"The Nokia 5000 supports electronic mail including nokia Xpress audio messaging, Bluetooth and a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) connectivity," he said recently at a two-day workshop that included the launching of the products at the Sandton Convention centre in Johannesburg. The product is expected to be shipped in the second quarter of 2008 at an estimated cost of 90 Euro before subsidies and taxes.

     He said the Nokia 2680 slide is a slim camera phone that offers balanced use and entertainment functionality that include an FM radio, MP3 ring tones and core mobile features such as an expanded phone book. It is expected that the 2680 slide would be shipped in the third quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of 75 Euro before subsidies and taxes.

     The Nokia 7070 Prism features a distinctive folding design with geometric patterns and external light effects. It offers personalized content including themes and wallpapers and MP3 ring tones and it is expected to be shipped in the second quarter of 2008 at a cost of 50 Euros before taxes and subsidies.

 The Nokia 1680 classic offers essential mobile phone functionality with added benefits of a digital camera while the video recording features one-touch access for photos and videos.

     "For families and small and medium scale businesses, the product offers phone sharing functionality and easy access to electronic mail. It is expected to be shipped in the second quarter of 2008 with an estimated cost of 50 Euros.

  Lambeek said people in emerging markets like Africa are increasingly demanding more from the mobile phone in terms of functionality and design like people in other parts of thee world that earn less income. He said Nokia mobile phone subscribers in Africa had reached 35 million by the end last year while there were 4bn subscribers worldwide. "In Africa use of mobile phones has improved people's lives and incomes through communication and the away from home communications.

 The conference, held under the theme, ?Growing Together? also featured demonstrations, press interviews and workshops where delegates were exposed to the new mobile phones.

The report by the independent Climate Institute found emissions were rising faster than forecast by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with possibly devastating effects.

"Greenhouse emissions are rising faster than the worst-case IPCC scenarios," it said.

The UN body may be "underestimating the risks of adverse impacts due to increased warming during this century," it said, meaning events previously considered relatively unlikely were now more likely.

A recent assessment by the IPCC used material published up to mid-2006, it said, but many important new observations had been published since.

These included the fact that decreases in ice cover in the Arctic Ocean were taking place 30 years earlier than predicted by scientific models, it said, with a new summer minimum for Arctic sea ice set in 2007.

At this rate an ice-free Arctic Ocean could exist earlier than dates previously forecast by the models, which see it as a possibility some time between 2050 and 2100, it said.

It warned that sea level rises could reach up to 1.4 metres by the end of the century, much higher than forecast by the UN.

The ability of the land and oceans to absorb carbon dioxide was declining, and although the UN had anticipated this, the observed changes were faster than predicted, the report said.

"This paper suggests that there exists evidence that the IPCC process may have led to an underestimation of the risk of greater warming and that the impacts of climate change are occurring more rapidly than previously projected," the report added.

The report was prepared by Graeme Pearman, the former head of atmospheric research at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO).

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Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former archbishop of Cape Town, was writing ahead of a vote on a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling for a moratorium on executions with the ultimate goal of abolishing the practice later this month.

"I am delighted that the death penalty is being removed from the globe," Tutu wrote, referring to steadily rising numbers of countries that have abolished capital punishment in either law or practice.

"The death penalty ... says that to kill in certain circumstances is acceptable, and encourages the doctrine of revenge.

"If we are to break these cycles, we must remove government-sanctioned violence."

According to Giuseppe Manzo, a counsellor at Italy's UN mission, 72 countries co-sponsored a draft resolution on the death penalty which was circulated earlier this month, ahead of a vote by the full 192-member assembly.

"The time has come to abolish the death penalty worldwide," Tutu wrote.

"The case for abolition becomes more compelling with each passing year."

Two previous attempts to secure adoption of such a resolution in the General Assembly failed in 1994 and 1999.

According to human rights group Amnesty International, 133 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, while 64 countries and territories retain and use capital punishment, although the number of countries which actually execute prisoners in any one year is much smaller.

"In country after country, it (capital punishment) is used disproportionately against the poor or against racial or ethnic minorities," Tutu wrote in The Guardian.

"It is often used as a tool of political repression. It is imposed and inflicted arbitrarily. It is an irrevocable punishment, resulting inevitably in the execution of people innocent of any crime.

"It is a violation of fundamental human rights."

  The MDA, an industry group that promotes the use of mobile data, attributes Britain's growing love of texting to new deals from phone companies and the personal nature of text messages.

  It said there had also been a significant increase in UK businesses communicating with customers and workers via SMS.

  Following September's sharp increase, the MDA has revised its forecast for this year's annual total from 48 billion to 52 billion texts.

  Last year 41.8 billion messages were sent in the UK.

  MDA chairman Mike Short said: "The UK text volumes show no real signs of abating.

  "The UK sits within the top six of the global league of countries sending text messages.

  "While the trend towards operators offering 'all-you-can-eat' tariffs increases, this will act as a catalyst for consumers' passion for all things mobile."

  The plane, a Learjet 35 belonging to a Brazilian air taxi company, slammed into several houses shortly after taking off, said Lucia Ferreira, a spokeswoman for airport authority Infraero.

  Killed in the crash were the pilot, the co-pilot and at least six people on the ground, including a child, according to Sao Paulo’s state public safety department and the airport authority.

  The plane was not carrying any passengers, according to a statement issued by the jet’s owner, Reali Taxi Aerea.

  Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the crash, but Ferreira said there were no immediate indications that it was related to Brazil’s recent air-traffic chaos that reached a crisis point with the July 17 crash of a Tam Linhas Aereas SA jetliner, which slammed into a building in Sao Paulo, killing 199 people.

  That crash happened at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport, widely criticized for having a short runway that makes landing tricky during rainy conditions.

  The jet that crashed Sunday afternoon took off from the Campo de Marte airport, used by executive jets and helicopters, and was en route to Rio de Janeiro, Ferreira said.

  Witnesses told Brazilian media the Learjet plowed nose first into the blue-collar neighborhood as it apparently tried to return to the airport during cloudy and slightly rainy conditions. One home was destroyed and at least one more was heavily damaged. More than 60 firefighters were still combing through the debris hours later.