Art & Culture | WPN World People News

An international team is to digitise and give free online access to one of the world’s most important collections of South-Asian language printed books. A pilot project for a major digitisation initiative – Two Centuries of Indian Print – was announced today by the British Library, with the support of funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the Newton Fund.

Director Sue Brooks and the creative team behind the film Looking For Grace, has been selected into the inaugural Platform program at the Toronto International Film Festival. Platform is made of up to 12 films of high artistic merit that demonstrate a strong directorial vision by significant international filmmakers.

From left to right: Ahmed Abdullah Abed Abed, Iraqi Minister of State of Governorate and Parliamentarian Affairs, Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, and Ammar Hikmeit Abdulhasan, deputy Governor of Salah-Al-Din

UK government has launched a consultation on plans to increase the maximum sentence for commercial-scale online copyright infringement from 2 to 10 years imprisonment on July 18. Proposals set out in the consultation will bring penalties for online offences into line with equivalent offences relating to the copyright infringement of physical goods.

Deliberately destroying and pillaging archaeological sites and trafficking art objects in war zones amount to « cultural genocide » and should be classified as war crimes, argued speakers in a public hearing held by the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee on Monday afternoon. MEPs and experts reiterated the need for harmonised international legislation in this area.

UK Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has confirmed the appointment of experts from across a range of industries to support the BBC Charter Review process on July 12.

The World Heritage Committee Tuesday approved the inscription of five cultural sites on World Heritage List: Rjukan-Notodden Industrial Heritage Site in Norway, Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus in Germany, Necropolis of Beth She’arim—a Landmark of Jewish Revival in Israel, The Forth Bridge in Scotland (United Kingdom) and San Antonio Missions in the United States of America.

The World Heritage Committee Thursday inscribed two sites in Yemen on the List of World Heritage in Danger: the Old City of Sana’a and the Old Walled City of Shibam.