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on September 2, 2025
One of the last holdouts of V12 engine production has been Aston Martin with its twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter unit in the DB11 and, now, as a farewell, in the V12 Vantage, after a 15-year run, according to an announcement made by the company on Wednesday. The 2023 V12 Vantage will be strictly limited to 333 units, and it's already sold out.
He had initially vowed to stay put in Kyiv despite the constant blaring of air raid sirens and attacks on residential buildings, but decided to leave after hearing reports of Russian soldiers 'raping' Ukrainian women.
'He was supposed to sit in a chair six feet away but apparently he walked into the room before I got there and said, "No way, I'm not having that" and dragged a chair from across the room. It was amazing. I thought it was quite a comfortable, cosy setting.'
As he has done every Easter, Francis called for peace in the Middle East, his appeal made more urgent by recent violence in Jerusalem and cross-border exchanges of fire involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
The event was heavily anti-Western and filled with Soviet nostalgia, as Russian authorities ramped up patriotism in response to being hit by massive international sanctions for Putin's Ukraine campaign, which has stalled thanks to fierce resistance.
For what it's worth Trump has, in times gone by, been mocked on social media for being pictured with an unflattering expression when he threw a first pitch before the Red Sox played the New York Yankees in 2006.
On Sunday he asked God to "comfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families. Open the hearts of the entire international community to strive to end this war and all conflict and bloodshed in our world."
'If I'm in that position, I would be a lot different than the way they are treating him right now. That I can tell you,' Trump said. 'I think what he is doing is very bad for the spirit of the country.'
The man, currently at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes and dubbed 'the most violent prisoner in Britain', also expressed his disgust at claims that serial killer Levi Bellfield had been caught groping a female visitor.
Vladimir Putin's tub-thumping speech yesterday was likened to 'Billy Graham meets North Korea' by a Russian commentator, a reference to both the American Christian evangelist and Kim Jong-un's propagandising rallies, while the YouTube live stream of the rally was flooded with critical comments.
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According to Pearlman, Trump's initial plan was to have the USFL fold and the NFL absorb the Generals as an expansion franchise. However, during a meeting with then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in New York City's Pierre Hotel in 1984, that plan was foiled.
Those aero tweaks include a wider body, a big wing at the back and a new, vented hood. The overall look is pretty aggressive, befitting a car wearing the Vantage name, and Aston claims it produces 450 pounds of downforce at 200 mph, which is pretty good for a road car. The majority of the new body bits are made of carbon fiber to help cut weight. Aston also made the exhaust out of 1mm-thick stainless steel tubing to shave nearly 16 pounds off the car compared to the exhaust in the V8 Vantage.
Bronson, who has changed his name to Salvador in honour of the artist Salvador Dalí, was first locked up for armed robbery in 1974, but during his time inside he has taken hostages in 10 prison sieges, attacked at least 20 prison officers and caused £500,000 in damage in rooftop protests.
Speaking in front of banners that read 'For a world without Nazism' and 'For Russia' - with the letter 'Z' in each picked out in bold - he said: 'Sevastopol [capital of Crimea] did the right thing when they put up a barrier to neo-Nazis and radicals, which is already happening on other territories.
The USFL existed only briefly from 1983 until 1986, playing three 18-game seasons during that time and helped catapult the careers of gridiron greats Herschel Walker, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Reggie White, and Doug Flutie.
Putin, who called the rally to mark the anniversary of the last time he attacked Ukraine to annex the Crimea region, spoke of sharing a 'common destiny' with Crimeans, of 'de-Nazifying' the region in 2014, and of the 'bravery' of soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine.
The world used to be filled with magic and mystery and V12 engines. There's still plenty of the former two, but the latter is rapidly going the way of the thylacine, and while we get it -- it's hard to justify the cost and complexity of a big V12 engine in a world where going electric makes a lot more sense -- we're still sad to see them go.