Travel firms to brief holidaymakers on their trip’s environmental footprint

DutchNews, April 12, 2016

A Fokker 70 takes off from Schiphol
airport. Photo jvanderwolf via
Depositphotos

Dutch travel firms are to start informing holidaymakers how much environmental damage their trip is doing by listing ‘holiday footprints’ in brochures and on websites, travel sector organisation ANVR says in Tuesday’s Volkskrant. 

‘We aim to eventually allow consumers to calculate their own holiday footprint via an app or website,’ ANVR spokesman Gerben Hardeman told the paper. ‘We are still a long way off that. But we are now working with a group of travel firms to determine how we can best inform consumers about what we know already.’ 

By helping consumers to realise the impact of their holiday on the environment, holidaymakers can ‘make a responsible choice’, he said. 

Currently, airline passengers can pay extra to offset the cost to the climate of their journey. The amounts vary from €10 to €100, depending on the way the potential damage is calculated by different airlines. 

The system used by the ANVR has been developed by researchers at several hbo colleges and 10 travel firms. It is based on confidential information from airline manufacturers, airlines themselves and the hotel website Booking.com.

Three Chinese passengers grounded for bad behaviour

Yahoo – AFP, April 11, 2016

Chinese authorities last year declared 11 types of action 'strictly prohibited' on
 flights and at terminals, including damaging airport security facilities and
assaulting crew members (AFP Photo/Greg Baker)

China has banned three passengers from major airlines for "uncivilised behaviour", state media reported on Monday, as the country seeks to instil manners in its increasingly well-travelled populace.

The three were blacklisted for hitting a checkpoint security officer with a can of milk, attacking airline personnel over a flight delay, and refusing to switch off a tablet PC during a landing, the China Daily newspaper said.

They are the first to be included in a system rolled out by the China Air Transport Association in February, and will be unable to book flights with five of China's biggest airlines for up to two years, it added.

Chinese authorities last year declared 11 types of action "strictly prohibited" on flights and at terminals, including damaging airport security facilities and assaulting crew members, according to the China Daily.

Such behaviour has frequently made headlines in the country with the world's worst track record for flight delays.

In January last year, 25 passengers were held by police for questioning after they fought with crew members over a bad weather delay and opened the emergency exits.

In 2013, an official who missed two flights lost his temper at the boarding counter and went on a rampage, violently destroying two computers and attempting to smash a window with a signboard.

In December 2014, a Chinese woman en route back to China from Thailand threw a cup of noodles full of boiling water at a Thai flight attendant and punched the cabin windows, threatening to jump out, in a dispute that began over seat arrangements.

An editorial in the China Daily on Monday said such blacklisting was "long overdue", and that the first punishments would warn other travellers to "toe the line".

"There is no reason for them to be respected when they do not show enough respect for others," it said.

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China to 'blacklist' its unruly tourists: report

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Dutch to push for EU-wide rules for self-driving cars Europe

DutchNews, April 6, 2016

Photo: Jarino via Depositphotos.com 

Dutch infrastructure minister Melanie Schultz is hoping to reach a deal with her European counterparts on standard rules for self-driving cars. 

Next week’s meeting of transport ministers in Amsterdam will mark the start of efforts to draw up cross-border rules to deal with technologies such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance systems and blind spot monitoring. 

‘The treaty of Vienna dates from 1968 and states a driver must always have control over his vehicle or – and you can see how outdated it is – his animals,’ Schultz told car magazine Autoweek. ‘We need to make new agreements.’ 

‘We need to see how quickly we can do this and how we are going to harmonise the rules,’ Schultz said. ‘And I want my colleagues who are not active in this – and there are a lot of them – to see the advantages of self-driving systems.’ 

Schultz has made self-driving cars a key part of her transport policy and wants the Netherlands to play a leading role in developments. 

Steering wheel

In January, trials of the driverless WEpod shuttle buses began in Wageningen on the university campus roads. The buses, which have no steering wheel or pedals, are electric and have a maximum speed of 25 kph. 

If the campus trials are a success, in June the shuttles will begin to use public roads, travelling a pre-programmed route between Bennekom and the Ede-Wageningen railway station. 

Schultz told Autoweek unified agreements are crucial in a single market. ‘It would be extremely irritating to have to reset the self-driving features in your car every time you cross the border,’ she said.

Only electric cars should be sold in Netherlands from 2025

DutchNews, March 30, 2016

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

The Dutch parliament has taken the first step in banning petrol and diesel cars from sale in the Netherlands from 2025. 

On Tuesday the lower house supported a motion from the Labour PvdA party to do all it can to ensure all new cars are sustainable from 2025, reports NOS. Despite strong opposition from the right-wing VVD, the motion passed and the cabinet must now come up with an action plan. 

Earlier this month, the PvdA launched a plan to ban gas-guzzling cars from sale in the next 14 years, and it was supported by parties including the Liberal Democratic D66, green GroenLinks and religious ChristenUnie parties. 

In 2013, the Dutch government signed an ‘energy agreement’ with around 40 organisations, agreeing to promote green energy, insulate houses and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 

But Halbe Zijlstra, leader of the parliamentary VVD party, has called the potential car ban unrealistic. ‘It seems crazy to me to go ahead with this plan. I believe we should withdraw from the energy agreement.’ 

Slashing vehicles’ emissions was also one pledge from the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris last year. Eight north American states and five countries (including the Netherlands) joined the International Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Alliance at the beginning of December, pledging to make all new car sales eco-friendly by 2050. 

Audience members and delegates cheers after the adoption of a historic

global warming pact at COP21 in Le Bourget on December 12, 2015

(AFP Photo/Francois Guillot)

Related  Articles:

Joyful ministers seal landmark Paris Agreement to stop global warming

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Dutch central bank calls for switch to sustainable fuels

Dutch Central Bank. Photo: Pbech via Wikimedia Commons

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet.

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Plane parts 'almost certainly' from missing MH370

Australia has concluded that debris found along the coast of Mozambique is likely from missing flight MH370. The discovery could provide a much-needed clue as to what happened to the Malaysia Airlines plane.

Deutsche Welle, 24 March 2016

Australia said on Thursday that the plane debris almost certainly belonged to MH370, which vanished without a trace two years ago along with its 239 passengers.

The first fragment was found earlier this month by an American explorer in Mozambique. After Seattle lawyer Blaine Gibson's discovery was publicized, a South African teenager who had also found a piece of the plane went public as well.

"The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370," said Darren Chester, Australia's minister for infrastructure and transport.

Confirmation of theory

Chester said the discoveries confirmed earlier theories that parts of the plane likely drifted toward Africa after supposedly crashing in the Indian Ocean.

The first major breakthrough in the investigation came when a wing from a Boeing 777 - the model of the MH370 plane - washed ashore on an island in the Indian Ocean.

Investigators are still hoping to locate the plane's black boxes, or flight recorders, which are likely somewhere at the bottom of the ocean.

blc/jr (AP, Reuters)

Europe-Russia mission departs on hunt for life on Mars

Yahoo – AFP, Kirill Kudryavtsev, 15 March 2016

A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft blasts off from

 the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome on March 14, 2016

(AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Baikonur (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - A joint European-Russian mission aiming to search for traces of life on Mars left Earth's orbit Monday at the start of a seven-month unmanned journey to the Red Planet, space agency managers said.

The Proton rocket carrying the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) to examine Mars' atmosphere and a descent module that will conduct a test landing on its surface had earlier launched from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe at 0931 GMT.

The spacecraft detached from its Briz-M rocket booster just after 2000 GMT before beginning its 496-million-kilometre (308-million-mile) voyage through the cosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

At 2129 GMT the probe and the lander, dubbed Schiaparelli, sent "signals confirming that the launch had gone well and that the space vehicle is in good condition" ESA said in a statement later Monday.

The TGO probe "is alive and talking," ESA said on Twitter.

The ExoMars 2016 mission, a collaboration between the ESA and its Russian equivalent Roscosmos, is the first part of a two-phase exploration aiming to answer questions about the existence of life on Earth's neighbour.

The TGO will examine methane around Mars while the lander, Schiaparelli, will detach and descend to the surface of the fourth planet from the Sun.

The landing of the module on Mars is designed as a trial run ahead of the planned second stage of the mission in 2018 that will see the first European rover land on the surface to drill for signs of life, although problems with financing mean it could be delayed.

Details of the ExoMars mission to be launched on March 14. (AFP Photo/Paz

Pizarro, Jonathan Jacobsen, Simon Malfatto, Laurence Saubadu)

'Nose in space'

One key goal of the TGO is to analyse methane, a gas which on Earth is created in large part by living microbes, and traces of which were observed by previous Mars missions.

"TGO will be like a big nose in space," said Jorge Vago, ExoMars project scientist.

Methane, ESA said, is normally destroyed by ultraviolet radiation within a few hundred years, which implied that in Mars' case "it must still be produced today".

TGO will analyse Mars' methane in more detail than any previous mission, said ESA, in order to try to determine its likely origin.

One component of TGO, a neutron detector called FREND, can help provide improved mapping of potential water resources on Mars, amid growing evidence the planet once had as much if not more water than Earth.

A better insight into water on Mars could aid scientists' understanding of how the Earth might cope in conditions of increased drought.

Schiaparelli, in turn, will spend several days measuring climatic conditions including seasonal dust storms on the Red Planet while serving as a test lander ahead of the rover's anticipated arrival.

The module takes its name from 19th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli whose discovery of "canals" on Mars caused people to believe, for a while, that there was intelligent life on our neighbouring planet.

The ExoMars spacecraft was built and designed by Franco-Italian contractor Thales Alenia Space.

A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft blasts off from 

the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome on March 14, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

'Need more money'

As for the next phase of ExoMars, ESA director general Jan Woerner has mooted a possible two-year delay, saying in January: "We need some more money" due to cost increases.

The rover scheduled for 2018 has been designed to drill up to two metres (around seven feet) into the Red Planet in search of organic matter, a key indicator of life past or present.

ESA said the rover landing "remains a significant challenge" however.

Although TGO's main science mission is scheduled to last until December 2017, it has enough fuel to continue operations for years after, if all goes well.

Thomas Reiter, director of human spaceflight at ESA, said in televised remarks ahead of the launch he believed a manned mission to Mars would take place "maybe in 20 years or 30 years".

Russian-American duo Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly earlier this month returned from a year-long mission at the International Space Station seen as a vital precursor to such a mission.

The ExoMars mission will complement the work of NASA's "Curiosity" rover which has spent more than three years on the Red Planet as part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission.

Curiosity, a car-sized mobile laboratory, aims to gather soil and rock samples on Mars and analyse them "for organic compounds and environmental conditions that could have supported life now or in the past," according to NASA.

Space has been one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and the West that has not been damaged by ongoing geopolitical tensions stemming from the crises in Ukraine and Syria.

Electric supercar wins young Croatian global fame

Yahoo – AFP, Lajla Veselica, 6 March 2016

Electric supercar wins young Croatian global fame

He's the name behind the world's first electric supercar, winning international plaudits for his ingenuity. But for Croatia's 28-year-old Mate Rimac, it all started as a hobby in his garage.

A keen techie since high school, Rimac was racing an old BMW (Swiss: BMW.SW - news) when he blew the engine and decided to turn the car into an electric one starting with pieces he bought on the Internet.

A decade later, his firm Rimac Automobili is becoming a global leader in electric vehicle technology, selling Concept One supercars for 850,000 euros ($923,000) each and giving a much-needed boost to Croatia's start-up scene.

"We want to be the best in the world in what we do and we are changing the world," Rimac told AFP in his factory showroom in the small town of Sveta Nedelja, near the Croatian capital.

The confident but modest entrepreneur was named by Politico Europe in December as one of 28 people across the continent who are "shaping, shaking and stirring Europe".

But mastering the complex technology of electric sports cars and winning financing was no easy task -- especially in a small country of 4.3 million people with no automotive industry.

Rimac formed the company in 2009 when he realised there was not much left of the original vehicle he had transformed in his garage, and the aim was to build an electric supercar from scratch.

"First (Other OTC: FSTC - news) we had to create a team, then the know-how by trial-and-error method to eventually become a company that could make a product," he said.

Motor show success

The company unveiled the Concept One at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, where nobody expected a small Croatian firm to showcase an electric car that could reach 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour in a staggering 2.8 seconds.

Last week at the Geneva International Motor Show, Rimac introduced the production version of the car along with a prototype of its "evil twin", the even more powerful Concept S.

"We can't really decide which Rimac creation we'd rather have, so we're off to get lottery tickets with hopes of buying both," said a review on motoring news site Autoblog.

Many expected Rimac's success would lead him to move somewhere else, such as Silicon Valley, Germany or Italy. But instead he has kept the business in Croatia, a country slowly emerging from six years of recession.

"I want to do it here... I'm stubborn," he said. "I think it is possible, I mean we are doing very well."

He plans to build another factory in Sveta Nedelja, while his employee numbers are set to double this year to 300. Their average age is 30, and many are young engineers straight out of university.

They build most of the supercar parts from scratch on-site -- from the body and chassis to the power distribution unit and batteries -- sticking to Rimac's philosophy of creating know-how and jobs instead of outsourcing.

"That's why we are growing so quickly and becoming experts in different fields," said Rimac, who won financing from three international investors in 2014 and is now in a second round of fundraising.

Two Concept One prototypes, including the red vehicle unveiled in Frankfurt, were on display behind Rimac as he spoke to AFP, while nearby engineers worked on three cars to be delivered to the United States, Germany and Italy within a month.

The firm is producing a limited quantity of just eight Concept One vehicles for clients who are both motor fanatics and technology afficionados -- and can afford the hefty price tag.

'World going electric'

The supercar may be Rimac's headline product, but he says it is only a showcase for the company's technology, from infotainment systems to battery packs, which aim to reach a far wider audience -- in ordinary cars, planes, ships, bicycles and wheelchairs.

"We are helping the world to go electric. Our business is to implement these technologies and help other industries to go electric," he said.

Spin-off firm Greyp Bikes, set up in 2013, produces high-performance electric bicycles that can reach up to 70 kilometres per hour. So far around 80 have been sold around the world for 8,500 euros each.

Rimac said the company was not directly affected by Croatia's problematic business environment, which sees companies burdened by excessive red tape and changeable fiscal rules.

But he stressed that a better framework was needed to help the country's young entrepreneurs, who only succeeded "either by themselves or despite everything".

"We are creating our own little island here with positive young people... We are trying to be one of the sparks in Croatia that will trigger the change that is necessary," he said.

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.

Dutch get ready for road trials of driverless car

DutchNews, January 28, 2016

Experiments with self-driving cars will take a new direction on Thursday when the WEpod trials in Wageningen take to the university campus roads. 

The WEpod shuttle buses, which have no steering wheel or pedals, are electric and have a maximum speed of 25 kph. 

If the campus trials are a success, June will see the shuttles begin to use public roads, travelling a pre-programmed route between Bennekom and the Ede-Wageningen railway station. The Dutch driving authority RDW has given official permission for the trials to take place. The project owners say this is the ‘test phase of the first pilot in the world of a self-driving vehicle on a public highway‘. 

The shuttle buses cannot be used at night or in bad weather and each will have a steward on board who will use a joystick control on two busy sections of the route. 

The WEpods project is a joint venture between the Gelderland university, Delft University, the TNO research institute and others. Gelderland province has put €3.4m into the project as part of its efforts to find flexible and more sustainable options than traditional regional bus services.