instruction:
In this task, you are given news articles and you need to generate a highlight, i.e., a short summary, with a maximum length of 10 lines.
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(CNN) -- For centuries, Timbuktu has existed in the Western imagination as a byword for the most exotic, far-flung place conceivable. Situated on the southern edge of the Sahara, it acquired a near-mythical status in distant countries for its fabled inaccessibility, and for the accounts of the dazzling material and intellectual wealth to be found there. Intrigued visitors continue to be drawn by the treasures that survive from the city's medieval golden age as an important academic, religious and mercantile center -- its great earthen mosques, and hundreds of thousands of scholarly manuscripts held in public and private collections. The city, today part of present-day Mali and known as the "city of 333 saints" for the Sufi imams, sheiks and scholars buried there, was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. But there are fears this carefully preserved legacy could be under threat from groups of armed rebels who have overrun the ancient city this month, in the vacuum left by retreating Malian government forces. Irina Bokova, the director general of UNESCO, has called on the groups to respect and protect the city's heritage. "Timbuktu's outstanding earthen architectural wonders that are the great mosques of Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, must be safeguarded," she said. "Along with the site's 16 cemeteries and mausolea, they are essential to the preservation of the identity of the people of Mali and of our universal heritage." Timbuktu, which has a population of about 50,000, is held by at least two rival groups who have been involved in a northern uprising against Mali's government, headquartered in the southern capital of Bamako. One is Ansar Dine, a Salafist Islamist group that seeks to impose Sharia law. The other, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), has been fighting for an independent homeland for the nomadic Tuareg people in the country's north, and earlier this month unilaterally proclaimed independence for the region they call Azawad. Read also: Rwanda genocide survivors cycle towards London 2012 . Following the overthrow of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi, many Tuareg who had been fighting for Gadhafi's forces reportedly returned to northern Mali, bringing their weapons with them. Last month, a Tuareg uprising triggered a military coup against Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure by officers dissatisfied with the government's efforts to put down the insurrection. But in the disorder following the coup, the rebels seized large areas of the north. Martin van Vliet, a researcher at the African Studies Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, said that while Timbuktu was no longer a city of vital economic or military importance, it stood out as an important prize for the rebels due to its symbolic significance. "The group that controls Timbuktu controls the symbolic capital of the entire region, because it's that well-known across the world. If you control that city, it will be known." Historically, Timbuktu's legend began to spread throughout the medieval world when the Emperor of Mali made his pilgrimage to Mecca through Cairo in 1324, and dazzled those he encountered with the gold his party carried. Early in the 16th century, reports of the city on the sand -- then part of the Songhay Empire -- filtered back to Europe through the Moorish diplomat and writer Leo Africanus, adding to the city's near-mythical status as an African El Dorado. Becoming the first European to reach the city subsequently became an obsession for Western explorers, many of whom perished in the desert sands. In 1824, the Geographical Society of Paris even offered a reward for the first European to accomplish the feat. Two years later, however, the person to do so met with disaster. Scottish explorer Gordon Laing survived an attack by Tuareg nomads en route to Timbuktu, only to discover on arrival that its wealth had greatly diminished since its heyday. Laing stayed a month in the city, then was murdered two days after leaving. During its golden age, Timbuktu was a thriving desert trading town at the heart of important trade routes for gold and salt, and a major intellectual and spiritual center, which played a key role in the spread of Islam in Africa. Islamic scholars traveled great distances to study in the city's university, which had 25,000 students during its zenith, and was comprised of three mosques. Read also: Sculpting peace in Mozambique . Constructed from mud bricks and wood in the distinctive Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, the Sankore, Sidi Yahia and Djingarei-ber mosques have been maintained and remain major attractions in the city today. The latter, Timbuktu's oldest, was built in the early 14th century, while the Sankore, during its heyday, was said to have the largest collection of books in Africa since the Library of Alexandria of antiquity. "Timbuktu in the 14th to the 16th century was an important university city where many manuscripts referring to knowledge of astronomy, economy, religion, mathematics, physics, and medicine were produced," said Lazare Eloundou, chief of the Africa unit for UNESCO's World Heritage Center. Comprising the other significant component of Timbuktu's heritage legacy, this immense trove of scholarly manuscripts -- estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands -- remains in the city in state and private collections. For generations, local families have protected the fragile manuscripts, some of which date from the 13th century, from invaders. Fearing that those responsible for the current unrest could loot or destroy the treasures, librarians and curators are making efforts to hide the texts or smuggle them out of the city to safety. While there have been reports that offices of local libraries have been looted by the gunmen, no significant losses of the documents have yet been reported, according to Eloundou. "We are still concerned by what could happen there in case there is a fight -- we're concerned about the risk of damage," said Eloundou. "We also don't know what the reaction of the Islamist groups will be with regard to the manuscripts." He said the city's heritage was vastly important to locals -- as a source of cultural pride, but also of income. Even if the city's treasures survived unscathed, they stood to lose out from the uprising as it could plunge the region into isolation once again. In addition, an estimated 200,000 people have been displaced by the uprising in the wider region. "The fact this part of the country has been taken by the Tuareg rebellion and Islamist groups does not allow any more tourists to visit, and the communities depend a lot on the tourism revenue," he said. "This is really going to affect their lives."
answer:
In medieval times, Timbuktu, in present-day Mali, was an important intellectual center .
Known for its great mosques and trove of manuscripts, the city has world-heritage status .
Islamist and Tuareg rebels have occupied the city in recent weeks .
UNESCO fears the important site could be destroyed or looted by rebels .


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(CNN) -- South Korea's Red Cross has offered $8.4 million in flood aid to North Korea, the Yonhap news agency said Tuesday. The aid includes medical kits, food and emergency supplies, South Korea Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters. The Red Cross is Seoul's main channel for humanitarian aid to North Korea. The communist nation has not replied to the offer, Chun was quoted as saying. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies blamed a flash flood for displacing more than 23,000 people in a North Korean province bordering China. "The whole city of Sinuiju with its 350,000 residents is without piped drinking water at the moment because the main pumping station was inundated," said Henk Schipper, Red Cross water and sanitation delegate in North Korea. In August, nearly 260,000 people in northeastern China and North Korea fled their homes as heavy rains caused the Yalu River to overflow its banks, state news outlets in those countries reported Sunday. Tensions between North Korea and its southern neighbor have escalated since a May report from Seoul blamed North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. The report, whose findings have been endorsed by the United States, alleged that a North Korean sub sank the ship, the Cheonan, with a torpedo, killing 46 sailors. North Korea denies it was responsible for the sinking.
answer:
The Red Cross is South Korea's channel for aid to North Korea .
The communist nation has not replied to the offer .
In August, heavy rains caused rivers to swell over .


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So many hours of talks, so little progress. Despite two days of intensive negotiations, Iran and six world powers "remain far apart" on Tehran's controversial nuclear program, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Saturday in Kazakhstan. Her words dashed hopes that the deadlock might be broken after what had seemed more promising talks back in February, also in the Kazakh city of Almaty. Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, acknowledged there was "some distance" between Iran and the six powers but seemed more positive in his assessment. "Good negotiations" had taken place in this round of talks, Jalili said, which he described as "substantive, expansive and comprehensive." But in a sign that progress was limited, no date or location has been set for new talks. This round was just the latest in a decade-long attempt to resolve differences between Iran and the international community over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The first day of talks proved inconclusive. By the end of Saturday, despite "long and intensive discussions," the two sides were no closer on agreeing on confidence-building measures, Ashton told reporters. "It became clear that the positions of (the world powers) and Iran remain far apart on the substance," she said. "We therefore agreed all sides will go back to their capitals to evaluate where we stand on the process." Ashton said she would be in touch with Jalili "very soon in order to see how to go forward." While Ashton said these were the most detailed discussions that the two sides had had, with "a real back-and-forward between us," she also made clear that she was disappointed by the lack of progress made. A senior U.S. administration official said Jalili directly engaged him in a 30- to 40-minute question-and-answer exchange in the middle of Saturday's plenary meeting. "The quality of the discussion was different because there was this back and forth, this Q and A," the official said. "We just went back and forth with him." Still, the official expressed disappointment, saying that Iran had "put forward some minimal ideas and expected great return, and quite disproportionate return." Britain, too, took a hard line after the talks. "The UK went to Kazakhstan ready with our partners to negotiate in good faith with Iran," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement. "Iran's current position falls far short of what is needed to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough." When negotiators from the diplomatic bloc of six nations -- the United States, France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia -- last sat down with Iran's envoy in Almaty in February, they delivered what they characterized as a "fair and balanced offer" to defuse tensions over the Iranian nuclear program. Instead of delivering the "concrete response" Western governments had expected, Iran announced it was making its own proposal to the negotiating parties. 'Two-way street' Jalili said Iran had tabled a proposal based on the discussions in Almaty and a previous meeting in Moscow -- and that it is now down to the six world powers to respond and show their "willingness to take appropriate confidence-building steps in the future." He repeated Tehran's position that Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear program. "Creating confidence is a two-way street," he said. Now, after many proposals put forward by Iran, it's the turn of the six world powers to respond, he said. Jalili's comments on Iran's enrichment of uranium -- one of the most contentious issues at stake -- reaffirmed Tehran's right to pursue that track but also appeared to leave the door open to some kind of negotiation. "Enrichment is part of the rights of the Iranian people, whether we're talking about 5% or 20% ... however, this can be an issue that can create further confidence," he said. Jalili added that "hostile behaviors" directed toward Iran were detrimental to building confidence. This was presumably a reference to the draconian sanctions imposed by Western governments against Tehran, which are crippling the Iranian economy. Oil exports have plummeted over the past several years, as has the value of Iran's currency. "The purpose of any sanctions is to put pressure in order to get this process to work," said Ashton. "And I believe we should continue to work as hard as we possibly can to make sure we are successful and we reach a satisfactory resolution." Questions fly around any plan to attack Iran . The so-called P5+1 governments are demanding that Iran come clean about its nuclear program, which they suspect includes covert development of nuclear weapons. Iran consistently denies those charges, arguing it is enriching uranium and building nuclear reactors only for peaceful civilian energy needs. Details of last February's offer from the six countries represented across the negotiating table from Iran have not yet been made public. Last month, technical experts from Iran and the P5+1 countries met for more than 12 hours in Istanbul to discuss the proposal. Iran's deputy chief negotiator said the Iranian proposal tabled Friday was based on a previous PowerPoint presentation that the Iranian delegation submitted during a round of talks in Moscow in June 2012. "The Islamic Republic of Iran proposed a practical method to implement the Moscow plan in a smaller scale," Ali Baghery said in a statement issued to journalists Friday. The offer, he said, was aimed at establishing "a new bedrock of cooperation." A call for 'concrete actions' Washington has vowed it will continue to put pressure on Tehran. "As long as Iran does not take concrete steps to address the concerns of the international community about its nuclear program, the dual-track process continues. And that pressure only will increase if Iran does not begin to take concrete steps and concrete actions," said a senior U.S. administration official in a telephone briefing to journalists this week. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. Iran argues that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, development of nuclear technology is an inalienable right. On the eve of the two-day talks in Kazakhstan, Jalili repeated this position in a speech given at a university in Almaty. "It is the right of the Iranian people to peaceful nuclear energy and most importantly to enrichment," Jalili said. A report recently published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace concluded that sanctions are unlikely to force Tehran to give up its nuclear program. The report, titled "Iran's Nuclear Odyssey," highlighted the fact that Tehran's quest for a nuclear program has been going on for more than half a century, beginning under the rule of the pro-American shah, Reza Pahlavi, and continuing under the revolutionary Islamic republic that overthrew him. "The program's cost -- measured in lost foreign investment and oil revenue -- has been well over $100 billion," Carnegie said.
answer:

"Iran's current position falls far short of what is needed," says British official .
Iran has the right to enrich uranium, but negotiation may be possible, Saeed Jalili suggests .
It's clear the two sides "remain far apart" on substance, EU foreign policy chief says .
No date or location is agreed upon for new talks between world powers and Iran .