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White House, Google Launch New Virtual Tour to Open World's Culture to Everyone

FILE -First lady Jill Biden waits to speak at the Library of Congress in Washington, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, during a reception with congressional members. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE -First lady Jill Biden waits to speak at the Library of Congress in Washington, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, during a reception with congressional members. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
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White House, Google Launch New Virtual Tour to Open World's Culture to Everyone

FILE -First lady Jill Biden waits to speak at the Library of Congress in Washington, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, during a reception with congressional members. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE -First lady Jill Biden waits to speak at the Library of Congress in Washington, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, during a reception with congressional members. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Can't come to Washington? Couldn't get a ticket to tour the White House? Don't worry.
The White House, Google Maps and Google Arts & Culture launched a new virtual tour of the famous mansion on Friday, which is also National Civics Day.
With a computer or smartphone, users will be able to see all of the rooms that they would have seen had they been able to go on a public tour of the building.
The updated virtual tour is part of a mission by first lady Jill Biden to make the White House accessible to as many people as possible. Biden, a longtime community college professor, hopes teachers will use it to educate students about the White House and its history, said Elizabeth Alexander, her spokesperson.
“Not everyone can make the trip to Washington, D.C., to tour the White House, so she's bringing the White House to them,” Alexander said.
The tour is the first Google virtual tour of the White House to include audio captions for people with disabilities. The captions are narrated by White House social secretary Carlos Elizondo and pop up on the screen to offer viewers historical information on each of the rooms.
It is also Google's first virtual tour of the White House to have Spanish translation.
The tour opens with a brief video of President Joe Biden and the first lady welcoming visitors, the same message that plays at the White House Visitors Center for those who visit in person.
Google Street View technology was used to capture the imagery, starting at the East Wing Entrance and moving through all rooms on the public tour route, including the library, the China Room, the Green, Blue and Red rooms, the East Room and the State Dining Room, The Associated Press reported.
The tour was created using Google Arts & Culture’s storytelling tool.
Ben Gomes, senior vice president of learning and sustainability at Google, said the mission of its arts and culture division is to open the world's culture to people everywhere.
The tour is available on the White House website, as well as on Google Maps and the Google Arts & Culture page.

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Culture

Rome to Charge Tourists to Get Close to the Famed Trevi Fountain

A visitor takes a photo of Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to visit the recessed fountain edge. (AP)
A visitor takes a photo of Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to visit the recessed fountain edge. (AP)
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Rome to Charge Tourists to Get Close to the Famed Trevi Fountain

A visitor takes a photo of Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to visit the recessed fountain edge. (AP)
A visitor takes a photo of Rome's Trevi Fountain, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, as the city municipality announced that, starting on Feb. 1, it will impose a 2 euro fee for tourists to visit the recessed fountain edge. (AP)

Tourists who want to get close to Rome's Trevi Fountain will soon have to pay a two-euro ($2.34) fee, the city mayor said on Friday, as authorities look to profit more handsomely from Italy's many attractions.

Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told reporters the new payment system would start on February 1, adding that the measure was expected to raise 6.5 million euros a year.

"Two euros isn't very much ... and it will lead to less chaotic tourist flows," Gualtieri said, stressing that citizens of Rome will continue to have free access to the fountain.

Tourists will ‌have to ‌pay if they want to get ‌onto ⁠the stone steps ‌surrounding the fountain's basin, while the small surrounding square offering a view of the imposing monument will remain open for everyone.

The Trevi Fountain, where tradition dictates that visitors toss a coin into the water to guarantee their return to Rome, has long been a major tourist attraction, even for visiting world leaders.

Completed in 1762, the monument is ⁠a late Baroque masterpiece depicting Oceanus and symbolizing the varying ‌moods of the world's seas and ‍rivers.

It has received nine million ‍visitors so far this year, Gualtieri said, suggesting that he ‍expects many people will opt to view the fountain from afar in future, rather than pay to get near the water.

Visitors on Friday said they would be willing to pay if the money was put to good use.

"If it means that money is used to keep it maintained, then yeah, that's fine," said British ⁠tourist Yvonne Salustri.

Gualtieri said five other relatively unknown sites in Rome that are currently free will start charging five euros for access from February, continuing the recent trend aimed at squeezing profits from Italy's cultural heritage.

In 2023, a five-euro entrance fee was introduced for Rome's ancient Pantheon. As a result, the square outside is often crammed with people waiting for their turn to pay and enter.

Venice has introduced a tourist entry-fee system during the peak travel season, while Verona this month began charging for access to the balcony in ‌the northern Italian city that is associated with Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet".

Culture

ICAIRE Launches Data, AI Glossary to Mark World Arabic Language Day

The interactive edition enables users to easily browse AI- and data-related terminology in Arabic, English, and French
The interactive edition enables users to easily browse AI- and data-related terminology in Arabic, English, and French
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ICAIRE Launches Data, AI Glossary to Mark World Arabic Language Day

The interactive edition enables users to easily browse AI- and data-related terminology in Arabic, English, and French
The interactive edition enables users to easily browse AI- and data-related terminology in Arabic, English, and French

The International Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Ethics (ICAIRE) announced the launch of an interactive edition of the Data and Artificial Intelligence Glossary, in cooperation with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL), and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO).

The launch coincides with World Arabic Language Day, observed annually on December 18.

The dictionary aims to preserve the Arabic language, enrich Arabic digital content with technical terminology and concepts, raise awareness of modern concepts, and facilitate access to information for researchers and practitioners.

It seeks to unify technical terminology in support of the development of the digital economy and the building of a sustainable knowledge-based future.

The interactive edition enables users to easily browse AI- and data-related terminology in Arabic, English, and French, and allows users to interact with the dictionary by adding terms in various dialects.

These enhance knowledge exchange and help ensure the unification and integration of efforts among scientific and technical institutions both regionally and internationally. The dictionary includes more than 1,200 technical terms.

Culture

Jeddah Book Fair Highlights World Arabic Language Day with Discussion on Literature’s Global Reach

The event was held under the cultural program overseen by the Saudi Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission
The event was held under the cultural program overseen by the Saudi Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission
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Jeddah Book Fair Highlights World Arabic Language Day with Discussion on Literature’s Global Reach

The event was held under the cultural program overseen by the Saudi Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission
The event was held under the cultural program overseen by the Saudi Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission

As part of its World Arabic Language Day celebration, the Jeddah Book Fair 2025 has organized a panel discussion on expanding Arabic literature’s global reach.

The event was held under the cultural program overseen by the Saudi Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission. Several female academics and other literature enthusiasts took part.

The panel discussed the concept of world literature and its relationship to comparative literature, stressing that opening Arabic texts to the world’s literature requires moving beyond local geographic boundaries and engaging in wider circles of reception and circulation.

The discussion also highlighted the key role of the press and media in conveying literary texts and reaching global readers, while praising Saudi efforts to internationalize Arabic literature through clear plans and strategies as a sustainable institutional approach.

The panel is part of the commission’s efforts to mark global occasions linked to Arabic literature and culture within an integrated cultural program offered by the Jeddah Book Fair, which continues to welcome visitors until December 20, with Saudi and Arab publishing houses showcasing the latest literary releases.