Aswan Hosts 11th Edition of International Festival of Art and Culture

The Aswan International Festival of Art and Culture. (Aswan Governorate)
The Aswan International Festival of Art and Culture. (Aswan Governorate)
TT

Aswan Hosts 11th Edition of International Festival of Art and Culture

The Aswan International Festival of Art and Culture. (Aswan Governorate)
The Aswan International Festival of Art and Culture. (Aswan Governorate)

The city of Aswan has launched the 11th edition of the Aswan International Festival of Art and Culture, in a morning event that hosted 15 folkloric Egyptian, Arab and international ensembles, on Sunday.

Co-organized by the ministry of culture and the Aswan governorate, the festival is aimed at promoting folkloric arts and emphasizing the cultural heritage of several countries, as well as highlighting the natural charm of Aswan, said the Aswan governorate in a statement on Facebook.

“The festival is special because it is held on the Nile,” Doha Assy, Egyptian author, parliament member and member of the parliament’s culture committee, said in the opening ceremony. “This incredible launch on the Nile underscores the significance of the river in the popular culture,” she told “Asharq Al-Awsat”.

“The festival combines two things: folklore and popular art. Each country brings its own culture and folklore in special art performances, shedding lights on the diversity of identities and the harmony that it creates,” she added.

The festival runs until February 22, coinciding with a special astronomical event, the alignment of the sun with the King Ramses II temple in Abu Simbel. The phenomenon occurs twice a year, on February 22, on which started the cultivation season in Ancient Egypt, and on October 22, the birthday of King Ramses II and the anniversary of his crowning.

The Egyptian MP said they watched “amazing shows from Mexico, Sudan and Palestine during the opening.

During the event, Aswan is set to embrace a number of artistic and cultural events, including the Aswan Sculpture Symposium, which hosts Egyptian and international artists.

Assy noted that “the festival of art and culture has all the potentials to become a major tourism event,” describing the foreign ensembles as “ambassadors of their countries to Egypt.”



Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Australia moved Saturday to ban mining at one of the world's largest high-grade uranium deposits, highlighting the site's "enduring connection" to Indigenous Australians.

The Jabiluka deposit in northern Australia is surrounded by the heritage-listed Kakadu national park, a tropical expanse of gorges and waterfalls featured in the first "Crocodile Dundee" film.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the national park would be extended to include the Jabiluka site -- which has never been mined -- honoring the decades-long desires of the Mirrar people.

"They were seeking a guarantee that there would never be uranium mining on their land," Albanese told a crowd of Labor Party supporters in Sydney.

"This means there will never be mining at Jabiluka," he added.

Archaeologists discovered a buried trove of stone axes and tools near the Jabiluka site in 2017, which they dated at tens of thousands of years old.

The find was "proof of the extraordinary and enduring connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have had with our land", Albanese said.

"The Mirrar people have loved and cared for their land for more than 60,000 years.

"That beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world," he added.

Discovered in the early 1970s, efforts to exploit the Jabiluka deposit have for decades been tied-up in legal wrangling between Indigenous custodians and mining companies.

It is one of the world's largest unexploited high-grade uranium deposits, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Rio Tinto-controlled company Energy Resources of Australia previously held mining leases at Jabiluka.

The conservation of Indigenous sites has come under intense scrutiny in Australia after mining company Rio Tinto blew up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020.

Australia's conservative opposition has vowed to build nuclear power plants across the country if it wins the next election, overturning a 26-year nuclear ban.