For the next two weeks, organizers of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon are hoping the event will keep plenty of people in the port city, if not draw them from the capital. Incheon, about 25 kilometers west of Seoul and home to three million people, is ready to step out of the shadow of its giant neighbor and make a name for itself by hosting Asia’s biggest sporting event starting Friday.

They made it in Philly. But can they make it in L.A.? That's one of many questions surrounding the debut of the Budweiser Made in America music festival, which will take over downtown Los Angeles' Grand Park this Labor Day weekend. The concert, the brainchild of rap mogul Shawn Carter — better known as Jay Z — will be the first paid event at the 2-year-old park that stretches between City Hall and the Music Center. 

Australians and New Zealanders tend to get annoyed when their accents get mistaken for one another, but there's one thing they do share. Both countries can lay claim to hosting the world's friendliest city, with Melbourne and Auckland jointly taking top honors in a new survey. Another southern hemisphere destination -- South Africa's Johannesburg -- didn't fare quite as well, being named as the most unfriendly.

A few years from now, the average tourist won’t be found gliding down a Venetian canal or perched atop the Empire State Building. They’ll be in lounging by a pool in Dubai, or shopping at a massive mall in Singapore, or doing God-knows-what in Bangkok. This is according to the latest MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index, released last week.

A wide range of activities are taking place in the central province of Quang Nam from May 20-26 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Hoi An Ancient Town being recognised as a World Cultural Heritage site.  Hoi An ancient town was recognised as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO on December 4, 1999, and presented four awards in heritage management, protection and promotion.

Beverly Hills city council has condemned the government of Brunei for introducing new laws that impose harsh penalties, including death by stoning for homosexuality and adultery, and called on it to either change its laws or sell two of its most famous hotels. The council unanimously passed on Tuesday a resolution criticising Brunei, which has drawn fire for a controversial penal code announced last month. Brunei owns the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air, two properties in its Dorchester Collection.

We sometimes feel like L.A. gets no respect. This megalopolis of billionaire media moguls, extraordinary global food and influential SoCal culture is still often treated by New York media as a backwater of undiscovered delights. But at least the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper gets us.