CHINA: Bowing in Grief, to Public Demand

The national mourning observed this week for victims of the Sichuan earthquake is the first public remembrance in modern China’s history ordered to commemorate ordinary people rather than political leaders.

INDIA: 'City of Joy' Turns Model for Street Food Hygiene

Ranjini Gupta who works with the urban development department located in the heart of this bustling city snacks occasionally at the street food stalls nearby unmindful of food safety concerns.

POLITICS-US: The War on (Euphemism)

From the people who brought you the "war on terror" and the "axis of evil" comes a new verbal tonic for combating that amorphous emotion.

ARGENTINA: Multimedia Youngsters not Isolated

Many parents in Argentina, like their counterparts in developed countries, worry that their teenage children spend too much time on their computers and cell-phones, with little real-life interaction with others, and devoting hardly any time to reading. But a new study shows that such beliefs are partly based on preconceived notions that do not stand up to scrutiny.

CUBA: Exhibitionists Common but Ignored

Many Cuban women say they have been victims of male exhibitionism, a form of sexual aggression that is common in public spaces on the island, according to a documentary produced by the state Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry (INCAIC) which has attracted the attention of social scientists.

SPORTS-GERMANY: Women Take the Football Field

"Football is not a sport for women," Peco Bauwens, then president of the German Football Association, said in 1955, adding "we will never take this issue seriously."

IRAQ: Praying, Not Playing

In the struggle now just to stay alive, everyone has forgotten that Iraq has lost, among other things, its tradition in sports. Some of its best sportsmen are now refugees.

PERU: Women – The Guardians of Potato Biodiversity

In South America’s Andes mountain region, indigenous women have traditionally been responsible for selecting, conserving and managing seed potatoes from the countless native varieties of the crop, thus ensuring diversity and continued production while contributing to food security among their people.

CHINA: Quake Helps Mend Image After Tibet Crackdown

A sense of solemnity has enveloped most activities in the Chinese capital these days. Even the avant-garde shows in town strike a note of bereavement for the 50,000 people estimated to have perished in the deadly earthquake this week.

CULTURE-CHILE: Free Book Selections for 400,000 Families

The Chilean government has begun distributing carefully selected packages of books to thousands of low-income families. But the programme aimed at promoting reading is not without its detractors, who question the extent of its real impact.

THEATRE-US: The Year the War Came Home

On this 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that for the United States was the apogee of opposition to the war in Vietnam, two new Off Broadway plays explore divergent ways that U.S. citizens protested - and ponder the best way to contest a senseless war.

RELIGION-US: Missionaries Look to Immigrant ‘Chinatowns’

As people rush in and out of butcher shops and bakeries on Brooklyn's Eighth Avenue, He Zhanglao tries to get their attention. He speaks in clear Mandarin, and listens carefully to their replies. But he's tall and blond, and sticks out in this part of Sunset Park, home to many Chinese immigrants.

SOUTH ASIA: Differing on Right to Information

The right to information (RTI), as espoused by the United Nations and international human rights organisations, does not have full endorsement from South Asian media practitioners and scholars.

POLITICS: 1968 and the Birth of Diversity

The year 1968 has become a symbol, but not necessarily one that is easy to sum up. High-profile violent events involving multitudes of people marked it as revolutionary, but it is hard to define the nature of that revolution. Endless enigmas and controversies still surround it.

PAKISTAN: Elected Gov&#39t Unable to Deal With Taliban Groups

Allah Hussain Mahsud has little hope in Pakistan's newly elected government's ability to negotiate with the ragtag Taliban militia and end militancy in the country's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Broadcasters Break Hanging Secrecy Taboos

The final seconds in the life of a Japanese death row inmate - the rasping muffled last words, the trapdoor springing open, the whip of a noose and a Buddhist gong signalling the end - has made radio history here, waking listeners up to what goes on in one of the most secretive execution systems in the world.

RIGHTS-JAMAICA: Spat Escalates Over Anti-Gay Lyrics

Under pressure from gay rights groups and a sponsorship boycott of live dancehall shows by local beer giant Red Stripe, some Jamaican dancehall stars are offering free performances to events at which no Red Stripe products are sold or consumed.

TURKEY: Ruling Party Challenges Closure

Facing closure by the Constitutional Court, Turkey's Islamic-rooted governing party has launched its formal defence, claiming that the case against the highly popular party and its leaders has no legal basis, and that it defends secularism despite charges that it plans to turn the country into an Islamic state.

AUSTRALIA: Women in Top Posts but Discrimination Prevails

While some have hailed the recent announcement that a woman is to be Australia’s next governor-general as a breakthrough for women - the first time that the English monarch’s representative in this country will not be male - advocacy groups argue that discrimination against women remains prevalent.

ANGOLA: Irish Rock Star Geldof Riles Tempers

Irish rocker and activist Bob Geldof’s statement that Angola is a country "run by criminals" unleashed a political storm that could have an impact on Portugal’s large investment interests in the largest of its former African colonies.

JAPAN/CHINA: Tibet Haunts Hu Jintao's 'Historic' Visit

Although the Japanese government is keen not to embarrass Chinese President Hu Jintao, while here on a ‘historic’ five-day state visit, the Tibet question does not seem to go away.