1 Volkswagen become top car maker (Gwyn Topham in
The Guardian) Volkswagen has become the world’s biggest car manufacturer,
overtaking Toyota in the number of new vehicles sold in 2016 despite the damage
it suffered in the diesel emissions scandal.
Toyota had been the biggest seller for the past four
years but its 2016 sales total of just under 10.2m vehicles fell short of the
more than 10.3m cars sold by VW.
General Motors is reporting its 2016 sales next
week, but industry analysts said it had no chance of overtaking VW. GM was
third behind VW last year and held the top spot in 2011, when Toyota’s
production was disrupted by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
It marks the first time that the German manufacturer
has become the global bestseller, a record it has achieved despite having being
beset by scandal for rigging emissions tests for its diesel vehicles. Riding
out prosecutions, fines and vehicle recalls in the US, the VW group – which
includes the Audi, Porsche and Skoda brands – recorded an overall 3.8% rise
from 2015.
A major contribution was booming sales growth of 12%
in a year in China, where VW sells few diesel vehicles. But the figures suggest
that VW’s brand has not been seriously damaged in the eyes of consumers.
Toyota, which had to recall millions of vehicles due
to safety fears over faulty accelerator pedals in 2009-10, now says it is not
concerned with maintaining pole position on sales. In a statement, the
manufacturer said: “At Toyota, we are not focused on chasing volume. Our goal
is to be No. 1 with consumers by engineering and producing ever-better cars.”
2 US justice head defies immigration ban (San
Francisco Chronicle) Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a Democratic
appointee, says she's directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend
President Donald Trump's executive order on refugees.
Yates said in a memo that she is not convinced that
Trump's order is lawful, or that its defense is consistent with the
department's obligation to "always seek justice and stand for what is
right."
Yates was appointed deputy attorney general by
President Barack Obama. She became acting attorney general once Loretta Lynch
left the position. Her directive will be in place until she leaves the
department, which will happen once the Senate confirms Sen. Jeff Sessions,
Trump's pick for attorney general.
3 Trump moves to cut business regulations (BBC) President
Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to cut the number of
regulations affecting US businesses. It is just the latest in a flurry of
decisions made by President Trump in his first few days in office.
He signed the order in front of a group of business
people, saying it was aimed at "cutting regulations massively for small
business". It was the "biggest such act that our country has ever
seen," he added.
Speaking in the Oval Office, he said he wanted to
tell small business owners that the "American dream is back'' and that he
would "create an environment for small business,'' by ending or limiting
existing regulations. The president went on to say that a large proportion of
the American workforce was employed by these firms, therefore: "We want to
make life easier for these small business owners.''
Despite the president's emphasis on small
businesses, the wording of the order does not mention them specifically, so the
order will affect businesses of all sizes. Described as a "two-out,
one-in" approach, the latest executive order asked government departments
to request a new regulation and to specify two other regulations which they
will drop.
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