Entire Middle East Aaj Tak's target for 2002
Aaj Tak, the Hindi news channel that has forayed into the UAE with a tie-up with a cable operator late last year, pla
New weekday programme at BBC World News
One of the Beeb‘s best known faces, George Alagiah has joined BBC World to present a new weekday news programme that has started airing from 22 January at 1.30 am IST. The new format news programme will draw on the BBC‘s newsgathering operation and will reflect the global stories of the day with a blend of high profile interviews and in depth interviews.
 George Alagiah |
BBC World, that claims audience figures of 192 million households in 200 countries, will air the Alagiah specials from Tuesdays to Saturdays. Alagiah has been working with the broadcaster since 1989 and has actively been involved in reporting from Africa and other developing countries. He was part of the BBC team which collected a BAFTA award for covering the Kosovo conflict in 2000. George Alagiah has reported on a wide range oif important occurences. They include human organs trade in India, civil war and famine in Somalia, genocide in Rwanda, farm invasions in Zimbabwe and the Kosovan refugee crisis. He has also interviewed Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela. Between 1994-1998 he was based in Johannesburg as the broadcasters Africa correspondent. His book ‘A Passage To Africa‘ was published last year.
Kirsty Lang another new face on BBC World will be the second presenter of the bulletin. She has worked as BBC News Paris Correspondent and as a reporter for Channel Four.
Shaan walked away with the best pop artist award while Udit and Alka bagged the honours of being the favourite artistes in the film category. They won the award for the song Jaane Kyon from Dil Chahta Hai. Winners were chosen from a shortlist of five in each category by 13 million votes from across Asia cast by post and over the internet.
sensation Ricky Martin won the favorite female and male artist awards respectively. Westlife won favourite pop act, beating fellow boy groups N‘sync and Backstreet Boys. Headbangers voted Bon Jovi the favourite rock act, ahead of legendary Irish group U2 and alternative act Limp Bizkit. Ang Lee‘s martial arts stunner Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon was adjudged favourite film. The competition included the animated hit Shrek and chick flick Charlie‘s Angels.
Award winning Thailand boy band Pru stressed the need for Asian artists not to copycat the west blindly. Singer Regine Velasquez was voted the Philippines‘ favourite music artist, while Indonesia picked five-man band PADI as their choice and Malaysia chose singer Siti Nurhaliza. Famous personalities in attendance included Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actress Zhang Ziyi, fashion designer Donatella Versace who also won an award and Japanese pop superstar Ayumi Hamasaki. Hong Kong martial arts star Jackie Chan (Rush Hour) who won the inspiration award was conspicous by his absence. 
