Do you welcome the rise of Islam?

According to the Vatican, 17.4 percent of us are Catholics and 19.2 percent are Muslims. Treat all Christians as one group and they would reach 33 per cent, but the figures are still significant. The number of Roman Catholics is static, the number of Muslims is going up. If this is happening in your country, do you care

Do you want your government to fund alternative therapies?

Have a read of this article which argues that it should. I’ll post more in a little while, once I’ve sent the Daily Email.

Talking Points

Zimbabwe is still making headlines as the first results of presidential and legislative elections are announced.

African democracy

Hello everyone Komla Dumor on World Have Your Say.

CAN WESTERN STYLE DEMOCRACY WORK IN AFRICA?

Zimbabweans will go the polls this Saturday but the outlook for the opposition is bleak in spite of the fact that the country has been in a total economic meltdown for several years.

Talking points for 28 March

Good morning, some questions on kidnapping, Islam and Zimbabwe to get us going today. And Iraq, where the government has extended by 10 days a deadline for Shia militiamen in the southern city of Basra to hand over their weapons. Is the extension proof of the government’s weakness or a sign of a desire for time to find a political solution?

Olympic regrets?

Will the Chinese government regret having the Olympics in their country?
But will it be good for China?

Talking points for 27 March

Good morning, Tibet is still leading the news on the BBC web site, with protesting monks disrupting a tour by the first foreign journalists to visit Lhasa since demonstrations erupted two weeks ago.

Iraq – over to you…

The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has given Shia gunmen in the country’s second city, Basra, a deadline of seventy-two hours to lay down their weapons.

Democracy in Africa

Here’s an interesting piece I came across in this morning’s Independent newspaper.

 William Gumede looks ahead to the presedential election in Zimbabwe this weekend, and says that African leaders must overcome their obsession of a divine right to rule forever.

A journalistic boycott ?

We’ve talked about China a lot recently and in every programme the suggestion of a boycott of the Beijing Games always comes up.