The massive implosion at the Yongbyon facility was intended to be a powerful public symbol of a move to end nuclear activities by the Communist nation once branded a member of an "axis of evil" by U.S. President George W. Bush.

CNN: N. Korea destroys nuclear reactor tower

The steel-and-concrete skeleton of the Echelon project has stood on the north Strip since 2008, a symbol of the initial promise and disastrous end of the Las Vegas construction boom.

WSJ: Asian firm buys site of stalled Vegas Strip casino

The Red Poppy is an internationally-recognised symbol of remembrance and has been so since the end of the First World War.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Red poppy 'less Christian' claim

Across the Champ de Mars from the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince is -or was - a tall statue to the maroons, the runaway slaves who are the symbol of Haiti's fight for independence at the end of the 18th century.

BBC: Haiti's history of misery

The homemade cone bore the banner "End Poverty" and represented "hope for all those for whom the Olympics has become a symbol of repression, eviction, greed and arrogance, " according to organizers The Counter Olympic Network.

CNN: Staying out in the cold: Olympic killjoys?

In the end, Mr Lukashenka and Russia's president, Boris Yeltsin, settled, once again, for symbol rather than substance.

ECONOMIST: Slavic symbolism | The

In the end, through his belief in our country and his love for our country, he became an enduring symbol of our country.

CNN: President Bush: 'Our whole nation grieves'