/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: U.S. Fans Will Not Let Go of Roots Reggae

Just because hip-hop is big among dancehall fans in Jamaica, does not mean that the same applies to Jamaicans living in the United States, as Johnny Gourzong, promoter of the inaugural Reggae Sumfest in Florida, found that out the hard way recently.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ THEATRE-CHILE: 1980s-era Playwright Rekindles Passion, Ideas

Ramón Griffero, one of the greatest playwrights to emerge in 1980s Chile, has returned to the stage with "Tus deseos en fragmentos" (Your desires in fragments), a play in which he reaffirms that today it is art, not politics, that generates passion and ideas.

/ARTS WEEKLY/DRAMA-AFRICA: Persuade a Man, Without Hitting Him on the Head

''It's not easy to change the pattern of a man who is used to making love to ten women, who is polygamous in nature,'' says Nigerian Femi Jarret, executive producer of the African Radio Drama Association.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MIDEAST: Arabs Don Tradition with Flowing ‘Dishdasha’

The 'dishdasha' - a distinctive, floor-length white robe - is an enduring symbol of Arab identity, and its use today is a tribute to its simplicity, comfort and suitability to the harsh desert climes.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-CUBA: Low-Budget Goes to Paris

France will be the destination of the best films shown at the first International Non-Budget Film Festival, which recently drew directors from 23 countries of the Americas, Asia and Europe to the eastern Cuban city of Gibara.

AFRICA: Cartoonists Fight Corruption Through Comics

Finnish cartoonist Leif Packalen is using comics to fight corruption in Africa.

/ARTS WEEKLY/U.S.: Champ Points Way for African-American Fencers

Inner-city African-Americans are breaking new national and international records in another formerly white-only sport - fencing. The man who helped make it happen is New Jersey native Peter Westbrook.

/ARTS WEEKLY/PAKISTAN: Forgotten Statues Await New Life

She looks on with lifeless eyes, the widow's veil poised on her graceful head. There is no sign of the orb or the sceptre, or the right arm or the left hand. The nose is brutally disfigured for a queen. Someone has cruelly dropped tar on her imperial robes.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ VENEZUELA: Book Fair Returns Amidst Uncertainties

Writers, booksellers and publishers from Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Spain and the host country Venezuela are celebrating the return of the International Book Fair here, after three years' absence due to location and organisational problems. But this year's event is not free of its own tensions.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ SPAIN: Fictional Rapist Sparks Row on Author Responsibility

The book "Todas Putas" (All Whores) has created a storm of debate on feminism and on the responsibilities of creators of fiction, drawing into the melee matters of discrimination against women, abuse, rape and paedophilia.

/ARTS WEEKLY/GERMANY: Berlin Gets Chinese Touch

Nimble in his movement, and quick in his mind at the age of 86, Chinese-born Ieoh Ming Pei, one of the world's greatest architects, grins as former German chancellor Helmut Kohl clasps both Pei's hands warmly. "Fantastic!" says Kohl. "It's a wonderful building. All my hopes have been fulfilled."

/ARTS WEEKLY/BRITAIN: Terrorism, Opera, and now Cinema

John Adams' searing opera 'The Death of Klinghoffer', which examines the hijacking of the Italian cruise liner the Achille Lauro, has had a strange and turbulent history.

/ARTS WEEKLY/AFRICA: Cartoonists Fight Corruption Through Comics

Finnish cartoonist Leif Packalen is using comics to fight corruption in Africa.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-LESOTHO: Author Resurrects the Past

When visiting old mission museums, portraits of the unflinching unsmiling missionaries that once occupied their walls often greet you. Their black and white eyes always seem to be gazing into the distance, focusing on a reality that is gone forever.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-JAMAICA: Literary Festival Blossoms in Surprising Corner

Few people would have thought that an international literary festival could thrive in a small fishing village on Jamaica's south coast. New York-based Jamaican author Colin Channer was one of them.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-VENEZUELA: Macbeth Rides the Andes

The film "Sangrador", Shakespeare's Macbeth reincarnate in the Andean landscapes of Venezuela, is launching the national film season after years in which locally-made movies have barely made a showing on the country's big screens.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-BRAZIL: Local Heartthrob Goes International

Brazil has a new "international leading man" to compete in foreign film markets, or at the very least to help fight Hollywood's domination of the cinematic markets at home.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-MEXICO: Museums Await New ‘Friends’

The nearly 1,000 museums in Mexico are among the best in the world, say experts, but they are suffering the lack of visitors and growing financial troubles - and there are few plans to update their collections.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-VENEZUELA: State Publishing House in Crisis

The Venezuelan government's publishing house, Biblioteca Ayacucho, is passing through the worst moments of its 30-year history, without a director and with no funds to add to the 240 Latin American titles it has published.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-KENYA: The Sacred Seed

Bespectacled 73-year old Rebeka Njau may have shrunk with age, her slow, cautious steps evidence of her body's frailty, but she still burns with more passion and vigour than most women half her age.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MALAYSIA: ‘Nasi Kandar’ Gives Taste of Integration

It's 4 a.m. in Gelugor, a residential suburb in the northern Malaysian state of Penang. The odd car passes along the main street, shops are shuttered and there is hardly a soul on the streets.