/ARTS WEEKLY/ARGENTINA: Bringing Classical Music to the Workers

Accustomed to playing for a small cultural elite in fancy theatres and churches, the National Symphonic Orchestra of Argentina, created in 1948, performed for the first time ever in a factory, as part of a novel programme aimed at reaching out to new audiences.

/REPEAT/POLITICS-INDIA: Hindu Warrior Back in His ‘Chariot’

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads India's ruling coalition, has launched a new stratagem in its high-pitched election campaign to rake up its trademark issue of religious and ethnic identities.

RIGHTS-FRANCE: Anti-Semitic Comedy No Laughing Matter

French stand-up comedian Dieudonné makes nobody laugh any more.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ SCULPTURE-VENEZUELA: Virgins Along the Highway

Fourteen sculptures of virgins and saints of the Catholic Church will be put on permanent display along the highways of the northwestern Venezuelan state of Yaracuy, the country's first "religious roadside museum", picking up on an arts initiative begun more than 20 years ago.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-INDIA: Traditional Basket Weaving Endangered

Kannama, a 70-year-old resident of Konapet hamlet in the arid Chettinad region of southern Tamil Nadu state, is among the last living master practitioners of the craft of making kottans, or palm-leaf baskets.

/ARTS WEEKLY/THEATRE-CUBA: Play Revisits Censorship of Beatles Music

A middle-aged Cuban rock 'n roll lover takes home the bronze statue of John Lennon that sits on a park bench in the Cuban capital, to make his biggest dream come true: to reunite his old amateur rock band and play for the former Beatle.

PAKISTAN: Concern Rises over Torching of Foreign-Funded Schools

Arsonists have struck nine schools in the remote hills of northern Pakistan, sparking official concern that Taliban or other Islamist groups critical of organisations that get foreign aid could be targeting the area.

POLITICS-BRAZIL: The Bingo Resistance

Since the Brazilian government issued a decree that closed down bingo parlours and slot machines across the country, hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs and have taken to the streets in protest.

JAPAN: Conviction of Cult Leader Ends Wait, But Concern Remains

Friday's death sentence meted out to the founder of a Japanese doomsday cult that carried out murder and gas attacks years ago ends a long, tortuous wait for justice by thousands of survivors, but concern remains over the susceptibility of youngsters to joining such groups.

RELIGION-INDIA: Muslims Seek Integration into Secular Mainstream

India's minority Muslims are in a new mood of reconciliation with majority Hindus and there are clear signs that large or influential sections are ready to integrate into a truly secular national mainstream as set out in the country's Constitution.

RIGHTS: Indigenous Children’s Survival Tied to Aboriginal Culture

The world's indigenous children face greater threats to survival than other youngsters, but that can only be changed by recognising that their well-being is tied to the survival of aboriginal cultures, including rights to land and resources, says a United Nations report released Wednesday.

/REPEAT/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: French Filmmaker Leaves African Legacy

Jean Rouch, the French filmmaker, ethnologist and explorer whose movies introduced the cultural richness of Africa to the West and beyond, died last week in a car crash in the African nation of Niger, aged 86.

/ARTS WEEKLY/PAKISTAN: Kite-Flying Heralds Spring’s Arrival, Can be Lethal

Colourful paper kites heralding the onset of spring dot the sky above this ancient fort city and provincial capital in a traditional celebration, for which authorities temporarily lifted a ban against kite-flying.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-BRAZIL: When a Flooded Town Is a Laughing Matter

The fictional town of Javé is to be flooded by a dam that Brazil's authorities claim will generate electricity "and progress". The uprooting of its residents would be a sad tale, but it is told in a new film with such humour and human warmth that film-goers have no choice but to laugh.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ART: 20th Century Works Could Draw a Million

A new exhibition of 200 masterpieces of the 20th century at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Berlin is expected to draw more than a million visitors over the next seven months.

HEALTH-BRAZIL: Carnival’s Condoms Sliced by Censorship

Safe sex and condom use are the themes of this year's main acts during the Rio carnival, adding fuel to the debate sparked by the Catholic Church when it cast doubt over the effectiveness condoms in preventing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

THAILAND: Amid Violence, Final Bell Tolls for Islamic Schools

As the violence in Thailand's south threatens to spiral out of control, the government has begun sharpening its knives with a view to cracking down on Islamic schools in the region.

CHINA: Lifting of Veil on Celebrities’ Wealth Causes Furore

The first list of rich Chinese celebrities published by the U.S.-based 'Forbes' magazine is lifting the veil on the country's reluctant rich entertainers - and causing a storm with its assessment of growing wealth in an industry once assigned by the Communist Party to serve the masses.

POLITICS-MALAWI: Women Candidates Find the Odds Stacked Against Them

Vera Chirwa is a prominent human rights activist in Malawi, a prison rapporteur for the African Union - and someone who was imprisoned for speaking out against authoritarian rule under former head of state Hastings Kamuzu Banda. But this pedigree wasn't enough to earn her a shot at Malawi's presidency during the May elections.

CULTURE-UGANDA: A Price Above Rubies

"We are going to shout about bride price across Africa and we are going to say 'no' to the sale of women," exclaimed Atuki Turner to a crowded hall at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Turner was speaking at the opening this week of the first international conference on the tradition of bride price.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Virginity Testing Strips Girls of Their Dignity – Groups

They form a single file. Some are singing, though their voices have been dwarfed by the hum of the stream. The girls, estimated around 50, are being accompanied home by three middle-aged women from a nearby river.