Aug102017
MAIB’s report on the investigation of the of the fatal carbon monoxide poisoning on the small motor cruiser Vasquez on 12 November 2016, is now published.
The report contains details of what happened and the subsequent actions taken:
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Aug102017
Between April 2016 and March 2017, more than 300 driving examiners, vehicle testers and roadside enforcement staff suffered physical or verbal abuse while doing their jobs. This was an increase of more than 50% on the previous year.
Attacks on staffs have included:
DVSA’s campaign aims to put a stop to this completely unacceptable abuse against its staff.
Around 4,600 people work for DVSA. They help you to stay safe on Great Britain’s roads by:
They all have a right to come to work without being abused, threatened or assaulted.
The campaign will:
Posters warning about the consequences of assaulting staff will be displayed at DVSA sites across Great Britain
Learner drivers who swear at or verbally abuse staff will be forced to:
Anyone who threatens or assault examiners, drives off with an examiner still in the car, or damages DVSA property will:
Although it’s extremely rare, driving instructors sometimes try to influence the results of a driving test by harassing or threatening examiners. They face being:
DVSA will:
In some busy sites, enforcement staff are starting to trial body-worn cameras to capture evidence of abuse.
Body-worn cameras will be trialled by DVSA
Gareth Llewellyn, DVSA Chief Executive, said:
Our staff work incredibly hard to help you stay safe on Britain’s roads. We do not tolerate anyone abusing, threatening or assaulting them.
Our message is clear – whatever has happened, don’t take it out on our staff. If you do, we’ll press for the strongest possible penalties.
The Traffic Commissioner for Wales, Nick Jones, said:
My fellow traffic commissioners and I welcome the agency’s campaign to tackle the unacceptable abuse which staff may face whilst carrying out their professional duties.
Aug92017
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Aug92017
9 August 2017 – Expressing its grave concern about the threat of famine facing some 20 million people in conflict-affected Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and north-east Nigeria, the United Nations Security Council today requested the Secretary-General to provide early warning when a conflict could lead to famine.
Through the adoption of a Presidential Statement, the 15-member body also requested the Secretary-General to provide an oral briefing in October 2017 on impediments to an effective response to the risk of famine in these countries, and make specific recommendations on how to address country-specific impediments in order to enable a more robust short- and long-term response.
The Council emphasized, with deep concern, that ongoing conflicts and violence are “a major cause of famine” as they have devastating humanitarian consequences and hinder an effective humanitarian response in the short, medium and long term.
Deploring that in these four countries, certain parties have “failed to ensure unfettered and sustained access” for deliveries of vital food assistance as well as other forms of humanitarian aid, the Council reiterated its calls on all parties to allow the safe, timely and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to all areas and to facilitate access for essential imports of food, fuel and medical supplies into each country, and their distribution throughout.
The Council further urged all parties to protect civilian infrastructure which is critical to the delivery of humanitarian aid in the affected countries.
The Council expressed its readiness to continue to support the Secretary-General’s call to action to avert famine in conflict-affected countries and commits to engage constructively on his specific recommendations.
Aug92017
Chinese scientists have become the first to realize quantum key distribution from a satellite to the ground, laying the foundation for building a hack-proof global quantum communication network.
The achievement based on experiments conducted with the world’s first quantum satellite, Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), was published in the authoritative academic journal Nature on Thursday.
The Nature reviewers commented that the experiment was an impressive achievement, and constituted a milestone in the field.
Nicknamed “Micius” after a 5th century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist who is credited as the first person ever to conduct optical experiments, the 600-kilogram-plus satellite was sent into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 km on Aug. 16, 2016.
Pan Jianwei, lead scientist of QUESS and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said the satellite sent quantum keys to ground stations in Xinglong, in north China’s Hebei Province, and Nanshan near Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Communication distance between the satellite and the ground stations varied from 645 km to 1,200 km, and the quantum key transmission rate from satellite to ground is up to 20 orders of magnitude more efficient than that expected using an optical fiber of the same length, said Pan.
When the satellite flies over China, it provides an experiment window of about 10 minutes. During that time, 300 kbit secure keys can be generated and sent by the satellite, according to Pan.
“That, for instance, can meet the demand of making an absolute safe phone call or transmitting a large amount of bank data,” Pan said.
“Satellite-based quantum key distribution can be linked to metropolitan quantum networks where fibers are sufficient and convenient to connect numerous users within a city over 100 km. We can thus envision a space-ground integrated quantum network, enabling quantum cryptography – most likely the first commercial application of quantum information – useful at a global scale,” Pan said.
The establishment of a reliable and efficient space-to-ground link for faithful quantum state transmission paves the way to global-scale quantum networks, he added.