Lawyers

• Study: Human Activity, Deforestation Threaten More Than 100 Natural World Heritage Sites

  A new international quantitative study highlights the adverse effects of human activity and deforestation on the natural World Heritage Sites.

• Group junk Nickelodeon’s underwater theme park proposal in Philippines

  Environmental groups have shpwn their disapproval over Nickelodeon's plan of developing an underwater theme park in the serene beaches of Palawan.

• Japan, China agree to promote dialogue despite UNESCO dispute

  Senior officials of Japan and China agreed on Tuesday to pursue high-level dialogue to mend frayed relations, a Japanese government official said.

• Iraq Shi'ite militia take lead in campaign to reverse Islamic State gains

  Iraq's Shi'ite paramilitaries said on Tuesday they had taken charge of the campaign to drive Islamic State from the western province of Anbar, giving the operation an openly sectarian codename that could infuriate its Sunni population.

• Shi'ite militias advance on Islamic State insurgents near Iraq's Ramadi

  Shi'ite Muslim militiamen and Iraqi army forces launched a counter-offensive against Islamic State insurgents near Ramadi on Saturday, a militia spokesman said, aiming to reverse potentially devastating gains by the jihadi militants.

• Images show Vietnam's South China Sea reclamation, China defends own

  Newly released images show Vietnam has carried out significant land reclamation at two sites in the disputed South China Sea, though the scale and pace is dwarfed by that of China, a U.S. research institute said.

• South Korea brands Japan bid for heritage status for industrial sites 'historic distortion'

  South Korea on Thursday condemned as "historic distortion" an effort by Japan to register 19th century industrial facilities as U.N. World Heritage sites, urging full disclosure of Japan's use of Korean forced labor.

• U.N. condemns Islamic State's 'barbaric terrorist acts' in Iraq

  The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned what it described as the latest "barbaric terrorist acts" in Iraq by Islamic State militants, including the destruction of priceless religious and cultural artifacts.

• Eyeing deadline, France to back Palestinian state if peace talks fail

  France warned on Friday it would recognize a Palestinian state if a final international effort to overcome the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians failed, and proposed a two-year timeframe to end the conflict through a U.N.-backed resolution.