A South Korean appeals court on Thursday rejected the latest effort by U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates to block the $8.0 billion merger of two Samsung affiliates.

The ruling by the Seoul High Court clears any final obstacle to the convening of a shareholders' meeting on Friday which will see a vote on the proposed takeover of construction company Samsung C&T by affiliate Cheil Industries.

A man suspected of belonging to a network of Islamist hackers responsible for attacks on more than 3,500 websites worldwide was arrested in Bulgaria, the interior ministry announced Wednesday.

The man, whose identity was not revealed, was part of a group using the acronym MECA (Middle East Cyber Army), the ministry said.

Twitter has the potential to vastly improve as a tool for real-time news and information, according to co-founder and current board member Evan Williams.

Williams said news has been a core mission for the messaging platform for several years, but that it can do better in helping people find relevant stories.

Dutch company ASML, which makes computer chip-making systems and is seen as a global hi-tech bellwether, announced an 8.1 percent second quarter dip in net income Wednesday, but noted it was on track for the rest of the year.

The company based in Veldhoven, southern Netherlands, said in a statement net income for the second quarter stood at 370 million euros ($407 million) as opposed to 403 million euros in Q1.

A bitter dispute over the proposed merger of two Samsung affiliates comes to a head Friday with a shareholder vote that could -- whatever the result -- force a shift in corporate governance practice among South Korea's giant, family-run conglomerates.

In a country not known for investor activism, the campaign against the takeover of construction company Samsung C&T by affiliate Cheil Industries has been unusually loud and well organised.

Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia said late Monday it was looking at re-entering the mobile phone market by striking a licensing deal with another firm.

"The right path back to mobile phones for Nokia is through a brand-licensing model," the company said in a statement.

South Korean lawmakers say the country's spy agency has acknowledged exploring the purchase of technologies to intercept communication on the popular Kakao Talk smartphone chatting service. But the agency says it only intended to strengthen its monitoring of rival North Korean agents — not South Koreans.

The office of lawmaker Shin Kyung-min said National Intelligence Service chief Lee Byoung Ho told legislators in a closed-door briefing that the agency bought hacking programs from an Italian company in 2012. Lee didn't indicate whether that included technology for hacking Kakao.

Google-owned YouTube is seeing "accelerating" growth despite competition from Facebook and others in video, YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki said Monday.

Wojcicki said she is pleased with the growth in people watching videos on the service, and that YouTube still stands apart even though Facebook claims to have more video views.

Jet.com, a well-funded U.S. startup which aims to shake up online retailing with new ways to cut prices, is set for launch next week, its chief executive said.

Marc Lore told the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference Monday the new online site will have at least 10 million products in a variety of categories, but dismissed the notion that it is taking on colossus Amazon.

Microsoft will launch Windows 10 on July 29.

The upgraded operating system will allow users to switch seamlessly between personal computers, tablets, smartphones and other gadgets. Windows 10 is intended to give apps a similar feel on all devices and comes with a new Web browser integrated with Cortana, the company's voice-activated answer to Apple's Siri.