| Riding Shotgun in Baghdad with Blackwater's Security Detail
It's 11 am in Baghdad. Another hot, hazy day in this brown, boxy city. At Gate 12 in the Green Zone, home to the Iraqi interim government and coalition headquarters, a collection of GMC Suburbans, BMW 7s, Nissan pickups, SUVs reinforced with crude steel plates, armored sedans painted orange and white to look like taxis, and armored buses called Rhinos all idle in the shimmering heat. In a three-story house across from a field of smoldering trash and broken concrete slabs, team leader Miyagi conducts the morning briefing for the dozen or so security contractors who work the Blackwater Mamba PSD--Private Security Detail. "New day, new mission," he begins. This morning the mission is to escort three outgoing Blackwater contractors to the airport after a 90-day rotation in-country.
PIERCE COUNTY: Driver charged in hit-and-run that killed man late ...
Pierce County prosecutors charged a 32-year-old man Thursday in a fatal hit-and-run. John Nicholas Woods will be arraigned today on charges of vehicular homicide, failure to remain at the scene of an accident that resulted in a death and driving with a suspended license. Court documents give the following account: Woods was driving a BMW east on Brookdale Road East just before midnight Sunday. Woods struck Radion Plyut's car as Plyut was turning left onto 157th Street. A crash reconstructionist determined that the BMW was going above the posted speed limit of 35 mph. Woods left the scene. A Pierce County sheriff's deputy found him walking in the 5300 block of Brookdale Road East. Woods had blood on his hands and in his mouth. He also smelled strongly of intoxicants.
Alternative-Energy Vehicles Added Spark To Detroit Auto Show
When the North American International Auto Show opened in January 2000, a dozen alternative fuel cars were on display. This year, the big Detroit show featured some 75 such cars and trucks. And dozens more are close to being road ready, says the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group whose members include BMW Group, Chrysler, Ford Motor, (F) General Motors, (GM) Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen. Still, cars that run on something other than gasoline remain a small portion of the market. While consumer research firm J.D. Power estimates that 77% of car shoppers ask about alternative fuel vehicles, fewer than 2% of them actually buy one. Fewer than 400,000 alternative vehicles are on the road, about the same number of cars that cross New York's Brooklyn Bridge every day.
Metro-based bigwigs’ involvement in Cebu car smuggling exposed
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casio yesterday said the big-time car smuggling mafia in Cebu involves top-level officials in Metro Manila. In yesterdays hearing of the House committee on good government, Casio presented documents obtained by Bayan Munas Central Visayas chapter from sources in the Land Transportation Office central office showing 40 plate numbers of late model luxury cars and sports utility vehicles, including 2 Lexus 2007 models, 5 BMWs, 3 Range Rovers, 6 Mercedes Benzes, 2 GMC Explorers, 5 Toyota Land Cruisers 2007 models, 2 Toyota 2007 Prados, a Porsche Cayenne and a Ford Mustang, that were registered from August 2006 to July 2007 had plate numbers issued by the LTO office in Diliman. Under existing LTO rules, license plates should be issued and released by the same district office where the vehicles are originally registered.
Edison police seek help in attempted lurings
Edison police are asking the public for help in finding two drivers who allegedly attempted to lure girls into their vehicles in two separate incidents reported Thursday. At 7:50 a.m., a 13-year-old girl was walking to a bus stop near the Michelle Court apartment complex off Talmadge Road when a man in gray BMW called for the girl to come to him, police said. "Come over here," the man yelled twice to the girl, who ran to the bus stop where other children were waiting, police said. At 3:40 p.m., an 11-year-old girl was walking home from John Marshall Elementary School when she stopped to cross the intersection of Marshal Drive and Lexington Avenue, and a man in a brown or gray four-door car repeatedly waved for her to come to his vehicle, police said.
Thinkin' Lincoln: New MKS flagship is part of a banner year of intros ...
The new Bullitt has a 315-horsepower V-8, stiffer suspension, heavy-duty brakes and dark green paint, like McQueen's car. Available only with a 5-speed manual transmission, Bullitt goes on sale early in 2008 with a $31,075 base price. Ford plans to build 7,700.
But Ford will not be alone in rolling out new finery. Honda, for one, is trotting out a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle that it will lease to fewer than 100 retail and fleet customers next year. Toyota also plans a fuel-cell announcement but offered few details.
It does unveil the redesigned 2008 Sequoia and Nissan its 2009 Murano.
BMW of North America shows three new models: the 1-Series coupe, the M3 and the Mini Clubman wagon.
The 1-Series hearkens back to the BMW 2002 of the 1970s.
2008 Infiniti G37 Review - Seduce Me
Diving into a right-left-right downhill combination at Barber Motorsports Park just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, lots of things snap into focus. First, the 14-inch front rotors on the 2008 G37 Sport really burn off speed in a hurry. Second, the entire package is well balanced and just plain easy to drive quickly and smoothly. Third, the 2007 BMW 335i coupe provided for comparison may have some advantages over the Infiniti, but you'll notice more of the BMW's deficiencies (rather than advantages) on the track. Not out of whole cloth
Infiniti introduced their G35 coupe back in 2002 as a 2003 model. Those with a keen mind for the ephemeral recall it was introduced with its four-door counterpart the G35 sedan, and that the market warmed to the coupe as a more mature alternative to its shorter-wheelbase 2-seat cousin, the Nissan 350Z.
Drugs found in drink-driver's car - police
TWO men have today been caught with a host of drugs while driving illegally in Sydney's red-light district, police said. Police stopped a BMW 535i while conducting patrols in Kings Cross about midnight (AEDT). The 37-year-old driver was found allegedly operating the unregistered sportscar with a suspended licence and returned a positive blood-alcohol reading. During a search of the man, police said they found two resealable plastic bags containing pink tablets believed to be ecstasy. Police also searched the 29-year-old male passenger and allegedly found a quantity of cannabis, a clear liquid believed to be gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and a crystallised powder thought to be ice. The driver was today charged with supplying a prohibited drug, driving with a blood alcohol over the legal limit and driving an unregistered vehicle with a suspended licence.
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