VOA launches 'America Live' for Indian viewers

New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) Voice of America (VOA), a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the US government, has joined hands with Zee News, a leading Indian news and current affairs channel, to broadcast its popular programme 'America Live' for Indian viewers.

The first broadcast of the five-minute, daily news programme, carried by VOA affiliate station Zee News Monday, included the official US reaction to the Mumbai attacks, condolences to the victims from the US president George Bush and president-elect Barack Obama, and reactions from Indian-Americans who had relatives in Mumbai.

'We hope our programme will provide useful news and information to people in India, and spotlight the ties between our countries', VOA Director Danforth Austin said in a statement.

Zee News will broadcast 'America Live' Monday to Friday at 8:20 a.m. (India time). The programme will cover the US and international news, and provide reports from the Indian-American community in the United States. These programmes will also be available at www.VOANews.com/hindi.

The VOA first went on the air in 1942. It broadcasts around 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 134 million people. Its programmes are produced in 45 languages.