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

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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)

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Leaders see horror of French Alps crash as probe gathers pace

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"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. …”

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

India 'cancels helicopter deal with AgustaWestland'

Google – AFP, 1 January 2014

File picture shows a new AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat helicopter at the
 Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, southern England, on 
July 11, 2012 (AFP/File, Adrian Dennis)

New Delhi — India has cancelled a 556-million-euro ($753 million) contract with Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland to buy luxury helicopters for VIPs following a corruption scandal, the Press Trust of India reported Wednesday.

The deal was scrapped after Defence Minister A. K. Antony held a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the national news agency said, quoting what it described as official defence ministry sources.

India had suspended the deal in 2013 after Italian investigators began looking into allegations that AgustaWestland paid bribes to win the contract.

The Italian boss of AgustaWestland's parent company Finmeccanica was arrested last February over the case -- touching off a firestorm in India, where the Congress-led government has been battling a string of graft scandals before elections this year.

India signed the deal in 2010 for 12 helicopters from AgustaWestland after the company beat competition from American and Russian rivals.

In November last year the helicopter maker had sought arbitration to try to salvage the contract.

Italian prosecutors suspect kickbacks worth around 10 percent of the deal -- $67.6 million (50 million euros) -- were paid to Indian officials to swing the deal in favour of AgustaWestland, according to Italian media reports.

India has already received three of the helicopters, intended to be used by such dignitaries as the prime minister and the president, but Antony halted deliveries of the remaining nine.

India's auditor general said in a report last year that the defence ministry "deviated from procurement procedure and tender on several instances in the deal" including altitude requirements.

Indian detectives raided the home of former air force chief S.P. Tyagi as part of the probe into the allegations of bribery. Tyagi has denied any wrongdoing.

Cash was allegedly handed to Tyagi's cousin, with more money funnelled via a web of middlemen and companies in London, Switzerland, Tunisia and Mauritius.

The purchase also came under scrutiny from Italian investigators probing allegations the Italian group had broken the law by bribing foreign officials.

The company denies any wrongdoing.

A spokesman for the company in India was not immediately available to comment on the PTI report.

The cancellation is expected to be a big blow to AgustaWestland, which has a factory in southwest England.

The decision will also be a severe blow to Finmeccanica, whose chief executive Giuseppe Orsi resigned from behind prison bars in February last year.

Orsi denies any wrongdoing and his lawyer has called the allegations against him "inconsistent" and his arrest "unjustified".

The latest move by the Indian defence ministry is seen as a government attempt to contain the fallout from the corruption scandal before elections due in the first half of this year.

The helicopter deal was cleared by Singh, whose Congress-led government has been buffeted by a series of corruption scandals that analysts say could affect the party's electoral chances in 2014 polls.
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