Monday's early thoughts...
On some days there isn't much in the way of interesting stories and on other days there's possibly too many. Today is the latter. Well, at least I think so. You might disagree . . . As ever, please contact us if you'd like to get a hot talking point on air: worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Bombs in India
The India to Pakistan express was reopened in 2004 and is seen as a symbol of the peace process between the two countries. The train left Delhi late last night and two on board the train caused an intense fire with over 65 recorded as killed so far - most of the victims were Pakistanis travelling to Lahore. It's too early to say who was responsible but if you are in the region of Northern India where the attack took place please let us know your thoughts.
Is Losing It and Should We Care?
Do we have an unhealthy obsession with celebrities? I like to think I'm the type of person who can skip over the gossip pages in the papers but I was taken aback by Miss Spear's severe new look. Several reports stated that the pop sensation had been refused a haircut by the salon staff and she took the clippers to her own head saying "I'm tired of people touching me?" It's sad to see anyone destruct in public so is this a cry for help? Anna Nicole Smith's tragic demise is being pored over and I guess I'm adding to the snowball by linking to her will but maybe we shouldn't be too snobbish about this: every major US news outlet was running this story yesterday.
There are various news ranking tools out there on the web but I quite like this one at the . Here's what it thinks of some of the stories I've put on the blog today.
Sudan: Is it time for intervention?
The violence in central Africa is spreading to three countries now: Chad, Central African Republic and Sudan. Our sister programme the World Today has a good report with the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ correspondent Orla Guerin and Mia Farrow who are in the region. Many are calling for military intervention (and have been for a while) do you agree? Or has the violence in Iraq totally discredited the idea that force can be used to alleviate suffering? Would you like to hear from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's correspondent Orla Guerin who is in the thick of it?
Race preferences
As US story and a long-time issue in the world of US race relations. Last year a white student, Emily Smith, took action because she was dropped from a journalism course in Virginia because the director of the Urban Journalism Workshop preferred to recruit black candidates. She has now won her case. This says it's: "Pitiful, the whole bloody game" and seems to think the tendency of discriminating against "non-preferred minorities" is on the wane. I've always thought race relations in the US were healthy enough to dispense with what some still calll affirmative action but I'm an outsider . . . maybe you've a different story?
Anglican Church to Split?
Regional leaders of the Anglican Church have gathered in to discuss, among other things, the Episcopal Church's stance on ordaining gays and blessing same-sex couples. There are an estimated 75 millions Anglicans around the world and these two issues have proven divisive. I'm curious to know just how many Anglicans favour a split? an example of a small town in America where the split has taken on literal form: the two sides share the same church but stagger their worship times.
Happy New Year
If you're Chinese then I hope you partied well last night. It's the year of the which is considered a particularly auspicious year (it comes around every 60 western years) for prosperity which is quite timely seeing as China's future economic boom is featuring heavily in the press these days. We had India Rising two weeks ago on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ but what does the future hold for China? Rising? Sinking? Staying the same?
Britain: A Nation of Nutters?
A survey by a SciFi TV Channel reveals that This probably confirms most French people's view of the UK but the more I read this article the more I think that maybe a little bit of weirdness is good for your national pysche?
Islam and The West
A large carried out for the World Service has found that 56% of respondents think that there are "positive links" between the cultures. a country-by-country results breakdown. I'm not convinced there are any stunning revelations in this survey's results but I may have missed something. Take a look and let us know.
Air Mauritania Hijack
My mum always told me to stick with my language lessons at school and just maybe she had a point. A spot of French would have saved on an Air flight. The brave pilot, one Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, realised the armed hijacker spoke no French so when the plane came in to land in The Canaries he announced in French that all the male passengers and crew should sit near the front and to be ready because when the plane hit the tarmac he would slam on the brakes which would topple the hijacker and they would all be able to overpower him. Amazingly it worked. I can't help thinking it could have gone the other way so easily.
