Abduction, rape and Pluto
Today-- we'll hear from Austria about the extraordinary case of Natascha Kampusch. We want to know if you think President Musharraf of Pakistan is right to challenge controversial rape laws? And you can share your feelings on Pluto's demotion from planet to, well, just a rock. Post your comments below and join us at 1700 GMT later today.
Natascha
It was one of Austria's most baffling crimes. Natascha Kampusch's escape and reunion with her family has got all of you imagining what her ordeal must have been like:
"Unbelievable. Imagine the overwhelming emotions her family must be feeling. The indescribable joy that she has returned. And yet the fear at the psychological damage. Scared to ask her what happened, knowing that she will be a desperately changed person, grief at the lost years. Knowing that healing will take eight years again, at least. But above all, irrespective of the qualms about the future, can there be a happier family anywhere tonight?"-- From the blog, mad musings of me
We'll hear from Austria and around the world to find out how Natascha's story is being reported and what she and her family now face.
Rape & Islam
Pakistanis are debating the repeal of controversial rape laws. The Hudood Ordinance, reflecting Islamic Sharia law, stipulates that a rape victim must produce four male witnesses to the crime. If not, the woman can be accused of adultery and punished with a hundred lashes, or death by stoning. Men and women in Pakistan have argued passionately for years that the law is grotesque, condemning rape victims to a doubly cruel fate.
Recently, President Pervez Musharraf changed the law to allow hundreds of women held on charges of adultery and other crimes to be released on bail. But in challenging these laws, he's playing with fire. A powerful Islamist opposition group has vowed to stop him, accusing him of trying to secularise Pakistan.
Is he right to challenge the Hudood Ordinance? What if it causes a backlash against women? Join the debate here.
Syed Imran Ali writes at OpenOffice.org:
"James bond has a license to kill, Bush has a license to kill a nation and its ally Pakistan has a law which is a "*license to rape women*"."
Planetary demotion
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and......
Hundreds of you have gone orbital, about the decision to demote Pluto as a planet. Are you sad to see Pluto go?
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