Tonight we have Italian and French outrage from the world of football. We followed that up with comment on the horrors of the recent Belgian child murders and the never-ending Ayaan Hirsch Ali saga over in the .
A packed show as usual and blogging it was made all the more tricky with a rather tense going on in the corner of my eye.
President Bush is taking Japanese Prime Minister and huge Elvis fan Junichiro Koizumi to Graceland. It makes sense. The Japanese PM has sung Elvis' songs to world leaders, sung duets with celebrities and even released a CD of his favourite classics.
It's Friday, and let's all pretend that we're the head of state for a day taking a visiting dignitary around. PM Koizumi obviously had a place he wanted to go, but where would you take a visiting VIP to show them the best of your country or possibly something off the beaten path that you think represents your nation, your people. I'm getting a round up of the World Have Your Say team to get their suggestions. Leave a comment and tell us where you would take an important visitor.
We've got a full programme tonight. We've discussed it before, but we're going to return to Italy today as four top clubs in Serie A all answer questions about match fixing. The inquiry has until after the World Cup. We're also going to be talking about France, football and race; the government in turmoil in the Netherlands; and the discovery of the bodies of two Belgian girls.
Morning blog fans, I've been away for a while and I'm sure you've really missed my morning posts, but I'm back. This is what I've seen for you to chew over on this fine day, here goes.
First up, it seems thatto achieve most of it's targets for the reduction of poverty in Africa. Nevertheless, Bob Geldof is still saying that the event was a success. What do you think? Has Live 8 made a difference? Did you give money? Whatever you want to say about this leave your comments.
"Dutch", they've done it again. For thethe Dutch government has collapsed. It all came about after the D66 party pulled out of the coalition in a row over immigration. We want to find out what's going on in Holland.
Next is Gaza...
On Fridays programme we hope to be talking to Belgians about their reaction to . They had been missing for 3 weeks.
The case has brought back memories of paedophile murderer Mark Dutroux. His two youngest victims were both from Liege, and the 1996 case sparked national outrage directed at police handling of the investigation.
If you are living in Belgium, tell us what you think. Email us you contact details and comments on the post form below.
In tonight's show we had in the studio Professor Manuel Hassassian, the main Palestinian representative in London, while on the line from Jerusalem we were joined by Dore Gold, Israel's former ambassador to the UN. The conversation was augmented by callers from around the world and debate was lively, lucid and stimulating.
In the second half we talked about the hot news in the US this evening: the US decision that the Guantanamo military tribunals were a violation of US law and the Geneva convention. We got reaction from legal guru and staunch Guantanamo defender David Rivkin.
The US Supreme Court has ruled today that President Bush has overstepped his authority in how it set up military commissions to try detainees held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay. We're going to discuss the ruling and some of the issues surrounding the detention centre there.
The Bush administration wants to shut the centre, but an official said that it is easier said than done. What does the ruling mean? What next? We'll speak to one of our Washington correspondents, a Republican legal adviser and many of you who have left comments on the .
We've had our editorial chat and have decided to focus on just the two stories for today: Israel's offensive in Gaza and the deepening crisis sparked by the captured soldier, and the Supreme Court ruling on the legality of military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.
The two stories dominating the news are the continuing crises following the and the discovery of the bodies of the three weeks ago.
In a packed programme tonight we talked about:
| 17:57 UK time, Wednesday, 28 June 2006
One of the hardest things presenting this programme is deciding when to interrupt a conversation, and when to keep my mouth shut. I know that one guest in yesterday's discussion about the abducted Israeli soldier felt that I allowed other guests an unfair advantage. (You can listen to Tuesday's programme by selecting it on the right of the front page of the blog.)
| 13:20 UK time, Wednesday, 28 June 2006
Ronaldo has achieved what no other footballer in history has managed. He's scored more goals than any other player in the finals of the World Cup, breaking Gerd Muller's record during the .
But he still suffers from jibes about his weight. Even his own President before the tournament started.
And the issue is a talking point in the U.S too...see talking about fat people's portrayal in films like "Shallow Hal" and "The Nutty Professor" .
So is it ok to make jokes about fat people? is it considered acceptable in a way that making jokes about someone's sexuality or skin colour isn't?
Let us know...
We had an e-mail from faithful World Have Your Say listener who asks:
How does America feel about this infusion of support for a guest worker program and other paths of legalization for illegal aliens? What does the world think as well?
in an effort to rescue a captured soldier. The US Senate failed to pass a constitutional amendment banning Read on, and be sure to leave a comment with your ideas for today's programme.
| 13:33 UK time, Tuesday, 27 June 2006
Will be linked on today's programme. Thankfully, we've (well Puja from the team has anyway) managed to get some WHYS listeners in Gaza and Jerusalem to go into studios there to talk to you- and each other- about the growing crisis caused by . Yesterday, we heard differing opinions from within Israel about what people felt the government should do... today we're going to hear from both sides.
Rozita is working with Ros on the story about President Bush saying it was ''disgraceful'' that the news media had disclosed a secret programme to track millions of bank records in search of terrorist suspects. has defended itself in a letter from Executive Editor Bill Keller claiming what they did was in the public interest.
We'll be hearing from people who think they were wrong to publish, and those who champion press freedom . We'll also be finding out - as ever- what you think.
One of the things that we'll be discussing today is press freedom and responsibility in the wake of of the decision for US media, in particular the New York Times, to report details of financial surveillance that led to the arrests of several men in Miami who allegedly were plotting attacks on several US targets including the Sears Tower in Chicago.
There is a about President Bush's criticism. What do you think? Was the press right to disclose details of the surveillance? Or do you think the press should have considered how the information might be used by potential plotters?
| 13:22 UK time, Tuesday, 27 June 2006
J.K. Rowling was on the here in Britain and hinted that two characters at the end of the 7th and last Harry Potter novel.
The fans' websites are buzzing with speculation that one of the characters will be Harry himself. Now, we know that Harry Potter is a global phenomenon ( try a search in Technorati), so we want to know whether this is just a smart PR move by Ms Rowling (like she needs to drum up sales) or whether you can't bear the idea of Harry being killed off.
We just had this comment from Gary, who would like to talk about who is refusing to serve in Iraq. What do you think? Is it right for a serving soldier to refuse to go to war? Courage in refusing to fight or cowardice in refusing to uphold his duty?
It's just one idea from you today. Send an e-mail or leave a comment here. Read on for some other stories that we noticed today.
We started the programme talking to Israelis about what they wanted their government to do in the wake of an attack by three militant groups who abducted a young Israeli Army corporal. The groups have called for the release of Palestinian women and young people in Israeli custody, according to our correspondent in Gaza.
Leave your comments here during the programme. Include your phone number if you want to join us on the programme.
Is the only way to guarantee sexual equality to enshrine it in law? That's what Spain are doing with their new draft . Is it necessary? Would it make a difference in your country? using our on-line debate or send us your thoughts using the form. Include your number if you want to take part in the programme.
after militants launch a surprise attack kills two Israeli soldiers. Another is feared to have been abducted, and Israeli forces are massed . We'll speak to ordinary people there.
Also, are quotas the right way to achieve equality between women and men? . And should everyone be ?
We're talking about paedophiles. It's a large talking point in the UK, with the tabloid newspapers spearheading a campaign to implement a form of , a law in the US that allows parents to know if paedophiles had moved into their neighbourhoods.
In the second half of the programme, we'll talk about scams. Have you been a victim? We have a former scammer coming on the programme.
If you're like me, you get way too many spam e-mails every day. This , not that . Most of it is just the electronic equivalent of junk mail, but some of it offers you wealth beyond your wildest dreams if you are so foolish to pass along bank details or wire thousands of dollars, pounds, euros to someone you've never heard of or met.
Have you been scammed? I have. Through a mix of technology, the gullibility of the new housemate of a former housemate and arcane US phone billing, I was a victim of the great Moldovan porn scam.
Two questions today-- how do you protect children from paedophiles? And -- What's the con capital of the world? More about cons in a moment. First- Britain is sending a minister to America to look at , a that allows parents to know if child sex offenders are living in their neighborhoods. On one side are of children who've been victims of sex offenders. On the other side are this law offers a false sense of security and Britain should be looking elsewhere for solutions. What's the best way to protect children from paedophiles? What actually works?
I've looked for the answer myself, but I haven't found too many answers. But a couple of you have asked how to listen to the World Cup live on shortwave. One of our WHYS listeners does listen to the World Cup on shortwave. I'll send Roberto and e-mail and try to find out how he listens.
Read on for ways to follow the World Cup, and let me and everyone else know how you're listening and watching. Oh, and if you're there, you can always e-mail us your pictures.
| 10:46 UK time, Thursday, 22 June 2006
Came in to read about the debate in the U.S about the and it follows this week's in one of the four provinces they controlled in southern Iraq . There's clearly a debate going on about the timing of all of this, so we want your views. Some say even making plans is daft with the situation there so volatile, others say it's the only way to calm things down. Might be nice to hear voices from Iraq talking to people in the UK and the U.S..
I was struck by the story of Andrew Hawkins too. He is a 37-year-old youth worker from Cornwall but he is a descendant of Sir John Hawkins, one of the "pioneers" of the slave trade. Andrew has for the role of his ancestor in the slave trade. Without in any way doubting Mr Hawkins' sincerity, I do wonder if apologies for what some may see as distant crimes really makes any difference. Or is the symbolism important? We'll see if Mr Hawkins may be able to talk to us, to take questions from you.
And as another thought, About time? or, as some people there think, a sad break with a proud tradition?
I'm getting a late start with my liveblogging tonight in our discussion about crime. It's a problem all around the world. We've talked about knife crime in the UK, and tonight, we talked about crime in South Africa, the US and Jamaica.
South Africans have protested after a government minister said those who should emigrate.
And we closed out the programme talking to women who blog in Saudi Arabia.
Before I get into this post, I wanted to pass along the news that the has been released after a 45-day detention. We have spoken to Alaa before on the programme, and he was detained with some 47 other activists after protesting . Alaa continued to blog from jail, smuggling out posts.
But we're going to take a look at blogging in another country in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia. The numbers may be small, but the growth in blogging has been phenomenal in .
On the agenda today - Crime and the City, Saudi women bloggers, and those North Korea missiles. Read on.....
We're just starting off the programme. With North Korea fuelling a missile which could theoretically reach the west coast of the United States. The US, Japan and Australia have warned North Korea not to take such provocative action. South Korea has been relatively calm on the subject.
We had a roundtable of Korea experts, and we also took your calls about one of the most secretive states in the world.
One thing that I've got to do for the programme is to try to use the internet to peer into the secretive world of North Korea. Of course, there is the official site of the . Anu and I looked around the site a few months ago, when I was trying to get in contact with people in countries with . One thing that caught our eye was the 160-page biography of (PDF file).
But that's just a start. Tourists have written their accounts and there are several blogs as Mark pointed out that help lift the curtain of secrecy that surrounds North Korea.
| 12:51 UK time, Tuesday, 20 June 2006
Which is the name of a about North Korea which is the main topic-in fact the only topic- we're looking at for today's programme. The news "peg" as we journalists call it , is the story about whether North Korea is planning to
We're asking whether the world is taking North Korea too seriously, or not seriously enough? Let us know what you think.
We'll be hearing from North Korea's neighbours and we'd like to hear from you if you've been there.
Tags: , , ,
Morning blog world here's a few stories we're thinking about today.
Germans are proudly waving their for the first time in 60 years. Have they finally laid the legacy of to rest?
has been convicted of infecting her boyfriend with HIV during sex, knowing she had the infection. It was quite a big talking point on my bus journey to work this morning so I thought i'd add it to the list!
have voted to go ahead with plans for the region to have greater independence from Spain? What do you think? Is this a good idea?
. It's hoped that today, among other things, will address some of the issues refugees face such as racism and poverty. There's lots of global interest about this story. Here's what some people are saying in , , and .
Next up...
| 19:13 UK time, Monday, 19 June 2006
A phrase coined by our Environment Correspondent Richard Black on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website and repeated at the top of our programme. He talked with Annie in Bermuda and Michelle in Ontario to start with. Michelle took the view that the west shouldn't be interfering with Japanese culture, while Annie was apalled by the ending of the commercial ban and talked about the tourist money Bermuda gets from whale watching trips.
John, a caller from Farnborough in the UK, thought the debate wasn't about the west against Japan, but he questioned why they were killing whales "for scientific purposes" but the meat was ending up in shops. Richard told him that the convention allowed this.
We received this e-mail from Y.Katakura in Japan, and read it out on air : "Many believe whales are intelligent with no proof. I am sure people shouting whales are endangered don't even want to know about various types of them, some of which are not endangered. It bugs me when some nations killing tons of pigs and cows pompously lynch our culture. I hate eating smelly whale meat, but I refuse to see our sovereign right restricted by self-righteous and uneducated mass. Endangered? Prove it. Intelligent? Prove it. Cruel to kill and eat them? Then, you stop eating pigs"
Richard Black told us the e-mail reflected the views of many people in Japan.
William in Canada e-mailed us and irritatingly included one of those " i bet you don't publish this" lines which usually winds me up, but we read it out anyway "Yes, the whaling ban should be lifted. There is an abundance of whales and they are animals like any other, and there is no reason they should be protected. Japan, Norway, Iceland and aboriginal people have hunted whales for centuries.
No, this comment will not get published. It does not fit in with the anti-whaling propaganda campaign."
Later in the debate we heard from Karl in Bridgetown, Barbados and Jonathon in Portland,Oregon. Karl felt the Caribbean countries who took part in the vote had been "manipulated". Beth in Perth, Western Australia, fears for the future of the planet if we don't take conservation seriously.
Another , another debate about equal prize money between men and women, but now a British Mp's getting involved. The culture secretary, , says pay differences between men and women players at the Wimbledon championship should be abolished. But the are sticking to their guns, arguing that because of the physical demands of best-of-five matches, the top men rarely play in Grand Slam doubles events and they earn less overall than women, who often compete in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
But what do you think should women get the same prize money as men? Or is the Wimbledon system fairest one?
| 11:36 UK time, Monday, 19 June 2006
The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Environment Correspondent , Richard Black, has written on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website in which he poses the question "
if the rich West cares so much, how did it allow the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to reach a position where, for the first time in 20 years, it has endorsed the idea of commercial whaling?"
and we want your views on that today.
The case of two missing girls has re-awoken some of , so we'll be hearing voices from there...
Tessa Jowell is Britain's Culture Secretary and for men and women at this year's Wimbledon Tennis Championships...is she right?
and we'll be looking at a case which is and could lead to one of the country's best known pop stars facing a criminal investigation. Mika Singh allegedly assaulted a Bollywood dancer called Rakhi Sawant by kissing her against her will. Some people say that Ms Sawant brought it upon herself by kissing Mr Singh on the cheek in the first place, others say it's a clear violation of the dancer's rights.
Liveblogging is normally a challenge, but it's even harder today with the Holland v Ivory Coast game on as well. It's 2-1 to Holland after an electric first half. i'll post some updates about the match as well as your comments on 30 years after the and Bill Gates decision to focus on his philanthropy.
We'll also talk about what cheap goods are worth to you.
Bill Gates' decision to transition out of his day-to-day role at Microsoft certainly is discussion topic number today online. He will still stay on as chairman of the board of Microsoft. Lots of talk whether Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer .
But it's a huge . Read on for a little bit of a blog round up.
I feel obliged to do my public duty this morning and alert anyone reading this posting just before they venture on to the on the London Underground. Avoid it.
The reason this message is late is because it's taken me so long to get in to work this morning, a forty minute journey has taken almost two hours. We are told it has something to do the a power failure along the line. Whatever it is and continues to be, it's made me and thousands of other Londoners very late for work this morning trying to find alternative ways in to work.
Anyway, it did give me a chance to have a decent flick around digital radio stations to find out what the world is talking about, and lo and behold it still seems to football.
64 people have been killed, and a further 80 wounded when a mine blast ripped through a bus in Sri Lanka. The government has blamed the Tamil Tigers, but they deny the attack, blaming a paramilitary group linked to the government instead. We'll be talking to Dr. Chris Smith, an expert on the Sri Lanka conflict, as well as hearing from Sri Lankans all over the world. How serious is the violence? Is Sri Lanka on the brink?
Then for Ramallah where tensions between Fatah and Hamas supporters have led to infighting and protests. Fatah supporters have shot at and entered the parliament building. They are calling on the government to pay them. "We are hungry," some of them said. Meanwhile Hamas supporters marched outside parliament calling for an end to inter-factional violence. We'll be talking to Palestinians in both camps and asking: What's it like there? And, who do you blame for these problems?
Brazilian papers have called it 'the ghost of '98', Brazilian fans have called it 'the end of his career'. Some have said he's too fat, his too slow, or simply he's too old. Others feel he is such a genie that he can always pull it off. So we'll be asking Brazilain fans: what is going wrong with Ronaldo?
| 15:26 UK time, Thursday, 15 June 2006
At least 60 people have died after a . The government has blamed the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and says its forces have been bombing rebel positions in the north and east in retaliation. A spokesman for the Tigers told the ´óÏó´«Ã½ the government had targeted civilian areas and there had been casualties. The Tigers deny they were behind the blast, saying it was carried out by a paramilitary group linked to the government. We'll hear from Sri Lankans there and around the world on what they think, who they believe-and what chance is there for any kind of lasting peace...
The power struggle between Fatah and Hamas is now focussed on , previously a place considered to be relatively peaceful. We'll hear from shocked residents on their worries and fears..
And the talk of Brazil is ; is he over the hill, overweight or genuinely ill? He's a World Cup great and stands just a goal away from breaking Pele's Brazilian scoring record in the finals. We'll hear from the world capital of football and what's happening to their favourite son...
The Mail on Sunday in the UK ran an article claiming that the Chinese workers who make Apple's iPods . The article alleged that workers received as little as £27 a month, doing 15-hour shifts making the iconic mp3 player.
Even if the claims are true, Apple surely isn't the only company in the world using low-cost labour. Our question: Would you pay more if you knew that the goods you bought were being made by workers treated well and paid a fair wage for their country? Or do you feel so stretched financially that you look for the lowest cost goods? We've already put up a debate on our sister site, ´óÏó´«Ã½News.com. to read some of the comments.
But we've had a suggestion already for Thursday from one of our , Tom Ellis. Read on.
It's a packed program today with five subjects and many subthemes to get all of us, and you talking.
The line up starts with the release of the Indonesian muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who was found guilty in connection with the Bali bombings in 2002. Some Australians are angry at his early release, while some in Indonesia have come out to greet the man and express their happiness at his release.
Then we'll be hearing your tales of world cup blues. Whether it's riots in Croatia, switching off the big screen in Liverpool, or power cuts in Uganda: not everyone has had an easy time watching the world cup.
On Tuesday women police in Iran broke up women protesting for equal rights. Many were shocked at the violent pictures of women beating their 'sisters'. But is the phenomenon of women fighting women against change, more widespread than we thought? What do you think?
And finally we'll be hearing from kids in Soweto and Wigan today. They took part in a video and internet link up and learnt about each other's schools and daily routines. We'll be hearing from children from both schools that took part and getting them to carry on their conversation by radio and phone.
Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been having a little trouble with our software. It's probably all of the footie fans going to the World Cup blog and our sister blog World Cup Have Your Say.
But you don't need to go there to talk about the World Cup. Today, we're going to be talking about the dark side of the World Cup. Here in the UK last weekend there were what some police called 'mini-riots' at . There was also some unrest . But that's just the start.
Sorry for the delay, I had a great post ready to go and suddenly my browser crashed. Technology! At any rate, we're going to be talking about Iraq. President Bush made a surprise visit there today as he called on to take more responsibility for building confidence in the country. What will build confidence in the new government?
Also, the World Cup is well underway, but why is that so many people focus on Brazil? It's not just their dominance. It's something more. Why do we love to love Brazil?
We've had a lot of e-mail suggestions in the World Have Your inbox today. Suggestions that we again discuss major internet companies like Google and Yahoo doing business in China, plus a couple calls for us to discuss women's rights in Iran as well as heroin use in that country. Keep those suggestions coming.
One suggestion we had last week was to talk about the strikes in Bangladesh. protesting low wages and have been staging strikes there.
Read on for more of your e-mail suggestions and other stories that caught our eye.
Today we'll be focussing on three issues:
Whose fault is it that three men committed suicide in Guantanamo?
Who is winning the media war in the Israeli Palestine conflict?
And wiki politics: is this a new era for democracy, or will those without computers feel left out?
The team has been speaking people all day to hear your views and invite you to join our program. Call us or text us on the numbers alongside this blog, or post a comment on this blog.
Everyone who saw the pictures of the girl crying beside her dead father on a last Friday was shocked.
An Israeli strike, whether mistaken or not, had destroyed a family in a setting that all of us would recognise - going down to the beach .
Today we look at the media coverage in the Middle East and pose the question "are the Palestinians winning the media war?".
As Kevin mentioned in his earlier post we will be looking at the reaction from around the world to the three suicides of inmates at the weekend.
We had a lengthy discussion in this mornings meeting about what question we wanted to put out. A debate about whether Guantanamo Bay should be shut down has been had many times on the programme and we were looking for something that would go beyond this conversation.
You may have heard described the suicides as a good PR move to draw attention to the inmates.
As I wrote on Friday, we're going to have a US Senate candidate, in Utah, on today. Why? He's trying to use a blog and a wiki to allow his supporters to shape his campaign. We'll have him on today. This is your chance to discuss the issues with someone who could be sitting in the US Senate.
But lots of other things are going on today. There is of course, the World Cup. Have a look at our sister programme, World Cup Have Your Say. But apart from footie, there is the at the United States detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.
We say that World Have Your Say is your programme, and we yesterday we received an e-mail from in the US who suggested that we take a look at the US Senate campaign of . Why? Mr Ashdown is running a rather novel campaign using a , a website that anyone can edit, so that his supporters can contribute their ideas on a range of issues.
Today, Mr Ashdown is going to join us to tell us . On Monday, he'll be back to talk about the issues with Steve and other supporters. What happens when a political candidate collaborates with his supporters like this? Comment here and listen in on Monday when the wiki meets the world.
Lots of people across the Middle East cannot afford to watch the World Cup. Many like Nimrod in northern Israel who called us cannot afford the more than $100 cost of the satellite package to watch all of the matches.
Haitham said that King Abdullah in Jordan put up many large screens across the country so that people can go watch. Karim in Cairo says the atmosphere is great in these huge outdoor areas, but families have difficulty finding a place to watch.
I just got an e-mail and a call from who joined us on Wednesday to talk about aid in Java after the earthquake. He wanted to let us know that Mount Merapi is erupting, just about 40km from where he is. It has been rumbling and spewing ash for some time, but Hans said that this is the real thing.
His friend is taking video right now. He said with the earthquake and now the volcano, it's a crazy time in Java. Here are some pictures of recent activity on the . I'll try to get some more details. I can't find anything on the news wires to confirm this, but the volcano has been quite active since 15 May.
Well it's been quite a day already, and it's only midday! World Cup Have Your Say kicked off this morning and it really was a great listen. As I'm sure you're all aware by now, a special offshoot of WHYS hits the airwaves everyday throughout the tournament. It's your chance to have your say on everything the World Cup has to offer.
But back to today's World Have Your Say agenda.
Zarqawi
Last night we heard peoples reaction to the news of the death of the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Well people have had around 24 hours to digest the information, so how are Iraqi's feeling today? Any safer?
| 19:43 UK time, Thursday, 8 June 2006
Hi there. Exciting times here in the World Have Your Say office as tomorrow we're launching a sister programme devoted to the football .
In a moment of clarity, we decided to call it World Cup Have Your Say (though Mark wanted to call it World Have Your Cup) and it's on air every day of Germany 2006 at 0800 GMT. The idea's pretty simple. We want to speak to football fans from around the world to find out what your making of the tournament.
Even at the top of the programme as Anu and I were hearing the world news, we're already getting text messages. Obviously the death of militant leader Zarqawi is the talking point today.
Bruce in Hobart says:
There is sometimes a thin line between out and out bandit and folk hero, such as Robin Hood or Ned Kelly, but Azakawi's legacy is completely bloodied. Clearly his upbringing and background was unfortunate.
I'll do my best to keep up during the hour. Keep those comments coming in.
I woke up, fired up the computer and checked out a website that lists all the recent changes to the (Thanks to Matthew Sommerville for the great site). There was a flurry of activity this morning as it was announced that militant leader had been killed in an air strike.
Sometimes a bit of news so dominates the day that we have to talk about it. This is one of those days. We're going to hear from people around the world as they respond. We're going to hear from Iraqis, US soldiers, people across the Middle East, people in Pakistan and experts on counter-terrorism to find out what this means.
Today we are talking about donor fatigue to earthquake zones, boot camps and what its like being blind around the world.
We spoke to Justin in Arizona briefly last week - he wanted to know what life was like for blind people in the developing world.
Today he'll be speaking to our callers and to Aubrey Webson, who works with the World Blind Union. Aubrey is blind and grew up in Antigua. He's worked with blind people around the world - mostly in Africa - for 20 years.
By the end of the programme, we hope Justin's questions will be answered. How hard is life for a blind person in the developing world? What do their sighted compatriots think of them? Whether you are blind or not, get in touch.
Sorry not to have got that first thing in the morning post up. Most days we come in, have a chat and then do the programme, but we've been working on a few things over the last few days so have already been fast at work on those.
One topic is the debate that Fiona talked about yesterday: Using boot camps to try to reform violent youths. Another one that caught our eye came into our inbox. It's been a little over a week since the , but aid is slow in getting to where it , says one blogger working with the relief effort.
| 20:09 UK time, Tuesday, 6 June 2006
Hi. This isn't actually Ros despite what the screen says. It's Vera. I normally present Fast Track, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s African sport show, but for the next month or so I have come down to World Have Your Say to work on World Cup Have Your Say (which launches on Friday at 0800 GMT I should say). It's been quite a first day as before I knew it I'd be asked to keep an eye on all the texts, emails and blog posts coming in during today's WHYS. And you kept me busy -we had over 250 messages.... many of them about the recent developments in .
Today we will we talking about Somalia, and asking: Does Al Qaida now run Somalia?
We want to hear from people in Somalia as well as Somalians living outside the country, and ofcourse, everyone who wants to have their say on this.
Then we move on to the Gay marriage debate in the US: many republicans agree with Bush, but plenty do not. So we will be trying to speak to those on both sides.
Then there's Ahmedinejad and his plans to go to the World Cup in Germany. Should he go? And why?
| 15:12 UK time, Tuesday, 6 June 2006
Hi there. As the afternoon passes, it seems clear there are three stories we're going to pick up tonight. First is what's happening in . Islamist militia have claimed victory over the warlords who have controlled the capital Mogadishu for over a decade. A 'new era' is how the leader of Union of Islamic Courts is quoted as describing the situation - but certainly not all of you are heralding this fresh start. What do you think?
Socialist Presidential candidate in France, Segolene Royal, has suggested that for military training if they break the law.
It reminds me of when I used to look through the paper post and find an actual letter letter or card as opposed to the typical junk mail. Today, as I was looking through the spam clogging the World Have Your Say inbox, I found a lot of messages from you about topics that we've discussed and topics you want to discuss.
Read on to see if any of the topics suggested interest you, suggest another topic and take a look at some other things that caught our eye in the news today.
Today we will be talking about two cities and two of the biggest police anti-terror raids in living memory: and .
In the UK there have been wide-ranging reports on what happened but still nothing to show for the three year long police investigation. Meanwhile in Toronto, police have arrested eight people involved in a "home grown terror cell."
| 15:09 UK time, Monday, 5 June 2006
It was a full house in the World Have Your Say office this morning, but unusually we all agreed there was one subject that we should go with today. and have both seen substantial anti-terror raids in the past few days, and both operations have raised a whole of range of issues that you clearly want to talk about.
Over the weekend, I asked what those of you who aren't into football are going to do during the World Cup. Well, we've got a couple of footie fans making the case for why you should be interested. The Gaffer who does a makes a case that it's not just about sport. Check it out.
Other than that, there are several stories that we're looking at this morning. There were anti-terrorism raids both in the UK and in last Friday and over the weekend. Do you feel safer?
But again, while we're looking at the headlines. What stories are you reading? What do you want to talk about?
I have been playing football, soccer as it's called where I'm from, for more than 20 years now, although a knee injury keeps means I can't be the weekend warrior I used to be. I'll go down to the local pub to catch US games for the World Cup. It will be better than the last World Cup in Japan and Korea, when I had to stay up until the middle of the .
Having said that, there is no way that I can compete with Mark, Richard or Pete, when it comes to footie madness. We're sure that there are some of you out there who couldn't be bothered that the World Cup is going on for the next month. How are you going to escape? Are you stocking up on DVDs? Do you have a long holiday planned. Tell us your escape plans. We hope to discuss this on Monday.
We started off talking about female genital mutilation (FGM). A study has found that the practice caused .
Efua Dorkenoo, founder of the Foundation for Women's Health, Research and Development, said that this was against human rights and the practice needed to stop.
Later on in the programme, we'll talk to two people in Basra about how the state of emergency is affecting their lives. Also in the wake of last year's record-breaking hurricane season, how are people preparing. Do they feel ready? Do they feel safe?
As we often say World Have Your Say is your programme and this is your blog. One of our frequent contributors to the blog, Abdelilah Boukili sent us these pictures of Marrakech Morocco where he lives.
Feel free to send us pictures of where you live. As I wrote to Abdelilah in an e-mail, you can be our eyes and ears where you live. We discussed this new presidential complex in Ghana yesterday. Snap a picture, e-mail to us. 'Read on' for a few more pictures that have come in.
We discussed doing more on Iran, and the reports of another killing spree by US troops in Iraq, but decided against both of those stories on the grounds that the debates would be too similar to ones we've already heard this week. Were we wrong? If you disagree, let us know why.
So instead, we're going to look at female genital mutilation, hurricane preparedness in the US, and, on a lighter note, kick off the debate about World Cup football fever and how the non-fans among you are planning to avoid it.
Good morning, what should we talk about today?
Iran is still the top story - we hosted between the US and Iran yesterday - so should we return to that? President Bush's senior intelligence advisor has warned again that .
We're kicking off today with Iranians talking to Americans. Chris in New York and Amir in Tehran laid out their countries' positions.
Kingsley in Ghana has told us about that is costing $30 million. The money is a loan from India. In country with 1/3 of its people below the poverty line, he wants to know if this expenditure is justified. We hope to talk about this on Friday's programme....
Condoleezza Rice says the US is willing to talk to Iran - if Iran "fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities". Well, those high-level talks might take a while to get going - if indeed they ever do - but we thought we'd grab the bull by the horns and hold our own talks today.
So, if you're American or Iranian, or just fancy yourself as a bit of an international diplomat, get in touch and we'll see if we can get you in our bilateral talks.
Regular readers will recall that a few weeks ago Justin emailed the programme and asked us to find out what life is like for blind people in the developing world.
He explained what he wanted on the blog and it took a while but on Thursday we got Justin on the programme to talk to Aubrey Webson, who works with the World Blind Union, and tell him what he wanted to know.
On the agenda today, talks between the US and Iran and the state of emergency in Basra.
Every day we ask you to set the agenda, and we're had more than a few suggestions today about what you would like to talk about. In addition to news headlines, there are topics that you want to talk about.
Bijaya Shrestha in Louisville Kentucky in the United States wants to know why there has never been a woman president in the US. Benjamin Meyer, also in the US, wants to know why more isn't been done about rude mobile phone users. And Kingsley in Ghana wants to know why the president of the country wants to splash out millions on a new presidential complex.
Read on to find out a little more and a few stories that caught our eye.
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