AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: Giving Cassava Its Due

Cassava is the main source of calories for 500 million people around the world, but it has never been accorded the technological or culinary attention merited by its nutritional importance, likely because it is a crop grown and eaten by the poor.

AFRICA-VENEZUELA: Weaving New Alliances with Cultural Threads

Venezuela, the biggest oil producer in Latin America and the fifth biggest in the world, has launched an offensive to forge closer diplomatic ties with Africa, initially focusing on political and cultural questions while leaving the matter of energy cooperation to the future.

VENEZUELA-US: First Latin American to Lead Big Leagues Team to Victory

Venezuela completely forgot Thursday about the ever-present political tension and even the national football team's sad failure to classify for the Germany 2006 World Cup, after Venezuelan manager Oswaldo "Ozzie" Guillén led the Chicago White Sox to their historic victory in North American baseball's World Series.

POLITICS: ‘Yasukuni Stands Between China and Japan’

Until Japanese leaders stop paying official visits to the Shinto shrine of Yasukuni, where the country's most notorious war criminals are buried, there can be ''no true reconciliation'' between China and Japan and bilateral military tensions will continue to rise, a leading Chinese scholar has predicted.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MEDIA-CHILE: Quixote’s Steed Dies on 400th Anniversary of the Don

This year, the 400th anniversary of Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote, Chile lost one of its most widely respected cultural magazines, Rocinante - the name of Don Quixote's horse.

/ARTS WEEKLY/SPORTS: Scoring a Goal for World Peace

The United Nations is in the process of deploying a new weapon to promote world peace: sports.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS: When Reporting Becomes Literature

The Lettre Ulysses Award for 'The Art of Reportage' first created in Berlin three years ago, has been won by the British- born writer Alexandra Fuller for a compelling description of a journey made in Central Africa with a war veteran and mercenary who revisits the scenes of his war-time experiences in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

UAE: Is Work During Ramadan Worship?

Ramadan is a period of fasting, prayer and penance for Muslims everywhere but, in the Gulf countries, it is also a month of reduced working hours to help the faithful observe the strict regimen. Of late, however, the fewer working hours has become the subject of debate in terms of its necessity, interpretation, application and economic costs.

RIGHTS-SLOVAKIA: A Negative for Pro-Roma Legislation

A court ruling that declares unconstitutional any positive discrimination for ethnic minorities in Slovakia is being described as a "tragedy" by Roma leaders.

FINANCE: Wal-Marting Philanthropy

Upon the death of Helen Walton, the frail and aging widow of Sam Walton - founder of the Wal-Mart empire - the Walton Family Foundation could receive as much as 20 billion dollars, making it the largest and potentially most powerful foundation in the world.

CULTURE: Malawians Pursue the “Bootylicious”

On a cool evening, a young woman who identifies herself as Yasmin swings her hips as she walks confidently from her living quarters at the University of Malawi campus, towards a hall where a disco is being held.

HEALTH-KENYA: Many Abortions, Too Little Contraception

Dubbed the "babies in bags" scandal, the discovery of 15 foetuses last year near a river in Nairobi horrified Kenya - and drew government assurances that illegal abortions would be brought to a halt.

CULTURE: UNESCO Adopts Convention to Protect Diversity

The United Nations cultural body adopted an international treaty Thursday to protect cultural diversity, marking what experts say is a first but important moral victory in the long-running fight to preserve the world's cultural richness.

CULTURE: UN Treaty Challenges “Planet Hollywood”

With the rest of the world poised to adopt a new United Nations treaty on cultural diversity, indications are that the United States is once again going to say no to multilateralism.

JAPAN: Invoking Warlike Spirits to Push Reforms

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's surprise visit to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine, this week, is aimed at boosting national pride and support for his sweeping reform programme after his landslide victory in September, say analysts.

RIGHTS-MESOAMERICA: Indigenous Peoples Particularly Vulnerable to Disasters

In the areas of Guatemala recently devastated by Hurricane Stan, which claimed the lives of more than 655 people, indigenous children last year played Kumatzin, a board game in the Maya language and with Mayan illustrations, used as an educational tool on how to prepare for and survive natural disasters.

ARGENTINA: The Movie Stars Next Door

It was opening night, but the only stars present were shining overhead. Under a clear sky, with no electric lighting, the local residents gathered outside of the packed theatre, sitting on the town's main street to watch the last film - in which they themselves formed the entire cast.

COMMUNICATIONS-ARGENTINA: Computers Alone Can’t Bridge Digital Gap

"With these three computers and Internet access, it's as if we could reach up and touch the sky," exclaimed Analía Bonesso, the principal and teacher of all eight grades in a rural primary school in Argentina with no telephone, no radio, and only 14 students.

POLITICS-IRAN: Rafsanjani Offers Hope On Nuclear, Oil Issues

The fact that it was former president Hashemi Rafsanjani who announced Iran's readiness to talk on the ''country's nuclear dossier without any pre-condition'' rather than his hardline successor, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, offers a glimmer of hope for reconciliation with the West on the key nuclear and oil issues.

KENYA: If the Draft Constitution Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It – Activists

The heated debate about Kenya's proposed constitution, to be put to a referendum Nov. 21, has focused extensively on the powers the draft awards to the presidency, despite popular calls for the wings of the executive to be clipped.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Monumental Trouble in Sri Lanka

The twisted hulks of three railway carriages, standing near where they were picked up and slammed against houses in this fishing village by the Dec 26 tsunami, symbolise the power of nature as well as human frailities exposed in the aftermath.