Novus Niciae National News Network (NNNNN)

[Prime minister Johns]

[size="7"]Public transport system to receive an upgrade.[/size]


The transport department of Novus Niciae announced today that the public transport system of New Niciae City will receive a facelift to help relive the congestion in the inner city areas.

Some of the measures that will be rolled out in the coming months will include, A subway/light rail system with 164 stations that will cover the entire city from the inner city to the outer suburbs.

There will also be a Park & Ride scheme where commuters will be able to park their cars at the outer suburban stations at a discounted rate and ride the train to work and back.

The city's fleet of buses will also receive an upgrade with the old diesel buses being retired and a new fleet of hybrid fuel buses taking their place, this will result in a 40% drop in pollution from city's buses.

And finally the Unipass transport card will be released where commuters will be able to prepay travel and be able to pass through special automated gates and not have to stand in line and purchase a ticket. RFID chip technology will be incorporated into the card and recharge vending machines will be installed in all stations to allow commuters to add credit to their cards. These cards will also be compatible with the Park & Ride parking garages as well as various vending machines in the stations where commuters will be able to choose from a wide selection of refreshments.

[size="7"]Inaugural Regatta [/size]

The Niciae yacht club will be holding its first race today for 40 foot yachts, it will be a short race of 400 nautical miles proceeding 200 miles down the coast and 200 miles back. The state of the art yacht Leo IX is the hot favorite to win and it's owner Mr William Harris said that he is quietly confident in the new sail design he has developed for his yacht.

[Prime minister Johns]

[size="7"]Airborne rocket launch test succeeds[/size]

At 6am this morning a legio pro aere "Hercules" heavy transport from the 18th transport squadron successfully tested the feasibility of air launching a prototype Pegasus satellite launch system out of its rear cargo doors by means of removing it from the cargo bay using extractor parachutes and allowing to to come to a vertical position at 8500 feet and firing the engines. The missile carried a dummy payload and a full fuel load and was deliberately crashed into an empty and thoroughly checked area of international waters 150 miles out from the nician coast line.

Nician scientists say that this new technique will allow the nician space program to launch satelites from the equator over international waters and save considerable fuel, and launch larger payloads. They also stated that Preparations are continuing for RSRA (Republic Space Research Agency) to launch it's first manned mission some time in the coming year.

OOC: Now hold my beer and watch this. It has been done IRL. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96A0wb1Ov9k"]link[/url]

Edited August 31, 2011 by Prime minister Johns

[Prime minister Johns]

[size="7"]Water supply to New Niciae City upgraded.[/size]

The aging waterpipes from the reservoir outside New Niciae City are set to receive a much needed upgrade with the announcement from the ministry of public works that a new aqueduct system will be built to ensure the citizens of the city will have fresh clean tap water.

[Prime minister Johns]

[size="7"]Earthquake in south west province.[/size]

A magnitude 6.1 quake has hit the city of Helvitica in the south west of Novus Niciae causing structural damage to many buildings, 20 people have died as a result of collapsing buildings and a further 30 are missing. The Vigiles search and rescue unit is sending specialized equipment and tracker dogs to search the rubble for the missing.

Further news will follow as this story unfolds.