Category: Arts

With the Indian capital enveloped in a haze of toxic smog, authorities ordered six thermal plants in the city’s vicinity to shut temporarily, closed schools and colleges indefinitely and imposed work-from-home restrictions to control pollution levels that turned severe on several days this month.

A panel of the federal environment ministry has also banned construction activity until the end of the week and barred trucks, except those carrying essential commodities, from entering the city as part of the series of emergency measures.

Environmentalists pointed out that these steps would only marginally mitigate the air pollution crisis that grips New Delhi every winter.

“The emergency action is not a magic bullet that will address the pollution crisis,” said Anumita Rowchowdhury, executive director research and advocacy at New Delhi’s Center for Science and Environment. “It only ensures that it will not worsen the pollution but it will not clean the air.”

The world’s most polluted capital city has recorded levels for dangerous particles known as PM 2.5 that settle deep inside lungs many times higher than the standards set by the World Health Organization.

The haze that covers the city is a mix of fumes, including vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, construction dust, farm fires and fumes caused by the burning of waste in the open. In winter, the pollutants hang over the city due to low wind speeds.

City authorities in Delhi have told the Supreme Court they are considering a weekend lockdown, similar to what was implemented during the pandemic. If so, it would be the first of a kind “pollution” lockdown.

With the Indian capital enveloped in a haze of toxic smog, authorities ordered six thermal plants in the city’s vicinity to shut temporarily, closed schools and colleges indefinitely and imposed work-from-home restrictions to control pollution levels that turned severe on several days this month.

A panel of the federal environment ministry has also banned construction activity until the end of the week and barred trucks, except those carrying essential commodities, from entering the city as part of the series of emergency measures.

Environmentalists pointed out that these steps would only marginally mitigate the air pollution crisis that grips New Delhi every winter.

“The emergency action is not a magic bullet that will address the pollution crisis,” said Anumita Rowchowdhury, executive director research and advocacy at New Delhi’s Center for Science and Environment. “It only ensures that it will not worsen the pollution but it will not clean the air.”

The world’s most polluted capital city has recorded levels for dangerous particles known as PM 2.5 that settle deep inside lungs many times higher than the standards set by the World Health Organization.

The haze that covers the city is a mix of fumes, including vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, construction dust, farm fires and fumes caused by the burning of waste in the open. In winter, the pollutants hang over the city due to low wind speeds.

City authorities in Delhi have told the Supreme Court they are considering a weekend lockdown, similar to what was implemented during the pandemic. If so, it would be the first of a kind “pollution” lockdown.

India and China were blamed for watering down a commitment to phasing out coal at the summit.

But in India, environmentalists said the country’s concerns were genuine. “The dilemma that India faces is, how quickly can it make the transition from coal?” said Chandra Bhushan, who heads the Delhi-based International Forum for Environment. “While coal does contribute to air pollution and climate change, we cannot shut down coal right away and replace it with renewables in a hurry. This is going to be a process.”

Meanwhile, the severe air pollution has led to a public health emergency with many residents in Delhi and other North Indian cities struggling with respiratory problems and doctors warning it is a serious health hazard.

The dirty air kills more than a million people every year in India according to a report by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, a U.S. research group.

Source: Voice of America

Syrian short feature film “Nahri..Bahri” directed by al-Mohanad Kolthoum won the special jury award at the conclusion of the 8th edition of International Film Festival of Cinema & Sea in Morocco.

10 short films from Syria, Morocco, Bahrain, Mauritania, Belgium and the United Kingdom competed for the festival prizes.

“Nahri..Bahri” film narrate an intense love story ,which takes place in an exceptional place and far from the attention of the curious, between a young man The events between a young man and a young woman who met one night on the seashore in a night will change their fate forever.

The film poses urgent questions about the nature of neglected communities and far from the light due to the dominance of major cities and the marginalization of these communities in light of the war on Syria.

The film is produced by the National Film Organization and it is written by scenarist Samer Mohammad Ismail.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)

Syrian cartoonist Raed Khalil has won two awards in two international competitions in South Korea and Croatia, which were held with wide participation of cartoonists worldwide.

 

Khalil won the first award at the 10th Sejong International Cartoon Contest held in Korea, as he participated with an artwork through which he portrayed the reality of wars with a highly eloquent and mocking description of American arrogance and its subversive role in the countries of the world.

 

Meanwhile, the second award was obtained at the 1st International Cartoon Exhibition ZeGeBOOM, held in Croatia with the participation of 154 painters from 42 countries.

 

“The winning artworks come in the framework of the political mission of caricature art, its characteristics, and its essential function in opening closed doors,” Artist Khalil said in a statement to SANA correspondent.

 

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)

The National Media Authority has won three awards in the 21st edition of the Arab Radio and Television Festival, which was organized by the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) in the City of Culture in Tunis.

On this occasion, Head of the National Media Authority Hussein Zein congratulated the Egyptian winners, wishing them further successes, the authority said in a statement on Friday 22/10/2021.

The festival witnessed strong competition due to the high quality of all radio and television works participating in the event, Zein said.

This is considered a good opportunity for communication and coordination among Arab media persons, he added.

Meanwhile, Zein praised the distinguished level of organization and expressed thanks to officials of the event.

Held on October 19 through 22, the festival was organized in cooperation with the Tunisian Radio Corporation and the Tunisian Television Corporation.

The festival aims at contributing to the development of the Arab radio and TV production, as well as to upgrade its content to meet the expectations of ASBU member corporations.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

The Syrian pavilion at “Expo Dubai 2020” showcases the oldest written musical Hymn in the world entitled the “Ugaritic worship song”.

Several clay tablets from the 14th century were unearthed in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit (Ras Shamra), the Amorite Canaanite city in the coastal province of Lattakia , which contained cuneiform signs in the Hurrian language which turned out to be the oldest known piece of music ever discovered, a 3,500 year-old cult hymn.

On the historical value of the Hymn, Archaeologist and specialist in Ugaritic antiquities Ghassan al-Qayyim told SANA in a statement that this piece of music is considered as the oldest integrated musical work in the world, asserting that it was engraved on clay tablets that contained all the words of the hymn of goddess of the orchards Nikkal.

Ugarit had not only presented the oldest musical note to the world, according to al-Qayyim, but it presented 36 clay tablets which were unearthed in 1957 in the city, which contradicts the views saying that the Greek mathematician Pythagoras was the discoverer of music since he used Ugaritic notes.

We owe to the Syrian scientist Raoul Vitali (1928-2003) who set the degrees of the musical scale after presenting a complete reading of the discovered musical note, al-Qayyim pointed out.

The hymn narrates the story of a young woman, called Nikkal who was unable to give birth of children and she thought that the reason behind her inability to give birth was a sin that she has committed.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)

The archeological castle of Masyaf is situated in the western countryside of Masyaf city in Hama province.

Masyaf Castle dates back to 44 BC during the Roman period which witnessed building fortifications and military sites to control over main roads of the country, the most famous one is placed on the western mountain ranges.

The castle consists of an inner fortress built over the high southern part of the rocky top of the plateau in a square-like shape. Its corners are distributed roughly rectangular towers with two defensive levels, and in the middle is a heavenly courtyard with a ground level.

The main entrance to the citadel is located in the southwest corner of the outer citadel, it is an Arab-Islamic architectural example consisting of two large halls with a long corridor between them.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)

Education Minister Tarek Shawqi said that the inauguration of “Silo Foods” industrial city would affect the building of the Egyptian human being.

Shawqi asserts that the government has a plan to prepare a healthy generation of students via good school nutrition.

In his speech during the inauguration, Shawqi said the pre-university education system includes 24 million students, adding that work in underway in many schools to produce a new system that depends on building identity and personality via building healthy body and mind via school nutrition.

The school nutrition presented by the Ministry of Education aims at providing healthy nutrition for students in addition to activities that will contribute to preparing a healthy generation, Shawqi said.

The nutrition program targets 12 million students and one million at Azhar schools.

Source: State Information Service Egypt

Damascus, SANA- Syrian film “Photograph” by Director al-Mohannad Kalthoum won best short film at conclusion of Souss International Short Film Festival in Morocco.

The film narrates the effects of war on Syria and aftermath on the Syrian children and the employment which forced them to provide financial support to their families in exchange for dispensing with their educational rights, as well as the film presents the repercussions of the crisis ,and human struggle for survival.

Kalthoum said that despite the war which has waged on Syria , the Syrian artists and directors are still harvesting many Arab and international awards, noting that Syria was able to overcome all crisis and conspiracies against it , as further prosperity would be achieved on all political, economic, cultural and artistic levels.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)