PAKISTAN: ‘Un-Islamic’ Practices Take Priority over Governance

Unusually quiet new year celebrations, a ban of playing music in public transport and raids on cinemas are signs that the religious political parties that run this city have been busy at work three months after they won in the October general elections.

ENVIRONMENT: Hackles Raised in Fur Debate

There are approximately 6.5 million Italian women who own at least one fur coat, and another 4.3 million reportedly dream of buying their first one. But defenders of animal rights in the world's fashion capital are attempting to remind them that behind every fur coat is a story of suffering and death.

/ARTS WEEKLY/THEATRE-KENYA: Poet Plays Her Own Drum

For Kenya's 'Queen of Poetry', Caroline Nderitu, the introduction of free primary education could not have come at a better time - just as she is launching her second collection of poems, 'Play Your Drum'.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC: Montañez, Cuba’s First 21st Century Legend

Virtually overnight, Polo Montañez became Cuba's most popular musician, and he has just as quickly been converted into the country's first great legendary figure of the 21st century since his death in late November of injuries caused by a car crash.

/ARTS WEEKLY/LITERATURE: China’s New Female Voices Move Readers

Two utterly different female voices of China have come to fascinate worldwide publishers in recent months, giving rise to yet another round of enchantment with the exoticism of China's multiple faces.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Suspension of Death by Stoning a Boost for Reformists

Iran's decision to suspend the punishment of death by stoning for adultery, made in response to the ''demands of modern age'' and mounting protests inside and outside the country, signal a victory for reformists.

POLITICS-BRITAIN: Govt Steps Back from Cricket in Zimbabwe

British ministers have expressed disapproval for England playing a match in Zimbabwe during the World Cup cricket next month, but say the cricket board can take its own decision.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-CHILE: Documentary to Stir Memories of Allende

Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán is beginning work on a documentary about the former president Salvador Allende (1970-1973) nearly 30 years after the leftist leader's death in during the coup d'état led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: Meet the Vietcong – Romantic, Poetic, Human

Vietcong soldiers are romantic, poetic, jovial. You may not see this in Hollywood movies on the Vietnam War, but a new film, 'Song of the Stork', gives you an alternative peek into a conflict that has been the subject of many movies in the last 25 years.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-CANADA: ‘Bog People’ Display Provokes Protest

Some art experts are protesting a travelling exhibition of items found in the peat bogs of northwestern Europe because it includes the mummified remains of people, some of them killed violently.

BANGLADESH: Women Bear Brunt of Misguided ‘Fatwa’ – Activists

It is not the first time that mullahs in a far-flung village in Bangladesh have warned women against going out to vote in upcoming elections, but critics say the latest such calls show how hard it is to counter the issuance of misguided 'fatwa' or religious edicts.

MEDIA-MIDDLE EAST: U.S. Uses Airwaves to Tune Minds

As anti-American sentiments rise in the Middle East, Washington is stepping up its propaganda battle through new radio stations that are airing restyled programmes designed to woo the hearts and minds of the region's youth.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-INDIA: Voluntary Movement Keeps Performing Arts Alive

It was a moving 'dhrupad' (classical singing) performance by the famous Dagar brothers back in the seventies that fired Kiran Seth, then an engineering student at Columbia University, into forming a movement to ensure that India's rich tradition in classical music did not die unsung.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-INDIA: Voluntary Movement Keeps Performing Arts Alive

It was a moving 'dhrupad' (classical singing) performance by the famous Dagar brothers back in the seventies that fired Kiran Seth, then an engineering student at Columbia University, into forming a movement to ensure that India's rich tradition in classical music did not die unsung.

CULTURE/POLITICS-VENEZUELA: Artists and Academics also Take Sides

Venezuela's political crisis has also affected the world of art and culture, where activity has virtually come to a halt this month during the 26-day general strike against the government of Hugo Chávez, while artists and academics are divided like the rest of society.

BRAZIL: Controversy Rages over Gilberto Gil’s Cabinet Appointment

The loudest controversy ahead of the Jan 1 inauguration of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil is raging in the area of culture, even though the biggest dangers the country is facing are on the economic front.

CULTURE-VIETNAM: Lavish Weddings Frowned upon, but Popular

''This month I need to attend at least five wedding parties, and this will surely eat up my meagre income,'' lamented Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, a 27-year-old secretary in this southern Vietnamese city.

CULTURE/POLITICS-VENEZUELA: Artists and Academics also Take Sides

Venezuela's political crisis has also affected the world of art and culture, where activity has virtually come to a halt this month during the 26-day general strike against the government of Hugo Chávez, while artists and academics are divided like the rest of society.

BRAZIL: Controversy Rages over Gilberto Gil’s Cabinet Appointment

The loudest controversy ahead of the Jan 1 inauguration of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil is raging in the area of culture, even though the biggest dangers the country is facing are on the economic front.

CULTURE-VIETNAM: Lavish Weddings Frowned upon, but Popular

"This month I need to attend at least five wedding parties, and this will surely eat up my meagre income," lamented Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, a 27-year-old secretary in this southern Vietnamese city.

CULTURE-COSTA RICA: New Status to Help Preserve ‘Treasure Island’

Tiny Coco Island in the Pacific Ocean, already a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will now enjoy even greater protection by the Costa Rican government as it was declared a national historical and cultural heritage site this month.