The Second Niger Bridge , its Owerri Interchange and other ancillary infrastructure tied to the project get to the final stages of completion.

This project by Muhammadu Buhari will make life easier for South-easterners and cut their travel time during the rush-hour Yuletide.

After construction the project will join the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that will be tolled.

The Second Niger Bridge , its Owerri Interchange and other ancillary infrastructure tied to the project get to the final stages of completion.

This project by Muhammadu Buhari will make life easier for South-easterners and cut their travel time during the rush-hour Yuletide.

After construction the project will join the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that will be tolled.

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has partnered 82 Division Nigerian Army on emergency and disaster response and management issues in the South-East zone.

Acting Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Mr Thickman Tanimu, said this when he paid a courtesy visit to the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 82 Division, Maj.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, in Enugu, Nigeria’s South-East on Wednesday.

He said that the visit was at the behest of the NEMA Director-General, Mr Mustapha Habib-Ahmed who, he stated, was desirous of keeping the agency’s age-long relationship with the army.

He noted that the visit, which also served as his familiarisation visit to the division, was meant to reawaken the long time relationship between the army and NEMA in the zone.

Tanimu requested for a focal officer from the division whom the agency could be relating with on any emergency response or disaster management situation in the zone.

The NEMA coordinator also requested for an update on NEMA’s excavator in the care of the army as well as access to water during emergencies.

“This important visit, directed by our director-general, is to reawaken the age-long synergy in emergency coordination and collaboration with the Nigerian Army, especially the 82 Division, Enugu.

“NEMA is here to also strengthen military disaster response units (DRUs) in the South-East zone as well as the security and intelligence gathering and sharing on emergency and disaster issues in the zone,” he said.

Responding, the GOC thanked the NEMA director-general, zonal coordinator and his team for the visit.

He said that the army was always eager and ready to work with NEMA during disaster and emergency situations.

“I am assigning Brig.-Gen. Olugbemi Obasanjo to act as the focal person to NEMA in the zone.

“Obasanjo will also help NEMA with DRU equipment, if required, and for the security of the warehouse,” he said.

The GOC said that the NEMA excavator kept in the care of the army was still in the military barracks, even as he requested that the zonal office designate an official to always inspect it.

“I have also approved that NEMA water tanker be allowed express access to water from the barracks so long as there is water in the reservoir,” he added.

Highlights of the event were presentation of a plaque to the zonal coordinator by the GOC and a group photograph between the principal officers of the division and the NEMA team.

Cuicocha is a wide caldera that contains a large crater lake which is located at the foot of the Cotacachi Volcano in the Imbabura Province of the Republic of Ecuador.

Standing at an elevation of about 3,246 meters (10,650 feet) above the sea, this 3 km (2 mi) wide caldera gets its name from the Kichwa indigenous language which means the Guinea Pig Lake.

The locals kind of saw a guinea pig shape in one of the islands that can be found at the center of the lake, and as the animal plays huge role in the everyday life of the locals providing them with the necessary protein, it certainly deserves something to be named after them.

The last eruption is considered to occurred around 650, gashing pyroclastic flow that covered the entire area in volcanic ash which is considered to have been up to 20 cm (8 inch) deep.

Ever since, Cotacachi Volcano has been dormant with hope that it will stay like that.

Nevertheless, the lake itself contains two islets which are home to hundreds of small species of wildlife, but the entire area includes the native guinea pigs, as well as armadillos, foxes, Andean Condor and rabbits.

Since both of the islets, the smaller islet Yerovi, and the bigger one Teodoro Wolf, are quite important, it is forbidden for people to visit them.

That is why everyone is simply enjoying in the view of the surrounding from the extremely steep caldera, even though there are boat rides available for people to get as close as possible to the islets.

The still blue waters and vivid flora is a definite attention grabber which is becoming more popular and it definitely should be on the guide books and videos of Ecuador.

Lake Cuicocha is a popular place for hiking, as there is a hiking trail which is 14 km (9 mi) long that encircles the entire lake.

The entire hike could take up to 5 hours in order to be completed, however, it is considered a the best acclimatization hike if one is thinking of climbing some of Ecuador’s higher volcanoes.

Perfect for daily excursions, this is a very unique experience and something which will remain in the memory of everyone visiting Lake Cuicocha.

Airbus has broken the record for the longest flight of an unmanned aircraft, flight-tracking data suggests.

The solar-powered Airbus Zephyr S has spent 26 continuous days airborne, beating the record it set in 2018.

The unmanned craft flies high in the atmosphere, to avoid commercial air traffic and adverse weather.

The aircraft has on-board batteries to keep it airborne overnight, meaning it does not need to stop to re-supply fuel.

Flight data shows the aircraft flew from the test range in Arizona to Belize in Central America, and then back again.

A spokesperson for the Assured Position, Navigation and Timing/Space office of the United States Army Futures Command – a branch of the US Army – told The Drive the latest flight tests are “intended to test the UAV’s energy storage capacity, battery longevity, solar panel efficiency, and station-keeping abilities”.

Tim Robinson, editor-in-chief of Aerospace magazine, said he thought this distance marked an important milestone for the aircraft’s ability to travel beyond the line of sight of its operators.

“They’ve flown over the range from 2018 when it set the previous record,” he said. “It’s transmitted out to this area and beyond line-of-sight communications, and it’s gone somewhere else.

“I think that’s an important demonstration of how you would use it in reality.”

He said this opened the door for practical uses of the aircraft, such as military applications or even disaster relief.

Despite being thousands of miles away, the Zephyr S can be controlled from anywhere in the world

The aircraft can provide imagery like a satellite, but it does not have the limitation of having to orbit Earth – meaning it can remain in one position and provide constant updates.

But it has another key advantage over satellites, which generally cannot return to Earth after being launched.

“It comes back to you,” said Mr Robinson. “You can upgrade sensors on it, you can switch the payloads out, you can upgrade it with a new technology.”

The flight record was achieved by the latest model of the solar-powered aircraft, which was originally designed and built in the UK.

Zephyr was invented by Chris Kelleher, who died in 2015. Airbus opened the first serial production facilities for this type of aircraft in Farnborough three years later, and named them in his honour.

It remains airborne at the time of writing, and flight operators seemed to celebrate its 27th continuous day in the sky by referencing its heritage.

Operators used the aircraft’s flight path to spell out “UK”, along with what might kindly be called a rudimentary image of Stonehenge.