BERLIN: A VW spokesman says the German automaker’s supervisory board is checking whether it can demand damage claims from former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn in connection with the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.
Michael Brendel tells German news agency dpa “the investigation has been going on for quite some while and is conducted independently from the authorities’ investigation.”
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported Sunday that Winterkorn could lose his property in connection with the company’s investigation.
Winterkorn, 70, was indicted Thursday in the United States on charges stemming from the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal.
Volkswagen has admitted to programming its diesel engines to activate pollution controls when being tested in government labs and turning them off when on the road.
Winterkorn has denied any knowledge of the scheme.
VW board eyes damage claims against former CEO Winterkorn
VW board eyes damage claims against former CEO Winterkorn
- Volkswagen has admitted to programming its diesel engines to activate pollution controls when being tested in government labs and turning them off when on the road
- Former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn denies any wrongdoing, saying he was not aware of the issue
Thunder rally to beat Pacers, level NBA Finals at 2-2
- NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander finds a way to fight through for Oklahoma City Thunder
- The Thunder are seeking their first title since the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008
Frustrated for much of the game by Indiana’s relentless defense, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander found a way to fight through.
He followed a three-pointer with a pull-up jumper to give the Thunder their first lead since the first half with 2:23 remaining.
They wouldn’t trail again. Gilgeous-Alexander, who didn’t get to the free-throw line in the first half, added six free-throws in the final 44 seconds.
“It’s a dog fight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after another intense, physical battle between the two teams. “Every time you step on the floor, on both ends of the floor they make you work.”
Jalen Williams scored 27 points, Chet Holmgren added 14 points and 15 rebounds and Alex Caruso chipped in with 20 points off the bench for the Thunder.
Pascal Siakam scored 20 points to lead Indiana, adding eight rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 18 points, Obi Toppin added 17 off the bench and the Pacers led by 10 late in the third quarter.
But Oklahoma City – who dropped back-to-back games just twice this season and haven’t lost consecutive games in the playoffs – clamped down defensively in the fourth, determined not to fall in a 3-1 hole.
“We knew it when we woke up this morning – 3-1 is a lot different than 2-2 going back home,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We played with desperation to the end the game and that’s why we won.”
Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder must “maintain the same desperation” when they host game five on Monday.
The Thunder are seeking their first title since the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008, having won it all in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics.
The Pacers, chasing their first NBA title, struck first in another fast-paced opening quarter in front of their energized fans, making four of their first five shots and building a nine-point lead midway through the opening period.
Oklahoma hit back, putting together a 9-0 run to tie it, but the Pacers – with a strong defensive effort on Gilgeous-Alexander and four steals from Pascal Siakam – emerged from the first period with a 35-34 lead.
The back and forth battle continued in the second, when Oklahoma City led by as many as six but could never pull away and Haliburton converted a three-point play – driving through traffic for a layup and making the free throw, his first of the series – to put Indiana up 60-57 at halftime.
By then, tensions had already ratcheted up. Toppin was assessed a flagrant foul for a check that sent Alex Caruso sprawling under the basket.
Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein confronted Toppin and both received technical fouls.
Oklahoma City’s Luguentz Dort was later assessed a flagrant foul for swiping an arm over Toppin’s head.
Toppin gave Indiana the first double-digit lead of the game with a dunk that put them up 86-76 late in the third.
But the Thunder dug deep, tying it up four times in the fourth quarter before Gilgeous-Alexander came through.
“You’re up seven at home you’ve got to dig in and find a way and we were not able to do it tonight,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But give them credit. They kept attacking, kept attacking, and their defense was great down the stretch.”
Oklahoma City closed the game on a 12-1 scoring run, and Gilgeous-Alexander was the driving force.
“He’s unreal,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, although Caruso said nothing Gilgeous-Alexander does surprises him anymore.
“I’ve seen him do it night after night,” Caruso said. “He doesn’t show a lot of emotion on the court, but he’s one of the most competitive guys in this league.”
Pakistan calls for enhancing aid, educational assistance for Palestinians
- Pakistan’s foreign minister chairs meeting to review status of ongoing assistance for Palestinians
- Palestinian death toll from 20-month Israel-Hamas war has passed 55,000, official figures say
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday stressed the need to enhance humanitarian relief and educational assistance for Palestinians bearing the brunt of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
The Palestinian death toll from the 20-month Israel-Hamas war has passed 55,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said this week. Israeli forces have destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced about 90 percent of its population and in recent weeks have transformed more than half of the coastal territory into a military buffer zone that includes the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.
Pakistan has dispatched several aid consignments for the people of Palestine since last year and also granted scholarships and admissions to hundreds of Palestinian students in Pakistani universities since the war began in 2023.
“Reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering moral, political, and diplomatic support for the Palestinian cause, the DPM/FM emphasized the need to enhance the provision of humanitarian relief to the Palestinian people as well as to extend educational assistance to the Palestinian students,” the foreign office said.
The statement was issued after Dar chaired a meeting to review the status of the ongoing assistance provided by Pakistan to the people of Palestine.
“The DPM/FM expressed deep concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza & West Bank, resulting from Israel’s blatant violations of human rights,” the statement said.
The war between the two sides began when Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel and abducted 251 hostages. More than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered the remains of dozens more.
Israel’s military campaign, one of the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, has transformed large parts of cities into mounds of rubble. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in squalid tent camps and unused schools, and the health system has been gutted, even as it copes with waves of wounded from Israeli strikes.
US Marines deploy in LA ahead of mass anti-Trump protests
- Men in fatigues and carrying semiautomatic rifles were seen around a federal building
- Many in Los Angeles are angry about immigration raids being carried out
LOS ANGELES, United States: Armed Marines arrived on the streets of Los Angeles Friday, part of a large deployment of troops ordered by Donald Trump that has raised the stakes between the US president and opponents criticizing him of growing authoritarianism.
Men in fatigues and carrying semiautomatic rifles were seen around a federal building, where passersby questioned why they were in an area 18 kilometers from the protests against immigration raids.
“Taxpayer dollars could be used for other things,” RonNell Weaver said. “Is this really necessary?”
AFP witnessed Marines temporarily detaining one man at the federal building before they handed him over to law enforcement.
The US military would not say why he was detained, despite multiple requests, but the incident appeared to be a minor – albeit extremely rare – example of federal troops detaining a US civilian.
Seven hundred Marines – normally used as crack troops in foreign conflicts – along with 4,000 National Guard soldiers are tasked with protecting federal buildings, while local police handle protests over Trump’s sweeps for undocumented migrants.
An intense legal battle is underway over Trump’s authority to deploy troops on US soil as the country braces for widespread protests Saturday, when the Republican will be overseeing a rare large-scale military parade in Washington.
The parade celebrates the 250th anniversary of the US Army but also coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday, and will be the first time tanks and other heavy weaponry have rolled through the capital city in three decades.
In response, a “No Kings” movement has sprung up promising to stage protests in more than 2,000 places across the country, including a large demonstration expected in Los Angeles, which organizers say will feature a “20-foot-tall balloon of Trump wearing a diaper.”
“Unprecedented” crowds could attend, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters Friday.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, whose deputies are part of a large law enforcement response in the enormous city, urged protesters to behave properly.
“It’s a good cause, but we do not want violent agitators out there destroying property or committing acts of violence,” he said.
Mayor Karen Bass said demonstrations are expected to be “even larger because of what has happened in our city.”
“We do call on people over the weekend to demonstrate peacefully, to exercise your first amendment right, to not play into the hands where it could be used as a pretext to roll out troops in our city,” she said in a news conference.
In a show of political force, Trump overrode the objections of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to deploy California’s National Guard.
The president has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of violence, claiming that without troops, Los Angeles would be “burning to the ground right now.”
On Thursday, District Judge Charles Breyer ruled Trump’s actions were “illegal” and ordered that he return control of the guard to Newsom. Breyer said the LA unrest fell “far short” of the “rebellion” Trump had described.
However, a higher court quickly paused the order pending an appeal hearing with the Trump administration next Tuesday.
The Department of Justice slammed Breyer’s ruling as “an extraordinary intrusion on the President’s constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.”
The dispute mirrors multiple other tussles over Trump’s attempts to expand the limits of presidential power – but is the first to involve troops.
Many in Los Angeles are angry about immigration raids carried out as part of Trump’s ambition to deport vast numbers of undocumented migrants from the country.
About 100 mostly good-natured protesters gathered Friday evening outside the federal detention center in Los Angeles that has been at the heart of the rallies, ahead of a nightly curfew placed on the downtown area by the mayor.
In a sign of how contained the demonstrations have been, however, those attending a performance of “Hamlet” – Shakespeare’s play about a mad prince – and other shows at nearby venues were exempt from the curfew.
Outrage at Trump’s raids and the use of masked, armed immigration agents backed by uniformed soldiers have also sparked protests in other cities, including San Francisco, New York, Chicago and San Antonio, Texas.
Tensions hiked further Thursday when California Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat, was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Air India plane crash death toll rises to 279
- Revised toll from a senior officer in the city, who requested anonymity, raises an earlier figure of 265
- Official casualty number will not be finalized until the slow process of DNA identification is completed
AHMEDABAD, India: Grieving families waited Saturday for news after one of the deadliest air disasters in decades, with the toll rising to 279 people killed in the Indian passenger jet crash.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday, bursting into a fireball as it hit residential buildings.
On Saturday, a police source said that 279 bodies had been recovered from the crash site in the northern Indian city of Ahmedabad, one of the worst plane disasters of the 21st century.
There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the jet when it crashed, leaving the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of a hostel for medical staff.
At least 38 people were killed on the ground.
“I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time,” said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had surprised him with a visit before boarding the Air India flight.
“And now, there is nothing,” he said, breaking down in tears. “Whatever the gods wanted has happened.”
Distraught relatives of passengers have been providing DNA samples in Ahmedabad, with some having to fly to India to help the process.
The official casualty number will not be finalized until the slow process of DNA identification is completed.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
Those killed ranged from a top politician to a teenage tea seller.
The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, said even he could not explain how he survived.
“Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realized that I was still alive,” Ramesh, a British citizen, told national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Friday that a flight data recorder, or black box, had been recovered, saying it would “significantly aid” investigations.
Forensic teams are still looking for the second black box, as they probe why the plane crashed after lifting barely 100 meters (330 feet) from the ground.
US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.
Thailand and Cambodia meet over border dispute
- Troops from the two countries exchanged fire on May 28 in an area known as the Emerald Triangle
- The Thai and Cambodian armies both said they had acted in self-defense, but agreed to reposition their soldiers
BANGKOK: Officials from Thailand and Cambodia met Saturday in Phnom Penh, an AFP journalist saw, as the Southeast Asian neighbors sought to resolve a long-running border dispute that last month devolved into clashes.
Troops from the two countries exchanged fire on May 28 in an area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet, with one Cambodian soldier killed.
The Thai and Cambodian armies both said they had acted in self-defense, but agreed to reposition their soldiers to avoid confrontations.
Thailand has tightened border controls with Cambodia in recent days, while Cambodia ordered troops on Friday to stay on “full alert.”
Officials from the two countries had agreed to resolve the spat at Saturday’s meet in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
Foreign ministry adviser Prasart Prasartvinitchai was leading the Thai delegation, while Chea Lam, minister of state in charge of the Secretariat of Border Affairs, headed the Cambodian contingent.
Neither side commented ahead of the talks.
The row dates to the drawing of the 800-kilometer frontier, largely done during the French occupation of Indochina.
The region has seen sporadic violence since 2008, resulting in at least 28 deaths.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet announced earlier this month that Cambodia would file a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over four disputed border areas, including the site of the latest clash.
The ICJ ruled in 2013 that a disputed area next to Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia, but Thailand says it does not accept the ICJ’s jurisdiction.
