UNESCO: Rio de Janeiro is world heritage site

Rio de Janeiro's iconic landscape, marked by soaring granite facades that drop into the ocean and white-sand beaches that go on for miles, is now An official world heritage site, the UNESCO announced Sunday.

The designation mentioned several key features that have shaped and inspired the city's development: the Christ the Redeemer statue atop Corcovado mountain, the Botanical Gardens, established in 1808 by the Portuguese emperor, and Copacabana, a vast bay bracketed by granite hills and hemmed by a white-sanded beach. (AP)