Bye-Bye Bargirl: Mexico’s legendary dance-for-peso cabarets buried by onslaught of strip clubs

Mexico City’s famed dance-for-peso halls fading

Amnesty International decries killings by police in Mozambique, calls for investigations

Mozambique: Watchdog decries killings by police

Comeback sensations Shen and Zhao romp in short program at Skate America

Chinese veterans win pairs short program

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Zhao Hongbo gave his wife, who happens to be his skating partner, a memorable 31st birthday present Friday night at Skate America.

‘Glee’ wheelchair episode hits bump with disabled actors fighting for TV jobs, visibility

‘Glee’ wheelchair episode hits bump with disabled

Tom Hanks, Patricia Clarkson look on as WWII Museum debuts theater, restaurant and ‘canteen’

WWII Museum adds theater, restaurant and “canteen”

Puerto Rico’s Calle 13 has 5 Latin Grammys and counting, both urban and alternative awards

Calle 13 wins 5 Latin Grammys in Las Vegas

New Zealand: From learning about Maori heritage to rolling down a mountain in a Zorb

New Zealand: From Maori culture to Zorbing

Dance contests, zoos, art galleries: Pockets of normalcy endure in Kabul despite the war

Hope and despair live side by side in Kabul

Garth’s still got it: Brooks’ Las Vegas shows sell out in less than 5 hours

Garth’s still got it: Brooks’ Vegas shows sell out

Supreme Court justices, Ginsburg and Scalia, to appear in Washington National Opera production

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. Supreme Court justices are taking theatrics out of the courtroom — and into to a more suitable venue.

Hollywood star Andy Garcia plays Georgian president in film about 2008 Russia-Georgia war

TBILISI, Georgia — Tens of thousands of cheering people filled the streets in front of Georgia’s parliament, but they came to make a movie, not stage one of the capital’s frequent mass demonstrations.

Medical examiner: UConn football player killed by single stab wound, death ruled a homicide

STORRS, Conn. — An autopsy shows a University of Connecticut football player was killed by a single stab wound to his abdomen, and the state medical examiner’s office has ruled his death a homicide.

US aid flap exposes delicate dance between Pakistan’s civilian government and its military

ISLAMABAD — Just last week, Pakistan’s foreign minister was playing down his army’s objections to a multibillion dollar U.S. aid bill. Days later, after a session with the army chief, he was back in Washington urging U.S. lawmakers to address the very concerns he had dismissed.

A revival of David Mamet’s bruising ‘Oleanna’ tackles political correctness

NEW YORK — Get ready to be infuriated again. Or, at the very least, intrigued.

30 years after first national gay march, activists to rally in D.C. again for equal rights

SAN FRANCISCO — A Democrat in the White House. Demands for sweeping civil rights protections. Religious opponents working to undo a string of state-based victories.

DeLay’s legal dance in money laundering case is in limbo as he shimmies into show’s 3rd round

AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Tom DeLay danced the cha-cha and the tango on TV, but he’s tiptoeing through a legal web as his criminal case crawls through the courts in Texas.

With tanks, troops and kitsch, China celebrates 60 years of communist rule and its new power

Communist China marks 60 years with tanks, kitsch

BEIJING — Jets, tanks and missile-toting trucks thundered through Beijing on Thursday in a show of military muscle to celebrate six decades of communist rule and China’s transformation from a war-battered regional player into global economic superpower.

Tango dance and music granted protected cultural status, put on UNESCO world heritage list

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tango was declared part of the world’s cultural heritage by the United Nations on Wednesday and granted the international seal of approval Argentina and Uruguay have long sought for the dramatic dance and its sensual moves.

Mrs. Obama leads G-20 spouses on tour of Pittsburgh performing arts school, Warhol museum

PITTSBURGH — First lady Michelle Obama, a supporter of arts education, says the arts are a form of diplomacy that challenges assumptions and helps people learn from and inspire each other.

Mrs. Obama leads G-20 spouses on tour of Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School

PITTSBURGH — Comparing the arts to a form of diplomacy, first lady Michelle Obama on Friday promoted arts education while treating her counterparts to tours of two of this city’s leading cultural institutions.

At the Movies: capsule reviews of ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’ and other films this week

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

Kolkata Fashion week 2, 2009: Roundup

Kolkata Fashion Week II was the prime location for all the head turners in Indian Fashion Industry today. Gaea Times has been at it right from the word ramp! Notable designers like

Motown vignettes: Bill Clinton, Ted Nugent, Patti LaBelle and others riff on the label’s 50th

For the 50th anniversary of the founding of Motown Records, The Associated Press over a period of months invited stars from the fields of music, politics and film to visit Studio A to talk about how the Detroit musical movement has affected them and the larger world.

Southern Decadence is New Orleans end-of-summer fling; ‘Gay Mardi Gras’ eyes fair weather

NEW ORLEANS — Jonathan Bray, one of the organizers of Southern Decadence, a celebration that has become known as the gay Mardi Gras, spent his time this week getting ready for the big party and watching weather reports.

Libya celebrates coup that brought Gadhafi to power, as Lockerbie controversy continues

TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya staged a lavish spectacle Tuesday, parading white-robed horsemen and gold-turbaned dancers as jets streaked overhead to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in the oil-rich nation.

To be or not to be a Communist? British security papers record Sam Wanamaker’s early career

LONDON — When American actor and director Sam Wanamaker moved to Britain in the 1950s after learning he was blacklisted after the McCarthy hearings in the U.S., he was paranoid about drawing the attention of the authorities.

At the Movies: capsule reviews of ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and other films this week

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

Rome mayor says Riccardo Muti agrees to lead city’s opera house

ROME — Riccardo Muti has agreed to lead Rome’s opera house as the Italian capital tries to raise its music profile in a country where Milan’s La Scala dominates the field, the city’s mayor said.

Hawaii keeps cork in bottle for a low-key 50th anniversary amid cultural concerns

HONOLULU — Hawaii turns 50 years old as the 50th state Friday, but there will be no grand parades, no dazzling fireworks, no lavish displays of native culture.

Yurok tribe works for return of condor to Northwest to help fix world gone wrong

ORICK, Calif. — The tribes of the lower Klamath River have since ancient times decorated themselves with condor feathers when they performed the dances designed to heal a world gone wrong.