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Interactive Maps Installed at Madinah Book Fair to Enrich Visitors' Experience, Facilitate Searches

The third edition of Madinah Book Fair kicked off on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
The third edition of Madinah Book Fair kicked off on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
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Interactive Maps Installed at Madinah Book Fair to Enrich Visitors' Experience, Facilitate Searches

The third edition of Madinah Book Fair kicked off on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)
The third edition of Madinah Book Fair kicked off on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia. (SPA)

The Madinah Book Fair integrated modern technologies to facilitate visitors' searches for books, participating publishers, or exhibition areas hosting various activities, the Saudi Press agency said on Thursday.
Through interactive maps, similar to GPS navigation maps, that are installed throughout the fairgrounds, visitors can locate publishers and authors and can also navigate all areas of the fair by scanning Quick Response (QR) codes on their mobile devices, including the main stage, workshop areas, children's zone, book signing platforms, restaurants and cafes, restrooms, prayer areas, and others.
The interactive touch-enabled maps spread throughout the exhibition operate with advanced technology, allowing visitors to search for specific publishers and obtain detailed information such as their names, the booth number where they are located, the distance to reach them, and the estimated time required.

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White House Chef Retires after Nearly 30 Years

FILE - White House executive chef Cris Comerford, holds dishes as she speaks during a media preview for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Nov. 30, 2022. Comerford has retired after nearly three decades of making meals and cooking up state dinners for five different presidents and their families. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - White House executive chef Cris Comerford, holds dishes as she speaks during a media preview for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Nov. 30, 2022. Comerford has retired after nearly three decades of making meals and cooking up state dinners for five different presidents and their families. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
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White House Chef Retires after Nearly 30 Years

FILE - White House executive chef Cris Comerford, holds dishes as she speaks during a media preview for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Nov. 30, 2022. Comerford has retired after nearly three decades of making meals and cooking up state dinners for five different presidents and their families. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE - White House executive chef Cris Comerford, holds dishes as she speaks during a media preview for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Nov. 30, 2022. Comerford has retired after nearly three decades of making meals and cooking up state dinners for five different presidents and their families. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

The White House's executive chef has retired after nearly three decades of making meals and cooking up state dinners for five different presidents and their families.

Cris Comerford is the first woman to hold the job, and is also the first person of color to be executive chef. Her last day was Friday. First lady Jill Biden thanked her for her service in a statement on Tuesday.

“I always say, food is love. Through her barrier-breaking career, Chef Cris has led her team with warmth and creativity, and nourished our souls along the way," Jill Biden said in a statement. "With all our hearts, Joe and I are filled with gratitude for her dedication and years of service.”

Comerford, 61, sharpened her culinary skills while working at hotels in Chicago and restaurants in Washington before the White House brought her on in 1995 as an assistant chef, The AP reported.

A naturalized US citizen and a native of the Philippines, she was named executive chef in 2005. Her responsibilities as executive chef included designing and executing menus for state dinners, social events, holiday functions, receptions and official luncheons.

She and pastry chef Susie Morrison — also the first woman in that job — formed a duo that has tantalized the taste buds of guests at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with their culinary creations for nearly a decade.

A lavish state dinner is a tool of US diplomacy, a high honor reserved for America’s longstanding and closest allies and the food is the signature event. Comerford's last state dinner was for Kenyan President William Ruto and his wife, Rachel, in May.

The team served a three-course meal of chilled heirloom tomato soup and a “best of both worlds” main course of smoked beef short ribs and butter-poached lobster. Dessert was a homemade white chocolate basket of raspberries, peaches and other fruit.

Chef and humanitarian José Andrés seemed to break the news Monday evening with a post congratulating her. “You are a national treasure, a culinary diplomat who has shown the world how an immigrant can celebrate American food & share it with the world’s leaders,” he posted. “Congrats on retiring, we love you Cris.”