The UN's cultural body Unesco has designated eight more geoparks around the world as it celebrates its 40th World Heritage Day.
Luxembourg and Sweden have geoparks for the first time and these take the size of network to 177 across 46 countries.
To become a geopark, an area must have outstanding geological heritage and use it to promote and benefit the community through conservation and sustainability.
Two of the newly designated sites are situated in Latin America and six are in Europe.
“It is much more than a label. It is a recognition of geological sites of international value,” Kristof Vandenberghe, the chief of Unesco's Earth Sciences and Geoparks, said.
“You cannot express everything in a monetary value. Sometimes people are discovering again and recognising again how connected they actually are to their landscape.”
In Brazil, the Serido Park and the Southern Canyons Pathways, the Caminhos dos Cânions do Sul, have been given special protection.
The Caminhos dos Cânions do Sul are characterised by Atlantic Forests, one of the planet’s richest ecosystems in terms of biodiversity.
“The site features the most impressive canyons in South America, formed by the unique geomorphological processes that the continent underwent during the break-up of the Gondwana supercontinent some 180 million years ago,” Unesco said.
“The Serido Park bears testimony to the last 600 million years of the Earth’s history and shelters one of South America’s largest scheelite mineralisations, an important tungsten ore, as well as basalt flows that resulted from volcanic activity during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.
“This geodiversity determines to a large extent the region’s unique biodiversity, especially characterised by the Caatinga. It is the only exclusively Brazilian biome, which means that much of its biological heritage cannot be found anywhere else on the planet.”
In Finland, the Salpausselkä has been added to the list.
It contains hundreds of lakes and ridges which consist of sediment deposited by glaciers.
Germany's Ries parkland in Bavaria, the site of a meteorite strike 15 million years ago, has been designated.
It is the best-preserved crater in Europe and the most intensively studied impact structure among the nearly 200 craters around the world.
In western Greece, the Kefalonia – Ithaca island complex, which consists of caves, sinkholes and underground streams, has become a geopark.
The site, which is the most tectonically active region in Europe, has literary significance as Kefalos and Ithaca are named in the Odyssey as the homeland of Ulysses, the hero of Homer’s poem.
They are also home to prehistoric Hellenistic and Roman monuments, medieval castles, Byzantine and post-Byzantine monasteries and traditional settlements.
Luxembourg's rural Mëllerdall region has been added, it “forms one of the most spectacular sandstone landscapes in western Europe and has been a tourist attraction since the late 19th century”, Unesco said.
The Carpathian Bend Area in Romania, which exhibits 40 million years of geological history, and the Platåbergens in Sweden, which consists of 15 flat-topped table mountains, have been designated.
Some of Sweden’s most interesting historical discoveries have been made in this area, including the first known stone church in Sweden, built by Christian Vikings in the early 11th century.
Owing to coronavirus restrictions, Unesco could not accept applications from Asia, Africa or the Middle East in time for this year's designation but is looking at projects for the creation of geoparks in these areas.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
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Labour dispute
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
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New Zealand squad
Tim Southee (capt), Trent Boult (games 4 and 5), Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson (games 1-3), Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner
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