91Èȱ¬

Tommy and Franciscus are on now from Yogyakarta, the lines aren't great as you'd expect but Franciscus has just told us that when the quake hapened he thought it was the volcano erupting on Mount Merapi. Some of the e-mails we've had express fear that the volcano will now erupt and add to the devastation.

Gery in Jakarta has just told us he's heard tales from his relatives in the affected area that people are begging for food. Franciscus confirms this but says aid is getting through.

Kevin called us from a community organisation in Yogyakarta, he's been to a village on an aid run.....he's heard an estimate of 200 thousand people homeless but he thinks it'll be a lot more than that. Asked what he saw he said "it was just horrible" but praised the people's stoicism..."they're taking it far better than i would in the same situation"..

Kevin also confirmed an e-mail we had from Christy who said the hospitals can't cope.

Haider, also in Jakarta, is telling us that he went to a wedding in Yogyakarta a few weeks ago and the couple have lost their home. He also told us people are collecting money and the TV stations have organised an appeal. Haider says the business community has been contributing.

Suparno called us too from Yogyakarta and Haider asked him if ancient artefacts have been destroyed and Suparno said temples had been damaged. kevin said the roads are jammed ("immense") and some of the chaos is being caused by "sight-seers" taking pictures.

Change in Colombia?

Next, has the world's richest and most powerful guerrilla army, the FARC in Colombia, finally been defeated?
The rebels kept their promise not to disrupt yesterday's election, and their nemesis President Alvaro Uribe, won a landslide victory with 62 percent of the vote. He's indicated he is ready to open talks with the Farc if they lay down their weapons. But the rebels, who still control large areas of the countryside, have refused to negotiate.

Maria and Laura are talking to us via a satellite link (so we can hear them properly) from Bogota. Maria voted for Uribe,and Laura for Gaviria. Maria told Laura that Uribe is a very hard worker- a first, she says for the country.

Laura says Uribe has branded opponents "terrorists" she says "just because people don't agree with him".

Fernando in Atlanta e-mailed this "Mr Uribe is only as good as he and his media friends claim he is. Inside, it is by everybody known, that he has bought every piece of organism that might represent a menace to his intentions, whatever they might be, from public institutions to the news media, to the Supreme Court."

Willoghby e-mailed this; "Congratulations to the president of Colombia and to the valiant people who voted for him."

Is internet freedom a human right?

Now we're on to the Amnesty campaign to keep the internet free and open, saying that online communication is now a fundamental human right. They point to efforts by governments, aided by corporations to silence speech online. They highlight the arrest of Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist imprisoned for 10 years for sending an e-mail.

He used his Yahoo e-mail account to forward an internal government directive on how journalists should cover the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. US internet giant Yahoo cooperated with the Chinese government, leading to Shi Tao's arrest.

We heard from 91Èȱ¬ correspondents in China (Rupert Wingfield Hayes), and Dubai (Julia Wheeler) who gave us a snapshot of the situation regarding freedom there. Rupert told us that the Chinese authorities methods of blocking sites and access was very sophisticated.

Ronald Deibert from Open Net Intiative says we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking this only applies to countries deemed to have repressive regimes and quoted examples of restrictions in Canada.

Namibia: National holiday for Brad and Ange's baby?

Next...on to Brangelina...the talk of Namibia...this is how we asked the question..If you're listening in Namibia... do you think Sunday should be declared a public holiday... after the birthday of Brad & Angelina's baby -- Shiloh.
Even Frankie Fredericks, Namibia's world famous sprinter doesn't have a national holiday.

Then, there's the fact that journalists have been barred from Namibia.... and that the government is providing heavy security for the couple.

We spoke to a DJ called "The Deacon" on and Ngumi phoned from the country to tell us she loves the attention the story is bringing to Namibia.

Kevin finished the hour with a quote from the blog called .

Who is going to be deciding Namibia's foreign policy: Tom Cruise? Will Julia Roberts be in charge of Namibia's vote at the United Nations? Has there ever been a situation as wounding to the spirit of the people of Africa as this?