THEATRE-ARGENTINA: New Trend to Cast Slumdwellers as Slumdwellers

A growing trend among film and television producers in Argentina to seek a more ''authentic'' look for those cast in the roles of slumdwellers and homeless people has given a strong boost to a community theatre workshop in a Buenos Aires shantytown.

COMMUNICATION-NIGERIA: Connecting Villages with the Rest of the World

''I am so happy that I can now call my relations in Lagos and Abuja (the capital of Nigeria) from Ogori.

PHILIPPINES: President in a Political Minefield -Population Policy

When Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said this week that her government would promote "birth spacing" and use "modern technology" in its family planning strategy, she stepped right into a political minefield in this Roman Catholic country.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Alternative Media Sweated to Get the News Out

The global media companies often boast that they are able to bring you the news wherever it occurs quick and fast. But during the World Social Forum (WSF) it was the small under-funded alternative media outlets, which was doing exactly that.

RELIGION-INDIA: Attack on Evangelist Bad Omen for Secularism

The tourism brochures bill India's southern Kerala as 'God's Own Country.' So when a Christian evangelist was brutalised in this state, earlier this month, it left people wondering if violent Hindu fundamentalism sweeping across India has finally hit these shores.

RELIGION-THAILAND: Monks Dabble in Protests over Reform Bill

It is not often that Thai Buddhist monks come out in public protests, but that is what they turn to when it comes to measures they believe upset the religious culture.

/ARTS WEEKLY/THEATRE: Wilson’s King Hedley II

August Wilson is America's most commercially successful playwright. He is also African-American and it is his cultural, rather than national, heritage that informs his work.

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-KENYA: Joining a Budding Cultural Renaissance

Young writers look set to become the latest artists to join Kenya's budding cultural renaissance with the launch of 'Kwa ni?', a new magazine masterminded by the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing winner, Binyavanga Wainaina.

/ARTS WEEKLY/ASIA: MTV Awards Confirm Region’s Place in Music Map

Dozens of international music stars made the trip to Singapore for last week's MTV Asia Awards, a clear sign that amid declining sales and piracy problems, the music industry cannot afford to ignore Asia and its potentially huge market.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-BRAZIL: Between Piaget and Pinochet in Documentary Boom

A football coach fired for taking off his clothes on the field, a young, unabashed prostitute and an elderly woman who decides against suicide are some of the real-life characters in "Edificio Master" (The Master Building), a documentary that marks the height of a boom in this film genre.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-JAMAICA: Reggae Pioneers Fight ‘Oldies’ Label

For most of the 1960s, Toots and The Maytals were one of the hottest acts on Jamaica's growing music scene, churning out a succession of hit songs that are regarded among reggae's best.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-ARGENTINA: Preserving Andean Folk Traditions

An original new course of studies has been created in northwestern Argentina to preserve traditional Andean music by training ''socio-musical promoters'' who will go out into local communities with the aim of strengthening native cultural identities.

PHILIPPINES: ‘Romanticised’ Idea of Family Unrealistic – Critics

The just-ended Fourth World Meeting of Families, organised by the Vatican here, highlighted deep differences between the Catholic Church's notions of society and what Filipino activists say are today's realities - starting with the shape of today's families.

RELIGION-INDONESIA: Vocal ‘Ulamas’ Draw Mixed Feelings

The involvement of students and activists in recent protests against Indonesia's price hikes was expected, but to many, the involvement of Muslim religious leaders was not - and they have mixed feelings about it.

DEVELOPMENT-THAILAND: Rice Culture Withering Away, Warn Experts

Rice is not just a cereal but the essence of life that has shaped the culture of the Thai people over centuries, but this value is fast withering away under commercialism and modernisation, experts here say.

CULTURE-TURKEY: Uncertain Spring Dawns for Kurdish Culture

Every night at the Rengin cafe a line of young men and women link hands and sway to the solemn strains of traditional Kurdish music that was completely banned until a couple of years ago.

MIDDLE EAST: Religion, Politics Make Fizz in Mecca-Cola

It is being gulped down not just for its taste, but because it is a brew that mixes religion and politics. Across Europe and the Middle East, new soft drinks like Zam Zam-Cola, Mecca-Cola and Star-Cola are giving global brands like Coke and Pepsi the jitters.

MALAYSIA: Mix of Race, Press Freedom Issues Ignites Controversy

Two among the most sensitive issues in Malaysia - race issues and press freedom - have combined to ignite Monday's police raid on an independent Internet newspaper and turn it into a full-blown political controversy.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: ‘Cyborg’ Professor Predicts Future without Identity

Steve Mann has been a part of technology - and technology has been a part of him - for so long that he cannot remember when he did not have some kind of electric device attached to his body.

/ARTS WEEKLY/JAPAN: Museums Battle Recession, Pop Culture

It is not just bankers and chief executive officers who are worried by Japan's long recession. Artists, curators, art critics and academics are alarmed too - the government's desperate efforts to boost the economy have pushed culture and the arts way down the agenda, they say, and it is hurting.

MIDEAST: U.S. May be Unpopular, but Students Still Head for It

Ayesha Al Mansouri, a final-year student at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, knows where she wants to go for post-graduate studies - either Amherst College in Boston, or DePaul University, Illinois.