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Your emails and texts

Rabiya Parekh | 19:24 UK time, Monday, 10 April 2006

This is where you can read a selection of your comments and emails that came in during todays programme.

Denmark

We began the programme by returning to Denmark, where the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a newspaper led to sometimes violent demonstrations around the world and the boycott of Danish goods, especially in the Middle East.

Among others, we heard from Asmaa Abdol Hamid and Arne Notkin, respectively the presenter and co-producer of a Danish TV programme, Adam og Asmaa, set up to discuss the effect of the cartoons and reaction to them. We also heard from Morten Messerschmidt, of the Danish Peoples Party, and Vibeke Mannichee - the head of Women for Freedom Association.

She said Asmaa, who wears a headscarf, is oppressed, but Asmaa said she was a strong woman who made her own choices.

Bashy Quraishi - Chairman of the Federation of ethnic minority organisations in Denmark - said most Danes had now seen that Denmark has to incorporate Islam into society and that you have to stop insulting people and have a dialogue in society.

Morten Messerschmidt said Asmaa was promoting a fundamentalist form of Islam by wearing the headscarf, but he said he wasn't against people wearing crosses on TV. Vibeke said people were against any form of oppression of women and there should be a dress code on national TV, while Arne said television had an obligation to show and represent people from all sectors of Danish society.

Kaspar in Copenhagen called in to say that the headscarf wasn't oppressive and the presenter chose to wear it as a political statement.

Morten said the cartoon debate had showed Danes that Denmark wasn't a secular society. Bashy said the debate had led to Imams visiting Muslim communities around the world asking them not to boycott Danish goods. Vibeke said the debate had showed that women's rights had to be given more prominence.

Astrid Geld Neilsen of - Arla foods said the company is losing about 40 million pounds (70 million dollars) this year due to the boycott, but their products were beginning to return to shelves in the Middle Eas. Bashy said Arle had dealt with the boycott intelligently.

Arne said the programme was co-presented by a non-Muslim man, while Vibeke said religion should be a private matter.

Michelle, an American on the phone from Norway, said she hoped the debate wouldn't spread to where she is living.

We received the following texts

Nik a Briton in Malawi texted to say,

It was a sad sign about danish society if the population feel threatened by a piece of cloth. Even if one saw a presenter on tv wearing a swastika one would not turn nazi. Stop acting like overzealous nannies.

Fahd in Yemen said

Please, tell me what you mean by freedom when you deny woman her right to wear what she wants.

Jaya in Kolkata India said

Why should headgear be considered fundamentalist. Its ridiculous that a person's qualification should be judged by what she wears. People seem to be taking everything Islamic badly.

Mike in London said

Well you can comfort your representative from Arle that I have been buying more Lurpak and other Danish products than ever. Hang in there Denmark! It won't last forever.

Nathan in Virginia USA said

This issue clearly demonstrates the xenophobia which has begun to gain sway in Europe once again. The head scarf is a symbol of Muslim culture and not the oppression of women. If she were wearing a burka the discussion would be significantly different and people's concerns would be warranted.

Return to Nepal

We then discussed Nepal, where the protests against the King's rule, turned violent at the weekend. We spoke to Ollie in Khatmandu, who said he had seen some violence on Sunday, but less on Monday. He said he didn't support the violence and the King didn't create the problems.Deepesh in Khatmandu said he'd seen a lot of violence on TV, but a curfew had prevented him from going out. He said he didn't support the violence either.

Youth employment

We then went to France to get reactions to President Jacques Chirac's decision to annul the youth employment law - which would have made it easier for employers to hire and fire young people - that has led to major demonstrations across the country.

Caroline in France said the Prime Minister is thinking about the next election, Florian, a student, welcomed the decision and said it had been a waste of time introducing the law and then repealing it. Another student, Beatrix, said she didn't take part in the demos once they became political.

Bryony in France emailed to say the law had been a waste of time. Florian said the government should have spoken to labour and student unions before introducing the law and now they are going to do that. He says students don't want precarity, while Caroline said too many French people only think about not getting fired, when good employees are not at risk.

We then heard from Canada, where the discovery of eight dead men in several vehicles parked in a wood in Ontario, has dominated headlines. We spoke to Peter Edwards, a crime reporter with the Toronto Star and Steve Madely, a presenter on CFRA radio in Ottawa and Terry England, of the Toronto Sun

Peter, who has been to the town of Shedden, where the bodies were found, said it looked like the deaths were connected to biker gang activity. Steve said the area was very quiet and rural, but it had already seen biker gang violence in the past.

Peter said there were a lot of bike gangs in the area, and they have become a lot more organised. He said local people were more angry with the presence of reporters following the killings than they were about the deaths themselves, which they felt involved outsiders.

Rod spoke over the internet from Toronto to say he was shocked, but not worried by the deaths. Terry England said it appeared to be an internal squabble within the Bandidos gang.

Steve said that it is mostly gang members who have died in gang violence in the past, and people are only concerned when innocent bystanders get caught up in it.

We also heard from Ghana where over a hundred people are feared dead in a boat accident Lake Volta. We got the latest from Tilly Asante, a reporter at JOY FM in the capital, Accra.

That's it for tonight though, keep sending in your thoughts and tell us what we should be talking about tomorrow.

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