Chew Jetty in Malaylsia’s George Town attracts tourists by the boatload. Historic homes are now commercial stalls branded with neon signs; one-time fishermen peddle T-shirts, magnets and postcards. The daily intrusion has clearly taken a toll: windows are boarded, “no photo” signs are pervasive, and tenants quickly vanish at the sight of a foreign face.

On Thursday, May 26, the first day of the G7 Summit, Mr. and Mrs. Abe accompanied the world’s leaders and their spouses on a visit to the Shinto spiritual origin of Japan known as Ise Jingu (Ise Grand Shrine) [...] to emphasize Japan’s spiritual core at a shrine noted for its natural beauty and not national politics like that of Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo that rattles nerves throughout Northeast Asia. 

Seoul’s Senior Public Diplomacy Group led 40 Korea-based bloggers, photographers and foreign correspondents on a tour of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday. The Senior Public Diplomacy Group, a Foreign Ministry-affiliated nonprofit organization, to promote the UNESCO World Heritage Site and find out how people from overseas saw it. Participants in the tour also got another chance to take pictures for a photo and essay contest run by the SPDG.

The annual UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting can be an exciting time for anyone who loves this planet's animals, plants and precious places.This year's meeting, which starts on Monday in Doha, Qatar, is shaping up to be very different story and it could actually prove quite an embarrassing affair for Australia. Firstly, the Australian Government is requesting that the World Heritage Committee remove World Heritage protection from ancient forests in Tasmania so that they can be logged.

Italy has more UNESCO world heritage sites than any other country in the world, and its art and cultural riches have drawn visitors for centuries. It also prides itself on being a culinary mecca, where preparing, cooking and serving meals is a fine, even sacred, art. And now that the country is in the deepest and most protracted recession since World War II, why not cash in on its reputation as a paradise for visiting gourmets and gourmands?