LATIN AMERICA: Young Writers, with Neither Fidel nor Bush

Intellectuals and artists in Latin America are no longer enamoured of Cuba as they were during the years following the 1959 revolution. But while today's young writers condemn the socialist island nation's recent crackdown on dissidents, they do not see the United States as a model of freedom of speech.

NEPAL: Time to Address Roots of Maoist Rebellion, Say Experts

Conventional wisdom has it that Nepal's Maoist rebellion emerged due to years of neglect of the rural countryside, widespread corruption and nepotism in government and political instability in the years after multi-party democracy was established in April 1990.

CULTURE: Global Effort on to Rebuild Shattered Iraqi Heritage

The shock at the cultural destruction in Baghdad is gathering as news of the scale of loss spreads, but for historians, scholars, cultural anthropologists and archaeologists around the world, the immediate need is to catalogue what has gone missing and what is presumed to have been destroyed.

INDONESIA: After Iraq, View of U.S. Double Standards Sharpens

''Terrifying'', more insecure, and certainly more unstable is how many Indonesians, from religious leaders here in the world's most populous Muslim country to political leaders and scholars, describe the world after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Mullahs Use Anti-U.S. Sentiment against Army

Despite being called the most allied ally of the United States, rampant anti-U.S. sentiment virtually defines Pakistan politics.

ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: A Black Week for Sea Turtles

Consumption of sea turtle meat and eggs reaches alarming levels during the Catholic Church calendar's Lenten season observed by the faithful in Mexico, who are adherents to questionable culinary traditions, say environmentalists.

/ARTS WEEKLY/VIETNAM: Gritty Reality Film Makes Industry Sit up

A film that has shaken audiences with its potent combination of sex, drugs and HIV/AIDS, set against a stark portrayal of the lives of young prostitutes, is just as effectively forcing Vietnam's film industry to take a long, hard look at itself.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-VENEZUELA: The Death of Arts Patronage

Private foundations promoting the arts are headed towards extinction in Venezuela, disappearing amidst the acute economic crisis and the lack of legislation that would provide incentives for their efforts.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ARCHAEOLOGY-MEXICO: Cement Defeats the Aztec Gods

The archaeological enigma of the Teotihuacán citadel, located near the Mexican capital, will guard its secrets under the cement and steel of urban growth, perhaps forever.

/ARTS WEEKLY/THEATRE: Sri Lanka Looks at War Through Art

Political and military conflict can often be a fertile ground for artistic creativity. Art can serve as an important outlet for those who find themselves caught in the middle of warring factions. It can also be a useful propaganda tool for rival factions.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: ‘Chilean Geisha’ Moves to Big Screen

Anita Alvarado, known as the ''Chilean geisha'', went from Cinderella to a controversial female version of King Midas, who turned to gold everything he touched. A former prostitute-turned-millionaire celebrity, she is now about to make the leap to the big screen.

/ARTS WEEKLY/GERMANY: Hot Secrets of Cold War Revealed

Espionage can hardly be considered an ideal form of contact between peoples. But it was once such a part of everyday life in divided Germany that citizens - east and west - seemed at times to take it almost for granted in the Cold War years.

CUBA: Time Devours Hope

It should come as no surprise that Latin American intellectuals, whose lives and work often go hand- in-hand with the profound desire for social change in the region, are shifting away from or openly challenging the Cuban Revolution as a result of some of the measures adopted in its name.

IRAQ: UN Resolution Sought to Protect Treasures

Leading archaeologists and cultural historians urged the United Nations Security Council Thursday to pass a resolution against trade in art and historical treasures stolen from Iraqi museums.

RELIGION-EAST ASIA: Faith Challenged in the Time of SARS

The Catholic Church across East Asia is placing greater faith in pragmatism rather than religious rituals this Holy Week, in order to stall the spread of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

INDIA: Again, the Sacred Bovine Strays into Politics

Secular-minded politicians in India are discovering that keeping cows off busy roads in this majority-Hindu country is as impossible a task as keeping the sacred bovines from straying into politics at critical moments.

IRAQ: Worldwide Move to Stop Sale of Loot

Worldwide moves have been launched to stop illegal sale of archaeological treasures looted in Iraq in recent days.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-CUBA: A Festival for Those Low on Cash

Cuba is preparing to receive a selection of films from outside the major international movie industry, the aim being to give the best of the bunch prizes that are much more useful than the traditional statues or plaques.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MIDEAST: The ‘Intifadah’ Comes to Stage

These days mark the start of one of Israel's s most important trials in years, the court martial of Jonathan Ben Artzi, nephew of former hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is charged along with nine others with refusing to do his compulsory military service.

/ARTS WEEKLY/THEATRE-CHINA: Broadway Musicals Draw in the Crowds

In Broadway and London's West End, musicals may have bid farewell to the crowds and the days of standing ovations, but in China, the musical is the hottest thing to happen in the culture circles here.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-U.S.: Drummer’s Legacy will Long Echo

"Thank you for bringing me safely home to the house of my father."