SPORT: Safety Becomes the First Goal

With the World Cup less than three weeks away, the German government continues to insist the country is "one of the safest places in the world" despite warnings from officials that foreigners - especially black people - run the risk of being racially assaulted in some eastern areas.

RELIGION: Legionaries of Christ Founder Falls from Grace

It took the Catholic Church more than half a century to acknowledge the numerous allegations of sexual abuse against the leader of a conservative order founded in Mexico, the Legionaries of Christ. But the Vatican, which has frequently praised Father Marcial Maciel over the years, finally decided to punish him.

SRI LANKA: Tamil Tigers Warn Against Possible EU Ban

Reports that the European Union plans to proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been met with defiance by rebel leaders and a warning that such a move could negatively impact the already weakened peace process.

MEDIA-THAILAND: A Critic May Now Look at a King

Age has not softened the rebellious streak in Sulak Sivaraksa, a unique voice in Thailand's intellectual landscape. He risks landing in jail by airing his views on the country's deified royal family, protected by strict lese majesty laws.

BALKANS: No Place for the ‘White Muslims’

The Bosnian nationality of many non-European Muslims who came here during the 1992-95 war is being discreetly revoked.

CHINA: ‘Remember Natural Disasters, Not Man-made Ones’

In a year full of traumatic anniversaries for China, the dates Chinese leaders choose to remember and commemorate speaks volumes about the political climate in the country - oddly dissimilar to its vibrant economy.

POLITICS: Muslim Nations Want Nuclear Energy, Wary of Iran

As the West debates the perceived Iranian nuclear threat, leaders of the world's eight largest Muslim countries, collectively known as the D8, met on this resort island over the weekend where they asserted the right of Islamic countries to peaceful nuclear energy.

JAPAN: Museum Helps Ethnic Koreans Gain Acceptance

Poignant artifacts, remnants of traditional clothing made from silk and cotton, and large photographs that depict the hard lives of Koreans who arrived in Japan in the mid-20th century, are displayed in a new museum dedicated to preserving the history of Japan's largest ethnic community.

CUBA: Soap Opera Spotlights Sexual Diversity

"La cara oculta de la luna" (The Dark Side of the Moon) - the latest soap opera to be beamed into thousands of Cuban homes - will forever be remembered as triggering unprecedented social debate on sexual diversity and homophobia in the country.

CHINA: Taiwan, Bargaining Chip in Holy Row With Vatican

A confusing sequence of courtship and confrontation that has been taking place between China and the Vatican, in recent weeks, underscores Beijing's uneasiness in dealing with the Roman Catholic Church.

UGANDA: Abstinence Clashes With Reality When Women Are Powerless

Tens of thousands of Ugandan schoolchildren have enrolled in 'True Love Waits' clubs that promote sexual abstinence as the way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

CULTURE-ITALY: Eco-Fashions Find a Place in Shop Windows

Respect for the environment, use of naturally produced fibres and dyes, and recycling of clothing and used objects are the pillars of ecological fashion, which, little by little, seems to be winning over consumers as well as designers in Italy.

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Forum on Secular Law Disrupted

An attempt to discuss ways of protecting Malaysia's constitution in the light of recent conflicts between secular law and the Islamic Shariah system, on Sunday, was dramatically disrupted by a crowd of 200 demonstrators.

CULTURE-SOUTH AFRICA: What’s in a Name?

A proposal to change the name of South Africa's capital from Pretoria to Tshwane has sparked controversy.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Tribal Approval for Honour Killings Decried

In a remote valley that rises high in the Hindu Kush mountains, a jirga (grand council of village elders) has decided that anybody reporting so-called 'honour' killings or filing a police complaint must also be put to death.

COLOMBIA: Magistrates Excommunicated for Partially Lifting Abortion Ban

Twenty-seven years after Congresswoman Consuelo Lleras unsuccessfully submitted a bill to legalise abortion in Colombia, the country’s Constitutional Court has recognised the right to terminate a pregnancy in case of rape, a threat to the woman’s life or health, or if the foetus has a deformity that would prevent survival outside the womb.

POLITICS-US: The John and Jerry Show (But Who’s Chasing Who?)

In the fall of 2000, Arizona Senator John McCain was battling it out with Texas Governor George W. Bush for the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

MEDIA-MALAYSIA: Film on Communist Leader Banned on Shaky Grounds

The Malaysian government has banned a film on the life and times of an octogenarian communist insurgent leader, who had also collaborated with the British during World War II, setting off a hornet's nest of charges about denial of freedom and space for democratic expression.

TRINIDAD: Women’s Group Says Public Backs Abortion Reform

During the visit of Jamaica's first female Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller late last month, her Trinidad and Tobago host, Patrick Manning, made a statement that most people here had heard already.

CULTURE-INDONESIA: Anti-porn Bill Dangles on ‘Dangdut’ Dancer

It is not often that a single individual occasions an act of parliament. But ‘dangdut' star Inul Daratista's vigorous pelvic gyrations are propelling Indonesia's anti-pornography bill.

VIETNAM: No Bird Flu Offensive Since Tet

The annual Tet Festival, celebrated in Vietnam to mark the arrival of the lunar new year, brought with it good health tidings for the government of that South-east Asian country, this year. The festival, in January, was free of the bird flu menace and the run of good luck has held.