Though environmental groups praised the decision to detour big ships outside the fragile area, they are concerned about plans to temporarily dock them at Marghera, the lagoon’s industrial hub.
By Reuters Staff
Slideshow ( 2 images )
PARIS (Reuters) - The head of UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, is expected to win a second term later this year after nobody else submitted their candidacy for the position by the deadline on March 16, a UNESCO official said on Wednesday.
Outgoing Director General Audrey Azoulay was appointed in 2017 after a bitter campaign. Her mandate was to revive the organisation’s fortunes after the United States, which provided a fifth of its funding, pulled out.
The election is due in November, but without an opponent and a majority of the 58 Executive Board member states, including biggest financial contributor China, backing her, she should be elected for another four years.
By Reuters Staff
Slideshow ( 2 images )
ATHENS (Reuters) - Britain is the legitimate owner of the Parthenon marbles, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a Greek newspaper, rebuffing Greece’s permanent request for the return of the 2,500-year-old sculptures.
Since independence in 1832, Greece has repeatedly called for the repatriation of the treasures - known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles - that British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the Parthenon temple in Athens in the early 19th century, when Greece was under Ottoman rule.
But the British Museum in London has refused to return the sculptures, roughly half of a 160-meter (525-foot) frieze which adorned the 5th century BC monument, saying they were acquired by Elgin under a legal contract with the Ottoman Empire and are part of everyone’s “shared heritage”.
Heritage Status Gives Watchmaking a Higher Profile
Experts link UNESCO recognition of the craft in Switzerland and France to preserving special skills.
UNESCO’s recognition of watchmaking in France and Switzerland focuses on the special skills of artisans like this one, assembling a watch at the Christophe Claret factory in Le Locle, Switzerland.Credit.Niels Ackermann for The New York Times
By Robin Swithinbank
Feb. 10, 2021
The lists, which have grown to more than 580 items since their start in 2008, identify crafts, skills and cultural traditions in member states
that, UNESCO says, require “urgent measures to keep them alive” or that “help demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance.” Watchmaking in the two countries was added to the second category in December.