The lack of clarity about the US data and timing of interest rate hike have put further pressure on Asian stock markets. Several Asian stocks slipped into pressure on Friday trading ahead of the US data jobs report. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.7 percent for the week. The long holiday stretch for Chinese markets also resulted in sluggishness in the Asian market.

Good news to Aussie Facebook lovers. Nearby Friends, a feature from Facebook can now be used by our mates in Down Under to locate their friends along the neighborhood or vice versa.

Twitter is planning some improvements to grow its users and encourage posts. One of the plans includes taking off the 140-character restrictions. Twitter management wants to revamp the micro-blogging site. One feature they wanted to improve is the 140-character post limit. Though Twitter keeps mum about it, the news from Re / Code said it comes from a very reliable source.

Just a few weeks after releasing the latest iOS update the iOS 9, Apple released an upgrade to the latest Mac operating system, the OS X El Capitan. The latest upgrade contains many new feature that users have been waiting for including an important security update since cyber-attack is on the rise lately.

Marking the first ever single major investment in financial technology (fintech) segment, SoftBank Group Corp has led an investment of $1billion in the US startup SoFi. Private equity (PE) firms such as Third Point have invested in SoFi. Both the companies are of a positive view that the Series E funding round will speed up the growth rate of SoFi. The fintech services are gaining support from customers, who're not satisfied with traditional banking services. SoFi is aiming at expanding financial offerings in the near future.

Suffering from weakening global commodities for the past one year, Glencore has informed its investors about its plans to reduce debt by $10billion. Towards this debt reduction target, Glencore is planning to conclude two deals by the end of this year or early of next year. The Anglo-Swiss multinational commodities major has been facing rough conditions in the market.

Of late, Japan has been facing a different situation albeit rough weather in the international diplomacy. Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo didn't (couldn't) meet Barack Obama, the US President, this week at the 70th year founding celebrations of the United Nations (UN) held in New York. However, the list of dignitaries that Abe met included Vladimir Putin, Russian President, and Park Geun-hye, South Korea President. Abe participated in a number of meetings and met several important global leaders on the sidelines of the UN celebrations.

Virgin America, the U.S. based low-fare airline, teamed up with the top Internet TV network, Netflix, to provide a free in-flight streaming of movies and TV shows.

United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture floated by Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, has bagged a contract worth $882million for launching satellites for the US Air Force with Delta IV and Atlas V rockets. The contract is effective from 1 October and includes launch capability, mission, integration, base and range support, maintenance, depreciation on equipment, mission assurance, program management, systems engineering and launch site and range operations during the 2016 fiscal year, according to US Defense Department. The usage of Atlas V rockets will enable the US Defense Department to compete for military and spy satellite launch contracts. ULA is poised for its latest launch this week and this is its 100th mission this week.

Japan is setting up a 53-megawatt solar powered station to be situated in northern Fukushima. Four lending institutions will back up the project namely Mitsubishi UFJ, Sendai-based 77 Bank which will provide the highest amount of loan of $57 million and other two lenders according to PV Magazine.

Apple finally announced the launching of Apple Music to Chinese customers. The app comes with a three-month trial. After that, 10 Chinese yuan per month will be charged. iTunes, iBooks, and Movies were also made available.

It's no longer unusual if you see working mothers in the office, streets, or restaurants. With the high cost of living, children's education, and bills to pay, couples should help each other to make both ends meet.

The latest outcome of the two-day meeting between the US and Cuba held in Havana has paved the way for reviving the airline service between the both the nations. The commercial airline services between both the nations have been suspended for a long time. The agreement on restoring the airline service is expected to be complete this year. The officials from both the countries have decided to meet again before December. The follow-up meeting is expected to be held in Washington.

The United States imposes sanctions upon 30 individuals and groups linked to the Islamic State. Fifteen people were designated by the Treasury Department as Islamic State supporters, while 10 individuals and five groups were tagged by the State Department as foreign terrorist fighters.

Google unveiled its new Chromecast gadget on Tuesday during the same launching event as the new Nexus flagship in San Francisco. The new update saw Google providing users with two Chromecast devices for normal video and TV streaming and also for music streaming.

The giant tech company, Google had unveiled their latest android flagship during an event on October 29th. The company releases two new android phone the Nexus 5X and big-screened Nexus 6P. The event marks the first official gadgets release under the new CEO Sundar Pichai.

Oklahoma-based energy company, Chesapeake Energy Corp said it had laid off about 15 percent of its employees and citing the low oil price and gas as the main reason for the move. The second-largest natural gas company in the U.S had laid off 740 workers on Tuesday so far.

Chinese e-Commerce major Alibaba Group Holding's stock (NYSE: BABA) continued to ease on Wall Street for the fourth consecutive month following the reduction in revenue forecast for the next quarter of the year. Alibaba shares fell 13 percent in September and this continuous skid since May brought down the market value to $75billion. The economy sluggishness is impacting the e-commerce sales. Of late, Alibaba Group is facing cut-throat competition in online sales. Analysts hold the view that lot of uncertainty in store for Alibaba Group in the days to come.

The leading global auto major Volkswagen, which is reeling under pressure owing to emission tests rigging scandal, has assured that it would replace the deceptive engine software that manipulates results from emission tests. It's estimated that about 11million vehicles sold across the world have been fitted with manipulative engine software. The German automobile company will start informing the owners of 11mn vehicles. It's found that these vehicles emit harmful pollutants 40 times higher than the US environment standards. However, Volkswagen didn't elaborate on the exact time of completion of the process or any compensation to vehicle owners. Volkswagen will submit a plan on technical solutions to regulators and environmental authorities for approval in October.

ComScore Inc, a data analytics provider and a major player in web tracking, will acquire Rentrak Corp for an implied value of $771 in all stock deal. Rentrak offers viewership rating services. As part of the buying deal, every share of Rentrak will be converted into 1.15 shares of ComScore. After the buying process, Rentrak will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ComScore. The combined entity is expected to become a major measurement system for media and advertisement agencies. The buyout deal is expected to close in early 2016. The combined entity will get cost benefit of $55mn over the next two years.

Evernote Corporation had layoff 47 of its workers and closes three of its global offices. Reports confirmed affected locations were in Moscow, Singapore and Taiwan. Evernote CEO Chris O'Neill wrote in the company blog on Tuesday that Evernote had reduced 47 jobs. The company shuts down operation in three offices as well. "Today we let go of 47 people from the Evernote team and announced the closure of three of our global offices. We are grateful for the immense contributions of each and every affected person."

The 2017 Ford Super Duty model has a series of full-size trucks that will change all that seems to be the flaws of the previous trucks including air bags and colored touchscreens.

Founder Ralph Lauren quit the position as the CEO of the Ralph Lauren Corporation. He will be replaced by Stefan Larsson in November. After five decades, the fashion industry veteran, Ralph Lauren steps down as the company's CEO. Mr. Lauren appoints Stefan Larsson to take over the position. All the same, the legendary designer will still lead Ralph Lauren Corporation as an executive chairman and chief creative officer, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Yahoo Inc. is proceeding with the spinoff of its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba even without guarantee that it won't be taxed. In a regulatory filing, Yahoo says its board has authorized the transaction despite lacking an approval from the Internal Revenue Service. On news of the decision, Yahoo's shares rose Monday by as much as 4% in extended trading.

Sony's PlayStation is in the top three as the most intimate brands for millennials based on the research done by MBLM. The report will be released on October 6.

Castro knocks out U.S. trade embargo at UN. The Cuban President, Raul Castro spoke Saturday for the first time at the United Nations and salute renewed diplomatic ties with the U.S. as "major progress". However, he knocks out a US trade embargo as the number one hindrance to Cuba's economic development, as reported by MSN News.

Chicago-based start-up lender Avant Inc has mobilized $325millions in its latest round of funding from a private equity (PE) firm General Atlantic and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Balyasny Asset Management and Tiger Global Management LLC are also investing in the round taking total fund-raising for Avant to $659mn till date. General Atlantic-led round is expected to close in October. With this fund-raising, the valuation of Avant is pegged at $1billion. The start-up firm is planning to use the mobilized funds to offer various financial products and fund its global expansion plan.

As part of its debt reduction exercise, the world's largest bullion producer Barrick Gold Corp has offered to buy back some part of its outstanding debt. Despite the drop in gold prices, The Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp has been selling assets.

Comcast Corp. is getting a 51% stake in Universal Studios Japan Co. The US cable company has announced its NBCUniversal unit will pay Goldman Sachs and other owners of USJ Co. $1.5 billion for the majority stake.

Amazon just unveiled their latest gadget, the Amazon Fire HD 10. It is the widest tablet offered by Jeff Bezos's company and it comes with a price tag far cheaper than any other high-end tablet by another manufacturer at $229.