UN agency bans lithium-ion battery cargo on passenger planes

Yahoo – AFP, 23 February 2016

The UN agency responsible for air travel standards has banned the transportation of 

lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft, saying they pose a serious fire 

hazard (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

The UN agency responsible for air travel standards has banned the transportation of lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft, saying they pose a serious fire hazard (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

Montreal (AFP) - The UN agency responsible for air travel standards has banned the transportation of lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft, saying they pose a serious fire hazard.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) says the temporary measure will last until it adopts new packaging standards in 2018.

Set to take effect on April 1, the ban will exclude lithium-ion batteries in laptops transported in airplane cabins by passengers or crew, the Montreal-based agency's governing council said in a statement.

"This interim prohibition will continue to be in force as separate work continues through ICAO on a new lithium battery packaging performance standard, currently expected by 2018," ICAO council President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said.

Although the ban is non-binding, most countries follow the agency's standards.

Airlines and pilot associations had requested the ban citing security reasons, the ICAO said.

Many airlines have already voluntarily stopped transporting battery shipments.

Two serious cases of overheating in lithium-ion batteries took place in January 2013, both on Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The first occurred aboard a plane parked in Boston. The second took place on an All Nippon Airways plane over Japan, forcing it to make an emergency landing.

Regulators grounded all Dreamliners then in operation for more than three months.

Earlier this month, the US Federal Aviation Administration warned against the risk of "catastrophic explosion" in lithium-ion batteries transported in aircraft cargo holds.

FAA tests showed aircraft fire-suppression systems are incapable of preventing such explosions, including in mobile phones and laptops.

Lithium-ion batteries are used in a large range of products from laptops to electric cars.

First 'Silk Road' train arrives in Tehran from China

Yahoo – AFP, 15 February 2016

Iranian officials applaud on the platform as the first train connecting China and

Iran arrives at Tehran Railway Station on February 15, 2016 (AFP Photo)

Tehran (AFP) - The first train to connect China and Iran arrived in Tehran on Monday loaded with Chinese goods, reviving the ancient Silk Road, the Iranian railway company said.

The train, carrying 32 containers of commercial products from eastern Zhejiang province, took 14 days to make the 9,500-kilometre (5,900-mile) journey through Kazakstan and Turkmenistan.

"The arrival of this train in less than 14 days is unprecedented," said the head of the Iranian railway company, Mohsen Pourseyed Aqayi.

"The revival of the Silk Road is crucial for the countries on its route," he said at a ceremony at Tehran's rail station attended by the ambassadors of China and Turkmenistan.

The journey was 30 days shorter than the sea voyage from Shanghai to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, according to Aqayi.

The railway will not stop in Tehran "as we are planning to extend the railway to Europe in future," generating more income for Iran from passing trains, he added.

The train will leave every month and the frequency will be increased if necessary, Aqayi said.

The train is run by private companies using existing routes, Iranian railway company spokesman Sadegh Sakari told AFP.

A container on the first train connecting China and Iran pictured upon its arrival

at Tehran Railway Station on February 15, 2016 (AFP Photo)

According to Iranian media, more than a third of Iran's foreign trade is with China, which is Tehran's top customer for oil exports.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani agreed last month to build economic ties worth up to $600 billion within the next 10 years.

It came during a visit to Iran by Xi, the first by a Chinese president in 14 years, and just days after sanctions against Tehran were lifted under a historic nuclear deal with world powers.

Xi's signature foreign policy initiative known as "One Belt One Road" is touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.

The Silk Road is an ancient network of commercial land and sea routes, named for the lucrative Chinese silk trade, that were central to business across the Asian continent connecting China to the Mediterranean Sea.

Related Article:

Iran, China vow tighter ties as Xi visits

More animals killed on the roads is ‘good news’ for wildlife

DutchNews, February 12, 2016

The fact that more animals are being killed on the Dutch roads is often cause for celebration, Maurice La Haye – a researcher at the Dutch mammal society Zoogdiervereniging – told the Algemeen Dagblad. 

An increase in accidents is a sign that conservation efforts are working and the wildlife population in the Netherlands is increasing, La Haye told the paper on Friday. 

An estimated ten million animals are killed on Dutch roads every year, but millions more survive, mate, and multiply. This is at least partly thanks to the Netherlands’ network of 1,725 green passages, viaducts, and walking ledges that allow animals to safely cross roads in certain places. 

Green passageways

Since the mid-1980s, the Netherlands has been building these structures in an effort to preserve dwindling wildlife stocks, including the endangered European badger, and several species of wild boar and deer. 

One of these ‘ecoducts’ – the Natuurbrug Zanderij Crailoo – is the longest such structure in the world. Some 50m wide and 800m long, the ecoduct takes animals safely over a railway line, roadway, business park, sports complex and a river. 

The ecoducts allow animals to expand their habitats past the barriers of roads, rivers and railways. And it’s been successful. In 1950, the total deer population of the Netherlands was around 5,000. Now it sits nearer 110,000, Gijs Van Ardenne, chairman of the Wildlife Collision Foundation Netherlands told the AD. 

Healthy and thriving

As well as an increase in sheer numbers, Dutch wildlife now appears to be in better health than before.

‘Ditches and canals are no longer the open sewers of last century, but fish-rich waterways,’ Hugh Jansen, of research institute Alterra told the AD. ‘Dead animals we find and analyse are in very good condition. They are top athletes who encountered a car.’

Dutch police are training eagles to take out drones

DutchNews, February 1, 2016

Dutch police are involved in training birds of prey to take out drones flown by criminals and terrorists. 

The police, counter-terrorism agency NCTB and the ministries of justice and defence are working on a range of measures to combat drones, broadcaster Nos said. 

Video footage released by the police at the weekend shows a bird of prey grabbing a drone in its talons and bringing it to the ground. The project is still in test phase but a spokesman said there was a ‘very real possibility’ that birds of prey could be used.

‘The bird sees the drone as prey and takes it to a safe place, a place where there are no other birds or people,’ project spokesman Marc Wiebes said. ‘That is what we are making use of in this project.’ 

Attack

‘Everyone can get hold of a drone, and that includes people who want to misuse them,’ police spokesman Michel Baeten told Nos. ‘It is a multifunctional piece of equipment and that means you can launch an attack with them as well.’ 

As well as birds of prey, officials are also looking into the use of high-tech detention systems and equipment which can remotely take over control of a drone. Another potential measure could be a drone which is programmed to fire at or capture an enemy drone. 

A decision on whether or not to use eagles to take out drones will be made in a couple of months.