Three global telecom firms Huawei, Telsima and Alvarion emerged as front runner for bid order of BSNL's WiMax equipment. The winners are expected to be announced next week, enabling launch of much awaited Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) services by state owned telecom giant.

Other telecom companies such as ZTE and Alactel-Lucent are also in the race. However, they have to face stiff competition from foreign telecom players on the lowest price (L1) issue.

The ongoing global slowdown has started to erode salaries of top executives of India's top IT services provider, Infosys Technologies. The company has decided to pay minimum discretionary pay to staff in a bid to control costs and mitigate the impact of global slowdown on Friday.

The chief executive of IT firm, Kris Gopalakrishnan, said, "This is going to be a prolonged downturn. Slow performance, the increment to its employees will be minimal this time around. "

GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) and MAS Aerospace Engineering (MAE), a fully-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, has penned down an agreement to form a 50:50 joint venture christened MAS-GMR Aerospace Engineering Company to develop a MRO facility in Hyderabad.

The facility, with an investment of Rs 400-crore, would come up on 25 acres in two phases at the GMR Aerospace Park, situated near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

Now the sea lovers can cruise their way to their favorite destinations as the recession makes the cruise industry to come up with all kinds of cruise deals to attract the consumer. This includes attractive offers like discounted airfare, free tickets for kids, onboard credits, lower deposits and deals on cancellation insurance.

Australia has seen a spurt in the birth rate in what appears to be in answer to the former treasurer's Peter Costello's exhortation for Australian couples to have another child "for the country".

From the mid 1990's Australia's birth rate had been stagnant showing between 255,000 and 260,000 babies born every year. In 2004, the then treasurer Peter Costello introduced the $3000 Baby Bonus payment and research has shown the birth rate in NSW for women having their third or subsequent child rising significantly across all sectors of society.