SOUTH AFRICA: Teaching Girls to Report on the World Cup

For the nearly 50 million people of South Africa, the 2010 World Cup represents an opportunity to show the world its progress through sports. But for a new nonprofit organisation, soccer's biggest stage also offers an opportunity to publicise young women who tend to go unheard.

CHINA: Public Space Shrinks for Discussing Fate of Heritage Area

The emails started arriving two weeks ago, first in a trickle but slowly in increasing numbers. They talked about a public forum to discuss plans for the controversial redevelopment of a historical area of the Chinese capital Beijing.

PAKISTAN: Militancy, Security Fears Defeat National Games

By now, Pakistan’s National Games should have been underway, with spectators cheering on the men and women competing in them. Instead, athletes and officials are ruing how militancy and violence have caused the games’ postponement.

SOUTH AFRICA: Playing Football for Hope

Sixteen-year-old Neo Malema and his brothers and sister live with his grandmother in the impoverished Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. Despite his poor background, Malema dreams of one day playing football for the country’s national squad, Bafana Bafana.

CHILE: A Newspaper Of and For ‘the Voiceless’

Diario Uno, a newspaper with an innovative business model put out by a group of journalists and academics, went on sale Sunday in Chile, promising to provide a voice for those who do not feel represented by the country's economic model nor by the mainstream media.

ARGENTINA: Football Violence Flares Up Ahead of World Cup

"Your president is willing to confront the wildest hordes of opponents, but not a football fan, ever," Argentine President Cristina Fernández once joked.

ARTS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women Dancers Can Fill Granaries

"Some said, how can women dancers tell us about climate change? Some said, how can dancers talk about planting trees? Others asked, how can women dancers build schools? But now the government says a drum has managed to fill our granaries, a dancer has managed to build schools."

ARGENTINA: Homemade Portraits of Life Behind Bars

"I wanted to take a self-portrait, and I thought about keeping a straight face, but it came out all weird, with these very long arms," says Liliana Cabrera about the photo she took with a camera she made herself, out of a condensed milk tin, at a workshop in an Argentine prison.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Indigenous Groups Still Say No to Gov’t ‘Help’

"We don’t want to have any part of this. We want to move out of it so we have a bit of freedom and be able to determine our own future," says Richard Downs, an elder of the Alyawarra people of central Australia.

HAITI: Artists Join UN to Rebuild Cultural Life

As international donors prepare to meet at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss ways to rebuild Haiti, after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, the country’s artistic community has been mobilising to make culture a key aspect of reconstruction.

BRAZIL: Bringing the Multicoloured Soul of the Favela to Life

The "favelas" or shanty towns of Brazil are a uniform red ochre, the colour of unplastered brick walls. But two visual artists from the Netherlands want to paint them every colour under the sun, a facelift intended to showcase the colourful soul of these poverty-stricken neighbourhoods.

CUBA: Replica Slave Ship Drops Anchor amidst Debate on Racism

A replica of the historic Cuban slave ship Amistad, which was taken over by the Africans aboard in 1839, is visiting Cuba, where academics and community leaders have begun to publicly debate the problem of racial discrimination that has not been stomped out in Cuban society.

BAHRAIN: Debate on Proposed Alcohol Ban Far From Over

Legislators say it would encourage more Islamic behaviour and cure social ills, but critics say a complete ban by Bahrain on selling alcohol would mean big losses in tax revenues and lead to a black market in liquor.

CHILE: Restoring National Heritage in Wake of Quake

The major earthquake that recently shook Chile - the fifth most powerful in the world since 1900 - and the subsequent tsunami not only destroyed thousands of homes, but wreaked havoc on historical monuments, museums, theatres, churches, parks and heritage zones.

MEDIA-MALAYSIA: Censorship Taking A Religious Turn, Critics Say

For many Malaysian journalists these days, it has become very tricky to draw a clear line between commenting critically on an issue and offending a particular community and thus threatening social order.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Woman Politician Wins Even by Losing

Earnestness is still on her sunburnt face as she faces throngs of people just days after her defeat. Indeed, even as threats continue to come her way, Mai Jori has not given up on her dreams to help empower the women from her region and vows to contest the forthcoming local bodies’ elections.

RIGHTS-MALAWI: Full Court Trial for Gay Couple

Two men who married each other in a traditional engagement ceremony will have to undergo trial and face years of imprisonment if found guilty of having a homosexual relationship.

EDUCATION-MALAWI: Local Language Dictionary Released

The thickest book on secondary school teacher Hellen Ndalama’s desk is her indigenous language dictionary. It is also her most-used book.

WORLD CUP: But South Africa Will Win

Less than a hundred days to go, and the world looks on, often more with scepticism than anticipation.

PAKISTAN: In More Ways Than One, Bollywood Dancing Creates Waves

Saleha Firdaus, a mother of two teenage children, has been moving to the Bollywood beat at a dance studio for over a year now and "loves every moment" of this personal time. For her part, 22-year-old Maheen Jafri was a "bedroom dancer" until she discovered a Bollywood and hip-hop dance studio and "shed my inhibitions totally."

RIGHTS-BAHRAIN: Weak Laws Let Rapists Off the Hook

Cunning rapists in Bahrain can avoid victimising virgins so they could escape the maximum penalty provided by law, and those who force themselves on young girls can evade punishment by promising to marry their victims.