Who do you blame for the “syringe bomber” ?

His family contacted security agencies two months ago to raise concerns and his teachers say he was showing signs of extremism from a young age.

 He was even on a terrorism watch list.

So how did Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the Nigerian man suspected of plotting to blow up a  plane from Amsterdam to Detroit get so close to fulfilling his goal?

Has the west done enough to find this man?

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged over the weekend that the US have little or no recent intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

So is it time to stop looking for him?

Or do you agree with General McChrystal who yesterday said “I don’t think that we can finally defeat al Qaeda until he’s captured or killed” ? Is Osama bin Laden too iconic to give up on?

Here’s our post on this from last week:

Can the Pakistan Taliban survive the “death” of Baitullah Mehsud?

“We both are alive,” says Taliban commander Wali-ur-Rehman. He might find that the US, Pakistan and its neighbours  in the region beg to differ. They are pretty confident that the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud is very much dead.

That’s what so  many of you have been talking about around the world and on this blog.  We touched on this story on Friday during the first half of our programme, but unfortunately telephone lines didn’t work in our favour. It’s still been one of the biggest stories of the weekend. Is he dead? If he isn’t should Taliban prove it? And if he is, can the Taliban survive his death or is the leadership of this organisation more than just about one man?

On air: Have you lost the argument if protests turn violent?

“If I’m surrounded by police, then I shouldn’t be there”.
This was posted on our blog last night by Mark, a British soldier, after a video emerged of an apparently unprovoked attack by riot police on a man at last week’s G20 protests. The man now died and there are calls for an inquiry into the police’s actions. (Read Mark’s full post here) It comes after a very busy 24 hours for riot police across the globe.

Back to the troubles?

As I write Shaimaa is grabbing our technical equipment and heading to the airport for tomorrow’s special programme live from Belfast. In the last 48 hours 2 soldiers and a policeman have been shot dead in two separate incidents. The first murders of security forces in more than a decade.

The programme will be hosted by the Sony Award winning presenter Stephen Nolan, from an as yet undecided location. He’s born and bred in Belfast and presents radio and TV programmes on BBC Radio Ulster and our sister station here in the UK BBC Radio Five Live. There is, frankly, no-one better to illustrate to the world what the mood is like in Northern Ireland at the moment.

Talking Points for 4 March

Mourners lay wreaths at the site

The Sri Lankan cricketers have returned home and the hunt is on for the gunmen. A reward has been offered for more information. If urdu and cricket were what really united a country as diverse as Pakistan, what happens now?

 

William Dalrymple paints a grim picture of the year since the elections.

The biggest armed robbery in history?

Be honest, how many of you have heard of the Iraqi Oil Law? And how many of you can tell what it is?

The Hydrocarbon or Oil Law is, according to President Bush, designed to “share oil revenues among all of Iraq’s citizens” – Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds – and to help unify the country.

On Air: Has President Bush made the world a better place?

Today we’ll be discussing what’s very much on George Bush’s mind at the moment… how he’ll be remembered. On his farewell trip to Europe, President George W Bush has been thinking about his legacy

At the weekend, in an interview with the Times, he expressed regret of his legacy as a man who wanted war. And wonders if his “gun-slinging rhetoric” didn’t help him be thought of a man of peace. Today Max Hastings in the Daily Mail says that Bush has been the most disastrous president of modern times.

What will his legacy be? Is he the most disastrous president of modern times?  Or has President Bush made the world a better place?  

Talking points for June 12

Our virginity debate is still simmering away on the blog.

Stories for Monday 10 March

Hi there from a rainy and wind swept London.. A number of things have caught our eye today.  Do Americans have the rights to keep out people they consider a threat; do we have a right to happiness; more doom and gloom from Iraq and an old British comedy about France under Nazi occupattion is to be screened on German TV.