Hi Nuala here, just wanted to drop you a note about the shows Tim and
I had the pleasure of working on last week at 1100GMT. World Have Your Say wanted to give a snapshot of what five countries are talking about right now after their tumultuous year, so we turned to you our listeners and asked you. Your conversations were illuminating.

We also got some of you to present the show! Ayesha, Matthaios, Pakinam, Yoshi, Hadil and Maysam not only presented but also helped edit the show by highlighting discussions taking place in their country and identifying people who would be interesting to hear. So many of you participated as a guest or by tweeting us your comments using the hashtag #mywhys. Thank you for your input you really enhanced the global conversation.

So, we began the week with Ayesha Tammy Haq in Pakistan, she led the conversation about how Pakistan is trying to figure out how to interact with the world going forward. Did you know it's considering allying with China and turning away from the West?

We then visited Greece on Tuesday with Matthaios Tsimitakis, though Greek's economic future is bleak, the discussion was rich and varied as our participants told us what they thought should happen next. We'll continue to follow their progress.

Wednesday we eavesdropped on Egypt. Pakinam Amer guided the debate about whether the protesters are actually the problem, and whether the revolution is over.

Then, we swept across the globe to Japan with Yoshi Tomiyama on Thursday. We remember the videos of devastation after the tsunami and earthquake there we heard that some Japanese appear to have forgotten what they said was unforgettable. That's Yoshi in the photo above wearing the baseball cap.

And then to Friday, Hadil Krekshi and Maysam Shebani surprised us with what Libyan chat is about now. Yes they'd like to move on from the revolution and yes they'd like to get a job but Katy Perry and Bieber fever are also part of a new normal in Tripoli!

So thanks for all your help making really special programmes, hope you have a wonderful New Year.

Hi I'm Hadil Krekshi (on the right) and I'm an international business administration student in Tripoli. I love travel and I'm really looking forward to the New Year. I'm Maysam Shebani, (yes, on the left), I'm studying graphic design here and I want to be fashion designer but for today we are both the presenters of World Have Your Say, broacasting from the center of Tripoli.

It's the last Friday morning of this life-changing year, for us and everyone else here in Libya. 2011 has been a year a year filled with emotion, a year of following our dreams, the year of working as hard as we can, the year of unity, the year of speaking out, the year of believing, the year of togetherness, the year of patriotism, the year of the long-awaited revolution. The year Muammar Gaddafi ended, and Libyans began. The Libyan uprising has been a major turning point for all of our lives. For the first time in 42 years Libyans are able to talk freely and express their feelings, are able to sing their national anthem and pay tribute to their flag they have been banned from for over 4 decades.

Now that 2012 is around the corner, what is next for Libya? We're done with the revolution and are now looking forward to working together to rebuilding Libya, the country for the first time we feel is ours. Freedom Fighters are returning their weapons and getting rid of their military uniform. Citizens of all ages are out hunting for jobs, doing whatever they can to make money to go out and shop for new outfits for the new year. Some of the graffiti on the wall is being painted over, It's not all about seeing the Libyan flag on every street anymore. And of course, everyones editing their playlists and cleaning up their iTunes, theres more to music than the revolutionary songs that we all memorized over the past 10 months or so.

It's the New Year, a new start for Libya. Life is getting back to normal, and will hopefully be better than normal in the near future. No more weapons and freedom fighters, just normal civilians with their phones, laptops, books, and work equipment!

If you'd like to ask us about life here now, tweet us using the hashtag #mywhys
Looking forward to reading your tweets!

Hi, I'm Yoshi Tomiyama and I am excited to be presenting World Have Your
Say from Tokyo, Japan.

I am a stand-up comedian here in Tokyo, and at the same time, a chairman of an NGO, supporting the lives of people affected by tsunami and earthqake. I used to play baseball quite often during a week as a hobby, but after the earthquake hit northeast of Japan, I was motivated to drive over to those devastated regions, bringing and distributing foods, water, and all those needed items for the people living in the devastated cities and towns.

Now, 9 months had been passed since the earthquake and big tsunami hit the northeast region of Japan, but basically nothing had been changed. People are living in cheap temporary houses constructed by the Japanese government, but they will be forced to leave those houses in a year and half because the Japanese law has set an expiration date for ending the housing support.

Nothing seems to be improving. The people living there are mostly the elderly, so they cannot drive cars for shopping nor for hospitals. Also, since cities and the towns are wiped out by Ttunami and earthquake, and because the lands are sunk, the reconstruction of the cites are not carried out: no governors nor bureaucrats know how to rebuild the cities, and they have no clue to bring any industries to raise the employment levels. People lost their families, houses, jobs and everything, and the situation stays the same at this moment, although 9 months had been passed since the disaster.

Also, we are facing in danger of nuclear radiation, but most of the Japanese seem to be ignorant about the danger of the nuclear radiation, because of the lack of the information, which is strictly controlled by the Japanese government. Especially, the people living in Fukushima are still exposed to danger living there, but there is no actions taken among the residents nor on the government sides.

About 500,000 people residing in the northeast region of Japan are severely affected by the big natural disaster, but the people living in urban areas like Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka are forgetting the tragedy, although they definitely had thought they would never forget such a tragedy......

You can post your questions for me and our Japanese guests here or at facebook.com/worldhaveyoursay and do call during the show, it will be 8pm in Tokyo. We also have a special hashtag for those of you who love to tweet #mywhys

Hi I'm Pakinam Amer and I'm very happy to be here today at World Have Your Say at 1100GMT broadcasting from Cairo, Egypt.

I am a journalist who's passionate about investigations, current affairs, travel and positive psychology and quite recently our very own Tahrir square, and where it has taken Egypt. Personally my love for this country has been renewed there during the 18 days of the first revolt, but since then, quite frankly it has been a roller coaster of emotions.

The joy at toppling a dictator that has been ruling by an iron fist for almost three decades has given way to hope, that soon became muddled by fear and doubt as political forces and even voices on the streets became divided, and as the military rulers who took over following former President Hosni Mubarak overstayed their welcome. Many of the ideals that the revolution have called for -- freedom and dignity -- have not been realized. And the utopia that Tahrir has brought was short-lived.

If anything, voices of dissent were stifled, more men and women were beaten up and even killed for demonstrating for legitimate demands in Tahrir square, female protesters were sexually assaulted, and some political groups, like the Islamists, have broken ranks with the revolutionaries and chose to play politics instead, wavering between positions sometimes, and abandoning Tahrir at others.

The future is as uncertain as ever. The layman, who can barely make ends meet in a country where over half the population is drenched in poverty, has become disenchanted with a revolution that has seemingly threatened security and dragged on far longer than anticipated. The revolutionaries want their basic human rights and want to keep protesting, while many Egyptians just want food on the table and things to go back to "normal."

The road ahead is full of possibility but also fear. What is happening to our revolution? Is it failing? Has Tahrir lost its power? Could it be salvaged? What do you think Egypt should do at this sensitive juncture? What actually can be achieved? You can post here or at facebook.com/worldhaveyoursay and do call during the show country code plus 44 20 70 83 72 72 and we have set up a special hashtag for this week #mywhys

World Have Your Say is live from Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city today, tomorrow and Wednesday. So tune in at 1700GMT in the United States or 1800GMT for the rest of the world.

The UN says the global population will hit 7 billion today.  Today, we are broadcasting from Island Maternity Hospital and meeting mums and their new babies. We are going to talk about big families, contraception, maternal health and the strain on provide food, water and resources. The planet has doubled in population since the 1960s.

Africa has the world’s highest birth rate. With between 12 million and 17 million people, Lagos is already over populated and thousands of people arrive here each month, and predicted to become Africa’s biggest city by 2014 (it’s currently Cairo).

On Tuesday we’ll be working with a new Nigerian radio station, Nigeria Info 99.3, sister station to Cool FM. It has just launched this month and is broadcasting WHYS every day. You can follow them on twitter here and their head of news on twitter.

And we could do with your help for Wednesday's show. We’re still looking for a location in Lagos. Any intruiging places you think we could be?

You can tweet us @bbc_whys  post your comments on Facebook  or call us during the programme on country code plus 44 20 70 83 72 72 or email us at worldhaveyoursay@bbc.com

We're going to continue the conversation on the United States withdrawing one third of the military aid that they have been giving to Pakistan. The debate over giving money to Pakistan has intensified since the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden in May.  Now, President Obama has made the decision to cut some of the aid.  The relationship between Pakistan and the US has been a contentious one but who do you think needs who, the most? Do you see the reduction of aid as a good move? Do the funds really help the US in their fight against terrorism? And how much does Pakistan really need the money from the US?

Here's a couple of your comments that are coming in right now on our Facebook page:

Safdar Shah in the UK These are just pressure tactics Americans are using over Pakistan , they can suspend our aid for some time but for long time it's impossible and American officials knows it very well

Pindarhassan Lausha in Nigeria It's long overdue for the U.S to not only cut but stop all forms of aids to countries that are supports terrorists. Dollars are not fighting corruption

Here's Chloe's original blog post where you can read more background to the story.

BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus had this analysis:
Defence ties between Beijing and Islamabad are growing. Can they replace those with Washington? Not yet, but the fact that the question is being asked suggests the significance of the underlying changes that are afoot.

Whatever part of the story you'd like to pick up on, we hope you'll get in touch.

Two parliaments, two votes, thousands of tweets, posts and comments.

The Greek parliament have just voted in favour of proposed austerity measures but the clashes between protesters and the riot police continue.

@paulmasonnews tweets
ppl gather at cafes to watch vote + riot splitscreen - while riot rages at end of street #greece

We will be following how it develops on the ground. We'd also like to get your reaction to the outcome of the vote during the show. We have a live page with all the latest updates
Also today: Should animal rights trump religious rights?
The Netherlands' parliament voted Tuesday to ban ritualised slaughter of animals, in a move that will make the Islamic halal and Jewish kosher methods of slaughter illegal. It does still need to pass through the Dutch senate before becoming law. The main argument is that animals should be anaesthetised or "stunned" before killing.

Ron Eisenmann, chairman of the Jewish Community of Amsterdam told the Financial Times: "It's a very disappointing infringement on freedom of religion,"

"This is a low point in Dutch history, in terms of how the country treats religious freedom. It means we Muslims have no place here anymore," said Mohamed Ben Hammouch, spokesman for the National Commission of Muslim Organisations, Mosques and Imams.

But Marianne Thieme from Party for the Animals who initiated the bill says:
This way of killing causes unnecessary pain to animals. Religious freedom cannot be unlimited," ... "For us religious freedom stops where human or animal suffering begins."

What's your take on the vote? Would you like to see it implemented in your country?

I hope you'll take a couple of minutes to post your thoughts.

If you put any of the following hashtags #RyanDunn, #jackass #RIP, #ebert, #dontdrinkdrive into Twitter, immediately you'll tap into a big debate happening right now. Here's how it started. Ryan Dunn and Zachary Hartwell died yesterday in a car crash. Dunn who was driving, was a celebrity, a star from the MTV programme Jackass.
A photo had been posted to his page showing him in a bar drinking apparently before getting in his car. We don't know for sure, and currently an autopsy is been performed on Mr. Dunn's body. The photo above is of the scene of the accident.

Roger Ebert is a famous film critic, he tweeted Friends don't let Jackasses drink and drive.

And so an online debate has kicked off on whether it was appropriate for Ebert to tweet his thoughts on drink driving. Tons of people think it was, they do not find drink driving acceptable, here's a couple of their comments.

@october_cmu: I lost a friend to a drunk driver, So I agree with what Roger Ebert said. drunk driving related deaths are 100% preventable.

@ColetteLala: Why is everyone getting so mad at Roger Ebert? Let's remember, had Ryan Dunn lived, he'd be facing manslaughter charges right about now.

Others though, think Ebert had no right to speak out and have berated Ebert for even bringing it up.

Here's what Bam Margera, Dunn's co-star said in a tweet that immediately went viral:
I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day and piece of (expletive) roger ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents. ... About a jackass drunk driving and his is one, (expletive) you!

And one more from @BrandonTalks: I agree with the point Roger Ebert was making, but I think turning it into a joke was poor judgement. Two people died.. period.

We're asking why do some people still drink and drive?

Drink driving is viewed very differently around the world, we hope you'll tell your story on how you see it from where you are. Is it still acceptable where you live?

"a timeline shall be set for dialogue... we must give this dialogue a chance because the future of Syria depends on it"

Words from Syrian president Bashar al-Assad this morning in a 75-minute speech.

But what would a Syrian dialogue sound like? Tonight we plan to find out. We'll have a number of guests with different points of view on how they see the future of Syria. Please do get in touch if you'd like to take part.

Here's a link to Chloe's earlier post on the Syrian president's speech

Also tonight: What's the price of intervention?

Nato ,for the first time in the Libya campaign, has acknowledged responsibility for civilian casualities.

Time's Tony Karon blogs at Global Spin that

....Sunday morning's debacle -- caused, NATO believes, by a "weapons systems failure" that resulted in a bomb or missile missing its target -- could not have come at a worse time for the Alliance...

What do you think about intervention when you hear an admission like this?

Here's what state-run Jamahiriya News Agency had to say:
"In a sign of a moral and religious bankruptcy and military defeat the warplanes of NATO staged a barbaric air attack against an otherwise a peaceful residential area in Tripoli killing three members of one family,"

@jwmccarty tweets: Wondering how the progressive folks who pushed for Libya Intervention, & believed it'd only be a no fly zone w/ quick resolution, feel now..

But there are many more who think, it's important to stay the course, even if civilians are killed in the process.

I hope you'll get in touch.

I've just been reading through a lot of your comments on the appointment of Al-Zawahiri as the new leader of Al Qaeda. It's fair to say many of you are making jokes about the appointment, like this one....

@simonblackwell: Ayman al-Zawahiri's first day at the office. Changes Bin Laden's desktop wallpaper. Gets rid of dried-up Pritt Stick. Joins LinkedIn.

But jokes aside there is a serious discussion about whether the 25 million dollar bounty on the head of Mr. Al-Zawahiri is the right approach in tackling extremism.

Some of you think the focus should be trying to change the hearts and minds of supporters of Al Qaeda, or worry about extremism on the whole, not just one person.

Sun Lee Chee writes on our Facebook page
Instead of bounty on him why not spend resources to identify Al-Qaeda support in terms of money & weapons distribution?

Victor in Kenya tweetedAmerica just has just created a new scape goat. The bounty means nothing.

Whatever you make of a price on Al-Qaeda's new leader's head, please do get in touch.

We'll also be asking should Vancouver be ashamed?

Named the world's most livable city in 2011 by The Economist, Vancouver last night erupted in riots after their team the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in the final of the Stanley Cup, an ice-hockey championship. The riots lasted about four hours. At least 10 cars were overturned and torched, here's a link to some of the photos. They are not the images that most most would expect from Vancouver, do you see today as a 'day of shame' as many are calling it?

‎slycattle‎ tweets Pretty sad how #Vancouver can go from being a shining star at the Olympics to 16 months later the shame of Canada. All for a #hockey team

Greg posted on Citycaucus.comLooking back it was insanity for the Mayor to encourage 100,000 people to congregate downtown and in the event they are in a sour mood have everyone in one place to create havoc.

Vancouverite or not, how do you see last night?

And we'll also find out about detained BBC journalist Urinboy Usmonov, a reporter for the BBC World Service Central Asian department.

See listeners' comments about this programme

This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on 13 June, 2011. Listen to the programme.

@bangpound: There is no positive side effect of the #Amina hoax. It did not bring attention to Syria. It brought attention to a white fantasy.

@BSyria: I don't believe #GayGirlHoax will cause any considerable damage. It was just annoying and it hurt some people.

If you've been listening over the past week you've probably heard us talk about Amina Arraf, the so-called 'A Gay Girl in Damascus'.

I say 'so-called' because it turns out the gay girl in Damascus is actually a 40-year-old white American man from Georgia, currently living in Scotland, called Tom MacMaster.]]>Amina was understood, by many, to be a prolific Syrian blogger who, according to her blog, was detained by Syrian security forces last week. '

Amina' posted on our Facebook page a number of times in the past months and we had spoken to her online friend Sandra last week after Amina's reported detention but soon after questions about her were raised and then her identity began to unravel.

It took a week and now that we know the real identity of Amina is Tom McMaster a student in Edinburgh, we also know that Amina is an elaborate internet hoax.

A lot of the reaction online has been critical of Tom McMaster for taking his readers for a ride - but, while apologising, the writer defends his actions:

I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.

Can a hoax like this be justified if it brings attention to important issues? Do you think Amina/Tom achieved anything with this website and fictional persona? And do you think hoaxes are ever justified?

Some people say it's shown up failings in the 'mainstream media' - like this blogger:

MacMaster isn't the only one to be blamed in this debacle. Mainstream media plays a significant role in which stories make the headlines, and stay there. So when there are hundreds upon hundreds of Syrians being detained and killed, the harsh truth of the matter is that they knew that Amina's story made for a much better soundbite.

See listeners' comments about this programme

Hi Nuala here posting for Ros who is in Cairo as you've probably seen from his posts, pics and tweets. You can chat with him at 1700 & 1800GMT and we have three conversations that we'd like to take part in.

The fallout from the unrest in Syria appears to be intensifying. Across the border from Syria, a Turkish official said around one thousand Syrian refugees entered overnight, bringing the total to more than fifteen hundred since violence erupted in the Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughur earlier in the week. We'll bring you the latest at 1700 GMT. In the meantime, what's your reaction to this exodus of refugees?

Also, a US think-tank says hedge funds are behind "land grabs" in Africa to boost their profits in the food and biofuel sectors. It says the acquisitions have displaced millions of small farmers, and created insecurity in the global food system. However, some companies named in the report say that they're bringing more work, and higher salaries to impoverished areas. Is it harmful for hedge funds to buy up land in Africa?

And, Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has attacked Brazil for freeing Cesare Battisti a former Italian left-wing militant and convicted murderer. Mr Berlusconi says his release denies justice to his victims. Italy says it will now ask the international court in the Hague to back its fight to get Mr Battisti returned. Is Brazil right not to extradite him? What do people in Brazil and Italy make of this case?

Whether it's Syrians in Turkey, "land grabs" in Africa or the Italian Cesare Battisti in Brazil that you'd like to talk about, please do get in touch.