/CORRECTED REPEAT/SRI LANKA: Attacks on Churches Reflect Religious Tensions

The attacks on two churches in Buddhist-dominated Sri Lanka highlights the religious tensions that have been growing over the years between Buddhists and Christians in this South Asian country.

JAPAN: Children Born through Artificial Insemination Speak up

When Haru, a 22-year-old graduate student, was told by her mother that she was the product of artificial insemination, her world fell apart.

PAKISTAN: Assassination Bids Linked to Musharraf’s ‘Betrayal’

The second unsuccessful attempt on the life of Pakistan's embattled President Gen Pervez Musharraf this week, only 11 days after the earlier attempt, underscores the point that someone out there is indeed determined to kill him.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Sex Workers Seek Recognition

Sex workers in Kenya have demanded recognition of their profession to enable them to operate in a free climate - devoid of fear.

/ARTS WEEKLY/JAMAICA: Columbus ‘Discovery’ Sinks Further in Xmas Pantomime

History books record that Christopher Columbus discovered this country in 1494. But to many Jamaicans, the explorer was nothing more than a mercenary who pillaged the land and directed the termination of the indigenous Arawak tribe.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-MALAWI: A Potter’s Paradise

Ngumbe Trading Centre, located about three kilometres from the main airport, could pass for any ordinary market place in Malawi.

/ARTS WEEKLY/INDIA: As Tourism Comes, Homes Turn into Guesthouses

"At first they thought I was crazy to try to get tourists to come to Pedong," explains Sebastian Pradhan,a guide. "But now that they are coming, now everyone wants to turn their homes into guesthouses."

/ARTS WEEKLY/ THEATRE-CHILE: Paedophilia and the Church Take the Stage

Chilean playwright Jorge Díaz lashes out against the Roman Catholic Church's corporative defence and headline-grabbing cases of paedophilia among its ranks with his play "Oficio de tinieblas" (Shadowy Vocation), to premiere here in January.

PAKISTAN: Debate Reopened on Whether Organ Donations are Islamic

Pale, in fact more on the sallow side, six-month old Sohaib opens his eyes, stretches a little and looks at all those gathered around his cot at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation's (SIUT) intensive care unit in this southern Pakistani city. Their faces are hidden by green theatre masks, but Sohaib, who hails from Rawlakot in Azad Kashmir or Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, gives a faint smile as his eyes fall on his mother.

CARIBBEAN: Region to Recall Haiti’s Legacy of Freedom

Caribbean nations are being urged to look beyond Haiti's current problems and, on the eve of its 200th anniversary, to give the nation its due for helping to liberate the region's slaves.

RIGHTS-KENYA: Child Abuse Sparks Debate on Castration

Recent demands by women legislators to have rapists castrated have sparked a debate that has left rights groups in Kenya divided.

RIGHTS: U.S. Raps Nations Over Religious Freedom

The United States criticised several countries on Thursday, both allies and adversaries, for failing to protect religious freedom, a charge it has faced itself since launching its "war on terror".

RIGHTS: Child-Headed Households Growing in Swaziland

How does it feel to be an orphan in a country where by tradition there are no orphans?

/ARTS WEEKLY/ARGENTINA: Doctors and Patients Become TV Heroes

Without a doubt, it was the first episode of Argentina's E-24 reality show, set in a Buenos Aires public hospital, that had the greatest impact, with its close-up images of the birth of María Carla Schmieloz's baby.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-U.S.: ‘Seventh Generation’ of Native Americans Rides Again

Chief Sitting Bull, probably the most famous Native American leader, did not die in battle. He was shot dead by U.S. government authorities in December 1890 while resisting arrest. The crime: promoting a type of religion called the Ghost Dance.

CULTURE: Global Systems Selling Out Indigenous Knowledge – Forum

In one part of the northern Philippines, the naming of a child begins with a history "lesson".

RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Abortion Remains a Controversial Issue

After banning abortion in the country, but then leaving an option for its eventual legalisation, the new draft constitution typifies the ambiguous feeling most Swazis have toward the procedure.

/ARTS WEEKLY/AFRICA: Kora Awards Attract Leading Musicians

From its humble beginnings when it attracted a mere 135 entries, this year 308 artists entered the 8th Annual Kora All-Africa Music Awards.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: Singapore Aims to be Asia’s Publishing Hub

Imagine caustic writer and Nobel laureate V S Naipaul flying to this city state to sign copies of his latest book that has just been published here.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ CULTURE-VENEZUELA: Statue of Iconic Goddess Needs New Home

María Lionza, goddess of the second leading religion in Venezuela, has emerged from the depths of the forests and waters that she has protected since the era of the Spanish Conquest, according to her followers, to end up smack in the middle of a bitter cultural debate.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: Every Day Must Be World AIDS Day

A wrenching new documentary about HIV/AIDS seeks to firmly connect the numbing statistics with the faces and names of people suffering from the disease, and the men and women fighting to get them treatment with few or no resources.