Arabic Calligraphy Enscribed into UNESCO Heritage List

 A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)
A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)
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Arabic Calligraphy Enscribed into UNESCO Heritage List

 A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)
A Pakistani artist works on a Koranic calligraphy project made with gold-plated letters at Arts Council of Pakistan, in port City of Karachi on September 6, 2021. (AFP)

UNESCO on Tuesday added Arabic calligraphy, a key tradition in the Arab and Islamic worlds, to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

A total of 16 Muslim-majority countries, led by Saudi Arabia, presented the nomination to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which announced the listing on Twitter.

"Arabic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting Arabic script in a fluid manner to convey harmony, grace and beauty," UNESCO said on its website.

"The fluidity of Arabic script offers infinite possibilities, even within a single word, as letters can be stretched and transformed in numerous ways to create different motifs."

Saudi Culture Minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud welcomed the decision and said it would "contribute to developing this cultural heritage", in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Abdelmajid Mahboub from the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society, which was involved in the proposal, said calligraphy "has always served as a symbol of the Arab-Muslim world".

But he lamented that "many people no longer write by hand due to technological advances", adding that the number of specialized Arab calligraphic artists had dropped sharply.

The UNESCO listing "will certainly have a positive impact" on preserving the tradition, he added.

According to the UNESCO website, intangible cultural heritage "is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization".

Its importance "is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next".



Tiny Caribbean Territory Offers Cash, Plane Tickets and a Hotel Stay to Fight Brain Drain

An airplane approaches the island of St. Maarten. (AFP file)
An airplane approaches the island of St. Maarten. (AFP file)
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Tiny Caribbean Territory Offers Cash, Plane Tickets and a Hotel Stay to Fight Brain Drain

An airplane approaches the island of St. Maarten. (AFP file)
An airplane approaches the island of St. Maarten. (AFP file)

The Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten is offering cash, plane tickets and an extended hotel stay to attract professionals and students back home.

Prime Minister Luc Mercelina announced this week that married couples would get $2,000 and single people $1,100 for a relocation allowance, as well as economy-class plane tickets, a six-week stay at a hotel and large containers to transport their belongings.

Families also would get $140 per child, he said Wednesday evening.

Mercelina also said the government would offer a salary adjustment allowance in certain cases and help cover a portion of student loans for those who move back to the territory.

The offers aim to reduce a shortage of skilled professionals on St. Maarten, a territory of some 46,000 people with a net migration rate of 5.7 migrants per 1,000 persons, ranking 16th worldwide.