South Korea's Samsung Electronics Friday estimated first-quarter operating profit at 5.8 trillion won ($5.14 billion), a 97 percent rise from a year earlier.

The world's largest technology firm by revenue was releasing earnings guidance for January-March before its official results.

The last Boeing 747 passenger service operated by Singapore Airlines took off Friday for a commemorative farewell return trip to Hong Kong, the Agence France Presse reported Friday.

Flight SQ747, carrying more than 350 passengers, was due to touch down in Singapore at 7:30 pm (1130 GMT).

Iraq approved a request from Kuwait's Jazeera Airways to operate services to Baghdad and Najaf, more than 20 years after direct flights between the neighbors were halted, officials said Thursday.

"We agreed yesterday to the request of the Kuwaiti Jazeera Airways company to (begin) flights from Kuwait to Iraq," said Nasser Hussein Bandar, the head of Iraq's civil aviation authority.

Iraq resumed pumping oil via a pipeline through Turkey after a fire resulting from an "act of sabotage" was brought under control, the Iraqi oil ministry said on Thursday.

"The pumping of oil was resumed at mid-day (0900 GMT) at the same rate after the fire was brought under control," ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told Agence France Presse.

The fallen Franco-Belgian bank Dexia finalized the sale of a 90 percent stake in its Luxembourg unit to a Qatari investment fund, the bank said Thursday.

"Precision Capital, a Qatari investment group, will acquire 90 percent of Dexia's stake in Banque Internationale Luxembourg," Dexia said in a statement, adding that the state of Luxembourg will acquire the remaining 10 percent as part of the deal.

Oil recovered in Asian trade Thursday after sharp losses in New York triggered by a larger-than-expected jump in US crude stocks, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in May, gained 78 cents to $102.25 per barrel in the afternoon while Brent North Sea crude for May rose $1.04 to $123.38.

Fuel began arriving in Gaza on Wednesday as per a new deal between the territory's Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, an official said.

"Tanks of fuel holding 45,000 liters each entered through the Kerem Shalom crossing this morning," Raed Futuh, the coordinator on the Palestinian side of the crossing, told Agence France Presse.

Oil fell in Asian trade Wednesday as hopes for a fresh dose of monetary stimulus from U.S. Federal Reserve were doused by the U.S. central bank, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in May, shed 43 cents to $103.58 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for May settlement was down 20 cents at $124.66 in the afternoon.

Renault-Nissan is aiming for more than a 10 percent share of the U.S. auto market, the alliance's boss Carlos Ghosn told Agence France Presse on Tuesday on the heels of encouraging sales figures.

"We want to reach 10 percent then we will set a goal" for a bigger market share, "but first we need to reach (10%) for more than one consecutive month," said Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan Alliance's chief executive.

New car registrations in Germany, a key gauge of demand in one of the most important sectors of Europe's biggest economy, rose in March, official data showed on Tuesday.

A total 339,123 new cars were registered last month, 3.4 percent more than the same month last year, the German federal motor transport authority KBA calculated in its monthly statistics.