europeans were amazed by catherwood's written descriptions of ancient maya cities. architecture, sculpture and painting -- all the arts that embellish life had flourished in this overgrown forest. who built this city ? in the ruined cities of egypt, the stranger knows the story of the people whose vestiges are around him. america, say the historians, was peopled by savages. but savages never reared these structures, never carved these stones. we asked the indians who made them ? and their answer was "quien sabe ?" -- who knows ? during the next century, other explorers revealed the amazing variety of new-world civilizations. a great city, teotihuacan, dominated the basin of mexico. atop a hill in the valley of oaxaca, sits monte alban, the royal center of a mighty kingdom. and in the forests and jungles of guatemala, maya city states once reigned over thousands of square miles. this is mesoamerica. at about a.d. 700, three great civilizations had emerged here. the realms of the maya. the power of the great city of teotihuacan. the zapotec kingdom of monte alban. for

city of myanmar, it's dark. blackouts are frequent, with the ancient power grid. >>> in yangon, the capital city of myanmar, it's blackouts are frequent, with the ancient power grid. but sources of light there are in the street cast an eerie yellow-orange hue. for almost 100 years under british rule, this was rangoon. in 1948 after helping the british fight off the japanese, there was a new taste for self-determination, the country gained independence. after a decade of instability, however, the military consolidated power and never let go. elections? they came and went. the results ignored, opposition punished, or silenced entirely. burma, now myanmar, where orwell once served as a colonial policeman, where he first had grown to despise the apparatus of a colonial state, make more orwellian than imagined, in a nation where even having an opinion could be dangerous. >> i am very honored to be here at this university and to be the first president of the united states of america to visit your country. >> morning in yangon, to nearly everyone's surprise, there have been some huge changes in recent months. >> diffic

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. >>> new year visitors to a buddhist temple in japan's ancient city of nara have been taking part in a tea ceremony with a difference, drinking from giant cups. the temple serves tea from the oversized drinking vessels on just a few occasions each year. the first time is on january 15th. among mixed tea in the huge cups using a long bamboo whisk after explaining the ceremony's history. the custom is believed to have started nearly 800 years ago, with a monk at the temple offering tea to visitors to wish for their health. tea leaves were a valuable commodity at the time. the largest cups are 40 centimeters in diameter and weigh five kilograms each. >> translator: the cup was very heavy. but it was a great experience. >> some participants needed help holding the cup while they drank. >>> that's "newsline" for this hour. i'm gene otani in tokyo. isthank you for watching here on "france 24." the foreign media, in the wake of the alleged affair of the french president, they are more interested in economic titles. egypt, therst day in vote happens tonight when they cast their ballot. gathe

healy years visitors to a buddhist temple japan's ancient city of now to have been taking part in a tea ceremony it was the difference drinking from giant cups the site id temple serves tea from the oversized drinking vessels on just a few occasions each year the first time is on january fifty a month makes tea in the future cups. using a long bamboo whisk after explaining the ceremonies history the custom is believed to have started nearly eight hundred years ago with a monkey at the temple offering tea to visitors to wish for their house tea leaves were of valuable commodity at the time. the largest cuts are forty centimeters in diameter and weigh five kilograms each the day. very happy. it was a great experience. some participants needed help in holding that while the drill. haha know and as beans lines of this tarantino tummy. the us. ha well still get great chance he's in the sand. from the latest and business leaders acknowledged explore the whole history and beauty of the corner of the word. it wasn't for him the europeans and airy. it needs to get close to the world with japan o

what they are returning to their neighborhoods and historic sides in one of the world's most ancient cities many of which were protected by an ascot almost completely in ruins now even after reports on the civilian struggle to bring their lives back to normal. we learned at aleppo international airport on what is believed to be the first civil airplane to touch down here in the last year it's a special government flight but authorities say regular ones are due to start in a month's time this flight means the return of life to this airport and the syrian army this northern syrian region has seen the most violent clashes during the almost three year long conflict leaving death and devastation behind it used to be four billion dollar factory where two thousand people were working now you can see there is left person is destroyed but while that is a common picture here it seems attempt for peace is slowly coming back this village outside aleppo has just come back under government control out of fourteen thousand residents who fled it after the rebels a tag one third the government says is now b

we wanted to be able to build a bridge between the writer and the reader in the same way the ancient city of atria was connected to the ocean by a series of canals. we also asked what was atria doing that wasn't're being done? we looked at the gaps and where when market opportunities presented themselves we had too think about, what would we be good at developing and publishing. atria self-published authors. queen of queen, taking dirty was a very opportunistic self-published book that presented itself to us. wrote an article for minnesota newspapers about stain removal, and published a little book. it came to our notice. we then took it over and republished and it started a category for her, and we have sold over -- sold over two million copies of these books. i don't think you could actually publish this book in the same way today because all this information is now available on the internet. so when once you needed to -- a book as a source for some information, you now -- having that information free exists elsewhere. something to think about. those of you who may not know that vince w

city of myanmar, it's dark. blackouts are frequent, with the ancient power grid.t there are in the street cast an eerie yellow-orange hue. for almost 100 years under british rule, this was rangoon. in 1948 after helping the british fight off the japanese, there was a new taste for self-determination, the country gained independence. after a decade of instability, however, the military consolidated power and never let go. elections? they came and went. the results ignored, opposition punished, or silenced entirely. burma, now myanmar, where orwell once served as a colonial policeman, where he first had grown to despise the apparatus of a colonial state, make more orwellian than imagined, in a nation where even having an opinion could be dangerous. >> i am very honored to be here at this university and to be the first president of the united states of america to visit your country. >> morning in yangon, to nearly everyone's surprise, there have been some huge changes in recent months. >> difficult time in transition is when we think that success is -- >> nobel prize

the sochi twenty pulteney olympic flame as of right in moscow seven days after it was in the ancient greek city of libya carried by russia's deputy prime minister dimitri cool with ak the flame traveled in a small amount into red square where president vladimir putin spoke of its meaning for the russian people in the limbic tillage the symbol of the world's primary sports competition of peace and of friendship. but he has come to russia. there are many marks the start of the longest tools relay in a limb take a street the same boy it's great that so many people have turned out to the start of the russian relay it looks like a lot of fun out there. in a minute. but it was. the stone that picked up in the end it was on my mantel piece and if that isn't a sign i don't know what it is. i knew i had to get down to red square and experienced atmosphere for myself fortunately they were having a two day event. so from sunny greece to a rather soggy moscow just at the very start of the torch is journey around the whole of russia i'm excited. the days first run there was paralympic star. who picked up tw

the ancient greek city ought to be founded in the seventh century bc is located in southern italy.t was added to the unesco list of world heritage sites in 1998. just part of this at it -- archaeological site is open to the public. the rest is in private hands and damaged by a chemical equipment used for agriculture. an environmental organization has launched a campaign to protect these lands and is looking to raise money to buy them. the project is deemed urgent because numerous structures have yet to be excavated and are in danger of being ruined by tractors and other farming vehicles. a campaign was started on crowd raiseg site indiegogo to funds to buy the land. the organization is offering web users the world over the opportunity to offer their say on the site. one artist will give away one of his original works for every donation over $1000. campaign is essentially social media based, and web users are asked to promote the initiative. i am katerina s. and 25 years old things to genuine research, which includes experimentation on animals. without research, i would have been de

. >>> and it is an ancient city that we read about in school, and today a large part of it is reducedter a massive fire. >>> an enormous fire tore through an ancient place and one of china's most important tourist sites. it happened before dawn in a town of southwest china which legend has inspired the mythical paradise of shangri-la. about 100 houses burned to the ground, and nobody was killed, but investigators are trying to figure out how the fire started. >>> and now the iraq where nearly 60 people have die d and 300 wounded in a sharp spike of violen violence. most of them were caught in the middle of fighting between militants linked to al qaeda. and most of it happened in baghdad province of anbar. michael holmes is there. >> in the case of ramadi, the e help with iraqi security forces, fig fighters from the al qaeda linked state of syria and iraq are still in the region, and they have been involved in many of the clashes and the incidents that have taken place so far this weekend. and also, video surfaced allegedly showing the tribal fighters clashing with the government force

twenty pulteney olympic flame isn't right in moscow seven days after it was first late in the ancient greek city of libya carried by russia's deputy prime minister dimitri call with ak the flame traveled in a small mountain to red square where president vladimir putin spoke of its meaning for the russian people. the olympic torch the symbol of the world's primary sports competition of peace and of friendship. but he has come to russia because there are many marks the start of the longest tools relay in a limb take a story the flame good it's great that so many people have turned out to the start of the russian relay it looks like a lot of fun to back. in a minute that couldn't be. but it was. the stone i picked up in and then it was on my mantel piece and if that isn't a sign i don't know what it is. i knew i had to get down to red square and experience them a space for myself fortunately they were having a two day event. so from sunny greece to rather soggy moscow just at the very start of the torch is journey around the whole of russia i'm excited.

morning than the silky twenty pulteney olympic flame of them by seven days off it was in the ancient greek city of libya carried by russia's deputy prime minister dimitri cool with ak if i travelled in a small mountain to red square where president vladimir putin spoke of its meaning for the russian people at the olympic torch the symbol of the world's primary sports competition of peace and of friendship. but he has come to russia if there are many.

sochi twenty pulteney olympic flame as of right in moscow seven days after it was first in the ancient greek city of libya carried by russia's deputy prime minister dimitri call with ak the flame traveled in a small mountain to red square where president vladimir putin spoke of its meaning for the russian people. the olympic torch the symbol of the world's primary sports competition of peace and of friendship. but he has come to russia. there are many marks the start of the longest tools relay in a limb take a story the flame good it's great there's so many people have turned out to the start of the russian relay it looks like a lot of fun and back. in a minute. couldn't be. but it was the stone i picked up in and then it was on my mantel piece and if that isn't a sign i don't know what it is. i knew i had to get down to read.

reunite a divided empire, constantine moved the capital from rome to a more strategic location, the ancient city and renamed it constantinople. >> an important part of what was going on here was jockeying at the imperial administration. clearly, by the end of the third century, christianity was a major force to be reckoned with throughout the empire, and something that had to either be suppressed or had to be integrated. galerius, constantine's rival, who was one of the major instigators of the persecution, favored the option of suppression. constantine and his associates favored the option of integration. >> constantine was a consummate pragmatist and a consummate politician. and i think he gauged well the upsurge of interest and support christianity was... was receiving, and so played up to that very nicely and exploited it in his own rule. >> when constantine came into power and started to favor christianity, he did do many things that plainly showed a support for christianity. he gave money for the building of churches, money for the copying of scriptures, he exempted clergy members from hav

. >> from the leaning tower of pisa to the ancient mian cities, and mount rushmore, a company is doingng of 3d images. >> the idea is to map the sites before they are lost. >> justin barton overseas the project which uses the scanner to record images of site. it can duplicate n image within a few millimetres. soon we'll have a scan. the underer came up with the idea of restoring sites after the destruction of the buddhas. scientists are particularly concerned about documenting the monuments in syria and egypt due to unrest. historyions say the technology is invaluable. the time we have natural disasters increasing. all sorts of transformation going on. to have the cultural heritage. >> here in california, the 21 missions from the spanish colonial error. so far five landmarks have been mapped, including this building, the oldest in san francisco. scientists mapped 100 landmarks, including the sydney opera house and mount rushmore, a difficult assignment. >> we had to d design a customised rig to lower the scanner over the faces and lower the scanner into position up in the eyes, under t

city in the parthenon. the parthenon was perhaps the finest temple in the ancient world.acidic air of our modern world, it still stands, with the help of ongoing restoration work. it was constructed in the 5th century b.c. and dedicated to the virgin goddess athena. seeing it today is awe-inspiring, but imagine how striking it must have looked when it was completed, nearly 2,500 years ago, in all its carved and brilliantly painted splendor. the adjacent erechtheion is famous for its porch of the caryatids -- six beautiful maidens functioning as columns. dedicated to athena and poseidon, this was one of the most important religious buildings on the acropolis. this, rather than the parthenon, was the culmination of the panathenaic procession. at the foot of the acropolis, the ancient agora, or marketplace, sprawls out from its surviving temple. this is where, for 3,000 years, athenians gathered. while the acropolis was the center of ritual and ceremony, the agora was the beating heart of ancient athens. for some 800 years, starting in the 6th century b.c., this was the hub

one of those example wet found in the city of isfahan, the ancient capital, a five to six-hour drivesouth of tehran. and there we met a young man whose name is roghani. he has an advanced degree in mechanical engineering. he used to work in the auto industry, his family business made parts for motors. sanctions had very specifically targets i ran's automobile industry. and so a lot of jobs had been lost and that industry has really sort of been contracted quite considerably. so this young man gets out of that business and he joins his father's shoe business. so he is now a mechanical engineer using his skills to design and manufacture new shoes. he makes these very cool blue wing tip shoes and things like that. >> so many americans have heard that the iranian government censors the internet. in your time there, what did you see? >> reporter: the internet is heavily regulated. the government has strinlgt controls over what sites you can visit and can't visit. if you try to access a site that is blocked, twitter or facebook, what pops up is this government website that says, this site

they had a respect by the shadow figures by the last of the great member of an ancient royal family from the imperial city of kyoto in japan and equally from china. neither was ever seen in public and each confine himself from behind his respective curtain a loving his diplomats and politicians to my name in public of the world's the so carefully crafted. no power had very much in that at all. the stakes are much higher and far more nuanced they make commitments simply into the balance the have the effect on the course of the economic development and vitality. a way to manufacture that next generation of the electronic device, we to build that power project or prospect for oil and coal or precious minerals. such decisions are based on a complex, less of the country risk. reliability and confidence and leadership at the top. and the consistency, honest and the continuity. russia with its leader heading into the third decade of all the fun challenge power is falling rapidly behind almost every score. putin is ostensibly the most powerful of every president today and the closest to function to the leaders of

ancient roman arena. while the arena's long gone, its oval shape is a reminder of the city's classical heritage. rs. today's attraction -- a flower market. piazza san michele also has ancient roots. it's hosted a market since roman times, when it was the forum. today it's dominated by the church of san michele. towering above its fancy romanesque facade, the archangel michael stands ready to flap his wings, which, thanks to a crude mechanical contraption, he actually did on special occasions. in its heyday, lucca packed over 100 towers within its walls. each tower was the home and private fortress of a wealthy merchant family. towers were single rooms stacked atop each other -- shop, living room, and then the kitchen. this one, lucca's tallest surviving tower, is famous for being capped with a bushy little forest. those making the climb are rewarded with commanding city views, all in the shade of its amazing trees. nearby, the church of san giovanni hosts nightly concerts celebrating the music of hometown composer giacomo puccini. woman: [ singing operatically ] steves: he was one of italy's grea

for seven days leading up to easter, nearly every city in andalucia gets taken over by ancient processions an impenetrable montage of confusing, yet deeply evocative images. figures in dark hoods loom up from every direction. spoke pots of incense, candles, religious imagery, and the crowds. flashes of goya, dimly remembered impressions of the inquisition. okay, watch this. these guys got to get their painstakingly crafted massively sized and incredibly heavy and cumbersome float through the door, down the steps, and out into the street. but the woman who escort the virgin wear the light all the way to the cathedral. pedro is another of fuen's brothers, the youngest, and when not working for an i.t. company in ireland, he does this. he carries crushingly heavy religious floats. they're called casteleros. and they devote months of training to this. >> that thing is huge. >> is it huge. this is very, very heavy. very heavy throne. >> the virgin float, about 3,500 pounds total, and precise dimensions that have to make it through door just so. the bearers have to kneel. crawl along with it on

the detroit from the 19th century, bound by these ancient, antiquarian and observe boundaries -- we have to readjust. we have to talk about cities in terms of metropolitan regions. we have to redefine our cities in terms of the demographics and economics of the 21st century. that is also a political battle. tavis: michael bloomberg is going out as a three term mayor of new york city. expectation in new york city that de blasio would do something about not just quality-of-life issues that bloomberg did a pretty good job on by and large, but on the issues of poverty and disenfranchisement and class. give me some sense of what you think he might be able to do , and is what he can accomplish their replicable around the country? >> you have been focusing for years now on issues of harvard he. the fact is -- on issues of poverty. it remains dangerous and insidious in our cities. the inequalities of wealth reappear in cities in drastic form. there is a new inequalities that is really dangerous. affordable housing -- under bloomberg, the mayor did a good job of doing all kinds of real estate development, but not enough affordable housin

this is one of the biggest tour attraction in mexico city, xt xochimilco, where people enjoy the beautiful canals used by the az techs. the ancient waterways hold many stories. nowhere is that truer than here, on the island of the dolls. it looks like a screen from a horror movie. hundreds of dolls strung up, hanging from trees. this man's uncle collected the dolls after finding the body of a young girl who drowned on the shores. >> translation: he found the dolls in the canals and in the trash. he started hanging them up to protect him and scare away the spirit of the girl. >> now every year more and more tourists with a morbid security visit the island. people like linda. >> translation: in mexican culture there's a lot of legends. people believe they can trap evil spirits. some come from columbia, australia and russia, brought by visitors from all over the world. this is not the only frightening folk tail with origins here. the most famous is weeping woman. a frightening tale performed been an indigenous woman who drowns her children in the canals, instead of surrendering to the spanish conquerers. translation: we have 17 comm