Scott-Clark, Cathy

On the night of November 26, 2008, Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists attacked targets throughout Mumbai, including the Taj-Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the world's most exclusive luxury hotels. For sixty-eight hours, hundreds were held hostage as shots rang out and an enormous fire raged. In the end, thirty-one people were dead and hundreds more injured. Courageous actions of guests and staff prevented a much higher death toll.

The Amber Room was commissioned by Frederick I of Prussia in 1701 and given as a gift to Russia's Peter the Great. It remained as one of Russia's, and mankind's, greatest treasures for two hundred years until the Nazis invaded Russia. The vast, intricately worked panels of amber--many times more valuable than gold-- were wrenched from their walls, packed into crates, and taken to Konigsberg on the Baltic coast where they remained until the Nazi surrender in 1945. The real Amber Room has never been seen since, although there is a replica in Russia today.