Asia

New Delhi: From Argentine cuarteto dancing to Yemeni musical poetry, Italian cooking and India's Hindu festival of lights Diwali, UNESCO is weighing 68 nominations to add to its intangible cultural heritage list. The United Nations cultural agency, meeting in the Indian capital New Delhi from Tuesday to Thursday, is examining the dozens of nominations from 78 countries. Musical entries span from Bulgarian bagpipes to Cuban son dance, Swiss yodelling -- the singing tradition of the Alpine nation's herders and shepherds -- and Ghana's highlife music, with its irresistibly toe-tapping grooves. Those approved will join UNESCO's list of cultural heritage, whose purpose is to "raise awareness of the diversity of these traditions" and to protect them for the future. "Each recognition of intangible heritage has ripples well beyond the immediate decision," Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a speech to delegates. "Your work not only evokes cultural pride and strengthens tradition, but impacts lives and livelihoods as well." The eclectic list includes Afghanistan's miniature art, Chile's circus traditions, Bangladesh's sari weaving and Iceland's swimming-pool culture. As well as Italian cuisine, Eypt's koshary -- a beloved street food staple of noodles, rice, lentils and fried onions, doused in a blazing hot sauce -- is also up for possible UN approval. And one of the oldest wines is up for nomination -- Commandaria from Cyprus, where production dates back 8,000 years. The meeting is being held inside Delhi's imposing walls of the Red Fort, a UN World Heritage Site. It is the first major event at the fort since a nearby car blast killed at least 12 people last month. One of India's most well-known landmarks, the Red Fort was completed in the 17th century and is considered to "represent the zenith" of creativity by India's Mughal rulers, according to its UNESCO listing. It is also the site of the annual prime minister's Independence Day speech. But a study found in September that the city's noxious air is turning the Red Fort black, with its sandstone wall steadily disfigured by a black crust, according to a study published in the Heritage journal by a joint team of Indian and Italian researchers.

Asia

Jakarta: A fire in a building on Tuesday in Indonesia's capital killed at least 20 people, police said. Police said the fire started in the afternoon when a battery on the first floor of a seven-story office building in central Jakarta exploded and the fire spread to the upper levels. "As of now, 20 victims have been retrieved, consisting of five men and 15 women," Susatyo Purnomo Condro, the Central Jakarta police chief, told reporters, adding that one of those killed was a pregnant woman. Susatyo said most of the victims did not seem to suffer from burns and most likely died of asphyxiation. He said the bodies had been taken to the police hospital for autopsy. Firefighters are still scouring the scene to find more people possibly trapped inside the building, he said. "We are still collecting data, but for now, we are focusing on identifying the victims who have been found," he said. Susatyo said that firefighters were focused on cooling the building due to intense heat and thick smoke on several floors. Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia where in 2023, at least 12 people were killed and 39 injured in eastern Indonesia after an explosion at a nickel-processing plant.

Asia

Islamabad, Pakistan: Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed the release of a further $1.2 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund to help its economic recovery and reforms programme, calling it evidence of "hard work" undertaken after two years of financial crisis. The IMF approved the funds at a Washington meeting Monday, bringing the total amount provided under two loan facilities -- a bailout fund and a climate sustainability fund -- to $3.3 billion. "Pakistan's reform implementation... has helped preserve macroeconomic stability in the face of several recent shocks" such as devastating flooding last summer, the fund's deputy managing director Nigel Clarke said in a statement. Economic growth is projected to rise to 3.2 percent in the fiscal year to June 2026, after an estimated 3.0 percent last year. Inflation meanwhile is set to average 6.3 percent this fiscal year, a huge drop from the 23.4 percent average in the year to June 2024. But Clarke also called for further overhauls and privatisations of state-owned firms, and continued investment in climate projects to reduce "vulnerability to extreme weather events". New efforts to combat endemic corruption are also needed, Clarke said, while welcoming a recent government-commissioned report on fraud as a "welcome step in accelerating government reforms". In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the new loans "proof that Pakistan is implementing the necessary steps for economic stability and growth". "Bringing the country back from the brink of default and putting it on the path of stability and development was a difficult phase, for which everyone made sacrifices." Pakistan nearly defaulted on its massive debt in 2023 before securing the IMF bailout, called the Extended Fund Facility, that is to total $7 billion in the coming years. As part of the deal it also pledged to tackle corruption including money-laundering and alleged financing of terrorism in the country. In November the IMF published a review conducted at the request of the Pakistani government, which found "persistent and widespread corruption risks embedded in a heavily state-dominated economy". It noted the "significant adverse effects on economic growth, investment, and public trust", urging "actions to advance the rule of law and the functioning of anticorruption institutions".