/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: Top Award for an Unusual Mix

-'Khamosh Pani' (Silent Waters) became the first Pakistani film to bag the Golden Leopard award in Switzerland this year. But that was not the only first.

SOCIETY: Same-Sex Marriage Divides Canadians

Canada's parliament will resume next Monday under the shadow of an issue that was not even on the radar screen in the national election of 2000: same-sex marriage.

CULTURE-NIGERIA: ‘Indecent’ Dressing Banned on the Campus

Sexual harassment of female students in Nigeria has often been blamed on randy lecturers, but the university authorities are fighting back.

POLITICS: Fear of U.S. Warms Ties between Ex-Foes in Muslim World

An unintended and probably unexpected consequence of the U.S. 'war on terror', particularly the invasion of Iraq, has been its role in forcing countries in the Muslim world to reassess their relationships and review their foreign policy priorities.

RIGHTS-GHANA: The Deafening Silence Around Being Tested Positive

Diagnosed with HIV three years ago, Kabuki is determined not to let her sexual partner know.

RELIGION-LATAM: Catholic Bishops Speak Out Against Free Trade Area

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) looks less like a true regional integration project than a ''neo-colonialist'' plan that will make poor communities even poorer and will not respect national sovereignty, said the Catholic bishops of the members of South America's largest trade bloc.

COMMUNICATION-PORTUGAL: Politicians Take Over the Journalist Seat

Journalists in Portugal are being displaced from news analysis and commentary by politicians, who media executives have taken by the hand in a bid to boost ratings. But media critics complain of sensationalism and conflict of interests.

TECHNOLOGY: Internet Heats Up Debate on Arctic Traditions

As Internet use takes hold in the Canadian Arctic, the new media is being seen both as a saviour and a threat.

MEDIA-PAKISTAN: Viewers Rue Continued Ban on Indian Channels

''I'm really missing these plays,'' homemaker Afsan says of the Indian soaps that used to be daily evening fare for many Pakistanis here, glued to the television.

EUROPE: Football – The Game Is Not Just Sport

Football, considered the world's most popular sport, is increasingly swayed by the demands of the transnational business it has become, pushed and pulled by big capital - and by satellite television.

/ARTS WEEKLY/LITERATURE-CHILE: A Poet’s Anguished Return

Raúl Zurita, who many consider Chile's greatest contemporary poet, has broken a three-year silence with the publication of "INRI", a lyrical testimony to the sorrows that are resurfacing in this country as the 30th anniversary of the Sep. 11, 1973 military coup d'état draws near.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-TIBET: Exiles Take to the Silver Screen

It was like an old-fashioned circus sideshow - a hand-painted banner, and in front, a barker on a battery-powered mike trying to sell tickets to the show.

/ARTS WEEKLY/JAMAICA: Play Laughs at Desperate Attempts to Snag U.S. Visa

With their country's economy showing little sign of growth in the past decade, many Jamaicans are taking desperate measures to migrate to the United States, a situation that playwright Patrick Brown pokes fun at in his latest production, 'Oliver...Large Abroad'.

/ARTS WEEKLY/SOCIETY-SERBIA: A Soapy Link With Latin America

Serbia has little in common with any Latin American country, but there is something millions of Serbs share with millions of people in Latin America - the soap operas.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-BRAZIL: The Camera Focuses on a Nation’s Sores

"Amarelo Manga" (Yellow Mango), the first feature-length film by Claudio Assis, feeds a current of Brazilian film that is more concerned with showing the open wounds of the national reality than with telling a story.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Domestic Violence linked to HIV/AIDS

In a society where women are still valued as property, and do not have equal decision-making powers and status within the family, the existence of rape and brutal attacks on them by their spouses has become a stimulant for HIV/AIDS infections.

CULTURE-TANZANIA: Media Still Treats Women as Sex Workers, Mothers, Wives

The lack of women's voices and limited portrayal of their roles in the media may soon change if a new plan to correct those anomalies is implemented in Tanzania.

POLITICS-INDIA: All Rows Lead to Demolished Mosque

A little more than 10 years after Hindu zealots brought the tri-domed Babri Masjid in northern Uttar Pradesh state crashing down, the ghost of the mediaeval mosque continues to make or break governments in India.

ECONOMY-SWAZILAND: Women Own Majority of Small Businesses

Since the publication last week of a government report that showed a majority of small businesses are owned by Swazi women, women's empowerment groups are trying to reconcile this surprising news with the reality that Swazi women are legally minors with limited rights in this small country.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Aboriginal Group Besieged by Hostile Gov’t

A major government review is set to propose a radical restructuring of the elected peak Aboriginal body that supporters fear will prevent the organisation from being able to effectively advocate policies opposed by the government.

MALAYSIA: Displays of Patriotism Abound, But Critics Unimpressed

Businessman K Thanabalan is elated with his latest feat - the painstaking creation of a giant Malaysian flag measuring 1.2 metres by six metres out of 'putu mayam', or traditional Indian string hoppers.