Standing in the shadows of the towering skyscrapers in the lower west side of modern day Manhattan, you would never know the heart of Arab America once beat from here. Just two short blocks south of Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial on Washington Street stands the tiny island of what remains of the historic ‘Little Syria’ neighborhood. “In my view it’s miraculous that these three buildings have been preserved,” said Todd Fine as he gazed up at them, squinting under the bright, hot summer sun.

Barcelona’s “Peace Tour” of Israel and the Palestinian territories reached its climax on Sunday evening with Lionel Messi and his teammates putting on a display of skills and training techniques in front of 12,000 children. As Messi juggled the ball, thousands of Israeli youngsters in the crowd at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv cheered his name. Dozens of young Israelis, including Israeli Jews and Arabs from the Peres Center for Peace, took part in the training session alongside Barcelona’s stars, including Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and new signing Neymar.

Pouring vodka down the drain is one thing. But boycotting the Sochi Olympics because of anti-gay legislation passed by Russian lawmakers? That just hurts the wrong people, says one gay Olympic athlete.

Colombia’s ministry of transport may decide to ban colorful buses called “chivas” in a new plan for modernizing transport. The folkloric chivas, which have long delighted tourists, are at risk of extinction due to new plans set out by the ministry of transport.The colorful buses, which are often heard before they are seen, are regarded by some as a “party on wheels” with passengers playing music and even occasionally passing around a bottle of rum.

This week on South2North Redi speaks to three film directors who have dealt with different forms of censorship and story-telling in Africa. Jahmil Qubeka’s film Of Good Report was banned on the opening night of the Durban International Film Festival - allegedly for showing child pornography.

On one side, an eagle reaches its claws out toward a big red apple. On the other side, a creature wearing multiple masks moves toward the apple. These are images in a mural meant to depict the struggles of people of different backgrounds to make it to New York City. The mural is coming to life on a wall in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that runs much of the length of a road that hardly counts as a road. Area street artists know the wall, stretching about 200 feet on Vandervoort Place, as a prized space to show off their talents.

Two varied art forms staged recently at Greenix Village, a heritage art centre in Fort Kochi, as part of the inauguration of a hospitality service, left the audience spellbound. Ottamthullal presented by National Hartmut Schmidt, a German, and Tanoura, an Egyptian dance, presented by the internationally renowned artiste Hussein Muhammed, was an exotic treat. It was a perfect melange of cross-cultural exchange.

Chinese tourists may be flocking to Paris, but they are ignoring their own little piece of the City of Lights on the mainland. A small development called Tianducheng on the outskirts of Hangzhou is known within the country as China’s “little Paris.” It is complete with tree-lined plazas, stalls for quaint coffee shops and storefronts (mostly empty), and even an Eiffel Tower at one-third of full size. Some architectural experts have lauded the imitation, but five years after its construction, few Chinese residents have taken a shine to it.