Volkswagen: Germany's first mass lawsuit begins - BBC News

Germany's first mass lawsuit begins as 450,000 owners of diesel Volkswagen cars take on the company.

They argue they are owed compensation for being sold cars based on misleading emissions data.

The scandal has already cost VW €30bn (£26.6bn).

It has faced class action claims in the US and Australia, but this is the first time Germans could pursue group claims since the law was changed last year.

This trial will settle points of law and the claimants will later be able to file follow-up claims for compensation if they are successful.

The trial, at Braunschweig Higher Regional Court, about 20 miles from VW's Wolfsburg head office, is likely to last years, however.

Part of VW's settlements so far include a deal to buy back 500,000 cars in the US, where it has agreed to pay more than $25bn (£20bn).

In Australia the company will pay 127 million Australian dollars (£70m) to compensate owners, paying them A$1,400 apiece.

Last week it emerged that three current and former Volkswagen executives were charged with market manipulation in connection with the diesel emissions scandal.

Chief executive Herbert Diess, chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch and ex-boss Martin Winterkorn, did not inform investors early enough about the financial fallout, German prosecutors allege.

In 2015, the firm admitted using illegal software to cheat on emissions tests. VW said it was confident those allegations would prove groundless.

This may be a landmark lawsuit - and in terms of the sheer number of claimants, it's certainly attention grabbing. But it may not be the biggest concern for Volkswagen right now.

Unless there is a settlement, the legal process is likely to take take years - VW expects it to take at least four. Even if they win, car owners will have to go back to court to get compensation.

Meanwhile, VW's chairman and chief executive are both fighting criminal charges for alleged market manipulation linked to the diesel scandal.

Volkswagen itself is facing the possibility of hefty fines from the EU, after being accused of colluding with other manufacturers to delay the introduction of emissions control technology.

It's safe to say its lawyers are already keeping pretty busy at the moment. And in the meantime, the company is trying to turn itself into a leader in the market for electric cars.

Against that background, the group lawsuit may seem for the moment like just another irritation.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49878247

2019-09-30 10:16:57Z
52780397174892

Canada Post racking up close to $1M a year in parking fines - CANOE

TORONTO — Canada Post is racking up close to $1 million annually in parking tickets as drivers struggle to navigate increasingly congested city streets, data show.

The information, obtained by The Canadian Press through freedom of information requests, indicates the bulk of the citations are in and around Toronto.

“To meet the needs of Canadians, our employees have to routinely park their vehicles,” said Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton. “With the concentration of addresses in urban downtown cores and a rising demand for pickups and deliveries, this can cause challenges, not just for Canada Post but for all delivery companies.”

Data show the Crown corporation has paid out almost $7.5 million in parking fines over the past decade. The worst year was in 2016 with $943,293 paid, slightly more than last year’s $914,831, and almost quadruple the $289,908 recorded in 2009.

Under the federal Canada Post Act, the corporation has, with some exceptions, the “sole and exclusive privilege of collecting, transmitting and delivering letters to the addressee thereof within Canada.” The corporation has a fleet of almost 13,000 vehicles that delivered close to eight billion pieces of mail last year.

Eric Holmes, a spokesman for the City of Toronto, said mailbox placements are approved with the “general preference” they not be placed along high-volume streets.

“Illegally parking, stopping, or standing a vehicle is dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists and creates congestion,” Holmes said. “Enforcement of parking violations is one way the City of Toronto helps deter this behaviour.”

Hamilton said the corporation was an “active participant” in partnerships with Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver that aim to ease congestion, especially in downtown cores and along major access routes.

“We also review our operations to make changes, such as adjusting pickup and delivery times, where possible,” Hamilton said. “It’s a bigger discussion than simply designating more delivery zones.”

Overall, the fines are barely a rounding error for Canada Post, which lost $270 million last year on revenue of $6.6 billion dollars — three-quarters of the corporation’s total revenues. The company initially refused a June 2016 request for the ticket data, citing “commercial sensitivity.”

It relented in June after belated intervention from the information commissioner and released the total value of tickets by region paid from 2009 until mid-2016. Asked for updated figures, the country’s largest retail network insisted on receiving a new formal access-to-information request before providing them.

All regions of Canada show ticketing of branded Canada Post vehicles, but most citations are in major urban centres, where thousands of mail addresses can be concentrated in a few blocks. Despite the daunting logistics of pickup and delivery, a Toronto traffic police spokesman was blunt:

“This is an easy one,” Sgt. Brett Moore said. “There is no preferential treatment for Canada Post.”

In general, Canada Post’s drivers are on the hook for traffic violations. However, company policy makes allowance for parking tickets — with an excuse — except in designated accessibility spots.

Emilie Tobin, with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said the idea of parking exemptions for Canada Post vehicles is a complex topic given that the company is federally regulated but drivers have to follow varying provincial and municipal bylaws.

“In some areas, it is difficult to find a legal parking space, so our members do have to park illegally and some do incur parking tickets,” Tobin said. “It’s not an ideal system and postal workers would prefer that routes could be structured in a way that allowed for legal parking 100 per cent of the time.”

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September 30, 2019 at 03:56AM

Banks See Oil Prices Staying Low Despite Attacks On Saudi Oil - OilPrice.com

Concerns about faltering global oil demand and expectations of rising U.S. crude oil exports trump fears of supply shortage after the attacks on Saudi oil and have investment banks predict that oil prices would not move much higher in the fourth quarter, a poll of 13 major investment banks by The Wall Street Journal showed on Friday.  

Although the attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure on September 14 knocked 5.7 million bpd—or 5 percent of global oil supply—offline, Saudi Aramco is busy reassuring the market that full capacity is back online and not a single shipment of crude oil will be missed.

According to the WSJ poll, banks expect Brent Crude prices to average US$64.31 a barrel in Q4, basically unchanged from last month’s poll estimate. WTI Crude prices are forecast to average US$58.24 per barrel in Q4, slightly up from last month’s estimate of US$57.82 per barrel, the WSJ poll showed.

As of 08:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, Brent Crude was down 1.1 percent at US$61.06 and WTI Crude was down 0.9 percent at US$55.90, with both benchmarks headed for a weekly loss, due to a faster than expected Saudi oil comeback, rising U.S. commercial inventories, and slowing Chinese economic growth that rekindled fears of slowdown in oil demand growth.

The WSJ poll also showed that the major investment banks expect oil prices to be lower in 2020 than in the fourth quarter of 2019. Brent Crude is seen averaging US$61.95 per barrel next year, and WTI Crude is forecast to average US$56.55 a barrel.  

Further slowing global economic growth and rising takeaway capacity out of the Permian to the U.S. Gulf Coast for exports will be two key drivers of the oil market later this year and at the beginning of next year, Harry Tchilinguirian, Head of Commodity Research at BNP Paribas, told The Journal.

The United States is expected to emerge as “a super exporter,” and this wave of new supply will put downward pressure on oil prices, Tchilinguirian said. Related: Volkswagen Denies It’s Interested In Buying Stake In Tesla

Some analysts, however, caution that the market is underestimating the supply security risk in the aftermath of the attacks in Saudi Arabia.

“Participants are clearly not concerned about Saudi supply, with Aramco reportedly returning production quicker than anticipated. Nor do they seem overly concerned with the risk of further such attacks in the future,” Warren Patterson, ING’s Head of Commodities Strategy and Senior Commodities Strategist Wenyu Yao, said on Friday.  

“We continue to believe the market is underpricing the current geopolitical risk,” ING’s strategists said.

 By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

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September 30, 2019 at 02:00AM

Popular fashion retailer Forever 21 files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - Global News

Low-price fashion chain Forever 21, a one-time hot destination for teen shoppers that fell victim of its own rapid expansion and changing consumer tastes, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.READ MORE: Calgary’s only Forever 21 location closes its doors
Story continues below The privately held company based in Los Angeles says it will close up to 178 stores. The company once had more than 800 stores in 57 countries.Forever 21 joins Barneys New York and Diesel USA in a growing list of retailers seeking bankruptcy protection as they battle online competitors. Others like Payless ShoeSource and Charlotte Russe have shut down completely.The numbers bear out the crisis facing traditional retailers. So far this year, publicly traded U.S. retailers have announced they will close 8,558 stores and open 3,446, according to the global research firm Coresight Research. That compares with 5,844 closures and 3,258 openings in all of 2018.WATCH: Ariana Grande sues Forever 21 for $10 million

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September 30, 2019 at 09:20AM

China's manufacturing PMI improves in September - MarketWatch

BEIJING--An official gauge of China's factory activity rebounded in September but continued to indicate a contraction, reflecting the headwinds faced by Chinese economy amid its protracted trade dispute with the U.S.

The manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 49.8 in September from 49.5 in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. September's reading was above the median forecast of 49.6 from a Wall Street Journal poll of 11 economists.

But the index has stayed below the 50 mark for five straight months, which indicates the activity was still cooling despite its improvement. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion in manufacturing activity, while a reading below 50 indicates a contraction.

A subindex measuring total new orders received by manufacturers in China rebounded to 50.5 in September from 49.7 in August. It was the first time the new order subindex showed an expansion since May.

New export orders, an indicator of external demand for Chinese goods, rose to 48.2 from 47.2 in August, while import orders recovered to 47.1 from 46.7 a month earlier.

Production also rebounded to 52.3 in September, compared with 51.9 in August.

Zhao Qinghe, an economist with the statistics bureau, said production in food processing, textiles and equipment rebounded sharply in September. China's large manufacturing companies, which typically benefit the most from the government efforts to support the economy, were the major force behind the rise in the index this month, he said.

Beijing has released billions of dollars in liquidity into the banking system to encourage more lending to business as economic growth slips to a nearly three-decade low.

The official PMI data are based on the replies to monthly questionnaires sent to purchasing executives at 3,000 companies in 31 manufacturing sectors.

China 's official nonmanufacturing PMI, also released Monday, edged down to 53.7 from 53.8 in August.

-- Grace Zhu

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September 30, 2019 at 09:40AM

Asian shares mostly flat, Japan hurt by Sino-U.S. tensions - Investing.com

By Hideyuki Sano and Vidya Ranganathan

TOKYO/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stock markets, including China's, were little changed on Monday, shrugging off news that the U.S. administration is considering delisting Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan () was flat, while China's Shanghai stock index () slipped 0.1%, barely responding to any of the concerns around the latest Sino-U.S. tensions that caused the Nasdaq index () to fall more than 1% on Friday.

European shares were seen struggling when they open for trading. Pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 futures () were down 0.11%, German DAX futures () down 0.08% and futures () 0.16% lower.

Risk assets took a hit in U.S. trade on Friday following news the Trump administration is considering radical new financial pressure tactics on Beijing, including the possibility of delisting Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges.

The report knocked Chinese shares listed on U.S. exchanges, with Alibaba Group Holding (N:) falling 5.15% and JD.com (O:) 5.95% on Friday.

Worries such an escalation would hurt Japan the most weighed on the Nikkei (), which shed 0.9%. U.S. stock futures () gained 0.35%, paring most of Friday's 0.53% fall in the index.

Trading in Chinese markets was quiet ahead of a long break. Chinese share markets will trade only on Monday this week ahead of the country's National Day holiday, which runs until Oct. 7.

There were mixed signals from China's manufacturing surveys on Monday, which showed sustained weakness in exports and surprising improvement in domestic consumption indicators, and a Chinese central bank statement briefly hinting at plans for more stimulative policies.

China's yuan was little moved at 7.1260 yuan per dollar, while the rallied a bit from Friday's three-week low of 7.1520.

The delisting of Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges was part of a broader effort to limit U.S. investment in Chinese companies, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.

A U.S. Treasury official said the United States does not currently plan to stop Chinese companies from listing on U.S. exchanges, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

"While China runs a current account surplus and is a net creditor nation, Chinese companies are net debtors and rely on foreign capital," Koji Fukaya, president of Office Fukaya Consulting.

"Washington seems to be trying to limit Chinese companies' activities by putting pressure on their funding," he said.

Still, with trade talks between the United States and China expected to be held Oct. 10-11, many market players are hoping such drastic measures on capital markets will be avoided.

"At this point, markets will have to wait and see. Of course we need to be guarded against more crazy headlines, but this week could be a bit calmer given holidays in China. Economic data will likely be the main driver for markets," said Kyosuke Suzuki, director of forex at Societe Generale (PA:).

U.S. data on Friday showed consumer spending barely rose in August and business investment remained weak, suggesting the American economy was losing momentum as the trade dispute drags on.

Industrial output in Japan and South Korea, released Monday morning, dropped more than expected, underscoring the headwinds from the trade war.

Investors are also keeping a wary eye on U.S. politics.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said public opinion is now on the side of an impeachment inquiry against Trump following the release of new information about his conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Major currencies were little changed, with the yen trading slightly firmer at 107.75 yen .

The euro hovered around $1.0932 (), having sunk to a 28-month low of $1.0904 on Friday as concerns about tepid growth in Europe weighed on the common currency.

Sterling traded at $1.23 , not far from Friday's low of $1.2270, its lowest since Sept. 9.

Boris Johnson said on Sunday he would not quit as Britain's prime minister even if he fails to secure a deal to leave the European Union, insisting only his Conservative government can deliver Brexit on Oct. 31.

Oil prices dipped but stayed off last week's lows.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince warned in an interview with CBS program "60 Minutes" aired on Sunday that crude prices could spike to "unimaginably high numbers" if the world does not come together to deter Iran.

But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he would prefer a political solution to a military one, adding the Sept. 14 attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities were an act of war by Iran.

Brent crude () futures fell 0.36% to $61.64 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude () fell 0.14% to $55.83 per barrel.

(This story corrects headline and first paragraph to Asia shares 'mostly flat' (not 'edge lower') and in 2nd paragraph the MSCI Asia-ex-Japan index to flat (not down 0.55%)

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2019-09-30 06:35:00Z
CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmludmVzdGluZy5jb20vbmV3cy9zdG9jay1tYXJrZXQtbmV3cy9hc2lhbi1zaGFyZXMtbW9zdGx5LWZsYXQtamFwYW4taHVydC1ieS1zaW5vdXMtdGVuc2lvbnMtMTk4ODY1MtIBAA

Metro recalls deli trays due to possible Listeria contamination - SooToday

PRODUCT RECALL
CANADIAN FOOD INSPECTION AGENCY
**********************
Food Recall Warning - Metro brand deli trays recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes

• Recall date: Sept. 27, 2019
• Reason for recall: Microbiological - Listeria
• Hazard classification: Class 1
• Company / Firm: Metro Ontario Inc.
• Distribution: Ontario
• Extent of the distribution: Retail

Recall details

Metro Ontario Inc. is recalling Metro brand deli trays from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled products described below.

Recalled products

Brand Name	Common Name	Size	UPC	Code(s) on Product
Metro	Snack Delights Small (serves 8-10) 1un	1 count	0260911 729999	All Best Before dates up to and including 2019.SE28
Metro	Snack Delights Large (serves 11-16) 1un	1 count	0260910 949992	All Best Before dates up to and including 2019.SE28
Metro	Fresh 2 Go Snack and Grab Party Tray 450 g	1 count	0222136 414999	All Best Before dates up to and including 2019.OC02
Metro	Frsh 2 Go Premium Kolbassa Sausage-Cheese Tray 760 g	1 count	0221922 119995	All Best Before dates up to and including 2019.OC02

What you should do

If you think you became sick from consuming a recalled product, call your doctor.

Check to see if you have the recalled products in your home. Recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the store where they were purchased.

Food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes may not look or smell spoiled but can still make you sick. Symptoms can include vomiting, nausea, persistent fever, muscle aches, severe headache and neck stiffness. Pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk. Although infected pregnant women may experience only mild, flu-like symptoms, the infection can lead to premature delivery, infection of the newborn or even stillbirth. In severe cases of illness, people may die.

Background

This recall was triggered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) test results. The CFIA is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products. If other high-risk products are recalled, the CFIA will notify the public through updated Food Recall Warnings.

The CFIA is verifying that industry is removing the recalled products from the marketplace.

Illnesses

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.

**********************

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September 29, 2019 at 09:51PM