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Harrowing, previously unseen images from 1938's Kristallnacht pogrom against German and Austrian Jews have surfaced in a photograph collection donated to Israel's Yad Vashem memorial, the organisation said on Wednesday.

One shows a crowd of smiling, well-dressed middle-aged German men and women standing casually as a Nazi officer smashes a storefront window. In another, brownshirts carry heaps of Jewish books, presumably for burning. Another image shows a Nazi officer splashing petrol on the pews of a synagogue before it is set alight.

Yad Vashem, a Holocaust memorial centre, released the photographs on the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass. Mobs of Germans and Austrians attacked, looted and burned Jewish shops and homes, destroyed 1,400 synagogues, killed 92 Jews and sent another 30,000 to concentration camps.

The photos were donated to Yad Vashem by the family of a Jewish-American serviceman who obtained them while deployed in Germany. Photograph: AP

The violence is widely considered a starting point of the Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany murdered 6 million Jews.

Jonathan Matthews, head of Yad Vashem's photo archive, said the photos dispel a Nazi myth that the attacks were "a spontaneous outburst of violence" rather than a pogrom orchestrated by the state. Firefighters, SS special police officers and members of the general public are all seen in the photos participating in Kristallnacht. The photographers themselves were an integral part of the events.

Matthews said these were the first photos he was aware of depicting actions taking place indoors, as "most of the images we have of Kristallnacht are images from outside". Altogether, he said, the photos "give you a much more intimate image of what's happening".

Jewish books being carried away, presumably for burning. Photograph: AP

The pictures were taken by Nazi photographers during the pogrom in the city of Nuremberg and the nearby town of Fürth. They wound up in the possession of a Jewish-American serviceman who was deployed to Germany during the second world war. How he obtained the photos is uncertain; he never talked about them to his family.

His descendants, who declined to give his name, donated the album to Yad Vashem as part of the institution's effort to collect Holocaust-era objects kept by survivors and their families.

Petrol being poured over the pews of a synagogue. Photograph: AP

Yad Vashem said the photos help demonstrate how the German public was aware of what was going on, and that the violence was part of a meticulously coordinated pogrom carried out by Nazi authorities. They even brought in photographers to document the atrocities.

The Yad Vashem chairman, Dani Dayan, said the photos would "serve as everlasting witnesses long after the survivors are no longer here to bear testimony to their own experiences".

Despite Nazi censorship, the Associated Press was able to send pictures from Kristallnacht when it happened that were widely circulated in the US. The images included a burning synagogue and people cleaning up glass from vandalised Jewish shops.

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Unseen Kristallnacht photos published 84 years after Nazi pogrom

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Harrowing, previously unseen images from 1938's Kristallnacht pogrom against German and Austrian Jews have surfaced in a photograph collection donated to Israel's Yad Vashem memorial, the organisation said on Wednesday. One shows a crowd of smiling, well-dressed middle-aged German men and women standing casually as a Nazi officer smashes a storefront window.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63316362

Good article using the history of COP27 commitments as a set up for the next meeting, as well as using historic weather/temperature data to predict trends. - Matt

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BBC News Climate and Science

World leaders are discussing action to tackle climate change at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

It follows a year of climate-related disasters and broken temperature records.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is attending, having previously said he would not.

What is COP27?

United Nations (UN) climate summits are held every year, for governments to agree steps to limit global temperature rises.

They are referred to as COPs, which stands for "Conference of the Parties". The parties are the attending countries that signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992.

Why is COP27 important?

The world is warming because of emissions produced by humans, mostly from burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.

If temperatures rise 1.7 to 1.8C above 1850s levels, the IPCC estimates that half the word's population could be exposed to life-threatening heat and humidity.

Who will be at COP27?

More than 200 governments have been invited.

In a speech on Monday Mr Sunak is set to urge world leaders at COP27 to move "further and faster" in transitioning to renewable energy. He will say Russia's invasion of Ukraine "reinforced" the importance of ending dependence on fossil fuels.

Vladimir Putin is not due to go, although Russian delegates are still expected to take part.

Other countries, including China, have not confirmed whether their leaders will attend.

Hosts Egypt called on countries to put their differences aside and "show leadership" on the issue of climate change.

Environmental charities, community groups, think tanks, businesses and faith groups will also take part.

Where is COP27 taking place?

The conference is taking place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

This will be the fifth time a COP has been hosted in Africa.

However, choosing Egypt as the venue has attracted controversy.

Some human rights and climate campaigners say the government has stopped them attending because they have criticised its rights record.

What will be discussed at COP27?

Ahead of the meeting, countries were asked to submit ambitious national climate plans. Only 25 have done so to date.

COP27 will focus on three main areas:

Reducing emissions

Helping countries to prepare for and deal with climate change

Securing technical support and funding for developing countries for the above

Some areas not fully resolved or covered at COP26 will be picked up:

Loss and damage finance - money to help countries recover from the effects of climate change, rather than just prepare for it

Establishment of a global carbon market - to price the effects of emissions into products and services globally

Strengthen the commitments to reduce coal use

Some of the key phrases you will hear:

Paris accord: The 2015 Paris Agreement united all the world's nations - for the first time - in a single agreement on tackling global warming and cutting greenhouse gas emissions

IPCC: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change examines the latest research into climate change

1.5C: Keeping the rise in global average temperature below 1.5C - compared with pre-industrial times - will avoid the worst impacts of climate change, according to scientists

Do we expect any sticking points?

Finance has been long been an issue at climate talks.

In 2009, developed countries committed to give $100bn (£88bn) a year, by 2020, to developing countries to help them reduce emissions and prepare for climate change.

The target was missed and moved back to 2023.

But developing nations are also calling for payments for "loss and damage" - the impacts faced now.

How will we know if it has been successful?

It depends who you ask.

Following intense negotiations, the issue of loss and damage payments is on the official agenda of COP27. Developing countries will also be pushing to have a date set for when they might start to receive payments.

Developed nations will be looking for more commitment from large developing countries - such as China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa - to move away from coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels.

There are also pledges from last year's meeting - on forests, coal, and methane - that more countries may support.

However, some scientists believe world leaders have left it too late and no matter what is agreed at COP27, 1.5C will not be achieved.

Will Greta Thunberg attend COP27?

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is among the list of those who will not attend.

She recently described the global summit as a forum for "greenwashing", saying the COP conferences "encourage gradual progress".

Top image from Reuters. Climate stripes visualisation courtesy of Prof Ed Hawkins and University of Reading.

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BBC News Climate and Science World leaders are discussing action to tackle climate change at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt. It follows a year of climate-related disasters and broken temperature records. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is attending, having previously said he would not. What is COP27?

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An "exceptional" trove of bronze statues preserved for thousands of years by mud and boiling water have been discovered in a network of baths built by the Etruscans in Tuscany.

The 24 partly submerged statues, which date back 2,300 years and have been hailed as the most significant find of their kind in 50 years, include a sleeping ephebe lying next to Hygeia, the goddess of health, with a snake wrapped around her arm.

Archaeologists came across the statues during excavations at the ancient spa in San Casciano dei Bagni, near Siena. The modern-day spa, which contains 42 hot springs, is close to the ancient site and is one of Italy's most popular spa destinations.

The ancient Etruscan spa was developed by the Romans and visited by emperors including Augustus. Photograph: Jacopo Tabolli/Universita per Stranieri di Siena/EPA

Close to the ephebe (an adolescent male, typically 17-18 years old) and Hygeia was a statue of Apollo and a host of others representing matrons, children and emperors.

Believed to have been built by the Etruscans in the third century BC, the baths, which include fountains and altars, were made more opulent during the Roman period, with emperors including Augustus frequenting the springs for their health and therapeutic benefits.

Alongside the 24 bronze statues, five of which are almost a metre tall, archaeologists found thousands of coins as well as Etruscan and Latin inscriptions. Visitors are said to have thrown coins into the baths as a gesture for good luck for their health.

Massimo Osanna, the director general of museums at the Italian culture ministry, said the relics were the most significant discovery of their kind since two full-size Greek bronzes of naked bearded warriors were found off the Calabrian coast near Riace in 1972. "It is certainly one of the most significant discoveries of bronzes in the history of the ancient Mediterranean," Osanna told the Italian news agency Ansa.

The ancient spa was active until the fifth century, when the pools were sealed with heavy stone pillars, which the archaeologists removed. Photograph: Jacopo Tabolli/Universita per Stranieri di Siena/EPA

The excavation project at San Casciano dei Bagni has been led by the archaeologist Jacopo Tabolli since 2019. In August, several artefacts, including fertility statues that were thought to have been used as dedications to the gods, were found at the site. Tabolli, a professor at the University for Foreigners of Siena, described the latest discovery as "absolutely unique".

The Etruscan civilisation thrived in Italy, mostly in the central regions of Tuscany and Umbria, for 500 years before the arrival of the Roman Republic. The Etruscans had a strong influence on Roman cultural and artistic traditions.

Initial analysis of the 24 statues, believed to have been made by local craftsmen between the second century BC and the first century AD, as well as countless votive offerings discovered at the site, indicates that the relics perhaps originally belonged to elite Etruscan and Roman families, landowners, local lords and Roman emperors.

The discovery of the well-preserved statues has been hailed as the most significant of its kind in 50 years. Photograph: Jacopo Tabolli/Universita per Stranieri di Siena/EPA

Tabolli told Ansa that the hot springs, rich in minerals including calcium and magnesium, remained active until the fifth century, before being closed down, but not destroyed, during Christian times. The pools were sealed with heavy stone pillars while the divine statues were left in the sacred water.

The treasure trove was found after archaeologists removed the covering. "It is the greatest store of statues from ancient Italy and is the only one whose context we can wholly reconstruct," said Tabolli.

The recently appointed Italian culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, said the "exceptional discovery" confirms once again that "Italy is a country full of huge and unique treasures".

The relics represent an important testament to the transition between the Etruscan and Roman periods, with the baths being considered a haven of peace.

"Even in historical epochs in which the most awful conflicts were raging outside, inside these pools and on these altars the two worlds, the Etruscan and Roman ones, appear to have coexisted without problems," said Tabolli.

Excavations at the site will resume next spring, while the winter period will be used to restore and conduct further studies on the relics.

The artefacts will be housed in a 16th-century building recently bought by the culture ministry in the town of San Casciano. The site of the ancient baths will also be developed into an archaeological park.

"All of this will be enhanced and harmonised, and could represent a further opportunity for the spiritual growth of our culture, and also of the cultural industry of our country," said Sangiuliano.

This article was amended on 10 November 2022. The statues are believed to have been made between the second century BC and the first century AD, not "between the second and first centuries BC" as an earlier version said.

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'Exceptional' trove of 24 ancient statues found immersed in Tuscan spa

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Collection of bronzes dating back 2,300 years sheds light on transition between Etruscans and Romans