SRI LANKA: Twenty Years Later, Wounds of Anti-Tamil Riots Fester

Twenty years after Sri Lanka's worst pogrom of minority Tamils, an event that shamed a nation while the world looked in horror, bitterness and pain among Tamils toward the majority Sinhalese has eased, but remains hard to forget.

CULTURE-INDIA: Taj Mahal Tries to Fend off Real Estate Developers

After surviving three and half centuries of wars, vandalism and the vagaries of nature, India's most famous monument, the Taj Mahal, is beset by a new threat - real estate developers.

CULTURE: Ex-Soviet States Turn Away From Russian

The new republics formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union are following up their fight against Russian dominance with new resistance to the Russian language.

ARTS WEEKLY/BRITAIN: Trauma of Black Youth Comes to Stage

Black British playwright Roy Williams has often been compared with the legendary African-U.S. storyteller August Wilson.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-CUBA: The Stark Beauty of ‘Havana Suite’

Day-to-day life in the Cuban capital is a doctor who changes into a clown costume when his hospital shift is over, a railwayman who plays saxophone at a church, a mother who every night readies her transvestite son's costume, and an old woman whose only income comes from selling peanuts.

THAILAND: Despite Crackdown, ‘King of Commercial Sex’ Thrives

''The reason I like 'Emmanuelle' is because all around service is the best,'' a man writing as 'ABC' says about a place here in the Thai capital that fronts as a 'massage parlour' but caters to the sexual fantasies of men.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: Bad Vibes for Best Reggae Grammy

For the past two years, reggae music has had a sustained presence on the Billboard charts, dispelling talk that it is too ethnic to catch on in a big way in the United States. But even as it enjoys its most fruitful period, there is talk that the Best Reggae Album category may be dropped from the Grammy Awards after two decades.

/ARTS WEEKLY/UAE: Make-up Peeks Out through the Veil

Along the tree-lined boulevards or the corridors of the brightly lit malls here in Dubai, women walk about with their heavily and elaborately made-up eyes peeping out at you from under long black veils.

RELIGION-AUSTRALIA: Church Split over Ordination of Homosexuals

The national leadership of the Uniting Church of Australia (UCA) is seeking to head off a split within its ranks following an overwhelming vote at last week's national assembly to allow the ordination of homosexual clergy.

CULTURE-PANAMA: Protecting History Under Water

The remnants of the past that lie in the depths of Panamanian waters are now covered by a law that protects the Central American nation's historic heritage, a legal tool that recognises the value of underwater archaeology - and blocks the way of treasure hunters.

CULTURE-PANAMA: Protecting History Under Water

The remnants of the past that lie in the depths of Panamanian waters are now covered by a law that protects the Central American nation's historic heritage, a legal tool that recognises the value of underwater archaeology - and blocks the way of treasure hunters.

MUSIC: Americas Lament Death of Celia Cruz, But Native Cuba Quiet

From north to south, across the Americas, there are lamentations and tributes in reaction to the death of Celia Cruz, "Queen of Salsa", but in Cuba, her native country and the birthplace of this Afro-Caribbean musical style, official comments were terse due to the decades of political enmity between the artist and the government.

AUSTRALIA: Aboriginals, Activists Balk at Plan for Nuke Waste Dump

Two hundred people from Aboriginal groups and anti-nuclear activists have vowed at a just-concluded meeting here to prevent plans by the government to establish a nuclear waste dumps in the South Australian desert.

CULTURE-GHANA: Churches can help perpetuate emotional violence against Women

-Exhilda Natogma (Not real name) is a nurse at a mission hospital of one of the popular Pentecostal churches in Madina a suburb of Accra, the capital city of Ghana.

SPORTS: Soccer Fever Grips Africa

Fourteen soccer teams will join host Tunisia and reigning champion Cameroon for the finals of the 24th African Cup of Nations in Tunisia from Jan. 24 to Feb.14, 2004.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-ZIMBABWE: A Book Loving Nation

This year's international book fair in Zimbabwe has attracted a lot of foreign exhibitors, despite the political and economic crises dogging the southern African country.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-BRAZIL: Precocious Rural Guitarist Finds Fame Late in Life

Musician Helena Meirelles is one of those incredible cases that can only be explained in Brazil by the enormous size of the country, its prejudices, social disorganisation and the lack of opportunities for the common folk.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Seminal Reggae Album Back in the Spotlight

It was as dynamic as the movie it accompanied and helped push a rebellious new Jamaican beat called reggae into the international spotlight. Thirty years after it was released in the United States, "The Harder They Come" soundtrack will be reissued in that country with three new songs.

CULTURE-TANZANIA: Activists Challenge Gender Inequality As Women Marry Women

-Tanzania still has a long way to go in achieving gender equality and cultures in some communities continue to force women to "marry" another woman in order to bear a son for inheritance purposes.

CULTURE-CUBA: Compay Segundo Takes Flight from This World

”When one dies, one turns into a butterfly” was a phrase oft spoken by Compay Segundo, the veteran Cuban musician who rose to international fame six years ago as one of the stars of the album ”Buena Vista Social Club”. He died Monday at his home in Cuba, aged 95.

MEXICO: Fans Mourn the Demise of Old VW Beetle

The clubs of Mexican hobbyists who love the ever-popular Volkswagen Beetle, known in the Spanish-speaking world variously as "escarabajo", "vocho" or "fusca", are in mourning because production of this diminutive car comes to an end this month in Mexico, the last country in the world to manufacture the VW "Bug".