/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-ARGENTINA: Biographer Bows to ‘Queen Cristina’

The books written by Argentine journalist Olga Wornat on the private lives of leading Latin American politicians have tended to be highly controversial. Her biography of Senator Cristina Fernández, the wife of Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, is no exception, albeit for different reasons.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-AFRICA: Nile Perch Thrives, as Humans Languish

In the blur of statistics that supposedly gauge the economic impact of global trade, one often forgets the people who are living with the daily realities by such transactions. "Darwin's Nightmare" will not let you do that.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MEDIA-CHILE: Quixote’s Steed Dies on 400th Anniversary of the Don

This year, the 400th anniversary of Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote, Chile lost one of its most widely respected cultural magazines, Rocinante - the name of Don Quixote's horse.

/ARTS WEEKLY/SPORTS: Scoring a Goal for World Peace

The United Nations is in the process of deploying a new weapon to promote world peace: sports.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS: When Reporting Becomes Literature

The Lettre Ulysses Award for 'The Art of Reportage' first created in Berlin three years ago, has been won by the British- born writer Alexandra Fuller for a compelling description of a journey made in Central Africa with a war veteran and mercenary who revisits the scenes of his war-time experiences in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

CULTURE: UNESCO Adopts Convention to Protect Diversity

The United Nations cultural body adopted an international treaty Thursday to protect cultural diversity, marking what experts say is a first but important moral victory in the long-running fight to preserve the world's cultural richness.

ARGENTINA: The Movie Stars Next Door

It was opening night, but the only stars present were shining overhead. Under a clear sky, with no electric lighting, the local residents gathered outside of the packed theatre, sitting on the town's main street to watch the last film - in which they themselves formed the entire cast.

/CORRECTION**/AGRICULTURE-U.S.: The Organic Crops of Farmer John

The eccentric life of farmer John Peterson, from the central U.S. state of Illinois, is the centrepiece of an award-winning documentary film that tracks the decline of family farms in the United States, and - in a surprise twist - a new resurrection.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: Mexican Food Vying for World Cultural Heritage

Mexican cuisine is such an integral part of the country's centuries-old cultural traditions that the government believes it should be included on UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: Documentaries Portray an Ailing Planet

Global warming is a life and death issue for the people of Tuvalu, as rising sea levels slowly drown their low- lying island nation in the South Pacific.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS: Split By Leftists and Fanatics

Flush after a court order lifting a ban on one of her many controversial books and sitting in the company of her Indian friends in this eastern city, Taslima Nasreen had every reason to look smug.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ARTS-AFRICA: Images From a Forgotten War

Five photojournalists are hoping their work will refocus the world's attention on the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where "millions have died in little more than seven years while we caress the cat and fret over which disaster to watch on television".

/ARTS WEEKLY/MEXICO: Special Cows for a Special Cause

The streets of the Mexican capital are about to be invaded by a herd of roughly 250 life-sized fibreglass cows, each of them comprising a unique work of art.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: A Day Six Years in the Making

A new documentary titled "Peace One Day" portrays one man's six-year struggle to convince world leaders to establish an international day of global ceasefire and non-violence.

ARTS WEEKLY/DANCE-CHILE: State Funding Needed to Revive a Dying Art Form

Without government funding, the creative power of dance in Chile will continue to wane, warns choreographer Karen Connolly, who has witnessed a steady exodus of young talent spurred by the lack of prospects at home.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS: Political Colours at Literary Festival

Carlos Fuentes, 77, the famous Mexican writer, drew eager audiences at Berlin's 5th International Literary Festival. He proved quite a magnet, along with Hans Magnus Enzensberger, the veteran German poet, and London-based Nagasaki-born Kazuo Ishiguro whose latest novel 'Never Let Me Go' could lift him this year's prestigious Booker Prize in Britain.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: Chocolate Moon Cakes Are Festive Too

As the Mid-Autumn Festival draws to a close in many Asian countries and communities, people are busy buying 'moon cakes' to share with friends and family or to give as gifts. Most of these cakes are made with the traditional bean-paste or lotus-seed filling, but from a - remote" corner of Singapore come moon cakes with a difference - made from pure chocolate.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: Little China Stays Alive in Eastern India

The unveiling of yet another road sign is no spectacular event in this busy capital of West Bengal state and eastern India's main metropolis. Yet it drew a crowd of curious passers by.

CUBA: Out of the Closet, Onto the Big Screen

A government-sponsored HIV/AIDS prevention group and the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) joined forces to organise a groundbreaking event: the first ever gay cinema week in the history of Cuba.

DEVELOPMENT: Vietnam’s ‘Food Bowl’ Wetlands Under Stress

Vietnam's ecologically sensitive wetlands, which produce much of the country's food staples, including rice, fish and fowl, is now beginning to suffer the effects of over-exploitation.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-URUGUAY: Reviving Classical Music Splendour

In the last few months, the classical music scene in Uruguay seems to have awakened from a long slumber, and operas like "La Bohème" by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini are raising it from the ashes in which it was left by a 12-year dictatorship, repeated economic crises and official neglect.