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A.M.
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Published
Thursday, April 21,
2016, in Vol. 17, No. 78
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San José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, April 21,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 78
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Pro-pot
supporters show their preference
By Rommel Téllez
Special to A.M. Costa Rica About 40 supporters for the legalization of medical marijuana rallied Wednesday in front of the Asamblea Legislativa building. They seek the approval of bill No. 19.256, which would allow citizens to grow cannabis for medical, personal, and industrial purposes. So far, the bill has been obstructed from reaching the legislative floor by a group of evangelical lawmakers who filed 325 appeals last week at a committee in the Asamblea Legislativa. The gathering also heard brief speeches from lawmakers Alberto Alfaro of Movimiento Libertario and Ligia Fallas of Frente Amplio. They both guaranteed total support of the bill. Gerald Murray, director of Movimiento Cannábis Medicinal de Costa Rica and main organizer of the event, addressed both the attendees and police officers deployed by Ministerio de Seguridad Pública. “Let God illuminate the ignorance of the evangelical lawmakers. This country is not a small farm anymore. Cannabis supporters are lawyers, doctors, professionals who want to benefit from the medical qualities of the plant.” he said. Members of the police, thank you for protecting us since that’s your duty. Remember that real criminals might be wearing a suit and a tie. I’m going to light up my joint and expect the rest of you to do the same.” Murray added. The activity remained peaceful, even though police officers conducted personal searches on attendees who were smoking pot. In the United States where some states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, Wednesday was National Weed Day in which marijuana users gathered and smoked in some areas. Ownership of native lands to be studied By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
The Instituto de Desarrollo Rural said Wednesday that it would begin a study of the native reserves in the country to determine how many properties are in the hands of non-natives. Ownership by non-natives has provoked violence in some areas. There also are continual invasions of traditional native lands by those who are not natives. But there also are some who had property long before the area was designated a reserve by the central government. The first areas to be studied will be Salitre and Cabagra where there is a long history of conflict. The institute said it plans to spend about $950,000 for salaries of team members to do this. Access to information will be topic By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The U.S. Embassy is among the sponsors of a 10:30 a.m. seminar on access to information that will be held May 3 at the Corte Suprema de Justicia building in San José. Participating will be Fernando Cruz, a supreme court magistrate, and Lynn Carrillo, a lawyer who is vice president of media law for NBCUniversal and is also employed by Telemundo and NBC. She has been a reporter at the Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald, both in Florida. The event commemorates the World Press Freedom Day, a designation made by the United Nations.
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San José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, April
21, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 78
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| Harriet Tubman will become the
face of the new U.S. $20 bill, although U.S. Treasury
Secretary Jack Lew did not say Wednesday exactly
when this would happen. Ms. Tubman is known for
smuggling slaves to freedom in the U.S. North before
the U.S. Civil War when she became a Union spy. |
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| Historic
women will be honored in news series of U.S. currency |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
and wire service reports Women are going to be dominating U.S. currency, at least as far as the graphics are concerned. The U.S. Treasury said Wednesday that African-American abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman, who led hundreds of slaves to freedom, will replace Andrew Jackson on the face of the $20 bill. The new $5 will honor historic events that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial and will feature Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt. The face of the new $5 will retain the portrait of President Lincoln. The new $10 will celebrate the history of the women’s suffrage movement, and feature images of Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul, alongside the Treasury building. The front of the new $10 will retain the portrait of Alexander Hamilton. The reverse of the new $20 will depict the White House and an image of President Andrew Jackson. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew confirmed Wednesday that Ms. Tubman will be the first African-American featured on U.S. currency, and the first woman on paper currency in more than 100 years. He did not indicate when the new bill would be in circulation. |
Lew
originally announced his intention to put a woman on the
$10 bill last June, but has since faced pressure from
various groups and individuals to rethink the $20. Andrew Jackson, the former president featured on the $20 bill, was responsible for the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which started what was known as the Trail of Tears, a forced migration on which thousands of Native Americans died. Ms. Tubman grew up a slave in Maryland. Born Araminta Ross in 1822, most historians believe she was taken from her parents and put to work when she was barely 6 years old. A brutal beating at the age of 12 caused her to suffer from seizures the rest of her life. She was a devout Christian and experienced visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God. As a young woman, she married John Tubman. She escaped with the help of a white neighbor, who gave her the names of people who would hide her during her travels north. Harriet Tubman returned to Maryland for members of her family and other slaves, making the trip about 20 times to lead more people to freedom. They traveled at night along backroads and waterways, and historians say Ms. Tubman would pull a gun on anyone who threatened to back out. The new bills will present a challenge to those in the tourism business. The U.S. Treasury is expected to embark on a public relations campaign with posters to alert those in business, particularly those overseas, about the changes in the bills. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | ||
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San José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, April 21,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 78
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| Climate
report shows that U.S. weather is actually getting better |
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By the New York University news
staff
The vast majority of Americans have experienced more favorable weather conditions over the past 40 years, researchers from New York University and Duke University have found. The trend is projected to reverse over the course of the coming century. The analysis, published in the journal Nature, found that 80 percent of Americans live in counties where the weather is more pleasant than four decades ago. Winter temperatures have risen substantially throughout the United States since the 1970s, but summers have not become markedly more uncomfortable. The result is that weather has shifted toward a temperate year-round climate that Americans have been demonstrated to prefer. "Rising temperatures are ominous symptoms of global climate change, but Americans are experiencing them at times of the year when warmer days are welcomed," explains Patrick J. Egan, an associate professor at New York University who authored the study with Duke's Megan Mullin. However, he and Ms. Mullin, an associate professor, discovered a looming shift in these patterns when they used long-term projections of temperature changes to evaluate future weather Americans are likely to experience. According to these estimates, nearly 90 percent of the U.S. public may experience weather at the end of the 21st century that is less preferable than weather in the recent past. "Weather patterns in recent decades have been a poor source of motivation for Americans to demand policies to combat the climate change problem," observes Ms. Mullin. "But without serious efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, year-round climates ultimately will become much less pleasant." |
In a 2012
study, the duo found that local weather temporarily
influences people's beliefs about evidence for global
warming. That research, which appeared in the Journal of
Politics, found that those living in places experiencing
warmer-than-normal temperatures at the time they were
surveyed were significantly more likely than others to say
there is evidence for global warming. In the Nature study, Egan and Ms. Mullin took a broader approach to understanding weather patterns and how Americans experience them. The researchers analyzed 40 years of daily weather data from 1974 through 2013 on a county-by-county basis to evaluate how the population's experience with weather changed during this period, which is when climate change first emerged as a public issue. They found that Americans on average have experienced a rise in January maximum temperatures, an increase of 1.04 degrees F per decade (0.58 °C). By contrast, daily maximum temperatures in July rose by only 0.13 of a degree F per decade (0.07 °C). Moreover, humidity in the summer has declined somewhat since the mid-1990s. In other words, winter temperatures have become warmer for virtually all Americans while summer conditions have remained relatively constant. To quantify how Americans are evaluating these changes, Egan and Ms. Mullin drew upon research by economists examining weather's role in growth of the Sun Belt and population declines in the Northeast and Midwest. Using these findings, they developed a metric of the average American's preferences about weather. This weather preference index reflects the U.S. public's preferences for places with warmer temperatures in winter and cooler temperatures and lower humidity in summer. The index also takes into account preferences about precipitation. Egan and Ms. Mullin found that index scores have risen in counties accounting for 80 percent of the U.S. population since the 1970s. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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A.M. Costa Rica's
Fifth news page |
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San José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, April 21,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 78
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to begin an offshore probe By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The U.S. says it has opened a criminal investigation into the massive cache of information leaked from a Panamanian law firm revealing alleged tax avoidance schemes across the world. A prominent U.S. prosecutor, Preet Bharara in New York, disclosed the investigation to a group of Washington-based investigative journalists who wrote stories earlier this month about the more than 11 million documents leaked from the Mossack Fonseca law firm that detailed the firm's creation of hundreds of offshore companies owned by the wealthy, powerful and famous. Bharara said he wanted to meet with representatives of the journalists' group, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, about what it called the Panamá Papers. The journalists' group confirmed that it had received Bharara's letter, but had no comment on it. U.S. authorities say their first priority in the investigation is to look for wrongdoing by U.S. individuals and corporations. Investigations have been opened in other countries as well. When the information about the offshore accounts was disclosed in early April, President Barack Obama described global tax avoidance as a huge problem. He added that "the problem is that a lot of this stuff is legal, not illegal." Obama said, "A lot of these loopholes come at the expense of middle class families, because that lost revenue has to be made up somewhere." Tax avoidance is not illegal. It means structuring financial activities to pay as little taxes as possible. Tax evasion is a crime. So far the disclosures from the law firm confirmed what already had been known: A lot of wealthy people use oversea corporations to lighten or postpone their tax load. Prosecutors could only use the disclosures as leads because the information was not obtained legally. Some voters in New York angry over problems at polls By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
New York’s primary results came in loud and clear Tuesday evening, bringing decisive victories for hometown favorites Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But many voters who showed up at polling locations throughout the day claim their voices were never heard. More than 125,000 Democratic voters in New York’s most populous county, Kings, home to Brooklyn, were removed from the state Board of Elections’ voting registry during a five-month span, November 2015 through April 2016, more than double the initial statistics reported as of April 1. The result: a lot of confusion and frustration. Nick Benson, spokesman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, said their office received more than 700 hotline complaints from voters across the state by late afternoon Tuesday. In addition to issues with voter registration lists, city voters reported delays in polling site openings, broken machines and instances of incorrect party affiliations, a set of allegations that moved New York Comptroller Scott Stringer to conduct an audit of the Board of Elections. In a written statement directed to Michael Ryan, city board of elections executive director, Stringer expressed deep concern about the reports. “Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, all New Yorkers deserve an electoral system that is free, fair and efficient - not one riddled with chaos and confusion.” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, an open supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, said he supports the audit, and urged its completion before voters return to the polls for a congressional primary in June. “We will hold the BOE commissioners responsible for ensuring that the board and its borough officers properly conduct the election process to assure that voters are not disenfranchised,” de Blasio said. “The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed.” Board of Elections Executive Director Ryan responded to the allegations in an interview with CNN. “We’re not finding that there were issues throughout the city that are any different than what we experience in other elections,” he said. Of those taken off King County’s voting rolls, he said, a combined 114,000 were marked inactive, while an additional 12,000 were no longer residents. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who trails Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic Party presidential race, lamented the voting irregularities during a rally in Pennsylvania, a reality he called absurd. In addition, he criticized New York’s closed primary system, which prevents independent voters, those not registered as either Democrat or Republican, to cast a ballot in the state’s primary. "I would hope that in future primary elections in New York State, the officials there make some fundamental changes about how they do business,” said Sanders. Of New York’s 10.7 million active state voters, roughly 3 million are impacted by the restrictions in place. El Salvador launches unit to track down gang leaders By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
El Salvador has deployed a heavily armed special police force to hunt down gang leaders who have made the Central American nation one of the world's most violent and deadly places to live, the government said Wednesday. The force includes 600 army commandos and 400 specially trained elite police officers using assault rifles, helicopters and armored trucks. Vice President Óscar Ortiz said no effort will be spared to capture gang leaders who have caused so much bloodshed and grief. "We are going to go after them in the countryside and in the city. We are going to hit those who try to create disorder," Ortiz said. He called the force a new hope for El Salvador. The president's office says the mission has three major objectives: neutralize organized crime gangs, arrest the top 100 leaders and stop those members responsible for murder. "Our success is not based on how many bullets are fired," force commander Howard Cotto said Wednesday. "Our success will be based on the trust our citizens feel when you see police in the territories at night, in the rain, in the worst conditions so our people can say, 'Here's our police and our armed forces to defend us.’ " The new force is part of a general crackdown in El Salvador against gangs. Experts who study gangs say the reason young men hook up with such violent groups may be less about drugs and weapons trafficking, and more about poverty and a lack of education and job opportunities. El Salvador is said to be the world's most dangerous country that is not at war. The murder rate is 104 for every 100,000 people, 22 murders a day, in a population of 6.3 million. Supreme Court case brings focus on illegals in U.S. By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A Supreme Court case that could impact millions of people in the United States and set boundaries for presidential authority has rekindled debate on immigration reform in Congress. Monday the high court heard arguments on whether President Barack Obama's executive order shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation is permitted under the Constitution. Texas and more than 20 other Republican-led states argued against the order. The administration defended its action. Across the street from the Supreme Court, debate has continued at the Capitol. "The Supreme Court must do the right thing and recognize President Obama's authority," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, countered that Democrats are "telling the American people we have to choose between being a nation of immigrants or a nation of laws. And the fact is, we don't have to make that choice. We can be both." After years of prodding Congress to enact immigration reform, Obama took matters into his own hands in 2014, issuing directives protecting two types of illegal immigrants: those brought to the United States as children and those who are parents to U.S.-born citizens. "About 3.5 million people could claim the benefits of the president's unlawful executive action, receiving work permits, driver's licenses, Social Security numbers," Cornyn said. "That is not the kind of decision the Constitution gives to a single political actor, even if he is the president of the United States." Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, personalized the issue. "I just wish some of the haters, some of the people who want to turn on these young people, would meet them," he said. "They don't view themselves as Mexicans or Koreans; they view themselves as Americans. "And the question is: How do we view them? Do we view them as an asset to America? Or do we view them as a problem? A problem that should be thrown away and deported." People from both sides of Obama's immigration orders illustrated their arguments with examples from their home states. Durbin paid tribute to a young musical prodigy who was brought illegally to the United States as a child. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, mourned a recent college graduate killed by an undocumented immigrant who was driving drunk and without a license. "This tragedy further underscores the administration's failed immigration enforcement priorities," Ernst said. "It is a privilege to live in this country, and anyone who comes here illegally and harms our citizens should, without question, constitute a priority for removal." Democrats argue that there would be no need for executive orders if Congress passed a long-awaited overhaul of America's oft-lambasted immigration system. "Instead of litigating the president's actions, Republicans should work to fix our immigration system here in Congress," Reid said. "By working with Democrats to pass immigration reform, they would render the president's executive actions unnecessary." Republicans counter that legislative inaction does not constitute license for an executive power grab. Cornyn noted that Americans elected a Republican-led Congress knowing the party's disposition on myriad issues, including immigration. Many court-watchers are predicting a 4-4 split decision vote by the Supreme Court on the immigration case, which would mean that an appellate decision against the administration would stand and the executive order would be voided. The high court has been operating one justice short since the death of Antonin Scalia in February. Obama's nominee to fill the vacancy has been blocked by Senate Republicans, who say Obama's successor should make the selection in 2017.  Voice of America/G.
Flakus
When the rains stopped in the Houston area for
several hours Tuesday, residents pulled water-damaged
carpets, furniture and other belongings out of their
apartment buildings, leaving piles of debris outside
their doors. Houston area
residents face
major damage from flooding By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
As thousands of people in flooded areas around Houston, Texas, struggle to deal with flood damage from Monday’s record rainfall, new storms are coming in off the Gulf of Mexico, swelling streams, rivers and bayous and adding to their misery. At least eight people have died as a result of the flooding that followed heavy rains beginning late Sunday. Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster for nine water-soaked Houston-area counties. The nation's fourth-largest city remains mostly closed for business. Rescue crews have saved more than 1,200 people who were left stranded by floodwaters, and their work continues as the latest rainfall, combined with runoff from areas farther north, causes some rivers to overflow their banks and flood low-lying areas. More than 1,000 homes have been damaged by the floods, and many areas have no electrical power or access to other services. The problem is even worse for people living on the first floors of large apartment buildings. When the rains stopped for several hours Tuesday, residents pulled out water-damaged carpets, furniture and other belongings, leaving piles of debris outside their doors. In some places, there were piles of broken drywall outside apartment doors, as well as carpets and warped wood from floors and doorways. Landlords are faced with costly repairs, which they cannot even begin until the flooding stops. Many tenants are frustrated. Mexican explosion kills three, releases toxic cloud By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
An explosion Wednesday at a chemical plant in southeastern México killed three people, sent dozens more to the hospital and released a toxic cloud into the sky. The cause of the blast in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz state, was not immediately clear. The site is jointly run by the national oil company Pemex and a company called Mexichem to make chemicals used in plastic pipes. Veracruz Gov. Javier Duarte said 105 people were injured, including 58 Pemex workers. Pemex said a fire at the site was under control and that the toxic cloud from the plant rapidly dissipated. Still, the company warned people to stay away from the site as a precaution. A fire at the same facility killed a worker in February. Weeks later, two people died and others were injured in a fire at a Pemex offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Mother and TV crew freed after deal made in Lebanon By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
An Australian television crew and mother accused of abducting her two children were released from jail in Lebanon Thursday after the children’s father agreed to drop charges against the group. Sally Faulkner, an Australian national, and the four-person television crew were arrested and charged with abduction earlier this month after Faulkner hired a team of retrieval agents to kidnap her two children from their father, with whom they had been staying. A Lebanese court charged nine people with kidnapping the children. Ms. Faulkner and the news team were among those arrested, along with two employees of the U.K.-based organization Child Abduction Recovery International and two Lebanese men. Faulkner claims the children's father took them to Lebanon last year without permission and never returned them to Australia. The television crew was identified as members of a news team from Australia's Nine Network who accompanied Ms. Faulkner to highlight the issue of cross-border custody disputes. Ali al-Amin, the children’s father, said he dropped the charges because he “didn’t want the kids to think I was keeping their mother in jail.” As part of the deal, Ms. Faulkner agreed to surrender any claims of custody over the children, who will live with their father in Lebanon. The Sydney Daily Telegraph reported that a multi-million dollar deal was struck between the Nine network and al-Amin, but lawyers and the judge involved in the case did not comment about any compensation. Faulkner was released into the custody of the Australian Embassy and is expected to leave the country Thursday. The television crew has already returned to Australia. Greenery appears to assist women to live longer lives By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Living among plants could help women live longer, according to a new study. Writing in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that women “who live in homes surrounded by more vegetation appear to have significantly lower mortality rates than those who live in areas with less vegetation.” Over the course of an eight-year study, the researchers found that the mortality rate among women who lived in the greenest surroundings was 12 percent lower than for those living in homes in the least green areas. “We were surprised to observe such strong associations between increased exposure to greenness and lower mortality rates,” said Peter James, research associate in the Harvard Chan School's Department of Epidemiology. “We were even more surprised to find evidence that a large proportion of the apparent benefit from high levels of vegetation seems to be connected with improved mental health.” The study suggests that greenery improved mental health by lowering levels of depression. Greenery, researchers say, also afforded more opportunity for social engagement, higher physical activity levels and perhaps less exposure to air pollution. For the study, the researchers looked at data from 108,630 women enrolled in the Nurse’s Health Study from 2000-2008 and compared their mortality rates as well as the amount of greenery surrounding their homes. They viewed satellite images to determine how much vegetation surrounded the properties. Risk factors such as age, economic status, race, ethnicity and smoking were accounted for as well. One of the biggest effects of greenery appeared to be a lowered risk of respiratory disease and cancer. The study found that women living in areas with the most greenery had a 34 percent lower rate of respiratory disease-related mortality and a 13 percent lower rate of cancer-related deaths. “We know that planting vegetation can help the environment by reducing wastewater loads, sequestering carbon, and mitigating the effects of climate change. Our new findings suggest a possible co-benefit, improving health, that presents planners, landscape architects, and policy makers with a potential tool to grow healthier places,” said James. Much of Europe declared to be free of local malaria By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
In 2015, for the first time, all the countries in the European region reported no original cases of malaria, the World Health Organization said in its annual report released Wednesday ahead of World Malaria Day 2016 on April 25. From 1995 to 2015, the number of locally transmitted malaria cases dropped from 90,712 to zero in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, which constitute the organization’s European region. In 2015, there were an estimated 438,000 malaria deaths worldwide, according to World Health, most of them in the African Region (90 percent), followed by the Southeast Asia Region (7 percent) and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (2 percent). World Health said it recognizes however, that the European region remains prone to a reappearance of the disease due to importation of cases from areas of the world where malaria is endemic. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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San José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, April 21,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 78
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Car pool, traffic
director tells drivers
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The government’s proposal to reduce the gigantic traffic jams at the entrance to Heredia Centro is for motorists to car pool. Construction on the route from the Jardines del Recuerdo and La Pozuelo has created jams of epic proportions. Even without construction, the route was a mess particularly in peak hours. Mario Calderón, director of the Policía de Tránsito, is urging motorists to double or triple up. He said that no one really wants to sacrifice their comfort and travel in car pools or on buses. Since 2012 motorists have been prohibited from bringing their vehicle into the heart of San José for one day every week. The day depends on the last number of the license plate. Calderón said that those who have five or more passengers in a vehicle, including the driver, are not bound by this rule between 6 and 8 a.m. and 4 to 7:30 p.m. He suggested this is an added incentive for forming a car pool. Traffic is heavy all over the metro area at peak hours. Traffic police have yellow boxes painted at key intersections to avoid vehicles blocking intersections when they were caught in a jam. However, police seem to ignore these boxes now, and some of the principal violators are buses that block perpendicular avenues. In addition, many motorists have complained of individuals parking their cars in traffic lanes while they shop or do errands. Delivery vehicles are main offenders, but so are motorists who have the need to duck into nearby automatic tellers on main avenues. So far there does not seem to be any enforcement of no parking zones marked by curbs painted yellow. Earth Day recycling site announced By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Friday is being celebrated as Earth Day in Parque España when the Instituto Nacional de Seguros joins with the Municipalidad de San José to collect non-traditional trash. This includes old electronic parts and devices for recycling. The park is across the street from the main office of the state insurance company. The hours are from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., said the state company. The recyclers will also accept cardboard, glass, aluminum cans and other types of metal, said an announcement. |
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| From Page 7: Mitsubishi admits tampering with fuel-use data By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors admitted that it falsified fuel-efficiency data on 625,000 vehicles. Mitsubishi President Tetsuro Aikawa bowed in apology during a news conference Wednesday in Tokyo admitting to the irregularities. The company said the false data goes back to 2013, involving its eK mini-wagon and eK Space light passenger cars, as well as its Dayz Roox vehicles it produces for rival carmaker Nissan Motors. The problem was uncovered after Nissan noticed the inconsistencies in the data, prompting Mitsubishi to conduct an internal probe. Aikawa said the tire pressure tests on the vehicles were rigged to make the fuel mileage better than it actually was. "The wrongdoing was intentional. It is clear the falsification was done to make the mileage look better. But why they would resort to fraud to do this is still unclear," he said. The news sent shares in the world's sixth-largest automaker plunging 15 percent in Wednesday's trading session. Aikawa told reporters the company will stop selling the vehicles, and will conduct an investigation to determine if fuel efficiency data was altered in vehicles sold internationally. Mitsubishi is the second carmaker accused of falsifying environmental data over the past year. Germany's Volkswagen admitted late last year that it installed software on millions of its vehicles that activated bogus emissions controls to deceive testing officials. The Japanese automaker is no stranger to scandal, nearly going out of business after admitting back in 2000 that it covered up major safety defects for several decades. |
