British Telecom Group Plc (BT), the UK's largest phone company, said it would cut its workforce by 6 per cent in the year through March, which would affect areas of ‘indirect labour’ such as agency, contractors, sub-contractors and offshore workers. BT has a workforce of 1,60,000 and it will cut 10,000 jobs by 2009. Most of these employees would be those who are in probation period and those hired on contractual basis. The impact will be most visible on Tech Mahindra, the IT arm of Mahindra & Mahindra group, BT contributes over 60 per cent to its revenue (around Rs 2,600 crore as of FY08). For Infosys, BT is its top client and one of among the top 10 for TCS.
RIL and RNRL are locked in a legal dispute over terms of Gas Supply Master Agreement whereby RIL is to supply gas to RNRL for latter's power plants. Gas production by Reliance Industries is slated to start next year but RNRL will take about three years to put up its power plant at Dadari in Uttar Pradesh. RNRL wants gas for 17 years and current GSMA does not assure this, it says. Therefore, the High Court suggested to RNRL that if court were to accept RNRL's case, it can order that the contract period of 17 years would start only after Anil Ambani power plant is up and running.
Anil Ambani Group company RNRL today demanded that Mukesh's RIL pay the difference between the price at which it will sell gas to other buyers and 2.34 USD, the rate at which RNRL is seeking gas, as an interim solution to the dispute between the Ambani siblings.

The fifth annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study estimated that the global piracy rate in 2007 rose from 35 per cent to 38 per cent, while economic losses due to PC software piracy increased by $8.5 billion to $48 billion. In an effort to combat the effects of pirated and counterfeit software, Microsoft has announced Global Anti-Piracy Day to mark the launch of a collection of intellectual property awareness campaigns, educational forums, partner engagements and law enforcement initiatives worldwide.
The initiative, which spans 49 countries across six continents, is part of Microsoft's ongoing efforts to protect its intellectual property, customers and partners.
According to Microsoft, counterfeit software may not run properly and exposes customers to increased risk of viruses, worms, spyware and Trojan horses. As a result, companies who pirate software risk security breaches, lost data, and a damaged reputation.

Germany has officially plunged into recession with economic activity contracting much faster than expected in the third quarter, intensifying fears about the depth and duration of continental Europe’s downturn.
Gross domestic product in Europe’s largest economy fell by 0.5 per cent in the three months to September, extending a 0.4 per cent drop in the previous quarter, the German statistical office reported.
Germany's Industrial outptr fell 3.6% in September.