In Japan, Nagasaki is commemorating 79 years since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city, killing an estimated 74,000 people, just days after the U.S. killed 140,000 people when it dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This is Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki.

Mayor Shiro Suzuki: “With no end in sight for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and fears that the violence in the Middle East may expand, we are currently faced with the possibility of losing the peace we have long taken for granted.”

This year’s ceremony was marked by a diplomatic row after Nagasaki’s mayor declined to invite the Israeli ambassador. In protest, U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and other Western envoys boycotted the ceremony.