COLOMBIA: Keeping the Words – and the Whales – Alive

"They take care of their children and drive their husbands away" sing the "cantaoras". Verse by verse, the traditional black singers describe the mating ritual of the humpback whales that visit their breeding grounds in Malaga Bay on Colombia's Pacific coast from June to November.

BOOKS-US: Former Prosecutor Imagines Bush’s Judgment Day

The scene is a U.S. federal grand jury room. There, impaneled ordinary citizens listen intently as a veteran federal prosecutor asks them to return an indictment unique in U.S. history.

COMMUNICATIONS-ARGENTINA: Indigenous People On the Air

When the project emerged three years ago, it involved communication between indigenous communities within one Argentine province, but it rapidly grew into a larger network that broadcasts their voice from more than a hundred community and commercial radio stations in the north of the country.

CULTURE: Creativity Has (Cash) Value

The culture and creativity economy and its contribution to sustainable development will be the central theme at a 10-day meeting of experts, artists and government delegates from more than 70 countries, which kicks off Friday in two Brazilian cities.

FILM-IRAQ: A Glimpse of Life Under Occupation

The most honoured film about the Iraq war is opening at theaters across the United States this month.

FILM: Somali Bantu Find Strange New Life in Urban U.S.

After 13 years of frustrating delays and worsening conditions in a Kenyan refugee camp, 13,000 Somali Bantu have finally been allowed to seek asylum in the United States. But their quest for a home has only just begun.

FILM-VENEZUELA: Bringing Non-Hollywood Fare to City Squares

Neighbourhood cinemas have closed down by the dozen and movie-goers in the Venezuelan capital have little choice but to take in the Hollywood blockbusters offered by the multiplex theatres operated by a handful of large companies in the city's shopping malls. But that is about to change.

CUBA: Restoring Hemingway’s Yacht

Cultural authorities in Cuba are undertaking what Washington has not done: they are restoring the yacht that inspired the most famous novel of U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961).

POLITICS-US: Documentary Blasts Iraq War Profiteering

With just four days to go before the U.S. mid-term congressional elections, the director of a scathing new documentary about the outsourcing of personnel and supplies for the Iraq war says he hopes audiences will view it "as a tool for discussion".

MUSIC-ARGENTINA: Three Boys Ride the Web to Overnight Rock Fame

Three brothers in the north of Argentina who are into heavy metal decided to upload on the Internet some music videos filmed in their bedroom - never imagining that only 15 days later their music would be in demand by millions of people, and they would be showered with proposals.

MUSIC-CHILE: Mapuche Hip-Hop

They don't like to be referred to as indigenous people, but use their art to fight for the self-determination of their people. They do not all speak the Mapuche language fluently, but are keen on preserving the culture of that ethnic group. These five young Chileans of Mapuche descent are making it on the local hip-hop scene.

CUBA: Havana Offers Unique Model for Restoring History

Ongoing restoration work in the historic centre of the Cuban capital has been praised by UNESCO consultants, and could serve as a model for preserving heritage sites around the world.

RWANDA/US: Where Justice System Fails, Women Weave Peace

In Rwanda, genocide widows are weaving baskets alongside the wives of war criminals, and forging their own path to reconciliation - and economic recovery - as the courts struggle to achieve justice.

HAITI: Rash of Kidnappings Rattles Music Industry

During this year's carnival in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, Hervé "Shabba" Anthénor's small frame loomed large above Djakout Mizik's massive float.

ARTS-CARIBBEAN: Carifesta Overcomes a Comedy of Errors

If only the entire Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta) had been conducted as smoothly as it went on the final night.

SPORTS-COLOMBIA: Fighting Violence – in the Stadiums

Father Alirio López, standing in the middle of the stadium dressed in a jersey with the logos of the two Colombian football teams that are playing each other that day, calls on fans to stay calm and urges them to watch the game in peace.

CHILE: Disturbing Exhibit Combines Technology, Human Rights, Art

The screens of more than 100 old television sets flicker with poems on torture and death that are generated by a sophisticated computer programme.

ARGENTINA: Bringing Films – and Filmmakers – to Prison

A pilot project with recreational and social reinsertion goals was launched in Argentina to show films in prison, followed by discussions between the inmates, the filmmakers and actors, and experts on the issues touched on by the movies.

ARTS: In the Shadow of Darfur, a Playwright Calls for Action

As the horrific images of slaughter stream out of Darfur, Sudan, a playwright in New York has gathered experts, survivors, church leaders, diplomats and others to reflect on the tragic occurrence of genocide in our time.

COLOMBIA: Measuring the Cost of Paradise by Cup Size

Setting a telenovela ratings record in Colombia, more than six million viewers recently tuned in to an episode of "Sin tetas no hay paraíso", (Without Tits There's no Paradise), barely two weeks into the show's run. The record means a lot to this country, which has become one of the world's leading exporters of soap operas.

ARTS: The Grape War

Two years ago, filmmaker Jonathan Nossiter shook up the arcane world of wine-making with a documentary portraying the struggles of small vineyards around the world to compete in an increasingly homogenised and cutthroat marketplace.