YEMEN: Youth Ready to Confront Gender Roles

Despite being at the forefront of sweeping changes taking place in the country, the lives of the majority of Yemeni women are restricted to early marriage, motherhood and serving husbands, according to a new study by Women Without Borders (WWB), a Vienna based public relations and advocacy platform for women’s voices around the world.

ARGENTINA: Free Books in Public Places to Woo Readers

"This book has not been lost. It has no owner; it is part of the Argentine Free Book Movement, and it was left in this place so that you would find it."

The Royal Are More Royal Outside Britain

Quite a treat Britain has on offer for the world these days. Or who would ever have been talking - in this day and age - about a prince and princess riding in splendour into a world of pageboys and palaces.

GUATEMALA: Theatre as HIV Prevention Tool in Native Communities

Poverty, lack of access to education and taboos about sexuality have hampered campaigns for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS among indigenous communities in Guatemala. These constraints have led to the development of new ways of communicating vital information, like theatre.

CUBA: Youth, Love and Sex – Fewer Constraints

Cuba's young people today feel they have more freedom to navigate the waters of romantic feelings in an uncomplicated way.

CUBA: The “Other” Revolutions

YES to sexual diversity! NO to transgenics! LONG LIVE @! In stark contrast to the political apathy of many of their contemporaries, some sectors of Cuban youth are radically re-writing the standard slogans, opting for active participation and fomenting "new revolutions within the Revolution."

CUBA: Gender Inequality Persists Behind Closed Doors

While gender roles have changed since Cuba's 1959 revolution, inequalities persist among men and women in private life, and young people are both accepting that and breaking with it.

PHILIPPINES: Religious Groups Weigh In on Reproductive Health Debate

In a country where an estimated 4,500 women die every year due to complications during childbirth, the enactment of a reproductive health (RH) policy is said to be a measure that could save lives.

OP-ED: Solid Present, Bright Future for Latin America’s Film Industry

Since the 1980s, despite chronic social crisis, Latin America has seen significant advances in economic and industrial development, which have given a boost to the region's film industry.

CUBA: Forum Calls for Decentralisation, to Boost Participation

The annual Critical Observatory Social Forum discussed the need for new spaces of dialogue, debate and participation in Cuba, including the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and decentralisation to empower local communities.

ECUADOR: Catholics Demand Removal of Far-Right Bishop

The appointment of an ultra-conservative priest as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Sucumbíos, in northeastern Ecuador, triggered open rebellion among a large proportion of the area's Catholics, with the support of civil society organisations and even of President Rafael Correa himself.

Theatre For Development and Peace

Some African playwrights say they want to use drama to promote development and peace, and they appealed to world leaders to listen on World Theatre Day, celebrated Wednesday.

‘God Bless Montevideo’ Inspires Serbs

Only months ago, most of the Serbs would probably not know that Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay, as there is hardly anything that connects the two nations.

CHINA: Sympathy for Japan Drowns Out Historic Hate

Despite deep historic tensions between the two Asian powers, a surge of sympathy has emerged among Chinese toward victims of last week’s earthquake and resulting tsunami in northern Japan, which has left an estimated 10,000 dead or missing.

PAKISTAN: Unsung Heroines Bring Healthcare to Villages

At eight in the morning 30-year-old Sultana Solangi steps out of her house ready for her day’s work. Wearing a black gown that shows only her eyes, she is shod in comfortable slippers and lugs a large black bag.

PAKISTAN: Deaths of ‘Unwanted’ Babies On The Rise

The graves at a cemetery in Moach Goth have no epitaphs, no verses from the Koran, not even the names of the deceased. The only inscription on the small wooden signs that serve as headstones is a number and the date of burial. The latest one is Number 72,315.

TRADE: Chic Carpets Link Mozambique, Denmark and, Soon, Brazil

In two rooms in a small Mozambican coastal town, 70 women are cutting, weaving and packaging fabric carpets destined for eclectic design and homeware stores in Denmark and, soon, Brazil and South Africa.

Ancient Buddhas Will Not Be Rebuilt – UNESCO

Afghanistan's historic Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban 10 years ago, will not be reconstructed despite claims the 1,500-year-old statues could be repaired, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said Thursday.

Iconoclastic Young Filmmakers Look at Real Issues in Cuba

Lighting up dark areas of Cuban society with youthful vigour, Muestra Joven (the Young Cinema Exhibition), a local independent film event, reached its 10th anniversary characterised by experimentation and subjects that are both complex and invisible in the national media.

CUBA: Varadero’s Architectural Charm Threatened by Tourism

Important architectural works from the Modern movement in Cuba appear to be doomed as a result of the expansion of massive hotel complexes, which threaten to take over the landscape in Varadero, this country's most famous beach resort.

ARGENTINA: Early Treatment Can Stop Stuttering in Children

British actor Colin Firth's sensitivity and skill in portraying one man's determination to overcome stuttering, in "The King's Speech", did more than any campaign in Argentina to show people that with timely intervention, the lives of tens of thousands of children can change.