Loving life in Paris' Empire of the Dead

Paris, France (CNN) -- Beneath the streets of the City of Light lies a world draped in darkness and shrouded in silence. The tunnels are narrow, the ceilings are low and death is on display.

The skulls and bones lining the walls, arranged in a macabre fashion, make up what is known as the Empire of the Dead -- the Catacombs of Paris.

The catacombs snake below the city, a 321-kilometer (200-mile) network of old quarries, caves and tunnels.

Some Parisians are drawn to this largely uncharted territory -- a hidden network of adventure, discovery and even relaxation. They are known as 'cataphiles' and the catacombs are their playground.

It is a top-secret group. Catacomb entrances are known only to those daring enough to roam the networks on their own -- and break the law.

Entering unauthorized sections of the catacombs is illegal and a police force is tasked with patrolling the tunnels, and caught cataphiles risk fines of up to 60 euros ($73).

But for explorers like Loic Antoine-Gambeaud and his friends, it is a risk they are willing to take.

"I think it's in the collective imagination. Everybody knows that there is something below Paris; that something goes on that's mysterious. But I don't think many people have even an idea of what the underground is like," Antoine-Gambeaud said.

Rover Curiosity just hours from Mars

Cciap requests teachers to call off the strike while negotiating with Meduca.

 

The Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (Cciap), Irvin Halman requested to the teachers’ union this Aug. 11 to call off the strike they have since last Aug. 8 while negotiating with Ministry of Education’s (Meduca) authorities.

Halman said the imposition of the strike is not convenient for the students or for the education of the country, reason why the Cciap expects to find a solution to the educational conflict with the mediation of the Catholic Church and the disposition Meduca has of resuming the talks.

The Cciap’s Chairman stressed that the loss of classes will only affect the educational level Panama currently has which must to be solved so the Panamanian youth can take advantage of the progress the country is having.  

Meduca is planning to extend the school calendar until January 2013 because of the teachers’ strike. It is also planning the elimination of the mid-year break scheduled for Sept. 10-14 so students can recover the lost classes.  

The teachers are having a strike in order to demand the reinstatement of eight dismissed teachers among them, union leader Andrés Rodríguez who worked at Abel Bravo School in Colón Province.

-- Humanity's curiosity about Mars has led to an exciting event: the dramatic landing of an SUV-sized rover, set for 1:31 a.m. ET Monday.

NASA's $2.6 billion rover, Curiosity, will make its dramatic entrance into Martian territory in a spectacle popularly known as the "seven minutes of terror." This jaw-dropping landing process, involving a sky crane and the world's largest supersonic parachute, allows the spacecraft carrying Curiosity to target the landing area that scientists have meticulously chosen.

The spacecraft is "healthy and right on course," according to the latest update from NASA. Curiosity has been traveling away from Earth since November 26.

The vehicle, which will be controlled from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has a full suite of sophisticated tools for exploring Mars. They include 17 cameras, a laser that can survey the composition of rocks from a distance and instruments that can analyze samples from soil or rocks.

Meet a rover driver: His car is on Mars

If all goes according to plan, Curiosity's first stop will be Gale Crater, which may have once contained a lake. After at least a year, the rover will arrive at Mount Sharp, in the center of the crater. The rover will drive up the mountain examining layers of sediment. This process is like looking at a historical record because each layer represents an era of the planet's history, scientists say.