Major U.S. retailers missed fewer Christmas deliveries this year, according to two small, early surveys released on Friday, partly reflecting a year's worth of investments made to avoid 2013's last-minute shipping debacle.
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Iran expands 'smart' Internet censorship
Iran is to expand what it calls "smart filtering" of the Internet, a policy of censoring undesirable content on websites without banning them completely, as it used to, the government said on Friday.
Microsoft Xbox Live back up, Sony PlayStation Network still down
Microsoft Corp's Xbox Live was back up on Friday while Sony Corp's PlayStation Network remained offline for a second day after a hacker group claimed responsibility for attacking the two Internet gaming services.
China's Dalian Wanda buys control of China online payments firm
China's Dalian Wanda Group Co, whose real estate arm just raised about $3.7 billion in a Hong Kong share sale, said on Friday it has bought a controlling stake in 99Bill Corp, a Chinese third-party payment processor similar to PayPal.
Japan Post: IPO to include separate listings of bank, insurance units
Government-owned Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd [IPO-JAPP.T] said it plans to list in the second half of the next business year and its bank and insurance units will go public at the same time, in what could be the biggest IPO of Japanese state enterprises in two decades.
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Oil prices fell Friday, tumbling as the dollar strengthened and as a supply glut in top consumer, the United States, trumped worries about falling production from Libya.
China will increase official aid to Nepal by more than five times from fiscal 2015-16, officials said on Friday, to develop infrastructure in the landlocked nation where regional rival India has long wielded political influence.
A big oil price slide will hurt Iran's attempts to rescue battered living standards, but economic pain is unlikely to soften its stance in nuclear talks or end aid to allies such as Syria, matters seen by its ruling clerics as strategic priorities.
Toshiba Corp will decide during the next business year from April on where to build an additional memory chip plant and will consider overseas locations for the facility, Chief Executive Hisao Tanaka said on Friday.
"Star Trek 3," the latest film in the intergalactic franchise featuring Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise, will open in U.S. theaters on July 8, 2016, Paramount Pictures said on Tuesday.
Procrastinating holiday shoppers can now grab one of Miami’s most iconic two-seaters: the all-white 1986 Ferrari Testarossa driven by TV cops "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs in the hit 1980s series "Miami Vice."
Taylor Swift's album "1989" reclaimed the top spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart on Wednesday, besting rapper Nicki Minaj's new release "The Pinkprint."
Saudi Arabia's finance minister said there was no need for the kingdom to create a sovereign wealth fund to manage its oil wealth, rebuffing suggestions by prominent officials and businessmen.
"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.
