Wednesday newspaper round-up: Russia, Sony Pictures, RBS...

24th Dec 2014 06:43

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has put Russia's rating on a 'negative' outlook, raising the prospect that it could downgrade the country's debt to 'junk' within weeks, The Times writes. S&P cited the "impact of the weakening economy on its financial system" as a reason for the move.Sony Pictures said it will show 'The Interview' in a number of cinemas on Christmas Day in a U-turn after scrapping the release following an alleged North Korean hacking attack, the Financial Times reports. President Barack Obama had labelled the cancellation of the release "a mistake".RBS has suspended bonus payments to 18 traders as part of its internal investigations into the attempted manipulation of the foreign exchange market, The Telegraph says. The bank has frozen the unvested awards of these employees.John Lewis suffered from a "Black Friday hangover" in the week to 20 December, "adding to worries that the growing popularity of the late November rush for bargains could cannibalise Boxing Day sales", according to The Times. Figures on Tuesday showed that sales fell 2.4% year-on-year.Chief Treasury secretary Danny Alexander, a close ally of George Osborne, has said that the chancellor is planning the "wilful destruction" of key public services if the Conservatives come out on top in the next general election, The Independent writes. In an interview with the paper, Alexander claimed that Osborne will make £60bn on unnecessary cuts by 2020 and will "shrink the state".The Russian rouble rose to a two-week high against the dollar on Tuesday, helped by "informal capital control measures" as the government ordered five state-owned exporters to sell foreign currency reserves, The Guardian reports. These companies included Gazprom and Rosneft.