Santa's Naughty Spreadsheet

It was a short week in the business world with Christmas bringing Santa and his naughty list to town.

As the price of oil drops there has been a major impact on many of the large oil producers including Saudi Arabia which saw an increase in the budget deficit. But it was Russia which took the biggest knock thanks to the oil price and the impact of sanctions with it's currency the Rouble suffering initially only to stabilize and see inflation rise dramatically.

On the tax front Israel's Bank Leumi settled it's US tax charges and paid $400million along with handing over the details of it's clients but it was the Mississippi physician who was sentenced to 6 years after trying to scam the IRS by funneling his earning through a church that gets the biggest lump of coal.

After recent hacks there is the possibility of a sale of Sony studios along with it's Music Publishing Division and, speaking of dirty laundry, Uber has now been charged by South Korea for violating transportation law, just add that to the list of other legal action it's facing.

Finally, Target is facing a lawsuit from angry customers after the hacking incident last year while TripAdvisor has been fined $600,000 for false reviews by Italy's antitrust authority.

Terrorism's Reach Grows

The week saw the affects of terrorism on two fronts, from an up front and deadly confrontation to a anonymous virtual threat.

Sydney Siege

The people of Sydney Australia suffered an unprecedented attack when a gunman took hostages in a busy Sydney cafe claiming to have 2 bombs in his backpack and another 2 bombs planted elsewhere in Sydney.

The siege began with hostages being forced to hold up a black flag with an Islamic declaration of faith. The gunman then used the hostages to relay his demands via video which was sent to local news agencies.

After 17 hours police stormed the Martin Place cafe where a gun battle broke out leaving the gunman dead along with two hostages who had tried to shield a pregnant friend. The two hostage killed in the incident were Tori Johnson the manager of the store and Katrina Dawson a mother of 3.

Virtual Terrorism

With the new Sony Pictures movie "The Interview" taking a stab at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a group of hackers, believed to be from North Korea, broke into Sony Pictures computer network and proceeded to release a plethora of information about the inner workings of Sony, along with various emails about some now not so happy famous people.

The hackers demanded that Sony pull the offending movie or face more leaks of sensitive Sony data. The FBI warned theaters of potential cyber attacks as the launch date approached resulting in Sony pulling the movie due to be screened on Christmas Day leaving plenty of celebrities enraged for giving in to the terrorist threats.

When Breathing Isn't Guaranteed

The past few weeks have seen human rights issues across the world, however, it was in the United States with the killing of unarmed black men in public and the release of CIA documents revealing the hidden world of torture that showed no nation was immune.

I Can't Breathe

Just days after a court failed to indict Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown the masses were thrown back into turmoil when Daniel Pantaleo was also allowed to walk free after the killing of Eric Garner by choke hold in New York.

With Ferguson still fresh in their minds crowds rallied across the country for days on end and staged "die-ins", including in the iconic Apple store, even congressional staffers staged a walk out in protest. And while most protests remained calm some turned violent with explosives being thrown at police. As the holidays neared protestors took a different approach and opted instead for new lyrics to popular Christmas carols.

It wasn't just the public standing up in protest but various celebrities and sports stars that supported the protestors with member from the NBA wearing t-shirts reading "I can't breathe".

CIA Torture Report

The US Senate Intelligence Committee revealed a 500 page summary report showing the extent of torture inflicted on detainee's at various black sites around the world. The report described various sexual threats and mock executions to torturing people to get information from family members. Since the reports release there have been increased fears of retaliation resulting in increased security at US embassies and bases around the world.

World Protests

The US was not alone with a court ordering that the main protest sites be cleared by police ending the weeks of protest in Hong Kong's financial district. However the peaceful nature of the Hong Kong protests was starkly different from protests in Haiti which turned violent with police firing tear gas into crowds who were demanding President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe step down. Finally the remains of one Mexican students that had gone missing was identified triggering anger from an already exhausted population.

Bevy of Beauties Invade Britain

This week all attention was on the beautiful people who took over Britain as the Victoria's Secret Angels took to the stage while the British Fashion Awards honored the trend setters.

Victoria's Secret

For the first time ever Angels descended on London in not just one but this time two million dollar brassiere's encrusted in jewels. Before the show the red carpet saw models and celebrities vying for attention in flawless attire.

The show kicked off with amazonian beauties strutting the runway with golden wings spread accompanied by performers providing a thumping beat from Taylor Swift who dressed to impress matching the models in lingerie to a less swift Ariana Grande who was touched by an Angel in a different way.

While the action was on stage behind the scenes there was a buzz of activity with model's prepping, protruding and pushing up to make sure there months of hard work wouldn't go unnoticed.

British Fashion Awards

The British Fashion Awards attracted British celebrities and more from Emma Watson and Alexa Chung who graced the red carpet in beautiful dresses to Rhianna who took to the carpet in a more risque plunging Stella McCartney jacket.

During the ceremony the winners were announced with 22 year old Cara Delevingne taking the title Model of the Year while Victoria Beckham's label took Brand of the Year and Emma Watson being presented with the British Style Award by Harry Styles. The night ended with Anna Wintour who gave an uncharacteristic emotional acceptance speech when presented with a special recognition award by John Galliano.

Celebrities

Hollywood and fashion combined this week with Iggy Azalea and her new photo shoot for Forever 21 but it was the seasoned pro Madonna who made news appearing in a new Versace ad campaign.

Fashion trend setter Kate Bosworth decided instead to launch her own official shoe collection along with Melissa McCarthy who teamed up with Sunrise Brands to launch a fashion line sometime next year.