GLOBAL BREAKNEWS, HISTORICAL EVENTS AND FACTS

THE SUNKEN CITY OF HERACLEION - EGYPT: It was the most important port in Egypt during the last pharaonic period and one of the main commercial centers of that country. Until the sea swallowed it and it was forgotten. That is the story of Thonis, better known today as Heracleion, a city at the mouth of the Nile River that shone for its opulence and prosperity 2,500 years ago. Heracleion saw the fall of the last pharaohs and the beginning of the Hellenistic period, with Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt in the 3rd century BC. But about a hundred years later it was consumed by the sea, in an event that still remains a mystery. The city had not only been legendary for its port. It also held an important place in Greek mythology: it was the place that Helen of Troy and her lover, Paris, visited before the Trojan War. It was where the god Heracles - or Hercules according to Roman mythology - first set foot in Egypt. The latter gave the city religious importa...

Africa’s Known Oldest Dinosaur Found In Northern Zimbabwe. New fossil analysis has revealed that Africa’s oldest known long-necked dinosaur with jagged teeth and a long tail roamed Zimbabwe 230 million years ago. The dinosaur was named Mbiresaurus raathi. Dr Christopher Griffin, of Yale University in the United States, said the collection of bones resembles those of dinosaur remains from South America and India. News Agencies cite him as saying: Mbiresaurus raathi fills in a critical geographic gap in the fossil record of the oldest dinosaurs. These are Africa’s oldest-known definitive dinosaurs – roughly equivalent in age to the oldest dinosaurs found anywhere in the world. The oldest known dinosaurs – from roughly 230 million years ago, the Carnian Stage of the Late Triassic period – are extremely rare and have been recovered from only a few places worldwide, mainly northern Argentina, southern Brazil and India… When I found the femur (thighbone) of Mbiresaurus, I i...

Meet Harrison Okene: The Man Who Survived 3 Harrowing Days In A Sunken Ship 29 year Old Harrison Okene Served As A Cook On A Nigerian Tugboat Some stories touch your heart and make you marvel at the unbelievable things that have happened to people, and this is one of them. In 2013, Harrison Okene was working as a cook on a tugboat off the Nigerian coast. The boat was stabilizing an oil tanker, and had a crew of 12 people on board. An ocean swell came out of nowhere and slammed into the smaller boat, immediately capsizing it and sending it sinking into the ocean depths. With the boat went the entire crew, sadly locked in their rooms, as they sunk towards a sure death. A Lucky Coincidence May Have Saved His Life The rooms of the boat were locked as a security practice, as pirates often robbed the boats in that region. They locked the doors to keep the contents and the passengers safe. This worked to everyone’s detriment, as the entire crew were asleep in the...

History of Massachusetts The area that is now Massachusetts was colonized by English settlers in the early 17th century and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Before that, it was inhabited by a variety of Indian tribes. The Pilgrim Fathers who sailed on the Mayflower established the first permanent settlement in 1620 at Plymouth Colony which set precedents but never grew large. A large-scale Puritan migration began in 1630 with the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and that spawned the settlement of other New England colonies. As the Colony grew, businessmen established wide-ranging trade, sending ships to the West Indies and Europe. Britain began to increase taxes on the New England colonies, and tensions grew with implementation of the Navigation Acts. These political and trade issues led to the revocation of the Massachusetts charter ...

 Remains of a female 'VAMPIRE' pinned to the ground with a sickle across her throat to prevent her returning from the dead are found in Poland. The remains of a 'female vampire' pinned to the ground by a sickle across her throat and a padlocked toe to 'prevent her returning from the dead' have been found in a village in Poland. Discovered during archaeological work at a 17th century cemetery in the village of Pien, researchers also found the skeletal remains had a silk cap on its head, indicating she had held a high social status, and a protruding tooth. Team leader Professor Dariusz Poliński from the Nicholas Copernicus University in the nearby city Torun said the form of burial was unusual. He said: 'Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into the ground, burning them, and smashing them with a stone. 'The sickle was not laid flat but placed on the...

THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES I As a King, Charles I was disastrous; as a man, he faced his death with courage and dignity. His trial and execution were the first of their kind. Charles I only became heir when his brother Henry died in 1612. Charles had many admirable personal qualities, but he was painfully shy and insecure. He also lacked the charisma and vision essential for leadership. His stubborn refusal to compromise over power-sharing finally ignited civil war. Seven years of fighting between Charles’ supporters and Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians claimed the lives of thousands, and ultimately, of the King himself. Charles was convicted of treason and executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall. BIRTH OF CHARLES I Charles was born on 19 November 1600 at Dunfermline Castle in Fife, Scotland. He was the second son of James VI of Scotland/James I of England and the youngest of the royal family. ...