/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-ITALY: Genoa Disturbances Captured on Film

Leading Italian filmmakers shot footage in July of the anti-globalisation protests and clashes between demonstrators and police at the summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) most powerful countries in the world in the northern Italian city of Genoa. The results will be released this month.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-THAILAND: Epic Scenes, Nationalism Make a Megahit

Thailand's most expensive film to date, 'Suriyothai', is drawing in record crowds, treating them to stunning imagery, an epic-scale project a nationalist theme to boot.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-ARGENTINA: Tapping the Export Potential of Tango

Argentina plans to tap the potential of tango, this Southern Cone nation's most popular music and dance genre, as an export product and a source of foreign currency and tourists.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-CANADA: First Gay, Lesbian TV Station Launched

PrideVision TV, sheduled to begin broadcasting in Canada Sep. 7, is being billed as the world's first television channel for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and trans- gendered people and as a marketing foray into one of the country's most lucrative and creative demographics, known collectively as 'GLBT'.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-BRAZIL: Capoeira, a Martial Art-cum- Dance ‘For Export’

Capoeira, a mix of martial art and dance created by the African slaves brought to Brazil more than 300 years ago, has become an exhibition sport that is practiced around the world.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-BRAZIL: Nostalgia for Football’s Glory Days

Brazilians disappointed by their current national football team will soon receive a sort of compensation: three films are in production about Brazil's past glories in this sport.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-PERU: In Search of an Elusive Good: National Identity

The local film industry is helping Peru search for a national identity with the new film "El bien esquivo" (The Elusive Good), which delves into the inter- culturation, the convergence of religions and the marginalization of a country built by Spanish Conquistadors and multi-racial fusions.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-JAMAICA: Homage to Workers Draws Mixed Reviews

'Life And Debt', an American filmmaker's gripping documentary on the effect globalisation has had on Jamaica, its farmers and factory workers, has pulled strong crowds throughout its two-week run here.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-SOUTH AFRICA: Idi Amin Pops Up on the Stage

Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada has popped up in Cape Town - on stage at the Baxter Theatre.

CULTURE-CUBA: ‘La Jiribilla’ Responds to Cyber-Attack

The Cuban cultural e-magazine 'La Jiribilla' retaliated with a show of local humour against a cyber- attack that left its Internet site completely blank just three months after the publication was inaugurated.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Dancehall – Celebration of Destructive Behaviour?

A bottle-throwing incident at a leading reggae show has once again thrust the dancehall genre into the spotlight, with detractors calling for stringent measures aimed at clamping down on the antics of fans and performers alike.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-INDIA: Astrology Takes Star-crossed Path to Academia

It is no exaggeration to say that India is a land run by astrologers. Politicians and businessmen make their moves after consulting them and few dare take the uncertain path of matrimony without their approval.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-NICARAGUA: Mejia Godoy, Anthropologist of Popular Culture

Carlos Mejía Godoy, one of Nicaragua's best-known contributors to Latin American popular culture, is attempting to keep his country's songs, poetry, and even traditional foods from being forgotten.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ARTS-SRI LANKA: ‘Democratic’ Drama Gives Audience Role in Theatre

More than 50 years after independence, the English language remains a preserve of the Sri Lankan elite that evolved under the British Empire.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/BOOKS-U.S.: Novel Reveals Complex Black and White Relationships

There are two sides to every story. No expression rings more true when comparing Alice Randall's novel 'The Wind Done Gone' with 'Gone With the Wind', the 1936 epic novel by Margaret Mitchell that Randall seeks to dethrone.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-CHILE: Neruda’s Secret Odyssey Heads to Big Screen

A filmmaker is reconstructing one of the epic passages of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's life: his clandestine exodus from Chile into Argentina in 1949 as he fled persecution by the anticommunist government of Gabriel González Videla.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/LITERATURE: Spain’s Vila-Matas Hides Himself in His Writing

Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas, who says he is trying to make himself invisible behind his literature, could not escape the onslaught of media attention in the Venezuelan capital when he arrived to receive the Rómulo Gallegos prize for his novel "El viaje vertical" (The Vertical Journey).

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/CULTURE-UAE: MTV, Arab Culture Locked in Tug- o-War

"Yo man, what's up?" Don't turn around upon hearing this line, wondering if you have suddenly been transported to the United States -- this is what you overhear in the brightly lit malls here in Dubai.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/THEATRE-UGANDA: Stories of War

"New Plays From Uganda", currently on at London's Royal Court Theatre, look at the major events, which have helped to shape modern-day Uganda. Political conflict and the country's long civil war is the subject of the first play "Stories of War" by Isaac Muwawu.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/LITERATURE-MEXICO: Tardy but Much-Deserved Prize for Garcia Ponce

Writers and literary critics are celebrating the victory of Mexican author Juan García Ponce, this year's winner of the Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature, one of the Spanish-speaking world's top literary honours.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC-LATAM: Natalia Oreiro Follows Her Own Path

She is Uruguayan, 24, has sold two million albums and has become a pop music star in Greece, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Russia, Rumania and Turkey. The US filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has reportedly offered her work. But Natalia Oreiro is not interested in singing in English.