“Tourism is today the third largest export industry in the world after chemicals and fuels,” Taleb Rifai said on Tuesday in a video message to the opening ceremony of an event held in Tehran to mark World Tourism Day, September 27. "Last year alone, 1.235 million travelers crossed international borders in one single year. By 2030, this 1.2 billion will become 1.8 billion,” Rifai added.

Over 30 events are planned across the Derry City and Strabane District as part of this year’s Community Relations and Culture Awareness Week between 18th and 24th September. The aim of the Northern Ireland wide initiative is to engage with the public and urge them to consider and embrace the growing cultural diversity that exists in our local community.

More than five centuries after King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled Spain’s Jewish population, the still-spoken language of the exiles is to be formally honored by the country’s leading linguistic authority. The Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) has announced plans to create a Judeo-Spanish branch in Israel that will sit alongside the 23 existing academies dedicated to the Spanish languages across Latin America and in countries such as Equatorial Guinea and the Philippines.

“In the area of security and defense, France and the UAE are fighting a common battle against terrorism and extremism, both on the ground and in the minds,” said Ludovic Pouille, the new French Ambassador to the UAE. [...] About the joint initiatives of France and the UAE, he said: “I am thinking in particular of the joint Franco-UAE initiative that led to the organization last December in Abu Dhabi of the international Conference on Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage.," the envoy said.

Protecting cultural diversity is vital for peacebuilding in the Middle East, the head of the UNESCO Irina Bokova said at Madrid Conference today. [...] “Violent extremists target both heritage and human lives – they target victims and minorities from all backgrounds, Shebak, Turkmen, Yezidis, Muslims, Christians..." [...] “Violent extremists target schools, because they know the power of knowledge to counter their rhetoric drawing on false visions of faith and history," Irina added.