The end of the Second World War was perhaps the strangest, most tragic phase of the conflict, as jubilation mixed with understanding of the true extent of the epoch-defining horror that had taken place during just six years.
It was also very complicated, involving many agonised decisions. After a conflict that broke so many norms, Allied powers had the difficult task of striking a balance between mercy and force to make clear that the Axis had well and truly lost. For the US, dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan was the answer. In Europe, Britain led campaigns to firebomb the German city of Dresden, sometimes known as the “terror bombing”, which almost totally destroyed the city in just three days.
Both strategies remain controversial to this day, largely because of the number of civilians killed and injured. More than 100,000 people are thought to have died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Upper estimates put the total number of dead in Dresden at 250,000.
As well as the human cost, the campaigns are also controversial for what they did to world heritage. Dresden was a medieval-era city of significant architectural and cultural importance. Constructed largely from wood, almost none of it survived. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were similar. Former US secretary of war Henry Stimson is credited with stopping the same happening to Kyoto, a city that today has 17 World Heritage Sites. He cited its cultural significance as a key reason for sparing it.
That one decision taken by Mr Stimson and the actions of those who have worked to preserve heritage over the years since are celebrated today, on International Day For Monuments and Sites, which was established in 1982 by Unesco, the UN’s cultural heritage body.
These individuals and organisations deserve this recognition. They protect not just buildings, but the memories associated with them and the identities they underpin.
In recent years, their work has been desperately needed in the Middle East. Conflict, particularly in Iraq and Syria, has destroyed many of the remnants of some of the world’s most ancient societies. Examples include the Temple of Bel at Palymra in Syria, which was blown up by ISIS in 2016, and, in Iraq, the 12th-century Al Nouri Mosque in Mosul. On a more mundane level, lax legal protection, air pollution, poor urban planning and theft affect them even more.
Editorials from The National
But progress is being made, and the outlook in 2022, while not perfect, is certainly better than it has been in recent years. Reconstruction is well under way in Al Nouri Mosque, and the destruction of the Temple of Bel has led to innovative projects to reconstitute and preserve the building and its artefacts digitally, techniques that can now be used around the globe.
That is not true for other regions, including ones whose worst days of destruction were thought to be behind them. Ukraine, the site of the biggest European conflict since the Second World War, has seven World Heritage Sites, and fighting is taking place in many of its historic cities, including Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv. Russia, a signatory of the Unesco 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and which experienced its own devastating destruction during the Second World War, has a legal and moral duty to protect it.
As conflicts rage, instability spreads and environmental crises intensify across the globe, it is important as ever to protect the many millions, if not billions of people who live under increasing threat. Today, it is also important to remember the preciousness of sites that have been comforting and inspiring the world both in war and peace, sometimes for thousands of years, and which today are equally threatened by the same dangers.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Read more about the coronavirus
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Pakistan World Cup squad
Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez(subject to fitness), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Junaid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain
Two additions for England ODIs: Mohammad Amir and Asif Ali
Fringe@Four Line-up
October 1 - Phil Nichol (stand-up comedy)
October 29 - Mandy Knight (stand-up comedy)
November 5 - Sinatra Raw (Fringe theatre)
November 8 - Imah Dumagay & Sundeep Fernandes (stand-up comedy)
November 13 - Gordon Southern (stand-up comedy)
November 22 - In Loyal Company (Fringe theatre)
November 29 - Peter Searles (comedy / theatre)
December 5 - Sinatra’s Christmas Under The Stars (music / dinner show)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
Anti-semitic attacks
The annual report by the Community Security Trust, which advises the Jewish community on security , warned on Thursday that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had reached a record high.
It found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.
The report detailed the convictions of a number of people for anti-Semitic crimes, including one man who was jailed for setting up a neo-Nazi group which had encouraged “the eradication of Jewish people” and another who had posted anti-Semitic homemade videos on social media.
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
Results
Stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
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MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')
Birmginahm City 0
Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The BIO:
He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal
He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side
By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam
Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border
He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push
His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE’s revised Cricket World Cup League Two schedule
August, 2021: Host - United States; Teams - UAE, United States and Scotland
Between September and November, 2021 (dates TBC): Host - Namibia; Teams - Namibia, Oman, UAE
December, 2021: Host - UAE; Teams - UAE, Namibia, Oman
February, 2022: Hosts - Nepal; Teams - UAE, Nepal, PNG
June, 2022: Hosts - Scotland; Teams - UAE, United States, Scotland
September, 2022: Hosts - PNG; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal
February, 2023: Hosts - UAE; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal
Results
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (Dirt) 1,000m, Winner: Hazeem Al Raed, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 85,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: Ghazwan Al Khalediah, Hugo Lebouc, Helal Al Alawi
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,400m, Winner: Dinar Al Khalediah, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi.
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Faith And Fortune, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Only Smoke, Bernardo Pinheiro, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: AF Ramz, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi.
8pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mass, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.
SHOW COURTS ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court (4pm UAE/12pm GMT)
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) v Heather Watson (GBR)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x4) v Karen Khachanov (RUS x30)
Andy Murray (GBR x1) v Fabio Fognini (ITA x28)
Court 1 (4pm UAE)
Steve Johnson (USA x26) v Marin Cilic (CRO x7)
Johanna Konta (GBR x6) v Maria Sakkari (GRE)
Naomi Osaka (JPN) v Venus Williams (USA x10)
Court 2 (2.30pm UAE)
Aljaz Bedene (GBR) v Gilles Muller (LUX x16)
Peng Shuai (CHN) v Simona Halep (ROM x2)
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x13) v Camila Giorgi (ITA)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x12) v Sam Querrey (USA x24)
Court 3 (2.30pm UAE)
Kei Nishikori (JPN x9) v Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x18)
Carina Witthoeft (GER) v Elina Svitolina (UKR x4)
Court 12 (2.30pm UAE)
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x8) v Ana Konjuh (CRO x27)
Kevin Anderson (RSA) v Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)
Court 18 (2.30pm UAE)
Caroline Garcia (FRA x21) v Madison Brengle (USA)
Benoit Paire (FRA) v Jerzy Janowicz (POL)
BlacKkKlansman
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: John David Washington; Adam Driver
Five stars
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
