KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 (IPS) - Prime Minister-designate Najib Razak, who succeeds Abdullah Badawi in March, faces a by-election that will test whether voters, especially majority Malays, still support the 13-party coalition government which suffered massive setbacks in general elections last year.

SALVADOR, Brazil, Jan 8 (IPS) - Millions of Brazilians usher in the new year by wading into the sea, dressed in white, scattering flowers on the water as an offering to the Afro-Brazilian deity Iemanjá, in return for her blessings for the year to come. But few of them realise that this tradition is rooted in a religion fighting for survival in the face of prejudice, racism and intolerance.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 8 (IPS) - Half a century of films about indigenous peoples have been removed from forgotten corners of store rooms, recorded on compact discs and launched on the Mexican market, in order to bring to light views and realities that are seldom shown on commercial television and in movies.

HAVANA, Jan 7 (IPS) - The persistence of racism in Cuba is disturbing to some of the island's thinkers, who are calling for a debate on the problem in this country, where equal rights have not guaranteed equal opportunities for all social groups.

KANO, Nigeria, Jan 7 (IPS) - On any weekday evening in the heart of Kano’s Old City, the sounds of a koroso dance troupe can be heard from within the maroon walls of the Gidan Makama Museum.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 (IPS) - A raging debate over mandatory HIV screening has exposed fear and ignorance within government, despite years of awareness campaigns to eradicate prejudice against people living with the virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

BANGKOK, Dec 29 (IPS) - Until late August, Harry Niccolaides was just one of thousands of foreigners working in Thailand as English teachers. But now the 41-year-old Australian national is behind bars, charged with violating this kingdom’s draconian lese majeste laws.

MEXICO CITY, Dec 26 (IPS) - Social activists and members of "unusual couples," as the Catholic Church calls gay, lesbian and transsexual unions, are discussing possible actions to be taken on Jan. 13-18, 2009 when Mexico hosts the Sixth World Meeting of Families organised by the Vatican.

SANTIAGO, Dec 23 (IPS) - Chile’s socialist President Michelle Bachelet recently laid the foundation stone for the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, thus coming one step closer to carrying out one of the projects she has put a priority on, which has however given rise to criticism and reservations from both ends of the political spectrum.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 22 (IPS) - On the brink of a split in the global Anglican Communion that no one is eager to enlarge on, the Province of the Southern Cone of South America has become a temporary refuge for conservative bishops from the United States who refuse to countenance the liberal positions taken by the Church in their country.

MANILA, Dec 22 (IPS) - With the government insisting that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in conflict-ridden Mindanao disarm prior to resumption of peace talks -- and the rebels refusing to do so -- prospects for quick resettlement of some 300,000 internally displaced people (IDP) seem bleak.

VARANASI, Dec 22 (IPS) - Legend has it that India’s famed handloom silk industry began around 300 A.D. after a Chinese princess smuggled out the eggs of the silkworm moth and the seeds of the mulberry tree in her headdress.

COLOMBO, Dec 19 (IPS) - As the Sri Lankan army pushes deeper into Tamil rebel-held territory hundreds women can only pray that their sons and husbands, believed held captive by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), are spared.

HANOI, Dec 19 (IPS) - As Internet usage grows in communist Vietnam, fostering a vibrant community of bloggers, the government is looking at ways to regulate blogs, particularly those that tend to be political rather than personal.

EL ALTO, Bolivia, Dec 18 (IPS) - Quietly and inconspicuously, Aymara indigenous traders are combining pre-Columbian traditions and modern-day survival skills to find unique ways of creating wealth and sustenance beyond the confines of textbook economic theory.