THAILAND: Malay-Muslim Insurgency Gaining Ground

Their identities may still be a mystery, but suspected Malay-Muslim militants in southern Thailand are removing any doubts about what they have in mind when they come calling. They want to prove that the Thai government is losing control of that troubled region, say analysts.

CULTURE: Many Notes, One Rhythm

A Bollywood dance class, the tones of a Chinese bamboo flute, a Cuban cookery lesson, Saharan soul music and later some hip-swivelling to a Mexican Latino-ska outfit.

PANAMA: Residents Evicted as Buildings Are Restored

The historic centre of Panama City has never looked better, thanks to the restoration of picturesque buildings, improved sidewalks and tighter security. However, thousands of residents have been forced to leave their homes as government and private investors have moved in.

EDUCATION-AFGHANISTAN: Schools Shut Down on Taliban Orders

Lack of infrastructure and lawlessness have forced thousands of children out of schools in Afghanistan this year, according to news reports.

ENVIRONMENT: Vietnamese Eating Away Rich Biodiversity

Environmental experts warn that Vietnamese eating habits are responsible for a rapid depletion of the country's rich biodiversity and that entire ecosystems are being destroyed to tickle the palates of the affluent.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Journalists Release Guantanamo Bay Report

Two Afghan journalists, who spent three years in the infamous United States military prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have released a new chronicle on life in the now famous iron cages.

DEATH PENALTY-IRAN: Condemned for Being Different

Say we go back one year, to Jul. 19, 2005. Say we move from New York to Mashad, a city in northeastern Iran. There, one year ago, two teenagers named Ayaz Marhoni and Mahmoud Asgari were put to death for a crime involving homosexual intercourse, after being detained for 14 months and tortured with lashing.

RUSSIA: Doing Acrobatics to Keep Kids Off the Streets

The magic of the circus feeds the dreams and fantasies of children in the audience, but at the Upsala Circus it has the same effect on the artistic troupe, made up of troubled boys and girls from the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia's second biggest city.

KENYA: Stopping Pregnancy From Being the End of the Educational Road

Are the effects of teenage pregnancy on the education of girls being addressed with sufficient vigour in Kenya? With statistics indicating that pregnancy accounts for 31 percent* of all school drop-out cases among girls, this is a question that begs asking.

POLITICS: Lebanon, False Note in Rice’s Piano Diplomacy

The sole discordance to United States top diplomat Condoleezza Rice's virtuoso piano performance for Asia's foreign ministers, on Thursday night, was the chorus of ''Get Out Rice'' and ''Stop the Genocide in Lebanon'' chanted by demonstrators outside the hall.

CHINA: From Cultural Revolution to Culture Exports

While the world is getting used to China's ballooning global trade surplus, Chinese mandarins fret over the one area that the country has been posting a continuous deficit in - culture.

MIDEAST: Sunni-Shia Split Fades as Israel Presses Campaign

Hopes by the George W. Bush administration for the emergence of an implicit Sunni-Israel alliance against an Iranian-led "Shia Crescent" have faded over the past week as Arab public opinion has become increasingly united by outrage over the Jewish state's continuing military campaign in Lebanon and Washington's refusal to stop it, according to Middle East experts here.

BRAZIL: Book Takes Dark Journey into World of Police Corruption

Amancio, a military police officer in Rio de Janeiro, was severely wounded in the back by an automatic rifle fired by a drug trafficker, according to official reports. But he was actually hit by "friendly fire" in the stomach, he told a friend just before he died in the hospital.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Peace Hinges on Fate of Nordic Monitors

Peace in Sri Lanka now hinges on the success of a mission to the island by Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer, in the first week of August, to discuss with the government and Tamil rebel leaders the future of the all-Nordic ceasefire monitoring team.

POLITICS-US: Christian Right Steps Up Pro-Israel Lobby

Over the past two decades, as the Christian Right has grown in political power in the United States, there has been a parallel growth in support for Israel. Organisations made up of conservative evangelical and Jewish leaders have been founded, and millions of dollars have been raised and donated to charities in Israel.

AFGHANISTAN: Peace Offensive Must Follow Military Campaign

The regrouping of hundreds of Taliban in village after village in the trouble-prone southern provinces seems to coincide with the poppy harvest calendar in Afghanistan.

ARGENTINA: Industrial Design + Garbage = Jobs

With the support of three industrial designers and an architect, a group of informal garbage collectors in the Argentine capital has come together in a project to design and produce furniture and other objects out of waste materials.

CHILE: Skinhead Violence on Both Sides

A homeless person on the downtown streets of the Chilean capital has become the latest target of local neo-Nazi rage. The extremist movement recently lost a member, killed by an anti-fascist group amidst a context of violence and intolerance that has spiralled alarmingly.

POLITICS: US Now a Bystander in Iraq’s Sectarian War

The United States has been reduced to the role of passive bystander as a new stage of sectarian civil war has begun in Iraq, marked by military units with heavy weaponry carrying out mass killings.

CUBA: Church Humanitarian Work to Feel Impact of US Plans

The latest plans by the U.S. government in its policy towards Cuba will have a heavy impact on the humanitarian efforts of religious organisations that work with needy sectors in this Caribbean island nation.

FILM-RWANDA: Portrait of Genocide Probes Idealism and Faith

From "Schindler's List" to "Hotel Rwanda", popular films that depict individual responses to state-sanctioned terror often spotlight the extraordinary courage of selfless heroes.