NEWSWORTHY
Brazil's National Museum said Wednesday that centuries-old Torah scrolls, considered to be some of Judaism's oldest documents, had been moved before a massive fire ravaged the place and gutted much of the largest collections of national history artifacts in Latin America. Questions about the fate ...
Bone fragments found in gutted, smoldering Rio museum provide some hope
Firefighters found bone fragments from a collection in the still-smoldering National Museum, an official said Tuesday, raising hopes that a famed skull might somehow have survived a massive blaze that turned historic and scientific artifacts to ashes. Flames tore through the museum Sunday night, and ...
Famed 'Death Railway' stirs Thai debate on UNESCO World Heritage application
As Thailand pushes for a notorious railway built by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II to become a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, local residents are debating whether its widely known nickname, the "Death Railway," should be used in the campaign. The debate ...
Refocus on persecution angle helped Japan set stage for latest UNESCO site
The dozen sites related to Japan's persecution of "Hidden Christians" have been awarded World Heritage status largely due to the fact that they show how the believers protected their faith at all costs, experts say. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee recognized that the "Hidden Christian Sites ...
Japanese government eyes Jomon Period sites for World Heritage designation
A government panel Thursday selected archaeological sites in northern Japan from the Jomon Period as potential UNESCO World Cultural Heritage candidates in 2020. The ancient sites in Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate and Akita prefectures, representing a culture that occupied the archipelago for nearly 10,000 years, will ...
UNESCO has decided to add 12 sites in southwestern Japan linked to the history of the country's persecuted Christians to the World Heritage list.
UNESCO adds Japanese sites linked to persecution of Christians to World Heritage list
UNESCO decided Saturday to add 12 sites in southwestern Japan that are linked to the history of the country's persecuted Christians to the World Heritage list. The sites include the Oura Cathedral in Nagasaki, the oldest surviving church in the country and which is already ...
Inuit hunting grounds in the Arctic circle were given UNESCO World Heritage status on Saturday, the U.N. agency announced at a meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama. The Aasivissuit-Nipisat area, which lies at the heart of the largest ice-free area in Greenland, "is a cultural ...
Rescuers comb smoldering ash in search for 200 missing near Guatemala volcano as death toll hits 85
Rescuers scoured a lava and ash ravaged landscape in Guatemala for a third straight day on Wednesday in search of survivors and victims of Fuego volcano's calamitous eruption, which has left an estimated 85 people dead and some 200 missing. Volcan de Fuego, which means ...
Japan drops bid for World Heritage listing covering southwestern islands
The government decided Friday to drop its plan to recommend a chain of islands southwest of the Japanese archipelago for inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage list this summer. The decision, approved at a Cabinet meeting, came after a UNESCO preliminary review panel opted against recommending ...
A government panel on Monday called for integrating a forest area in northern Okinawa, including land returned by the U.S. military, with an adjacent national park to better conserve the environment. The panel asked the Environment Ministry incorporate some 3,700 hectares of forest area partly ...
Japan to temporarily withdraw UNESCO World Heritage bid for Amami and Okinawa isles
The government plans to temporarily withdraw its proposal for the addition of Amami-Okinawa islands to the UNESCO World Heritage list, with a goal of resubmitting the application to the international cultural body next year after revamping it, informed sources said Wednesday. The move is expected ...
