Jose Manuel Barroso defends the decision to invite Robert Mugabe to the EU-Africa summit

It has been two years since the French and Dutch voted a decisive 'no' to the EU constitution and leaders will be gathering in Portugal next week to sign the new EU reform treaty.

 

Ahead of that there has also been the EU-Africa summit and Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, joins the show to discuss the controversial decision to emit Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, to the talks.

 

Barroso defends the decision, insisting that it was important to invite all African heads of state.

 

He also discusses the future of Kosovo and whether the EU will recognise it if independence is declared.

 

On the expansion of the EU, Barroso reveals that he hopes negotiations over the inclusion of Turkey will go on but that he expects it will take many years.

 

When asked about the possibility of Russia joining the European Union he responds: "Russia does not want to become a member of the European Union and the EU does not want Russia."

 

 

Venezuela's ambassador to the UK talks about the result of the country's referendum

After winning 11 national votes in the past nine years Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, recently lost his first battle.

 

In a referendum on constitutional reforms, 51 per cent voted 'no', meaning that, among other things, the president cannot seek re-election indefinitely.

 

Samuel Moncada, the Venezuelan ambassador to the UK, joins the show to discuss the referendum result.

 

He tells Sir David that the Venezuelan government lost the vote by the tiniest margin - 100,000 votes - because of government supporters who failed to vote.

 

 

James Yee was a chaplain at Guantanamo Bay when he was arrested for spying

In 2003 a chaplain at Guantanamo Bay was accused of spying and aiding Guantanamo Bay prisoners after he objected to cruel and degrading practices taking place there.

 

After 76 days of imprisonment James Yee was released without charge and he joins the show to discuss his experience and what he believes the future of Guantanamo Bay will be.

 

The Chinese-American convert to Islam was assigned to Guantanamo Bay and served 10 months there before being arrested when he returned to the US on holiday.

 

He explains that for the first 10 days of his imprisonment no-one knew where he was and his family learnt of his arrest when they saw it on the news.

 

Yee tells Sir David that he does not believe Guantanamo Bay "is going anywhere any time soon".

 

Nazanin Afshin-Jam

Nazanin Afshin-Jam campaigns against the execution of children

Singer and human rights campaigner Nazanin Afshin-Jam was born in Tehran during the turmoil of the 1979 revolution. Her family fled to Canada where she was raised.

 

Afshin-Jam joins the show to discuss her first album Someday and her work as a human rights campaigner.

 

Earlier this year, she helped to save the life of a 17-year-old Iranian girl who was on death row.

 

She talks to Sir David about that case as well as the plight of other children on death row in Iran and elsewhere.

 

 

Chris Hughes designed Barack Obama's website

Continuing its series looking at some of the lesser-known players in the US presidential race, Frost over the World takes a look at Chris Hughes.

 

The co-founder of Facebook helped to design Barack Obama's website and is getting much of the credit for Obama's sudden resurgence in the polls, particularly among younger voters.

 

Just how important will the internet be in this US presidential election?

 

 

Sir Nicholas Stern

Thousands of delegates from around the world are meeting in Bali to discuss how to tackle climate change when the Kyoto agreement ends in 2012.

 

Frost over the World has gathered its own panel of experts together to discuss climate change and the best way to tackle it.

 

Sir Nicholas Stern is the former adviser to the UK government on climate change and the author of the Stern Report, which warned of the dire consequences if climate change went unchecked.

 

James Smith

He tells Sir David: "If you do not deal with both development and climate change you will undermine both of them. It is not a horse race between the two."

James Smith is the chairman of Shell, UK. He has called on world leaders to produce a comprehensive and legally binding agreement to tackle climate change.

 

Smith explains how tackling climate change is a pro-growth option for companies.

 

Bjorn Lomborg is a skeptical environmentalist and author who joins the show from Washington.

 

Bjorn Lomborg

He maintains that there has been an over-reaction to climate change and that the costs of many environmental policies are probably greater than the cost of climate change.

 

He says we need to ask how much can actually be done about climate change and that it is necessary to address the immediate needs of the world - issues such as HIV/Aids and malnutrition, which he argues are sidelined in favour of climate change.