Last year, Telstra had predicted a record number of SMS messages to be circulated on its network for New Years, and this year as well, the telecom giant has shared a similar forecast, which has essentially come through Telstra's Executive Director of the Consumer division, Jenny Young.

A lawsuit which has been going on for over 10 years, pitting a much smaller firm called Convolve against the giant Seagate Technology, has now taken an unexpected and interesting turn, with an ex-employee stepping in to explain how Seagate "appropriated" a technology by Convolve, and later "destroyed the evidence".

Frauds and embezzlements, it seems, have increased in China manifolds. The year 2009 has seen over 34.4 billion dollars missing from public funds in China.

Luxury and fancies have become an essential part of State company Czars and other top officials in China. Over 230 people, including 67 government officials have been under check by the judicial authorities on the case of these missing funds.

The audit covered 99,000 companies, government agencies and public institutions across the nation.

To meet the rapid increase in traveling demands, the China Eastern Airlines has expressed a major interest in buying 16 Airbus A330 planes which will be accounted for around 17.7 billion yuan. With these 16 Airbus A330 planes, the company's capacity will increase 15.22 percent. The planes would be delivered between 2011 to 2014.

The purchase, as confirmed by the company, will be funded through loans from the country's major banks.

China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd. and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co. are interested to take over Vancouver-based miner Corriente Resources Inc. for 679 million Canadian dollars.

China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd., China's second-biggest railway builder, wants to buy Corriente in a 50-50 partnership with Chinese copper miner. The companies are ready to offer C$8.60 a share to Corriente shareholders which are 14% premium to the company's last traded share of C$7.55.

On Monday, Singapore extended its financial support for companies by a whole year, which was initiated by the country to make sure that its economy does not completely collapse during the global financial crisis.

About 8.4 billion Singapore dollars ($6.0 billion) have been introduced in various financial schemes. Singapore is the worst hit economy in Asia and started rising from crises in the third quarter when the economy rose by 14.2%.

On Monday, the Florida Supreme Court ordered local judges to adopt a proper, uniform mediation program which they would follow in all cases of foreclosures, as well as other interventions, to effectively deal with the huge wave of foreclosure cases that have ended up clogging the courts.