China Says Its High-Speed Railway Package for Indonesia Is ‘More Competitive’ Than Japan’s

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite & Novy Lumanauw, Aug 10, 2015

A high-speed train passes through Shenyang in northeast China in this March 2013
 file photo. China has offered to get Indonesia’s first high-speed rail service up and
running by 2018 if picked over a rival bid by Japan. (EPA Photo)

Jakarta. China says it is offering more “competitive” benefits for the construction of Indonesia’s first high-speed railway – compared to a rival Japanese offer – as the country completes a feasibility study on the project.

Xu Shaoshi, the chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, was in Jakarta on Monday to hand over the results of the study to President Joko Widodo.

“The financial plan that we’re offering is very competitive,” Xu told reporters at the State Palace in Jakarta after his meeting with Joko.

Xu did not disclose China’s final estimated cost for the construction of the railway line, which will connect Jakarta to Bandung.

Earlier reports put China’s offer at a cost of $4 billion, with a lending period of 25 years and an annual interest rate of 2 percent.

Japan, which is competing head-on with China for the same project, has submitted a lower offer. In a meeting with Indonesian Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel in Tokyo last week, Japanese officials said that under their proposal, the project would cost a total of Rp 45 trillion ($3.3 billion).

The Japanese government is also offering a soft loan to cover 75 percent of the funding, with interest of as little as 0.1 percent and a repayment period of 40 years. Under the terms of the soft loan, the Indonesian government will only have to start repaying the debt 11 years after the project has started operation.

Xu said on Monday that China was proposing a joint venture with the Indonesian government, in which Indonesia will hold a 60 percent stake in the project and China the remainder.

Addressing concerns about the safety of a Chinese-built high-speed train, Xu promised that China would do its best work in the construction and management of the project.

He also noted that the majority of high-speed train networks in the world were built by China.

Both China and Japan lay claim to having the most developed high-speed train networks in the world.

Japan, which rolled out its first Shinkasen bullet train in 1964, has a decades-long head start on its regional rival. But, China, which launched its first high-speed train service in 2007, now claims more than half of the world’s 23,000 kilometers of high-speed railway tracks.

“Our high-speed train technology is quite developed,” Xu said.

He added that China projected the opening of 40,000 new jobs with the development of the Jakarta-Bandung line, with economic activity in the areas lying along the proposed line expected to get a boost from new hotels, apartment blocks and residential estates.

Xu said China would help Indonesia form its own expert team to support the construction, management and maintenance of the line.

China is also offering to build a factory in Indonesia that will produce train components – the same offer made by Japan last week.

China is also offering Indonesia a partnership to jointly develop high-speed train projects elsewhere in Asia.

Under the Chinese proposal, there will be eight railway stations along the  150-kilometer Jakarta-Bandung tracks, with each train capable of speeds of 350 kilometers per hour – cutting travel time to as little as 26 minutes.

The Japanese proposal calls for a longer line, at 180 kilometers, and trains with a top speed of 300 kilometers per hour, for a commute of as little as 36 minutes.

China claims its project can be completed by 2018 if it is permitted to start as early as next month.

Japan, meanwhile, has offered to kick off construction early next year. After that, Indonesia’s first bullet train is forecast to have a test run in 2019, with full operation only expected in 2021.

Independent consultant

Sofyan Djalil, Indonesia’s chief economics minister, who was present at the meeting between Xu and Joko, said the government would this week appoint an independent consultant to help it decide which offer to take.

He said 11 consultancies had applied for the job, but the government was planning to hire only one.

“Let’s see which one is more competitive,” Sofyan said, adding that the chosen candidate would be given two to three weeks to study both the Japanese and the Chinese proposals.

In the mean time, the government will study the results of the Chinese feasibility study.

“The Indonesian government has received the results of the feasibility study by the Chinese and will study it and will make a decision as soon as possible,” Sofyan said.

Possible MH370 debris found in Maldives as Reunion search continues

Want China Times, Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2015-08-09

A beach on Reunion, where more debris that could come from flight
MH370 has been found, Aug. 7. (Photo/Xinhua)

French authorities announced on Friday that the hunt for more Malaysia Airlines MH370 debris will continue for at least a week off the island of Reunion after a wing section was spotted near the island.

Meanwhile, an official from the Maldives Police Service (MPS) told Xinhua that a police team along with aviation experts has started probing a piece of suspected plane debris found on the beach of a private resort in Maldives. According to local media reports, the piece, probably a plane part five to seven inches long, was discovered in May.

Dominique Sorain, administrator of Reunion, a French overseas department, told reporters Friday that a military transport plane was patrolling the seas off the coast and a ship had departed to search. He said there will also be forces combing the eastern part of the island where a flaperon confirmed by Malaysia as part of the missing plane was discovered last week.

"The plan will be developed in the coming days, but we will require a minimum of a week to conclude the search," Sorain said. He said the scrutinized area will span from the island up to a search zone under the control of Mauritius authorities. "We have urged all ships, both fishing and commercial, to immediately contact Reunion's Regional Operation Center for Surveillance and Rescue," he added.

The administrator said that new possible parts of a plane, some of them the size of a finger, have been submitted to authorities by local residents.

With regards to the families of passengers who wish to come to Reunion, Sorain said if necessary he will contact the consular authorities of the countries conmcerned. "We have not received any official request," he said.

Graham Braithwaite, aviation security expert at Britain's Cranfield University, told Xinhua that the search for the plane's black box is still the core objective as the data within it is key to solving the mystery of what happened. As such a long time has passed, precisely locating the black box is already too hard but the discovery of the debris at least indicates that the search is moving in the correct direction, Braithwaite said.

Prior to the Reunion discoveries, a massive surface and underwater hunt had failed to locate the plane, which went missing on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A total of 239 people were on board, most of them Chinese nationals.

Australia, the country that is now leading the international search efforts, vowed it would continue the search efforts and maintain "a crucial role," according to Deputy Prime Minister Warrent Truss.

Braithwaite suggested that Australia expand its current search area and called for a concerted effort that involves assistance from Malaysia, Britain, China and the International Maritime Satellite Organization.

Related Article:

Maldives island residents report sighting of 'low flying jet'

Chinese FM calls for continued MH370 search

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-08-07

Wang Yi attends an ASEAN ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, Aug. 5. (File photo/Xinhua)

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said Thursday that search efforts for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 should be continued to find the truth behind the one of the biggest mysteries in the aviation history.

Wang made the call following Malaysia's announcement that the piece of wreckage that washed up on Reunion island last week was from the missing jet.

China agrees with Malaysia that efforts should be made to find out the truth of what happened to the plane, and China wishes to see follow-up works to be carried out and related issues to be properly handled, Wang told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing foreign ministers' meetings of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and their dialogue partners.

Malaysia should consider the feelings of the families of passengers on the tragic flight and better explain latest developments to them, he said.

The debris was discovered on Reunion island on July 29 and was officially identified as part of a plane wing known as a flaperon from a Boeing 777.

Prior to the latest discovery, a massive surface and underwater hunt had failed to find the plane, which went missing on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 on board, most of them Chinese.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak vowed Thursday that the government of Malaysia is committed to doing everything within its means to find out the truth of what happened.

China's foreign ministry said in a statement earlier Thursday that China asked Malaysia to continue investigating the cause of the MH370 accident.

The Chinese government expresses grief and sorrow for those on board, and extends profound sympathy and condolences to their families, it said.

Related Articles:

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts (8 March 2014)


Archangel Michael: Spring Means the Time of Rebirth and Awakening – The Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, March 22, 2014

....SB: That’s very good, Lord. Thank you. I’m going to move quickly to Flight 370, and then hopefully a short talk on global citizenry.

Ashira said that Flight 370 had exploded, but he didn’t say what the cause of the explosion was. Others have said that a secret naval weapon was used to cause it to disintegrate. And recently a prominent channel said the plane was suffering from hydraulic failure, was in an uncontrolled state, at risk of imminent destruction; whisked out of the air in mid-flight, was taken aboard an enormous spaceship from Sirius claimed to be part of the Federation fleet under the Ashtar Command whose full report is available from a certain website.

Now, Ashira said they took a few people up who still wanted to remain in form, but the rest — they passed on. What is the truth, Lord?

AAM: This is not an action — let us put it this way — this is not an action that your star brothers and sisters have been deeply involved in. This is an action of what we would refer to, or Gabrielle would refer to, as of violence, of sabotage, of subterfuge. And it has continued.

So there are lies upon lies upon lies. And what is occurring … this is a terrible situation. And it is painful to so many. But what it is also doing for humanity, it is bringing up what we would call shared compassion and grief. Because if you were to look at the grief and the confusion and the compassion component of what is being felt and emanating from the hearts of the collective, individuals all over the planet, it is out of alignment with the situation even including those who have been on the plane and who have suffered and the families that are left suffering the loss of their loved ones.

So it has amplified and shown the global community, in a time when there has been much strife and conflict on the ground, the other side of the scale, where you are seeing the global community coming together in compassion and sending healing for many. It is also bringing together the global community in saying, “We require, we demand truth.” Because there have been such significant untruths, every step of the way. And now what is occurring, among what you think are responsible agencies of many countries, is that they are looking for scapegoats. They are looking for situations to hang this on.

The truth will come out, but the function of this act of violence has been hijacked in many ways not by your star brothers and sisters but by the Company of Heaven to teach several very important, critical, timely lessons. The ship has not been taken on board a mothership elsewhere. That is false hope.

SB: Where is the ship, Lord? Is it blown to smithereens, or is it at the bottom of the ocean?

AAM: For all intents and purposes, it is not intact. We cannot give you the totality because that would be breaking our agreement.

SB: And then of course you couldn’t tell us what nation did it, either?

AAM: It is not so much a nation as individuals acting independently.

SB: All right. I’m not sure whether I should go further in trying to get more details, or…. whether….

AAM: Please do not.....

Wreckage 'conclusively confirmed' as from MH370: Malaysia PM

Yahoo – AFP, Dan Martin with Eric Randolph in Paris, 5 August 2015

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found on the French

Indian Ocean island of La Reunion on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick Pitou)

Debris found on an Indian Ocean island a week ago is from flight MH370, Malaysia's prime minister said Thursday, confirming for the first time that the plane which mysteriously disappeared 17 months ago met a tragic end.

"Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370," Najib Razak told reporters.

French prosecutors used more cautious language, saying only there was a "very high probability" the wreckage came from MH370.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak 

delivers a statement on the missing 

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Kuala

 Lumpur early on August 6, 2015 (AFP
Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared on March 8 last year, inexplicably veering off course en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, sparking a colossal but ultimately fruitless multinational hunt for the aircraft.

Last week's discovery of a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part called a flaperon on the French island of La Reunion has provided the first glimmer of hope for relatives desperate for answers.

It was examined at a military lab outside the French city of Toulouse in the presence of Malaysian and Australian experts, Boeing employees and representatives from China -- the country that lost the most passengers in the disaster.

Malaysia Airlines hailed the news as a "major breakthrough".

"We expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which would be able to help resolve this mystery," said the airline in a statement.

But some families said the confirmation was not enough to lay the matter to rest, as they reiterated demands to know why the plane went off course, flying for hours after its communications and tracking systems were shut down, in what remains one of the biggest mysteries in the history of aviation.

"Now I want to know where the main body of the plane is so that we can take out the passengers and get the black box so we can know what happened. Only that, for us, will be full closure," said Jacquita Gonzales, wife of MH370 chief steward Patrick Gomes.

'A huge step'

Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based aviation consultant, said proof the flaperon came from MH370 was a "huge step".

"People want all the answers, but look, let's be real. We must be glad that we found something at all. Now we know roughly where it might have crashed," he said.

"This answers a lot of questions actually. It eliminates other theories, conspiracy theories. If the black box is found later on, it is likely we could get more answers."

The Malaysian premier gave no indication that the analysis of the debris yielded any clues into the cause of the disappearance.

Many relatives accuse his government and the airline of a bungled response to the disaster, possible cover-up, and insensitive treatment of families, charges that are vehemently denied.

"I would like to assure all those affected by this tragedy that the government of Malaysia is committed to do everything within our means to find out the truth of what happened," Najib said.

"MH370's disappearance marked us as a nation. We mourn with you, as a nation."

A policeman and a gendarme stand next to a piece of debris from an aircraft on the 

Indian Ocean island of La Reunion on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick Pitou)

Starting grieving process

It is hoped that more detailed examination in the coming days can yield information on the final moments of the plane by showing how it detached itself from the wing, or whether it showed traces of an explosion or fire.

Scientists have also pointed to the barnacles attached to the flaperon, saying these could give an idea of how long the fragment had been in the water, and perhaps where it had been.

"If it has cold-water barnacles on it that might tell them it went down further south than they think. Or if it's got only tropical barnacles, that might tell them it went down further north," said Shane Ahyong, a crustacean specialist from the Australian Museum.

For the victims' loved ones, any tangible piece of information is likely to help them in seeking closure, according to psychologist Carole Damiani, who specialises in helping the families of people who died in disasters.

"The grieving process is about untying oneself from someone, accepting that they will not be found and they have gone forever," she said.

Major US airlines ban transport of hunting trophies

Three US airlines have announced that they will no longer accept lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo trophies as cargo. The move comes after an American dentist killed a well-known lion in Zimbabwe last month.

Deutsche Welle, 4 Aug 2015

Delta, United and American Airlines have banned the shipment of big game hunting trophies on flights, following similar measures taken by Emirates and South African Airways.

The decision comes in the wake of a global uproar over the death of a well-known lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe last month in an allegedly illegal hunt. The man linked with the death, dentist Walter James Palmer, lives in the US state of Minnesota, a major hub for Delta.

Delta, the only American airline to fly directly between the US and Johannesburg, also said Monday that it would review its acceptance policies for other hunting trophies with the appropriate government agencies and other organizations.

Even before the killing of Cecil, activists had urged major airliners not to carry endangered species killed by trophy hunters. German airline Lufthansa Cargo halted the shipment of such animals from Africa in June, while Emirates SkyCargo took the step in May.

As recently as May, Delta said that it
would continue to allow such shipments

'Big PR gain'

Although most animals are transported by ship, the new bans are expected to make it harder for hunters to get their trophies home.

Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry consultant, noted that airlines like Delta were probably acting in response to pressure following the news of Cecil's killing.

"I don't think there was much of this shipment taking place, so there is minimal revenue loss and big PR gain for them," he told the Associated Press.

av/cmk (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Walt Palmer, left, and one of his many trophies.

Related Article:

Killer of Cecil the lion was dentist from Minnesota, claim Zimbabwe officials

Mysterious plane wreckage sparks MH370 speculation

Yahoo – AFP, 29 July 2015

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal

area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick Pitou)

A mysterious piece of plane debris washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion on Wednesday, prompting speculation it could be part of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The two-metre (six-foot) long piece of wreckage, which seemed to be part of a wing, was found by people cleaning up a beach.

"It was covered in shells, so one would say it had been in the water a long time," said one witness.

French air transport officials have opened a probe into where the wreckage came from and Australian investigators are also reportedly working with manufacturer Boeing to identify if it is from MH370.

"We've received some pictures of the item and we are having them assessed by the manufacturers as to what they may be," a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau told the AAP news agency.

Xavier Tytelman, an expert in aviation security, said it could not be ruled out that the wreckage belonged to MH370, which vanished without trace in March last year.

No part of the wreckage has ever been found in one of aviation's great mysteries and Malaysian authorities in January declared that all on board were presumed dead.

A policeman and a gendarme stand next to a piece of debris from an unidentified

 aircraft found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the

 French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick
Pitou)

The plane vanished at night over the South China Sea after turning away from its north-bound route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Tytelman noted that local media photos showed "incredible similarities between a #B777 flaperon and the debris found," referring to a Boeing 777 -- the type of plane that disappeared.

He also noted a reference on the wreckage: BB670.

"This code is not a plane's registration number, nor serial number. However... it's clear that this reference would allow a quick identification. In a few days, we will have a definitive answer," Tytelman said.

Boeing said in a statement it remained "committed to supporting the MH370 investigation and the search for the airplane".

"We continue to share our technical expertise and analysis. Our goal, along with the entire global aviation industry, continues to be not only to find the airplane, but also to determine what happened –- and why," said the US aviation giant.

Wild theories

An Australian-led operation has scoured more than 50,000 square kilometres (19,000 square miles) of the seafloor, about 60 percent of a search zone in the Indian Ocean determined via expert analysis of signals from MH370 that were detected by a satellite.

But the four search vessels towing 10-kilometre (6-mile) cables fitted with sophisticated sonar systems that scan the seabed have turned up little except shipping containers and a previously uncharted shipwreck.

Rough weather, the pitch-black extreme depths of up to 4,000 metres, and the rugged nature of the previously unmapped seafloor have made for a slow, frustrating search.

Angry next of kin have criticised Malaysia's handling of the plane's disappearance, and have questioned the choice to focus the search on the southern Indian Ocean.

This handout photo taken and released on April 9, 2014 by Australian Defence

 shows a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion flying past Australian Defence 
Vessel Ocean Shield on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search for 
MH370 (AFP Photo/Lsis Bradley Darvill)

With the search proving fruitless, speculation on the fate of the plane remains focused primarily on a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action.

However, nothing has emerged to substantiate any of these scenarios.

The lack of solid information has sustained a flow of conspiracy theories, with books, documentaries and a thriving online debate positing a range of possibilities.

These include suggestions that the plane was commandeered to be used as a "flying bomb" headed for US military installations on the Diego Garcia atoll, and was shot down by the Americans. The United States has dismissed this.

US aviation expert Jeff Wise has suggested MH370 was commandeered to a Russian facility in Kazakhstan, possibly an effort by President Vladimir Putin to intimidate the West during the Ukraine crisis, or to gain access to a certain passenger or item.

Related Articles:

Maldives island residents report sighting of 'low flying jet'

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

The Dutch are cycling longer distances as e-bike takes off

DutchNews, July 28, 2015,

The Dutch are now each cycling an average of 1,018 kilometres a year, a rise of 230 kilometres on five years ago, the Telegraaf says on Tuesday. 

Road users lobby group Bovag puts the increase down to the popularity of electric bikes. ‘In 2007, people bought 89,000 e-bikes but last year the total was 223,000,’ spokesman Tom Huyskens told the paper.

‘There are now some 1.5 million electric bikes in the Netherlands and they make it easier for people to cycle more often and to cover longer distances.’ 

Bovag analysed figures from the CBS national statistics office and found people cycled an average of almost three kilometres a day last year. They also drive an average of 16 kilometres, which could easily be done by electric bike, Huyskens pointed out.

‘Electric bikes are a great alternative for commuters,’ he said. ‘We expect the amount of kilometres people cycle to continue to grow.’ 

Government cycling experts are recommending the introduction of a 25 kph speed limit on Dutch bike lanes to curb the impact of electric ‘super’ bikes. Electric bikes with speeds of up to 40 kph are now on sale in the Netherlands and there are concerns about their impact on cyclist safety.

Miracle motorbike that goes 500km… on a liter of water! (VIDEO)

RT.com, 25 Jul, 2015

A Brazilian man, Ricardo Azevedo from Sao Paulo, has shown off his wonder bike to the world. The magic machine can travel up to 500 kilometers on a liter of water.

The so-called “T Power H20” vehicle is powered by water and an external car battery to produce electricity and split the hydrogen from the water molecules.

As a result, combustion is created giving the motorbike the impetus to move.

READ MORE: World has 10 years to combat climate change, prevent health catastrophe – scientists  

In the video, Azevedo first drinks from the bottle, proving that it’s indeed water and not some kind of other fuel. Then he fills the canister and rides off. 

Azevedo also demonstrates how the bike works. The inventor shows that even polluted waters from the Tiete River can be used to fuel the vehicle.

READ MORE: Bioengineers invent engine powered by water vapor, artificial muscles 

The Brazilian is promoting his creation as an environment-friendly machine. 

“The advantage of this motorcycle, which works with the hydrogen that comes from the water, is that the result that comes out of the exhaust is water vapor. This is different from gasoline, which [produces] carbon monoxide," he told RT.

Related Article:

Toyota to give away fuel-cell patents to boost industry

Guizhou radio telescope may pick up signs of alien life

Want China Times, Chuang Shu-chung and Staff Reporter 2015-07-23

The radio telescope under construction in Guizhou, July 16, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

A 500-meter aperture spherical telescope (FAST) is currently being constructed on top of a Karst landscape in Pingtang county in the Qiannan Buyei and Miao autonomous prefecture of Guizhou. Once complete, the radio telescope will be the most likely avenue for China to make first contact with aliens, according to our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

On July 22 the installation of the first set of 1000 panels began. The telescope will incorporate 4,450 panels on completion, forming a 250,000-square-meter reflecting surface, roughly the size of 30 football pitches, which will give it the largest diameter of any telescope of its kind in the world at 500 meters.

The cable net is capable of moving along with celestial bodies, according to Zheng Yuanpeng, the technician responsible for the panels. The net automatically adjusts the 4,450 reflective panels which will lie on top of it, allowing the telescope to observe every corner of the sky. The telescope will reportedly be ten-times more agile than the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope in the Ahrgebirge in Germany.

The head of production for China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), Yang Dingjiang, stated that possible contact with aliens is only one of the aims of the radio telescope. Yang said that the telescope was also aimed at exploring the origins of the universe, the structure of the interstellar medium, dim pulsars and dim radio sources, as well as searching for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Related Articles:

NASA discovers closest Earth-twin yet (USA)

Hawking launches biggest-ever search for alien life (UK/Russia)

"The Big Picture - You Are Not Alone" -  Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"Common Questions from Non-Lightworkers" - Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... Question Three: Is there life on other planets?

Are you kidding? There's life everywhere. Everywhere! Right now, your scientists are searching for microbial life on all the planets and their moons in your solar system, and they will eventually find it. They expect to find it. They will eventually understand that the seeds of life are everywhere.

How much life might there be? How long has it been "out there"? When science starts to realize the scope of how long life has been in your galaxy, they will begin to see something counterintuitive to evolution - their own Human history. How old is your Universe? Ask your scientists and they will say about 13 billion years. That's OK. Let's use their numbers. How old is your own planet - 4 or 5 billion, perhaps? Correct. But how old is humanity? Why weren't you here with the dinosaurs? You think the earth wasn't ready? Do you think that perhaps that which controls evolution was a little too stupid to make a Human sooner, but the process could make a dinosaur? Have you ever thought about these things?

If you put the earth's entire history into a 24-hour clock, life itself only started in the last hour and humanity, all of civilization, happened the last few seconds. Isn't that odd to you? Therefore, in a Universe that may be 13 billion years old, you arrived in the last few seconds. Did you ever think maybe you're the newest ones on the block? Well, you'd be right.

If the Universe is really that old, do you think perhaps there are civilizations in your galaxy that might be a billion or more years older than you? If that's the case, do you think perhaps they have gone through anything you're going through? Do you think any of them might have had your DNA attributes? Perhaps they also went through what you are going through spiritually? Perhaps they even went into a quantum ascension status? The answer is dozens of them.

You already know them and you've listed them in your publications. The ones who directly seeded you are called Pleiadians. The ones who seeded them might be Octurian and the ones who seeded them may be even Orion. They're everywhere, and they're all here as well. They're looking at you, for you are the ones who are next, and you are passing this marker of the shift

Oh, dear ones, it's going to be a long time before you really know any of these things to be your reality. The first step is peace on Earth. The next is a new kind of Human evolution that is going to increase your DNA efficiency to 100% and you're going to live a long time. Every time I say that, there are Humans in their intellectual mind saying, "Well, there is a geometric birth rate going on. We're not going to make it. It's going to over-crowd and we are going to run out of food. So what you're saying, Kryon, can't be a good thing. We're all going to be suffering and killing each other for food."

Let me address this, for if that is your thought, Human, you are assuming Humans are stupid and haven't figured out what's going on and why there's so much birth. You assume they can't control it because they haven't figured it out? I want to tell you, you're going to see something you didn't expect. You're going to see a decline in birth rate because Humans are smart and they're getting smarter. They're going to see that quality of life is linked to the number of children they have, and they're going to figure out the solution. It won't be how many children their church says they should have. They are going to do it intuitively. You're going to see it sooner than not.

You are going to see wisdom on the planet in many areas that no sociologist would ever have predicted. You will surprise them all, and it's going to happen without a government program. It's going to happen because you decide you want it. It's going to happen collectively, and you may even see it soon. Look for negative birth rates in first-world countries. Where Humans are able to see a larger picture and have freedom of information, the situation will not be what you have predicted.

Is there life on other planets? The scientists are saying, "It's going to be a long time before we get to the stars, you know? We have to get in this little metal can and put air in it, and then travel in it for years and years before we ever get to the next star." Meanwhile, a Pleiadian can do it in the blink of an eye! What do you think is going on there? Do you even believe me?

Not long ago, if you wanted to communicate to someone far away, you sent a letter. It was carried by a horse. It took a month to get a response. Now you communicate instantly!  Why is this so unbelievable to you about travel?

I will tell you, as long as you stay in 3D, you'll still be getting in little metal cans and air suits and going to planets. As soon as you begin the quantum age, however, you will simply wish yourself there, because you will be entangled with everything and can go with intent. If you don't believe this now, you will later, for what I give you is true. It may be lifetimes and lifetimes from now, but the group that is before me is the group that is going to come back over and over and over. The difference is that you're done coming back in an old energy. This is a new energy. ..”

Germany already feeling the love from China's Belt and Road

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-19

The Sino-Europe rail linking Chongqing and Duisburg, March 2013. (Photo/Xinhua)

The eight international rail freight routes linking China and Europe together conducted 308 trips last year, up 285% from a year earlier, as the "New Silk Road" runs its course, reports the Shanghai-based China Business News.

China's promotion of the international rail freight routes is chiefly aimed at developing its central and northwest economy. The only way to effectively boost these regions is by integrating Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, said Zhou Yun, research fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA).

Hans-Jorg Schimdt-Trenz, CEO of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, welcomed China's construction of bridges, roads and rails linking its neighbors, saying it will contribute to the economic development of neighboring countries, benefiting both China and the world.

The Sino-Europe rail began from the route linking with China's Chongqing and Duisburg of Germany in 2011, and now four freight trains make the trip every week.

The Chongqing-Europe rail is helping Chinese enterprises export their products to the European market. In fact, North Rhine-Westphalia, where Duisburg is based, is the most concentrated area for Chinese investors, having received investments from more than 800 Chinese enterprises.

The international rail freight is faster than by sea and costs lower than air transport, a double bonus for inland countries and areas. When the Sino-Europe rails began operations, transport volume was low and less frequent. Now most trains are usually full when they start out from China, and empty when they return.

Schimdt-Trenz attributed the imbalanced freight to China's 'world factory' status, which makes it a largely export-oriented country. China should further expand imports and adjust its economic structure to achieve a balance, said the report.

Although rail freight is becoming more popular now, it still cannot replace cargo by sea, said experts.

Since China advocated the "Belt and Road" initiative, Germany has been supporting calls to establish the Silk Road. In general, the German public has a positive evaluation of the project, said the report.

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Dutch students win electric car competition in the UK

24 Oranges, Orangemaster, 16 July 2015 

Engineering students from the Delft University of Technology have done it again, winning this year’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Formula Student competition for the second time in a row.

The Formula Student competition requires engineering students to design, build and race a single seat racing car in just one year. Cars are assess on their acceleration, endurance, fuel economy, design and business cases.

Thousands of the world’s best young engineers were at Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England on 8-12 July. There were 135 teams in total, with 49 from the UK and teams from as far as Australia, Turkey and Ukraine. Team Delft claimed the prize at Silverstone this weekend with a total score of 909.3 out of a total score of 1,000 points. Germany’s UAS Zwickau claimed second place with 792.5 points, University of Stuttgart came third with 750.8 and the University of Bath was the top UK team, coming fourth with 748.4 points.

(Link: phys.org, Photo of the unrelated Forze IV hydrogen-based formula race car by Richard van het Hof)

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Toyota recalls 625,000 Prius cars, other hybrids globally

Yahoo – AFP, 15 July 2015

The Prius was one of the first hybrid cars to go mainstream and was quickly

adopted as a symbol of green technology (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Tokyo (AFP) - Toyota on Wednesday recalled 625,000 hybrid vehicles globally, mostly the Prius model favoured by the eco-conscious including Hollywood celebrities, over a defect that can bring the car to an unexpected stop.

The Japanese automaker said the problem was linked to software that controls a power converter, similar to an issue last year that led to the recall of 1.9 million Prius cars -- Toyota's biggest ever for its signature petrol-electric vehicle.

Toyota, the world's biggest car maker, added that no accidents or injuries had been reported.

"In limited instances, the hybrid system might shut down while the vehicle is being driven, resulting in the loss of power, bringing the vehicle to stop," it said.

The latest call back affected the Prius V, which is also sold as the Prius Alpha and Prius+, as well as some Auris hybrid vehicles.

More than half the recalled vehicles were sold in Japan with most of the others in North America and Europe between May 2010 and November 2014.

The Prius was one of the first hybrid cars to go mainstream and was quickly adopted as a symbol of green technology, with the likes of actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz snapped behind the wheel.

Toyota has sold more than seven million hybrid cars globally since the debut of its Prius hybrid in 1997 in the first mass production of green cars.

It has roughly 30 hybrid models sold in more than 90 countries worldwide.