Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts

Monday, October 11, 2010

Atlantis Reborn Again - a lost civilization?

Atlantis Reborn Again  -  a lost civilization?


LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 02:  A general view of...Image by Getty Images via @daylife
  The BBC Headquarters.




Atlantis Reborn Again  -  a lost civilization?




Horizon puts Graham Hancock's controversial theories about the past to the test, dissecting his evidence for a lost civilisation.



Although scientists believe they have categorically disproved the myth of Atlantis, the idea is more popular now than ever before. The latest exponent of the theory of a single lost source for all civilisation, is Graham Hancock. Although he doesn't call it Atlantis, his compelling ideas about a sophisticated society destroyed in a flood 12,000 years ago seem to be based on a reworking of the original Atlantis myth, whose survivors brought culture, religion, monument-building and civilisation to the rest of the world.



Graham Hancock offers various pieces of evidence to support his theory. He claims that the mysterious lost civilisation left its mark in ancient monuments, which he calculates were built to mirror certain constellations of stars. His hugely popular ideas have attracted such a wide audience that they stand to replace the conventional view of the past, which is based on scientific evidence that the civilisations of the ancient world were developed independently, by different peoples, on different continents.



Horizon journeys across the world to examine Hancock's evidence for a lost civilisation and puts his theory to the test.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/atlantisbornagain.shtml






Sunday, August 29, 2010

Colombia arrests major cocaine trafficker ...


 Colombia arrests 'major cocaine trafficker'...



Mr Makled says he is just a businessman A Venezuelan businessman suspected of being part of a major drug trafficking ring has been arrested by Colombian authorities.



Walid Makled Garcia, 43, who is wanted by the US on drug charges and Colombia and Venezuela on murder charges, was caught in the border city of Cucuta.



He is accused of trafficking 10 tons of cocaine every month to the US and Europe.



Colombian police have hailed the arrest as a significant success.



Colombian police chief Gen Oscar Naranjo said that Mr Makled is on a US extradition list as "one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers".



Also known by his alias "The Turk", Mr Makled is wanted by a New York court for allegedly being part of a group which regularly smuggles large amounts of cocaine to the US and European markets.



'Pseudo-businessman'



Do you really believe I am a criminal? I'm a businessman.



At a news conference in Bogota on Friday, Gen Naranjo said Mr Makled was a "pseudo-businessman" who used legitimate business as a front for his illegal activities.



He was also said to have links with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) Marxist rebel group, Gen Naranjo said.



But a handcuffed Mr Makled protested, saying: "It's nothing, nothing, just lies, lies... Do you really believe I am a criminal? I'm a businessman."



He accused Venezuela of planting the drugs on him so they could seize his companies.



Venezuelan authorities say they are also preparing an extradition request for Mr Makled, who they believe was responsible for two murders.



One of the victims, newspaper columnist Orel Zambrano, was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle in January 2009 after writing about drugs cases where the Makled family had been implicated.



In 2008, Venezuelan police arrested Mr Makled's three brothers after finding 300kg of cocaine on a family ranch.



The BBC's Jeremy McDermott says Mr Makled is also believed to have been involved in the murder in Venezuela in 2008 of Wilber Varela - also known as "Soap", one of Colombia's most powerful drugs traffickers.



Earlier this month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited Colombia to mend ties between the two neighbours.



Relations had grown cold after Colombia accused Venezuela of harbouring Farc rebels.