Airports support EU coordinated response on Ebola

In the midst of the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa, rising public concerns about its potential spread and an evolving array of national responses in Europe, the European airport trade association ACI EUROPE, today underlined its support for urgent coordination between Health authorities at EU level.

Such coordination should involve clear and unequivocal communication of risk assessment as regards the possible spread of the virus in Europe. This is what the public - in particular air passengers - expect. This is also whatis needed to allay any unreasonable fear and avoid inefficient measures.

In this regard, ACI EUROPE notes that the WHO (World Health Organisation) and the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control) have expressed reservations about the effectiveness of temperature screening of passengers on arrival - which has beenimplemented in the US & Canada and is apparently being contemplated by some EU countries. Conversely, both organisations support exit screening of departing passengers - which began at airports in the three main affected African countries, in the last two months.

Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE commented “Health security is paramount and we trust that in their meeting later this week, Health ministers will ensure that actions are properly thought through and fully coordinated across Europe and beyond. Otherwise, we risk ending up with an inefficient patchwork of measures, with negative implications for passengers and airport operations – for an unspecified period of time and with no guarantee of success.”

Source and image: ACI / ScienceInsider

Bermuda Triangle Solved? Siberia's 'End of the World' Craters Could Explain Mystery

Three craters that appeared in Siberia over the summer are thought to have been caused by huge underground gas explosions and could be 'the key' to the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, according to scientists.

The holes – one in Taymyr peninsula and two in Yamal, known to locals in Siberia as 'the end of the world' – were the topic of much speculation, provoking suggestions that they were the product of alien invaders, meteorites, missiles or even a man made hoax.

Now scientists from the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum-Gas Geology and Geophysics in Novosibirsk believe that they are the result of large underground gas explosions and could explain the disappearances in the infamous Bermuda Triangle.

 The Siberian Times reported, that according to researchers from the Trofimuk Institute, warm climatic conditions from above the surface, and from geological fault lines below the surface, led to a huge release of gas hydrates.

"The main element - and this is our working theory to explain the Yamal crater - was a release of gas hydrates. It turned out that there are gas hydrates both in the deep layer which on peninsula is several hundred metres down, and on the layer close to the surface," said scientist Vladimir Potapov.

Gases, methane in particular, are trapped in frozen hydrates below the permafrost (soil at or below the freezing point of water), and under some oceans, which researchers believe could be strong enough to bring down an aircraft or sink a ship, if they erupted.

"There is a theory that the Bermuda Triangle is caused by gas hydrates," said the Trofimuk Institute's deputy head, Igor Yeltsov. "They start to actively decompose with methane ice turning into gas. It happens in an avalanche-like way, like a nuclear reaction, producing huge amounts of gas. That makes the ocean heat up, and ships sink in waters which are infused with huge amounts of gas. This leads to the air becoming supersaturated with methane, creating an extremely turbulent atmosphere, leading to aircraft crashes".

 The institute is continuing its analysis of the craters, so that all hypotheses are tested and to gain a better understanding of the holes to prevent future disasters.

"This was a recce trip that would allow us set agenda for the next trip, or trips, and give us basic understanding of what could have happened," said Potapov. "We must also pay attention to areas where the same thing might potentially happen."

Bermuda Triangle: Facts And Fiction

- It is also known as the Devil's Triangle.

- The 'triangle' is a loosely defined region between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico.

- The area is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and also one of the busiest for aircraft flying down to Florida, South America and the Caribbean.  

- In 1881, a ship called the Ellen Austin came across a derelict ship in the area and placed a crew onboard. They attempted to sail it to New York, but reports say that the vessel disappeared and then reappeared again, with no trace of the crew.

- A training flight of five torpedo bombers in 1945, vanished over the Atlantic. The disappearance is thought to be due to a navigational error which led to the aircrafts running out of fuel. However, one of the rescue craft deployed to find them also went missing with its 13 crew members.

- The incident resulting in the single biggest loss of life for the US Navy, was when the USS Cyclops set sail from Barbados, and then went missing sometime after 4 March 1918 with a crew of 309. No sign of the ship or its crew were ever found.

- One theory for the disappearances over the years is leftover technology from the lost continent of Atlantis, believed to be located beneath the waters there. Another theory is UFO kidnappings.

China pledges more security support for Kenya, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 16 – The Chinese government has pledged continued support to Kenya and Africa on security issues, in a bid to promote peace and economic development on the continent.

Speaking on Thursday in Nairobi during the China-Africa Peace and Security Cooperation seminar, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa said a number of countries on the continent still face serious threats, such as escalating violence and armed conflicts, internal political turmoil, the spread of terrorism and extremism, interweaving of traditional and non-traditional security challenges and as a consequence, an alarming humanitarian crisis.

“Not a single country or continent can stay immune in the face of security problems. The achievement of long-term peace and security in Africa requires joint efforts of Africa and the international community,” he said.

He however urged the international community to let African countries find their own solutions to their challenges.

He said that double standards and taking sides should be avoided, urging the international community not to pursue their own interests and political agenda by taking advantage of peace and security issues in Africa.

“It is the African people who understand the crux of the issues best. The international community should fully respect Africa’s dignity and independence, support Africa to play the leading role and promote inclusive dialogue among relevant parties for seeking solutions acceptable by all parties concerned,” he added.

With the theme “Peace and Security Cooperation: New Vista for Upgraded Version of China-Africa Cooperation,” the seminar will hold an in-depth discussion on the current situation of peace and security in Africa, the opportunities and challenges facing China-Africa peace and security cooperation thus contributing to the long-term peace and stability and sustainable development of Africa.

This comes as Africa continues to face terror threats from various terror groups among them the Somalia based Al Shabaab.

Kenya has led in the war against terror within the East African region following numerous attacks in its capital city Nairobi and Mombasa County.

Kenya Defence Forces are under the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) fighting the militias in the Horn of Africa country.

Ever heard of sacred wild animals?

Ever heard of sacred wild animals? In Burkina Faso a unique human - animal relationship has been recorded. Crocodiles are estimated to cause over 200 hundred deaths in Africa. They are agile and they don’t trust humans. But in Bazoule, Burkina Faso, these reptiles are not feared.

China Has The World’s Longest Sea Bridge

China Has The World’s Longest Sea Bridge

WOW! It Looks Like A Normal Bridge, But The Truth Behind It Left Me Speechless....

An engineering marvel the Jiaozhou bay bridge demanded four years of construction. The 26.3 miles long bridge links the port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao. An amazing piece of architecture that leaves people in awe…..

MIT Bitcoin Trading Simulation Yields Profit of 89% in 50 Days

Trading bitcoin profitably remains more of an art than an exact science.

On any given day, Reddit is awash with theories explaining bitcoin price movements, ranging from exotic technical indicators to the machinations of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) peddlers.

That may change, however, with a new paper that claims to have devised a trading strategy that can produce an 89% return in less than two months.

The authors, Massachusetts Institute of Technology associate professor Devavrat Shah and computer science student Kang Zhang, collected data from OKCoin, the world’s largest exchange by trading volume, from February to July.

They fed the data into a predictive statistical model they have developed and used the results to conduct a simulation of CNY/BTC trades. In the simulation, the trader could only go long or short 1 BTC in each trade.

Volatility boosts profits

The trading simulation, conducted on data taken from 50 consecutive days in May and June, produced highly profitable results. The simulated trader invested 3,781 yuan and made 2,872 trades. The total cumulative profit was 3,362 yuan, or an 89% return on the amount invested.

The trading strategy produced the greatest profits when volatility was high, in the period at the end of May and the start of June, and was still profitable when the price declined steadily at the end of the simulated period.

The trading strategy also produced a Sharpe ratio of 4.1, the authors write. This expresses a portfolio’s return after adjusting for the risk-free rate of return. A high ratio shows that an investor produced returns while taking on less risk, with scores of three and over being considered excellent.

The authors’ Sharpe ratio compares favourably to benchmark mutual funds, like the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, the world’s largest such vehicle, which is worth $355bn. That fund has aone-year Sharpe ratio of 1.79 and has returned 8.32% in the last year.