CULTURE-GERMANY: Love, Peace, and Money

Berlin has become the mecca 'Techno' - one of the hottest youth cult trends of the 1990's.

MUSIC-BRITAIN: Bhanghra-House Gives Young Asians Sense of Identity

The Metro music shop, jammed between Partap Fabric Fashion and Ramesh Jewellers in Southall's main street, is doing a brisk trade. Stacked up behind the counter are the latest top selling CDs: Boom Bhusters, Mad House and Eat Rhythm.

CINEMA-ECUADOR: 1960’s Leftist Nostalgia Sparks New Movie

Despite its title, 'Between Marx and a Naked Woman' is not a film about the bedroom habits of the founding father of communism, but it does evoke the nostalgia for the leftist activism of the 1960s when Ecuador was under military dictatorship.

CHINA-CINEMA: The Emperor’s New Test

"I believe every intelligent person will like the movie," said director Zhou Xioawen in front of a mainly foreign audience after the pre-premiere screening of his new film 'The Emperor's shadow'.

FASHION: Jamaican Models Make Strides Abroad

Names like Kimberly Mais, Lois Samuels and Angela Neil may not be as familiar as Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer or Naomi Campbell. But these apiring Jamaican supermodels are making an impact in the world's fashion centres -- and helping so sustain a vigorous grooming and fashion business in their homeland.

CULTURE-PALESTINE: Fun Radio Serves as Anti-Depressant

Reflecting the fun atmosphere that has taken over this city since Israel's soldiers pulled out last December, two new radio stations here are pumping out a steady supply of music and a feel-good philosophy of life.

CULTURE-TURKEY: Artists Rally Against Conservative Pressure

Turkey's artists rally around film director Mustafa Altioklar who has come under attack from conservatives for his critical interpretation of ancient Ottoman history.

MUSIC-ZIMBABWE: Traditional Beats Fight for Recognition

Amid the elegant African decor in Harare's Sheraton hotel, guests find their seats as soft music from the marimba fills the air.

THEATRE-COSTA RICA: Maternity Vindicated on Stage

The experience of pregnancy, from the first nauseas to the quiet happiness after the birth, is the theme of a play created and acted by the Costa Rican actress Ana Iztaru, which forces theatre goers to both laugh and think deeply.

CINEMA-VIETNAM: Nostalgia and the Agony of the Present

Dang Nhat Minh, Vietnam's most famous film director, puts the life of ordinary rural people at the centre of his work.

PALESTINE-CULTURE: A Festival Without Israeli Guns

For the first time, no Israeli soldiers patrolled the streets when Palestinians kicked off their fourth annual Palestine International Festival here on Jun. 21. The mood that created fitted well with the excitement and nationalism as local and international troupes were displayed at the festival, which ends on Jul. 5.

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Reggae artistes dreaming of the big times -- a recording and marketing deal with a big U.S. record company and a six-figure advance -- are thinking again as some find out that big is not necessarily better.

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For a visitor to New York, few experiences are as unpleasant as a ride on the century-old subway system: hot, crowded and slow, the New York subway for years has been a symbol of urban decay.

(ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/06)

The 1980s were an unforgettable decade in Venezuela: the oil boom ended, and the country's slide into penury began. Chaotic and exuberant, the times were best captured by the singer Ilan Chester, major exponent of the urban music movement which germinated during those turbulent years and creator of "Canto de Avilla", a song which became the anthem of an era.

TRAVEL: Enjoy a Frenzied Space War in Korea

A tiny, computer-animated helicopter leaps out of a three-dimensional movie screen and hovers, like some kind of blue hummingbird, inches in front of your nose. Reach out, and you won't be able to touch it.

MUSIC: Haitian Rappers Take the Spotlight

On the streets of New York, the song is unavoidable. From every corner, you can hear a woman's voice croon out, "Strumming my face with his fingers," while a loud hip-hop beat stomps in the background.

CULTURE-ST. KITTS/NEVIS: Going for Carifesta

St Kitts-Nevis, a small nation in the eastern Caribbean, is making a determined bid to boost indigenous culture with a massive undertaking -- hosting the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA).

CULTURE-RELIGION: Shrine for All Seasons and Faiths

India today is a communal tinderbox. But in a resplendent shrine in this Western city, hundreds of thousands of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsees and other faiths worship quietly side by side.

BOOKS-NICARAGUA: Shop Chain Bans Book on Spanish Colonisation

The latest book by Nicaraguan writer Ricardo Pasos Marciaq was banned from the principal supermarket chain here for religious reasons, but the author says it did not hurt sales.

BOOKS-AFRICA: Publishing for Children

School-children sit cross-legged on the floor in a tent, entranced by the words and drumming of the storyteller.

CINEMA: Little Fire in ‘Flame’

'Flame', Zimbabwe's first feature film on the black struggle for independence, bobs and weaves around the issues but never tackles any of them with passion or confidence.