CUBA: Havana Offers Unique Model for Restoring History

Ongoing restoration work in the historic centre of the Cuban capital has been praised by UNESCO consultants, and could serve as a model for preserving heritage sites around the world.

VENEZUELA: Play Keeps Indigenous Cultures Alive

A new study found that play is an essential vehicle of socialisation and transmission of traditions and customs among indigenous groups in Venezuela, who often live in an uneasy coexistence with mainstream society while the survival of their cultures and languages is threatened.

POLITICS: Christian Crusader Targets U.S. Prisons

An influential U.S. evangelical leader has lashed out at opponents of so-called faith-based prison projects, arguing that they are blind to the threat of terrorism in the "homeland" by former inmates who have converted to Islam while in U.S. jails.

JAPAN: Economic Reforms Breed Young Underclass

Japan's much acclaimed economic recovery means little to Masami, 24, who has been hopping jobs for the past five years after giving up plans to attend university because his father was ailing.

UAE: Commercialisation Creeping Up on Holy Ramadan

Ramadan is traditionally a month of piety and abstinence, marking the revelation of the Quranic scriptures, but many Muslims now worry that it is being turned into a huge opportunity for business.

BRUNEI: Villagers Content with Life on the Water

On the bank across the river, a two-minute ride on a spear-shaped speedboat, is a three-storey shopping complex. Further on are plush apartment blocks and bungalows with manicured gardens and every conceivable amenity, but most residents of Brunei's ‘water village' are content living just where they are.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: A Cut Off For Free Chopsticks?

China's decision to raise prices on its exports of wooden chopsticks is proving something of a problem for Japanese restaurants and the like, that have long offered them to customers for free.

THAILAND: Coup Leaders Engage Shadowy Malay-Muslim Rebels

Since violence erupted in Thailand's southern provinces nearly three years ago, the local Malay-Muslim population could have been excused for saying, at times, that Bangkok's troops were fighting ghosts.

UAE: Traditional Dubai Water Transport Turns Eco-Friendly

Traditional water taxis, known here as abras, have plied the waters of Dubai Creek for decades, ferrying passengers and carrying cargo from one bank to another. Originally rowboats, the abras now speed along, propelled by diesel engines. But not for long. These symbols of Dubai culture will soon ride the green wave to become more eco-friendly.

ARTS-CARIBBEAN: Carifesta Overcomes a Comedy of Errors

If only the entire Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta) had been conducted as smoothly as it went on the final night.

MEDIA-THAILAND: Coup Masters Ban Community Radio

While Thailand's military-appointed prime minister seeks international approval and Bangkok's affluent citizens continue to praise last month's coup, a different reality is unfolding in the country's north and north-east provinces. One word sums it up: censorship.

POLITICS-US: Richard Viguerie’s October Surprise

With control of the U.S. Congress at stake in the upcoming November elections, a host of top-shelf conservative Christian leaders recently tried to rev up their base to vote Republican at the "Value Voters Summit".

SRI LANKA: Delay in Parley Deepens Humanitarian Crisis

As the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels quibble over where and when to hold peace talks, a massive humanitarian crisis is building up in the Jaffna peninsula where half a million people are short of food and fuel and where bombing raids by the air force have been continuing for the fourth day, Friday.

ITALY: Religious Tensions with Turkey Rise

Politicians and intellectuals look more and more worried about Italy's relations with Turkey, as the subject overlaps with the question of Islam, immigration, and security.

MEXICO: Radio Waves Incite Rebellion in Oaxaca

"Compañeros, the enemy is the State." That was Thursday's wake-up call to its listeners from La Ley, a private radio station taken over by activists in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, which is fuelling social unrest that has the state government backed into a corner.

POLITICS-IRAN: Hardliners Try to Steer Crucial Polls

Iran's government is attempting to suppress its critics and consolidate its power before two key elections on Dec. 15 - for the Tehran city council and the national Assembly of Experts.

THAILAND: Where Real Is Fake and Fake Is Real

Museums showcasing the weird and the wacky abound on this planet, but how about a museum of phony wares?

CULTURE-PAKISTAN: Mai Tells Her Tale in ‘Shame’

She is in the news again. This time appearing in a documentary film 'Shame', that tells the tale of a village council ordering her to be gang-raped as retributive punishment.

POLITICS: Musharraf’s Memoir Sets Cats Among Pigeons

By launching his memoir amidst a two week-long high-powered publicity blitz across three continents, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has set a cat, or rather several cats, among the pigeons.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Fate of Monarchy a Sticking Point

As Nepal emerges from a week-long annual holiday to celebrate the Dasain, the most important religious and cultural festival of the majority Hindus, the country is again faced with the problem of getting the coalition government to sit down for talks with armed Maoist rebels.

SPORTS-COLOMBIA: Fighting Violence – in the Stadiums

Father Alirio López, standing in the middle of the stadium dressed in a jersey with the logos of the two Colombian football teams that are playing each other that day, calls on fans to stay calm and urges them to watch the game in peace.