Surrender of Japan

Surrender of Japan.
The surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, brought the hostilities of World War II to a close. Together with the British Empire and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. Japan's leaders privately made entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate more favorable peace terms. On August 6, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima. On August 8, the Soviet Union invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Hours later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb, on Nagasaki. Emperor Hirohito intervened and ordered that the Allies' terms for ending the war be accepted. Hirohito gave a recorded radio address transmitted across the Empire on August 15, announcing the surrender of Japan. The surrender ceremony was held aboard the battleship USS Missouri, at which officials from the Japanese government signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender (pictured).

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Almost There (album)

Almost There (album).
Almost There is the first studio album by the American Christian rock band MercyMe (singer and drummer pictured), released on August 14, 2001, by INO Records. Characterizing it as contemporary worship and pop rock, music critics praised the album's songwriting, especially on "I Can Only Imagine", but gave its sound mixed reviews, ranging from "fresh" and "innovative" to derivative. CCM Magazine cited it in the 25th anniversary edition of their 100 Albums You Need to Own list. "Bless Me Indeed (Jabez's Song)" was released as the album's lead single, but it underperformed on the charts. The second single, "I Can Only Imagine", boosted sales for the album, and crossed over to mainstream radio in 2003. The album peaked at number 39 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard Christian Albums chart. Billboard ranked it as the fourth best-selling Christian album of 2000–2009 in the United States. Both the album and the single "I Can Only Imagine" have sold more than 3 million copies.

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Westgate-on-Sea

Westgate-on-Sea.
Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town and civil parish in northeast Kent, England, with a population of 6,996 at the 2011 Census. It is within the Thanet local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Its two sandy beaches have attracted tourists since the town's development in the 1860s from a small farming community. The local St Mildred's Bay was the site of a Royal Naval Air Service seaplane base, which defended the Thames Estuary coastal towns during World War I. The town is the subject of John Betjeman's poem "Westgate-on-Sea". Residents have included the 19th-century surgeon Erasmus Wilson and former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple. The artist William Quiller Orchardson painted several of his best-known pictures while living in Westgate-on-Sea. The British composer Arnold Cooke and Eton headmaster Anthony Chenevix-Trench attended local schools as children during the early 20th century.

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Nyuserre Ini

Nyuserre Ini.
Nyuserre Ini was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, the sixth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. The younger son of Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II and the brother of the short-lived king Neferefre, Nyuserre probably lived in the second half of the 25th century BCE and reigned for more than two decades. He was succeeded by Menkauhor Kaiu, who could have been his nephew and a son of Neferefre. Nyuserre built three pyramids for himself and his queens and completed a further three for his father, mother and brother, all in the necropolis of Abusir. His temple dedicated to the sun god Ra was named Shesepibre or "Joy of the heart of Ra"; it is the largest such temple that survives from the Old Kingdom. He also completed the Nekhenre, the Sun Temple of Userkaf in Abu Gorab, and the valley temple of Menkaure in the Giza necropolis. The state-sponsored funerary cult established at Nyuserre's death lasted until the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom.