Connect the World takes viewers on a journey across continents, beyond headlines and into histories of the stories that are changing our world.
A couple of years ago a friend of mine, who worked in publishing, emailed me suggesting a guest for CNN.
The guest was an author doing well in America and was about to start selling her books in Europe. My friend was a big fan of the books but also the author who apparently had amazing story to tell.
I agreed to have the author on the show and I'm glad I did because it became one of my most memorable interviews. I heard how a deeply religious housewife had a dream that she turned into a book. She was caught out by her success but was riding the wave.
Her name was Stephanie Meyer, and her success was nothing compared to what it is now. Its one of those interviews that gets better with age because you know it was the beginning of something huge. See it here and get a sense of just how big the author of Twilight has become on tonight's show.
Also give us your thoughts here on the housewife, writer and, now, Hollywood big-hitter that is Stephanie Meyer.
Landmark news events come in two forms. There are the 9/11s which we remember for all the wrong reasons and there are the Berlin Walls which we remember for happier reasons.
The Wall was the focal point of the Cold War which could have ended in disaster but didn't, instead it ended in a street party. The people who celebrated on November 9th 1989 on the rubble of the Wall still struggle to describe that night.
They knew they were witnesses to history but they couldn't fathom the extent of it. Those who weren't there but were watching it on TV from afar had the benefit of expert commentary and probably got their heads round it more quickly. Where were you? What were you thinking?
And what do you think of Berlin today? It's been transformed into a thoroughly modern capital worthy of its reputation as Europe's capital of cool. But has it lost its way and its identity? Former East Germans speak fondly of a devided Berlin with a simpler way of life and a greater sense of community.
Your thoughts on Berlin then and now are our talking points for this week's webcast. Send us comments.
If ever there was an example of where the international effort in Afganistan isn't working, it came this week.
Five British soldiers were killed by an Afghan policeman they had been training. It came as no surprise that the Taliban claimed to have infiltrated the police and carried out the attack, but it was still a major dent in confidence of British forces who believe they are making a difference.
Kim Howells, a former Foreign Office minister with responsibility for Afghanistan, said the killings strengthened the case for bringing British troops home early.
The current UK government responded by saying forces will only be withdrawn once the Afghans have been given the training and support they need to protect the country themselves.
But, given possible infiltration, should the training continue despite the risk to more foreign soldiers' lives?
When you consider the victims in a war crimes trial, you don't normally consider the defendant first.
But ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is trying to play that card in The Hague: he's trying to take control of the proceedings by portraying himself as a victim, denied justice by the West, and sinking under the weight of more than a million pieces of paperwork thrown at him by the prosecution.
I have heard western lawyers suggest that the best thing for everyone is for him to boycott the trial so the prosecution can make its case without further distraction.
But justice should be seen to be done and, vitally, all parties concerned - including Bosnian Muslims and Serbs – need to perceive the trial as fair. How does the court strike the right balance?
Hamid Karzai keeps hold of the Presidency of Afganistan after his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, pulls out of a run-off vote.
Abdullah said the vote would not be free and fair. World leaders, including the head of the U.N., helped legitimize Karzai's position by congratulating him.
The American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said Karzai's submission to a second round of voting "bestowed legitimacy from that moment forward, and Dr. Abdullah’s decision does not in any way take away from that."
Saying he is a legitimate leader is one thing, whether the wider public believe it is quite another. We want to know what you, the public, do think so we can refect it in our coverage.
Send us your comments below.
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