Apple buys social media data analytics firm, Topsy Labs, which specialises in using data from Twitter to track customer sentiment.

Npower is writing to its 5.4 million domestic customers to apologise for problems with its billing process.

Global shipments of personal computers will see the "most severe yearly contraction on record", according to research firm International Data Corporation .

Mobile phone users will be protected from "sky-high bills" if their phones are stolen, under an agreement reached by the government and four operators.

India's current account deficit, a key area of concern, narrowed sharply in the July-to-September quarter, after a series of measures helps curb gold imports.

Hilton Worldwide, one of the world's biggest hotel firms, could raise as much as $2.4bn (£1.4bn) through a share flotation.

Transparency International's corruption perception survey cuts Spain's rating to put it 40th out of 177 countries after a series of recent scandals.

One of the world's biggest fashion retailers, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), has won final approval from India's government to open stores in the country.