BREAKING NEWS:Train derails in Spain,4 killed

                           
A passenger train derailed Friday in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region, killing four people and injuring 47 others, authorities said.
The Galician regional government said the accident occurred at 2:15 p.m. (0730 GMT) in Porrino, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northwest of Madrid. It said emergency services dispatched doctors on helicopters to the scene. The regional government initially reported two deaths, and raised the death toll two hours later.
The train was travelling from Vigo to Porto, in neighbouring Portugal.
Adif railway infrastructure company said it has openened an investigation. The derailment occurred on a straight stretch close to Porrino station.
Spanish media said the train was carrying around 60 passengers.

EKO ATLANTIC CITY:Dubai in the making

                                    
Eko Atlantic, officially Nigeria International Commerce city, also known as Eko Atlantic City, or the initials E.A.C, is a planned city of Lagos State,Nigeria, being constructed on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean^.Upon completion, the new peninsula, which is still under development is anticipating at least 250,000 residents and a daily flow of 150,000 commuters. The development will also have a positive environmental impact, as it will help in stopping the erosion of Lagos State's coastline.
 
                    
The city adjoins Victoria Island district of Lagos city and the Phase 1 area of Lekki, to the north, while the entire Western, eastern and southern borders is a coastline. Eko Atlantic is expected to rise as the next generation of property on the African continent; having a total of 10 districts, spread across a land area of approximately 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi), the city will satisfy needs for financial, commercial, residential and tourist accommodations, with a state of the art high tech infrastructure in line with modern and environmental standards.
 
Eko Atlantic development is being carried out as a Public-private partnership, with private companies and investors providing the funding, whilst Lgos State Government is a strategic partner, with the support of the Federal Government.The Contractors are China Communications Constructions Group, a company that works in the field of marine dredging and landfill operation. Consultants are Royal Haskoning (traffic and transport expertise) andArchitects. South Energyx Nigeria Ltd. a subsidiary of the Chagoury group was specifically created to undertake the development. Testing of the sea defence system took place at the DHI Institute in Copenhagen Denmark, where models were successfully tested for one-in-a-hundred-year ocean surges, and one-in-120-year, one-in-150-year and one-in-1,000-year storms.
                          
Eko Atlantic will satisfy needs for financial, commercial, residential and tourist accommodations, with a state of the art high tech infrastructure in line with modern and environmental standards. These standards will offer the city’s residents quality water, modern waste management, security and transportation systems. The city will also have an independent source of energy generated specifically for the city.
The Eko Atlantic City project received global attention in 2009, as the Lagos State Government and its private sector partners on the Project, South Energyx, received the Clinton Global Initiative Commitment Certificate.
 

Districts

Eko Atlantic is master-planned to contain ten districts which are as follows:

• Harbour Lights
• Business District
• Marina
• Downtown
• Eko Island
• Avenues
• Four Bridges
• Eko Drive
• East Side Marina
• Ocean Front

 
 MILESTONES
As of May 2009 while the project was still in its dredging phase, about 3,000,000 cubic metres (3,900,000 cu yd) have been sand-filled and placed in the reclamation area, while about 35,000 tonnes of rock have been delivered to the site. In certain parts of Bar Beach the land being reclaimed can already be seen.Dredgers are working around the clock to fill the site with sand.
On 21 February 2013, a dedication ceremony was held at the reclaimed land of Eko Atlantic, with Goodluck Jonathan,Bill Clinton,Babatunde Fsahola,Akinwunmi Ambode,Bola Tinubu,Aminu Tambuwal and Ibikunle Amosun attending.
In March 2014, David Frame, managing director of South Energyx Nigeria Ltd, the firm responsible for the development, confirmed that "The first two residential towers will open before the end of  2016"<sup>.

Complied by  Adeoluwa Shebioniba</sup>

UN asks Kenya to prepare for more Sudanese refugees

                                     
The UN refugee agency said that Kenya should prepare to receive more refugees from South Sudan.
Catherine Hamon Sharpe, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Kenya Assistant Representative in Charge of Protection, told Xinhua in Nairobi that Kenya currently receives approximately 300 South Sudanese refugees weekly.

"We are closely monitoring the situation in South Sudan and it does not look good. So Kenya needs to prepare to receive more refugees," Sharpe said on the sidelines of the Panel Discussion on Refugee issues.
Sharpe said that Kenya plays a big role in the East African region as it provides asylum space for refugees fleeing conflict.

The beauty behind Dubai Metro Rail

                            
Presently,Dubai Metro serves 830 million riders since its inauguration in 2009 and the land has been procured for widening the existing network and new rail routes and infrastructure are expected to be completed by 2030 in three phases. They will cover an area of 421km with 197 stations, said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
 Three new Metro lines — Blue, Gold and Purple — and a Jumeirah tram route will be up and running by 2030. Besides these, the current Red and Green lines will grow longer and will serve a growing population in the densely populated urban areas of Dubai. “The plans have been endorsed.
 
Time schedules for the proposed lines, or stretches of them, have been set, as well as the estimated costs for executing the mammoth projects. “The general blueprint of the train network is in three phases — 2020, 2025 and 2030 — keeping in mind planned urban growth in the Emirate,” said Al Tayer.
RTA planners estimate Dubai’s population to exceed 3.1 million by 2020. In the first phase, train projects along a 24.1-km long corridor with 12 stations will be completed. The Green Line will cover Jaddaf to Dubai Academic City with 11 stations, a distance of 20.6km. Once the first phase of the extension work is complete, Dubai’s train network will have 109km over 70 stations.
Work on the second phase covering 91km and 58 stations will cost an estimated Dh45 billion, said the RTA chairman.
                             
Dubai’s urban population is likely to swell to 4.1 million by 2025 and work on the Gold, Jumairah tram and the Purple lines are set to commence then. “When phase two is complete, the overall train network is likely to be 200km long with 128 stations,” he said.
An assessment of the completed projects will be made in 2030 and depending on the success of the infrastructure upgrades, passenger response, work on the final phase will begin. “So if Dubai’s population crosses six million, we may add another 221km of lines with 69 stations. This will extend the entire network to 421km with 197 stations,” Al Tayer said.
Efforts are also being made to connect the Dubai Metro system with Etihad Rail, which will run for 1,200km in the UAE. The railway will connect the country to Saudi Arabia via Ghweifat in the West and Oman via Al Ain in the East.
Three proposed stations — Al Maktoum Airport Station, Dubai Land Station and the Central Station — will serve as hubs for connections to the wider Etihad Rail network.
Al Maktoum Airport Station will be situated east of Al Maktoum Airport on the Etihad Rail route, with the Blue lines inking up with projects east of the Dubai Bypass Road.
The Dubai Land Station, west of Meydaan, will be on the Gold line.

Total length of Metro on completion — 421km, 197 stations
2020 — 24km — 12 stations
2025 — 91km — 58 stations
2030 — 221km — 69 stations

Compiled by  Nafeel Muhammad

Germany's seven most bizarre rules and laws

                                  
Germans are notoriously law-abiding people and have rules for even the smallest of things. We bring you seven which exemplify German fastidiousness when it comes to public behaviour.

1) Being unconscious at your wedding
You’re not likely to get stuck with the drunk-wedding-in-Las-Vegas type of spouse in Germany.A section of the German law states that a marriage is invalid if one marital partner isn’t actually aware that he or she is being wed or is unconscious during the proceeding.
So if you want to trick your crush into a life-long bond, you’ll have to find a different way.

2) Causing nuclear explosions
Germany is the place to be if you want to walk in the foot steps of the Manhattan Project, which tested the first atomic bomb in New Mexico, US on July 16th 1945.
Sure, you’ll most likely spend five years in prison for causing a nuclear explosion,according to German law.
But what’s that compared to the fun of building your own little nuclear reactor and planning the conquest of the world?

 3) Beware of the chimney sweep!
Did you know it is easier for a chimney sweep to access your home than it is for the police?It's against the law to deny a chimney sweep entrance into your home if he or she demands it.
Many Germans find this frustrating as - particularly in the cities - they don't have chimneys nor can remember a time when their houses had them.
The chimney sweps are now supposed to check carbon monoxide levels and clean away soot, but most houses heat with natural gas, which doesn't produce either.

4) Bodies must be buried in cemeteries
Even if you die, German legislation doesn't quite let go off you.
In most German States,dead bodies have to be buried within the confines of a cemetery, according to the so called Friedhofspflicht (cemetery obligation). The only exception is a burial at sea.
That means that, even if the deceased has been cremated, his or her remains must still be placed in a cemetery. For this reason, many families take their loved ones to Switzerland for cremation, where the handing over of the ashes to the family counts as "burial" and they may therefore keep them wherever they want.
In 2015,the northern city-state of Bremen became the first German state to implement a less strict law concerning the laying to rest of the departed. Residents of the city can now disperse the ashes of the dead on private property.

5) "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" - Germany, Germany above everything.
Deutschlandlied (Song of Germany) has been the national anthem since 1922. Joseph Haydn wrote the music to the song in 1797. Poet August Heinrich Hoffmann later wrote lyrics to the tune in 1841.

The "Deutschland über alles" verse then became closely tied with the Nazis' nationalism during the Third Reich and was temporarily banned at the end of the Second World War.

That's not to say that modern-day Nazi-sympathisers can freely celebrate national socialism.
Disseminating former Nazi symbols in Germany, for instance, could land you in jail for up to three years. Selling botles of wine with Hitler's face on them is a no-no that could also land you in jail.

 6) No drilling on Sundays

Germans take their day of rest very seriously. Shops are shut, people take leisurely walks and there will be absolutely no domestic drilling, thank you very much.
While it is not exactly against German law, it is against most Hausordnungen (rules of the house) to do so.
Many Hausordnungen also forbid you from throwing glass bottles into the recycling bin at certain hours.

7) No mowing on Sundays either
In the same vein, mowing your lawn on the last day of the week is strengstens verboten (strictly forbidden).
If you decide to go ahead and trim the grass on a Sunday regardless, it may cost you up to €50,000 according to German law.
So those who work six days a week may soon find their tidy yard turning into a wild jungle.

Compiled by Adalbert Amaldo

HISTORY:1945 American troops arrive in Korea to partition the country

                       
U.S. troops land in Korea to begin their postwar occupation of the southern part of that nation, almost exactly one month after Soviet troops had entered northern Korea to begin their own occupation. Although the U.S. and Soviet occupations were supposed to be temporary, the division of Korea quickly became permanent.
Korea had been a Japanese possession since the early 20th century. During World War II, the allies–the United States, Soviet Union, China, and Great Britain–made a somewhat hazy agreement that Korea should become an independent country following the war. As the war progressed, U.S. officials began to press the Soviets to enter the war against Japan. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin pledged that his nation would declare war on Japan exactly three months after Nazi Germany was defeated. A few months later, at the Potsdam Conference in July and August 1945, it was agreed that Soviet troops would occupy the northern portion of Korea, while American forces would take a similar action in southern Korea in order to secure the area and liberate it from Japanese control. The occupations would be temporary, and Korea would eventually decide its own political future, though no date was set for the end of the U.S. and Soviet occupations. On August 8, the Soviets declared war on Japan. On August 9, Soviet forces invaded northern Korea. A few days later, Japan surrendered. Keeping to their part of the bargain, U.S. forces entered southern Korea on September 8, 1945.
Over the next few years, the situation in Korea steadily worsened. A civil war between communist and nationalist forces in southern Korea resulted in thousands of people killed and wounded. The Soviets steadfastly refused to consider any plans for the reunification of Korea. The United States reacted by setting up a government in South Korea, headed by Syngman Rhee. The Soviets established a communist regime in North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Il-Sung. In 1948, the United States again offered to hold national elections, but the Soviets refused the offer. Elections were held in South Korea, and Rhee’s government received a popular mandate. The Soviets refused to recognize Rhee’s government, though, and insisted that Kim Il-Sung was the true leader of all Korea.
Having secured the establishment of a communist government in North Korea, Soviet troops withdrew in 1948; and U.S. troops in South Korea followed suit in 1949. In 1950, the North Koreans attempted to reunite the nation by force and launched a massive military assault on South Korea. The United States quickly came to the aid of South Korea, beginning a three-year involvement in the bloody and frustrating Korean War. Korea remains a divided nation today, and the North Korean regime is one of the few remaining communist governments left in the world.