RELIGION: Unease Rises Over Anti-Islam Film

In announcing the release of his anti-Quran film, Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch parliament, has generated a swell of media attention in the Netherlands in the past months. Politicians have urged him not to go ahead with the release of the film 'Fitna' because they say its controversial content may lead to national and international unrest.

SOUTH ASIA: Indian Films Back On Pakistan’s Big Screens

Domestic worker Naziran Begum has only one passion in life - watching Indian films. After a hard day’s work, she settles down before her cheap 14-inch TV set to flick through a myriad of movie channels for a mere 150 rupees (3.75 US dollars) per month.

MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Edgy Customs Crack Down On Books

Media freedom has hit a new low in Sri Lanka.

LEBANON: Children Learn That Religion Excludes

From East to West, the Arab region is afflicted with mounting religious divides that are increasingly affecting the well-being of the region's children. Lebanon's constitution, which splits power equally between Muslims and Christians, is no exception to this growing chasm.

CAMBODIA: Locus Standi For Victims at Khmer Rouge Trials?

Since the start of this year, a team of local researchers has been travelling the Cambodian countryside trying to revive two-decade old petitions in the hope they will form crucial evidence at the international tribunal into the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge.

EDUCATION-PAKISTAN: Religious Schools – Boon or Bane?

Mehboob Illahi, 15, cannot wait to leave Pakistan and the Jamia Binoria, the largest madrassa (religious school) in Karachi, forever.

BOLIVIA: Coca Leaf Defended by Growers, Scientists… and Taxi Drivers

"They will have to kill us to make us stop planting coca," Bolivian coca grower Luis Mamani told IPS in response to a call from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to prohibit traditional uses of the plant like coca leaf chewing.

SERBIA: Russians Rediscovered as Old Friends

In the world of politics there is much talk now of the "traditional friendship between Russia and Serbia", meaning Russia's support to Serbia over the Kosovo crisis. But close ties go back much further - Serbia became home to thousands of Russians who fled communism 90 years ago.

THAILAND: Islamic Teachers Blamed For Violent Separatism

As Thailand’s new government searches for fresh options to quell an escalating insurgency in the country’s south, its stance towards the region’s pondoks (Islamic schools), will be keenly watched.

POLITICS-DR CONGO: In a Governmental Vacuum, Yearnings for a Lost Empire

On a broad hillside high above the meandering flow of the Mpozo River, a handful of policemen guard a ruin.

POLITICS: A Textbook Tale of Two Reports

Iran's post-revolutionary education system continues to teach children to discriminate against women and religious minorities, according to a report released Tuesday by Freedom House, a Washington-based nonprofit group that seeks to encourage democracy in the world.

CHINA: Under Pressure to Rethink Tibet Policy

As continuing Tibetan protests testify to the failure of China’s policy of accelerated economic development with harsh political controls in the Himalayan region, pressure on Beijing to begin dialogue with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, is growing.

MEXICO: New Rules Pave the Way for Transgenic Crops

After a three-year-long process, Mexico is about to clear the way for legal cultivation of transgenic crops, in spite of resistance from environmentalists and several small farmer associations.

FILM-US: Latino Festival Celebrates Its Quinceañera

Smack on the U.S.-Mexico border, the city of San Diego is also in the centre of one of the hottest debates in U.S. culture - immigration and the "browning" of California. According to the most recent census, Latinos, people who list their origins as being from Latin America or Mexico, now make up 35.9 percent of the population.

CULTURE-US: In Hot New Comics, Capes Are Out, Koran Is In

Some visitors who arrived recently at a New York airport caused quite a stir - and no wonder. They were using their superpowers to stop two planes from colliding.

DEATH PENALTY-PAKISTAN: Reprieve For Indian ‘Spy’ Raises Wider Hopes

"While I am against the death penalty, given Pakistan’s flawed judicial system, I won’t be able to request a reprieve for Sarabjit Singh as he was involved in terrorism and was proved guilty in court," Ansar Burney, Pakistan’s minister for human rights, told IPS in a telephone interview from Islamabad.

POLITICS-KENYA: An Intractable Land Dispute Grinds On

More than a week after the launch of an army operation to flush out the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) in Mount Elgon, a district along the border with Uganda, the fugitive chief of the outlawed militia has reportedly urged an end to the campaign, but remained defiant towards government.

Q&A: "The Issue of Humiliation Is Tricky"

Launched by the United Nations in 2005, the Alliance of Civilisations (AoC) works to improve understanding and strengthen cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions worldwide.

Q&A: &#39Olympics Used to Legitimise Chinese Rule in Tibet&#39

Pema Gyalpo was official representative of the Dalai Lama in Japan from 1975 to 1990. Founder of the Tibet Culture Centre International, he is known for his many books on Tibet, his columns in major newspapers, and as an international affairs expert.

CUBA: Transvestites and Crossdressers Key Workers Against AIDS

Activism against AIDS is uniting a group of transvestites and crossdressers in western Cuba in a project that is going beyond peer education and making inroads into the world of culture.

POLITICS-US: Future Hazy for Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative

With the days of his administration numbered, President George W. Bush is working to shore up what was intended to be the centrepiece of his domestic policy agenda, his faith-based initiative.