Video -Irish Journalist Karen Coleman visits Colombia's Cocaine Towns at Buenaventura on the Pacific Ocean

Irish journalist Karen Coleman presents the award-winning radio show the Wide Angle on Newstalk106-108 every Sunday morning from 10:00-13:00.
In March 2009, Karen visited Colombia to investigate how the armed conflict and illegal drugs trade were affecting the Colombians. During her trip she visited the seaport town of Buenaventura on Colombia's west coast. Its strategic location on the Pacific Ocean makes it one of the biggest cocaine export ports in the world. Karen also visited slums on the edges of the port. In one of the slums, she met Fr Ariel Ruiz who's trying to stop right-wing paramilitaries from destroying his neighbourhood.

Video: Tonga undersea volcano in South Pacific March 19 2009

Video shows simulated animation of Asteroid 2009 DD45- closest pass at 63,500 km on 2nd March 2009

This video prepared at 12.15 noon on 2nd March 09 shows simulated animation of Asteroid 2009 DD45 -closest pass at 63,500 km at 19:14 p.m. IST (13.44 UTC) on 2nd March, 2009. This is about a fifth of the distance between Earth and the moon. NASA estimates it had a diameter of between 21 and 47 metres. It was closest to Earth when it passed over the Pacific Ocean near Tahiti. It is similar in size to the one that struck Siberia in 1908 and levelled 800 square miles of forest.

Apophis is a giant asteroid (700 - 1000 feet in diameter). This is due to pass close to the Earth on Friday the 13th 2029. Until then scientists will be unable to determine if it will come back and slam into us in 2036. FU162 missed the Earth by just 4,000 miles on March 31, 2004.

SpaceX makes history as world’s first private space vehicle to reach orbit(September 28th 2008)

A US space company founded by an Elon Musk has become the first private venture to successfully blast a rocket into Earth's orbit. Falcon 1, a liquid fuel rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, took off from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday and successfully reached orbit more than 300 miles above the surface of the Earth carrying a dummy payload. Musk wants NASA to use his rockets.