Burning Libraries

When Hay and Timbuktu became twin towns, one of the reasons for Hay being the winner of the competition that the people of Timbuktu started was books. Hay is, of course, the first Book Town - and Timbuktu has a unique collection of medieval manuscripts, brought from all over the Islamic world to the university in Timbuktu. Every scholar who went there had to agree to have his manuscripts copied, and the libraries of Timbuktu became a treasure house of knowledge.
The situation is a little bit different now. French troops are driving Islamic rebels out of the north of Mali - but these Muslims are rather less interested in knowledge than their predecessors were.
The libraries of Timbuktu have been burning.
There is a blog called Through the Sandglass, which is mainly concerned with sand around the world. The writer has even posted about sand on Mars (you can find a blog on every subject under the sun if you go looking for it!). He'd written about Timbuktu, and the way manuscripts had been buried in the sand to preserve them, before, and his most recent post is called "Vandalism is an inadequate word". He also links to a good article in the Huffington Post called "Timbuktu, ancient seat of Islamic learning".