Thula, sometimes written as Thila, is a picturesque village which is located in the ‘Amran Governorate in the western part of the Republic of Yemen.

Considered to be one of the five historical cities in the country, Thula is known as the site of the early Altaleh settlement that was established in the Himyarite period.

Since there are well preserved traditional houses and mosques, there are archaeological investigations which discovered furthermore Sabaean period ruins with massive stone architecture beneath the Himyarite.

The very old, historic Thula is located at the base of a pink granite cliff which was surrounded by a wall for which it is considered to have been up to 7 meters (23 feet) high and 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) long.

Still, in order for this culturally important piece of Yemeni treasure to be preserved, there were certain restoration projects between 2004 and 2011 which fortunately restored the Bab al Mayah gate, some watch towers, paths, the traditional cistern, several mosques, mausoleums, the imamate palace, steam rooms, souks, in addition to some other parts of the Sabaean fort.

According to some historians, in Thula there were nearly 600 traditional domestic houses that were between 3 and 5 floors. This created some interesting narrow alleyways which separated the houses, yet it looked like they are all connected.

Proved to have a significant cultural importance to Yemen, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 8 July 2002, since when it became even more popular for people to come and visit it.

All in all, with the constant changes in the country, it is uncertain whether the historic city will keep its original structures, since it could be in great danger of being destroyed if not well taken care of.

Warnings over the safety of OceanGate’s Titan submersible were repeatedly dismissed by the CEO of the company, email exchanges with a leading deep sea exploration specialist show.

In messages seen by the BBC, Rob McCallum told OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush that he was potentially putting his clients at risk and urged him to stop using the sub until it had been certified by an independent agency.

Mr Rush responded that he was “tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation”.

The tense exchange ended after OceanGate’s lawyers threatened legal action, Mr McCallum said.

“I think you are potentially placing yourself and your clients in a dangerous dynamic,” he wrote to the OceanGate boss in March 2018. “In your race to Titanic you are mirroring that famous catch cry: ‘She is unsinkable'”.

In the messages, Mr Rush, who was among five passengers who died when the Titan experienced what officials believe was a “catastrophic implosion” on Sunday, expresses frustration with the criticism of Titan’s safety measures.

“We have heard the baseless cries of ‘you are going to kill someone’ way too often,” he wrote. “I take this as a serious personal insult.”

Mr McCallum told the BBC that he repeatedly urged the company to seek certification for the Titan before using it for commercial tours. The vessel was never certified or classed.

“Until a sub is classed, tested and proven it should not be used for commercial deep dive operations,” he wrote in one email.

“I implore you to take every care in your testing and sea trials and to be very, very conservative,” he added. “As much as I appreciate entrepreneurship and innovation, you are potentially putting an entire industry at risk.”

In his response a few days later, Mr Rush defended his business and his credentials.

He said OceanGate’s “engineering focused, innovative approach… flies in the face of the submersible orthodoxy, but that is the nature of innovation”.

Turkish shipyard Dearsan has announced a new contract to refit and modernize the Nigerian Navy’s flagship, MEKO 360-class frigate “NNS ARADU”. The contract also includes delivery of a new 57-meter Tuzla-class patrol boat.

A contract signing ceremony was held between the Nigerian Navy and Dearsan Shipyard in Abuja, Nigeria which was attended by the Members of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Officials of the Ministry of Defence, Commander of the Naval Forces Vice Admiral AZ GAMBO, Headquarters staff of the Naval Forces Command, Chairman of the Board of Dearsan Shipyard Mr. Aziz YILDIRIM, and our company executives.

A contract has been signed between our shipyard and the Nigerian Navy within the scope of the Refit and Remodeling project of the historically important NNS ARADU Frigate (F89), the Flagship of the Nigerian Navy.

The refit and remodeling project of the MEKO 360 class NNS ARADU Frigate, which was built by the German Blohm & Voss Shipyard and commissioned in 1982, has a length of 125 meters and a displacement of 3500 tons, will be carried out at our shipyard in Tuzla, İstanbul.

Within the scope of the project; systems, equipment and devices that are out of use due to the age and obsolescence will be repaired or renewed with equivalent modern systems and the frigate will be brought to modern-day standards.

Within the scope of the same contract, 1 unit of 57-meter Tuzla Class Patrol Boat will also be delivered to the Nigerian Navy. The Nigerian Navy will be the fourth user of the 57-meter Patrol Boat after the Turkish Naval Forces, Turkmenistan Navy and Turkmenistan Coast Guard Command, which we will be delivering the 27th unit.

The Patrol Boat, which can take active roles in Patrol /Escort, Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance, Anti-Smuggling & Anti-Piracy, Protection of Rights and Interests at Sea and Natural Resources, Maritime Situation Awareness duties and illegal Fisheries Inspection will also be equipped with Anti-Air Warfare, Anti-Surface Warfare, and Asymmetric Warfare weapon systems. We are happy and proud that our platform, which has the distinction of being Turkey’s first national warship, will also carry out its duties in Nigerian territorial waters from now on.

Within the modernization and new building projects, we are decisively advancing our works for the continuation of the relations between the Republic of Türkiye and the Federal Republic of Nigeria and for our export targets with Nigeria and other countries.

The 57-meter-long Tuzla-class patrol boat is operational at the Dearsan shipyard. According to the sources, the boat was built for Libya, but the delivery was not completed due to some problems. Therefore, the Nigerian Navy will be the first user of the vessel.

Dearsan Shipyard is currently building OPV 76 offshore patrol vessels for the Nigerian Navy. The shipyard laid the keel of the first of two vessels in September 2022. Despite refit, NNS Aradu is a 40-year-old frigate. As a result, this relation has the potential to lead to a new frigate procurement in the near future.

No fewer than 30 buildings are said to have been destroyed and over 50,000 people displaced in the gully erosion ravaging communities in Onitsha Inland, Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

It was gathered that the erosion, which began in 2019, has so far damaged areas at Obeleagu and Nkisi-Aroli streets, thereby causing panic among the inhabitants of the community since 2020, when it became fully blown.

As a result, the residents of the affected areas have therefore called on the state governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to rescue them from the ecological disaster.

Already completely destroyed by the erosion were two churches, a school, shops, and residential buildings.

Our correspondent, who visited the site on Friday, gathered that a three-storey building constructed close to the gully at Nkisi-Aroli Street caved in three years ago, and since then the erosion has kept expanding.

Speaking to our correspondent, a septuagenarian and retired educationist, Onwa Chukwudobe, who is one of the most threatened victims, said he had suffered untold hardship in the past three years due to the erosion.

He said, “I thank God that I am still surviving, and I thank the state government for the much they have done, but as you can see the calamity is not over yet, as it is rapidly ravaging properties in the area.

“I thanked our monarch, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, and the town union leadership for the patronage we received and the relief items they have so far provided for the victims.

“The state government has diverted the water channel from the main erosion gully site but it is yet to be sealed, that is our concern now.”

Another resident of the area, who gave his name as Amechi Egbunike urged the state government to rescue them from the gully erosion without further delay, adding that “We want a proactive measure, not political promises earlier made by past administrations in the state.”

The President-General of the Onitsha Improvement Union, Sir Chike Ekweogwu, told our correspondent that the erosion started in late 2019 and manifested in 2020.

“Since then, we have approached various arms of government, including the Anambra state government, to come to our aid.

“Our monarch has done a lot too by using his influence. At a time, the then Minister of State for Environment, Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor, as well as officials of the Anambra state government under the former governor, Dr Willie Obiano, visited the site.

“Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project officials and even former Governor Obiano were here too to look at it. He had some compassion and put up a palliative measure to channel a new gutter into the Nkisi River.

“It locked the other end from Obeleagu Street to Aroli Street to minimise the continuous erosion in the area. He promised then that for effective use of the channel, the Nkisi River would be stilted.

“However, because the waters don’t flow normally anymore, and you know our people with their land speculation attitude, they have encroached on it.

“People are beginning to re-channel it, and you know that water will always find its course and that is where we are today; even the palliative that was done begins to crack because it was not properly cast.”

He appealed to the governor to help complete the palliative started by his predecessor and then stilt the Nkisi River so that it becomes a free-flowing stream.

The President General also appealed to both the federal and state governments to help finance the gully erosion close-up, adding that the community would not be able to finance such a huge project.

When contacted on the development, the state Commissioner for Works, Ifeanyi Okoma, did not take several calls and messages to his telephone.

However, an employee in the ministry who identified herself simply as Mrs Osigwe, said, “Anambra State already has a Flood and Erosion Mitigation Team set up by the governor, which is headed by his deputy.

“The team, which is inter-ministerial has the State Emergency Management Agency, ministries of environment, education, local government areas, power and water, health, agriculture, transport, works, and other concerned government agencies.

“The Team is already working on pre-flood strategies to address the challenges. Precisely, on April 28, the team, through SEMA, started a sensitising tour to the affected LGAs.”