The phone comes pre-loaded with popular games like Crazy Birds, Fruit Ninjia, Pentachess, Call of Atlantis and Yumsters. The phone also offers support for accessing social networking sites such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook.

The phone bundles a free pair of 3D glasses and comes with 10 pre-loaded films available in 4GB multimedia card. The phone also lets users to store and watch unlimited videos at the rate of 30 frames per second.

The handset supports both English and Hindi languages and includes a Intex Zone — an eclectic assortment of various functions like Answering Machine, Mobile Tracker, Auto Call Record, Google, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook and Games.

Intex Avatar is priced at Rs 3690.

Recently, many mobile manufacturers have launched new mobiles with the pursuit of attracting more customers. But it seems like the battle will be won by the legendary BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900. It has been reported that the new BlackBerry will provide its user a quick and speedy touchscreen response.

Besides, the mobile is well equipped with a 5 mega-pixel camera, an enhanced voice-enabled Universal Search, java and Near Field Communication (NFC) support. And when it comes to memory and data storage, the devise have an 8GB onboard memory for data storage with additional 32GB of SDHC cards for memory expansion.

It has been revealed that the device will be sold in India under the price tag of Rs 32,500. Moreover, the mobile will be offered to the customers with a 1.5 year warranty. Previously, the RIM announced to launch a seven smartphones, the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 is one of them.

The official orders in this regard is expected to be issued soon, government sources said.
Priyadarshan, 54, succeeds eminent director K R Mohan as head of the film academy.

One of the nationally acclaimed directors from Kerala, Priyadarshan has made films in various Indian languages since he started his career in Malayalam in 1984. He also made a mark as a script-writer.

He has received several prestigious honours, including the national award for best feature for ‘Kanchivaram’ in 2008.

His widely appreciated Malayalam works include ‘Kilukkam’, ‘Thalavattom’, ‘Chithram’ and ‘Vandanam’.

“If you will do my film I shall pay you 2 cr and if the film will not be super hit then I shall pay you 5 cr as fine,” KRK sent the tweet to Mallika.

Not only this he wants John Abraham to play her boyfriend. The script demands Mallika Sherawat to play a girl who dates many guys at a time.

“Why did I offer film to John and Malika? According to script I need a man who is good boyfriend and a female who is having 3 boyfriends,” KRK wrote on his Twitter page.

“Malika ji is very open minded girl she doesn’t mind to have many boyfriends so people will accept her in that character easily,” he added.

Kalam Rashid Khan throws an open challenge to Mallika.

“I challenge you that one day you will accept my offer,” he tweeted to Mallika.

“I’m the only person in the world that doesn’t want there to be an eighth Harry Potter book,” he told Star magazine.

“Believe me, I’ve given 10 years – I can! I think it’s been an amazing 10 years and I would be quite happy for it to finish at this point because the stories were rounded off in such a succinct and perfect way,” said the actor who will be seen in the last installment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which is releasing on Friday.

The 21-year-old, who started his journey with the franchise in 2001 with “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, however, admits he will always be “proud” of his work on the movie series, reports contactmusic.com.

“Every opportunity I will get for the rest of my life, I would not have got if it wasn’t for Harry Potter. It would be the height of ingratitude if I was ever anything but proud to be associated with these films,” said the actor who was only 11 when he did his first Potter movie.

Twenty members of Jago Hind Sangathan were arrested for the attack on Anoop Talkies in the MIG area, police said.

The organisation alleges that the film’s dialogues are “vulgar” and “set a bad example” for the youth.

Chairs, glass doors and posters at the cinema were damaged.

Earlier, the organisation protested against the film in front of a multiplex in the city and torched posters, warning of violence if screenings were not stopped.

“This is a very special milestone for Nokia’s Chennai manufacturing facility and we thank our employees for all their hard work and dedication. We have created a unique record across the world – this is not only a proud moment for us at Nokia, but a major highlight in India’s young and rising electronics manufacturing industry. This achievement only proves that with the right kind of organisation focus, employee contribution and government support, India can deliver world-class manufacturing standards and set new benchmarks”, said Prakash Katama, Director – Chennai Factory Operations, Nokia India.

Prakash Katama added, “Nokia’s factory network globally is a strategic differentiator for the company. Among all global telecom companies, it was Nokia which first envisioned India as a destination for mobile phone manufacturing. With this milestone, our India facility’s proven record of quality and fast time-to-market abilities will be strengths for Nokia to leverage in future as well. The handsets manufactured here go to over 100 countries covering six continents.”

Celebrating the milestone

As part of its celebrations, Nokia today announced that the 500th million phone – a Nokia C3-00 – will be specially autographed by Nokia’s brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan, and be available for auction to consumers through http://nokia500million.com. Nokia will match the amount raised through the auction, and the total proceeds will be donated by Nokia to a charity. The auction will begin today and end on 15th May 2011. Besides becoming the proud owner of the specially endorsed milestone phone, Nokia will also host the highest bidder to watch the IPL 4 cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians in Kolkata on May 22, 2011. The winner will personally receive the 500th million device from Shahrukh Khan.

Nokia also announced today that all the employees at its Chennai manufacturing facility will be gifted with a Nokia C3-00 as a gesture of appreciation for contributing towards achieving this milestone.

Nokia’s success in Chennai

Nokia’s Chennai manufacturing facility is recognised as a catalyst to the development of electronics manufacturing in the Chennai region, and a key catalyst to mobile handsets manufacturing in India. Nokia was the first global telecom company to setup a plant in India to produce mobile phones, by starting the Chennai facility in January, 2006. The company has since then grown from a 550-member workforce to a strong 8,000 plus member workforce, among which 70 percent are women.

Nokia’s Chennai plant crossed 1 million handsets production in March, 2006. Initially aimed to serve the needs of the rapidly growing Indian market, approximately 50 percent of the current production today is consumed domestically and the rest is exported to 100 countries including the Middle East and Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, North America and Europe.

Chennai was selected as the location for the Nokia Telecom SEZ Park because of the availability of skilled labor, support from the state government and the presence of good logistics connections. The Nokia Telecom SEZ Park aims to create a network of co-located and co-dependent partners that operate at world class standards and manufacture high quality products. The Nokia Telecom SEZ Park today houses five global component manufacturers – Salcomp, Foxconn, Perlos, Laird and Wintek. Today, the total employment opportunity (direct and indirect) created through the Nokia Telecom SEZ Park exceeds 25,000.

Nokia’s Chennai facility is based on global standards and can efficiently manage production of all types of Nokia handsets. Some recent models produced at the facility include Nokia X2, C3, 2690 and 5130. With the completion of Phase III of the operations, the Chennai facility’s built up space now covers over 90,000 sq. metres.

Nokia operates 10 manufacturing facilities in 9 countries around the world. Nokia recently announced its 11th manufacturing site in Vietnam as part of its global manufacturing network.

About Nokia

At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device – from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more. Nokia’s NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.

It stated that despite near universal mobile phone use, there had been no jump in the number of tumours.

Its report, in Environmental Health Perspectives, also identified flaws in many studies investigating a link.

A few weeks ago the World Health Organization said mobiles were “possibly carcinogenic”.

The decision by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) put mobile phones in the same category as coffee, in which a link could not be ruled out, but it could not be proved either.

Heavy users
One of the biggest studies into a link was Interphone, a comparison of 2,708 patients with a brain tumour (glioma) with a similar number of people without.

The study concluded that mobile phone users were less likely to get brain tumours, but heavy users had an increased risk.

Professor Anthony Swerdlow, from the Institute of Cancer Research, said there was a risk of bias when patients with brain tumours answered questionnaires about their phone use.

Ten patients in the study said they were on the phone for more than 12 hours per day.

He added that in the space of 20 years, mobile phone use had gone from being rare to 4.6 billion users worldwide.

Yet evidence from many Western countries showed “no indication of increases in brain tumour incidence”.

Professor Swerdlow said: “The trend in the accumulating evidence is increasingly against the hypothesis that mobile phone use can cause brain tumours in adults.”

Childhood exposure
The report admits that there is still some uncertainty.

Studies have looked at a link associated with 10 to 15 years of mobile phone use and it remains a possibility that longer exposure could cause cancer.

However, Professor Swerdlow argues that if studies looking at longer exposure produce similar results, then a link will become “increasingly implausible”.

He adds that “there is far less evidence of the effect of childhood exposure, but there is no reason to believe it causes tumours”.

Cancer Research UK’s Dr Joanna Owens said: “Although these researchers admit that we can’t entirely rule out the idea of a link between mobile phones and brain cancer, they remind us that in most of the research, including their large international study, mobile phone users don’t seem to be at increased risk.

“We don’t yet have data on very long-term use of mobile phones, or for the effects on cancer risk in children, so it is probably wise to encourage children to limit their mobile phone call time.”

Professor David Coggon, University of Southampton, said: “This is a carefully considered review, and the conclusions are justified.

“Mobile phones appear not to cause brain cancer in the first 10-15 years after people start using them.

“Continued research is needed in case there are harmful effects in the longer term, but the news so far is good.”

The committee is headed by Prof Roddam Narasimha and includes Dr Anil Kakodkar, Dr M.K.Bhan, Prof A.K.Sood, Prof V.Kannan, Prof K.Vijayraghavan, Prof Baldev Raj and Prof Ashustosh Sharma.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal attended the first meeting of the committee here yesterday, at which the Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ms Vibha Puri Das, and other senior officers of the Ministry were also present.

Mr Sibal said the committee would advise the Government on a holistic approach to research in science and technology, on strategies, schemes and measures that provide a vision and yet show a specific path for implementation.

Specifically, he suggested that the committee could delineate strategies and measures to attract students to science and mathematics at the secondary level and simultaneously to improve teaching in these subjects in schools.

He said it could also identify emerging areas in science and technology for focusing through the university system, specify schemes with investment plans to facilitate creation of research infrastructure and expansion of the number of institutions of quality involved in research, develop schemes to attract global talent in research to Indian Universities and initiatives for faculty potential enhancement, and develop mechanisms for competitive research funding and research audit of institutions.

He said the task entrusted to the committee was vast and urged it to prioritise its areas of focus and submit recommendations from time to time on specific topics that require the attention of the Government and policy makers.

He said the committee could consult such persons as they deem fit and engage consultants to aid and assist in their task.

It was also decided that the committee may meet as often as they require and submit reports from time to time but shall meet with the Human Resource Development Minister in chair every three or four months to deliberate on recommendations that may require intervention of the Minister.

The band from Kerala, which was formed in 2003, played folk-rock numbers at the show, and had elements of Malayali poetry in the music for the show.

After the audience gave them a huge applause, we spoke to their vocalist Neha, who joined the band two years ago. She told us why the band is named Avial, which is the name of a dish! “In Kerala, Avial is a dish prepared by mixing different vegetables, and since our band is a mix of different genres of music, it is an apt name for us,” she explained. Band member Tony John added, “We like performing in Delhi. We’ve performed here four times before.”