VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said its iTunes store is now carrying Sony Corp's (6758.T) "The Interview", the film that angered North Korea and triggered a cyberattack against the studio.

Sony Corp worked for a third day on Saturday to restore services to its PlayStation network as the FBI said it was looking into the disruption, which began on Christmas Day.

North Korea called U.S. President Barack Obama a "monkey" and blamed Washington on Saturday for Internet outages it has experienced during a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of the film studio Sony Pictures.

"The Interview," the Sony Pictures film about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, opened in more than 300 movie theaters across the United States on Christmas Day, drawing many sell-out audiences and statements by patrons that they were championing freedom of expression.

Japan, fearing it could be a soft target for possible North Korean cyberattacks in the escalating row over the Sony Pictures hack, has begun working to ensure basic infrastructure is safe and to formulate its diplomatic response, officials said.

Google Inc's decision to screen Sony Pictures' film "The Interview" may help legitimize its YouTube platform as a serious rival to paid video streaming services, Netflix and Amazon.com Inc.

Sony Pictures will allow "The Interview" to play in more than 200 U.S. theaters as of Christmas Day, reversing its decision to pull the film, after coming under criticism from President Barack Obama and others for caving into pressure from North Korea.

North Korea, at the center of a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of Sony Pictures, experienced a complete Internet outage for hours before links were restored on Tuesday, a U.S. company that monitors Internet infrastructure said.

China opposes all forms of cyberattacks and cyber "terrorism", the country's foreign minister told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday.Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks in a telephone call with Kerry on Sunday night, according to a statement posted on the foreign ministry's website on Monday.

The United States has sought help from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia in combating cyber attacks such as the one Washington on Friday accused North Korea of carrying out against Sony Pictures, U.S. officials said.

Two U.S. security officials cast doubt on a threat against theaters planning to show Sony Corp's (6758.T) controversial movie about an assassination of the leader of North Korea, but police across the country vowed on Tuesday to take extra precautions.

A senior FBI official said on Tuesday that the agency has not confirmed suspicions that the North Korea is behind the unprecedented cyber attack on Sony's Hollywood studio.

Forensics experts hired by Sony Corp to investigate the massive cyber attack at its Hollywood studio said the breach was unprecedented, well-planned and carried out by an "organized group," according to an email obtained by Reuters on Saturday.

Despite its poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into a sophisticated cyber-warfare cell called Bureau 121, defectors from the secretive state said as Pyongyang came under the microscope for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Hackers used tools in a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment that were based on ones used in similar attacks conducted against South Korea by North Korea, a person familiar with the company's investigation said on Wednesday.