Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission
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)
"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. …”
Corporate Social Responsibility / Integrity - Ethical / Truthful and Transparent
Quick to
return to a familiar market, the French company has sealed a joint-venture with
Iranian carmaker Khodro. Car production in the Islamic republic is expected to
surge following the lifting of sanctions.
The French
carmaker Peugeot-Citroen (PSA) announced a joint-venture worth 400 million euro
($450 million) with its former Iranian partner Khodro in Tehran on Tuesday.
This makes
PSA the first Western carmaker to enter the Iranian market since economic
sanctions against Teheran were lifted in January, following an agreement over
Iran's controversial nuclear program. Iran was PSA's second-largest market
before sanctions forced it to pull out of the country in 2012.
The
carmaker has been eager to return. An initial deal was already agreed upon with
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Paris in January.
Iran's car
market is believed to be one of the world's most promising, as the country has
a relatively large middle class yet a low level of car ownership. Car
production throughout Iran fell dramatically due to the sanctions, and PSA
believes assembly lines are ready to be revved up again beyond their earlier
capacity.
Clear road
ahead
The
five-year, 400 million euro investment will go towards building out
manufacturing capacity as well as research and development. PSA and Khodra plan
to build a plant in Tehran where cars of both companies will be produced.
The 50-50
joint-venture aims to put cars on the road early next year and roll out 200,000
per year by 2018.
Peugeot's 2008 SUV model has been introduced to the Chinese market as well - also with considerable local investment
PSA will
produce three Peugeot models - the 208 supermini, the 301 compact and the 2008
sport utility vehicle - equipped with last generation engines.
Most parts
will be made in Iran. About 30 percent of the manufactured cars are expected to
be shipped elsewhere in the Middle East.
Allowing
the return of the Western firms has been a subject of some controversy among
conservatives in Iran, though Industry and Commerce Minister Mohamad Reza
Nematzadeh was happily on hand Tuesday.
He
expressed hope that a similar deal between Iran Khodro Diesel, a Khodro
subsidiary, and a German company, likely Mercedes, would be struck soon.
The Transportation Ministry has revoked several airlines' flight permits and reduced the number of flights they can offer from January to May this year as a result of the airlines failing to meet their service obligations. (Antara Photo/ Aloysius Jarot Nugroho)
Jakarta.
The Transportation Ministry has revoked several airlines' flight route permits
and reduced the number of flights they can offer from January to May this year
as a result of the airlines failing to meet their service obligations.
The
airlines whose flight route permits have been revoked are Travel Express,
Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines, Sriwijaya Air, Air NAM and Kalstar Aviation—which
lost two routes.
The
frequency of flights has been reduced on a Trigana Air Service route, on an ASI
Pudjiastuti route, on two routes offered by Citilink Indonesia, two routes by
Garuda Indonesia and three routes by Sriwijaya Air.
"The
airlines have not provided the required standard of services in accordance with
the regulations,” Hemi Pamuraharjo, the ministry's Communications and Public
Information chief said in a statement on Monday (23/05). The statement also
mentioned that the sanctions are only temporary.
Several
other airlines have on the other hand filed requests to the ministry to cut
back the number of flights they have to offer. Some others were reported to the
ministry for delays.
Delivery vans common on the Dutch roads emit an average of six times the
permitted amount of nitrogen dioxide while making their rounds, according to
research by scientific institute TNO.
Of the 12 types of van tested by TNO just
one – the Mercedes Sprinter Euro V1 – remained under the limit of 280
milligrams per kilometre. The rest produced an average of 1,500 milligrammes
per metre, the Volkskrant said on Thursday.
The test involved real-world trials
of some 600 kilometres per vehicle, on a variety of roads and driving
conditions. Official emissions tests are currently lab based.
The research was
commissioned by the infrastructure minister and was published earlier although
the names of the manufactures were kept secret. The Volkskrant used freedom of
information legislation to obtain the names.
TNO told the paper that the vans’
performance cannot be compared with each other because each make differs in
size and load and that has an impact on emissions.
Technical condition
Renault,
whose Trafic van was recorded as emitting almost two grammes of nitrogen oxide
per kilometres, said the technical condition of the vehicle would have an
impact on the test results. ‘The TNO test is non-conclusive because it does not
conform to the EU rules,’ a spokewoman told the Volkskrant.
TNO admitted the
van had 100,000 kilometres on the clock, the highest of all the vehicles
tested.
The worst performer in the TNO test was the Opel Vivaro. Opel
declined to comment.
Japanese
carmaker Suzuki is the latest automotive company to be caught in an improper
fuel economy testing issue, following similar admissions by Mitsubishi last
month.
Suzuki admitted
to "discrepancies" in its fuel economy and emissions testing, after
media reports surfaced on Wednesday saying an internal audit uncovered
irregularities in the company's methods.
"Some
discrepancies were found in the automobile emission and fuel-efficiency testing
process between the testing method required by the government and the one
Suzuki employed," the company said in a statement.
Sixteen
models and about two million cars are affected, but Suzuki said all the
vehicles in question were only sold within Japan. The carmaker also denied
actively rigging the results of testing.
"Any
wrongdoing, such as manipulation of fuel efficiency data, were not found,"
Suzuki said. Company chairman Osamu Suzuki visited the transport ministry to
discuss the issue.
The
ministry urged the country’s carmakers to launch internal reviews, after rival
Mitsubishi reported in April that it actively cheated on fuel economy tests.
Mitsubishi
admitted that it had been using obsolete fuel economy tests since new
regulations were introduced more than 25 years ago. It is also expected to
submit a report to the transport authorities on Wednesday.
Suzuki
shares dove 15 percent on the news, as investors sold off stock in the small
carmaker, which sells about three million vehicles annually.
Max Verstappen celebrates his first Grand Prix win, taking the top spot in Spain on May 15, 2016 and becoming the youngest ever Formula One winner at 18 years of age (AFP Photo/Lluis Gene)
Barcelona
(AFP) - Teenager Max Verstappen became Formula One's youngest ever winner on
Sunday when he took full advantage of a first lap crash that eliminated both
Mercedes cars to claim a memorable triumph in the Spanish Grand Prix.
In his
maiden outing with Red Bull following his unexpected promotion from Toro Rosso,
the 18-year-old Dutchman showed supreme composure under pressure as he resisted
all attacks to claim a stunning victory in only his 24th F1 race.
He became
the youngest race winner, at 18 years and 228 days, replacing four-time
champion Sebastian Vettel who had also taken that record as a Red Bull driver.
Toro Rosso
driver Max Verstappen of the
Netherlands attends a press conference at the
Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, just
outside Barcelona, Spain,
Thursday, May 12, 2016.
The Formula One race will be held on Sunday.
(AP
Photo/Manu Fernandez)
"It
feels amazing, I can't believe it," said Verstappen.
"It
was a great race and it felt like an endurance race. To win straight away, in
my first race, it's an amazing feeling. From a very young age, my dad has
helped me a lot – it’s just amazing."
Verstappen,
heralded as the sport's hottest property, proved he has everything required to
be a future world champion, but owed some of his good fortune also to Red
Bull’s decision to put him on a three-stop strategy while his senior team-mate
Daniel Ricciardo was on a two-stop plan.
That
prevented the Australian from turning his early control of the race into
victory after the opening lap collision between championship leader Nico
Rosberg and his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton had left them fuming in a
gravel trap at Turn Four and out of the race.
Ricciardo
eventually came home fourth, despite suffering a puncture on the penultimate
65th lap, behind the two Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen who finished second ahead
of Vettel.
Verstappen's
maiden win on his Red Bull debut was the first in the sport by a Dutchman and
the first by the team without Vettel involved in one of their cars.
"It's
unbelievable, I can't believe this," said Verstappen's father Jos, who on
Saturday had announced he was standing down as his son’s manager.
Valtteri
Bottas came home fifth for Williams ahead of Carlos Sainz in a Toro Rosso,
Sergio Perez of Force India, Felipe Massa in the second Williams, Jenson Button
of McLaren Honda and Daniil Kvyat on his return to Toro Rosso.
Ricciardo
was understandably frustrated.
"It's
mixed emotions for me," he said. "I was leading and then was pulled
to a three-stop strategy and had to pass three cars – that wasn't the plan.
Infiniti
Red Bull racing driver Max Verstappen pictured during the during the Spanish
Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo outside
Barcelona
on May 15, 2016 (AFP Photo/Tom Gandolfini)
"In
hindsight, it was wrong. Not to be on the podium – that sucks for me. The
puncture at the end was just salt in the wounds.
"I
don't want to come across as a bad sportsman and, whatever happened on the
track, Max crossed the line first. I’m bitter, but not at Max.”
Red Bull
team boss Christian Horner said: “We are as much in shock as anyone is… We knew
there was a chance when both Mercedes went off, but what Max has done is
unbelievable.
"He
made a two-stop, which was right on the limit, and it worked beautifully for
him. It is fantastic for F1 to have a new winner – a youngster on the top step
at 18. He can’t even drink the champagne!"
Vettel was
generous to his successor as the youngest winner.
“Many
congratulations to Max, it is a great achievement to win your first race and
this is his day."
Raikkonen,
whose second place finish lifted him to second behind Rosberg in the drivers’
championship, said: "I am happy for Max, but disappointed for myself.
"But
that’s racing. We tried and we tried. I was fast and I got close, but it was
not enough."
After Red
Bull promoted Max Verstappen from Toro Rosso, the youngster has \
been losing
sleep ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Raikkonen,
a 36-year-old veteran of 235 Grands Prix, added: "I raced against his
father. In Formula One! And that is scary…"
In an
extraordinary race, there was drama from start to finish.
World
championship leader Rosberg and Hamilton were scrapping for the lead when they
wrecked the team’s hopes of another one-two triumph and revived bitter memories
of their collision in the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix on Turn Four.
"We
have spoken to both drivers and it is not a clear cut decision – we have lost
43 points after lots of effort by the team in the last few difficult
weeks," said a strained Toto Wolff, the team chief.
"Let's
see what the stewards decide."
Another
reprimand for Hamilton, if it was to come, would be his third of the season and
signal an automatic 10-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix,
diminishing his ability to revive a serious title defence.
On the day
of Verstappen's emphatic arrival, it seemed also to be a signal that times are
changing and a new era may be about to unfold.
Let me tell you what the message is that is being communicated: Unlock to 44 percent! This is the message: The Human race has passed the marker and is ready for the next step in evolution. I am talking about the old soul. You are the ones who will be first to get this message. It is you, and some of your "old soul" children, who are starting to feel and accept this!
Let me tell you in this lesson today that the first thing that this unlocking will begin to create is what we're going to call Akashic acuity. You're going to start remembering, and it's about time. Can you celebrate this? It's about time that when you're born you don't start from scratch, in the dark, and doing everything all over again. Instead, you remember!
I want to talk to some individuals who are listening to this and are in this room. Have your grandchildren had the audacity to tell you who they used to be? Don't raise your hand; I know you're here. They feel it, and they know it, and out of the mouths of these babes come the most profound information that this planet has ever heard! They knew who they were! Some will point their fingers at you and say, “Don't you remember? I was your mum in another life.” That's a bit disconcerting, isn't it?
I want you to remember one of the premises of incarnation, the one that we have given you over and over. You incarnate in family groups. There's a reason for this, so there is comfort and joy. It's so you don't have to learn the energy of each related person, all over again, each time. The energies of the family stay together and you can accomplish more that way. There's always a benevolent reason for these things. Every single attribute of the esoteric system of life, whether it's your grids or reincarnation, is benevolent. Did you hear that? It's a beautiful system, and not random. It's not about judgment; it's not about punishment. It is, instead, about the love of God for you, and what I'm about to tell you is what is changing is energy.
Akashic Acuity
So we have established that you are moving into this new radiation, and we have established that it intersects the sun. The sun blasts your magnetic field with it (via the solar wind) and the magnetic field talks to your DNA. Suddenly, there is the potential some of your DNA is being unlocked. The attributes of unlocking Akashic acuity will help you to remember who you've been. Now, with this remembrance comes energy - not about who you were, but rather it gives you the energy of what you did. I don't mean physically; I mean energetically and mentally. Old souls carry with them experience. When you look into the eyes of a child, you're going to see wisdom just waiting to break out. Dear ones, these children are different. They are not going to go through what you did! They have a whole new set of issues, and most of their issues are trying to navigate the old issues you create for them!
There's something we brought up in a former channelling called the wisdom factor. Now, the wisdom factor is caused by Akashic acuity. After living Human life over and over, you start remembering the wisdom that you have gained through these past lifetimes. You don't necessarily remember who you were, but rather the fact that you were at all and the experiences you had. Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing how to read? Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing not to touch something hot? Where did it come from? You're going to see more of this, and a feeling of "been there, done that".
Akashic acuity is remembrance of experience during past lifetimes. As the child grows, that remembrance becomes pure wisdom. As the child starts to awaken and the pineal opens, something else happens. The grid starts talking to the child through the DNA, and in the grid is also the information from the time capsules we spoke about in past channellings. The time capsules start feeding the planet with increased wisdom and knowledge. You don't have to reincarnate to awaken even further! Akashic acuity means suddenly Humans know more than other children have in the past - much more. …”
South Korea is fining Nissan for allegedly manipulating emissions data on a popular diesel sports utility vehicle (AFP Photo/Toshifumi Kitamura)
Seoul (AFP)
- South Korea said Monday it will fine Nissan for allegedly manipulating
emissions data on a popular diesel sports utility vehicle, bringing the
Japanese car giant into a widening global scandal that has already ensnared
Volkswagen and Mitsubishi.
Seoul said
it would order recalls of hundreds of Qashqai model SUVs after tests revealed
an emission defeat system that made the vehicle appear to be less polluting
than it really was.
The
decision follows an investigation into 20 diesel-powered cars that began last
December after German carmaker Volkswagen admitted having installed devices
aimed at cheating emissions tests in 11 million diesel engines.
Nissan
would be fined 330 million won ($280,000), the environment ministry said
Monday.
"Our
investigation... concluded that Nissan illegally manipulated emission
data," it said in a statement.
Japanese
transport ministry officials raid theTokyo headquarters of Mitsubishi after
the
firm admitted manipulating fuel economy figures. Rough cut (no reporter
narration)
Hong
Dong-Kon, a ministry official handling transport-related regulations, added:
"A group of auto industry experts we consulted with also agreed that this
is a clear manipulation of emission data."
State tests
showed the Qashqai switched off its emission reduction device when the car
temperature reached 35 degrees Celsius to stop the vehicle from overheating,
whereas other cars waited until the temperature reached 50 degrees.
The
ministry also said that when the Qashqai's emissions reduction device stopped
working, the level of emissions was about the same or higher than the
Volkswagen cars equipped with emissions-cheating software systems.
Nissan will
be given 10 days to present its opinions on the Qashqai issue before Seoul
officially carries out punitive measures, the environment ministry said.
VW crisis
VW was
plunged into its deepest-ever
crisis last year when it emerged it had
installed
defeat devices into cars all over
the world (AFP Photo/Odd Andersen)
Nissan
insisted it "does not manipulate data related to our vehicles" in a
statement sent to AFP.
"Nissan
has not and does not employ illegal defeat or cheat devices in any of the cars
that we make."
The
statement added: "Furthermore, following stringent testing and using
similar standards to the Korean tests, EU authorities have concluded that
Nissan vehicles they tested used no illegal defeat device.
"Although
the conclusions reached by the Korean authorities are inconsistent with those
of other regulators, Nissan will carefully assess and consider appropriate next
steps.
The company
said it was "committed to upholding the law" and was "continuing
to work with the Korean authorities".
Unlike its
rivals Volkswagen and Mitsubishi, Nissan -- Japan's number two automaker -- has
so far avoided being embroiled in any emissions or fuel economy cheating
scandals.
Mitsubishi
last month admitted it had been falsifying fuel-economy tests for years,
manipulating data to make cars seem more efficient than they were in reality.
The scandal
includes mini-cars produced by Mitsubishi for Nissan as part of a joint
venture, but Nissan is said to have had no part in the cheating.
Volkswagen emissions scandal (AFP Photo)
Nissan
threw a surprise lifeline to Mitsubishi last week by offering to buy 34 percent
of its shares, but its top executive warned Friday that he would kill the $2.2
billion offer if the Mitsubishi scandal spreads beyond Japan.
VW was
plunged into its deepest-ever crisis last September when it emerged it had
installed defeat devices into cars all over the world.
The
automaker has acknowledged 11 million vehicles are fitted with software that
reduces pollution levels only when the car is being tested for emissions.
In late
April the company said it was setting aside 16.2 billion euros ($18.2 billion)
in provisions to cover the anticipated costs of the scandal.
Last
November Seoul ordered Volkswagen Korea to recall more than 125,000
diesel-powered cars sold in the Korean market and fined the firm 14.1 billion
won.
The Dutch company court
has upheld a €324,000 fine imposed on budget airline Ryanair by the Dutch
consumers authority ACM.
The ACM fined Ryanair for not adding all unavoidable
costs to the cost of air tickets displayed on its website, in violation of
consumer protection regulations. This meant most travellers paid ‘considerably
more’ for their tickets, the ACM said in March.
In addition, Ryanair only
operates an English language customer service desk, but fails to note this on
the website, the ACM said.
The original fine was €370,000 but this was lowered
after one charge was found to be not proven.
Ryanair has now revised its
booking process and prices do ‘include all foreseeable and unavoidable fees and
surcharges’, the ACM said.
A massive operation
to place 255 metre long railway bridge over the A1 motorway near Muiderberg has
been completed three hours ahead of schedule, the transport ministry said on
Saturday.
The 8,400 tonne bridge had to be moved 400 metres from the location
where it had been assembled to the correct site over the highway. The A1 was
closed at 20.00 hours on Friday night to enable the work to take place and
reopened at 09.00 on Saturday morning.
The bridge was put in place by 03.00 but
then had to be adjusted millimeter by millimeter to make sure everything joined
up.
Transport ministry spokesman Henk Voerman said the entire operation had
proceeded smoothly. ‘It was really imposing to watch, particularly from close
up when those enormous wheels began to move,’ he told RTL news.
Work will now
continue on the bridge and it will be opened in August when the old railway
bridge will be demolished.
Some 60,000 electric
and hybrid cars were bought in the Netherlands last year, taking the total
number on the Dutch roads to around 211,000, the national statistics office CBS
said on Tuesday.
This may be an increase of over 33% on a year ago, but
electric or hybrid cars still account for just one in 40 of the cars on the
Dutch roads, the CBS said.
Just one in 20 of the total is a fully electric
vehicle, and the Tesla Model S is the most popular of these. In terms of the
hybrids, the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Volkswagen Golf plug-in hybrid and the
Toyota Auris lead the pack in popularity.
A drone brings drinks to customers in the world's first drone cafe in Eindhoven
Would you
like a drone with your cocktail? The world's first cafe using the tiny domestic
unmanned aircraft as servers has opened in a Dutch university.
The pop-up
drone cafe will be serving up all weekend as part of celebrations for the
"Dream and Dare" festival marking the 60th anniversary of the
Eindhoven University of Technology.
The 20
students behind the project, who spent nine months developing and building the
autonomous drone, aim to show how such small inside craft could become an
essential part of modern daily life.
"It
has potential as a useful tool for human kind. We see it as the next mobile
phone. You choose and you programme it like you want," student and project
leader Tessie Hartjes told AFP.
The drone,
nicknamed Blue Jay, which resembles a small white flying saucer with a
luminescent strip for eyes, flies to a table and hovers as it takes a client's
order, who points to the list to signal what they would like.
"The
blue eyes of the first drone load" up by scanning the list to register the
order, said Hartjes.
"Once
it's fully loaded, then the order is ready. And another one comes with the
order in a cup in the grip."
The cafe is
offering four different alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, which are either
bright blue or green -- the same colour as the drone's "eyes."
The drinks
are picked up and carried by a set of pinchers underneath the drone, in a bid
to show that these aerial machines could be used to carry out delicate missions
such as delivering medicines or even helping to track down burglars.
Each drone
has cost about 2,000 euros to build, in a project funded by the university
which the students say aims "to give a glimpse of the future".
Thanks to
sensors and a long battery life they can fly inside buildings and navigate
crowded interiors, unlike other drones, which rely on a GPS system.
"The
Blue Jay is an intelligent bird that lives in complex, social
environments," the students say in a video presenting their work.
They
believe the drone's applications could be endless: as extinguishers to put out
fires, alarm systems to warn of intruders or mini-servants which would respond
to commands such as "fetch me an apple."
"We
believe that one day, domestic drones will be a part of society. One day, a
drone could be a friend," says one of the students in the video
presentation.
Volkswagen has admitted it installed illegal software into 11 million 2.0 liter and 3.0 liter diesel engines worldwide (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)
Berlin
(AFP) - Major names in the auto industry found themselves caught in headlights
of a global engine-rigging scandal on Friday as Volkswagen booked one of the
biggest losses in its history over the scam.
As VW
announced it was setting aside 16.2 billion euros to cover the costs of the
scandal, the German government revealed that an emissions probe found that 16
major car brands -- ranging from France's Renault to Italy's Fiat to Japan's
Nissan -- showed up irregularities.
German
carmakers would have to recall Audi, Mercedes, Opel, Porsche and Volkswagen
vehicles in Europe after failing the test, Transport Minister Alexander
Dobrindt said, adding that Berlin was unable to require foreign car makers that
did not fall under its jurisdiction to take similar action.
The latest
revelations amounted to another aftershock rocking the automobile sector,
already vulnerable after VW's scandal erupted in September with the admission
that the group had installed so-called "defeat devices" aimed at
cheating emissions tests into 11 million diesel engines worldwide.
Volkswagen
has admitted it installed illegal software into 11 million 2.0 liter
and 3.0
liter diesel engines worldwide (AFP Photo/John SAEKI, Adrian Leung)
This week,
the pain spread to Asia, where Japan's Mitsubishi Motors confessed that it
cheated on fuel-efficiency tests.
And late
Thursday, top of the range German maker Daimler announced that it was launching
an internal probe into its emission certification process at the request of the
US authorities.
France's
biggest automaker PSA Group was also not spared, as the country's anti-fraud
squad raided its premises as part of a government probe into emissions after
"anomalies" were found in three vehicles.
16 car
brands hit
The latest
trouble to hit the sector arises from a probe carried out into the emission
values of all vehicle models on German roads.
Of 53
models tested, 22 models were found to emit high nitrogen oxide values and
possess a technical device that raised questions.
The models
in particular have devices that, under specific temperatures, switch off
systems that are meant to remove harmful nitrogen oxide from cars' exhaust.
Daimler --
owner of Mercedes-Benz -- announced that it was launching an internal
investigation, "into its certification process related to exhaust
emissions in the United
States upon the request of the US Department of Justice
(DOJ)" (AFP Photo/
\Paul J. Richards)
The systems
for cleaning pollutants are deactivated at low temperatures to protect motors
or prevent a possible accident, as is allowed by EU regulations, but it was not
clear whether some makers used this provision to bend the rules.
Dobrindt
said that besides German brands Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes, Opel and Porsche,
as well as France's Renault, "other manufacturers (affected) are ... Alfa
Romeo, Chevrolet, Dacia, Fiat, Hyundai, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Nissan and
Suzuki."
Meanwhile,
independent of the German probe, Daimler -- owner of Mercedes-Benz, announced
that it was launching an internal investigation, "into its certification
process related to exhaust emissions in the United States upon the request of
the US Department of Justice (DOJ)."
Daimler
pledged to "investigate possible indications of irregularities and of
course take all necessary actions," it said as its shares went into a
tailspin on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
In Asia,
Japan's transport ministry sent officials to raid a Mitsubishi Motors research
and development centre for a second day on Friday.
Mitsubishi
said it would halt production and sales of the affected models -- mini-cars
sold in Japan including many made for rival Nissan -- and warned that the
number would likely rise, as it looks to vehicles sold overseas.
Japanese
automaker Mitsubishi has admitted it manipulated pollution data
in more than
600,000 vehicles (AFP Photo/Toshifumi Kitamura)
VW skids
deep into red
For its
part, VW said it sank into a loss of 1.582 billion euros in 2015, due mainly to
the 16.2 billion euros in provisions it has been forced to set aside to cover
regulatory fines, lawsuits and recall costs of the scandal.
"The
emissions issue significantly impacted Volkswagen's finances," said
Matthias Mueller, group chief executive.
VW had only
just reached an agreement with US regulators -- who had first broken the
scandal -- to offer US owners of some 480,000 illegally polluting diesel cars
options of "substantial compensation" and to fix the cars, or to buy
them back.
The German
giant had faced a court deadline for solutions to the emissions scandal and San
Francisco district court judge Charles Breyer said the agreement in principle
would give owners of its 2.0 liter diesel cars choices for compensation which
also included cancelling the contracts for those under lease.
The offer,
which will likely cost Volkswagen billions of dollars, also included the
creation of a fund for environmental protection, the company said at a court
hearing.
Details of
the proposal between Volkswagen USA, the Department of Justice and the
Environmental Protection Agency were not immediately released.
Transport
Minister Alexander Dobrindt gives a statment to the media in Berlin,
Germany,
April 22, 2016. German car manufacturers will recall 630,000 Porsche,
Volkswagen Opel, Audi and Mercedes vehicles to fix diesel emissions management
software, a German government official said on Friday, widening a clampdown on
pollution in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal. Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch
But it
appeared to be enough to allow Volkswagen to avert a huge trial over how it
would deal with the scandal that has already deeply damaged the company.
The
so-called "dieselgate" scandal led to the departure of VW's chief
executive Martin Winterkorn.
The German
giant, which has abandoned its ambitions of becoming the world's biggest
carmaker ahead of Toyota in the wake of the scandal, has already started
recalling some eight million vehicles affected in Europe.
The scandal
has greatly tarnished the reputation of a company once regarded as a paragon of
German industry.
The recall
operation in Europe is expected to take all year. And while VW is footing the
bill, it is not expecting to have to pay European owners compensation, much to
the chagrin of consumer protection groups.
