An ancient village of mud houses in Mali has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list of endangered sites. Instability from Islamist militants in the West African country has kept preservationists from taking necessary measures to protect the village, known as the Old Towns of Djenné—a grouping of nearly 2,000 mud homes that have been inhabited since 250 BC.
Other additions to the endangered list include archaeological sites threatened by the conflict in Libya, and the 2,000-year-old historic center of Shakhrisyabz, Uzbekistan, where contemporary hotels and other tourist-friendly developments have begun encroaching on medieval neighborhoods.
