Few places in the world are as multifaceted as Macao, where diverse cultural and ethnic groups co-exist harmoniously in concentrated communities on a land area of slightly over 30 square kilometers.
The Historic Center of Macao, a world heritage site designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), offers a convincing testimony -- it bears witness to one of the earliest and longest-lasting encounters between China and the West.
"With its historic street, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings, the Historic Center of Macao provides a unique testimony to the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from East and West. The site also contains a fortress and a lighthouse, the oldest in China," said the UNESCO.
The narrow and elongated area is dotted with historic buildings, from the A-Ma Temple dedicated to the sea-goddess Mazu, to the Mandarin's House -- the former residence of a prominent Chinese historical figure, and the landmark Ruins of St. Paul's, once among the largest Catholic churches in the Far East.
From Mazu and Jesus to the Buddha, their followers may live next door to each other, and their sacred worshiping spaces may be visible within sight.
Macao has become a world-renowned tourism destination, where Eastern and Western cultures have co-existed for over 400 years.
Today, Macao, as a Special Administrative Region of China, has taken on a new look with various street decorations in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the region's return to China on December 20, 1999.
Witnessing blend of culture at Historic Center of Macao
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 45,805, with 109,064 others injured, the Gaza-based health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
In the past 24 hours alone, at least 88 people have been killed and 208 injured in the enclave, according to the statement.
According to Palestinian official news agency reports, Israeli military planes bombed multiple places, such as Jabalia and Gaza City in the north, throughout daytime on Sunday, leading to 14 deaths and many injuries.
The Israeli forces burned about dozens of houses in the Jabalia refugee camp, carried out strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, and used drones to strike a building in south Gaza's Khan Younis, the reports said.
The Israeli army killed a Palestinian security officer in the town of Meithalun, south of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian sources reported on Sunday.
The Ramallah-based Health Ministry announced in a press statement that it had been informed by the General Authority for Civil Affairs that Hassan Rabaya, 40, was killed by Israeli forces in Meithalun.
According to a Palestinian security source, Rabaya, an officer in the Palestinian security forces, was killed during a raid by Israeli special forces. The forces stormed the town and surrounded Rabaya's house amid an exchange of gunfire, the source reported.
Meithalun Mayor Hamad Rabaya told Xinhua that Israeli forces had surrounded the house, and an exchange of gunfire was heard nearby. The mayor also reported seeing Israeli forces transporting a body to their military vehicles.
Israeli occupation forces have detained at least 20 Palestinians, including children and former prisoners, in the West Bank over the past 24 hours, according to a joint statement from the Palestinian Authority's Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
In its own statement on Sunday, the Israeli military said its forces killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad company commander, Saad Said Zaki Dahnon, in an operation in Gaza's Jabalia, saying that the commander served as the deputy head of the group's rocket division and was involved in attacks against Israel in October 2023.
Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza rises to 45,805
