United Overseas Bank, the third largest bank in Singapore, reported a whopping 57.2% increase in net earnings to $552 Million for the year's fourth-quarter, as compared to last year, mainly on the back of lesser impairment charges.

Total operating income declined by 7.9% to $1.2 Billion, with both net interest income and non-interest earnings contracting over the period. Total operating expenses, on the other hand, surged by 4.1% to $554 Million, mainly on higher staff costs.

The results were mainly boosted by the steep decline in provisions for bad debt.

Hyundai Motor Co. on Wednesday extended a voluntary recall of its new Sonata sedan, latest model this year, in South Korea and the U. S. in a view to fix faulty latches on the vehicle's front doors.

It revealed that nearly 46,000 cars in South Korea and 1,300 in the U. S are called, after customers in the U. S. complained that, sometimes, the latch gets stuck after the door is opened and then can't be closed.

The Blackberry Storm2 is bringing up the T-Mobile offering the handset with touch screen.

The phone comes with a display that measures 3.25 inch which is a SurePress touchscreen at 360 x 480 resolution. The phone also features a camera with a resolution of 3.2-megapixels with auto focus, flash as well as video capabilities.

The patent, filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, describes a controller that can work with past and present consoles, including the Amiga CD-32 and Atari Jaguar.

In addition, it will even support other contemporary rival consoles, including those from Nintendo, Sega and Microsoft. The controller is developed to emulate the gamepads and peripherals used by other platforms.

Amidst concern over visitors, Genting Singapore Plc., owner of Singapore’s first casino, fell for the fourth day. At close, the stock lost 1.1% to 94 Singapore cents. It was down by 11% since Resorts World Sentosa opened its gambling facility on February 14.

It has been reported that the China Investment Corp. or the CIC has actually authorized three managers, which actually includes the Goldman Sachs Group Inc., to go ahead and make a good investment on the secondary market of private - equity. The amount to be invested is around $1.5 billion.

Putting down a rumor about its plans of setting up of an app store, HTC expressed its strong commitment to its partners Microsoft and Google.

"Our commitment to Microsoft has never changed. Of course, we are very committed to Android as well. We are very long-term committed to those two", said Peter Chou, HTC's CEO.