More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal

More carmakers caught in headlights of VW engine-rigging scandal
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

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)

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts
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. …

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

German court paves way for diesel driving bans

Yahoo – AFP, Andrea HENTSCHEL with Michelle FITZPATRICK in Frankfurt, February 27, 2018

Environmental activists, seen here last week in front of Germany's Federal
Administrative Court, have won a major ruling that will allow cities to impose bans
on older, more polluting diesel vehicles in order to combat air pollution. (AFP
Photo/Sebastian Willnow)

Leipzig (Germany) (AFP) - A top German court on Tuesday ruled that cities can impose diesel driving bans to combat air pollution, a landmark decision that plunges millions of car owners into uncertainty.

The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig found that local authorities can legally ban older, dirty diesels from certain zones as part of their efforts to improve air quality -- a drastic move that could reshape inner-city travel and upend the auto industry.

The court did not impose any bans itself, leaving that up to city and municipal authorities.

The judges did however urge them to "exercise proportionality" and said any curbs should be introduced gradually and allow for certain exemptions.

While the legal battle centred around the smog-clogged cities of Stuttgart and Duesseldorf, it could have far-reaching repercussions in Europe's biggest economy.

The ruling is a major blow to the government and the nation's mighty automakers who have long opposed driving bans, fearing outrage from diesel owners whose vehicles could plummet in value.

Eager to reassure them, the government was at pains to stress nothing would change right away and that bans were not inevitable.

"Driving bans can be avoided, and my goal is and will remain that they do not come into force," said Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks.

Chancelor Angela Merkel also weighed in, saying the ruling concerned only "individual cities".

"It's really not about the entire country and all car owners," she said.

But the outcome marks a huge victory for the environmentalist group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), which sued Stuttgart and Duesseldorf to force them to take action against the toxic nitrogen oxides and fine particles emitted by older diesel engines.

German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, left, said cities could reduce air
pollution without banning older diesel vehicles (AFP Photo/Bernd von Jutrczenka)

'Great day for clean air'

Lower-level judges had already backed their demand for driving bans, but the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia appealed, arguing such curbs should be decided at the federal level.

Judges at the nation's top administrative court again sided with the environmental campaigners.

"It's a great day for clean air in Germany," said DUH chief Juergen Resch.

Almost immediately after the verdict, the port city of Hamburg became the first to announce plans for a diesel driving ban on two busy roads from late April, with exceptions for residents, ambulances, city services and delivery vehicles.

The head of Germany's VDA auto industry federation warned however against "a patchwork" of local measures that would confuse drivers and urged the government to take the lead in drawing up uniform regulations.

Analysts at EY consultancy said only the latest diesel models that adhere to the strictest Euro 6 standards would escape the potential driving restrictions, leaving some 10 million older diesels eligible for bans.

Mounting pressure

Concerns over the harmful effects of diesel have soared since Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to installing cheating devices in millions of cars that allowed them to secretly spew far more nitrogen oxide (NOx) than legally allowed, and other carmakers soon came under suspicion too.

The poisonous gases have been linked to respiratory illnesses and heart problems, leading to thousands of premature deaths each year.

The sales of new diesel cars in Europe (AFP Photo/Sophie RAMIS)

Some 70 German cities including Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne recorded average nitrogen dioxide levels above EU thresholds in 2017, according to the Federal Environment Agency.

Industry giants such as Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler have responded to "dieselgate" by offering software upgrades and trade-ins for newer and cleaner models, but have resisted costly hardware fixes.

DUH chief Resch however said Tuesday's ruling could finally put real pressure on automakers to retrofit older engines with properly functioning emissions controls.

"I now expect the auto industry to deliver," he said.

Markus Lewe, president of the Association of German Cities, urged Berlin to do more to push the auto industry to clean up its act.

"Cities don't want driving bans," he said.

The government, long accused of going too easy on an industry that employs some 800,000 people, last year offered to create a billion-euro fund, partly paid for by industry, to improve public transport and upgrade fleets to electric buses.

Such measures are intended at least as much to placate local officials as well as those in Brussels -- where Germany and a slew of other EU member states risk legal action after sailing past a deadline to reduce air pollution.