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UNESCO Selects 34 Elements Marking Sudan's Intangible Cultural Heritage

The UNESCO headquarters building, seen here, is located in Paris. (© Charles Platiau/Reuters)
The UNESCO headquarters building, seen here, is located in Paris. (© Charles Platiau/Reuters)
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UNESCO Selects 34 Elements Marking Sudan's Intangible Cultural Heritage

The UNESCO headquarters building, seen here, is located in Paris. (© Charles Platiau/Reuters)
The UNESCO headquarters building, seen here, is located in Paris. (© Charles Platiau/Reuters)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the selection of 34 elements of the Sudanese intangible cultural heritage to make part the human cultural heritage, including "the cheese ritual, coffee, the Sudanese dress, and the Sudanese henna."

The selection came during a workshop in Khartoum aimed at developing strategies for safeguarding and developing intangible Sudanese cultural heritage and strengthening national capacities to carry out this mission in partnership with the UN and other global institutions.

In a keynote delivered during the opening of the workshop on Tuesday, Faisal Mohamed Saleh, minister of Culture and Information, said the partnership with the international community represented by the UNESCO, with the participation of the UAE, and the National Council for Cultural Heritage and Promotion Of National Languages, as well as the civil society organizations, is a good start for the development of strategies and indicators to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of Sudan.

"The official institutions have been suffering from failure in managing cultural diversity, due to a lack of care and financial support," Saleh added.

For her part, Minister of Education and Scientific Research Intisar Saghiroun emphasized the important role of the heritage and unity centers in El Fashir and Blue Nile Universities and the Sinnar Regional Center for Dialogue and Cultural Diversity in this mission.

She also said her ministry's institutions are ready to assist and encourage studies in the field of "intangible heritage." The strategy for safeguarding intangible heritage is the first step in a project supported by the Heritage Fund and funded by the UNESCO and the UAE's Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.

The project debuted in 2013 with the training and qualification of 164 administrators and researchers in heritage and culture. "There is little national capacity for heritage, so we signed the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage with the UNESCO in 2003, and 30 experts were invited to urge the safeguarding of heritage. We aim to highlight and preserve the rich Sudanese heritage, which gathers the African and Arabic cultures, as a symbol of national identity," Hassan said.

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Varieties

French Prisons Risk Becoming 'Human Warehouses', Says Council of Europe

An inmate stands in his two-person cell near a mattress set for a third inmate at Gradignan prison, near Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 3, 2022. Thibaud Moritz, AFP
An inmate stands in his two-person cell near a mattress set for a third inmate at Gradignan prison, near Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 3, 2022. Thibaud Moritz, AFP
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French Prisons Risk Becoming 'Human Warehouses', Says Council of Europe

An inmate stands in his two-person cell near a mattress set for a third inmate at Gradignan prison, near Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 3, 2022. Thibaud Moritz, AFP
An inmate stands in his two-person cell near a mattress set for a third inmate at Gradignan prison, near Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 3, 2022. Thibaud Moritz, AFP

France's prisons risk transforming into "human warehouses", the Council of Europe said on Thursday, as overcrowding, poor conditions and violence strain a system at record inmate levels.

The warning follows a 2024 visit to four French detention centers, where the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee reported filthy cells, a lack of clean bedding and, at one prison, infestations of rats, cockroaches and bedbugs.

Since the visit, overcrowding has only worsened, committee head Alan Mitchell said in a press release, calling conditions in the country's incarceration system "extremely" concerning, reported AFP.

Last month, France reported a record 86,229 inmates, with a national average of 136.5 prisoners per 100 beds, according to interior ministry figures.

"This situation can turn a prison into a human warehouse, seriously compromising human dignity," Mitchell added.

Violence between prisoners is also widespread, the report said, creating a "climate of fear" marked by frequent fights and a lack of staff intervention.

Most inmates spend nearly 20 hours a day in their cells, while juveniles are confined for excessive periods, with only one to two hours of education daily, the press release said.

France is one of the 46 member states of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, the continent's watchdog for democracy and human rights.

The country has some of the worst prison overcrowding in Europe, ranking third worst after Slovenia and Cyprus, according to a Council of Europe report published in July.

In a separate case, the European Court of Human Rights last week condemned France for the ninth time since 2013 over prison conditions, ruling that detention conditions at a prison in Strasbourg amounted to "inhuman and degrading" treatment, after a 42-year-old detainee lodged a complaint.

Varieties

Macron’s ‘Top Gun’ Shades Charm Internet as Leaders Wrangle Over Greenland

French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)
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Macron’s ‘Top Gun’ Shades Charm Internet as Leaders Wrangle Over Greenland

French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing sunglasses, speaks during a meeting on the institutional future of New Caledonia at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 16, 2026. (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron's aviator sunglasses have caught the eye, with social media users debating his choice of a "Top Gun" look as he criticized US President Donald Trump over Greenland during his speech in Davos.

As he spoke at the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos on Tuesday, the French president wore dark, reflective sunglasses.

Memes, comments and speculation over his appearance surged on social media, with some supporters praising him for his "Top Gun" look while opponents dismissed it as bombastic or speculated ‌about his ‌health.

Macron's office said the choice to ‌wear ⁠sunglasses during his ‌speech, which took place indoors, was to protect his eyes because of a burst blood vessel.

One meme, with the headline "Duel in Davos," was styled like a Top Gun parody, with Macron and Trump eyeballing each other, both wearing military-style flight suits, and Macron, looking very small next to Trump, sporting oversized aviator sunglasses.

References to the ⁠1986 movie starring Tom Cruise were ubiquitous.

"Trump: be careful ... Macron is here," one social ‌media user said on X, with a ‍picture of the French ‍president with the aviator glasses. "Could he not find some more sober ‍glasses?" another user asked.

Even Trump weighed in, mocking Macron for his glasses in his own Davos speech on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, some of Macron's colleagues had gotten in on the act, with European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad posting a version of the "Soyboy vs Yes Chad" meme with Chad donning aviators and draped in a French flag.

Italian ⁠group iVision Tech, which owns Henry Jullien, said the model worn by Macron was its Pacific S 01, with a price tag of 659 euros ($770) on its website. It said it sent Macron the sunglasses as a gift but that he had insisted on paying for them, and made sure they were made in France.

The Milan-listed stock was up almost 6% on Wednesday.

"The news this morning came as a surprise," the group's chief executive Stefano Fulchir said. "We were flooded with calls and requests on the ‌website ... The site crashed."

Varieties

3 Authors Win $10,000 Prizes for Blending Science and Literature

This combination of images shows cover art for “Ancient Light” by Kimberly Blaeser, left, “Bog Queen” by Anna North, center, and “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature” by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. (University of Arizona Press/Bloomsbury Publishing/Spiegel & Grau via AP)
This combination of images shows cover art for “Ancient Light” by Kimberly Blaeser, left, “Bog Queen” by Anna North, center, and “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature” by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. (University of Arizona Press/Bloomsbury Publishing/Spiegel & Grau via AP)
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3 Authors Win $10,000 Prizes for Blending Science and Literature

This combination of images shows cover art for “Ancient Light” by Kimberly Blaeser, left, “Bog Queen” by Anna North, center, and “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature” by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. (University of Arizona Press/Bloomsbury Publishing/Spiegel & Grau via AP)
This combination of images shows cover art for “Ancient Light” by Kimberly Blaeser, left, “Bog Queen” by Anna North, center, and “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature” by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. (University of Arizona Press/Bloomsbury Publishing/Spiegel & Grau via AP)

Three authors who demonstrated how scientific research can be wedded to literary grace have been awarded $10,000 prizes.

On Wednesday, the National Book Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced the winners of the fifth annual Science + Literature awards. The books include Kimberly Blaeser's poetry collection, “Ancient Light,” inspired in part by the environmental destruction of Indigenous communities; the novel “Bog Queen” by Anna North, the story of a forensic anthropologist and a 2000-year-old Celtic druid; and a work of nonfiction, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian's “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature.”

“These gifted storytellers shine a scientific and poetic light on the beauties and terrors of nature and what they reveal to us about our deepest selves, our humanity, and our existence on this planet,” Doron Weber, vice president and program director at the Sloan Foundation, said in a statement, The AP news reported.

Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation, said in a statement that the new winners continue the awards' mission to highlight “diverse voices in science writing that ... enlighten, challenge, and engage readers everywhere.”

The Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards, one of the literary world's most prestigious events. The Sloan Foundation has a long history of supporting books that join science and the humanities, including Kai Bird's and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “American Prometheus,” which director Christopher Nolan adapted into the Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer.”

“At a time when science is under attack, it has become more urgent to elevate books that bring together the art of literature with the wonders of science,” Daisy Hernández, this year's chair of the awards committee and a 2022 Science + Literature honoree, said in a statement.