News Broadcasting
Millennium Development Goals: BBC opens online vote
MUMBAI: Five years ago the world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit made a pledge to improve lives around the world by 2015, including reducing global poverty by half.
The creation of eight Millennium Development Goals represented a global commitment addressing issues of hunger, health, child mortality, gender equality, education, environmental sustainability and global partnerships.
Next year the world will have only 10 more years left to achieve these goals. Today, with the clock ticking and one third of the time already gone, BBC World Service launches a global online vote in eight languages to find out whether the world cares, informs a media release.
It comes in the lead-up to a BBC World Service Trust/ Department for International Development conference about global poverty and the media on 24 November, at which Chancellor Gordon Brown and Secretary of State Hilary Benn are speaking, informs the release.
The online vote asks whether people have heard of the Millennium Development Goals and how aware they feel about the above mentioned issues and what they think about the amount of coverage the media gives to them.
The online vote also invites respondents to say which of the following they believe has done most to raise awareness of poverty in the developing world – Kofi Annan; Bono; Tony Blair; Nelson Mandela; Bob Gelfof; or George Bush. The results will be announced on 24 November.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to host Kolkata Town Hall on Hooghly River
‘Bhalobasa Bengal Inspiring Bharat’ event on April 20 brings cultural icons, trailblazing women and leaders aboard a cruise to celebrate Bengal’s enduring influence.
MUMBAI: Bengal is about to make fresh waves on the Hooghly and this time the current is pure conversation. CNN-News18 is taking its iconic Town Hall format to the waters of the iconic Hooghly River on 20 April 2026 with a special edition titled ‘Bhalobasa Bengal – Inspiring Bharat’. The floating event will celebrate the state’s rich cultural legacy and how its ideas, creativity and spirit continue to shape the rest of the country.
The unique riverside setting draws on Bengal’s history as a cradle of reform, art and intellectual thought. The speaker line-up mirrors that diversity: cultural heavyweights Mithun Chakraborty and Sreenanda Shankar will share the stage with trailblazing “Devis” such as Tanya Sanyal (India’s first woman firefighter in aviation), Ipsita Chakraborty (Kolkata’s first woman bartender) and Reshma Nilofer Visalakshi (Nari Shakti awardee and marine pilot). Music will flow through the celebrated pianist-vocalist duo Sourendro and Soumyojit, while public life and governance will be represented by Smriti Irani, Leander Paes, Saira Shah Halim, Keya Ghosh, Rekha Patra, Roopa Ganguly and Babul Supriyo.
CNN-News18, editorial affairs director, Rahul Shivshankar, said the event honours voices that carry Bengal’s legacy forward. Smriti Mehra, CEO – English & Business News, Network18, added that Bengal’s stories resonate far beyond its borders, especially as the state heads into polls.
From the first woman to battle flames in the skies to legendary actors who shaped Indian cinema, the gathering promises a rich mix of inspiration, courage and candid dialogue. In a city where culture has always flowed as freely as the river itself, CNN-News18 is turning the Hooghly into a floating forum for ideas that matter.
Tune in on 20 April on CNN-News18, CTV and YouTube to catch Bengal’s heartbeat in full flow.
