Singapore  - The Singapore tourism industry hit some records in 2008 even though visitor numbers fell and tourism spending fell short of targets.

The city-state welcomed 10.1 million visitors last year, 1.6 per cent fewer than in 2007 and below the 10.8 million target set for 2008, media reports said Wednesday.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board, the decline in visitor arrivals reflected the impact of the global economic slowdown on consumer sentiment and discretionary spending.

Tokyo  - The Tokyo market bounced back Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak thanks to overnight rises on Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 168.58 points in morning trading, or 2.15 per cent, to 7,994.09.

The broader Topix index of all first section issues was also up 10.47 points, or 1.35 per cent, at 784.26.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 89.35-40 yen, down from Tuesday's 5 pm quote of 89.72-74 yen.

With the intention to defeat the language barrier to computing, technology giant Microsoft has presented different custom made products, which are specifically directed at the vernacular language market.

The vernacular language market is a market that has been largely left untapped up till now.

It is an important step taken by Microsoft as the language barrier is an additional challenge towards providing access to information to a big part of country’s (India) population. This helps them to participate in India’s growth curve.

Washington  - They already call each other by their first names.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, looking forward to a warmer era of diplomatic relations with the United States under President Barack Obama, called the new top US diplomat "Madame Secretary Hillary" or simply, "Hillary," a sign of friendship for Germans, who often call each other by their last names even after decades.

Sydney  - Toxic debt has beaten bromance and textaholic to become Australia's Word of the Year, contest organizer Macquarie Dictionary announced Wednesday.

Defined as lending that "proves subsequently to be financially worthless," the term won the title because of it's notoriety as the root cause of the financial crisis still shaking economies around the world.

Macquarie publisher Sue Butler said that "as a lexical creation (it has) a visceral impact."

Sydney  - Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd said Wednesday that crumbling commodity prices had halved its first-half profits.

BHP's net profit for the six months to December was down 57 per cent to 2.6 billion US dollars, from 6 billion US dollars in the corresponding period in the previous financial year.

The poor result reflected write-downs for mothballing its Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia and other projects.

BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers said the outlook as "weak, uncertain and volatile."