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Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
U.S. Waives Penalties for Automakers Missing Fuel Economy Targets Amid Pandemic Challenges
Image used for representational purpose only. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP) (AFP) Check Offers The U.S. government has informed car manufacturers that they will not be required to pay penalties for missing fuel economy targets during the model years 2021 through 2023. According to Reuters, this decision marks a significant reprieve for automakers who were facing potentially high fines due to pandemic-related production disruptions and shifting consumer demand during those years. The announcement came from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which stated that, after a thorough review, it had decided not to apply retroactive penalties under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. These standards are part of federal regulations designed to reduce energy consumption by increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles sold in the United States. During the early 2020s, automakers were grappling with numerous challenges, including supply chain disruptions, semiconductor shortages, and economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These hurdles made it difficult for many companies to meet their annual fuel efficiency benchmarks, particularly as consumer preference shifted toward larger, less fuel-efficient SUVs and trucks. Industry leaders had argued that applying penalties for past years, especially under such unusual circumstances, would be unfair. Automakers have long sought flexibility in CAFE compliance, especially during years impacted by unforeseen crises. NHTSA's decision not to impose penalties on past model years acknowledges these exceptional conditions and gives the industry more certainty going forward. Under current regulations, automakers who fail to meet the fuel economy requirements can either pay fines or purchase credits from manufacturers that have exceeded their targets. Some companies had begun preparing for significant penalty payments, but NHTSA's recent move eases that burden. While the decision is a relief for the automotive industry in the short term, it does not affect ongoing or future requirements. The Biden administration has set aggressive new fuel efficiency and emissions standards for upcoming years, aiming to encourage a transition to electric vehicles and lower carbon emissions across the transportation sector. In essence, this latest development provides a short-term break for automakers but reinforces the importance of long-term investment in cleaner and more efficient vehicle technologies. Get insights into Upcoming Cars In India, Electric Vehicles, Upcoming Bikes in India and cutting-edge technology transforming the automotive landscape. First Published Date: 19 Jul 2025, 11:23 am IST
Local France
01-06-2025
- Sport
- Local France
Nearly 300 arrested in Paris as fans celebrate Champions League Win
The majority of fans celebrated peacefully, but Paris police said scuffles broke out near the city's Champs-Elysees avenue and PSG's Parc des Princes stadium, where 48,000 had watched the 5-0 win against Inter Milan in Munich on big screens. Most of the nearly 300 people detained were suspected of possessing fireworks and causing disorder, Paris police said. A Paris Saint-Germain's supporter holds a PSG flag in front of The Eiffel Tower. Photo: Thibaud MORITZ/AFP. AFP journalists saw police use a water cannon to stop a crowd reaching the Arc de Triomphe. "Troublemakers on the Champs-Elysees were looking to create incidents and repeatedly came into contact with police by throwing large fireworks and other objects," police said in a statement. Outside Paris, police said a car careered into fans celebrating PSG's win in Grenoble in southeastern France, leaving four people injured, two of them seriously. All of those hurt were from the same family, police said. The driver handed himself in to the police and was placed under arrest. A source close to the investigation said it was believed the driver had not acted intentionally. In Paris, most fans showed their joy by singing and dancing in the streets, with cars sounding their horns, after their team won the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history. Paris Saint-Germain supporters celebrate with fireworks on the Champs-Elysees. Photo: LOU BENOIST/AFP. Advertisement One 20-year-old PSG supporter, Clement, said: "It's so good and so deserved! We have a song that talks about our struggles and it hasn't always been easy. "But we got our faith back this year with a team without stars. They're 11 guys who play for each other." French President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would host the victorious players on Sunday to congratulate them. In a separate message on X, Macron hailed a "day of glory for PSG". "Bravo, we are all proud," he wrote. "Paris is the capital of Europe tonight." Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed it as a "historic" win. The PSG team will hold a victory parade on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday when tens of thousands of supporters are expected to gather to get a glimpse of their returning heroes. Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) supporters gather holding flares on a street in Paris. Photo: LOU BENOIST/AFP.
eNCA
01-06-2025
- Sport
- eNCA
Wild celebrations in Paris after PSG's Champions League win
PARIS - Thousands of Paris Saint-Germain supporters took to the streets of the French capital on Saturday to celebrate their club's victory in the Champions League final, but nearly 300 arrests were made after some clashes with police. The majority of fans celebrated peacefully, but Paris police said scuffles broke out near the city's Champs-Elysees avenue and PSG's Parc des Princes stadium, where 48,000 had watched the 5-0 win against Inter Milan in Munich on big screens. Most of the nearly 300 people detained were suspected of possessing fireworks and causing disorder, Paris police said. AFP journalists saw police use a water cannon to stop a crowd reaching the Arc de Triomphe. "Troublemakers on the Champs-Elysees were looking to create incidents and repeatedly came into contact with police by throwing large fireworks and other objects," police said in a statement. Outside Paris, police said a car careered into fans celebrating PSG's win in Grenoble in southeastern France, leaving four people injured, two of them seriously. All of those hurt were from the same family, police said. The driver handed himself in to the police and was placed under arrest. A source close to the investigation said it was believed the driver had not acted intentionally. AFP | Thibaud MORITZ In Paris, most fans showed their joy by singing and dancing in the streets, with cars sounding their horns, after their team won the biggest prize in European club football for the first time in their history. One 20-year-old PSG supporter, Clement, said: "It's so good and so deserved! We have a song that talks about our struggles and it hasn't always been easy. "But we got our faith back this year with a team without stars. They're 11 guys who play for each other." French President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would host the victorious players on Sunday to congratulate them. In a separate message on X, Macron hailed a "day of glory for PSG". "Bravo, we are all proud," he wrote. "Paris is the capital of Europe tonight." Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hailed it as a "historic" win. The PSG team will hold a victory parade on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday when tens of thousands of supporters are expected to gather to get a glimpse of their returning heroes.
eNCA
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- eNCA
'One in a billion': French stuntwoman putting fizz into Hollywood
When Sarah Lezito began messing around with motorbikes at 13 she never dreamed that one day she would become the stunt double of some of Hollywood's biggest stars. The French winemaker's daughter has stood in for Scarlett Johansson -- twice -- on "Avengers 2" and "Black Widow" and appeared in a dozen films including "The Batman". The 32-year-old is one of a very rare breed of motorcycle stuntwomen, with a massive social media following that helped bring her from the vineyards of France's Champagne region to Hollywood. AFP caught up with her on her own personal training track amid the otherwise tranquil vineyards near Epernay, the Champagne capital in northeast France. Barely astride her red chrome Kawasaki, she was off down the track performing stunts with disconcerting dexterity, her long brown hair trailing out of her helmet in the wind. "This is kind of my temple," she said after performing a series of gravity-defying tricks including standing with both feet on top of her 200-kilo machine and then flipping herself onto the handlebars. "People think I'm working, but it mostly allows me to release all the pressure," said Lezito, whose lucky charm -- a plastic beaded bracelet -- is wrapped around the throttle of her bike. - 'Doing wheelies in a field' - AFP | Thibaud MORITZ The woman now popularly known as the "world stunt champion" (although there is no recognised world championship) began her acrobatics career young on the family holding near Epernay. "I fell into stunts by watching videos," she told AFP. "No one in my family was in the motor sports world. My father only had an agricultural quad, not at all made for sports, but I started trying to do wheelies with it in a field." Then she began posting her stunt videos on YouTube. But she seemed destined to follow her family into wine and viticulture until she posted a video of a medley of tricks one day in March 2013 called "One out of Billion Girls". AFP | Valery HACHE "It was thanks to this video that they noticed me," she said. The "they" being the team from the Hollywood blockbuster "Avengers 2". A few months later, she abandoned her winemaking studies to fly to South Korea to perform Johansson's stunts in the movie. Because she "adapted quickly" to stunt work, Lezito decided to go professional, appearing in several major movies, including "Inferno", "Millennium" and "The Batman" with Zoe Kravitz. "I met all the actresses I've doubled for," she said. - 30 million followers - She has had her moments on some of the movies, although she insists she has never felt fear on those she does "at home" for social media. AFP | Thibaud MORITZ "I had to ride through flames for 'Bad Girl', a film which was never released. On paper, it was very simple, but I didn't have a helmet," she recalled. And in the summer of 2023 while filming David Fincher's "The Killer" in Paris, starring Michael Fassbender, Lezito had a severe fall. "I flew off the motorcycle, I wasn't going very fast but fast enough to land on my head and the helmet cracked." She ended up in the emergency room with a head injury. It "made her think", she told AFP, and she "decided to take a break" and put her Hollywood career on hold. Lezito now devotes herself to her social media channels, posting videos of her stunts to her more than 30 million followers -- including 9.5 million on Instagram, some two million more than MotoGP star Marc Marquez. Her garage doubles as a studio, with her YouTube trophies and gifts from her fans displayed on the walls. But it is also where she gets her hands dirty repairing her fleet of roughly 10 motorcycles. "As long as I enjoy sitting on the motorcycle, I'll keep doing this," she said. By Hélène Dauschy
The Citizen
08-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Arteta says Arsenal were best team in Champions League despite painful exit
"100 percent I don't think there's been a better team in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out," said Arteta. Arsenal players react after Paris Saint-Germain's won the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg football match at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on Wednesday. Photo: Thibaud MORITZ / AFP Mikel Arteta defiantly insisted Arsenal were the best team in the Champions League this season despite their semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. Arteta's side crashed to a 3-1 aggregate defeat after losing 2-1 in the second leg at the Parc des Princes. ALSO READ: Frattesi shoots Inter into Champions League final after Barcelona epic It was a painful loss for the Gunners, who created numerous chances in the early stages, only to be denied by a series of superb saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi put PSG in control and although Bukayo Saka reduced the deficit, it was too late to spark a sensational fightback. PSG will meet Inter Milan in the final, while Arsenal face up to a trophy drought that has now extended to five years. Arteta responded to the loss in combative fashion, claiming Arsenal were as good as PSG and were unlucky not to have beaten the French champions. 'When you look at the two games their best player on the pitch has been the goalkeeper, he has been the difference for them in the tie,' Arteta said. 'I'm very proud of the players. 100 percent I don't think there's been a better team in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out. 'We were very close, much closer than the result showed but unfortunately we are out. 'After 20 minutes it should have been 3-0. We were very close and for long periods of both games we were much better than them but we are not in the final and that has to hurt.' Not for the first time this season, Arsenal paid the price for a lack of cutting edge and untimely defensive mistakes. And even Arteta had to concede the north Londoners were punished for their failings in both penalty areas. 'If we want to win this competition we have to realise that. There are certain things that are on us. You shouldn't just be understanding we are out. That is not the way I look at it,' he said. 'This competition is about the boxes and in both boxes are the strikers and the goalkeepers and theirs was the best in both games.' – Team in 'worst state' – Having failed in their bid to win the Champions League for the first time, the Gunners are still waiting for their first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup. Injuries to key players played a major role in their failure to push Liverpool in the Premier League title race. And Arteta insisted his wounded side's gallant display against PSG — who had already knocked Liverpool and Aston Villa out of the Champions League this season — gave him hope for the future. 'The players deserve a lot of credit for what they are doing in the context of the situation and the amount of injuries, probably the worst state you could arrive here as a team,' he said. 'You have to arrive in the competition at this stage with a full squad in the best condition, and we haven't got that. 'To come here with a different context and still do that, it gives me a lot of positives for the future but tonight I am very upset, so annoyed that we didn't manage to do it.' While Arteta saluted his players' efforts, he struck a more equivocal tone when asked if Arsenal have the quality to eventually succeed in their quest to land a major prize. 'It depends. This squad, two years ago, nobody believed that we could probably even qualify for the Champions League. Not even think that we could compete for the league,' he said. 'Or have the amount of points that we had that in any other year you are a champion. Or have the run and the performances that we had in the Champions League. 'But the reality at the end is you need something to lift that trophy and the disappointment is that it's not going to happen.' Now Arsenal have to find a way to recover from their heartache and Arteta said: 'If you want to be competing and be very close to all the trophies, you better be able to deal with that.'
