This isn't actually Ros, but Puja (my log-in is playing up). I've been reading out your texts and emails as we've discussed the US Secretary of State for the Middle East. She says the US would seek a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire and will also call for the UN Security Council to support a comprehensive settlement and an international stabilisation force in Lebanon.
So can such a solution work? This is what some of you had to say:
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Hello. I found it fascinating last week to listen to you discuss the situation in the Middle East from so many angles. You dissected America's role in the situation, then the media's role, and then on Thursday and Friday the part being played by Israel and Hezbollah respectively. Well today we have something new to consider.
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In the last couple of weeks contributions to the World Have Your Say blog has really increased, and as well as many of you sending in your comments to our debates straight to the blog, we've also been getting lots of emails staright to our inbox.
I've spent much of the morning going through them and listed below are just a small selection of what we have had in.
And please remember to include your telephone number if you would like to come on air and have your say live on the programme.
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I can only hope that we helped answer some of your questions to Israel and Hezbollah. Both Dan Shaham of the Israeli Embassy in London and Nawar Al-Sahili, a Hezbollah MP in the Lebanese Parliament, took your calls the last two days. I wonder if any of you share my feeling that although fascinating to speak to them, perhaps next, we should get them both on the programme together to talk to each other! I'm also left with a nagging sense of futility. The conflict is so entrenched and the rhetoric so sophisticated, it's easy to see why countless diplomats, politicians, fighters and peacemakers have failed to find a lasting solution. Still, thanks for all your excellent comments and questions. Keep them coming, and we'll do our best to make sure the global conversation is not a dialogue of the deaf, but, as much as possible, a meaningful exchange.
What do you think Hezbollah's long-term objective is? Do they think they have the support of the Lebanese? What would it take for them to disarm?
On todays programme, Nawar Al Sahili, an MP for Hezbollah in Lebanon will be taking your questions. Contact us on the form below, and don't forget to leave number for us to call you on.
As I've mentioned before one of the first jobs of my day include going through the emails that have come in to the programme overnight.
Many emails come in during the show, but as hard as we try to get all of your comments on sometimes that is not always possible. Last night Dan Shaham, Director of Public Affairs at the Israeli Embassy in London took your questions.
Looking at the range of emails and blog comments we received following the programme I would say that there was an even split in those of you who thought we treated him fairly and those who thought we didn't.
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Well, as Priya promised, today, you can put your questions direct to a representative of the Israeli government. Dan Shaham is director of public affairs at the Embassy of Israel in London. Many of you have written in already with your views about the conflict and I'm collating those comments now. If you have a specific question that you want to ask Mr. Shaham, post a comment below or email us. Include a phone number if you want to come on air and speak to him. Priya's also working on lining up a representative of Hezbollah in Lebanon to take your questions tomorrow. So far, one Hezbollah member says he'll participate, but we're currently trying to work out the logistics of getting him on air. I'll keep you posted!
Today we talked about whether YOU agree with the way your government has responded to the current crisis in the Middle East. Another lively discussion with guests Rami Khouri of the Daily Star in Beirut and Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian newspaper in the UK giving their perspectives.
Here are some of the comments that were recieved during the programme:
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Is Israels response proportionate? What are their actual goals? And how do they plan to eradicate Hezbollah without targetting civilians?
On THURSDAY'S programme, Dan Shaham, director of Public Affairs at the Israeli Embassy in London will take YOUR questions about the crisis in the Middle East. What would you ask him?
On FRIDAY, we hope to speak to a representative from Hezbollah - do you have any questions for them? we want to hear from you.
Post a comment and leave us your number....
I've been away from the programme for a few days, but it was clear to me when I woke up this morning and heard the about a UN post being bombed that the crisis in Lebanon is still what everyone's talking about - with analysis and opinion coming from as far afield as and . Do you agree with your country's response to the crisis? What has your government done? What would you like it to do? Let us know by posting a comment below or joining the .
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We had another busy programme today, you obviously have a lot to say about the reporting of crisis in the middle east. Here's are just some of the email messages, texts and comments we've received...
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Hello. It's clear from the enormous response to yesterday's programme that the Middle East continues to be what you want to talk about. Last night to the region meant that America's role was at the heart of our conversation. Interestingly, what started off as 'should America try to resolve the crisis?' became 'can America resolve the crisis?'.
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It's been an incredibly busy programme. We've been discussing what America should and can do to resolve the and have been deluged with calls, texts and emails.
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Hi there. After a week on the road we're back in Bush House and this evening we have a very simple question (though I suspect the answer will not be so simple). The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice . She's met the Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and will see the Israeli PM later. We'll be devoting the whole programme to asking if this American intervention in the crisis is welcome or not. We're hoping to speak to people in Haifa, Jerusalem, Beirut, Tehran and Washington, but of course wherever you are you're welcome to join our conversation. I'll speak to you at 17gmt.
We've just started the programme. George Matlock, editor-in-chief for Radio Orla, says that12,000 Poles live in the Jersey Islands, and just this year, they had their first summer Polish festival on the island. It's just one of the many changes that the Polish community is bringing to Britain.
We started at the Patio restaurant in West London, but quickly went to Northern Island to talk to Katrina Codorla on how Poles are integrating there.
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In a bit of journalistic serendipity, major newspapers in the UK are covering the topic that we will be discussing today: The Polish migration to the UK. As states, some 5000 doctors have left the country since 2004.
We'll talk to one of them tonight who is leaving Poland tomorrow. Wojtek Kluzek is coming to the UK to work at a hospital in South Tyne. We'll ask him why he's leaving, and speak to Dr Pawel Kaczmarczyk, the chair of demography at the Centre of Migration Research at Warsaw University. The flight of Poles from Poland has been described as the largest migration in Europe since World War II.
Have you left Poland? Are you still there and wonder why so many have left? Here's a chance to have your say.
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We've got two days left in our conversations with immigrant communities in the UK. Today, we'll speak to Somalis in Cardiff. But as violence continues in the Middle East, we'll continue speaking to people caught in the crossfire.
But we'll also talk to our Somali guests about news that the Ethiopian government is prepared . I just confirmed that the Ethiopian ambassador to the UK, Berhanu Kebede, will join us to answer questions. The press office says he is keen to 'set the record straight'.
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Today we're in Glasgow at a Lebanese cafe. The staff baked us a cake for our arrival so we're hoping to facilitate some lively discussion before we dive in. We've taken a picture of it - and Richard assembling his first World Service banner - and we'll post those when we're back in London.
Yesterday at the Lee Gardens in Belfast we spoke to our audience of people with Chinese origins. Leung the manager and his staff treated us to some great Chinese food so I may have to go on a diet after this week on the road.
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Day three of our tour of the UK, and tonight we will be broadcasting live from Glasgow.
The owners of the Shallal Lebanese restaurant in Glasgow have kindly allowed us to set up shop there as we ask Glasgows Arab community what they want to talk about.
David, Richard, Fiona and Anu are all out there currently on this whistle stop tour and last I heard they were tucking in to a hearty lunch!
As we've been doing throughout the week, we've been asking you to send us questions you want to ask our invited audience.
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Fiona , Anu and I are in Belfast for the second day of our WHYS trip across Britain. As you will have heard yesterday (hopefully) in Bradford, we are visiting just a handful of the hundreds of different communities in this country that make up the overall "community" of modern Britain.
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Messages are pouring from across the Middle East as the violence continues with more and for more rocket attacks. The is picking up pace.
We'll speak to those trying to leave, those caught in the conflict. And it is our second day in our Linking Communities series as we speak to the Chinese community in Belfast.
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Anu has just started the programme in Bradford, which has a large Pakistani population. The community used to be home to a thriving textile industry, but it struggled in its post-industrial age.
We talked about identity, citizenship, ethnicity. They are themes that we will explore all week as we travel across the UK and speak to Pakistani, Somali, Chinese, Arab and Polish immigrants living here. We also discussed the deepening crisis in the Middle East.
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To quote the Scottish , the best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry. Today, we launch a week of programmes, we call Linking Communities, as Fiona explained.
But we just can't ignore the deepening crisis in the Middle East. We're still going to hear the concerns of and put your questions to the Pakistani community in Bradford. But we're also going to ask you: How would you stop the escalating violence in the Middle East?
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Two nights ago, we had planned to talk about, basically physical punishment training. But on Tuesday, we quickly changed direction after the bombings in Mumbai. Tonight, we're hoping to have the discussion about whether 'beasting' is necessary to instill military discipline or rather it amounts to unnecessary bullying.
And of course, we have more breaking news today as on Lebanon after two soldiers captured by the militant group Hezbollah.
Read on for other stories that caught our eye.
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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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Don't forget that we're touring around the UK next week to visit some of the many hundreds of communities that make up Britain in 2006 and finding out what's important to them.
We start in Bradford's Pakistani community, speak to Chinese people in Belfast and around the world, Arab communities in Glasgow, Somalis in Cardiff and to finish the week Polish people in London.
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The Indian city of Mumbai has been rocked by a on the city's transport network, killing at least 40 people.
Early reports say there have been six blasts on Mumbai's crowded rail network, in the heart of it's financial district.
Hundreds have been injured by the blasts and it is excepected that the death toll will rise.
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As I said yesterday, we're going to be talking about '', a term being used to refer to punishment physical training in the army here in the UK. Some have accused the media of after the death of 22-year-old last week.
And everyone is still talking about Zizou's headbutt. Materazzi says the French captain, but what did he say? Does it matter?
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I know everyone wants to talk about what could have possibly provoked Zinedine Zidane to launch against Italian defender Marco Materazzi. As a player, I know that 'trash talking', as we call it in the US, is part of the game. It can knock you off your game.
But today, we've got a World Have Your Say special. from around the world.
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Today we'll be hearing the voices of London a year on from the transport bombings. No pundits, no terrorism experts, no community leaders, no politicians, no geopolitical debating, just the sound of the people of a city going about their business. We'll hear how they feel , what they are talking about and what they've been listening to.
Two of our team - Richard and Puja - travelled into work today and asked people to tell us their thoughts.
Kevin has been listening to what the radio stations have been hearing and Uwa is preparing the voices of those who survived......and the relatives of those who didn't.
I hope you'll listen and as always, tell us whatyou think...
London has just gone silent for two minutes as Londoners remember the bomb attacks a year ago today. The bombings left 52 people dead and scores injured. We have been speaking to Londoners this morning as they remember where they were.
My memories are uneventful. At the time, I lived in walking distance from our offices in West London. But shortly after I got into work, there were reports of a 'power surge' on the Tube. Anyone has been to London knows how often the Tube breaks down due to signaling failures, disabled trains or the ever ominous 'customer incident' so most people didn't take notice. But then it became clear, this wasn't going to be a normal day.
What are your memories? Where were you?
Is bullying as a form of discipline a 'normal' part of army life or is it unacceptable punishment?
There are recent cases of severe punishment, resulting in injury or death, from several countries and we want to know what you think. Have you served in the army? Is bullying part of what toughens up recruits and makes them better soldiers or just an outdated and dangerous practise.
Join our to tell us your opinion - remembering to add your number if you'd like to be a caller on the show - and World Have Your Say are hoping to host the discussion on Tuesday.
We're starting off discussing a public health campaign in the US to encourage breastfeeding. The Best for Mom, Best for Baby theme is also mixed with adverts that compare those who don't breastfeed to women who smoke when they are pregnant. You can go here to and make up your own mind.
After that, we discussed the controversial film, The Yacoubian Building, what some are calling .
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People in the US are talking about a government public health campaign . Most of it seems pretty reasonable. Breastfeeding, best for baby, best for mom. But then, it grows slightly darker. Should women be made guilty for not breastfeeding?
Also, we'll talk about a film in Egypt that some for homosexual scenes.
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Some interesting stories around today.
One year on since London won the bid for the Olympics and questions are raised of slow progress and rising costs. We could link up to previous Olympic cities to see if they're glad they hosted the event and what about speaking to South Africans about the - are they ready?
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We started off talking about North Korea's missile launch overnight. What do you think? Are you concerned? Or do you think that this is a senseless act of provocation from a weakened regime?
We started talking to Toe Hakata in Japan. She said that most Japanese found the launch very difficult to understand. Robert, who writes the blog, The Marmot's Hole, said that it was becoming hard to understand South Korea's 'easygoing' approach. Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about the missile is .
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OK, I'm constantly trying to figure out new ways for you to have your say. We've got the debates on . We've got e-mail, SMS text messages, the phone, and, of course, the blog. But starting today, we've got a new way to make a comment.
Let's say you can't join us on the programme but still want to comment, and you don't want me reading them out with my silly American accent, well, now you can leave us a voicemail right here from the blog. One of the regulars here on the blog,, gave it a try:
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As everyone now knows, the North Koreans have been causing concerns around the world's diplomatic communities, particularly in Japan and South Korea for fairly obvious reasons.
We did a special edition of WHYS last week on North Korea more or less asking whether the world is taking Kim Jong - il too seriously or . Today, the story's moved on a bit and we'll be hearing voices from the region, as well as the wider international community.
Also today...
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Tonight we'll be looking at a story in France involving the organisation, Reseau Education Sans Frontiere. They're campaigning for the children of illegal immigrants to be sponsored by French families. You can read more about this group .
The North Korea's been testing their missiles, and this hasn't gone down well with the international community. We've recently done a big North Korea special on WHYS so we may not re-visit this today but here's
Next...
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World Have Your Say are going on the road again, but this time not too far from home. We're taking a week to travel around the UK meeting immigrant communities and connecting them with their original country and other members of the diaspora around the world.
We're calling it "Linking Communities" and from Monday July 17 to Friday July 21 we'll be speaking to newly arrived Poles looking for work in London, to third generation Brits in Bradford whose roots are Pakistani, Chinese in Belfast, Arabs in Glasgow and Somalis in Cardiff.
As ever, we want you to set the agenda. Do you have a question for these communities? Do you belong to one of the communities we've chosen - perhaps in another country? Do you want to hear a discussion on culture, music, sport, politics? Is there something in the news that you want to hear from their perspective? Or perhaps you feel we should have chosen your community. Tell us why and we'll think about it for the future...
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. . . not necessarily in that order! Tonight we touched on 3 continents, 4 topics and quite a few nerves.
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Mexico is having a cliffhanger election. n conservative candidate Felipe Calderon and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. We'll talk to Mexican voters and Mexicans abroad.
Also, both Muslims and non-Muslims say that the government in the , according to a new poll. Also, education officials in the after resistance from the Catholic church.
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The space shuttle Discovery has been ruled safe to take off despite the discovery of a defect in the insulating foam on the external fuel tank. A suitcase size of foam struck the leading edge of the space shuttle Columbia, punching a hole in the protective tiles and skin causing it to burn up on re-entry. Would you take the risk as an astronaut on the shuttle? ( to watch the briefing.)
But what do you want to talk about today? What is the news where you live?
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We started off talking about Muslim role models. The great Zizou, is powering his national side, France through the World Cup. The son of an Algerian immigrant to France, he is set to retire from international competition after this Cup. With the loss of this role model, who will young Muslims look up to?
Later on in the programme, we'll move on to witches, as Zimbabwe passes a . And then English in the US. Should you have to order your dinner in ?
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As an American working for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, I often joke with my colleagues that we're separated by a common language. Different slang, different idioms, different cultural reference points that complicate everything, especially humour. Even though the US and the UK speak English, there is still plenty of room for confusion.
The US doesn't have an official language, but in this election year with immigration high on the agenda, the role of the English language in American society is a talking point. The has placed a sign in the window: "This is America, please order In English."
What do you think? Is a common language a common good?
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On July 15th leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States will meet in .
Collectively they're known as the G8 and it's just over a year since this same group gathered in while simultaneously in London a middle-aged hectored them about dropping debt to certain African nations.
We're going to air a special G8 anniversary show and we want to know what you'd like covered?
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In today's programme: who are the Muslim role models? should witchcraft be legalised? and the American restaurant owner who's insisting his customers speak English - is he right?
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| 19:38 UK time, Monday, 31 July 2006
