THEATRE-U.S.: Iraq, Afghanistan War Vets Find Relief in the Footlights

The house lights go down and the stage lights come up on "The Wolf", the first production of VetStage, a non-profit theatre company run by veterans of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It opens with a funeral: a Roman Catholic priest preparing to deliver a eulogy for a U.S. soldier killed by a road-side bomb.

BOOKS: Tales of Rwanda’s Survivors in Poetry and Prose

Kenyan-born journalist Mary Kimani's intensely personal exploration of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath is ultimately a book about our shared humanity, and how people manage to endure amid unimaginable tragedy.

FILM-CUBA: Young New Directors Provide a Fresh Look

Run-down neighbourhoods, cynical, sceptical young people, locals surviving in buildings crumbling around them, people forging new paths in remote mountain villages: these are all fragments of reality that live and breathe in documentaries by a new generation of Cuban filmmakers.

HAITI: A Literary Icon for “Les Damnes de la Terre”

He was born to an affluent family in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in 1907, and spent much of the first 20 years of his life at schools in Belgium and Switzerland.

RIGHTS-TOBAGO: In Fear of… Elton John?

If you Google the name "Elton John", you will find a host of web sites providing you with details about the prolific songwriter and flamboyant performer, who had at least 30 hits on the Top 40 charts between 1970 and 1982.

RELIGION-MEXICO: Authorities Go Up In Flames

Mexican President Felipe Calderón and other authorities will be burned in effigy on Saturday as part of the traditional custom of "burning Judas", who is viewed by Christians as the arch-traitor.

AFGHANISTAN: Journalists Appeal for Release of Kidnapped Colleague

Afghan and Italian press associations appealed Wednesday for the Islamic Taliban movement to release Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi, who was kidnapped on Mar. 5.

ARTS-BRAZIL: Graffiti Comes In Off the Street

Chico realised that his drawings on the walls of Rio de Janeiro were an art form when, at the age of 18, he read an article about the pioneers of graffiti in this Brazilian city.

TRADE-KENYA: East Africans May Be Stripped of the Kikoi

Kenyan activists are fighting to retain cultural designs that have been developed in East Africa but are being patented by companies in rich countries. After losing the kiondo basket trademark to Japan, the popular kikoi fabric design is currently at risk of being patented by a British company.

PORTUGAL: Salazar ‘Greatest Portuguese Ever’, TV Viewers Say

News media and academic circles in Portugal are vying with each other to explain why the public chose former dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (1932-1968) in a poll on state television channel RTP as "The Greatest Portuguese Who Ever Lived."

TRADE-KENYA: Shopping With a Clean Conscience

It is early morning and the Undugu Fair Trade Shop, tucked away in a suburban shopping centre in Nairobi, is bustling. Apart from the few locals, there are the usual tourists, recognizable from their safari outfits: khaki shirts and trousers and the obligatory hat worn even when indoors.

POLITICS-US: Film on “Radical Islam” Tied to Pro-Israel Groups

A controversial documentary on the threat of radical Islam, promoted by the two most-watched U.S. cable news networks, was marketed and supported in part by self-described "pro-Israel" groups, according to an IPS investigation.

CULTURE-US: Battling Evil with Abs of Steel

If the new Hollywood blockbuster "300" weren't so homoerotic, Osama Bin Laden would probably make the film mandatory viewing for all members of al Qaeda.

MUSIC-CUBA: Hip Hop Sidelined but Still Rapping

Cuban hip hop music is past its peak, and is struggling to survive in a context where it lacks performance venues, receives only weak institutional support, and has to compete with more commercial music styles alien to the critical discourse that the movement has promoted since its origins.

CHILE-PERU: Censorship or Prudent Relations?

Fears of censorship were triggered by a decision by Chile's public television station to postpone the broadcast of a documentary on the 1879-1883 war between Chile, Peru and Bolivia in response to a request by Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley, who had been contacted by the Peruvian government.

ARGENTINA: Digital Library for the Blind

Armed with a computer and their passion for literature, a group of blind people in Argentina have created the first digital library for Spanish-speaking people who are visually impaired. It already has some 20,000 volumes and over 3,000 subscribers in 40 countries.

BRAZIL: Soap Opera Actors Stand Up for Amazon Jungle

An open letter demanding "an immediate halt to the deforestation of the Amazon jungle" has been released by Brazilian television stars taking part in the Globo Network series " Amaz- nia, de Galvez a Chico Mendes" (Amazonia, from Galvez to Chico Mendes).

FILM: Few Oscars for Mexicans, But They Made Their Mark

The 79th Oscar awards ceremony left Mexico with a bittersweet taste. Films by Mexican directors were nominated for Academy Awards in 16 categories, but only earned four - for art direction, cinematography, make-up and musical score. Nevertheless, Mexicans made their mark.

CULTURE-CUBA: Exorcising the Ghosts of the Past

The expansion of a debate among a group of intellectuals in Cuba that began as an e-mail discussion at the beginning of the year would seem to demonstrate the need to bury once and for all the cultural restrictions of the past and open up spaces for dialogue, debate and diversity.

FILM: Oscar Nominations – for Mexicans or Mexican Filmmaking?

Millions will be glued to their television sets in Mexico this Sunday to watch the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in the United States, where Mexican artists and filmmakers have been nominated in 16 categories.

CULTURE-ARGENTINA: Recuperating Indigenous Languages

With the aim of strengthening linguistic diversity in Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires language school has launched a successful programme providing instruction in the country’s most widely-spoken indigenous languages.