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7- Worldwide, gays have marriage rights. So why the Yanks are making a big fuss...

Around the world, countries are coming to terms with how to treat homosexual couples - and the trend in many is toward liberalizing laws. In Denmark, civil unions with the same rights as marriage have been around since 1989, and other Nordic countries followed suit in the 1990s. The Dutch were the first to eliminate any distinction between gay and straight, striking all references to gender in the marriage laws. Belgium soon did the same. Canada jumped to the forefront of gay rights in North America in June when it announced plans to legalize same-sex marriages. Many U.S. same-sex couples streamed north to marry in Ontario and British Columbia after courts in those provinces authorized such weddings. In most of Africa, homosexuality is illegal and gay marriage unthinkable. But in South Africa, gay rights were enshrined in the post-apartheid constitution and some groups are lobbying for the right to marry. In Japan, homosexuality is no longer considered a mental illness, but many gays still feel pressure to go through a sham heterosexual marriage. Japan is more progressive than most of Asia. Strongly Roman Catholic countries such as Spain and Italy refuse to recognize gay couples. But there are important exceptions. In Portugal, and in Spain's Navarra and Basque regions, gay couples who live together long enough receive the same benefits as heterosexuals under common law unions. In Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, gay couples can register for a civil union. France and Germany have civil union laws, and Britain is in the process of adopting them. The Dutch have watched the hoopla in the United States with some bemusement. Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen, who married six couples at the stroke of midnight on April 1, 2001, when the Dutch law took effect, sent a note of support to Gavin Newsom, the San Francisco mayor who set off a rush to California when he officiated same-sex ceremonies. So, why the Yanks are making a big fuss about gays rights? Norma Grimm, London

8- Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have commonalities.

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have commonalities. The Jews don't believe in Jesus; Christians do. Muslims recognize Jesus but only as a prophet, not as a deity. An outsider would say all religions worship the same God, but a person belonging to one of the three religions would disagree. What's my point? I dunno, there are more religions than those three. Religions aren't a threat, it's the human race that is. Certain Christians may be lunatics, and some Muslims too, but that doesn't mean the "cult" as a whole is what's causing the problems. You can't make blanket statements like that. Rodney Blass, Birmingham

9- Buddhism, or even Hinduism

The Muslims. Personally I think all religions are equally false, however these days you find more extremists in Islam then you do in Judaism and Christianity combined. The only peaceful religion I can think of would be Buddhism, or even Hinduism. Maybe us westerners can learn a thing or two from the people of the east. Meg Harris, Kent

10- I accuse the Bush administration of "systematically misrepresenting" the threat posed by Iraq.

I accuse the Bush administration of "systematically misrepresenting" the threat posed by "Iraq's weapons of mass destruction" .A report, by four experts on weapons proliferation at the respected Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, verified this.. According to the report, the absence of any imminent threat from Saddam Hussein's chemical or nuclear programmes was "knowable" before the war. There was greater uncertainty over biological weapons but no evidence strong enough to justify war. The American intelligence community began to be unduly influenced by policymakers' views "sometime in 2002". Repeated visits to the CIA by the US vice president, Dick Cheney, and demands by top officials to see unsubstantiated reports, created an atmosphere in which intelligence analysts were pressed to come to "more threatening" judgments of Iraq. The Bush administration officials systematically misrepresented the threat from Iraq's WMD and ballistic missile programmes. Jay Borger, London