Australia’s Aboriginals ask UNESCO to protect ancient carvings site

Australia’s Aboriginals ask UNESCO to protect ancient carvings site
Aboriginal site preservation signs stand near the entrance to Deep Gorge on the Burrup Peninsula in the north of Western Australia on June 16, 2008. (AFP file photo)
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Australia’s Aboriginals ask UNESCO to protect ancient carvings site

Australia’s Aboriginals ask UNESCO to protect ancient carvings site
  • Murujuga, a remote area in the state of Western Australia, houses around one million petroglyphs
  • These carvings, located on the Burrup peninsula, that could date back 50,000 years

PARIS: A delegation of Australia’s Aboriginal people has traveled to Paris to win UN backing for the protection of a heritage site back home they say is threatened by harmful mining.

The World Heritage Committee at UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural organization, has been deliberating since the start of the week on what sites to include in the latest edition of the body’s world heritage list.

Among the dozens of sites under consideration is Murujuga, a remote area in the state of Western Australia that according to estimates houses around one million petroglyphs – carvings that could date back 50,000 years.

“It’s possibly the most important rock art site in the world,” said Benjamin Smith, a rock art specialist at the University of Western Australia.

“We should be looking after it.”

The site is located on the Burrup peninsula, home to the Mardudunera people, and under threat from nearby mining developments.

Making the UNESCO’s heritage list often sparks a lucrative tourism drive, and can unlock funding for the preservation of sites.

It does not in itself trigger protection for a site, but can help pressure national governments into taking action.

“It’s absolutely crucial that the Australian government takes it more seriously and regulates industrial pollution in that area more carefully,” Smith said.

Giant mining corporations have been active in the resource-rich Pilbara region for decades.

Australian company Woodside Energy operates the North West Shelf, an industrial complex that includes offshore platforms, undersea pipelines, and hydrocarbon processing facilities.

The project consistently ranks among Australia’s five largest emitters of greenhouse gas, according to figures from the country’s Clean Energy Regulator.

“These carvings are what our ancestors left here for us to learn and keep their knowledge and keep our culture thriving through these sacred sites,” said Mark Clifton, a member of the three-person delegation meeting with UNESCO representatives.

“This is why I am here.”

Environmental and indigenous organizations argue the presence of mining groups has already caused damage with industrial emissions.

They are “creating hundreds of holes in the surface. And that is causing the surfaces with the rock art to break down,” Smith said.

In an emailed statement to AFP, Woodside Energy said it recognizes Murujuga as “one of Australia’s most culturally significant landscapes.”

It added that, according to independent peer-reviewed studies, “responsible operations” could help protect the heritage.

Woodside had taken “proactive steps,” it said, “to ensure we manage our impacts responsibly.”

In May, the Australian government extended the operating license for the liquefied gas plant by 40 years, with conditions.

Australia insists that extending the plant – which each year emits millions of tons of greenhouse gas – does not tarnish a pledge to reach net zero by 2050.

But activists, saying the government is not taking their concerns seriously enough, demand that UNESCO make any decision to put the site on the world heritage list contingent on the government offering adequate protection.

Delegation leader Raelene Cooper said she wanted guarantees.

“There needs to be, at the highest level, safeguards and measures of protection,” she said.

The Australian government has sent a separate delegation to Paris, also comprising members of the region’s Aboriginal population, to push for the site’s recognition.

Australia’s strong presence at the heritage committee meeting “is a meaningful opportunity to support the protection and conservation of some of the world’s most important cultural and natural sites,” Environment Minister Murray Watt said.

Icomos, a non-governmental organization partnering with UNESCO, said it was urgent for the Australian government to oversee “the complete elimination of harmful acidic emissions that currently affect the petroglyphs.”

UNESCO is expected to announce its update to the list by Sunday.


Many Liberians take offense after Trump praises their president’s English

Many Liberians take offense after Trump praises their president’s English
Updated 11 July 2025

Many Liberians take offense after Trump praises their president’s English

Many Liberians take offense after Trump praises their president’s English
  • In a meeting on Wednesday, Trump asked President Boakai where he had learned to speak the language “so beautifully”
  • English has been the official language of Liberia since the country’s founding in the 1800s by freed slaves from the US

MONROVIA, Liberia: US President Donald Trump’s praise of the “beautiful” English of Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai drew confusion Thursday in the English-speaking African country and umbrage over what many considered condescending remarks.
“Such good English,” Trump said to Boakai during an event at the White House, with visible surprise. “Such beautiful English.”
Although English has been the official language of Liberia since the country’s founding in the 1800s, Trump asked Boakai where he had learned to speak the language “so beautifully,” and continued as Boakai murmured a response. “Where were you educated? Where? In Liberia?”

 

The exchange took place Wednesday during a meeting in the White House between Trump and five West African leaders, amid a pivot from aid to trade in US foreign policy.
Boakai’s government said it took no offense at Trump’s remarks, but other groups in Liberia described the remarks as an insult.
The White House declined to comment on whether Trump was aware that English was Liberia’s official language. Massad Boulos, the president’s senior adviser for Africa, stressed that Trump “actually complimented the language skills of the Liberian president,” and that everyone at the meeting was ”deeply appreciative” of the president’s time and effort.
Trump’s comments draw mixed reaction
Liberia has had deep ties with the United States for two centuries, stemming from the drive to relocate freed slaves from the United States. It started in the 1820s when the Congress- and slaveholder-funded American Colonization Society began sending freed slaves to its shores. In 1847, the growing Americo-Liberian settlers declared themselves independent, setting up a government to rule over a native African majority.

Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti said on X that “President Trump’s comment on Boakai’s ‘beautiful English’ simply acknowledged Liberia’s familiar American-rooted accent and no offense was taken.”
“Our linguistic heritage is deeply American‑influenced, & this was simply recognized by @realDonaldTrump. We remain committed to strengthening Liberia‑US ties, built on mutual respect, shared values, and meaningful partnership,” the minister said.
Foday Massaquio, chairman of Liberia’s opposition Congress for Democratic Change-Council of Patriots, said the remarks exemplified Trump’s lack of respect for foreign leaders, particularly African ones.
“President Trump was condescending, he was very disrespectful to the African leader,” Massaquio said, adding that it “proves that the West is not taking us seriously as Africans.”
Comments add to alarm over aid cuts
For many observers, Trump’s comments added to the sense of alarm and even betrayal over cuts in US aid to the African country.
The decision by US authorities earlier this month to dissolve the US Agency for International Development sent shockwaves across Liberia. American support previously had made up almost 2.6 percent of the gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development.
Liberians thought they would be spared from Trump’s cuts because of the countries’ close relationship. Their political system is modeled on that of the US, along with its flag. Liberians often refer to the US as their “big brother.”

Liberia's flag is patterned after the flag of the United States and is sometimes referred to as the Lone Star. 

Liberia was one of the first countries to receive USAID support, starting in 1961. The street signs, taxis and school buses resemble those in New York.
“Liberia is a long standing friend of the USA, therefore Trump should have understood that we speak English as an official language,” said Moses Dennis, 37, a businessman from Monrovia.
Condescension or praise?
Siokin Civicus Barsi-Giah, a close associate of former President George Weah, echoed the notion that Trump should have known that Liberians speak English.
“Liberia is an English speaking country,” he said. “Former slaves and slave owners decided to organize themselves to let go of many people who were in slavery in the United States of America, and they landed on these shores now called the Republic of Liberia.”
For him, the exchange was “condescending and ridiculing,” and he said: “Joseph Boakai was not praised. He was mocked by the greatest president in the world.”
Some observers, however, said that they believed Trump’s remarks genuinely were intended as praise.
“To some, the comment may carry a whiff of condescension, echoing a long-standing Western tendency to express surprise when African leaders display intellectual fluency,” said Abraham Julian Wennah, a researcher at the African Methodist Episcopal University.
But if one looks at “Trump’s rhetorical style,” the remarks were “an acknowledgment of Boakai’s polish, intellect, and readiness for global engagement,” he said.


Larry David teams with the Obamas for HBO US history sketch show for the nation’s 250th

Larry David teams with the Obamas for HBO US history sketch show for the nation’s 250th
Updated 11 July 2025

Larry David teams with the Obamas for HBO US history sketch show for the nation’s 250th

Larry David teams with the Obamas for HBO US history sketch show for the nation’s 250th

LOS ANGELES: Larry David will bring his grumbly sensibility to US history in a team-up with Barack and Michelle Obama for an HBO sketch show, the network announced Thursday.
The “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator and “Seinfeld” co-creator will act as executive producer, writer and star of the limited series consisting of six half-hour episodes, produced by the Obamas’ company, Higher Ground.
The show marks the 78-year-old David’s return to HBO just over a year after the end of the 12th and final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
His “Curb” showrunner Jeff Schaffer will co-write and direct episodes.
HBO did not give a premiere date, but the show is meant to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.
The series doesn’t have a title yet but it has a promotional logline: “President and Mrs. Obama wanted to honor America’s 250th anniversary and celebrate the unique history of our nation on this special occasion. ...But then Larry David called.”
And statements from some of the principals suggest the tone it will take.
“Once ‘Curb’ ended, I celebrated with a three-day foam party. After a violent allergic reaction to the suds, I yearned to return to my simple life as a beekeeper, harvesting organic honey from the wildflowers in my meadow,” David said. “Alas, one day my bees mysteriously vanished. And so, it is with a heavy heart that I return to television, hoping to ease the loss of my beloved hive.”
In his statement, Barack Obama said, “I’ve sat across the table from some of the world’s most difficult leaders and wrestled with some of our most intractable problems. Nothing has prepared me for working with Larry David.”
The Obamas got into the entertainment business by launching “Higher Ground” in 2018, saying they wanted to raise the prominence of new, diverse voices and expand the range of conversation in the industry. They signed production agreements with Netflix and Spotify soon after. Their involvement has had a high profile in some productions, but they’ve kept more of a background role in others.
Their shows and films have included the Oscar-winning documentary “American Factory,” the kids series “Waffles + Mochi,” and the movies “Rustin” and “Leave the World Behind.”
David, known for his sitcoms and stand-up, has some experience in sketch work. He was a writer and star on ABC’s “Saturday Night Live” knockoff “Fridays” in the early 1980s, and later wrote briefly for “SNL” itself.


Trump praises Liberian leader on English — his native tongue

Trump praises Liberian leader on English — his native tongue
Updated 10 July 2025

Trump praises Liberian leader on English — his native tongue

Trump praises Liberian leader on English — his native tongue
  • “It’s beautiful English. I have people at this table can’t speak nearly as well,” Trump said after hearing Liberia's President Joseph Boakai speak
  • Boakai, like most Liberians, speaks English — the country’s official tongue and lingua franca

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump complimented the president of Liberia Wednesday on his English-speaking skills — despite English being the official language of the West African nation.
Trump was hosting a White House lunch with African leaders Wednesday, and — after brief remarks from President Joseph Boakai — asked the business graduate where he had picked up his linguistic know-how.
“Thank you, and such good English... Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated?” Trump said.
Boakai — who, like most Liberians, speaks English as a first language — indicated he had been educated in his native country.

US President Donald Trump participates in a multilateral lunch with visiting African Leaders at the White House in Washington on July 9, 2025. (AFP)

He was facing away from the media, making his countenance hard to gauge — but his laconic, mumbled response hinted at awkwardness.
Trump, who was surrounded by French-speaking presidents from other West African nations, kept digging.
“It’s beautiful English. I have people at this table can’t speak nearly as well,” he said.
US engagement in Liberia began in the 1820s when the Congress- and slaveholder-funded American Colonization Society began sending freed slaves to its shores.
Thousands of “Americo-Liberian” settlers followed, declaring themselves independent in 1847 and setting up a government to rule over a native African majority.
The country has a diverse array of indigenous languages and a number of creolized dialects, while Kpelle-speakers are the largest single linguistic group.
Boakai himself can read and write in Mendi and Kissi but converses in Liberia’s official tongue and lingua franca — English.
 


Houses made from rice: Kyrgyzstan’s eco-friendly revolution

Houses made from rice: Kyrgyzstan’s eco-friendly revolution
Updated 10 July 2025

Houses made from rice: Kyrgyzstan’s eco-friendly revolution

Houses made from rice: Kyrgyzstan’s eco-friendly revolution

KYZYL-KIYA, Kyrgyzstan : It may look like an ordinary building site but Akmatbek Uraimov’s new house in Kyrgyzstan is being built with blocks of rice.
The eco-friendly alternative to conventional construction materials is booming in the Central Asian country, which is vulnerable to global warming and grapples with water shortages.
Before selecting the unorthodox material, Uraimov had researched other options, but concluded that the relatively cheap blocks made from rice husks were his best option.
“In terms of insulation, cost, as well as for builders, it turned out to be convenient,” said Uraimov, who lives in the village of Kyzyl-Kiya in southern Kyrgyzstan.
“People didn’t know about it. Now they see it, they are interested, they call,” he told AFP.
Nursultan Taabaldyev is one of the pioneers of the technology in Central Asia hailed as an environmentally friendly alternative to water-intensive concrete.
In a workshop in his home region of Batken, rice dust was billowing into the air from the husks, the rough outer shell of rice which is normally thrown away or burned.
Workers with protective masks over their faces were compressing the bricks before rushing to dry them, and helping clients load the finished blocks onto trucks.
They are “made of 60 percent rice husks. The rest is clay, cement and a chemical-free glue,” Taabaldyev told AFP.
When dry, they are as strong as cement thanks to silica naturally present inside the husks.
“This idea came to me as a child, while doing carpentry with my father,” said Taabaldyev.
The 27-year-old has already built “300 houses” in five years — first with sawdust, then with rice.
When he started, there was little robust research into the technology.
That is starting to change.
Several initial studies from various countries have highlighted the potential economic and environmental benefits of using rice blocks in construction.
Crucially, they require less cement, which is responsible for approximately eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to 2023 figures from the World Economic Forum.
In her village in a mountainous and arid region, Ykhval Boriyeva has also opted for rice blocks, praising their insulating qualities.
Her house remains “warm in winter and cool in spring” thanks to its low thermal conductivity.
“We save on coal. The walls retain heat and coolness well,” she said.
The material is also well within reach, with the Batken region producing a third of Kyrgyzstan’s rice crop.
“Rice waste is thrown into the fields, slowly burns, harms the environment, and is not used as fertilizer. So we decided to recycle it,” Taabaldyev said.
The problem of dealing with rice waste is even more acute in large rice producers like India.
There “31.4 million tons of rice husks fill landfills and cause environmental problems,” according to a study late last year published by Springer Nature.
“Farmers are happy for us to remove rice waste because its accumulation creates a fire risk” in barns if ventilation is poor, said Taabaldyev.
But as for the fire hazard to buildings made of rice, a regional official from Kyrgyzstan’s emergency situations ministry said there was “no particular danger.”
Farmer Abdimamat Saparov is another who has welcomed Taabaldyev’s innovative approach, pointing at the mounds of rice waste.
“After harvesting and drying the rice, about 40 percent of waste remains, which we have no way of processing,” said Saparov.
Such abundance makes the blocks cheaper than ordinary building bricks — another crucial factor in southern Kyrgyzstan, where the average monthly salary is around $230.
Cement is more expensive in Kyrgyzstan than anywhere else in Central Asia and the government is mulling adding it to a list of socially sensitive products, alongside bread and oil, that would allow it to dampen surging prices.
Having proved the concept in the mountainous region, Taabaldyev dreams of industrialising production, expanding internationally and eyeing up even more potential materials.
“I want to go to  Kazakhstan to make bricks from crushed reed and straw,” he said.
 


Turkiye’s youngest oil wrestlers keeping a 14th-century tradition alive

Turkiye’s youngest oil wrestlers keeping a 14th-century tradition alive
Updated 08 July 2025

Turkiye’s youngest oil wrestlers keeping a 14th-century tradition alive

Turkiye’s youngest oil wrestlers keeping a 14th-century tradition alive
  • The sport, which is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, sees wrestlers cover themselves in olive oil and try to press their opponent’s back to the ground to win the bout

EDIRNE, Turkiye: On a grass field slick with olive oil and steeped in tradition, hundreds of boys as young as 11 joined the ranks of Turkiye’s most time-honored sporting event: the annual Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Championship.

Held every summer in the northwestern city of Edirne, the event is said to date back to the 14th century as a way of keeping the Ottoman Empire’s fighting men fit and ready for battle.

The sport, which is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, sees wrestlers cover themselves in olive oil and try to press their opponent’s back to the ground to win the bout.

Alongside the men contesting, youngsters also don the iconic “kispet” leather trousers to embark on a slippery test of strength, skill and stamina under the scorching sun.

The boys are ranked in divisions based on age, height and build, with the youngest generally placed in the “minik,” or tiny, category. Under strict safety regulations, their matches are shorter and closely supervised.

Most young wrestlers train year-round at local clubs, often in towns where oil wrestling is passed down through generations.

While the youngest competitors aren’t wrestling for titles like “baspehlivan,” the grand champion of the men’s matches, their participation is no less significant as it is key to the continuity of a sport that holds deep cultural importance across Turkiye.

This year’s contest – the 664th in its history – saw 36-year-old Orhan Okulu win his third men’s title.

“My goal was the golden belt in Kirkpinar and thanks to my God, I succeeded,” Okulu said of the coveted prize.