Saudi Arabia is Guest of Honor at Beijing International Book Fair 2024

The Kingdom's participation is overseen by the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission
The Kingdom's participation is overseen by the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission
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Saudi Arabia is Guest of Honor at Beijing International Book Fair 2024

The Kingdom's participation is overseen by the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission
The Kingdom's participation is overseen by the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission

Saudi Arabia is getting ready to inaugurate its pavilion at Beijing International Book Fair 2024 as the guest of honor for this year's edition, which will be held from June 19 to 23 in the Chinese capital.
The Kingdom's participation is overseen by the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission and a number of cultural and national entities.

The Kingdom's pavilion includes participation from a variety of sectors, including the Heritage Commission, Culinary Arts Commission, Film Commission, Ministry of Investment, King Abdulaziz Foundation (Darah), King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, King Abdulaziz Public Library, King Fahd National Library, and Saudi Publishing Association.
This diversity aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of Saudi culture, including Saudi intellectual production and the promotion of investment opportunities in the Kingdom, particularly in the cultural sector. In addition, several seminars and dialogue sessions highlighting Saudi culture and its various connections to Chinese culture will be held.
The Saudi dinner, a special display of books, manuscripts, and artifacts, a live performance of traditional performing arts, a display of costumes and paintings, screenings of Saudi films, a corner for the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Award for Cultural Cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China, and special corners for the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission's partners will be on the sidelines of the participation.



UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
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UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File

The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.
UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told AFP, referring to the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
In December, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to grant "provisional enhanced protection" -- the highest level of immunity established by the 1954 Hague Convention -- to the site.
UNESCO had then said it was "already concerned about the state of conservation of sites, before October 7, due to the lack of adequate policies to protect heritage and culture" in Gaza.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.