Pop star Madonna is urging her fans to dig deep to raise money to build a girls’ school in Malawi, the home country of her adopted son David.
The singer posted a message on her website saying the project was “very near and dear to my heart”.
She said she felt it was her mission to help “impoverished girls to reach their full potential”.
Madonna and her estranged husband, Guy Ritchie, adopted three-year-old David in 2006.
The adoption was made official in May 2008, just months before Madonna and Ritchie announced the end of their marriage after nearly eight years.
Speaking of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls appeal, Madonna said: “There are very few girls in Africa in general who are encouraged or allowed to go to secondary school.
“So after spending a lot of time there I realised that one of the ways I could help was to build a girls’ school.”
She added: “Every donation counts towards helping impoverished girls to reach their full potential.”
More than half of the population of Malawi lives below the poverty line, and extreme weather - from drought to floods - puts its food supplies under constant threat.
There is also a high rate of HIV and Aids infection among the 13.9 million-strong population.

General 2G Network     GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced     2008, November
Status     Coming soon. Exp. release 2008, November
Size Dimensions     113.5 x 63.1 x 13.9 mm
Weight     151 g
Display Type     TFT touchscreen, 65K colors
Size     480 x 800 pixels, 3.8 inches
- TouchFLO 3D finger swipe navigation
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
- Touch-sensitive navigation controls
- Handwriting recognition
Ringtones Type     Polyphonic (40 channels), MP3, WAV, WMA
Customization     Download
Vibration     Yes
Memory Phonebook     Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records     Practically unlimited
Card slot     microSD (TransFlash)
- 288 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM
- 8 GB user available memory
- Qualcomm ESM7206A 528 Mhz processor
Data GPRS     Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD     Yes
EDGE     Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G     No
WLAN     Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, WiMAX 802.16 e
Bluetooth     Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port     No
USB     Yes, miniUSB
Features OS     Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Messaging     SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser     WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Games     Yes
Colors     Black
Camera     3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus, video, secondary VGA videocall camera
- Yota Mobile WiMAX 2,5-2.7 GHz
- Yota TV
- Built-in GPS receiver
- A-GPS function
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- MP3/MPEG-4 player
- Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer)
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Voice memo
- Built-in handsfree
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh
Stand-by     Up to 350 h
Talk time     Up to 7 h

Light of weight and heavy on looks, easy on the wallet and keen on getting things done, Sony Ericsson T700 is playing for keeps in the midrange. Stylish exterior, high-speed data, snappy interface and decent media squeeze a mighty punch out of this featherweight. The T700 might as well be in for an exciting Christmas. The kind of features people shop for, a hard-to-say-no price tag and styling that works for gals and lads alike do belong high on many wish lists. But what’s the rush. Window-shopping, anyone?

Key features

* Extra slim and solid, amazingly lightweight
* Soft and responsive controls
* Great aluminum finish
* Quad-band GSM and EDGE, HSDPA, Bluetooth (with A2DP)
* Media center
* Access NetFront 3.4 with mouse pointer and in-page search
* 3.2 megapixel camera, photo LED, geotagging (via cell triangulation)
* Fast photo browser
* FM radio with RDS
* Ships with a 512MB M2 card
* Location services, Smart dialing, Manage messages
* Reliable battery cover release mechanism
* Finger print resistant covers
Main disadvantages

* Only 25 MB of inbuilt memory
* No autofocus
* Tin-can sound from the feeble and hollow loudspeaker
* No office document viewer

Developer: Harmonix
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
Genre: arcade /
Platform:     Nintendo Wii
Release date: World: 16 November 2008
USA (NTSC): 16 November 2008
Europe (PAL): 07 December 2008
see this game on other platforms:      PS3    360    PS2
play modes: single / multiplayer
multiplayer: common screen | number of players: 1-4
age requirements: 12+

AC/DC comes exclusively to Rock Band for the worldwide release of AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band® Track Pack™. This exclusive deal marks the first time ever the band has included an entire album for video game play, with 18 live tracks from their prolific live performances becoming available in one electrifying, standalone game. The AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack allows players to experience this amazing set list with Rock Band, Rock Band 2 or other compatible music game peripherals.
AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack features the master recordings from the best of the band’s live performances. The live recording was specially remixed for Rock Band by Mike Fraser. The game features 18 tracks, with more than 99 minutes of game play for each instrument.

For super-dog Bolt, every day is filled with adventure, danger and intrigue - at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the canine star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet - a cross-country journey through the real world. Armed only with the delusions that all his amazing feats and powers are real, and with the help of two unlikely traveling companions - a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens and TV-obsessed hamster in a plastic ball named Rhino - Bolt discovers he doesn’t need superpowers to be a hero.
Also Known As: American Dog
Bolt
Bolt, Formerly American Dog
Production Status: In Production/Awaiting Release
Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy and Animation
Running Time: 1 hr. 36 min.
Release Date: November 21st, 2008 (wide)
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild action and peril.
Distributors: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Production Co.: Walt Disney Feature Animation, Stormcoast Pictures
Studios: Walt Disney Pictures
Produced in: United States

Bollywood’s ace filmmaker Karan Johar seems unperturbed by the scarcity of clothes and the profusion of gay jokes in his production venture “Dostana” that releases Friday. He says the film would not offend anybody.
“It’s fun and new. We’ve made sure not to offend any group or community. I’d never make a film that would offend anybody. ‘Dostana’ has a great look and it’s a clean happy watch,” Karan told IANS.
Directed by Tarun Mansukhani, it stars Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra.
“The chemistry among Abhishek, John and Priyanka is fantastic. As for the gay jokes, I think it’s time for everyone to wake up to reality. I had gay jokes in ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ and no one was offended,” Karan added.
He also clarified that there is no rivalry between him and Aditya Chopra and that his “My Name Is Khan” wasn’t delayed because of Yash Raj Films’ “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”.
“Far from it. Adi’s film releases December 12 and I start immediately after. Yes, I did delay a bit for him initially. But it was a very minor delay for a month. If he asked me, I’d delay my film a year for him. Not only that, Yash Raj Films distributes our films. So where’s the question of competition between us?”
As for Karan’s next directorial venture, he clears some misconceptions.
“‘My Name Is Khan’ has nothing to do with terrorism. It has Shah Rukh and Kajol in the lead. More than anything else, it is an emotional drama. It’s more about the absence of humanism than politics. I’m not fighting for any cause. But at the end of the day cinema is a reflection of the times.
“In the 1970s and 80s, political upheaval was huge. In the new millennium, international terrorism is as huge a problem as global warming. But since global warming doesn’t make dramatic viewing, terrorists are definitely the antagonist of our times. I’ve seen ‘A Wednesday’, which I absolutely loved. I’d love to meet and congratulate the director (Neeraj Pandey). In fact, I wrote a whole blog about the film.”
Any mention of the film being about Islamic identity puts Karan on the defensive.
“At its heart ‘My Name Is Khan’ is a love story. At its soul it makes a social statement and at its core it’s a tale of the triumph of the human spirit. My writer Shibani Bathija and I come from the same emotional head-space. Anyway, it’s too early to talk about the film.”
Shibani has just delivered a dud called “Kidnap”.
“I haven’t seen ‘Kidnap’. I was down with viral fever when it was released. So I can’t comment on the film. But I can say ‘My Name Is Khan’ is Shibani’s baby all the way. She has given two years of her life to researching Shah Rukh’s character. I’d be just executing her vision.
“As for her work in other films, every creative person falters. You need to move on. Even I’ve made mistakes. But that doesn’t stop me from taking risks. I think I took a big risk with ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’. I don’t think any other director has made a Rs.50 crore (Rs.500 million) film on infidelity.”
Karan recently returned from location-hunting in London and Los Angeles. Call him a seasoned traveller and he retorts: “I’m a traveller for all seasons. We’re shooting ‘My Name Is Khan’ in San Francisco and LA. With ‘Kabhi Alvida…’ and now ‘My Name Is Khan’, I want the bubble to burst about my bubblegum cinema.”
Is it true that he and Aditya are making Hindi versions of the same film “Arlington Road”?
“Look, the film that Rensil D’Silva is directing for me and the one that Kabeer Khan is doing for Adi both have terrorism at the background. So there would be similarities. Rensil’s film and Kabeer’s film have terrorism as their base but different themes. Both Rensil and Kabeer have worked hard on their script,” said Karan.

He is one of the most successful and popular playback singers in Bollywood, but it is acting that gives Sonu Nigam greater happiness.
“I admit my films did not do well, but my work was appreciated. Acting gave me great happiness. Not a single critic wrote bad things about my performance. I think it is better to be appreciated in a flop than to be a part of a hit film where your work is not recognised,” Sonu told IANS.
Sonu said he still gets acting offers, but can’t accept them.
“I am busy with my singing assignments which include shows, playback singing and private albums. Right now I am busy with my shows abroad and also a few albums. So, I have put aside my acting offers. But I am open for it and will perhaps do a project a year later.”
In the recent past, he had shows in Birmingham, London and Manchester in Britain and in various cities in the UAE.
Sonu, who has won 33 awards for playback singing including the Filmfare award, says initially music directors were hesitant to work with him.
“I was never the first choice for the best compositions. Music directors used to give all the good compositions to singers like Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan and Abhijeet. I was only offered qawali or songs that needed a voice like Rafi,” said Nigam, who has recorded the highest number of songs of Mohammad Rafi in T-Series’s “Rafi Ki Yaadein” series.
Today he is singing for top league actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan and Hrithik Roshan, among others.
Sonu, who started his career as a playback singer with Gulshan Kumar’s “Aaja Meri Jaan”, also clarified that Kumar was not his mentor.
“Gulshan Kumar gave me the much-needed break, but he was not responsible for shaping my career.”
However, Sonu admits Gulshan Kumar gave him the chance to survive in the playback world.

Prep Time:
15 min
Total Time:
3 hr 30 min
Makes:
10 servings, one slice each
What You Need

1-1/2 cups cold milk
1 pkg.  (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)
2 cups  thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
Make It

POUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Spoon half of the pudding into crust.

GENTLY stir 1 cup of the whipped topping into remaining pudding; spoon over pudding layer in crust.

TOP with the remaining 1 cup whipped topping. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Store any leftover pie in refrigerator.