Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone maker, reported a better-than-expected jump in net profits Thursday, boosted by the successful early release of its new flagship Galaxy handset.

The result will encourage shareholders after a disappointing 2015 that saw the firm lose more than $8.0 billion in market value, with its smartphone business sandwiched by top-end rivals such as Apple's iPhone and lower-end devices from fast-growing Chinese outfits Huawei and Xiaomi.

In the age of podcasts and streaming services, you might think pirate radio is low on the list of concerns of federal lawmakers and broadcasters. You'd be wrong.

They're increasingly worried about its presence in some cities as unlicensed broadcasters commandeer frequencies to play anything from Trinidadian dance music to Haitian call-in shows. And they complain the Federal Communications Commission can't keep up with the pirates, who can block listeners from favorite programs or emergency alerts for missing children and severe weather.

U.S. photo agency Getty Images filed a complaint Wednesday with the European Commission accusing Google Inc.'s web search of hurting its business, opening a new front in the Internet giant's anti-competition fight with Brussels.

Brussels, which is already investigating Google over alleged anti-competitive practices linked to its Android smartphone operating software and its web search business, said it would look into the unfair competition complaint from Getty Images.

The U.S. is looking into whether free Android mobile software is giving an unfair advantage to other Google offerings such as its search engine, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staffers have met with companies in recent months about concerns that Alphabet-owned Google is abusing the dominant position of Android software for powering smartphones or tablets, according to the Journal.

Shortlisted as a potential buyer of U.S. Internet giant Yahoo, the Daily Mail has made an online empire out of the kind of content readers can't resist clicking on.

Chinese manufacturers and Internet giants are in hot pursuit of their U.S. counterparts in the race to design driverless cars, but the route to market is still littered with potholes.

While Google has been working on autonomous vehicles for at least six years, with the likes of BMW, Volvo and Toyota in its wake, more recently Chinese businesses have entered the race, from Internet search giant Baidu to manufacturer Changan.

Fiat Chrysler announced the recall Friday more than one million vehicles after dozens of people were injured by cars they thought were locked in "park" mode but kept moving.

Investigators from the company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found cases where some drivers have exited vehicles thinking the car was safely in "park" but in fact was in neutral or another gear that allowed it to move while they climbed out.

Apple confirmed Friday its iTunes Movies and iBooks service have become unavailable in China, after reports authorities ordered them to be taken offline.

"We hope to make books and movies available again to our customers in China as soon as possible," a spokeswoman for Apple, the US technology giant, said in a statement.

Australia unveiled a multi-million-dollar cyber scheme to combat hacking on Thursday, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull acknowledged an attack on the country's weather bureau but stopped short of blaming it on China.

The EU slapped Google with anti-trust charges on Wednesday over its widely-used Android mobile phone operating system, in a fresh salvo by Brussels against the Silicon Valley giant.