More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal

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Volkswagen has admitted it installed illegal software into 11 million 2.0 liter and 3.0 liter diesel engines worldwide (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Volkswagen emissions scandal

Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission

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Analsyts say it is irresponsible to link the crash of a Ukraine International Airline Boeing 737-800 to the 737 MAX accidents (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

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A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 commercial jet.

QZ8501 (AirAsia)

Leaders see horror of French Alps crash as probe gathers pace

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Indonesia`s record-breaking bridge on shaky foundations


Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has brushed aside fears of graft and disaster to pursue plans to build the world's largest suspension bridge -- in one of the most earthquake-prone areas on earth.

The planned Sunda Strait bridge will cross at least 29 kilometres (18 miles) between the country's two most populous islands, Java and Sumatra, and pass at its closest point a mere 50 kilometres from the still-active Krakatau volcano.

That volcano's famous 1883 eruption killed an estimated 36,000 people, mostly from resulting tsunamis.

The current proposal follows the signing of an agreement between two provinces on opposite sides of the strait at the start of October, and represents the culmination of a 40-year dream of connecting the islands.

The 10-billion-dollar bridge, which is in the "pre-feasiblity" study phase, will pass over three smaller islands and include a single uninterrupted span 2.5 kilometres long.

Professor Wiratman Wangsadinata, whose consultancy is involved in the study, says the planned bridge will be around 200 kilometres from the "subduction zone" where the Australian and Asian plates come together.

Wangsadinata says that records show the maximum earthquake that can occur in the zone is 8.5 on the Richter scale. He says plans will work on the assumption that no higher earthquake can occur in that area as the biggest recorded in the region was 8.0.

The bridge will be safe, he says, but it will require international help to pull off.

"To tell you frankly, maybe our expertise domestically is not enough to solve all the problems associated with this project. So we are going to invite experts from all over the world to participate, to give advice and also active participation in the study, in the design, and later on in the construction," he said.

Pri Hariadi, from the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, thinks Wangsadinata makes the right assumptions, saying: "I believe that (an earthquake) will not pass the 8.5 record."

It will be a long time before the project can be considered safe -- the pre-feasiblity study is scheduled to be completed in 2009 and the feasibility study in 2013 -- but if it does get the green light it will go some way to filling Indonesia's massive infrastructure shortfall.

The Sunda Strait is a key transit point for goods and people between the two islands.

At the moment, around 350,000 people and 25,000 vehicles cross the strait daily in a fleet of between 20 and 30 rusting ferries. The breakdown of only a handful of these ships can cause traffic to snarl for more than a dozen kilometres.

But safety is not the only concern with the plans for the bridge.

Fear of high price tag

The bridge's high price tag -- and the high risk involved in such a long term project -- means there is a possibility the project will fall victim to the kind of cosy financial arrangements that plague business in Indonesia, according to economist and member of Indonesia Corruption Watch, Faisal Basri.

Basri says the head of the construction company currently pushing the bridge, Artha Graha's Tommy Winata, will not go ahead with the project without the involvement of at least some of the nation's big business families.

He says at least one of three big companies -- the Bakrie Group, owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, a member of former dictator Suharto's Golkar Party; Bukaka, owned by Vice President and Golkar member Jusuf Kalla; and Bosawa, owned by Kalla's brother-in-law, Aksa Mahmud -- will be let in on the project.

"Tommy Winata of Artha Graha will cooperate with one of them -- no doubt," he said.

Wangsadinata himself is candid about the bridge's ability to attract unsavoury attention. However, he says the fact the project will be done by the private sector -- and funded by foreign investment -- means the risk of corruption will be much lower.

Wangsadinata says dealing with bureaucracy will be the biggest corruption risk. But even with this, he concedes he may not "succeed a hundred percent".

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