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KSA Participates in 216th Session of UNESCO's Executive Board

KSA Participates in 216th Session of UNESCO's Executive Board
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KSA Participates in 216th Session of UNESCO's Executive Board

KSA Participates in 216th Session of UNESCO's Executive Board

Saudi Arabia participated in the 216th session of the Executive Board of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The event kicked off at the organization's headquarters in Paris and will continue until the 24th of May.

The Kingdom is represented by Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz bin Mohammed bin Ayyaf Al Muqrin, the permanent representative of the Kingdom to UNESCO and Chair of the World Heritage Committee, with the participation of the Saudi National Committee for Education, Culture, and Science.

In the Kingdom's speech at the opening session, Princess Haifa reiterated Saudi Arabia's keenness to boost international cooperation among the 193 member states of the organization and to contribute to achieving the goals of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which are in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, state news agency SPA reported.

She also expressed her appreciation to the organization for its interest in the draft resolution submitted by the Kingdom and Kuwait during the 215th session of the Executive Board to establish a global framework for open science to counter pandemics, which aims to create a flexible global system for capacity development and knowledge transfer.

The Saudi permanent representative concluded the speech by expressing the Kingdom's aspiration to host the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh next September, adding that the meeting would be the first to be held with in-person attendance in four years and would discuss the registration of global heritage sites of great importance.

The Kingdom's strategic position in the organization is reflected in its membership in three main committees of UNESCO: its membership in the Executive Board of the organization, which includes 58 member states; its membership in the World Heritage Committee; and its membership in the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

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Scientists: Ancient Jawbone from Taiwan Belongs to Mysterious Group of Human Ancestors

This illustration provided by researchers in April 2025 depicts a Denisovan male in Taiwan in the Pleistocene era about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. (Cheng-Han Sun via AP)
This illustration provided by researchers in April 2025 depicts a Denisovan male in Taiwan in the Pleistocene era about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. (Cheng-Han Sun via AP)
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Scientists: Ancient Jawbone from Taiwan Belongs to Mysterious Group of Human Ancestors

This illustration provided by researchers in April 2025 depicts a Denisovan male in Taiwan in the Pleistocene era about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. (Cheng-Han Sun via AP)
This illustration provided by researchers in April 2025 depicts a Denisovan male in Taiwan in the Pleistocene era about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. (Cheng-Han Sun via AP)

An ancient jawbone discovered in Taiwan belonged to an enigmatic group of early human ancestors called Denisovans, scientists reported Thursday.
Relatively little is known about Denisovans, an extinct group of human cousins that interacted with Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens.
“Denisovan fossils are very scarce,” with only a few confirmed finds in East Asia, said study co-author Takumi Tsutaya at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan.
So far, the only known Denisovan fossils include partial jawbones, a few teeth and part of a finger bone found in caves in Siberia and Tibet. Some scientists believe fossils found in a cave in Laos may also belong to Denisovans, The Associated Press reported.
The probable identification of the jawbone from Taiwan as Denisovan expands the region where scientists know these ancient people once lived, said Tsutaya.
The partial jawbone was first recovered when a fishing operation dredged the seafloor in the Penghu Channel near the Taiwan Strait. After it was sold to an antique shop, a collector spotted it and purchased it in 2008, then later donated it to Taiwan’s National Museum of Natural Science.
Based on the composition of marine invertebrates found attached to it, the fossil was dated to the Pleistocene era. But exactly which species of early human ancestor it belonged to remained a mystery.
The condition of the fossil made it impossible to study ancient DNA. But recently, scientists in Taiwan, Japan and Denmark were able to extract some protein sequences from the incomplete jawbone.
An analysis showed some protein sequences resembled those contained in the genome of a Denisovan fossil recovered in Siberia. The findings were published in the journal Science.
While the new research is promising, Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Project, said he would like to see further data before confirming the Taiwan fossil as Denisovan.
Potts, who was not involved in the new research, praised the study for “a fantastic job of recovering some proteins.” But he added, such a small sliver of material may not give a full picture.
At one time, at least three human ancestor groups — Denisovans, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens — coexisted in Eurasia and sometimes interbred, researchers say.
“We can identity Neanderthal elements and Denisovan elements" in the DNA of some people alive today, said Tsutaya.