Apple to dole out $100B to shareholders

NEW YORK (AP) ? Apple is finally opening the doors to its bank vault, saying it will distribute $100 billion in cash to its shareholders over two years.

Apple says it will buy back $60 billion in shares ? the largest buyback authorization in history. It is also raising its dividend by 15 percent.

Investors have been clamoring for Apple to give them access to its cash hoard of $145 billion. Apple's tight grip on its cash has been blamed for the steep decline in its stock price over the winter.

Apple is also posting results for its latest quarter that beat expectations, though net income fell 18 percent to $9.5 billion, and revenue rose a modest 11 percent from last year to $43.6 billion. Both figures beat expectations.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-23-Earns-Apple/id-05c87981710a4e65b95afc805e657229

angelina jolie oscars chardon high school christopher plummer viola davis school shooting in ohio shooting at chardon high school sasha baron cohen

FOOD FEST Backpack trip to Malvan | Mumbai Travellers

1st ? 2nd June, 2013

A rustic journey for delicious Cuisines?

Short Info:?Its a backpacking journey to KONKAN, the paradise of Maharashtra and this trip is going to have following highlights

• Delicious & world famous Konkani food all the time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Veg / Non veg both options available
• 3 local but popular food junction famous for teh local cuisines
• ?A pure travellers? way of exploring life by making it a backpacking journey instead a luxury travel
• Enjoy awesome activities like scuba diving,?snorkeling, parasailing, watersports etc if weather permits
• A typical rustic experience of real konkani culture in terms of travel, food & accommodation

?

Duration: 2Days/2Nights

Category:?Leisure + Backpack Trip

Tour Cost:?Rs.2900/- for Veg meals

For registered members: Rs.3300/- for non Veg meals

Note : Book as early as possible to get confirmed train ticket

?

?

?

?

?

?

Schedule:

Overnight Journey:?Proceed for Malvan by train (sleeper class) from Mumbai at 11 pm.

1st June :? Getting down at Kudal rlw stn at about 9 am. Arrival at Malvan at 11 am by local transport. Check In hotel / homestay. Afternoon Lunch at the famous food spot no. 1.

Evening Time chilling out & watersports at Chivla Beach.

Dinner at the famous food spot no. 2

Late night beach walk and get-together.

?

2nd June : After Breakfast Proceed for Sindhudurg Fort. Enjoy Scuba Diving and Snorkeling Activity (if weather permits)

Afternoon Lunch at the famous food spot no. 3

After Lunch Leave Back for Mumbai by daily private bus (No AC)

Early Morning Reach Mumbai by 5:00 am with Sweet Memories & cuisine taste on the?tongue

?

?

?

?

?

?

Inclusions:

1. Travelling From Mumbai to Malvan by train (sleeper class) & Malvan to Mumbai by Non-Ac Luxury Pushback Bus
2. All meals Included (Veg/Non Veg)
3. Accomodation?on Quarter Sharing Basis at malvan (Homestay or hotel).
4. Possible Sight Seeing.

Exclusions:

1.Bus Travelling Food is Not Included from Malvan-Mumbai

2.Any activity or?water sports?charges

3. Charges for special menu ordered by a traveller, apart from menu included in package cost

?

For Registration Please Mail us at mumbaitravellers@gmail.com

OR Call us on 8692022777/ 8692055777

Source: http://www.mumbaitravellers.com/food-fest-backpack-trip-to-malvan/

Las Vegas shooting Jerry Buss Chris Bosh wife josh duhamel josh smith presidents day mindy mccready

Change diet, exercise habits at same time for best results, study says

Apr. 21, 2013 ? Most people know that the way to stay healthy is to exercise and eat right, but millions of Americans struggle to meet those goals, or even decide which to change first.

Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that focusing on changing exercise and diet at the same time gives a bigger boost than tackling them sequentially. They also found that focusing on changing diet first -- an approach that many weight-loss programs advocate -- may actually interfere with establishing a consistent exercise routine.

Their findings were published online April 21in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

"It may be particularly useful to start both at the same time," said Abby King, PhD, lead author of the study and a professor of health research and policy and of medicine. "If you need to start with one, consider starting with physical activity first."

The few published studies on how to introduce more than one shift in healthy habits report conflicting findings -- and few have looked at exercise and dietary change together. In examining the issue, the researchers also wanted to study people who specifically complained that the demands of their schedules didn't give them enough time to make healthy dietary and exercise choices. The reasoning was that if successful programs could be developed for these time-strapped individuals, they would likely work for others, as well.

Researchers split 200 initially inactive participants, ages 45 and older and with suboptimal diets, into four different groups. Each group received a different kind of telephone coaching. The first group learned to make changes to diet and exercise at the same time. The second group learned to make dietary changes first and didn't try changing their exercise habits until a few months later. The third group reversed that order and learned to change exercise habits before adding healthy dietary advice. The fourth group, for comparison, did not make any dietary or exercise changes, but was taught stress-management techniques. Researchers tracked participants' progress in all four groups for a year.

Despite the challenge of making multiple changes to their already-busy routines at once, those who began changing diet and exercise habits at the same time were most likely to meet national guidelines for exercise -- 150 minutes per week -- and nutrition: five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables daily, and keeping calories from saturated fats at 10 percent or less of their total intake.

Those who started with exercise first did a good job of meeting both the exercise and diet goals, though not quite as good as those who focused on diet and exercise simultaneously.

The participants who started with diet first did a good job meeting the dietary goals but didn't meet their exercise goals. King, who also is a senior researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, speculates this is because changing diet and introducing exercise both have unique challenges. "With dietary habits, you have no choice; you have to eat," she said. "You don't have to find extra time to eat because it's already in your schedule. So the focus is more on substituting the right kinds of food to eat."

But, she said, finding time for exercise if you already have a busy schedule can be challenging. She pointed out that even the most successful group, those receiving the two behavioral health programs simultaneously, lagged behind in meeting the physical activity goal at first, though over the course of a year were eventually able to meet it.

King credits the way health educators explained the dietary and exercise advice to participants for their overall success and the study's high retention rate. They met with participants in person just once at the beginning of the one-year period. After that, they called once a month, spending as little as 10 to 15 minutes -- and no more than 40 minutes -- providing advice and support for diet and exercise.

For the participants, whose schedules and stressful lives had previously interfered with making healthy lifestyle choices, this approach worked, King said. She said that telephoning participants was a convenient and flexible way to provide personalized information. "These health behaviors aren't things that we change over a six-week period and then our job is done," she said. "They're things that people grapple with their whole lives, so to develop 'touches' of advice and support in a cost-efficient way is becoming more and more important."

Participants in this study were not actively trying to lose weight, just trying to develop healthy habits. King's next step is to test the same sequential-versus-simultaneous approaches among people who are trying to lose weight.

Other Stanford authors of the study include senior research scholar Cynthia Castro, PhD; statistical analyst David Ahn, PhD; and former postdoctoral scholars Matthew Buman, PhD, and Eric Hekler, PhD, (who are both now at Arizona State University) and Guido Urizar, PhD (now at Cal State Long Beach).

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging (grant R01AG21010) and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (grant 5T32HL007034).

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Rina Shaikh-Lesko.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. King AC et al. Behavioral Impacts of Sequentially versus Simultaneously Delivered Dietary Plus Physical Activity Interventions: the CALM Trial. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2013 DOI: 10.1007/s12160-013-9501-y

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/gooWPdOXUec/130422101300.htm

mary mary sag aftra merger dj am bully bohemian rhapsody bohemian rhapsody spike lee

Canada thwarts 'al Qaeda-supported' passenger train plot

By Euan Rocha and Alastair Sharp

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police said on Monday they had arrested and charged two men with plotting to derail a Toronto-area passenger train in an operation they say was backed by al Qaeda elements in Iran.

"Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured," Royal Canadian Mounted Police official James Malizia told reporters.

The RCMP said it had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto in connection with the plot, which authorities said was not linked to last week's Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three and injured more than 200 people last week.

Neither is a Canadian citizen, and police did not reveal their nationalities. Two sources following the investigation said one of the two was Tunisian.

Canada's spy agency has long expressed concern about the possibility that disgruntled and radicalized Canadians could attack targets at home and abroad.

Police gave little detail about the alleged plotters, but said a tip from the Muslim community had helped their year-long investigation.

Esseghaier has been a doctoral student at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique near Montreal since 2010 and was about midway through his degree, the school said.

"He is doing a PhD in the field of energy and materials sciences," Julie Martineau, the school's director of communications, told Reuters.

A bail hearing for the two will take place in Toronto on Tuesday morning.

Malizia said there was no indication that the planned attacks, which police described as the first known al Qaeda- backed plot on Canadian soil, were state-sponsored.

U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, a route that travels along the Hudson Valley into New York wine country and enters Canada near Niagara Falls.

Canadian police said only that the plot involved a VIA train route in the Toronto area. VIA is Canada's equivalent of Amtrak and operates passenger rail services on track owned primarily by Canadian National Railway Co.

New York Police chief spokesman Paul Browne told Reuters that the NYPD and Commissioner Ray Kelly had been kept informed of the investigation from "early on."

JOINT OPERATIONS

Malizia said the RCMP believed the two had the capacity and intent to carry out the attack, but there was no imminent threat to the public, passengers, or infrastructure.

The plot is one of a handful of terrorism-related investigations involving Canadians or Canadian residents.

Police said earlier this year that Canadians took part in an attack by militants on a gas plant in Algeria in January, while Canadian and Somalia authorities are investigating whether a former University of Toronto student participated in a bomb attack on Mogadishu last week.

And in 2006, police arrested and charged nearly 20 Toronto-area men accused of planning to plant bombs at various Canadian targets. Eleven were eventually convicted.

"Today's arrests demonstrate that terrorism continues to be a real threat to Canada," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters in Ottawa.

"Canada will not tolerate terrorist activity and we will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists or those who support terrorist activities."

AL QAEDA IN IRAN

The Canadian authorities linked the two to al Qaeda factions in Iran, to the surprise of some security experts.

"The individuals were receiving support from al Qaeda elements located in Iran," Malizia said.

Iran did host some senior al Qaeda figures under a form of house arrest in the years following the September 11 attacks, but there has been little to no evidence to date of joint attempts to execute violence against the West.

However, a U.S. government source said Iran is home to a little-known network of alleged al Qaeda fixers and "facilitators" based in the Iranian city of Zahedan, very close to Iran's borders with both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The source said the operatives serve as go-betweens, travel agents and financial intermediaries for al Qaeda operatives and cells operating in Pakistan and moving through the area.

They do not operate under the protection of the Iranian government, which has a generally hostile attitude towards Sunni al Qaeda militants, and which periodically launches crackdowns on the al Qaeda elements, though at other times appears to turn a blind eye to them.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington and Louise Egan in Ottawa; writing by Cameron French; editing by Janet Guttsman, Mary Milliken, Eric Walsh and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-thwarts-al-qaeda-supported-passenger-train-plot-003741856.html

tebow jets romney etch a sketch jeb bush sherry arnold snooty fox el debarge portland weather

Kerry pushes Turkey-Israel rapprochement

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, left, shows U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the skyline of Istanbul before the start of a meeting on Sunday, April 21, 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey. Kerry is wrapping up a 24-hour visit to Istanbul with talks aimed at improving ties between Turkey and Israel and pushing ahead with Mideast peace efforts. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, left, shows U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the skyline of Istanbul before the start of a meeting on Sunday, April 21, 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey. Kerry is wrapping up a 24-hour visit to Istanbul with talks aimed at improving ties between Turkey and Israel and pushing ahead with Mideast peace efforts. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu point toward the Bosporus before a working lunch in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, April 21, 2013. Wrapping up a 24-hour visit to Istanbul, Kerry on Sunday sought to cement and speed up an improvement in relations between Turkey and Israel as well as explore new ways to relaunch Mideast peace efforts. President Barack Obama has made both issues foreign policy priorities for his second term and Kerry was pushing them in meetings with Abbas and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.(AP Photo/Hakan Goktepe, Pool)

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, third from left, meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, third from right, on Sunday, April 21, 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey. Kerry is wrapping up a 24-hour visit to Istanbul with talks aimed at improving ties between Turkey and Israel and pushing ahead with Mideast peace efforts. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas leaves a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, April 21, 2013. Wrapping up a 24-hour visit to Istanbul, Kerry on Sunday sought to cement and speed up an improvement in relations between Turkey and Israel as well as explore new ways to relaunch Mideast peace efforts. President Barack Obama has made both issues foreign policy priorities for his second term and Kerry was pushing them in meetings with Abbas and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.(AP Photo)

ISTANBUL (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged Turkey to speed up and cement an American-brokered rapprochement with Israel, and he explored with Palestinian officials new ways to relaunch Mideast peace efforts.

Those are second-term foreign policy priorities for President Barack Obama, and Kerry tried to advance them in meetings with Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

On a trip to Israel last month, Obama secured a pledge from Turkish and Israeli leaders to normalize ties that broke down after a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed eight Turks and a Turkish-American.

But the rapprochement has been slow, fueling concerns that Turkey may be backsliding on its commitment.

Israeli and Turkish negotiators plan to meet this coming week to discuss Turkey's demand for compensation for victims of the flotilla. U.S. officials hope the discussions will jumpstart the process of restoring full diplomatic relations and exchanging ambassadors between two countries that Washington sees as vital strategic partners in the volatile Middle East.

The raid sparked throughout outrage in Muslim-majority Turkey, making it politically difficult for the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to bend to persistent U.S. appeals to improve relations with Israel.

In March, Obama extracted an apology for the raid from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that broke the stalemate.

Kerry said he understood the anger and frustration of those Turks who lost friends and family in the raid. The former Massachusetts senator said last week's Boston Marathon bombings made him acutely aware of the emotions involved.

"We have just been through the week of Boston and I have deep feelings for what happens when you have violence, when something that happens when you lose people that are near and dear to you," he said. "It affects the community, it affects the country. But going forward, you know, we have to find the best way to bring people together and undo these tensions and undo these stereotypes and try to make peace."

Kerry said he had a "prolonged and constructive" discussion with Davutoglu, about "the importance of completing the task with respect to the renewal of relations between Turkey and Israel."

Kerry added that he believed Erdogan, whom he did not meet on this trip, and Davutoglu "are deeply committed to fulfilling all of the obligations of that understanding."

Erdogan plans to visit Obama at the White House on May 16, and U.S. officials are keen to see substantive process by then. Kerry said Erdogan's visit "will be an important next step in this ongoing dialogue."

"We would like to see us get to a point where we are moving on improving the situation in Gaza, which was part of the agreement ... and where we are also completing the tasks of moving to full diplomatic relations between the countries, which would be very beneficial to everyone," he said.

Erdogan's plans to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip sometime in May after his trip to Washington have raised concerns. Both Israel and Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority is based in the West Bank, are opposed.

Kerry said he had made it clear to the Turks that such a trip "shouldn't take place at this time."

"It was our feeling, in a constructive way, that we thought that the timing of it is really critical with respect to the peace process that we are trying to get off the ground. We would like to see the parties begin with as little outside distraction as possible."

With Abbas, Kerry was talking about ways to improve the Palestinians' living conditions as a confidence-building measure to improve the atmosphere for a resumption in stalled peace talks with Israel.

Kerry has said he fears there is only a two- or three-year window of opportunity to reach a deal on a two-state solution that would end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and wants to move as quickly as possible. He has met with Abbas and Netanyahu several times already to that end since becoming secretary of state.

Kerry was in Istanbul primarily to attend an international conference on Syria that began on Saturday and stretched into early Sunday as participants debated how best to boost aid to rebels trying to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

At the conference, he announced that the Obama administration would double its nonlethal assistance to the Syrian opposition with an additional $123 million in supplies that could include for the first time armored vehicles, body armor, night vision goggles and other defensive military supplies.

"I can't tell you how quickly it will change things on the ground," Kerry said Sunday. "I can promise you that as soon as I return to Washington, I am going to press as hard as I can" to get it to the opposition within a matter of weeks.

"This has to happen quickly, it has to have an impact," he added.

The additional aid, which brings total non-lethal U.S. assistance to the opposition to $250 million since the fighting began more than two years ago, "underscores the United States' firm support for a political solution to the crisis in Syria and for the opposition's advancement of an inclusive, tolerant vision for a post-Assad Syria," Kerry said.

The U.S. pledge was the only tangible, public offer of new international support at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the 11 main countries supporting the opposition and fell well short of what the opposition has been appealing for: weapons and direct military intervention to stop the violence that has killed more than 70,000 people.

The Syrian National Coalition is seeking drone strikes on sites from which the regime has fired missiles, the imposition of no-fly zones and protected humanitarian corridors to ensure the safety of civilians.

While pleased with the U.S. moves, the opposition appeared deeply disappointed, especially as it lost some ground in the latest clashes with Syrian troops backed by pro-government gunmen capturing at least one village in a strategic area near the Lebanese border.

With the exception of the United States, none of the participants offered new assistance, although European nations are considering changes to an arms embargo that would allow weapons transfers to the Syrian opposition.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-21-Kerry/id-993e9698050d423e92cf14052aa38b38

Mother Jones cars Bacon Number Kate Middleton photos Chi Magazine Kate Middleton Nude Photos boxing news

Obama, top security officials discuss Boston probe (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/300409583?client_source=feed&format=rss

Mlk Quotes Elder Scrolls Online joe biden michelle obama lupe fiasco jason wu jason wu

$210,000 Aston Martin a stunning four-door sports coupe

The new 2014 Rapide S is a sports car, not a sedan, Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez asserts.

He insists the rivals to this 200-grand-plus four-door are similarly priced two-door performance machines like the Ferrari FF, Bentley Continental GT and Porsche 911 Turbo. Compared to those two-doors, look how much more accommodating the two places are in the back seat of the Rapide S, Bez said at the recent media launch near Barcelona.

More Related to this Story

Well, access to those rear two seats via the two small, up-swinging rear doors is certainly an upgrade. But when you?re citing the virtues of your rear-seat comfort in comparison to the 911?s tiny two perches, you?re not exactly scaling Olympic heights.

Even the FF?s rear seat, though trickier to reach initially, is more spacious than the rear buckets of the Rapide S, where the huge transmission tunnel between the seats and curved rear roofline pinch you in on both sides.

Aston Martin may not have improved the Rapide?s tight rear seat when replacing it with the updated Rapide S for 2014, but along with arguably hotter looks, it did bestow it with the one magic ingredient that rarely backfires in a sports car: more power.

And even with a larger and more aggressive front grille, revisions necessitated by European pedestrian protection standards, it?s still the best-looking four-door anything on the planet.

Its 5.9-litre V-12 is now up to 550 hp, 80 more than its S-less predecessor, now matching or at least better approximating what its high-end two and four-door coupe rivals produce.

It?s easy to vex Aston folks with questions about how the Rapide S compares to similarly powerful four-door coupes such as the Mercedes-Benz CLS AMG or BMW M6 Gran Coupe, both of which start at about half its price. Even the Porsche Panamera Turbo S, also more than 200 grand in price in Canada, and also with 550 hp, is not acknowledged as a competitor, at least not publicly by Bez.

The argument is one he is well practised at making since the Rapide launched in 2010, with the British sports car brand?s first four-door model. He swatted away those comparisons just as he did the questions about the Rapide S not offering all-wheel-drive: true sports cars are rear-wheel-drive.

So what?s it like to drive? Over a day and a half through Catalonia, the Rapide S feels like a luxurious but true sports car. Its immediate responses shrink the car around the driver amazingly, while providing straight-line thrust that seems incredible for any car, no matter the door count.

The excitement starts even before hopping in, as it should in a proper sports car. When the Rapide S was first shown, that huge grille seemed ungainly, especially compared to the gracefully aging nose that?s now being widely mimicked ? and admired ? in various Ford models. But outside of auto show stands and press photos, the front licence plate on our tester helped decrease the heft of the higher and more upright grille. Or perhaps the rest of its curves just seduced me enough in person to overlook such safety-mandated plastic surgery.

The seductive appeal continues inside, with fine materials, a crystal-topped key and Aston?s traditional reverse-swinging gauges promising up to 330 km/h worth of driving memories. Its actual top speed is listed at 306 km/h, though we would only reach blasts up to about half that speed on some 120 km/h signed highways no straighter and much narrower than our own.

I was actually going closer to a reserved if perhaps high-revving 70 km/h on some tight mountain roads when local constabulary pulled me over, asking immediately for my licence and international driver?s permit. He had obviously done this before. Luckily, I had ordered an IDP just weeks prior, and had thankfully tucked the flimsy but oversized permit into my camera bag the night before.

A warning not to imitate Spanish countryman Fernando Alonso was the only result, and not vehicular or driver impounding at the police station for the rest of the day, as had happened to colleagues on an earlier Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG event.

Yet all this high-revving driving fun on mountain roads helped mask the increasing evidence of growing engineering grey hairs on the Rapide S. The revised six-speed paddle shift transmission shifts relatively quickly, but not dual-clutch quick, and features only six gears, the same number as the most modern subcompact cars. The addition of available twin rear DVD players is welcome, but the lack of rear airbags and a host of modern active safety features will dissuade cautious parents from seeing it as a family commuter. Not having a corporate parent with which to share development costs after it split from Ford won?t make it easier for Aston Martin in many ways.

Instead, the development priorities tend strongly towards performance, but of the minor variety. The Bilstein dampers have now been upgraded to a three-stage setup for a new Track mode, allowing Normal and Sport to be more comfortable. Stiffer cross-bracing was added in front, as with the new Vanquish. And even the optional 21-inch wheels are 10 per cent lighter.

With the new Rapide S, Aston Martin has updated or revamped all its cars in the past 12 months. And no matter which fast sports cars one compares the S to, there?s no denying that it shares the sensual appeal of its stablemates in the looks department.

Tech specs

2014 Aston Martin Rapide S

Type: Luxury four-door sport coupe

Base price: $210,500

Engine: 5.9-litre V-12

Horsepower/torque: 550 hp/457 lb-ft

Transmission: Six-speed automatic with shift paddles

Drive: Rear-wheel

Fuel economy (litres/100 km, EPA): 18.1 city/12.4 highway; premium gas

Alternatives: BMW M6 Grand Coupe, Ferrari FF, Jaguar XFR-S, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes-Benz CLS AMG, Porsche Panamera Turbo

globedrive@globeandmail.com

9	Ride Now with an extra Track suspension mode, Normal and Sport modes can be more comfortable, though handling is still the overriding priority.
9	Looks Best-looking four-door on the planet, even if the huge new grille is not so alluring ? like a supermodel with bed head, you?ll hear few complaints.
8.5	Interior Similarly ravishing inside, although with signs of aging.
4	Safety That there are no rear airbags, blind spot detection, advanced collision alert or safety systems much beyond legal requirements.
5	Green Power was boosted, fuel consumption was cut by 7 per cent; but it?s still nothing to brag about.
8.5	Overall (out of 10 / Not an average)

The numerical ratings are assigned by The Globe and Mail?s car reviewers on a scale out of ten. Each car is assigned a separate rating in five key categories - plus an overall satisfaction rating that is calculated separately, and is not an average of the five category ratings.

Vehicles that do not yet carry ratings on this site will be assigned them when the latest model is reviewed.

More Related to this Story

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/new-car-reviews/210000-aston-martin-a-stunning-four-door-sports-coupe/article11351275/?cmpid=rss1

x factor x factor john kerry eastbay Samantha Steele Dec 21 2012 doomsday