/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-COLOMBIA: Multi-Pronged Efforts to Stimulate Reading

Public libraries are receiving a boost from the government and civil society in joint efforts to establish them as democratic and participatory cultural centres and to encourage the population to develop the habit of reading.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-VENEZUELA: Centuries-Old House a Sentinel of History

A unique mansion that shares the centre of the Venezuelan capital with street vendors and traffic is home to paintings, furniture, and perhaps even a dungeon dating back to the era of the Spanish Conquest.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-UAE: Modern ‘Abaya’ of Arab Women Blends with Tradition

When you walk down the streets of Dubai, women clad in 'abayas' -- the flowing black robe traditionally worn by Arab women -- blend gracefully with others dressed in up- to-date western clothes.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/SCULPTURE-CUBA: Homage to Madness

The Gentleman from Paris, for decades Cuba's most famous madman, has returned to the streets of the Old City of Havana to mingle with passersby.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/PHOTOGRAPHY-U.S.: Exhibit Counters Native American Stereotypes

The bodies of Native Americans lay tumbled across patches of white snow, faces contorted in shock.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-JAPAN: Hit Movie Uses Animation to Focus on Social Ills

Japan's animation guru Hayao Miyazaki is making movie history once again with his latest film, 'Spirited Away'.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-JAPAN: Interest in Islam Rising as Muslims Worry About Labelling

On Fridays, Tokyo's largest mosque in Shibuya ward, fills with people in prayer. They file in quietly, keeping up a practice that the tiny community of Muslims in a largely homogenous society that combines Buddhism and its Shinto faith, has followed for years.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-MEXICO: Zapata – Disney Style or in Nahuatl with Subtitles

The Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata, a legendary figure claimed by politicians and insurgents alike, is now the focus of two opposing film projects: one in English with famous Hollywood stars, the other in the native Náhuatl language, with actors from the local indigenous community.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-CHILE: Return of ‘Los Prisioneros’, Voice of the 1980s

'Los Prisioneros', the group most emblematic of Chilean rock n' roll in the tumultuous 1980s, has reunited after more than a decade and is preparing for a Dec. 1 concert at the National Stadium of Santiago - amid the high expectations of their faithful fans.

LITERATURE-LATAM: From Magic Realism to Cynicism

Magic realism is giving way in Latin American literature to a new generation of authors who cultivate a wry, cynical view of the world, Cuban writer Eliseo Alberto stated on a visit to the Costa Rican capital.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-THAILAND: Movie Revisits Historical Wounds – and Triumphs

Twenty-eight years is by no means a brief period of time, but it is a short one when it involves one of Thailand's historical wounds reopened by a film now showing in the country's cinemas.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ART-ARGENTINA: Doors Open for New Museum of Latin American Art

The Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA) has been inaugurated in the Argentine capital with an exhibition that is a showcase of 300 works by noted painters from 10 countries in the region, among them some of the 20th century's best.

CULTURE-CARIBBEAN: Trinidad Ambivalent About Naipaul’s Nobel

Trinidadian pride over V.S. Naipaul's Nobel Prize for literature is tempered by disappointment that the great man of letters appears to have forsaken the land of his birth and schooling.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/LANGUAGE-SPAIN: The Academy’s Dictionary ‘Changes Its Leaves’

The latest version of the dictionary of the 'Real Academia Española' (Spanish Royal Academy) has caused a stir due to the great number of 'americanismos' it includes, despite the fact that the tome maintains conceptual and terminological differences with the Spanish spoken in Latin America.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Dancehall Braces For a Purge

The sentencing of a dancehall deejay for assaulting a police officer in a Montego Bay court has forced the leading players in reggae's controversial offshoot to re-examine their behaviour.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-PERU: Vagina Is Not a Dirty Word

The staging of "The Vagina Monologues" is enjoying the same success in the Peruvian capital as it has in at least 31 other cities around the world, and has caused a commotion among women's groups and in universities here.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/BOOKS-BRAZIL: In Search of a Good Crime Novel

Police inspector Espinosa is apparently the solution for filling in a gap in Brazilian literature, the crime novel that leaves fingerprints and centres around such strong and durable characters as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Sam Spade.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-CHILE: ‘Taxi for Three’ on the Road to Fame

The greatest achievement in Chile's cinematic history is now Orlando Lübbert's "Taxi para tres" (Taxi for Three), which won the 'Concha de Oro' (Golden Shell) - for best picture - at the San Sebastián Film Festival, one of the world's five top contests for this art form.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/TELEVISION-CUBA: New Channel to Bring Culture to the Masses

The upcoming launch of a television channel dedicated exclusively to "bringing culture to the masses" is much anticipated in Cuba, where TV broadcasting is limited to just two state-controlled stations.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ASIA: Films Look Behind Eastern Stereotype

Asian cinema conjures up images of buffaloes grazing on an open field, against a village backdrop. The reality behind that image however, is often vastly different, and more and more Asian productions are reflecting this.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-CARIBBEAN: Theatre Festival Comes to Trinidad and Tobago

The play runs for almost an hour and includes storytelling, mime, and singing. It is largely an experimental piece that emerged from the expression "in a tight place", which director/actor Jean Small came across in her readings on the creative process.