/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-CENTRAL AMERICA: A Piano Serves as an Integrating Force

Costa Rican pianist Manuel Obregón achieved in a few days what Central American governments have failed to do after decades: achieve regional integration. And he did so by creating the Papaya Orchestra, the first group dedicated to the region's folk music.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-ASIA: Art in the Age of Globalisation

Five years ago, Wang Gong Xin felt it was time to move from being a painter for 15 years to exploring a form of art that was gradually seeping into contemporary art galleries -- video installations.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Rasta Deejay Capleton Targets U.S.

Controversial Rastafarian deejay Capleton is taking another crack at breaking into the lucrative United States market with the release of his "Still Blazin'" album, a VP Records release.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-BRITAIN: Turkish Director Takes London’s Theatrical Community By Storm

Only a visionary could turn a disused clothing factory into one of England's most exciting theatrical venues.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/TV-MEXICO: Comedy-Only Channel Gaining Monopoly on Laughter

The first comedy-only television channel in Mexico is winning audiences at the hand of its creator, Andrés Bustamante, an artist and actor who impersonates President Vicente Fox as flawlessly as he portrays his own cast of outlandish characters, including Ponchito, "Sigmund Fraud", and "Dr. Clone-zalez".

CULTURE-BRAZIL: Modern Art Week, A Maturing Debate

Brazil is celebrating the 80th anniversary of Modern Art Week, the central event of a cultural liberation movement that brought the country into the 20th century and fuels inspiration, study and controversy even today.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-SWAZILAND: Defining Traditional Swazi Male

Henry Ndlangamandla is a singer who defines the traditional Swazi male in one respect: he is an umbutfo, a member of King Mswati's warrior regiments.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MEDIA-ZIMBABWE: Cartoons Play a Major Role in Elections

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, clad in a waiter's garb, is portrayed serving tea to British Premier, Tony Blair in an advertisement put out by the ruling party in the local papers.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/SPORT-UAE: Traditional Sailing Flows with the Times

Standing by the seashore, 75-year-old Abul Kaleem Ahmed gazes wistfully at the high-powered motorboats that tear across the waters.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Legendary Manager to Mark 40 Years With Tour

Copeland Forbes is not a reggae star nor does he play in a band, but he may just be the most travelled person in the history of the music. In 40 years in the music business, he has logged hundreds of thousands of miles as a manager and booking agent, and this year he celebrates this milestone.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-BARBADOS: Luring U.S. Tourists With George Washington Cachet

New York college professor Corita Kong is a U.S. history buff who thought she knew it all because she had been to many museums, read countless volumes about the life of George Washington and had viewed a ton of documentaries about the first U.S. president.

LITERATURE-COSTA RICA: A Cyber-Book Club Is Born

A group of book-lovers is launching the first Internet website of literary material produced in Costa Rica this month, an effort to show off this country'sand the entire Spanish-speaking world'sbest writing.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-SWEDEN: For Readers, Astrid Lindgren Lives On

Astrid Lindgren, the Swedish author of children's books who died Jan. 28 aged 94, lives on in her many books and in the hearts and minds of millions around the world.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-SWAZILAND: Wives Tackle Spousal Drinking Habit

The classic domestic dilemma of the irresponsible husband heading for the bar on pay-day and drinking away his wages, leaving nothing for the wife and kiddies when he returns home, has a solution in law in Swaziland.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/TELEVISION-BRAZIL: Soap Opera a Unique Mix of Cloning and Islam

A new soap opera from Brazil's giant television Globo network, "O Clone" (The Clone), focuses on two hot issues, cloning and Islam, and has entered a decisive chapter in the story at home, while beginning an early career abroad.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-AFGHANISTAN: Rubble Hides Rich Heritage

Many outsiders probably see only rubble and desolation in Afghanistan, the last known lair of fugitive Osama bin Laden. But archaeologists and other expert say the war- devastated country has much to offer in terms of because of its unique past and role in world history.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-SOUTH AFRICA: Laughing at the Cruel Ironies of their Past

The young black comedian Marc Lottering's fan base extends from Cape Town to Johannesburg, Windhoek to London, Sydney to Vancouver and everywhere else South Africans gather to laugh at the cruel ironies of their past and present.

/ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT/LITERATURE-EGYPT: Cairo Book Fair Visitors Prefer Lighter Fare

Visitors to this year's Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) appear far more interested in self-improvement and child development than the politically-charged offerings presented by publishers and organisers.

ART-PERU: Reproductions – Thin Line between Journalism and Commerce

A lawsuit brought by artists in Peru against an architectural magazine to demand payment for publishing photographs of paintings by Pablo Picasso has triggered a contentious debate about the limits between commerce and the journalistic dissemination of works of art.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ARCHAEOLOGY-MEXICO: Pre-Hispanic ‘Pelota’ Survives

Mexican archaeologists have discovered pre-Hispanic ruins in the capital and in the states of Chiapas and Durango of courts used for playing 'pelota' (ball), a practice whose significance remains in dispute but which is being revived by a national sports federation.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-PHILIPPINES: Yes, There was a Filipino-American War

"I am the child of both the coloniser and the colonised, the oppressor and the oppressed," Camilla Benolirao Griggers, of Filipino and American ancestry, narrates at the start of the documentary film 'Memories of a Forgotten War'.