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• CAIRO (AP) -- As soon as the beat started, the young veiled woman bobbed her head to the rhythm, raised her hands to get the crowd clapping and then unleashed a flood of rap lyrics that tackled some of the biggest social challenges women face in the Arab world.
• With the Middle East's hit TV show "Arabs Got Talent" as her stage, 18-year-old Myam Mahmoud rapped about sexual harassment, second-class treatment of women, and societal expectations of how a young religious woman should behave.
• The Egyptian teenager didn't win the program -- she crashed out in the semifinals -- but she did succeed in throwing the spotlight on something bigger than herself.
• "I wanted to tell girls in Egypt and everywhere else that they are not alone, we all have the same problems, but we cannot stay silent, we have to speak up," Mahmoud told The Associated Press.
• In Egypt, a country where politics have grabbed most of the headlines for the past three years, little space has been dedicated to addressing social problems. So Mahmoud, who is a first-year student of politics and economics at the October 6 University in a western Cairo suburb, decided to draw attention to women's rights through rap.
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• LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A&E landed in the middle of America's culture wars when "Duck Dynasty" patriarch Phil Robertson sounded off on gays and the Bible. The channel quickly found there was no safe ground.
• It was pilloried for allowing a man who equated gays with hell-bound sinners like adulterers to have a national TV stage. Then it was excoriated for giving him the hook.
• With A&E's decision Friday to bring Robertson back to its most-watched show, it remains to be seen if it can mend fences with both sides -- or at least with those viewers who hold opposing views.
• The channel's interest is in ratings and revenue, not refereeing social discord.

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