Havana  - When legendary Cuban musician Chucho Valdes enters the old piano repair shop in the heart of Havana, Irishmen Ciaran Ryan and Alex Jeffers cannot hide their broad smiles.

What started as an Irish volunteer project to help Cuba repair pianos, and train specialists, has taken on a dimension that would have been hard to imagine in 2006. At that time, the music-lovers had started looking for resources in Ireland and for ways of getting them to Havana.

Thanks to the initiative known as Una Corda (One String), countless Irish tourists have hauled parts for pianos in their luggage as well as tools to repair instruments in official Cuban institutions and those in private property.

Stuttgart, Germany  - Women are showing more interest in having their genital area surgically enhanced, according to the authors of an article in a medical journal on midwifery and gynaecology published in Stuttgart, southern Germany.

Cosmetic surgery to alter the labia is the third most sought-after operation after facial and breast augmentation surgeries, the authors, psychologist Ada Borkenhagen and gynaecologist Heribert Kentenich, said. The new ideal is taken from current photographs in erotic and pornographic magazines.

Washington  - Courtney Austermehle always spent her money on what she calls "girlie stuff."

The 23-year-old went to high-end hair salons, paid expert manicurists to do her nails and bought expensive clothes. But the Philadelphia woman has not been on a shopping spree for a long time.

"I don't shop anymore," she said soberly. Instead she has started cooking at home more often and takes the subway instead of her car.

Kassel, Germany  - Even though the wintry weather in central Europe is right for hikes in the snow, hikers should not exert themselves, warned Hans-Ulrich Rauchfuss, president of the Kassel-based German Hiking Association.

Exercise in cold weather was generally good for the body, Rauchfuss added. But people who exerted themselves or perspired heavily and then cooled down could easily put excessive demands on their body's defences. So hikers should pace themselves.

Hamburg  - Courageous, fashion-conscious women will reach for overalls made from denim or jersey this summer.

But that's just a fashion phenomenon for certain occasions. At the other end of the style scale, designers have rediscovered office clothing, reshaping it with unconventional tailoring and using new fabrics to give suits and trousers suits a new, detailed look.

"The classic trouser suit offers new details," said the Munich-based style consultant Georg Stiels after viewing collections for summer 2009. Shorter trouser legs, shorter sleeves and new blazer styles are just some of the ideas in the new creations. The so-called new suit had a place alongside the dress and blouse at the core of the new women's fashion collections.

Buenos Aires  - Tango is often associated with macho culture in Buenos Aires, but times are clearly changing, and as society undergoes modifications so does the melancholy and sensual dance.