Australia pledges $704 million to save Great Barrier Reef
The Australian government has pledged to spend another 1 billion Australian dollars ($704 million) over nine years on improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef after stalling a UNESCO decision on downgrading the natural wonderโs World Heritage status.
Kosovo's rival communities reach deal on World Heritage site
PRISTINA โ Italian mediation on Thursday helped resolve a long-running dispute between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government and the Serb minority, allowing a highway project that will bypass a historic Christian Orthodox monastery listed as an endangered World Heritage site. Serb Orthodox leaders long protested works to greatly widen a road brushing the 14th Century Visoki Decani Monastery โ one of Kosovo's top mediaeval Serbian monuments. They also cited a series of grenade attacks against the monastery spurred by ethnic hatred after Kosovo's 1998-99 war. The deal agreed Thursday will allow construction of a new highway that bypasses the UNESCO World Heritage site and leads to the resort and to neighboring Montenegro. Visoki Decani Monastery was founded by Serbian King Saint Stefan Decanski, who was buried there after being killed by his son's followers.