KEY POINTS:
More from the larrikin artists toying with words and pictures for Election '08 posters and bumper stickers. There's a picture of the Beehive with the words: "Too many freaks, not enough circuses." One shows Labour party benefactor Owen Glenn pointing to Helen Clark, Michael Cullen, Trevor Mallard and
Winston Peters and saying: "It's as bad as you think, and they are out to get you." Another shows Clark, Cullen, Peters and Mallard and says: "Stop repeat offenders. Don't re-elect them."
Yet another with the same four mugshots: "We've got what it takes to take what you've got." One with John Key's picture says: "There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't." Another shows the Green party's Jeanette Fitzsimmons and says: "I'm just working here until an organic fast food job opens up." Another with the Greens' Keith Locke says: "You're just jealous because the voices are talking to me and not you." One with Rodney Hide says: "Errors have been made. Others will be blamed." One with Peters on his own: "Allow me to introduce myselves."
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New York's cabbies are telling lobbyists wanting more hybrid taxis in the city to go and jump in the East River. The hacks have declared hybrid yellow taxis "unsafe and incompatible with the rigorous demands of New York City taxicabs that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week." They say the partitions that separate the front and rear seats in the cabs aren't compatible with the curtain airbag systems in hybrids. The partitions are required by the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission. The cabbies are also trying to halt a new law requiring taxis to meet a fuel economy standard of 11.3 litres/100km (25mpg).
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Honda says its engineers have developed a new airbag that inflates quicker but doesn't deploy as violently as current designs. It says the main benefit of the new bag is that it cushions the driver better during impact. The new-generation unit will be introduced on the Life minicar, which goes on sale in November in Japan. Honda New Zealand will phase in the bag over time.
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Lamborghini is getting all gooey over its new supercar, saying it will go where no car has gone before. "It's not just a new Lamborghini, it's a new world." The model will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show next Thursday. Odds on it's a four-door coupe built on the next-generation Audi A8 chassis and aimed at the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide. Expect all-wheel drive, a twin-turbocharged V8 engine, and annual production numbers of around 3000. Lamborghini is owned by the Volkswagen Group.
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Raising the driving age from 16 to 17 would significantly reduce deaths on US roads, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Its studies show "new drivers who are 16 years old have higher crash rates than older teenagers who also are new drivers." But the IIHS can't expect much support. Measures to raise the driving age over the past few years in many states all met with failure. New Jersey is the only state with a minimum driving age of 17.
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One of the Minnesota policemen chasing suspected burglar Grayson Clevenger, 27, phoned Clevenger's cellphone to tell him to give up the high-speed chase. Clevenger yelled: "Dude, I can't talk - I'm being chased by the police" and hung up. He didn't know the cops had his number, in more ways than one.
alastair.sloane@nzherald.co.nz