The Mexican government and capital city authorities are making the most of the national football team's participation in the FIFA World Cup beginning Friday in South Africa, by using the sport's power to distract public attention away from the economic crisis and the violent battle against drug trafficking.

BUENOS AIRES, May 12 (IPS) - The First International Women and Film Festival for Gender Equity drew enthusiastic audiences this month in the Argentine capital, where movies from nearly 40 countries were screened.

There are blogs made in Cuba, and many more Cubans living abroad who blog, both in favour of or against the Cuban government. Caught up in the sea of political passions, the hundreds of blogs about this socialist island nation reflect a growing variety of viewpoints and realities.

Although Israel successfully controlled news of its deadly commando raid on the Free Gaza (FG) flotilla during the first crucial 48 hours of media coverage, emerging evidence from witnesses and survivors is challenging the Israeli government's version of events.

Resentment here toward the foreign media had been simmering in the wake of the Thai government's crackdown against protesters in May, but it nearly came to a boil when Thai panelists aired their frustrations recently about what they called western bias, misunderstandings of the Thai political culture and reporting that tried to fit events into a bad-versus-evil contest.

SANTIAGO, May 7 (IPS) - If control of the media was not so heavily concentrated in Latin America, the situation of inequality in the region would be more actively challenged, says Martín Becerra, an Argentine media specialist who presented his latest research study here in the Chilean capital this week.

SANTIAGO, May 6 (IPS) - "I want to film the few untouched natural resources we have left and show the injustices that have been committed against our communities," Claura Anchio, who took part in an innovative free filmmaking course for young Mapuche Indians in Chile, told IPS.

Normally, in this non-descript sleepy Arab town in Galilee, TV sets are tuned to Al-Jazeera or Al-Arabiyya, the round-the-clock Arabic networks.

BANGKOK, May 6 (IPS) - Nearly eight weeks after anti-government demonstrators occupied the streets of this modern metropolis, virtually crippling two iconic areas, the rage it has generated in the media has exposed another fault line cutting across this kingdom – a digital divide.

BANGALORE, India, May 5 (IPS) - The central Indian remote jungles of Chhattisgarh and the urban technology- savvy node of Bangalore are now linked by a mobile phone-based information system, a first in the world, called CGnet Swara.

WASHINGTON, May 4 (IPS) - Despite spending more than half a billion dollars over the last quarter century, U.S. government broadcasts to Cuba have gained only a tiny audience and have had virtually no effect on the island's politics, according to a new report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The continuing debate on the purported audiotape implicating Pakistani television anchor Hamid Mir, popular and controversial in equal measure, has raised serious concerns about the media amid calls for an impartial investigation to uncover the truth behind the recording.

Last June, when thousands of Iranians – many organised through social networking websites such as Twitter – took to the streets to protest the outcome of the country's presidential election, a Chinese English-language newspaper, ‘Global Times', published an editorial critical of the Western media's coverage of the protests.

Incorporating young people into the task of fostering understanding between people of various cultural and religious backgrounds is one of the four priority areas of the Alliance of Civilisations.

BANGKOK, May 4 (IPS) - In her newspaper-strewn office on the ground floor of a quiet apartment complex, Chiranuch Premchaiporn surveys the options before her in case the government’s censors come calling again.

HONG KONG, May 3 (IPS/Asia Media Forum) - Newspapers threatened with lawsuits across borders. Journalists feeling lost as they seek redress in cases where the state is less than impartial in investigating the killings of journalists. Media caught in attempts to use religion to curtail room for public debate.

While there was no question that the visual depictions of the Prophet Mohammad on Facebook hit a raw nerve among devout Muslims all over the world, the debate here in Pakistan has been all about whether the government should be the one making choices for its Internet users.

TEGUCIGALPA, Apr 30 (IPS) - Honduran President Porfirio Lobo plans to seek help from police forces in Colombia and the United States to try to solve the murders of seven journalists committed in the space of less than two months, which will also be investigated by a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights next month.

After months of turmoil, silence – albeit an uneasy one – has finally fallen over the streets of Bangkok. But the shouting continues in cyberspace as Thais and even foreign residents bicker and debate over what this South-east Asian country has just experienced, as well as about the challenges it continues to face.

BANGKOK, Apr 29 (IPS/Asia Media Forum) - Despite issues of discrimination and violence hounding ethnic minorities, they continue to lack ‘voice’ in the mainstream press and suffer prejudices from journalists themselves.