POLITICS-US: Congress Balks at Bush’s Weird Science

U.S. Pres. George W. Bush's endorsement of the teaching of "intelligent design" as a theory of how the universe began, coupled with Sen. Bill Frist's backing of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, points to an almost certain trainwreck between Congress and the White House - as well as open warfare between the scientific community and members of the conservative religious right.

POLITICS: Church Targets Five Firms Aiding Israeli Occupation

The U.S. branch of a global church seeking to pressure corporations whose actions support the Israeli military's occupation of Palestinian land has named five multinational corporations to be the target of its divestment efforts.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Churches to the Rescue

South African churches sent relief aid to Zimbabwe this week to help more than 700,000 people affected by the country's urban clean-up campaign - Operation Murambatsvina, a Shona term meaning "drive out trash".

ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA: Hunting Out of Control

Argentina has become a magnet in recent years for sports hunters - foreign and local - not only because of the relatively inexpensive access to a broad variety and quantity of animals, but also because of the lack of effective regulations to protect the hunted species.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-BRAZIL: The Poetic Madness of a Garbage Dump Dweller

"I'm an outcast, but I won't change the way I am, I won't give in. I'm Estamira, and that's that."

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILMS: Asian Cinema Gets Raunchy but With a Cause

If there is a case for saying that Asian - including traditionally conservative Arab cinema - is going the raunchy way, there is equally another one that argues that sexuality is now being examined by regional filmmakers in a more sensitive way than ever before.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-TIBET: ‘Masalla’ Music Threatens Cultural Purity

For 27-year-old Jamyang, it was a clash of cultures - Tibetan 'thangka' (cloth) paintings versus Bollywood and Western rock and roll. In the end, the latter won the day when he chucked his 'thangka' paintbrushes for an electric guitar and formed a rock band that belted out Tibetan freedom songs and popular Hindi love tunes.

RELIGION: As an Islamist Might Appear at Home

She always thought she was married. Two years into it she became pregnant. Her Islamist husband ordered her to get an abortion, and when she refused, he left her.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Contractor Abused Immigrants, Gov’t Admits

A security contractor that runs prisons in Australia, Britain and South Africa, is facing increased scrutiny after a damning report of abusive treatment of five people it transported between two Australian government immigration prisons.

RIGHTS-UAE: Arab Women to Gain from New Divorce Rules

In a major breakthrough for women's rights in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the cabinet has approved a draft personal law that will soon allow women to end marriage after petitioning the Shariah (religious) court and paying compensation to husbands.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: No Quick Fixes on Madrassas Say Observers

While Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has called for a ''jihad (holy war) against extremism'' he may find that the hardest nettle to grasp is the reform of madrassas (Islamic seminaries) that have been identified as being at the root of the problem.

RIGHTS-KENYA: In the Aftermath of a Massacre

He describes himself as an old man, and one ignorant of many things in life - especially "women and the ways of Waq (God)". But Huka Kanchoro, a wizened Borana elder, knows that he holds a position of influence in the northern Kenyan district of Marsabit.

RELIGION: A British Offer to the Islamic Way

How do you ever engage in banking without interest coming into it? Well, if you want to do it the Islamic way, you just have to find a way.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-BRAZIL: Three Blind Sisters Born To Sing

The Brazilian documentary "Born to Be Blind" tells the extraordinary story of three sisters who overcome almost inconceivable adversity to achieve a certain measure of fame in the second half-century of their lives - and yet are still not able to fully escape the poverty and precariousness that has marked their entire existence.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS: Sihanouk, Monarch and More

Cambodia's retired King Norodom Sihanouk gets special mention in an on-line publication that dabbles in news about the purveyors of chaos.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-ITALY: But There’s a Mafia Outside the Movies, Too

A spate of new films on the mafia comes with a health warning - the mafia may have gone off the news, but it is not gone yet.

COLOMBIA: Indigenous Women Brave War Zone to Express Solidarity

A caravan of around 1,250 indigenous and afro-Colombian women and women's rights activists drove Saturday into an area of southwestern Colombia that is caught up in fighting between leftist guerrillas and the army, for a "Visit to the Family".

POLITICS: Badawi Ushers in New Era for Malays and Malaysians

A new man brings a new style. But beyond the style - softer, less parochial and more consensus-seeking - Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has also brought in a new vision for Malaysians.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s Wooing of Black Vote Gains Critical Mass

In mid-July, Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, showed up at the annual convention of the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) - the oldest and one of the largest civil rights organisations in the United States.

RIGHTS: Women May Lose Basic Rights Under New Constitution

The irony is not lost either amongst women's groups in Baghdad or activists in the United States: Iraqi women who enjoyed basic human rights under one of the world's most repressive regimes headed by former President Saddam Hussein are now on the verge of losing their hard-won freedoms under a U.S.-blessed administration in the insurgent-ravaged country.

LABOUR-US: What Would Pope Leo Do?

It's a church-state conflict of a different kind, pitting one of the more militant labour unions in the United States against the Catholic Church hierarchy.