October 1.

Because of the caps, spending on programs subject to annual review in 2015 will total $1.014 trillion compared to $1.012 trillion - an increase of less than two-tenths of a percent.

Obama's budget and the coming debate in Congress will focus on how to work within those limits.

"We're on track to having discretionary spending the lowest as a share of the economy since we started recording discretionary spending in 1962," White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman said last week. "With that comes a lot of choices that we'd rather not be making ... there are pretty difficult choices in just about every area of the budget."

Even with only a minuscule spending increase, Obama's budget proposals are unlikely to become law anytime soon.

The divided U.S. Congress controls the government's purse strings and Republicans who hold power in the House of Representatives disagree with policy priorities such as added spending on job training and other programs in Obama's budget.

That means Obama's blueprint is more of a campaign document than a road map to the country's fiscal path over the next year. It will be used to guide messaging in the November congressional elections in which Democrats are fighting to keep control of the Senate and avoid losing seats in the House.

The budget will flesh out a proposal Obama made in his State of the Union address to expand a tax break for the working poor known as the Earned Income Tax Credit. The president wants to increase the size of the credit for workers without children.

But rather than leaving the inflamed partisan politics at home, many have brought it with them.

The small beach of La Morena, about 25 miles northeast of the capital Caracas, is packed.

While some take refreshing dips in the turquoise Caribbean waters, others relax with a beer. The smell of fried fish wafts in the air, and children roll in the sand.

But not even the reggaeton pop music blasting at full volume drowns out the discussions about inflation, violent crime, and the political differences that divide Venezuelans and have fed the unrest.

"We're never going to stop talking about this," said Carlos Rivero, a 32-year-old security guard with a shaved head and tattooed arms who was visiting from Caracas with his wife.

"Wherever you go, whether it's good or bad, people are always talking about politics."

Hoping to ease tensions after at least 17 people were killed in the country's worst unrest for a decade, Maduro extended the long Carnival weekend by declaring Thursday and Friday holidays too.

Since then, government officials have flooded social media with images of busy shores and happy holidaymakers, and state television has repeatedly reminded Venezuelans not to forget the traditional family break at the seaside.

"Nobody will be able to take Carnival away from us," said Tourism Minister Andres Izarra. "There's no fascist force that can stop the people from enjoying the happiness."

To help them on their way, new Chinese-made buses wait outside Metro stations to ferry Caracas residents to Catia la Mar and the beaches north of the city such as La Morena.

But even with their toes in the sand, Venezuelans remain divided. About half defend tooth-and-nail what they see as the poverty alleviation enjoyed under the self-styled revolution of the late Hugo Chavez, who died from cancer a year ago this week.

Others say they are sick of shortages of basic products such as milk and toilet paper, with the horrific levels of violent crime, and with annual inflation of 56 percent. And they say things have only got worse since Maduro took office.

In some municipalities with opposition mayors, official carnival activities were canceled.

"People come to the beach to de-stress a bit after all that tension we have in the capital," said Jose Luis Vazquez, a supermarket worker from Guarenas town to the east of Caracas, as he sat and drank a beer with his wife, watching the waves.