Apple revealed the surprise offer, available to all users of MacBooks and Mac computers, on Tuesday at the same time as it unveiled a slimmer, faster iPad Air and a new line-up of Macs in time for the holidays.

Its Mac operating system and iWork software suite, which compete with Microsoft's Excel, Word and other applications, will now be offered free to all users.

By giving away its Mac operating system Apple is taking on Microsoft's predominant Windows platform, installed on an estimated eight to nine out of 10 of the world's computers and one of its most profitable cash cows.

"We are turning the industry on its ear, but this is not why we're doing it," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told media and technology executives at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center. "We want our customers to have our latest software."

Apple may be trying to safeguard its grip on mobile software as Microsoft begins to make inroads into tablet computing with its Windows-powered Surface Pro. The advantage of those devices, especially to enterprise customers, is their ability to run Microsoft applications, such as Word or Excel.

Apple is going after the entire tablet computing market, trying to appeal to both consumer and enterprises, and is likely wary of Microsoft making a play for the high-end of that market with its Surface Pro than cheaper devices that run on Google Inc's Android software.

"In the tablet PC market, they do think Microsoft is a bigger threat than Android," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. "The iPad Air will compete with Surface Pro, not some rinky-dink Android tablet."

Apple's new iPad Air - its full-size tablet - is about 20 percent thinner than the previous generation of tablets, weighs one pound and starts at $499. But the new tablets would face stiff competition, with Microsoft, Nokia and Amazon.com Inc all plugging rival devices in coming months.

PRESSURE

Apple, which jumpstarted the tablet computing market in 2010 with the first iPad, has already come under increasing pressure from cheaper devices ranging from Amazon's Kindle Fire to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Note.

The alert states: "Warning! This video contains extremely graphic content and may be upsetting."

The move follows its decision to allow the clips to be posted to its site following a temporary ban on the material, introduced in May.

The prime minister and Facebook's own advisors had criticised the decision.

The social network said that it wished to allow its users - who can be as young as 13 - to share and condemn the material. It added that it would continue to block clips if the original poster glorified or celebrated the violence shown.

On Monday the firm said it might, in time, add warnings or other controls, but initially allowed a recently uploaded decapitation clip to appear unaltered.

This prompted David Cameron to tweet: "It's irresponsible of Facebook to post beheading videos, especially without a warning. They must explain their actions to worried parents."

US charity the Family Online Safety Institute - a member of the social network's Safety Advisory Board - also raised concern saying it had not been alerted to the change of policy despite previously stating such videos "crossed the line".

A spokeswoman for Facebook declined to comment about its latest move.

She had previously defended its decision to allow a video showing a woman being beheaded - believed to have been filmed in Mexico - to be shared despite the fact it bans images and videos showing a woman's "fully exposed breast". "Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they're connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events," she said.

"People are sharing this video on Facebook to condemn it. If the video were being celebrated, or the actions in it encouraged, our approach would be different."

A UK member of Facebook's Safety Advisory Board said he still had concerns despite the addition of the warnings.

"It's a step forward but it's still horrific content," said Will Gardner, chief executive of Childnet.

He added that he needed to look into the changes before commenting further.

Police concern Until Monday Facebook had also featured adverts alongside the video of the Mexican murder despite the fact several users had complained to it about the material.

The Finnish company is also going bigger with its smartphone line. It is releasing a new pair of colorful, big-screen smartphones: the 6-inch Windows Phone 9 Lumia 1520 and the lower-end 1320.

The Lumia 2520 tablet will cost $499 and run Windows RT 8.1, a limited variation of the Windows 8 operating system that uses that system's tile-based touchscreen feature. The tablet gets 4G LTE, has a 2.2 GHz Quad Core processor and includes a 6.7 megapixel back-facing camera. The company says it has upped the screen's peak brightness so it's extra visible outdoors in direct sunlight.

For its new smartphones, Nokia has chosen to continue its focus on the camera as the killer feature that can set its devices apart. Its Lumia 1020 smartphone's primary selling point was its impressive 40 megapixel camera. The new big-screen 1520 smartphone will have a smaller but still powerful 20 megapixel camera and cost $749 before any carrier subsides. The the cheaper 1320 has a more ordinary 5 megapixel camera and cost $399. The Nokia Camera app is getting an update across all Nokia devices.

Six inches is a hefty size for smartphones, but Ifi Majid, Nokia's head of product marketing for North America, said the size was key because it's the largest a phone can go and still be held with one hand. While they haven't yet taken off in the U.S., "phablet" devices are a bigger hit in developing markets where the larger size is considered a status symbol.

This is Nokia's first big product rollout since it was announced that Microsoft was going to purchase part of the company. The $7.2 billion deal, which will include Nokia's devices and services businesses, is still pending. It's unclear what kind of different direction Nokia's products will take when Microsoft is fully in charge, and where the new 2520 tablet will fit in with Windows own similar Surface line.

Apple is the leading tablet manufacturer in the world, followed by Samsung, but all the major manufacturers are eager to get in on the growing market. Though Microsoft has been pushing its own Surface tablets and touchscreen-ified operating system, Windows 8, it still trails far behind iOS and Android tablets.

The clips will be fed through Twitter's promoted Tweets via cross-platform service Grabyo Studio. They will help to drive additional advertising and sponsorship revenues for the social media network ahead of its highly anticipated initial public offering in New York.

One of the aims for BSkyB is to stimulate interest in its new internet service NOW TV which allows viewers to pay for 24-hour access to content, rather than requiring customers to sign up for the full service which had proved more tricky during the economic downturn.

The service is also being used to help BSkyB retain its lead in the pay TV market after former state telecoms company BT spent heavily to establish itself as a new rival.

"We know that lots of people want access to great Sky Sports content but would rather dip in and out rather than having a full subscription," said Gidon Katz, Director of NOW TV.

"Sharing UEFA Champions League clips in real-time on social platforms helps us to highlight the benefits of instant, pay-as-you-go access to Sky Sports via NOW TV," he added.

The deal follows a successful trial which generated over 570,000 clip views in 12 hours and saw more than 6,000 clips being shared across social networks which reached more than 7 million users.

The rules are the first attempt to create strong data-protection laws for Europe's 500 million citizens.

They include a clause to strengthen online privacy in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden's allegations about US spying.

They also set out ways citizens can erase their personal data - the so-called right to be forgotten.

Industry lobbying

Lawmakers have toughened the initial draft regulation, prepared by the European Commission, to make sure companies no longer share European citizens' data with authorities of another country, unless explicitly allowed by EU law or an international treaty.

This is a direct response to allegations from former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden about the US National Security Agency (NSA) snooping on European citizens' data.

Another clause seeks to limit user profiling, requiring companies to explain their use of personal data in detail to customers and to seek prior consent.

To ensure that the regulation is properly applied, most businesses would have to designate or hire data-protection officers.

After 18 months of fierce industry lobbying, the legislation was passed with a 49-3 committee vote, with one abstention.

The European Parliament still needs to hold another vote and seek agreement with the EU's 28 member states though — which is likely to result in some changes.

"Tonight's vote sends a clear signal - as of today, data protection is made in Europe," said EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding.

But French consumer group La Quadrature du Net was disappointed with the draft law.

"There are some big loopholes that could void the effectiveness of the whole legislation," said Jeremie Zimmermann, from the organisation.

He said vague wording such as "legitimate interest" could allow businesses to "exonerate themselves from the legislation".

"A business could say that it is a legitimate interest to collect data in order to provide a better service for consumers or to enable it to make money," he said.

He was also surprised that the rules around data profiling were not tougher.

"Machines that crunch data are used to make important decisions such as who can get a job, who can get a loan, who can get insurance," he said.

"This legislation allows firms to continue to collect and process more data and profile individuals."

Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that Washington had failed to act effectively on the Syrian crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.

It was not immediately clear if Prince Bandar's reported statements had the full backing of King Abdullah.

"The shift away from the U.S. is a major one," the source close to Saudi policy said. "Saudi doesn't want to find itself any longer in a situation where it is dependent."

The United States and Saudi Arabia have been allies since the kingdom was declared in 1932, giving Riyadh a powerful military protector and Washington secure oil supplies.

The prince's initiative follows a surprise Saudi decision on Friday to reject a coveted two-year term on the U.N. Security Council in protest at "double standards" at the United Nations.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had discussed Riyadh's concerns when he met Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in Paris on Monday.

Kerry said he had told the Saudi minister that no deal with Iran was better than a bad deal. "I have great confidence that the United States and Saudi Arabia will continue to be the close and important friends and allies that we have been," he told reporters in London.

Prince Bandar, who was Saudi ambassador to Washington for 22 years, is seen as a foreign policy hawk, especially on Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom's rivalry with Shi'ite Iran, an ally of Syria, has amplified sectarian tensions across the Middle East.

A son of the late defense minister and crown prince, Prince Sultan, and a protégé of the late King Fahd, he fell from favor with King Abdullah after clashing on foreign policy in 2005.

But he was called in from the cold last year with a mandate to bring down President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats in the Gulf say. Over the past year he has led Saudi efforts to bring arms and other aid to Syrian rebels while his cousin, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, worked the diplomatic corridors.

"ALL OPTIONS ON TABLE"

"Prince Bandar told diplomats that he plans to limit interaction with the U.S.," the source close to Saudi policy said. "This happens after the U.S. failed to take any effective action on Syria and Palestine.

Christiana Figueres told the BBC that the lack of an agreement was "condemning future generations before they are even born".

Ms Figueres said this was "completely unfair and immoral".

Despite the slow pace of negotiations, she said a deal can be done by 2015. Costa Rica-born Christiana Figueres has been the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the last three years.

Steadying the ship Taking over after the failure of the talks process in Copenhagen in 2009, Ms Figueres has carefully steered the parties forward.

Delegates agreed in Durban in 2011 that a new global deal must be signed by 2015 and come into force from 2020.

But Ms Figueres' passionate approach to progress has been tested by the slow, tortuous UN process, where consensus is the only way forward.

"I am always frustrated by the pace of the negotiations, I was born impatient. We are moving way, way too slowly, but we are moving in the right direction and that's what gives me courage and hope," she said.

Speaking to the BBC on the sidelines of a climate conference at Chatham House in London, Ms Figueres became tearful when she reflected on the impact that climate change might have on coming generations.

"I'm committed to climate change because of future generations, it is not about us, right? We're out of here," she said.

"I just feel that it is so completely unfair and immoral what we are doing to future generations, we are condemning them before they are even born."

"We have a choice about it, that's the point, we have a choice. If it were inevitable then so be it, but we have a choice to change the future we are going to give our children." Text on the table She said that she was hopeful an agreement could be signed in Paris in 2015 but if that was going to happen, then significant progress had to be made in the next 12 months.

There would need to be the draft text of an agreement when the parties meet in Peru in 2014.

She said she was determined to avoid the mistakes that were made in the run up to Copenhagen in 2009, when expectations of a far reaching global compact faltered.

The social network had introduced a temporary ban in May following complaints that the clips could cause long-term psychological damage.

The US firm confirmed it now believed its users should be free to watch and condemn such videos. It added it was, however, considering adding warnings.

One suicide prevention charity criticised the move.

"It only takes seconds of exposure to such graphic material to leave a permanent trace - particularly in a young person's mind," said Dr Arthur Cassidy, a former psychologist who runs a branch of the Yellow Ribbon Program in Northern Ireland.

"The more graphic and colourful the material is, the more psychologically destructive it becomes."

Facebook allows anyone aged 13 and above to be a member.

Its terms and conditions now state that it will remove photos or videos that "glorify violence" in addition to other banned material, including a woman's "fully exposed breast".

New rules

The BBC was alerted to Facebook's change in policy by a reader who said the firm was refusing to remove a page showing a clip of a masked man killing a woman, which is believed to have been filmed in Mexico It was posted last week under the title, Challenge: Anybody can watch this video?

"Remove this video too many young innocent minds out there shouldn't see this!!!" wrote one user in the comments section below.

"This is absolutely horrible, distasteful and needs to be removed... there are too many young minds that can see this. I'm 23 and I'm very disturbed after seeing a couple of seconds of it," wrote another.

The social network later confirmed it was allowing such material to be posted again.

"Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they're connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events," said a spokeswoman.

"People are sharing this video on Facebook to condemn it. If the video were being celebrated, or the actions in it encouraged, our approach would be different.

"However, since some people object to graphic video of this nature, we are working to give people additional control over the content they see. This may include warning them in advance that the image they are about to see contains graphic content."

Facebook originally pulled decapitation videos after the Family Online Safety Institute - a member of its Safety Advisory Board - complained that they "crossed a line" bearing in mind how young some of its members were.

The social network had introduced a temporary ban in May following complaints that the clips could cause long-term psychological damage.

The US firm confirmed it now believed its users should be free to watch and condemn such videos. It added it was, however, considering adding warnings.

One suicide prevention charity criticised the move.

"It only takes seconds of exposure to such graphic material to leave a permanent trace - particularly in a young person's mind," said Dr Arthur Cassidy, a former psychologist who runs a branch of the Yellow Ribbon Program in Northern Ireland.

"The more graphic and colourful the material is, the more psychologically destructive it becomes."

Facebook allows anyone aged 13 and above to be a member.

Its terms and conditions now state that it will remove photos or videos that "glorify violence" in addition to other banned material, including a woman's "fully exposed breast".

New rules

The BBC was alerted to Facebook's change in policy by a reader who said the firm was refusing to remove a page showing a clip of a masked man killing a woman, which is believed to have been filmed in Mexico It was posted last week under the title, Challenge: Anybody can watch this video?

"Remove this video too many young innocent minds out there shouldn't see this!!!" wrote one user in the comments section below.

"This is absolutely horrible, distasteful and needs to be removed... there are too many young minds that can see this. I'm 23 and I'm very disturbed after seeing a couple of seconds of it," wrote another.

The social network later confirmed it was allowing such material to be posted again.

"Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they're connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events," said a spokeswoman.

"People are sharing this video on Facebook to condemn it. If the video were being celebrated, or the actions in it encouraged, our approach would be different.

"However, since some people object to graphic video of this nature, we are working to give people additional control over the content they see. This may include warning them in advance that the image they are about to see contains graphic content."

Facebook originally pulled decapitation videos after the Family Online Safety Institute - a member of its Safety Advisory Board - complained that they "crossed a line" bearing in mind how young some of its members were.

The long-awaited cross-platform offering, which was delayed after issues arose following the initial launch last month, is now being rolled out in a phased manner.

"To help manage this unprecedented pent-up demand for BBM, we are implementing a simple line-up system to ensure a smooth rollout," Andrew Bocking, who heads the BlackBerry's BBM business, said in a blog post on the company's website.

BlackBerry said last week that 6 million Android and iPhone customers had pre-registered for the launch.

Le Monde said the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) recorded 70.3 million items of French telephone data between December 10, 2012 and January 8, 2013 and had collected tens of thousands of French phone records.

Its targets appeared to be individuals suspected of links to terrorism, but also people tied to French business or politics, the paper said.

The allegations tested France's relations with Washington just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris for the start of a European tour over Syria.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the Le Monde report on Monday had revealed "unacceptable practices".

"We have extremely useful cooperation with the United States in the struggle against terrorism, but this cooperation does not justify everything," Fabius told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with EU counterparts in Luxembourg.

"So we've asked the United States to provide clarifications, explanations and justifications extremely quickly," he added.

Speaking to reporters in Paris, Kerry declined to comment on Washington's intelligence-gathering as a matter of policy, but said that the United States would hold talks with France and other allies on the issue.

"Our goal is always to try to find the right balance between protecting the security and the privacy of our citizens and this work is going to continue as well as our very close consultations with our friends here in France," Kerry said.

The U.S. embassy in Paris said Ambassador Charles Rivkin had promised Fabius's chief of staff that he would convey France's concerns to Washington.

Rivkin declined immediate comment but stressed that U.S.-French ties were close. "This relationship on a military, intelligence, special forces ... level is the best it's been in a generation," Rivkin told Reuters as Kerry arrived in Paris.

The scope of the NSA's alleged surveillance programme may overshadow a relationship that has appeared strong in recent years as Paris and Washington cooperated closely on national security and united to bring pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit.

In July, Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiry into the NSA's programme, known as Prism, after Britain's Guardian newspaper and Germany magazine Der Spiegel revealed wide-scale spying by the agency leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Combined shipments of computers, tablets and mobile phones will reach 2.32 billion units in 2013, a 4.5 percent increase on 2012, Gartner forecast. Shipments of tablets are expected to rise 53.4 percent to 184 million.

Traditional desktop and laptop computers will continue to decline, with shipments forecast to total 303 million units, an 11.2 percent drop on 2012, the research group said.

The mobile phone market will continue to experience steady growth, it said, with shipments projected to increase by 3.7 percent to more than 1.8 billion units, it said.

Price competition is strongest for the smaller, 7-inch, tablets, Gartner said.