MicroWorld, a provider of anti-virus and content security solutions provider, has rolled out the Beta version of its eScan 10 anti-virus solution.

The eScan 10 anti-virus solution is faster and more efficient than any other Anti Virus software as it features heuristic scanning ability and an in-built firewall to protect systems from network attacks.

The company said that eScan 10 offers protection against all kinds of threats including viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware and other security threats.

Rome - Italy's economy has contracted for the second consecutive quarter, marking a recession that comes in the wake of the international credit crunch, the country's central statistics office said Friday.

Gross domestic product in the third quarter in Italy - the eurozone's third largest economy - shrank 0.5 per cent from the second quarter, when it contracted 0.4 per cent, the Rome-based Istat said.

The third quarter fell 0.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2007.

Italy follows Germany, Europe's largest economy, in posting two consecutive quarters of contraction - the technical definition of a recession.

Berlin - German experts compiling a brief for the G20 summit in Washington are to call for a revision of the way banking executives are paid and a worldwide loan registry, sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Friday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck commissioned the experts to rapidly draft a set of proposals and report back Friday.

Led by Otmar Issing, a former chief economist of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, they said short-term performance bonuses for financial executives had been a significant cause of the global financial crisis.

Warsaw - Union members in Warsaw left Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office on Friday morning after spending two nights in the building, threatening a general strike and saying it was "cowardly" to relocate the office.

Members of "August 80" - a more hard-line group than the Solidarity union - have been occupying Tusk's offices since Wednesday in protest over a bill that would slash early retirement. But they left the building on Friday morning after officials said Tusk's office had been temporarily relocated.

Bangkok - Thais from all walks of life and provinces near and far flocked to Bangkok's Sanam Luang - the Royal Grounds - Friday to attend the royal funeral of Princess Galyani Vadhana, elder sister of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

"I arrived at 4 am this morning and will stay here until the funeral is over tomorrow night," said Lek Paekhajae, 65, a farmer from Nakorn Sawan, 210 kilometres north of Bangkok. "We are here because we love the princess and the king."

Like many other mourners from the provinces, Lek and his wife plan to sleep outside at Sanam Luang, located in the heart of old Bangkok, to reserve a front row observation point at the princess' funeral procession on Saturday.

Vienna - The price for