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Cultural Events Celebrate Saudi Arabia’s Founding Day

The events recall the story of the Kingdom's founding by Imam Mohammed bin Saud in 1727. (Saudi Ministry of Culture)
The events recall the story of the Kingdom's founding by Imam Mohammed bin Saud in 1727. (Saudi Ministry of Culture)
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Cultural Events Celebrate Saudi Arabia’s Founding Day

The events recall the story of the Kingdom's founding by Imam Mohammed bin Saud in 1727. (Saudi Ministry of Culture)
The events recall the story of the Kingdom's founding by Imam Mohammed bin Saud in 1727. (Saudi Ministry of Culture)

The Saudi Ministry of Culture inaugurated on Thursday several events to commemorate the Kingdom's Founding Day, including music concerts that celebrate Saudi Arabia and the early days of its founding.

The events recall the story of the Kingdom's founding by Imam Mohammed bin Saud in 1727 and the heroics that helped build a stable and prosperous country on unified political foundations.

"Founding Nights", which concludes on Friday, features music and poetry that transport the audience on a journey through time to celebrate the Kingdom’s history. It brings together several poets and artists, who will sing popular songs that have resonated with the people for years.

The event was kicked off by artists Fuad Abelwahed and Abdullah al-Mana, who sang a number of national songs. The event also featured poetry readings by Saeed bin Mane and Fahad al-Shahrani.

The second night featured concerts by Majid al-Muhandis and Dalia Mubarak, who sang national songs that captivated the audience. It also included more poetry readings, featuring Suleiman al-Maneh and Abdullah Abyan.

The Ministry of Culture also opened an exhibit, "Path of History", that features several scenes and sculptures that reflect the values embodied in the founding.

The exhibit features 19 "scenes" that highlight significant events that have taken place since the founding in 1727 and until this day.

The Ministry is also organizing a musical concert, "The Symphony of the Beginning", which will be held on Sunday and Monday.

An orchestra will escort the audience on a journey through time to recount how Saudi Arabia was founded. Several celebrated Saudi poets and composers will take part in the event.

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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)
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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.