Is Osama bin Laden still relevant?

In an audio tape a man claiming to be Osama bin Laden has said he is responsibility for the failed attempt to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day and warned Barack Obama that there will be further attacks on the United States.

The Obama administration said intelligence analysts had not confirmed that the al-Qaeda leader’s voice was on the tape and many bloggers are also sceptical of the claim.

On air: Would you adopt a child from Haiti?

This little boy has just touched down in the Netherlands, his new home. It’s worlds apart from the wreckage he has left behind – Haiti.

 It’s a common story right now. The US, France and Canada  have already sped up their adoption processes but people are divided.

Here’s a round up of the rights and wrongs of adopting during a disaster.

Your reaction to what’s happening in Haiti

Today’s subject may not be very specific as some we choose, but we wanted to make room for the multiple reactions, emotions and issues that you’re talking about with regards to Haiti. These are some of the questions you raise…

Obama one year on – WHYS on TV

WHYS was on BBC World TV earlier today. Click here for part two and part three.

On air: Your first year report for Pres Obama

I doubt there are many champagne corks popping in the White House to mark the President’s first year in power. If he didn’t have his work out before, this result in Massachusetts makes things a whole lot harder.

If you’d like to send us a video (of 60 seconds or under) with your first year report for the President, please email it to this address. We’ll do our best to use any many as we can. Here’s the BBC’s assessment of the President’s first year..

Once again, in a crisis, the world turns to the U.S. to sort it out….

These are the numbers: $100 million in aid, 2,000 marines about to join 1,000 of its troops, 14,000 meals and 15,000 litres of water dropped near Port-au-Prince last night.

The American aid effort after the Haiti earthquake follows President Obama’s promise, flanked by his predecessors, of one of the “largest relief efforts in our history”.

But that relief isn’t being welcomed by all …

Media watch

LATEST : we’ll be discussing this on today’s show. I watched one British network last night who had their two main reporters with the anchor at the end and were told “well done and thanks” for covering the story. Another had a strap line “fears of food riots growing” even though there hadn’t been any.

Anyway,there’s been a lot of you commenting on the role of the media in Haiti.

This blogger for example questions the need for spaces on UN flights to go to journalists and wonders if it’s right to have “play-by-play” type reporting when someone is being dug out from the rubble.

On air: Your Haiti questions – updated

Heba: Thanks for your questions.

There were several – some angry – calls and e-mails criticising the speed of the aid relief effort and the role of the media on the reporting of this unfolding crisis.

The round-the-clock news coverage, increasing newspaper column inches and your own input into the conversation has thrown up yet more questions that we think are worth pursuing.

Do West Africans have particular reason to help Haitians?

Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade is telling Haitians they are welcome to come and live in West Africa, and ‘return to their roots’. Do you agree that a connection remains several centuries since slaves were transported from Africa to the Caribbean? If you’re in west Africa would you be glad to see Haitians arrive?

Is there any defence against a suicide bomber?

How can you stop someone who’s determined to die and doesn’t care who’s killed in the process?
Right now, there are 20 odd suspected Taliban militants involved in a commando style assault near Kabul’s presidential palace. And their donning their suicide vests. I can hear one of my colleagues on the phone to witnesses in Kabul – the battle is still on.