Ten million householders who use pre-payment energy meters should be able to postpone their debt, says the charity Citizens Advice.

Asian shares traded higher on Wednesday, taking the lead from Wall Street where shares closed at a record level overnight.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it has spent more than $160m fighting fake goods on its websites over the last two years.

The US president welcomes a decision by Sony to screen a comedy about North Korea - which had been pulled following a cyber-attack and threats - in some US cinemas.

Taxi booking firm Uber has apologised for raising fare prices during a deadly cafe siege in Sydney last week, saying its decision was wrong.

London's leading shares edge higher on Wednesday as the market's last session before Christmas begins.

About 863,000 people were working on Christmas Day 2012 - 2.9% of the UK's total workforce - according to the most up-to-date figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Defence giant BAE Systems is to supply the US Army with a fleet of armoured vehicles, in a contract reportedly worth $1.2bn.