MEDIA-US: The Immigration Debate…En Español

When Blanca Gonzalez, a founding member of the Florida-based group Immigrants United for Freedom, was starting to plan Monday's national boycott in support of undocumented workers a few weeks ago, one of the first contacts she made was with the Spanish-language radio station WQBN-1300 AM in Tampa.

IRAN: Sabre-rattling Won’t Work

With Russia and China signalling opposition, the draft resolution circulated in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by Britain, France and Germany, asking Iran to halt uranium enrichment, is unlikely to enjoy smooth passage.

RELIGION: Danish MP Sees Conspiracy, And Hope

Socialist Danish Member of Parliament Kamal Qureshi says the cartoons controversy was a part of a right-wing conspiracy, but that people are now seeing through it.

BALKANS: Bosniaks Find a Pyramid of Hope

Claims of the discovery of a buried pyramid have brought new hope to a Bosnian town.

RIGHTS: Assyrians Face Escalating Abuses in “New Iraq”

The longstanding persecution of ethnic minorities in Iraq is quietly writing the end chapter to Iraqi Assyrian history: if the world doesn't wake up to the plight of this people, they will soon be shoved through the door of extinction, warn patrons and human rights defenders.

DEATH PENALTY: Legal Uncertainties Cloud Indonesian Case

Human rights groups and religious leaders welcome a temporary reprieve given by the Indonesian government to three men who had been slated to die in March.

RELIGION: Danish Muslims Look to Better Days

Danish Muslims were taken aback by the violence the cartoons controversy triggered around the world. But now many of them are looking to better days ahead - because of the controversy.

CARIBBEAN: Gay, HIV-Positive, and Totally Fearless

When he was diagnosed with HIV in 1989, Godfrey Sealy, a Trinidad and Tobago playwright and activist, pled with Caribbean policy-makers and the general public not to relegate sex issues to the back burner.

SOCIETY: Germany Confronts a Grey Future

Silent playgrounds, boarded up schools, new old people's homes. What sounds far-fetched is actually a glimpse of the future for many German towns if the country's dwindling birth rate fails to stall.

THEATRE-CUBA: Havana Carnival Made In USA

At a time when cultural ties between Cuba and the United States are virtually non-existent, a theatre director from New York is here in Havana to present the world première of a musical, set in this Caribbean island. In doing so, he hopes to contribute to "reducing the tensions" between the two countries.

MIGRATION: Many Iranians Embrace Asylum as a Way Out

Increasingly, Iranians hoping for a brighter future and disappointed with the conservative direction of their homeland are seeking asylum abroad. They're crossing the border into Turkey and some are even employing human smugglers in their rough journey to Europe and even the United States.

VENEZUELA: Barber ‘Filmmaker’ Finds Success for 100 Dollars

The most sought-after film at hundreds of stands offering pirate DVDs and videos in the Venezuelan capital is a film that had a total production cost of less than 100 dollars.

HEALTH: A Weapon Against AIDS That Looks Just Like Hair Gel

"Mafuta" is the word used by Kennedy Mundia to describe the colourless, odourless gel that he wants 1,500 women in the Southern African country of Zambia to try out, starting next month.

RIGHTS: Kenya’s Parliament Hears that Women Who Say “No” Often Mean “Yes”

Although hopes were high that debate on a bill seeking harsher penalties for perpetrators of sexual violence in Kenya would be smooth sailing, discussions have already been marked by controversy.

MEXICO: Network to Track Down Pedophile Priests

Some 40 Catholic priests fleeing charges of child abuse in the United States are reportedly living in Mexico. But they are being tracked down by an international organisation that will also encourage abuse victims in this country to step forward and seek help and justice.

RIGHTS-THAILAND: Detention Camps Feed Insurgency

Every day, a group of anxious parents gather outside the whitewashed walls of the police-training centre in this town, hoping for word of their sons, detained on suspicion of being involved with the insurgency that has torn Thailand's Muslim-dominated southern provinces that border Malaysia.

RIGHTS-NAMIBIA: Bushmen Survive Millennia – But Perhaps Not Modernity

"They have no voice, no jobs; poverty is excruciating, slavery is there - because they work for others for nothing, like in only getting a plate of food or tombo (traditional beer). They are just suffering."

NIGERIA: Discrimination Against ‘Non-Indigenes’ Threatens Civil Peace

The Nigerian government must take the lead in ending discrimination against millions of "non-indigenes" - citizens who cannot show that their family roots are native to the community in which they live - in part to better secure the country's increasingly fragile unity, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released here Tuesday.

RIGHTS-KENYA: Politics and Gathering Water Don’t Mix, Say Women Activists

Women in Kenya’s North Eastern Province (NEP) say they will not be able to play a more active role in politics unless concerted efforts are made to provide basic services in the vast and arid region.

POLITICS-THAILAND: Winning Hearts and Minds in Insurgent Country

When he pulls out his electric guitar to entertain visitors, Suriya Tawanachai offers a glimpse of the maverick in him. The instrument is shaped like an AK-47, the famous Russian-make assault rifle and its strap could do duty as a bandolier.

CUBA: Bringing Theatre to Remote Communities

In a small village surrounded by Cuba's largest wetland, the Korimakao Community Arts Group puts on high quality performances combining theatre, dance, music, lights, sets and costumes, making the same effort they would make if they were in the most prestigious theatre in the capital.