Apple has raised the prices for handheld devices in Germany following a deal between the tech industry and content producers that will benefit musicians, actors and pornographic filmmakers.

The California-based company confirmed in a statement Sunday to The Associated Press that the price increase affecting iPhones and iPads is linked to the new copyright levy.

India notched up its billionth mobile phone subscriber in October, the country's telecoms regulator said, underscoring the importance of its fast-growing mobile market, the world's second-largest after China.

Mobile phone subscriptions have boomed in India in recent years as aggressive cost-cutting by telecoms providers has driven down prices, leading to some of the cheapest tariffs in the world.

Americans are generally getting much faster Internet speeds than a few years ago, but growth is uneven depending on the type of connections, a government report said Wednesday.

The Federal Communications Commission said average download speeds tripled from March 2011 to September 2014, the most recent figures available from a survey of major U.S. Internet service providers.

Twitter said Tuesday it was take new steps to stem "abusive behavior and hateful conduct" on the global messaging platform.

The move comes with social networks under pressure from the U.S. and other governments following attacks in Paris and California to do more to weed out those plotting violence.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg urged India Monday to approve a controversial plan that would provide a free Internet service to the poor, his latest bid amid an escalating row with authorities. 

The head of the social network tried to drum up support for the Free Basics service that offers people without the Internet free access to a handful of websites through mobile phones, in a column in the largest-selling English daily The Times of India.

Facebook went on the offensive Wednesday in an escalating row with Indian authorities over a controversial initiative which the social network says is aimed at widening online access in the developing world.

The social media giant took out billboards and full-page newspaper adverts and sent SMSs to defend its Free Basics service, which offers people without the Internet free access to a handful of websites through mobile phones.

The Japanese creator of the Hello Kitty character said Wednesday its foreign affiliate has corrected a flaw in the fan website that allegedly exposed private information on 3.3 million account-holders.

A spokesman for Sanrio in Tokyo said the affair was being investigated by the Hong Kong-based company Sanrio Digital, which is 30 percent owned by a Sanrio subsidiary and which independently operates sanriotown.com.

Apple chief Tim Cook emphatically rejected accusations that the world's richest company is sidestepping U.S. taxes by keeping bundles of cash overseas, suggesting that the claim was politically motivated.

World leaders last month approved a crackdown on tax avoidance by multinationals such as Apple, Google and McDonald's, major firms whose rock-bottom tax bills have provoked widespread outrage in the United States and beyond.

Microsoft is forming a joint-venture in China to tailor a version of its new Windows 10 computer operating system for use by the Chinese government.

"We're announcing a new joint venture that will license, deploy, manage and optimize Windows 10 for China's government agencies and certain state owned enterprises and provide ongoing support and services for these customers," Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi said in an online post late Wednesday.

Apple announced a major partnership with China UnionPay on Thursday to put is digital wallet to work in the world's most populous country.

China UnionPay customers will be able to add their bank cards to Apple Pay on iPhones, iPads, or Apple Watch wearables, the companies said in a joint statement.