First container train from China arrives in Serbia

https://www.railfreight.com/beltandroad/2019/10/25/first-container-train-from-china-arrives-in-serbia/?fbclid=IwAR260k1Uzst_lJD08CHvMulmNuY7ywvrKLCQluHk1c-DzQMJze4CFxSYoDE

The first Chinese container train departed from the city of Jinan, the province of Shangdong, on 24 September. A month later, on 24 October, it arrived at the Novi Beograd (New Belgrade) railway station in Belgrade. The train has travelled a distance of around 10,500 kilometres via Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

On the Serbian section of the route, the wagonset loaded with 28 containers was hauled by a Siemens Vectron locomotive of Serbia Cargo (Srbija Kargo), the country’s state-owned rail freight operator. The Jinan – Belgrade train delivered equipment weighing 500 tonnes, including transformers, cables, integrated automation systems for substations, remote control systems for the contact network and other solutions for the future Budapest – Belgrade high-speed line.

The Event 201 scenario

The Event 201 scenario
Event 201 simulates an outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a severe pandemic. The pathogen and the disease it causes are modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community setting by people with mild symptoms.

Event 201 simulates an outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually becomes efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a severe pandemic. The pathogen and the disease it causes are modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community setting by people with mild symptoms.

The disease starts in pig farms in Brazil, quietly and slowly at first, but then it starts to spread more rapidly in healthcare settings. When it starts to spread efficiently from person to person in the low-income, densely packed neighborhoods of some of the megacities in South America, the epidemic explodes. It is first exported by air travel to Portugal, the United States, and China and then to many other countries. Although at first some countries are able to control it, it continues to spread and be reintroduced, and eventually no country can maintain control.

There is no possibility of a vaccine being available in the first year. There is a fictional antiviral drug that can help the sick but not significantly limit spread of the disease.

Since the whole human population is susceptible, during the initial months of the pandemic, the cumulative number of cases increases exponentially, doubling every week. And as the cases and deaths accumulate, the economic and societal consequences become increasingly severe.

The scenario ends at the 18-month point, with 65 million deaths. The pandemic is beginning to slow due to the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic will continue at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80-90 % of the global population has been exposed. From that point on, it is likely to be an endemic childhood disease.

China to fund and build $3.9bn railway from Nigeria’s capital to the sea

https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/china-fund-and-build-39bn-railway-nigerias-capital/?fbclid=IwAR2O0SGjoGMWpsWpbMxsctI6vZPEZrruDAwa4X_QUhFvb_kExbShTMWzybM The government of Nigeria yesterday signed a contract with state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) to build a major new railway linking the capital Abuja to the port city of Warri, a distance by air of approximately 440km.

The project is valued at $3.9bn, Nigerian media reported, adding that it would be a public-private partnership, with Nigeria providing an equity stake of 15%, CRCC an equity stake of 10%, and the remaining 75% borrowed from Cina’s Export-Import (Exim) Bank. 

The project includes the construction of a new port at Warri, reports said.

CRCC will operate the railway and the port to recover its investment.

World must prepare for biological weapons that target ethnic groups based on genetics, says Cambridge University

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/08/12/world-must-prepare-biological-weapons-target-ethnic-groups-based/?fbclid=IwAR2BCf9YRnDmlSWFYdSjHhruGeHnsRclbKIYQzOu1TkPVn4RujGGV1Tppxw

Biological weapons could be built which target individuals in a specific ethnic group based on their DNA, a report by the University of Cambridge has warned.

Researchers from Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) said the government was failing to prepare for ‘human-driven catastrophic risks’ that could lead to mass harm and societal collapse.

In recent years advances in science such as genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles have opened the door to a host of new threats.

Ugayati Panshan Highway, Tashkurgan-Tajik Autonomous County, Xinjiang, China

新疆塔什库尔干塔吉克自治县吾格亚提盘山公路。2019年7月投入使用。 在中国西陲的新疆帕米尔高原,塔什库尔干塔吉克自治县县城到瓦恰乡之间有条蜿蜒的盘山公路,海拔超4200米,全长36公里,最大落差近1000米,被当地人称为“高原天路”。 New Sky road on the Pamir Plateau, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Elev.4200m, 36km long, 1000m gain. Opened in July, 2019