Q&A: 'Multicultural Society Can't Be Dissolved Like a Marriage'

"This looks like a toothpaste commercial. People in the Netherlands don't buy that." Rachida Azough shows a flyer of the European Union to promote the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. It depicts a model with a bright smile holding a camera, with the tag line 'Cultures in my street'.

RIGHTS-CHILE: Growing Outcry Over Filmmaker’s Arrest

There is growing international alarm over the arrest of Chilean filmmaker Elena Varela, who was taken into custody by police a month ago while working on an investigative documentary on the conflicts between lumber companies and the Mapuche indigenous people in southern Chile.

FILM: An Apocalyptic, Hopeless Den of Iniquity

The room is packed, the film ends with pounding music, and the word "Gomorra" is shown in an uncomfortable fuchsia over black. The audience applauds and leaves quietly while the music continues to hammer home the message.

SERBIA: Night Life Is For Museums

Serbs appear like some others to have taken to visiting museums during the night.

ARGENTINA: Multimedia Youngsters not Isolated

Many parents in Argentina, like their counterparts in developed countries, worry that their teenage children spend too much time on their computers and cell-phones, with little real-life interaction with others, and devoting hardly any time to reading. But a new study shows that such beliefs are partly based on preconceived notions that do not stand up to scrutiny.

CUBA: Exhibitionists Common but Ignored

Many Cuban women say they have been victims of male exhibitionism, a form of sexual aggression that is common in public spaces on the island, according to a documentary produced by the state Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry (INCAIC) which has attracted the attention of social scientists.

SPORTS-GERMANY: Women Take the Football Field

"Football is not a sport for women," Peco Bauwens, then president of the German Football Association, said in 1955, adding "we will never take this issue seriously."

CULTURE-CHILE: Free Book Selections for 400,000 Families

The Chilean government has begun distributing carefully selected packages of books to thousands of low-income families. But the programme aimed at promoting reading is not without its detractors, who question the extent of its real impact.

THEATRE-US: The Year the War Came Home

On this 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that for the United States was the apogee of opposition to the war in Vietnam, two new Off Broadway plays explore divergent ways that U.S. citizens protested - and ponder the best way to contest a senseless war.

RIGHTS-JAMAICA: Spat Escalates Over Anti-Gay Lyrics

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.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: &#39My Daughter, the Terrorist&#39

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.

RIGHTS-US: “Bioterror” Case Falls Apart

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".

Q&A: Singing to a Political Beat

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.

THEATRE-US: The Houswife’s Lament

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.

BRAZIL: The Body Beautiful – Women’s Ladder to Success

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.

ARCHAEOLOGY-VENEZUELA: Treasure Island

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.

CULTURE: Martyrs and Scholars Meet in the Middle

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.

Q&A: "We Wanted to Know How a Corn Cob Gets into a Pepsi"

Browsing through the aisles of the local supermarket, few consumers fully grasp the role corn plays in their daily lives.

MEXICO: “Emos” Under Attack

"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.

CULTURE-CUBA: The Times, They Are A-Changin’

Topics that are taboo in Cuba, absent from media coverage and missing in the political discourse were nevertheless present in debates at a congress of intellectuals who advocated a greater role for criticism in society, and more room for dialogue and participation.

FILM-CUBA: Women ‘Invisible’ Behind the Cameras

Filmmaking has not escaped the overwhelming "machismo" of Cuban society. Getting a foot in the door in the industry, an almost exclusively male preserve, is still wishful thinking for most women directors.