UNESCO Recommends Placing Kyiv, Lviv On Endangered Heritage List

A pedestrian walks past the Bell Tower (C) of St Sophia's Cathedral (Back right) in central Kyiv on November 25, 2022. © Bulent KIlic, AFP
A pedestrian walks past the Bell Tower (C) of St Sophia's Cathedral (Back right) in central Kyiv on November 25, 2022. © Bulent KIlic, AFP
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UNESCO Recommends Placing Kyiv, Lviv On Endangered Heritage List

A pedestrian walks past the Bell Tower (C) of St Sophia's Cathedral (Back right) in central Kyiv on November 25, 2022. © Bulent KIlic, AFP
A pedestrian walks past the Bell Tower (C) of St Sophia's Cathedral (Back right) in central Kyiv on November 25, 2022. © Bulent KIlic, AFP

Kyiv's Saint Sophia Cathedral and the historical center of western Ukrainian city Lviv should join UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the Russian invasion, a senior official at the UN body said Tuesday.

"These sites are threatened with destruction. There have been attacks on the buffer zones around these sites and we don't know what will happen in the future," the head of the World Heritage programme Lazare Eloundou told AFP in Paris.

The World Heritage Committee, set to meet from September 10-25 in Riyadh, will "likely" make the decision "based on experts' opinion" that the sites are "demonstrably in danger", Eloundou added.

The center of Ukrainian port city Odesa is already on the list of endangered World Heritage sites, and several of its buildings were destroyed in late July in what UNESCO described at the time as a "brazen" attack.

Another historic building was bombed in Lviv in early July, with the UN body saying it was the first strike on an area protected by the World Heritage Convention and the first "violation" by Russia of the text since its invasion.

UNESCO has tallied damage to 270 Ukrainian cultural sites since Moscow's tanks rolled into Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Along with Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv's historic center is "one of the major monuments representing the architectural and the monumental art of the early 11th century", UNESCO says on its website.

They have been on the World Heritage list since 1990, while Lviv's medieval center was added in 1996.



Malaysian Rice Porridge a ‘Trademark’ Ramadan Tradition

This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)
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Malaysian Rice Porridge a ‘Trademark’ Ramadan Tradition

This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)

As dusk fell, hundreds of Muslims at a mosque in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur feast on bowls of fragrant rice porridge known locally as "bubur lambuk", part of a Ramadan tradition dating back decades.

Slow-cooked with various spices in giant pots and stirred with oversized ladles, bubur lambuk is traditionally prepared by volunteers in mosque courtyards before being distributed to the public for iftar, the fast-breaking meal in the largely Islamic nation.

But the broth, specially prepared at Masjid India, a well-known Kuala Lumpur mosque, serves a unique version of the porridge using a recipe originating from India.

"This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation, from the 60s to the 70," he told AFP.

"So it has become a trademark. If it (Nombu Kanji) wasn't there, it wouldn't be complete."

Mosque volunteers use 140 kilograms (308 pounds) of rice daily to cook the porridge, which is served in bowls to prayer attendees or packed into 1,000 large plastic packets to be distributed to the public.

Each packet is enough to feed a family of four.

"From the perspective of making things easier for the people in this area, sometimes the homeless who struggle to get food, low-income workers, and office workers who sometimes don't have time to go home and cook benefit from this," he said.

"So, the preparation of iftar meals by mosques helps make their daily lives more convenient (during Ramadan)."

Mohaiyadin Sahulhameed, a local resident originally from India, said the porridge served at the mosque reminded him of home.

"Back in our village, the way we cook is using large woks, with curry leaves, mustard seeds, cinnamon, and all sorts of ingredients mixed together. When combined with rice, it creates a rich aroma, quite similar to how it's done here," he said.

The mosque's cook, Sathakkathullah Hameed, said he saw preparing the large pots of porridge daily as a religious calling.

"During this fasting month, I want to help others. Allah grants rewards, mercy, and blessings, and, God willing, He will provide sustenance," he said.

"And when people eat the porridge I cook, they say 'Bismillah,' (in the name of God) and I respond with 'Alhamdulillah' (praise be to God)."