MUMBAI: On the occasion of India‘s 60th year of independence, BBC World in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, presents The World Debate hosted by BBC presenter Tim Sebastian on the topic of India: Cherishing Democracy, sharing prosperity?

MUMBAI: Love, power, murder and intrigue - sounds like the making of a drama-filled soap opera, but this is the reality of life in Meerkat Manor. The world‘s favourite mammals return to Animal Planet in a new season of the hugely popular Meerkat Manor. Winner of numerous awards including two Omni Intermedia Awards and Gold Worldmedal winner at the New York Festivals, the first series of Meerkat Manor proved to be a worldwide sensation. The new 13-part series narrated by Bill Nighy (of Love Actually; Girl in the Caf?), Meerkat Manor follows the everyday lives of a precocious group of meerkats as they fight for dominance and survival in Africa‘s Kalahari Desert. Beginning 12th October, Meerkat Manor will air every Friday at 11 pm and repeat every Saturday at 6 pm.

Following the everyday life - from family squabbles to love affairs - of a unique gang of meerkats, Animal Planet presents an intimate portrait of these curious and entertaining creatures as they live their lives in Africa‘s Kalahari Desert. Now, the endearing Whiskers mob of meerkats is back after making it through a year of triumph and tragedy, mischief and mayhem. This second season of Meerkat Manor features the return of the rival gang of meerkats, the Lazuli, and introduces a new enemy group - the Commandoes, led by the one-eyed Hanibal.

In this second season of Meerkat Manor, viewers continue to follow the real-life drama of this unique cast of characters. The main protagonists are 12-inches high, live underground in burrows and survive on a diet of worms, insects and lizards. Capturing their everyday life, season two of Meerkat Manor picks up where the first 13 episodes left off to follow the Whiskers‘ latest adventures. In its new episodes, the Whiskers are joined by a whole new cast of friends and enemies. The latest goings-on at Meerkat Manor include a fight between the hapless Youssarian and two roving Whiskers males as they vie for the attention of Cazanna - the dominant female of the rival Lazuli mob; the introduction of a new enemy group - the Commandoes - who live in close proximity to the Whiskers and incur a vicious fight for territory; another eviction for Mozart by her mother and group leader Flower; a dangerous encounter between Flower and her pups and their enemies, the Commandoes; and pregnancies for both Flower and Mozart, which can only lead to one thing: trouble at the Manor!

Filmed in cooperation with Cambridge University, Animal Planet presents the story of a meerkat mob unlike ever before - from the perspective of the meerkats themselves. With no humans featured on film, crews were housed in specially built sheds and successfully filmed within meerkat burrows using fiber-optic cameras. Meerkat Manor captures every facet of meerkat life in a fun, informative and always engaging way.

MUMBAI: The Marathi Film Festival held at Cinemax from October 5th to October 10th came to a grand closing as Cinemax felicitated all the prominent celebrities of the Marathi Film Industry at their luxurious property in Versova today. This felicitation ceremony was an initiative undertaken by Cinemax to honour leading directors and producers from the Marathi Fraternity who has contributed to regional cinema dedicatedly over the years. Veteran luminaries like Kiran Shantaram, Sandip Kulkarni, Shivendu Agrawal, Rishi Deshpande, K Ravi, Milind Uke and Sachin Parekar were amongst the many who attended this event and were awarded for playing a significant role in the industry.

The "Felicitation Ceremony" had a strong response. With representatives from all six selected Marathi films, the involvement of political parties was one another highlight of this activity. Cinemax made sure that the evening was entertaining as well as encouraging for all Marathi film lovers. The awards were handed over by Mr. Kiran Shantaram along with Sandip Kulkarni and Sachin Nayak.

The six films selected for the festival were Jabardast, Aai Shappath, Rajkaran, Restaurent, Sawli and Jinki Re Jinki and were shown in three Cinemax locations; Versova, Thane and Nasik. All the Producers and Directors of these films were handed "Cinemax Trophies" especially designed for the event. Ace Cameraman Debu Deodhar whose Jinki Re Jinki was the one unreleased film shown in the festival, was also felicitated. With the guidance of Mr Devang Sampat, VP Marketing for Cinemax India Ltd and strong initiation by Cinemax team, this "Felicitation Ceremony was one worth attending.

Cinemax has always believed in giving regional cinema its due. With the Marathi Film Industry generating various blockbusters and hits, Cinemax took up the initiative to provide the much needed recognition to Marathi Films. The 2nd Annual Marathi Film Festival hosted by this leading multiplex chain screened "the best of the best" Marathi films for the Marathi audience with strong response at all three locations.

Speaking on this initiative, Mr. Devang Sampat, Vice- President, Marketing, Cinemax India Ltd, said, "We hosted the Marathi Film Festival because we believed that these films are amongst the very best we have in the industry today and they just needed a good platform to showcase their excellent creativity. We were so overwhelmed by their sheer realism and the impact that they created in the minds of the audience, that we couldn‘t resist honoring the talent we have in the Marathi Film Industry. As important players in the entertainment industry today, we realized it is our duty to encourage and promote the Marathi Film industry to ensure that the fraternity will continue to provide us with brilliant films with innovative concepts and issues."

Special guest at the event Mr. Kiran Shantaram spoke wise words saying " It is indeed a pleasure to see multiplexes such as Cinemax supporting Marathi Films which can now be enjoyed with all the amenities of plush seating, good ambience and sound. Maharashtrians ought to be proud of their language and should attend festivals such as these and ensure they are well attended. Only then will the word of our superior movies go out to the public. Kudos to Cinemax, hoping other multiplexes follow suite!"

The Marathi Film Festival held at Cinemax‘s Versova, Thane and Nasik properties was very well received by the Marathi audiences in these areas. Cinemax proposes to organize many such events in the near future as a result of this encouraging response.

MUMBAI: On the festive occasion of Navratri, Arzoo.com, India‘s leading travel portal, today announced a special offer where customers can avail guaranteed 9% discount on domestic airfare bookings on Go Air, Spicejet, Indigo, Indian & Jetlite anywhere within India.Similarly customers can also avail guaranteed 7% discount on International airline bookings to US, Europe and Gulf.

Commenting on this special offer, Mr. Sameer Patil, Head-Marketing of Arzoo.com said, "Navratri as a festival is celebrated across India and therefore we have announced this special offer to provide 9% discount on 5 domestic airlines to our customers to celebrate, rejoice & travel more by taking benefit of this special offer". This offer is valid for bookings done via any bank credit card or even by paying cash on delivery between 12th October to 21st October, 2007 for travel on any date till 31st March 08.

MUMBAI: BenQ today announces that five of its leading lifestyle designed products have been awarded the prestigious 2007 Good Design Awards (the so called "G-mark Award"). The awarded products include LCD monitor, digital camera, mobile phone and digital projector. The 2007 Good Design Awards marks BenQ‘s consecutive four-year winnings, adding BenQ‘s total Good Design Awards to 34.

"The awarded products are recognized for their functionality and design originality, which is a proud brand distinction for BenQ," said Manfred Wang, Director of BenQ Lifestyle Design Center. "We will continue to create products that bring versatility, functionality and innovative design to meet the expectations of our consumers."

Within a time span of 6 years, BenQ has received recognition from the global design community of iF, red dot (Germany), Good Design (Japan) and IDEA (US) design awards respectively, adding the total number of international design awards to 188. The specific BenQ award winners this year include the E1000 digital camera, T33 mobile phone, E72 Smartphone, FP241VW LCD monitor, and CP120 digital projector.