AWARDS

Apple Inc's new music streaming service has netted more than 6.5 million paid users, the tech giant's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said on Monday.

Speaking at a technology conference organized by The Wall Street Journal in Laguna Beach, Calif., Cook said that an additional 8.5 million people are participating in a free trial of the Apple Music service. That gives it more than 15 million users in total, which Cook described as a successful debut.

"I'm really happy about it, and I think the runway here is really good," Cook said.

Released in June, Apple Music is the company's attempt to carry its dominance of digital music through its iTunes store into the era of music streaming pioneered by Spotify and others. Apple is allowing users to test its service with a 90-day free trial, which elapsed for the first users earlier this month.

Analysts have predicted that Apple's service will find a strong following due to the vast installed base of iTunes users, but few think the iPhone maker will eclipse other music streaming companies. Spotify, the industry leader, has more than 20 million paid subscribers worldwide, the company has told Reuters.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Gerard Baker, editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, Cook also touched on Apple TV, which recently received a long-awaited update. A new version of the set-top box featuring apps and expanded search features will be released later this month, but the product does not include a streaming TV service, which industry executives say the company is exploring.

Although television has been slow to change, Cook expressed optimism that the industry will eventually embrace his vision of apps for TV.

"There are very few content owners that believe that the existing model will last forever," Cook said. "I think the most forward-thinking ones are looking and saying, 'I'd rather have the first-mover advantage.'"

Cook did not publicly acknowledge efforts by Apple to build an electric vehicle, which sources tell Reuters are under way. But he sketched out his future vision of what cars will look like, with a greater infusion of technology.

"What I see is that software becomes an increasingly important component of the car of the future," he said. "You see that autonomous driving becomes much more important."

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Canada's Liberal leader Justin Trudeau rode a late surge to a stunning majority election victory on Monday, toppling Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives with a promise of change and returning a touch of glamor, youth and charisma to Ottawa.

Harper conceded defeat and the Conservative party announced his resignation, ending a nine-year run in power and the 56-year-old's brand of fiscal and cultural conservatism that voters appeared to sour on.

The Liberals seized a Parliamentary majority, a turn in political fortunes that smashed the record for the number of seats gained from one election to the next. The center-left Liberals had been a distant third place party before this election.

"My friends, we beat fear with hope. We beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together," Trudeau, 43, told a crowd of cheering supporters in Montreal.

"This is what positive politics can do."

The photogenic son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau pledged to run a C$10 billion annual budget deficit for three years to invest in infrastructure and help stimulate Canada's anemic economic growth.

This rattled financial markets ahead of the vote and the Canadian dollar weakened on news of his victory.

Trudeau thanked his two closest friends and advisers for shaping his campaign to show "that you can appeal to the better angels of our nature. And you can win doing it."

Trudeau has said he will repair Canada's cool relations with the Obama administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against Islamic State militants in favor of humanitarian aid and training, and tackle climate change.

Trudeau vaulted from third place to lead the polls in the final days of the campaign, and will now return to the Prime Minister's residence in Ottawa where he grew up as a child.

"When the time for change strikes, it's lethal," former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said in a television interview. "I ran and was successful because I wasn't Pierre Trudeau. Justin is successful because he isn't Stephen Harper."

Liberal supporters at the party's campaign headquarters broke into cheers and whistles when television projected that Trudeau would be the next prime minister.

The Conservatives become the official opposition in Parliament, with the left-leaning New Democratic Party in third.

The NDP's fall was highlighted in Quebec, where it had the majority of its seats, while the separatist Bloc Quebecois won 10 seats, up from just two previously. BQ leader Gilles Duceppe, however, failed to win a seat.

The Liberals' win marks a swing toward a more multilateral approach in global politics by the Canadian government, which has distanced itself from the United Nations in recent years.

The former teacher took charge of the party just two years ago and guided it out of the political wilderness with a pledge of economic stimulus and stirring appeals for a return to social liberalism.

Born to a sitting prime minister who came to power in 1968 on a wave of popular support dubbed "Trudeaumania," Trudeau will become the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history and brings an appeal more common in movie stars than statesmen.

Pierre once jumped from a trampoline into the crowd. With boyish good looks, Justin thrusts himself into throngs and puts his hand to his heart when listening to someone.

Selfie requests are so common he happily takes the camera and snaps the photo himself, often cheek to cheek. He is the married father of three young children.

Criticized for being more style than substance, Trudeau has used attacks on his good looks and privileged upbringing to win over voters, who recalled his father's rock-star presence and an era when Canada had some sizzle on the world stage.

Pierre Trudeau, who died in 2000, was in power for 15 years - with a brief interruption - and remains one of the few Canadian leaders to be known abroad.

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Love is finally going to be available on the public market.

The Match Group filed for an IPO Friday, applying to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker "MTCH."

The S-1 filing says there are over 45 sites in Match's portfolio, including Match itself, OkCupid and Tinder, along with less well-known sites like Our-Time and BlackPeopleMeet. All, of course, are geared toward fulfilling a mission to "increase romantic connectivity worldwide."

The Match Group has been a part of IAC/Interactive (IACI), the conglomerate run by media mogul Barry Diller. The Match Group had 4.7 million paying subscribers worldwide at the end of the third quarter. It reported revenue of nearly $900 million in 2014 and net earnings of $148 million.

In its filing, Match Group said it would consolidate the roles of CEO and chairman by the end of 2015, which are currently held by Greg Blatt and Sam Yagan. Blatt will take over both roles and Yagan, who cofounded OkCupid which was later acquired by Match, "is expected to continue to serve in a senior leadership position."

IAC also owns many other popular websites and apps -- including Vimeo, The Daily Beast, About.com and search engine Ask -- which many still remember as the old Ask Jeeves. IAC has sold off pieces of other units to the public before, including Expedia (EXPE), TripAdvisor (TRIP), HSN (HSNI) and Live Nation (LYV).

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China's economy has posted its slowest growth since the financial crisis, erasing hopes of a quick recovery for the world's second-largest economy.

Gross domestic product expanded by 6.9% in the third quarter, compared to the same period last year, according to data released Monday by China's National Bureau of Statistics.

Analysts have known for a long time that China's growth would slow. It had to weaken, in fact, as Beijing made reforms designed to shift the country away from relying on building roads, railways and housing to generate growth, to an economy powered by consumer spending.

That's happening now. Beijing's growth target for the year is 7% -- a goal that was met in the first six months. Seven percent is a far cry from the heady days when China was pumping out GDP growth of 10% on a regular basis. But it's also strong enough to maintain employment levels.

Louis Kuijs, an economist at Oxford Economics, said the GDP data indicate China has avoided a sharp slowdown. However, incremental stimulus measures will be required if Beijing is to keep its growth target within range.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has acknowledged worries over the slowdown, which has hit global commodity prices and slammed countries that depend on exports to China.

"As an economy closely linked to international markets, China cannot stay immune to the lackluster performance of the global economy," Xi told Reuters in a rare interview released over the weekend. "We do have concerns about the Chinese economy, and we are working hard to address them."

This month's annual meeting of the Communist Party will be watched closely for signs that Beijing may be ready to intervene more aggressively to boost growth.

The government is expected to unveil its five-year social and economic plan for 2016 to 2020 at the meeting. Experts say the government will likely continue with piecemeal stimulus to support the economy and keep risks at bay.

The central bank has already cut interest rates a handful of times this year, and told banks they could lend more.

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