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G8 summit and in the wake of the Mumbai bombing

Kevin Anderson | 17:21 UK time, Wednesday, 12 July 2006

Last night, we turned over the entire programme to hear the voices of those in Mumbai who were dealing with the aftermath of multiple bomb blasts on busy rush hour trains. The latest death toll is near 200, and we're going back to Mumbai tonight.

Comments have flooded into the blog here, and Madhura Joshi in Mumbai left an voice message for us right here on the blog.

Read on to hear what she had to say, to find out how to leave a voice message yourself, and the other topics we'll talk about tonight.


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Her comment was echoed by many of our guests. They said that life is going on in Mumbai. There were many .

Prashnant Singh was actually travelling on one of the trains in the second class. He said that as he left the train, he saw bodies strewn around the carriages.

Has the G8 helped to make poverty history?

We also talked about the G8 summit this weekend. Last year the focus was on Africa, and Bob Geldof urged everyone to . But what has been accomplished?

And Robert Calderisi asks: Is the money and debt relief propping up the wrong kind of leader as Mr Calderisi insists? He'll be on the programme to make his point.

Robbert said that the West had been doing for 40 years. Government and economic policies in Africa had wasted so many opportunities, he said. Africa had actually lost its share of the world market in the last 40 years. He called on aid to be focused on countries that showed the most promise.h

Do you think that the G8 is actually accomplishing much? You've been having your say here on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News website. to join the debate. Or feel free to leave your comment here.

Rebecca joined us in Kenya. She said that in some ways Africa is going backwards. She said that aid was needed for education and rural infrastructure. The lack of healthcare, the lack of education and the lack of infrastructure has created a vicioius cycle.

Maria said that money had been spent on expensive infrastructure projects. She called on a new focus on smaller projects like schools and water purification.

Hoseah Njuguna in Atlanta in the US had this to say in an e-mail to us:

I don't think Western Aid is helping African countries. A prime example of a country doing very well by balancing its budget and prioritizing is Kenya. Africans are capable of setting its priorities, paying off their debt and taking care of their own as opposed to comforming to western demands which are not in line with African needs. The money provided by western countries just induce greed by officials and do not reach the people it was intentioned for.
Let Africans solve their own problems without interference.

Here are some of the comments that came into the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News website.

Scott Masteller, Fleetwood Pennsylvania in the US says:

The G8 does not exist to solve Africa's problems. It is not a welfare organization. It is a gathering of the leaders of most of the world's most successful and influential nations to talk shop and to do some personal networking. Nothing wrong with that. Anyone with any real work experience knows that you can learn and accomplish far more with face to face meetings than via emails or video conferencing.


Kelly Fillinger, Albuquerque New Mexico in the US says:

I do not think the G8 summit is effective. While all these countries talk about the world's problems little is done to actually fix them. I am an American and I am sick year after year seeing the U.S. doing its own thing especially when it comes to global warming. Bush just sits back and denies the whole thing saying it's not happening and the worst part is that a lot of people believe him. The G8 summit is just a place where politicians blow smoke about the world's problems and little is done.

Marcel, The Hague asks:

UN, EU, WTO, G8 etc... etc...
Why do we need so many separate organizations?

Also, we asked you yesterday about Zidane and his now infamous head butt. We didn't have a chance to talk about it last night because of the bombings, but we'll talk about it tonight.

Zidane apologises

As we were on air, for the headbutt on Italy's Marco Materazzi which earned him a red card in Sunday's World Cup final penalty shoot-out loss.

He said that Materazzi insulted him on three separate times, making comments about this sister and his mother. But he said:

I want to ask for forgiveness from all the children who watched that. There was no excuse for it. I want to be open and honest about it.

Italian fan Pino joined us and said that he was happy that Zidane had apologised. He still had a lot of respect for Zidane but said that after playing for Juventus, he should know the kind of taunts that he would face.

Whalid in London said on replay you can see Materazzi provoking Zidane. He said that Zidane has an excellent record.

He is trying to play a sport, but there is this guy insulting his mother.

But some of our listeners said that Zidane should be stripped of the Golden Ball, the World Cup MVP award.

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