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ICESCO Joins Gaza’s Children in ‘Enjoy Your Life with Music’

ICESCO Joins Gaza’s Children in ‘Enjoy Your Life with Music’
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ICESCO Joins Gaza’s Children in ‘Enjoy Your Life with Music’

ICESCO Joins Gaza’s Children in ‘Enjoy Your Life with Music’

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) took part in the closing ceremony of the “Enjoy Your Life with Music,” an ICESCO-funded initiative that was held in Gaza and organized by the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science in partnership with Al-Sununu Association for Culture and Arts.

The project is aimed at improving the mental health of Gaza’s children, particularly those who have been exposed to violence and suffer from post-traumatic stress, by using music therapy as a means for unleashing positive creative expression that has an array of psychological benefits and helps unlock children’s full potential.

Dr. Mohammed Zine El Abidine, Head of ICESCO’s Culture and Communication Sector, represented the Organization at the ceremony held on Saturday via videoconference.

In his statement, Dr. Zine El Abidine stressed the need for a peaceful and serene world free of conflict and hostility, noting that music is a universal language we all understand that has deep philosophical roots and appeals to the mind and soul.

He added that ICESCO seeks to promote peace and believes in the role youths can play in peace-building, which has pushed it to launch several programs aimed at training youths and building their capacities, especially in anchoring peace and coexistence and promoting technology, innovation, and strategic foresight.

At the end of the ceremony, Al-Sununu Association for Culture and Arts offered its shield to ICESCO Director-General Dr. Salim M. AlMalik in recognition of his efforts and in appreciation of the Organization’s support for this program.

Dr. Dawas Dawas, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, Chairman of ICESCO’s Executive Council, received the shield on Malik’s behalf.

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Xi: 2 Giant Pandas from China Will Arrive in Coming Days at Atlanta's Zoo

Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa


Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa


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Xi: 2 Giant Pandas from China Will Arrive in Coming Days at Atlanta's Zoo

Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa


Jin Xi, one of the only two giant pandas in Spain, eats on its sixth birthday at Madrid Zoo Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, September 19, 2026. REUTERS/Juan Barbosa



Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that two giant pandas from China will arrive at Zoo Atlanta in the coming days, bolstering a loan program that at one time had lapsed as part of tensions between Beijing and Washington.

China and the zoo had said in April that Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, would go to the United States. But Xi’s announcement at the White House, in opening remarks before talks with President Donald Trump, marked the first public confirmation of the timing, The Associated Press reported.

Beijing had reclaimed four pandas from Atlanta in 2024, the last of the animals on loan from China to the US at the time.

Xi said Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, “will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people” in “a few days.” He called it “a piece of good news” and hailed the panda loan program as an example of “friendship between the Chinese and Americans.”

The pandas are part of a conservation agreement between the zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.

In 2024, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun returned from Zoo Atlanta to China, ending a 25-year partnership and leaving the US without any of the animals for several months.

The National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China in 2023 before accepting new arrivals Bao Li and Qing Bao, in October 2024 after Atlanta lost its pandas. Other American zoos sent pandas back to China before that as loan agreements lapsed.

When the pandas' Atlanta return was officially promised in the spring, Zoo Atlanta CEO Raymond B. King celebrated “the wonder and joy of giant pandas" and said his facility was “delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species.”

Varieties

UN Approves Resolution on Dealing with Rising Sea Levels

This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)
This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)
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UN Approves Resolution on Dealing with Rising Sea Levels

This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)
This picture taken on September 4, 2026, shows an aerial view of the small islands off the coast of Koror, the capital of Palau, scattered across the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean. (AFP)

The United Nations on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution demanding stronger action on rising sea levels, an existential threat for low-lying island nations driven by ocean warming and melting ice sheets and glaciers.

In 2024, global sea levels rose by almost six millimeters, the largest annual increase ever recorded, and they are set to rise by a meter or more by the end of the century without drastic action.

"Sea-level rise is measured in millimeters, but its toll is measured in millions of shattered lives, uprooted communities, and stolen futures," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"We cannot allow countries and cultures to vanish beneath the waves -- or leave the aspirations of billions dead in the water."

The declaration is aimed at bringing new momentum to efforts to tackle the problem -- reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing funding to vulnerable countries to strengthen their resilience plans.

Concretely, it resolves legal issues around what happens to nations when they start to vanish under the waves.

It affirms that maritime zones remain in place even if coastlines recede, and that "once a State is established, the disappearance of one of its constituent elements would not necessarily entail the loss of its statehood."

"For States that are literally defined by the ocean around us, the impact of sea level rise will be life-altering," said Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr., speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States.

Small island states have been sounding the alarm since the 1989 Male Declaration on Global Warming and Sea Level Rise and helped develop international law on the issue, he continued, welcoming the declaration as "a genuine achievement."

Even small increments of sea-level rise pose grave risks, explained Tom Mortlock, a senior catastrophe research analyst at Aon.

One centimeter of sea-level rise translates to a meter of coastline retreat.

Projections show that flooding that might occur once every 50 years with sea levels as they are today could happen every three or four years if sea levels rise by half a meter.

Nature-based solutions like mangroves "can reduce coastal risk, but it can also get to the core problem we have for climate change which is carbon sequestration and carbon mitigation," said Mortlock.

Varieties

Gaza Documentary 'NAZA' to be Available Online Free

Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
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Gaza Documentary 'NAZA' to be Available Online Free

Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)
Directors Yuval Abraham, left, and Rachel Szor pose for photographers at the photo call for the film "NAZA" during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP)

Israeli director Yuval Abraham said Thursday that his documentary "NAZA", which won an award at the Venice Film Festival and has faced fierce backlash at home, will be made available online for free in November.

The film is based on testimony from 24 anonymous Israeli military whistleblowers who accuse the army of widespread killing of civilians in Gaza with the use of AI-powered targeting systems.

In a message posted on X also on behalf of co-director Rachel Szor, Abraham said that he wanted to make the film accessible to as many people as possible to allow the "truth to emerge."

"I made this film to spark a public debate about the government's actions in Gaza, the killing of more than 73,000 people, most of them civilians, and the normalization of a war of annihilation," the filmmaker wrote, AFP reported.

"NAZA" takes its name from the Israeli military term for civilian casualties expected in airstrikes, an abbreviated form of the Hebrew phrase for "collateral damage".

The film has triggered strong reactions in Israel. Culture Minister Miki Zohar requested that authorities consider revoking the citizenship of the two filmmakers on account of "treason", while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as "shocking".

Shortly after the documentary was screened in Venice, a crowd of protestors marched to Szor's parents' home two nights in a row, calling on authorities to "expel the traitors".

The Israeli military, for its part, has "categorically rejected" the allegations, stressing that the anonymity of those interviewed and the absence of locations or dates made any verification impossible.

It reiterated that decisions on strikes are made by humans and that significant efforts are made to protect civilians.

Abraham said he believed his film had "cracked the screen of indifference" in Israel despite a "high personal cost", adding that he and Rachel Szor would return to Israel to "continue fighting" for the country's future.

Launched in retaliation for the deadly attacks carried out by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the health ministry in the territory controlled by the Islamist movement, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.