Saturday, May 5, 2018
Yamaha YZF R15
The Yamaha R15 has been on sale in India since 2008 and is the Japanese bike maker’s premium 150cc sports bike. Underpinned by the same deltabox frame from the v-ixxion and eschewing a design from the larger R1, it has been popular with those who want efficiency with a whole load of sportiness. Yamaha facelifted the bike in 2011 and dubbed the new version as R15 V 2.0.
Ex-showroom price in Mumbai
₹ 1,18,838
₹ 1,18,838
Winterkorn indictment
The indictment against Dr Winterkorn goes considerably further - suggesting that the CEO himself was made well aware of what the engineers were doing and authorised a continued cover-up.
It claims that in early 2014, engineers heard about a study commissioned by the International Council on Clean Transport, which showed that VW diesels were producing far higher emissions on the road than in official lab tests.
It says that senior managers were informed, and warned that the study might result in VW's deception being uncovered. A memorandum was written for Dr Winterkorn explaining that the company would be unable to explain the test results to the authorities.
Volkswagen did admit some time ago that a memo was sent to Dr Winterkorn about the ICCT study, but claimed it was sent as part of his "extensive weekend mail", and couldn't say whether or not he actually took note of it.
The indictment goes on to claim that a group of senior engineers set up a task force to deal with official enquiries. It says they "pursued a strategy of concealing the defeat device in responding to questions from US regulators, while appearing to cooperate".
The most damning allegation against Dr Winterkorn, though, is that in late July 2015 he was given a detailed briefing about the situation in the United States - more than a month before the company admitted wrongdoing.
This, the document says, included a PowerPoint presentation to provide him with "a clear picture of how VW was deceiving US regulators … and the potential consequences of being caught".
It claims that in early 2014, engineers heard about a study commissioned by the International Council on Clean Transport, which showed that VW diesels were producing far higher emissions on the road than in official lab tests.
It says that senior managers were informed, and warned that the study might result in VW's deception being uncovered. A memorandum was written for Dr Winterkorn explaining that the company would be unable to explain the test results to the authorities.
The indictment goes on to claim that a group of senior engineers set up a task force to deal with official enquiries. It says they "pursued a strategy of concealing the defeat device in responding to questions from US regulators, while appearing to cooperate".
The most damning allegation against Dr Winterkorn, though, is that in late July 2015 he was given a detailed briefing about the situation in the United States - more than a month before the company admitted wrongdoing.
This, the document says, included a PowerPoint presentation to provide him with "a clear picture of how VW was deceiving US regulators … and the potential consequences of being caught".
Far-reaching scandal
The Volkswagen scandal erupted in September 2015, when the company admitted that nearly 600,000 cars sold in the US were fitted with "defeat devices" designed to circumvent emissions tests
Shortly afterwards the then head of its US operations, Michael Horn, told a congressional committee that the deception was the work of "a couple of software engineers".
We know that was far from the truth. Volkswagen has already admitted as much in an agreed "statement of facts" published last year as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice.
We know that was far from the truth. Volkswagen has already admitted as much in an agreed "statement of facts" published last year as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice.
How VW tried to cover up the emissions scandal
These allegations have yet to be tested in a court of law. But if true, they paint a picture of extraordinary executive wrongdoing at one of the titans of German industry.
Dr Winterkorn himself is unlikely ever to face trial in the US. But he remains under investigation in Germany on suspicion of deceiving investors.
The American space agency Nasa has launched its latest mission to Mars.
The lander - due to touch down in November - will put seismometers on the surface to feel for "Marsquakes".
These tremors should reveal how the underground rock is layered - data that can be compared with Earth to shed further light on the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago.
"As seismic waves travel through [Mars] they pick up information along the way; as they travel through different rocks," explained Dr Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator. "And all those wiggles you see on seismograms - scientists understand how to pull that information out. After we've gotten many, many Marsquakes from different directions, we can put together a three dimensional view of the inside of Mars."
Thick fog did not affect the launch on an Atlas rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 04:05 local time (12:05 BST) on Saturday.
Nasa's InSight mission will target 'Marsquakes'
will be the first probe to focus its investigations predominantly on the interior of the Red Planet.
The lander - due to touch down in November - will put seismometers on the surface to feel for "Marsquakes".
These tremors should reveal how the underground rock is layered - data that can be compared with Earth to shed further light on the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago.
"As seismic waves travel through [Mars] they pick up information along the way; as they travel through different rocks," explained Dr Bruce Banerdt, InSight's principal investigator. "And all those wiggles you see on seismograms - scientists understand how to pull that information out. After we've gotten many, many Marsquakes from different directions, we can put together a three dimensional view of the inside of Mars."
Thick fog did not affect the launch on an Atlas rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 04:05 local time (12:05 BST) on Saturday.
Nasa last sent seismometers to the Red Planet on the Viking landers in the 1970s. But these missions failed to detect ground vibrations because the instruments were positioned on the body of the probes.
All they recorded was the landers' shaking as the wind whistled by. InSight, by contrast, is going to place its seismometers directly in the Martian dirt.
How many quakes will be detected over the course of a year is uncertain, but estimates suggest perhaps a couple of dozen. They are likely to be small - probably well less than a Magnitude 3, which many people on Earth would sleep through.
However, even these gentler signals will carry sufficient information about the subsurface to allow scientists to construct a model of Mars' depths and composition.Nasa last sent seismometers to the Red Planet on the Viking landers in the 1970s. But these missions failed to detect ground vibrations because the instruments were positioned on the body of the probes.