The 2026 China International Confucius Cultural Festival and the 2026 Nishan Forum on World Civilizations opened on Monday in Qufu City of east China's Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius, drawing scholars and officials from around the world.
Carrying the theme "Benevolence and Rituals for a World of Shared Harmony", the 21st UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy was awarded at the opening ceremony of the festival.
Meanwhile, the agenda for this year's Nishan Forum includes civilizational resilience and global governance, as well as AI and universal harmony.
The forum will aim to enhance global governance by drawing on insights from traditional cultures and to explore viable paths for civilizations to advance in the age of AI.
2026 Nishan Forum opens in Shandong, highlighting civilizational resilience
The Public Procurement Service of the Republic of Korea (ROK) announced on Monday that it will extend until the end of the year its market stabilization measures for goods affected by high oil prices, the country's Yonhap News Agency reported.
The measures, which are set to expire at the end of this month, are being extended due to the prolonged high oil price situation triggered by conflicts in the Middle East.
The targeted goods include asphalt concrete, which is highly sensitive to oil prices, and metered garbage bags, which are closely related to people's daily lives.
In March, the Public Procurement Service rolled out the measures for the aforesaid goods, exempting multiple suppliers of competition in the second phase of fulfillment of contracts to ensure fast delivery of the goods and easing price adjustment requirements so that firms can reflect costs in the prices of their products when raw material prices rise.
ROK extends market stabilization measures in response to high oil prices until end of 2026
