The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO has added 27 sites to its World Heritage List.

A UNESCO committee meeting in Quebec City, Canada announced the addition of 19 cultural sites from Kenya to the Pacific island of Vanuatu. Eight natural sites in countries including Yemen and Kazakhstan were also added during this year's meeting.

The final selections unveiled Tuesday include Baha'i holy sites in Israel and a 13th century Ottoman town in Albania.

Other sites include two 500-year-old towns in Malaysia, and six early 20th century apartment houses in Berlin.

World Heritage sites are selected based, in part, on whether they face immediate danger from threats like development or environmental degradation.

Officials in Peru said Sunday the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu would not be added to the World Heritage List because of Peruvian government efforts to protect the site.

The cultural sites added to the World Heritage List include sites in Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cuba, France, Germany, Iran, Israel and Italy. Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Vanuatu also scored selections.

The new natural sites on the list are located in Canada, China, France, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Switzerland and Yemen.

UNESCO's World Heritage List now has 878 sites in 145 countries.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.