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CNN organising online competition
MUMBAI: CNN is offering a trip for two to New York City as the prize of a special online competition testing knowledge of iconic news events.
The competition is reached through www.25yearsofcnn.com. To enter the competition, participants are asked to describe in no more than 25 words which news event that changed our world from 1980-2005 they believe has been the most significant, and why.
Additional features on the site include CNN Firsts and Facts that looks at some of the network’s unique achievements such as being the only channel to report from Baghdad on the night the Gulf war began in 1991, or the first international channel to break the news of the death of Diana and the tsunami that struck South Asia last December.
Another feature,’25 Years of Ground Breaking News’, highlights striking and memorable news landmarks such as the discovery of the HIV virus, the fall of the Berlin Wall or the release of Nelson Mandela.
The competition is open to residents of India, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan and is in association with Millennium and Copthorne Hotels.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
