RIGHTS-JAMAICA: Spat Escalates Over Anti-Gay Lyrics
By Zadie Neufville
KINGSTON - Under pressure from gay rights groups and a sponsorship boycott of live dancehall shows by local beer giant Red Stripe, some Jamaican dancehall stars are offering free performances to events at which no Red Stripe products are sold or consumed.
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RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: 'My Daughter, the Terrorist'
By Tarjei Kidd Olsen
OSLO - In Sri Lanka's brutal civil war some rebel women end their lives as suicide bombers that have killed hundreds over the years. A Norwegian documentary film that follows two 24-year-olds training to do just this has enraged the Sri Lankan government, but raises important questions about the conduct of war and its consequences.
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RIGHTS-US: "Bioterror" Case Falls Apart
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - After a four-year legal battle, a U.S. federal judge has dismissed all charges against an avant-garde artist who public officials condemned as a bio-terrorist in a case critics are calling "a persecution, not a prosecution".
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Q&A: Singing to a Political Beat
Interview with Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour
BRUSSELS - If a European rock music fan has just one album by an African artist in his or her collection, there is a higher than average chance it was recorded by Youssou N'Dour. The Senegalese man's status as his continent's most lucrative cultural export was underscored in 2005, when he was the only African to appear at the main Live8 concert in London's Hyde Park, an event that attracted several billion TV viewers, according to its organisers.
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THEATRE-US: The Houswife's Lament
By Lucy Komisar*
NEW YORK - Since the 1950s, views in the United States have changed a lot about whether marriage is good for women -- or at least about the nature of its serious disadvantages.
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BRAZIL: The Body Beautiful - Women’s Ladder to Success
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilians, especially women, are among the global leaders in taking meticulous care of their bodies and exhibiting them to advantage. This is a significant factor in climbing social and economic ladders, establishing identities and competing successfully in markets, from employment to romance.
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ARCHAEOLOGY-VENEZUELA: Treasure Island
By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS - Cubagua, a 24-square-kilometre island off of Venezuela’s northern Caribbean coast, is uninhabited but guards the archaeological testimony of three stages of human history and prehistory in the Americas.
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CULTURE: Martyrs and Scholars Meet in the Middle
By Amanda Hamedany
WASHINGTON - In an age when suicide bombings and religious and ethnic riots comprise the bulk of the evening news, it seems as though compassion and compromise are more elusive than ever.
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Q&A: "We Wanted to Know How a Corn Cob Gets into a Pepsi"
Interview with Curtis Ellis, documentary filmmaker
SAN DIEGO, California - Browsing through the aisles of the local supermarket, few consumers fully grasp the role corn plays in their daily lives.
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MEXICO: "Emos" Under Attack
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY - "We are a komplex organisation, kapable of eliminating EMOS in this world, if you want to kontact us, our email is (…)" On-line messages like this one have been fanning a wave of intolerance against one of the lesser-known young counterculture groups in Mexico.
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