/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: India-Pakistan Peace Showing on Silver Screen

India's and Pakistan's governments are still flirting with each other at the diplomatic level, but their film industries are already falling in love - signing up artists from the country otherwise demonised across the border, planning joint productions and promising peace through silver screen.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CHILE: ‘Social Circus’ Goes to School

El Circo del Mundo-Chile, part of the international social circus movement, had six minutes of TV fame this week as it was seen by millions of people in many countries during its guest performance at the International Song Festival in Viña del Mar, on the Chilean coast.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: Modern Caribbean Pirates Treasure Music

For the first time in nearly two decades, calypso singer David Rudder did not release an album for this year's Carnival celebrations here.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-ARGENTINA: Rubbish to Read

Nothing is as it should be at a small publishing house that has been hailed as one of Argentina's great cultural successes. Today, the offices smell of garlic and onion, there is no money to print books and the editor himself is the one cutting the book covers, made with cardboard scavenged from the garbage.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CHINA: Valentine’s Yes, but not ‘Vagina Monologues’

Once puritanically critical of all occasions that paraded love, communist China has embraced the celebrations of Valentine's Day - ''the imported Western festival'' - as a succession of consumer opportunities coated in romance.

CULTURE-SWAZILAND: Pressure of AIDS, Economic Decline Spur Ritual Murders

"Ritual murder is a fact in Swaziland. Our only protection is to adopt a defensive attitude," Robert Dube, a businessperson in the capital city, told IPS.

POLITICS: India-Pakistan Row over Cricket May Sour Peace Talks

From nuclear weaponry to the possession of Kashmir, India and Pakistan have plenty to squabble over. But right now a row is building up between the neighbours over India's reluctance to honour a commitment to send its cricket team over for a tour in March.

HEALTH-MEXICO: Church Complains It Was ‘Ridiculed’ Over Pill

Roman Catholic Church officials in Mexico complain that they have been ridiculed by the media for opposing the morning-after pill, an emergency contraceptive, while Catholics are increasingly using birth control and have turned a deaf ear to threats of excommunication.

HEALTH-AFRICA: A "How To" Manual for Churches Which Help AIDS Orphans

A Baltimore-based aid agency, World Relief, this week issued a guide in Kenya to assist churches with caring for AIDS orphans in Africa.

LITERATURE: Written Word Joins Cuban Authors, On or Off the Island

The Colección Cultura Cubana book series was created by a Puerto Rico-based publishing house for Cuban writers, whether living in or outside this socialist-run country, and is one of the main attractions of the International Book Fair under way in Havana.

PORTUGAL: Tourism Stakes Bets on Football’s Euro Cup 2004

Football could be Portugal's big chance. One of the lesser known countries of Europe, as host of the European Cup 2004 it could shed its image as a sort of appendage to Spain and consolidate a position as a tourist destination on its own terms.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ VENEZUELA: A Tour Down Entertainment’s Memory Lane

Images, sounds and settings at La Montaña revive memories - at least for the older crowds - of Venezuelan films, TV programmes, radio shows and even the circus, from several decades ago.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ARTS-ETHIOPIA: Singer Raman Blends the Influences of Many Continents

To someone unaccustomed to the sounds of Ethiopia, the country's music - with its high-pitched vocals - might sound strange.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ FILM-ARGENTINA: The Crisis According to Solanas

"Others make the decisions, we watch the children die," a paediatrician, with an air of resignation, tells the camera, summarising the theme of the new film by Fernando Solanas, "Memoria del saqueo" (A Social Genocide), which made its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival this week.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MEDIA: Homeless People Take to Airwaves Overnight

''I'm here to make it known that all people, especially street people and the homeless, have a right to the mass media, and do have a right to say whatever (is necessary) to get themselves into better conditions.''

POLITICS-U.S.: The Anti-Semitism Spectre

Some 30 years ago when the U.S. military was bogged down in Vietnam, a number of prominent Jewish intellectuals worried that the visibility of U.S. Jews as leaders in the anti-war movement would spark a resurgence of anti-Semitism once the conflict ended.

URUGUAY: Nazi Warship Emerges from the Mud

After resting for 65 years on the muddy bottom of the Rio de la Plata estuary, the wreck of the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee began to be recovered Monday.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Economy, Jobs are Key Issues in April Poll

While Sri Lanka's last parliamentary poll two years ago was fought over a desperate need to halt 18 years of bloodshed between government troops and Tamil rebels, fresh elections on Apr. 2 will be a tussle over the economy and jobs.

THAILAND: Violence Pushes Country Deeper into ‘Anti-terror’ Drive

By attending a just-finished meeting against terrorism, Thailand took another step in affirming that it has indeed gone from being a passive player to an active participant in the drive by governments across the region to combat this problem.

HEALTH: Female Genital Mutilation Continues, Says Report

The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is still widespread in many African countries despite intensified efforts to fight the procedure, said U.S. officials and women's rights activists Friday.

PARAGUAY: Curfew on Liquor Sales Has Mixed Results

''Since the controls began, our clientele has grown,'' says Patricia, a transvestite who offers sexual services on the streets of the Paraguayan capital, when asked about the effects of a new curfew for businesses selling liquor.