Italy’s Dolomite mountains, Wadden Sea along German, Dutch coasts named world heritage sites

October 6th, 2009 Israeli police nab 2 for vandalizing ancient siteJERUSALEM — Israeli police say they have arrested two men for vandalizing an ancient desert ruin recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage site. The over 2,000-year-old ruins of the Nabatean city of Avdat in southern Israel were defaced earlier this week.

October 6th, 2009 Machu Picchu, Barcelona church on threatened listNEW YORK — Peru's Machu Picchu ancient ruins, Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona and a New Orleans elementary school are among the cultural heritage sites threatened by neglect or overdevelopment, a preservationist group said Tuesday. The World Monuments Fund's watch list for 2010 includes 93 sites in 47 countries, ranging from Phajoding, a remote monastery in Bhutan, to the bridges along Connecticut's scenic Merritt Parkway.

October 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Australian professionals will join hands with Indian experts at a workshop in Kerala to devise ways to protect heritage sites from natural and man-made disasters. The Australian heritage workshop Oct 10 will help the Kochi-based Centre for Heritage Studies in developing management plans to minimise such damages.

September 23rd, 2009 ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital will host the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Sep 28-Oct 2, WAM news agency reported Wednesday. Official delegations from 112 countries, which have signed the Agreement on Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and over 50 representatives from regional organisations and non governmental organisations will take part in the event.

September 20th, 2009 ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government is taking steps to promote and conserve the country's intangible cultural heritage, WAM news agency reported Sunday. On Saturday, the Intangible Heritage Department at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) published the first issue of a new magazine entitled "Intangible Heritage" on the Internet.

September 2nd, 2009 German court lets boy be named 'Djehad' _ holy warBERLIN — A Berlin court has upheld rulings in favor of parents who sought to name their son Djehad, a variation on the Arabic "jihad," or holy war. The superior court upheld two lower court rulings allowing the name on grounds that it is recognized for males in Arabic-speaking countries.

September 1st, 2009 URUMQI - China is planning to include four mountain lakes in the country's northwest on the World Heritage List, an expert said Tuesday. The lakes will be entered as a single unit on the list.

August 23rd, 2009 Man killed in fight at Dutch beach partyAMSTERDAM — Prosecutors say one man died and eight people were wounded when brawls and shooting erupted at a Dutch beach party. Prosecutors say the 19-year-old died at the Sunset Grooves party at Hoek van Holland, near Rotterdam, on Saturday night.

July 12th, 2009 Cruise ship spills oil in Norwegian fjordOSLO — Norwegian police say a large amount of oil has leaked from a cruise ship in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Geiranger fjord. Police spokesman Magne Toennoey says authorities have managed to contain the oil in one spot to prevent it from spreading and will try to pump it out of the water.

July 6th, 2009 UNESCO adds Dolomites to world heritage listMADRID — Italy's Dolomite mountains were among 13 new sites added to UNESCO's world heritage list. Other new natural sites added to the list included the Wadden Sea wetlands, an area rich in wildlife in Germany and the Netherlands; and northern China's Mount Wutai, a sacred Buddhist site known for its five flat peaks and a landscape with 53 monasteries.

June 26th, 2009 UNESCO names new world heritage sitesMADRID — Italy's Dolomite mountains and the Wadden Sea along the coasts of Germany and the Netherlands were among several sites added Friday to UNESCO's world heritage list. The U.N. agency's World Heritage Committee announced the additions, most of them nature-related, at a meeting in Seville, Spain.

June 22nd, 2009 UNESCO panel considers new World Heritage sitesMADRID — The Dolomite mountains in northern Italy and architectural works by Le Corbusier are among sites nominated to join UNESCO's World Heritage List at a meeting that began Monday in Spain. The World Heritage Committee will also consider taking the rare step of dropping a site, in Germany, because a construction project is encroaching upon it.

June 9th, 2009 Heritage Oil agrees to buy Turkey's Genel EnerjiCALGARY, Alberta — Canada's Heritage Oil Ltd. says it has agreed to buy the privately-held Turkish oil producer Genel Enerji AS for shares worth more than 3 billion Canadian dollars ($2.7 billion).

May 12th, 2009 Di Luca wins 4th stage of GiroSAN MARTINO DI CASTROZZA, Italy — Italy's Danilo Di Luca has won the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia in an uphill finish, with Lance Armstrong 15 seconds behind. Sweden's Thomas Lovkvist took the overall leader's pink jersey from Alessandro Petacchi of Italy on Tuesday.

May 8th, 2009 Diplomat: Somali pirates seize small Dutch shipNAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates seized a small Dutch ship Thursday in the Gulf of Aden, the latest hijacking in one of the world's busiest and most dangerous waterways, a Western diplomat said. There were no immediate details on the number of crew or their nationalities.