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Gilad Shalit has still not been freed
The raid by Hamas and the abducted Israeli soldier has ignited the middle eastern debate. Both Bassan Nasser and Mark Clarfield spoke at length from their respective points of view:

Bassan: "Israel did not leave the territory. I cannot leave Gaza without IDF approval. My family cannot visit me in Gaza without IDF approval. The skies are controlled bvy Israel. Israel cannot say they left Gaza. The Palestinians only want freedom."

Mark: "We want the Palestinian people to have a normal life. I understand how Bassan feels about being locked in."

Comment came in from all over including this from Tim down under:

The Palestinian people will not be intimidated, Israel has taken away their homes and taken away their human rights and their faith in humanity. You are left with a people with nothing left to lose

Gay rights in India
Homosexuality is still technically illegal in India so it was news when Prince Manuv Gohil -- a member of one of India's former royal families -- announced he was gay.

We spoke to Sylvester who is a friend of the prince. He said that the prince "tried his level best to become straight" for the sake of his mother, even getting married at one point! Sylvester then explained how the prince had had a breakdown and how his family did not like his 'with the people' lifestyle. One particularly revealing comment was that the prince used to have his dinner delivered by train!

Strained family relations

The prince is gentle but very upset at being disowned by his mother. Sylvester explained how the prince was used to enormous luxury but was trying to become a commoner. Perhaps it is that which has annoyed his mother most of all.

We then spoke to Dr Suresh Samani - resident editor for GUJURAT SAMMA-CHAR. The Dr. explained that Indian society is not comfortable discussing this "taboo" topic.

"I hope his decision and work he does for HIV/AIDS awareness makes his country and the world a better place."
Ren from towelroad.com

Ravi from Mumbai, said that the prince should be "applauded" and that "it shows that things are changing in India."

Joseph Kony: madman or messiah?
Sam Olara explained the strange and mystical history of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and that the fighting that has been going on in northern Uganda for over a decade.

Martin Kirk from Save the Children talked about Joseph Kony's denial of voilence, he said there was "undeniable" evidence of the LRA's atrocities: "We can't really take this man's word". We then spoke to Ugandans around the world.

Edward from Kampala: "Everbody is aware that Kony has carried out atrocities. He has killed women. He has killed children."

Moses: "His own commanders have admitted that they have particpated in a lot of atrocities."
Sam talked about the southern Sudanese attempts to broker peace. But it is still not clear whether Jospeh wants peace.

Fred in Kampala said that the government of Uganda was more to blame than Kony and Martin agreed that the government had to shoulder some of the blame and that spekaing to Kony would be a first step.

Here's a text from Balok from Uganada:

If Kony thinks he's innocent then let him come out in public.

This text came from Eve in Uganda:

Hardly anybody tells the truth about northern Uganda.The pain there is unbelievable. We need an independent voice with no political interest!

Roly-poly Ronaldo

We talked about how Ronaldo has broken the World Cup scoring record despite being rather "rotund" as one ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ commentator put it.

Vicky Swindon, who runs fatisthenewblack.com, and said that laughing at somebody for the way they look is unacceptable. While Barbara D'Souza from the US said that she doesn't believe in censorship but that it is horrible to keep making a thing about people's weight although her example of Oprah Winfrey was swiftly pounced upon by our eagle-eared presenter Ros who pointed out that Ms Winfrey openly encourages publicity about her weight!

Final word and quote of the night went to Fiona from Edinburgh who said of fat people

You've just had one cake too many.