/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-MEXICO: Dolores del Rio – Diva and Film Star

Mexico's Dolores del Río, who in the 1920s and 1930s achieved diva status in Hollywood and a place among the artistic saints of her own country, is being remembered in a series of conferences, film festivals and expositions 100 years after her birth.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-CUBA: Washington Blocks Dialogue in Visa Denial

"Suite Habana" and other films by Cuban director Fernando Pérez are headlining a Latin American exhibition included in the fifth Havana Film Festival, held in New York Apr. 23-28. But the director could not be there for the screenings.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ MUSIC-CHILE: ‘King of Twist’ Resurfaces with Retro Wave

Venerated and vilified in equal parts, icon and "old man" of Chile's New Wave movement of the 1960s, Luis Dimas, the contradictory "King of Twist", is celebrating his 45-year career this month.

SOCIETY-INDIA: Some Old Colonial Habits Just Hard to Break

The Indian Navy's restoration of the red-on-white cross of St George to its ensign, three years after abandoning the emblem of Britain's patron saint for its ''demeaning'' colonial associations, has rekindled debates about old colonial habits that remain a part of daily life today.

THAILAND: Excessive Force May Produce More Muslim ‘Martyrs’

If the U.S. government can use excessive force in its conquest of Iraq, and the Israeli government can use the same to crush the resistance in occupied Palestine, then why shouldn't the Thai government resort to this to suppress militants in the country's south?

POLITICS-U.S.: Arab-American Vote Looms Large

Arab-Americans, one of the U.S.' smallest ethnic minorities, could well tip the balance against President George W Bush's re-election, according to a survey released Wednesday of four key battleground states where the vote could be decided.

THAILAND: Muslims in Dire Straits after Bloodiest Day in the South

An unprecedented scale of violence in Thailand's southern region - which resulted in over 110 people dead on Wednesday - has placed the country's Muslim minority in dire straits.

POLITICS-INDIA: Pro-Hindu Ruling Party Woos Minority Muslim Votes

It is difficult to ignore Syed Ahmed Bukhari because he is the hereditary 'Shahi Imam' (Imperial Priest) of Delhi's sprawling Jama Masjid or mosque, one of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's many creations in sandstone and marble.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Chaining of Drug Addicts Creates Stir

With their ankles shackled, scores of heroin addicts hobble around the crowded yard of their rehabilitation centre in a remote narcotics-ridden region here in north-eastern India, in a unique de-addiction programme.

MIDEAST: Culture Rises Above Security Walls

Waiting in the queue to buy tickets for the opening ceremony of the European Film Festival in the West Bank city of Ramallah, one cannot help but listen to the stories people exchange about the Israeli incursion into the city just hours before the show.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-US: ‘The Gatekeeper’ Shows Plight of Mexican Migrants

"Welcome to California," says an undocumented Mexican lab worker after showing how to make the drug methamphetamine by mixing toxic chemicals over a burner in a dim, windowless shack.

/ARTS WEEKLY/EAST TIMOR: Art under Reconstruction Too

Art is being revived in the reconstruction of East Timor, thanks to the efforts of a Swiss painter who started the fledgling country's first art school in what was formerly the United Nations field military hospital.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ BRAZIL: Books Battle to Find Readers

The 18th International Book Biennial is under way in Sao Paulo, aiming to draw more than 600,000 people in 11 days - and to foment reading in a country where per capita book "consumption" remains very low.

RELIGION: Africa Rejects Donations From Churches That Support Gay Unions

Africa’s Anglican archbishops have vowed never to receive donations from western churches which support the ordination of gay priests.

INDIA: Two Years After, Pogrom Victims See Glimmer of Justice

When India's Supreme Court ordered that the trial of a controversial murder case be moved outside western Gujarat on Monday, it was the first time since an anti-Muslim pogrom swept the state two years ago that the victims could begin to hope for real justice.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Anger Mounts at Abolition of Aboriginal Body

The Australian government's plans to abolish the elected Aboriginal peak body, called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), has angered the indigenous community and revived accusations about Australia's insensitivity to its concerns.

RELIGION: ‘Islam Can be Democratic’

A global "Congress of Democrats from the Islamic World" has called for "regular multi-party elections" in Muslim countries.

RELIGION: European Muslims Ask to Be Seen Differently

Several leaders among the 12 million Muslims in Europe are asking for new policies and attitudes of acceptance.

SOCIETY-TAIWAN: Foreign Brides Reflect Changing Demographics

Taiwan's ambitious drive to modernise and be the envy of its Asian neighbours is producing at least one unforeseen social result - the rapid ethnic remake of this once almost-homogenous society as more migrants and foreign brides come in.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Musharraf Gov’t Talks Tough, But is in a Bind

The Pakistan government has offered yet another amnesty to ''foreign Islamic militants'' in the country's north-western tribal areas, meaning al-Qaeda elements, if they surrender by Apr. 20. But in truth, authorities find themselves between a rock and a hard place in the military offensive against these fighters.

CULTURE-MIDEAST: The Film Is In the Eye of the Beholder

Palestinians are looking at a new factor in their long and troubled relations with Israelis - Mel Gibson's film 'The Passion of the Christ'.