Britain to test driverless cars on motorways from next year

A researcher fromm the Intelligent Vehicle IT Research Center at Seoul National University shows the smartphone application for the driverless car called Snuber with a fixture on its roof with devices that scan road conditions at Seoul National University’s campus in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. The South Korean university is testing the sedan that can pick up and transport passengers without a human driver, giving a glimpse into the future of autonomous public transport. | AP
"Naturally we need to ensure safety, and that's what the trials we are introducing will test," Mr. Osborne said in a statement ahead of his annual budget presentation.

Britain said it will begin trialling driverless cars on motorways for the first time in 2017, as it moves towards its goal of allowing autonomous cars to take to the streets by 2020.
The government said last year there were no legal barriers to the technology being tested and gave the go-ahead for vehicle trials to start on some local roads.

Finance Minister George Osborne will announce plans on Wednesday to test vehicles on motorways and say the government will bring forward proposals to remove regulatory barriers to the technology, the Treasury said.
"Naturally we need to ensure safety, and that's what the trials we are introducing will test," Mr. Osborne said in a statement ahead of his annual budget presentation.
"If successful, we could see driverless cars available for sale and on Britain's roads, boosting UK jobs and productivity."
The market for autonomous driving is worth 900 billion pounds ($1.29 trillion) worldwide, according to the government, but needs to overcome legal obstacles including determining who would be responsible in the event of an accident.
Driverless car testing will be restricted to vehicles with a person present and able to take control should the need arise, Britain's Department for Transport has previously said.
On Friday, the top U.S. safety agency said there were still significant legal hurdles to be cleared before self-driving cars without steering wheels and gas pedals could be sold in the United States.
Alphabet Inc unit Google wants to eventually be able to deploy fully autonomous vehicles without human controls, and major automakers are racing to develop vehicles that can drive themselves at least part of the time.

Nigerians are reacting furiously to Saraki cars scandal

– The Nigerian public cannot get enough of the Saraki cars scandal.
– Senate president Bukola Saraki has received luxury cars with N330 million.
– Nigerians across the country are reacting furiously on social media.
Nigerians across the country are reacting to the massive controversy surrounding the Senate President Bukola Saraki’s purchase of luxury vehicles.

Earlier today, Premium Times reported that members of the Senate and House of Representatives will receive a fleet of 400 top of the line cars, with Saraki set to receive 10 cars worth N330 million.
The fancy cars include Mercedes and Toyotas, and given that Saraki’s personal car budget is now bigger than that of most government schools, the grant shocked many Nigerians.
Saraki’s office swiftly released a statement to react to the media storm, explaining that the cars are necessary as his current fleet is old and falling apart, condemning the media for breaking the story.
Two of the exotic cars the senators will receive
“The press should avoid deliberately inciting members of the public against public officials,” the statement said.
“The Senate president and his colleagues are conscious of the economic situation in the country and will continue to act responsibly and responsively.”

Saraki’s comments have not calmed the media furore and Nigerians are venting their feelings online and on social media sites.
Many members of the public are furious at the lavish purchases at a time when many ordinary Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet, and some really did not mince their words!
Some compatriots took to the internet to call out the politicians’ hypocrisy amid the calls for Nigerians to buy locally made goods.

Several Nigerians made their anger at Saraki and other politicians easy for everyone to see.
The Senate president is not without his supporters though, apparently his point about the press hit home.
One thing is for sure, this media firestorm doesn’t look likely to end anytime soon!

My memory can't remember the charges against me - Saraki

Map pNi No– Senator Bukola Saraki said he has lost his memory
– The Senate president said he is finding it difficult to remember all the charges brought against him by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT)
– Nigeria’s number three citizen will be at the CCT for the continuation of the hearing of the alleged corrupt case against him on Friday, March 18

Bukola Saraki said his memory is failing him, as he can not specifically recollect all the number of charges of false assets declaration leveled against him by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Dr Bukola Saraki, the Senate president during his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal

The Senate president stated he could not take count of the charges, which he was alleged to have committed between five and more than 13 years ago, while he was the governor of Kwara state.

The challenges the embattled leader of the upper chambers is facing, was written in an affidavit, which he himself attested to, in a fresh application, urging that all charges against him by the CCT, should be rendered null and avoid. Ditto, he said he should be discharged of all the alleged offenses against him.

As written in the affidavit, Saraki states: “The facts relating to these matters are no longer fresh in my memory quite apart from the fact that I have lost many of my records pertaining to them.”

Saraki’s affidavit was dated Friday, March 4. The fresh application tried to stop the Supreme Court judgement of Saturday, March 5, which directed the CCT to continue his trials.

The Senate president was initially arraigned on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 for a 13-count charge of false asset declaration .
Senator Saraki, who said he declared his assets twice, while he served as Kwara state governor between 2003 and 2007, as well as 2007 and 2011, said: “I am not aware of any petitions challenging my declarations, and the bureau (CCB) has never drawn my attention to any.

I would promptly have corrected or explained (the reason for) any alleged discrepancies or inconsistencies in my asset declaration had my attention been drawn to them.”

The are calls from some quarters that, the Senate president should save his face now, by resigning, in order to imprint his name on the minds of Nigerians as a credible political leader.

New snake species discovered in Gujarat

The new snake genus, Wallaceophis is named after Alfred Russel Wallace for his pioneering work on biogeography, and for co-discovering the theory of natural selection. The species has been named gujaratensis.
The find is one of the rarest of moments in the recent reptile history of India.
Nine years after they first saw it in a photograph, two researchers from Mumbai and three others from Gujarat have confirmed the discovery of a new snake species. The find is one of the rarest of moments in the recent reptile history of India.
The new snake genus,
Wallaceophis is named after Alfred Russel Wallace for his pioneering work on biogeography, and for co-discovering the theory of natural selection. The species has been named gujaratensis. The findings were published in the journal Plos One .
Mumbaikar researchers Zeeshan A. Mirza and Rajesh Sanap, along with three wildlife enthusiasts from Gujarat; Raju Vyas; Harshil Patel and Jaydeep Maheta were instrumental in the discovery.
Mr. Mirza, a herpetologist from National Centre for Biological Science, Bangalore, and the lead author of the study, came across an image of this snake in a paper published by Mr. Vyas back in 2007.
‘Odd-looking’
“The snake was odd-looking, and I called Mr. Vyas to seek his opinion on the identity of the snake, but he just had an image,” said Mr. Mirza. “Seven years later, Harshil Patel, a researcher from Gujarat studying reptiles and amphibians of southern Gujarat, informed me that the snake has been found by snake rescuer Jaydeep Maheta.”
Rajesh Sanap, a research associate with the National Centre for Biological Sciences, aided with the lab work. While Mr. Patel compared specimens from the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society, Mr. Mirza studied the snake with literature available.
In the meantime, Mr. Vyas collected data on 12 individuals of the same species from several locations in Gujarat.
Based on scalation, tooth number, bone morphology and DNA, the snake was identified as belonging to a group of colubrid snakes that include racers, royal snakes and whip snakes. “A paper jointly written by us was submitted last year July to Plos One , which finally got accepted later this January,” said Mr. Sanap.
Colubrid snakes (Family Colubridae) are represented across the world with more than 1,800 species, and it is likely this number will grow with advanced techniques in species delimitation.
Wallaceophis gujaratensis has until now been found in seven locations

Pyongyang warns of pre-emptive strike to ‘liberate’ South Korea

U.S. and South Korean Marines take positions during a military exercise in Pohang, South Korea on Saturday. | AP
If U.S.,
S. Korean troops participating in military drills attempt invasion
North Korea said on Saturday its military is ready to pre-emptively attack and “liberate” the South in its latest outburst against the annual joint military drills by the United States and South Korea.
In a statement carried through state media, the General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army said its frontline units are prepared to strike first if they see signs that American and South Korean troops involved in the drills were attempting to invade the North.
The KPA said it will counter the drills by the United States and South Korea it says are aimed at advancing into Pyongyang with plans to “liberate the whole of South Korea including Seoul” and also that it is capable of executing “ultra-precision blitzkrieg” strikes against enemy targets.
At the start of the drills on Monday, the North warned of an indiscriminate “pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice” on Washington and Seoul.
In response to North’s statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff called for North Korea to stop its threats and “rash behaviour” and warned that a provocation from the North would result in the destruction of its highest leadership.
North Korea has condemned the annual military drills staged by Seoul and Washington in South Korea, calling them preparations for an invasion.
The allies say the drills, which this year are described as the biggest ever and follow the North’s recent nuclear test and long—range rocket launch, are defensive and routine.
From Around The Web

Russia to disarm world's largest nuclear ballistic missile submarine

A Typhoon-class Russian nuclear missile submarine prepares to dock at the military port in the Kola peninsula, northern Russia © Dmitry Barinov / AFP

In 2016 Russia is set to disarm the missile system of the Typhoon-class Arkhangelsk submarine, the largest in the world. The disarmament will be carried out in accordance with the New START agreement between Moscow and Washington.

Working in accordance with the New START treaty between Russia and US, the country’s leading Zvezdochka shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk will disarm the missile system of the Arkhangelsk submarine, the shipyard’s press service told TASS news agency on Friday.

“We will remove the covers of the submarine’s missile launchers and seal them, thus making it impossible to use the vessel’s missile weapons, ” the press service said. “We are not talking yet about dismantling the submarine itself. The tender for this procedure has not yet been announced.”

According to the data published by the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, the sub’s disarmament is estimated to cost some 28 million rubles (about US$ 400,000).

See what Nigerians opinions are concerning Buhari’s administration :'Buhari’s Honeymoon With Nigerians May Not Last Long

Editor’s note: Ben Murray-Bruce, the Chairman of Silverbird Group, advises Muhammadu Buhari how to move the country forward, stressing that the president-elect must think of what is best for Nigeria rather than what is best for his party and its chieftains.

Murray-Bruce warns Buhari that he will soon wish he didn’t win the presidential elections if he does not take serious measures to improve Nigeria’s economy.

Story highlights:
– Politics is war, therefore, many of the rules of war and peace apply to politics.
– Nigerians people voted for Muhammadu Buhari, not his party and he should serve the people the dish they are angling for.
– Buhari’s honeymoon period with Nigerians may not last very long.
– Nigeria and other nations should look to China for oil markets.
– Austerity measures must start from Aso Rock.
Ben Murray-Bruce
(This day) – Now that Major General Muhammadu Buhari has been chosen by the Nigerian people, it is my duty as a patriotic Nigerian to help him succeed even though my candidate was President Goodluck Jonathan, a man to whom I will always be loyal and appreciative.
General Buhari is about to mount the saddle and I for one am in a very good position to tell him some home truths because as a senator-elect, I have a very fulfilling job awaiting me and I do not need a job or favours from Buhari so I do not have to play nice.
Looking at the personalities he has appointed to his transition council, I am convinced  to believe that General Buhari needs to expand his circle of friends and advisers.
As a military strategist, the president-elect must be familiar with the principle that the people you use in subduing an opponent are not necessarily the same persons you will need in rebuilding the territories you took. I may be using military terms, but I am sure General Buhari is aware that politics is war by other means and therefore many of the rules of war and peace apply to politics.

The General will be best served if he thinks of what is best for Nigeria rather than what is best for his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), and its chieftains. He must remember that in Nigeria’s subjective politics, it was his person that the people voted for not his party and he should therefore serve the people the dish they are angling for.
And what are the expectations of Nigerians from General Buhari? Definitely not business as usual. The president-elect ran on a promise of change and while that change was not really defined by its chanters, Nigerians defined it as a change in their situation. To borrow from the famously potent prayers of Mountain of Fire and Miracle members, the Nigerian masses defined change as a situation where wealth and power must change hands from the elite to the masses by fire by force and they see General Buhari as the enforcer angel that will bring about this change.
With this type of expectation, Buhari’s honeymoon period with Nigerians will not last very long if he does not take drastic steps to adjust Nigeria’s economy to the realities of falling oil prices and a dearth of buyers for the Bonny Light Sweet Crude.
To put things into perspective, when the United States started buying less and less of Nigeria’s oil, we looked to China as an alternative buyer of oil but it has since come to light that whereas America spent $101 billion on clean energy between 2012-13, China spent $125 billion within the same time frame.

Buhari may wish he did not win the 2015 elections when the reality of our economic situation sets in. In his December 2014 Channels Television interview, Buhari said he was going to “stabilise the oil market”. The General will learn soon enough that today’s oil market is a buyers’ market. And the General’s choices are limited because he cannot (unless he is extraordinarily brave and politically callous) do the obvious and sack civil servants. Yes, he will eventually have to reduce the over bloated federal civil service, but before he can do that, he has to build up political capital by reducing the overhead of the Executive and persuade the Legislature to follow suit.
We need an absolute change not impostures