Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar turns 80 today.

The melody queen of Bollywood and the winner of India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratan, Lata Mangeshkar turns 80 today. She has spent more than eight decades in the film industry and sung more than 30,000 songs thus far.

Lataji once said that Meri Awaz hi meri pehchan hai… and she wants to continue her singing till her last breath. On her 80th birthday, everyone is queued to wish best wishes to Lataji.

Born on September 28, 1929 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Lata ji is the elder daughter of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar, who was a classical singer and theater actor, and mother Shudhhanati. She started her career at the age of 13 and has never looked back since then. She has one brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar and three sisters Asha Bhosle, Usha mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar.

From the year 1974 to 1991, Lata di was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for having made the most recordings in the world. She had sung every type of song, whether it is semi classical or film songs, ghazals or bhajans. Lataji is still ruling the industry from the front.

Lata Mangeshkar has won many awards throughout her life such as Padam Bhushan in 1969, Padam Vibhushan in 1999, Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1989, NTR National Award in 1999, Bharat Ratan in 2001. She was also greeted with three national Film Awards and 12 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards. She won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in the year1993.

No doubt Latadi has worked with every big music director and singer in the industry, but she had a special bond with Laxmikant Pyarelaal.

Talking to reporters on her birthday eve, the melody queen said, “"They didn't want to work with any other female singer but me. They offered me songs from Bobby, I had at first because Raj Kapoor and I had been in an argument over royalty of songs. They said if I didn't sing, they would drop the project altogether. It was a big film and I did not want them to lose out. I agreed but only after Raj Kapoor had said yes to the royalty.”

Vertu launches its Clamshell Phone

Vertu has rolled out a new mobile phone, ‘Ayxta clamshell’ in the market.

The newly launched device has stainless steel chassis with aluminum detailing along with leather and ceramic accents.

The new handset features a 3MP camera with dual LED flash, 3G, GPS system and MicroSD card support. Its memory can be expanded up to 8 GB. The handset also has City Brief feature, which allows restaurant recommendations, the latest exhibitions, shopping guides and important cultural etiquette tips.

‘Vertu Concierge’ is the another important feature of it, which offers its customers the facility to book air-tickets, order gifts or sort out a plumber at short notice with touch of a button.

The new handset also comes packed with some exclusive ring tones recorded by UK-based band Zero 7. The market price of the handset Rs 3.45 lakh.nside the shell, it also packs aerospace grade aluminum parts. Though we had already mentioned about the features, allow me to refresh them. It is reported that the Ayxta boasts of GPS, 3G (HSDPA, apparently), MicroSD card support, 3MP camera with dual LED flash, and City Brief – a feature that provides “restaurant recommendations, the latest exhibitions, shopping guides and important cultural etiquette tips.” UK based band Zero 7 fans have one more reason to grab this Vertu clamshell as it ships with some exclusive ringtones recorded by the same band. How many of you are convinced that Vertu will make a statement even as a clamshell?

Blackberry unveils World’s most expensive handset

Here’s a good news for those, who are not satisfied with smartphone. Now, Blackberry has rolled out a new handset, which is pimped out with 4,459 diamonds and 18 carat yellow gold.

The handset is designed by designer Alexander Amosu, who took as much as 350 hours to make this handset.

Users can also brand their company name and logo on the new bejeweled bambino. The handset also provides 24x7 global coverage services to their users.

To buy this stylish handset, users have to pay a big amount i. e. $200,366 (Rs 96, 06, 547).

An unknown millionaire in the Middle East has booked the first of three limited-edition of the glittering Amosu Curva Blackberry handset.

CBI to withdraw cases against Quattrocchhi on Saturday

New Delhi, Oct 1 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has decided to move an application before the Magistrates Court here on Saturday to withdraw cases against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchhi in the Bofors gun purchasing scam.

The Public Prosecutor, on behalf of the CBI, will move an application before the Magistrate''s Court on Saturday.

The Central Government decided to close the long hauling Bofors case, which is unable to extract anything out of the investigations by the CBI.

On Wednesday, Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily confirmed the government’s decision of withdrawing cases against Quattrocchi in the Bofors case.

Moily, who is currently on a trip to London informed the reporters that a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is pending before the Supreme Court so the Solicitor General opine that the matter should be brought to the notice of the Apex Court.

Moily noted that the CBI has been pursuing the cases everywhere.

"There is no point in pursuing this matter. There are no cases under Prevention of Corruption Act,” Moily said.

"The matter was taken up before the Argentinian Court and then before the Malaysian Court. Everywhere it failed. The Argentinian Court levied heavy cost on the Government for pursuing the case after so many years as the case has been pending since 1986,"he added.

Moily also noted that the final payment for the Bofors gun was made in 1990 when the V P Singh led National Front Government was in office at the Centre.

"If they had any doubt, why did they make the final payment?” he questioned.

Moily added that "If they (the then government) wanted to recover money, they should have filed a civil case, but it is time-barred as it had to be done within three years.”

He also said: "it is not a question of Quattrocchi or whoever, we are not interested in defending anybody. The question is whether any worthwhile result will come out by pursuing the case."

Moily however informed that, if there would have been any evidence to pursue, "we would not have hesitated to pursue."

Earlier, in April, the Interpol on the directions of the CBI removed the red corner notice against Quattrocchi.

Dalits can't stop praising Rahul in Mayawati terrain

Shravasti (Uttar Pradesh), Oct 1 :  A week after his unexpected forays into Uttar Pradesh's rural areas, Dalit villagers who saw Rahul Gandhi at their doorstep are still talking about the Congress icon.

Dalits, who were stunned to see Gandhi in their midst, can't believe that the influential politician really came to their poor homes, talked and broke bread with them -- even spending a night on a string cot under the open sky in the little village of Rampur-Deogan in Shravasti district, about 250 km from the state capital Lucknow.

And for one used to comforts, the 38-year-old son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi even bathed in the open, drawing water from a hand-operated water pump.

"It was incredible. We rarely get to see the face of the local MLA (legislator) whom we have elected. Therefore a visit by someone like Rahul Gandhi will always remain etched in our memories," said Chedda Pasi, son of the Rampur-Deogan village head.

"And we are in a village where not everyone has two meals through the day," Pasi pointed out.

The last time any VIP was in the village, which is yet to get electricity, was 12 years ago. That was Arif Mohammad Khan.

Pasi insisted that the impromptu visit would have been the best learning experience for Gandhi.

Gandhi's journey, aimed at understanding the ways the poor live across India, was the most significant trip by the Congress MP to any place outside of Amethi and Rae Bareli -- his and his mother's constituencies.

"It is heartening to know that he is now stepping out of the confines of Amethi and Rae Bareli," Radhey Lal, a former village head of Dawood Nagar, about 25 km from Lucknow, told IANS. "We hope he visits us too one day."

But the Uttar Pradesh administration, headed by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and Dalit leader Mayawati, is not impressed.

In contrast to Gandhi, many of even those who voted for the BSP feel that the chief minister has become virtually inaccessible to people at large.

The young Gandhi bypassed all security and protocol to walk quietly into the village in eastern Uttar Pradesh, prompting state authorities to accuse him of breaching VIP security rules and protocol.

Mayawati called the visit a "drama". On an earlier occasion, she had alleged that Gandhi took a bath with a special soap after eating at the home of any Dalit.

But none of the criticism seems to have any impact on the villagers, overwhelmed by Gandhi's gesture.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who was as clueless about Gandhi's unannounced visit as the government, says he is not just India's youth icon but an "icon of the downtrodden and the poor".

"This has become Mayawati's biggest worry," she said. "The chief minister cannot imagine even in her wildest of dreams what Rahul Gandhi is actually doing to reach out to the common masses."

Molester jumps off second floor, lands in hospital.

Chandigarh, Oct 1 :A 30-year-old man jumped from the second floor of a house to escape after molesting a woman but only landed in a hospital bed with paralysed legs, police said here Thursday.

According to police, Harpreet Singh, an engineer, had entered the woman's home in Sector 56 late Tuesday night and allegedly attempted to molest her. She raised an alarm.

Singh ran and jumped from the second floor only to fall on a car.

"We immediately shifted him to the government hospital and the doctors there referred him to the PGIMER (Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research). He has suffered multiple injuries on his spinal cord and his legs have been paralysed," said a police official.

"He was in an inebriated condition at the time of the incident," added the official.

Singh told police that he knew the woman and had come there to discuss some matter with her, according to the official.

The complainant is the mother of a six-year-old boy.

Dita Von Teese strips for new Wonderbra collection

London, Oct 1 : American burlesque artist and model Dita Von Teese has once again stripped off her clothes to pose for her new Wonderbra collection.

In one picture, the 37-year-old beauty is seen hovering teasingly above an antique-looking chair wearing the brands lingerie, reports the Sun.

In another, she is seen standing in front of mirror adjusting the clasp of her bra.

And in the next, she was pictured showing off her pert behind in a pair of transparent knickers, as she applied lipstick. (ANI)