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Kosovo celebrates Flag’s day

Celebrations have started in Prishtina with music and families going out in the city center. 

A fair with Albanian products and folk music seems to have challenged the cold rainy weather.

The Albanian flag can be seen anywhere, while even thought November 28th is not an official holiday, many institutions have interrupted their work today.

Kosovo celebrates the first public appearance of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the birthday of Adem Jashari. Many celebrations have been organized around Kosovo in his honor, including the annual celebrations in prekaz.

The acting Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, congratulated the Albanian people and declared that Albania celebrates today the 102nd anniversary of independence with better political and diplomatic positions and with a clear European perspective.

He wrote on Facebook that this event has inspired and cultivated the idea and feeling of freedom in all places where Albanians live. 

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Riversimple, the Welsh dragon that spits water vapour

A hydrogen-powered electric car under development in Wales is bringing more than just a C02-free powertrain to the table. Riversimple founder and chief engineer Hugo Spowers and his team are striving to upend the business model of making and selling – not to mention owning – cars.“Disruptive technology can only work if it comes with a new business model,” says Spowers, who, in addition to being an entrepreneur, is a lifelong motorsport enthusiast, having fielded a private team in the 1980s. “When someone comes up with a radical new idea, the conversation always turns to why it can’t be done. And generally speaking, many of those reasons are true. But if you’re prepared to throw out the whole context and start again from scratch, all the reasons why something can’t be done just fall away.”

Spowers is no stranger to challenging the status quo, having worked on the hydrogen-powered LIFECar, a demonstration hydrogen-powered vehicle developed by a consortium that included Morgan Motor, the defence contractor QinetiQ, Cranfield University and Oxford University.
Like that project, Spowers’ little Welsh startup is perhaps best represented by its prototype, an as-yet-unnamed, two-seat wonder of Smart Fortwo stature whose toylike form conceals radical innards. “We’ve designed a car around hydrogen fuel cells rather than trying to put fuel cells into cars designed around the internal-combustion engine for the last 100 years,” Spowers says.
Compressed hydrogen travels from a pressurised tank mounted at the rear axle to hydrogen fuel cells tucked in the car’s nose. The cells convert the fuel into electricity, which in turn powers four direct-drive motors, one housed in each wheel. The direct-drive equipment obviates Riversimple from having to fit a gearbox; drivers just push buttons on the dash for forward, neutral or reverse.
“There are no moving parts, except for the wheels,” Spowers says. “There’s no metal-to-metal contact, no lubrication required and no mechanical wear.”

The carbon-fibre body shell of Riversimple's earlier prototype. (Riversimple, via 40fires)

Additional electricity is created via regenerative braking – whereby energy expended in slowing or stopping is recaptured rather than being lost as heat – and stored in a bank of supercapacitors that Spowers says will provide 80% of the car’s motive power down the road. “That means the fuel cells only need to supply 20% of the power during acceleration,” Spowers notes. Conventional friction brakes intercede for higher-speed emergency stops and braking below 8kph (5mph).

The prototype, which weighs about 520kg (1,147lbs) and measures 3.7 meters (roughly 12ft) long, scoots from zero to 50mph – its top crusing speed – in a respectable 8 seconds, Spowers claims, and has a driving range of about 300 miles before requiring refuelling.

While the final design is still being finalised, the demonstrator model reveals a sleek, light carbon-fibre body created by Chris Reitz, the company’s design chief. Reitz has put his stamp on many notable cars, including the Fiat 500, and has worked for Volkswagen, Audi, Nissan and Alfa Romeo.

But Riversimple also differentiates itself in another key respect. Just as the Beatles observed that money can’t buy love, it can’t buy a Riversimple car, either.

Rather, consumers will be charged a monthly fee that ostensibly serves as a lease payment, but also covers other car-related expenses such as insurance, fuel and routine maintenance. “Refuelling bills will come right to us for payment,” Spowers says.

This mobility-as-service approach is not new; the (now bankrupt) battery-swapping startup Better Place tried it, and Hyundai recently introduced a similar programme in the southwest US for its Tucson electric SUV, powered by hydrogen fuel cells. (A $499 monthly lease payment over three years covers all fuel and maintenance costs.) Spowers says that the monthly payment will also help subsidise the development of fuelling infrastructure.

While an exact fee remains undetermined, Spowers estimates it will total about £450 (roughly $720) – comparable to the monthly operating costs of a new, moderately priced car. Fees will vary according to how far consumers drive each month.

“We’re rethinking the provision of mobility from a clean sheet of paper, without the legacy barriers imposed by the existing industry,” Spowers says. ”We’ve designed a solution that’s not just a car, but a business model that suits the 21st Century.”

That consumers will eventually return their cars to Riversimple for “resale” motivates the company to design products that last, as opposed to the conventional planned-obsolescence mindset of the car industry at large.

“Designing a car for this business model requires us to sell performance, not just cars,” Spowers says. “This changes our design drivers from obsolescence and high running costs to longevity and lower running costs – completely opposite from what drives the current auto industry.”

The principle may be difficult for consumers to grasp initially, Spowers concedes, but Riversimple ultimately expects motorists to gravitate towards a clean, viable alternative to ownership or conventional leasing schemes. Beta testing of 20 vehicles is slated for late 2015, with production expected to start in mid-2017.

As for name recognition, all in good time.

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Xhuvani's case at court

The Prosecution of Tirana filed their stance about the case of Konstandin Xhuvani. Prosecutors say that Xhuvani is accused of murder and illegal arm possession. 

The Prosecution says that the police arrived on the scene and found an armed person leaving a parked Mercedes and trying to run away. The Police followed him and caught him a few meters away. The suspect was Konstandin Xhuvani, and the gun he was carrying had its serial numbers removed.

Police say that in the underground bar they found the bodies of Edison Jaho and Enea Xhaja. Close to them they found a 54 caliber gun with one bullet inside and six others in the clip. Six other bullet shells were found scattered around.

The Prosecution says that Xhuvani and Demiraj had a conflict with Edison Jaho and Erald Xhaja, but the bar’s bodyguard forced them tostop it. They returned later with arms on their hands.

The man who fired was Konstandin Xhuvani, who killed Jaho, Xhaja and Demiraj, whose body was found in the car, while his friends were trying to send him to hospital. Xhuvani has also killed the Italian citizen Paolo Azzolo.

The police say that Xhuvani had gun powder traces on his hands and the bullets that caused all the deaths were compatible with the gun he threw when the police caught him. 

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Man set police vehicle on fire, arrested

The vehicle of a police officer has been burned down this Saturday in the Albanian capital. 

This took place at the Bedri Karapici street in Tirana, where the vehicle owned by the traffic police officer, Rami Hamzillari, was completely burned.

No one has been hurt by the fire, while police has started investigating and a few hours after the crime they were able to arrest a suspect, Artur Minxholli, who had personal conflicts with the police officer.

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Higher traffic fines only for Tirana

Fine for a red light has increased to 40.000 ALL. The changes at the Traffic Code have become harsher, but it will be valid only in Tirana. Only Tirana has functional traffic lights in crossroads, most of them with problems, but yet functional. 

In other cities, traffic lights almost do not exist

Durrës

Dozens of traffic lights have been installed in Durres, but most of them don’t work. Data from the road directory say that there are 13 traffic lights in the entire city, and only two of them are functional.

Elbasan

There are traffic lights in the tunnel between Tirana and Elbasan, but they are almost inexistent in cities. There is footage of posts where traffic lights used to be, but that now have disappeared.

Gjirokaster

Gjirokaster has some traffic lights installed, which do not function but are only for decoration. The traffic police does not take them in consideration, and not even drivers.

In Korce, Pogradec, Lushnje, Rrogozhine, Berat, Shkoder, Lezhe, Peshkopi, Fier, Burrel, Permet, Tepelene, Fushe Kruje, traffic lights are installed but do not work.

The failure to respect traffic lights and the high fines that were proposed, caused harsh debates in the Albanian Parliament.

Traffic lights have existed properly only in the Albanian capital, where the Municipality has made some efforts to discipline the traffic due to the increased flux.

In all municipalities and even in national roads, traffic lights do not exist, making these laws functional only for Tirana’s main boulevard and ring road. 

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Albania-Luxembourg agreement

Albania and Luxembourg signed an agreement for social protection, based on a version that was agreed between parties by the end of January. 

This agreement was signed at the Ministry of Luxembourg for Social Insurance, by Minister Erion Veliaj and his counterpart, Roman Schneider. It will enter in effect this summer, after a ratification by the respective parliaments.

“This is an important act, because it is about a convent in the social insurance sector. This is the basis of our relations. The same goes for the points that were decided about social insurances that cover employees of enterprises in Luxembourg and Albania. This means that now we want to include it as a draft-law and present it to the Chamber of Representatives and it will be transmitted to the State Council. This will be discussed by commissions, but this is not a procedure that takes very long, because we are talking about a bilateral agreement as many others that we have with various countries. I believe that it will pas quickly, by mid July 2015. Everything ends with a voting by the Chamber of MPs" Schneider says.

“I think that the Parliament will ratify this agreement by the end of this year, but certainly, this is in a wider context. The new pension reform starts on January 1st. What we are trying to do with this agreement is to tell the Albanian people that it doesn’t matter where they work, in Albania or in any other EU country. For as long that their work is legal, their years of work will be recognized. This is an appeal to all citizens. On January 1st starts a new law, a new system, a new formula which will calculate the years of experience with the salaries. This means that by declaring every day, every week, month and year of work, and every kind of salary, they will have more chances for a higher pension”, Veliaj declared.

The agreement with Luxembourg comes second after an agreement that was signed with Belgium past December. It recognizes the social contributes paid through years, according to some professions but excluding some categories, such as diplomats or other transportation services.

More than collecting the monetary value of contributors, the agreements accepts the social insurance systems of the respective countries with the purpose to recognize their years of work before retirement, based on the rules of the country of residence. The authorities of the other part will transfer their accumulated accounts to the pension funds.

“This means that countries with a high number of Albanian people will have more difficult negotiations. Luxembourg really has only 2000 Albanians, but we can create a precedent through this. With Belgium and Luxembourg we have created a solid precedent on which we working to expand in other countries. After this agreement will be signed with a group of other EU countries, I believe that the negotiations with Italy and Greece will be easier”, Veliaj underlined.

/News-Al

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