The Big Story: New 7 wonders of the world named in poll

From The Associated Press

LISBON, Portugal — Monuments in three Latin American countries were named among the new seven wonders of the world Saturday.

Brazil’s Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru’s Machu Picchu, Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid were chosen alongside the Great Wall of China, Jordan’s Petra, the Colosseum in Rome and India’s Taj Mahal.

The sites were selected according to a tally of around 100 million votes cast by people around the world over the Internet and by cell phone text messages, the nonprofit organization that conducted the poll said.

Among the places left out were the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; the Statues of Easter Island, Chile; Cambodia’s Angkor; Turkey’s Hagia Sophia; and Russia’s Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral.

The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, kept their status in addition to the new seven.

The campaign to pick the seven new wonders was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber. His Switzerland-based foundation, called New7Wonders, received almost 200 nominations from around the world. The list of candidates was narrowed down to 21 by early last year. Voting took place over the past six years, but gathered pace only in recent months.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, keeps updating its own list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 851 places. However, Paris-based UNESCO distanced itself from the seven wonders ballot, saying it reflected only the opinion of those who voted.

The six of the original seven wonders that have vanished are, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria in Egypt.