EDUCATION-U.S.: Hearings on Evolution Evoke Famed ‘Monkey Trial’

In the early 1920s, with many in the United States worried about losing traditional values to the secular modernism of jazz, the silver-tongued William Jennings Bryan - three-time Democratic candidate for president - led a fundamentalist crusade to banish Charles Darwin's 1859 theory of evolution from U.S. classrooms.

RELIGION-LATIN AMERICA: Indigenous Peoples Divided by Faith

Indigenous communities throughout Latin America are facing the loss of their cultural traditions, divisive conflicts, and in some cases even bloodshed, all in the name of God.

EDUCATION-U.S.: Groups Push Bible on Hitherto Neutral Territory

Despite numerous court setbacks and continuing challenges from civil liberties organizations, right-wing Christian groups are stepping up efforts to introduce the Bible into public school classrooms, saying it already is used as a textbook in 300 school districts nationwide.

PAKISTAN: 19 Years Later, Blasphemy Law Haunts Again

The recent killing of a man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan's remote North-West Frontier Province is worrying. This is an indication of a disturbing trend in Pakistani society that seems to be moving towards extremism and bigotry.

RIGHTS-INDIA: The Final Curtain for Mumbai’s Dancing Girls

A ban on girls dancing in western Mumbai's 'dance bars' to entice male patrons to freely part with their money, threatens to destroy about a million livelihoods and along with it a defining feature of the bustling port metropolis - which many say is a reminder of the seedy side of China's Shanghai city in the 1930s.

ARGENTINA: Whistleblower’s Film Delves into Tragic Plane Crash

A film by a pilot-turned-filmmaker that seeks to shed light on a tragic plane crash has won eight national and international prizes as well as strong reviews by critics, while having a major impact on the public.

RELIGION: Women Catholics Demand More than a Space in the Convent

Catholic women waiting for the day when they too can be ordained as priests will undoubtedly have a longer wait ahead of them following the recent designation of conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.

RIGHTS: For Cameroon’s Pygmies, No Forest Is Impenetrable Enough

With no telephone connection to the outside world, and a single access road that is little more than a forest trail, the village of Lomie might as well be situated at the other side of the earth as far as many Cameroonians are concerned.

CHINA: Case of a Pot Calling the Kettle Black To Halt Artifacts Loss

An official Chinese government campaign to reverse the outflow of China's cultural and artistic heritage has sparked off an impassioned debate about the pros and cons of free trade in art. It also questions the dubious record of the Communist Party leadership in protecting its cultural patrimony.

CHILE: New Book on German Sect Says Abuses Were an Open Secret

The child sexual abuse and other crimes committed in Colonia Dignidad, a farming commune founded in southern Chile by former Nazi medic and Baptist preacher Paul Schaefer, were an open secret, but "nothing was done" about it for decades, according to two young Chilean journalists writing a book on the sect.

RIGHTS-RUSSIA: Political Groups Target Jewish People

A row on religious rights has broken out after deputies from two political parties wrote to the prosecutor-general to ban all religious and ethnic Jewish organisations in Russia.

HEALTH-NIGER: A Hundred Dollars Goes a Long Way to Ending Genital Mutilation

"It’s not easy to give up a profession passed down to you by your parents that you’ve been at for years. But once you become aware of the grave harm you do others in this job, you have to quit," says Salmou Himadou.

RELIGION: Muslim Scholar Urges Halt to Extreme Punishments

A Muslim scholar who was issued and then denied a visa to teach in the United States because of alleged ties to terrorists has called for an immediate moratorium on corporal and capital punishment and dialogue aimed at creating less repressive Muslim societies.

POLITICS-U.S.: Voters Rally ‘Round the Never-Ending Speech

U.S. voters are rallying around an unusual movement to support a politician's right to make apparently endless speeches.

EAST TIMOR: Catholic Authorities Demand Removal of Muslim Prime Minister

The insistence of Catholic Church authorities in East Timor on the immediate removal of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, a Muslim, could trigger a new civil war in this former Portuguese colony, warn analysts in Portugal.

FILM-VENEZUELA: Documentary Revolution

For Venezuelan documentary maker Angel Palacios, truth is not impartial, but it is possible for the media to be independent, as long as they do not try to be "independent of the world."

BRAZIL: Harnessing Creativity to Boost Developing Economies

The Brazilian minister of culture, renowned singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil, has a new passion: the creative industries, which he believes can play a key role in boosting the economies of developing countries.

/ARTS WEEKLY/THEATRE-ARGENTINA: Relocated Town Searches for Its Roots – Underwater

When the water level is low, what is normally a lake becomes a vast expanse of rubble, where the residents of Federación, in eastern Argentina, search for traces of the town submerged almost three decades ago to build the Salto Grande dam, on the border with Uruguay.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOK-NEPAL: Mourning for Democracy

''The last thing the world needs is another failed state in South Asia, but that is what threatens to emerge in Nepal, where a spiralling conflict between the army and insurgents has taken a turn for the worse,'' said a 'New York Times' editorial recently.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-INDIA: A Reel Tribute To a Real Life Hero

He was one Indian independence leader whose life was the stuff crazy adventure stories are made of. In fact only art can imitate the life of a national hero like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

RELIGION-US: Roots of Anti-Semitism Run Deep, Poll Finds

Nearly 35 million U.S. citizens - 14 percent of the adult population - hold "strong" anti-Semitic beliefs, according to a new nationwide survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) watchdog group.