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Live from Abu Dhabi Connect the World takes you on a journey across continents, investigating the stories that are changing our world.
Monday's Connector of the Day – Lang Lang
Heralded as the "hottest artist on the classical music planet" by the New York Times, 27-year-old Lang Lang has played sold out recitals and concerts in every major city in the world.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/12/art.lang.lang.jpg caption="Lang Lang has been winning piano competitions since the age of five."]
The Chinese child prodigy started playing piano at the age of three, won his first competition aged five, and today aged 27, he is on Time Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Lang Lang has made it his mission to share classical music around the world, with an emphasis on training children through outreach programs. Following his performance at the opening of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games, he became a symbol of the youth and future of China. This status has inspired over 35 million Chinese children to learn to play classical piano – a phenomenon popularly referred to as "the Lang Lang effect."
Lang Lang is not, however, everyone's cup of tea. There are those who find his flashy image and demonstrative performing styles at odds with the world of classical music. But Lang Lang is not concerned about that. His mission is to spread a love of music and popularize classical works.
On Monday, Lang Lang is appearing on Connect the World to answer your questions, but also to talk about his experience being filmed for CNN by the “Revealed” series. On this half-hour show Lang Lang travels from the U.S. to China and Switzerland, mixing classical music with jazz, and enthusing music lovers everywhere.
Send your questions for Lang Lang – IN MANDARIN OR ENGLISH – and we’ll put the best of them to him on Monday’s show.
For “Lang Lang Revealed” air times, go to the Revealed Web site.
Friday's Connector of the Day - Khaliah Ali
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see. Now you see me, now you don't. George thinks he will, but i know he won't.” Muhammad Ali
He proclaimed himself the greatest... With a record of 56 victories and only 5 defeats – for many he is...
The retired heavyweight champion boxer is well known for his historic fight, the "Rumble in the Jungle," against opponent George Foreman, in 1974.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/12/art.ali.jpg caption="Muhammad Ali's daughter Khaliah is keeping her father's spirit alive in the Congo."]
It has been 35 years since Ali won the legendary championship bout in what is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The lasting implications of that fight went well beyond the heavyweight belt that was contested that evening. Much was made of the attention that Ali brought to the Congolese people who were fighting for their own physical survival as a newly independent nation. The relationship and bonds that Ali formed with the Congolese are still strong today.
Khaliah Ali, was a young child when her father first visited the former Zaire - he dedicated the "Rumble in the Jungle" fight to her. Now 35, she recently returned to the Congo on a humanitarian mission with UNICEF to engage in a fight of her own.
In a nation inflicted by civil war where thousands of children have gone hungry and where women are raped, Khaliah addressed the issue of child malnourishment and the importance of educating the female half of the nation’s population.
Khaliah Ali will be our Connector of the Day this Friday, and will discuss her relationship with her father and her recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the problems that its people are fighting for.
Join the live debate: The new "code" for jihad
(CNN) - The leaders of one of the world's most effective jihadist organizations, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), have written a new "code" for jihad.
The new code, a 417-page religious document entitled "Corrective Studies," is the result of more than two years of intense and secret talks between the leaders of the LIFG and Libyan security officials. Read more about the code
The code's most direct challenge to al Qaeda is this: "Jihad has ethics and morals because it is for God. That means it is forbidden to kill women, children, elderly people, priests, messengers, traders and the like. Betrayal is prohibited and it is vital to keep promises and treat prisoners of war in a good way. Standing by those ethics is what distinguishes Muslims' jihad from the wars of other nations."
In essence the new code for jihad is exactly what the West has been waiting for: a credible challenge from within jihadist ranks to al Qaeda's ideology.
CNN's Nic Robertson was given access to the Libyan jail where the code was composed. Read more about Jihad inside Libya's terror jail and Watch a report about the spread of radical Islam in Britain
The code and the fight against radical Islam will be debated in tonight’s Connect the World live chat.
Send your questions and comments to CNN’s Nic Robertson - the debate starts at 1700ET/2200 GMT/2300 CET.
See the Connect Web site for details on how to join a live online discussion.
Save the Date: End of the World in 2012?
London, England (CNN) - 2012, the latest offering from film director and master of disaster Roland Emmerich, opens in theaters this weekend.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/12/art.2012.afp.gi.jpg caption="Actors John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor pose to promote Emmerich's latest film 2012."]
The film foretells the end of the world which according to the Maya calendar – used by the ancient Mesoamerican civilization – is going to happen on December 21, 2012.
The release of 2012 is fuelling fresh doomsday debate on the Internet. The Web site YouTube is hosting many “the end is nigh” videos from doom-mongers. Meanwhile, NASA has sought to calm those of a nervous disposition by posting a video on its Web site assuring them that they will live to see December 22, 2012.
Tonight on Connect the World we'll look at some of the disasters our planet has survived in the past - from the event which wiped out the dinosaurs, to the asteroid that exploded above Tunguska River valley Siberia in 1908. And we'll address the question: Is the Apocalypse coming in 2012?
We want to know what you think. Will 2012 be the end of the world as we know it?
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