Speculation is growing that Tiger Woods will make his return to competitive golf within the next month.

The American world number one has not played since November when revelations about his marital infidelities began.

In February, Woods said he did not know when he would return, but he has been working out with his coach Hank Haney.

"If he wasn’t going to play for six months, why would Hank be there" said Australian pro Roger Allenby, a Florida neighbour of Woods.

"I look at that as maybe he’s getting ready."

Woods announced in December that he was taking an indefinite break from golf to try and save his marriage to wife Elin Nordgren. The couple have two children.

In an apology for his conduct which was televised worldwide last month, he again said he did not know how long he would be away from the sport. But the New York Post, citing two unnamed "sources in the golf community" said on Thursday that Woods was preparing for a possible return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando on 25 March.

The newspaper also reported Woods had consulted Ari Fleischer, a former presidential adviser to George W Bush, on a strategy to manage his return.

606: DEBATE

"I believe he is going to come back bigger and better than ever as the guy is driven by success"

Liam Reed

The Bay Hill tournament is run by Woods’ management company, International Management Group, but tournament director Scott Wellington said he has not heard from the player’s agent, Mark Steinberg.

"At this point, we still don’t know," he said. "Tiger has until next Friday to commit. But it was a busy day, for sure. We had a lot of calls, a lot of interest and we sold some tickets. It was interesting."

Woods has won at Bay Hill six times, from 2000-2003 and again in 2008 and 2009, and it is the only PGA Tour event he has never missed since turning professional.

The first major championship of the year, the Masters at Augusta (5-11 April), also remains a likely venue for his return.

Augusta National is famed for its water-tight security, which means it would be next to impossible for the paparazzi to gain access to the course.

Speculation has also centered on the Tavistock Cup, a made-for-TV exhibition team event between PGA talent from rival Floridaclubs Isleworth and Lake Nona.

Golfer Mark O’Meara, a friend and neighbour of Woods, fanned that flame this week when he told Golf Channel that he "wouldn’t be surprised" to see Woods play the 22-23 March competition.

Woods has represented Isleworth in the past, and the club is hosting the event this year, meaning he would not even have to leave the exclusive estate where he lives.

And Allenby added: "I hope he plays Tavistock Cup, because we need him on our team. And I hope he plays Bay Hill and then I hope he plays Augusta.

"He’s the best golfer in the world and we want to play the best, (although) I’m definitely making more money when he’s not playing."</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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The new VOLVO VN 780 tractor, an evolution of the NH 12 series, is specifically aimed at the American market, where the previous version has already proved popular and more than capable of competing with traditional US-built trucks. Characterised by a spacious drive cab, with sleeping facilities and every other comfort needed for the long-haul journeys typical of the US market, the vehicle has been completely restyled and the engine improved to contain fuel consumption and reduce emissions.

Uncompromised space and convenience. Truck sleeper cabs – a smooth and comfortable ride. And overall performance that helps improve your bottom line.

With its massive 77 inch sleeper, the VN 780 has all the amenities to make you feel at home. Need some peace? With its fully insulated cab, the interior is as quiet as many passenger cars, even at high speeds. And space? No problem. The inside of the cab is tall enough for a person 6 feet 10 inches to stand upright.

Coupled with its sleek curves and graceful lines, our flagship 780 sports all the style, comfort and efficiency that you’ve dreamed of in a long haul truck.
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Few machines represent The Future like the flying car, and no publication has championed the fantasy more zealously than Popular Science. Here’s a look back at its feverish, 77-year-long vision.

When Google Books announced that it had archived 137 years of Popular Science, we got giddy. With the exception of Popular Mechanics (no relation), PopSci is as Jalop as mass-market magazines get — a bright-eyed, optimistic look at the art of the gearhead possible. (Full disclosure: They didn’t pay us to say that. We just like rocket-powered cars and levitating trains and such.) And while a host of different vehicles have graced PopSci’s cover, only one kind of machine has kept us coming back for more.

We are hopelessly in love with the flying car.

Walk through the gallery to read more of the story.

A perpetual beacon of bright and shiny Future Hope, the airborne auto refuses to go away. It is what a college professor of mine once called an “impossible possible” — it’s technically doable, but it’s also logistically unworkable. Like the bacon-wrapped, deep-fried Twinkie, the flying car seems doomed to be both tantalizingly close (all we need is a bucket of hot oil a plane with four wheels!) and disturbingly out of reach. (Just what does “third heart attack of the week” “crappy plane, even crappier car” mean?)

Still, that dichotomy is what keeps the concept alive. A GBooks/Popular Science search for the phrase “flying car” brings up 28 issues of the magazine that contain the term. The articles are fascinating largely because their tones reflect the eras in which they were written: Wartime articles are filled with guarded optimism, mid-century stories bubble over with good cheer, and modern pieces offer a more careful, analytical approach. The earliest feature, from May of 1933, refers to a levitating railway car. The most recent one, from October of 2008, refers to a “driving airplane.” Both are filled with the same sense of giddy wonder.

But as the nation changed over the last century, so changed the fantasy. While the middle part of twentieth century saw America trade its technological innocence for a reasoned, weary skepticism, the flying car remained. What began as a disconnected flight of fancy — a “Hey, look! We can do this!” moment — evolved into a more practical approach to the transportation problem.

Predictably, the concept is held dear by car enthusiasts. We spend our lives constrained by traffic and artificial pathways, reined in by a host of factors outside our control. Airplanes can set us free, but they are complex, intimidating beasts; a car that can fly is somehow more approachable. We find ourselves ignoring the idea’s obvious flaws because the possibilities are so fantastically cool.

Why does this matter? Why are we continually drawn to an idea almost universally acknowledged to be a non-starter? The reason is simple: It’s in our bones. Americans are a restless people, and the airborne car builds upon the dream of manifest destiny. It represents untapped possibility and the notion that our world still offers, after centuries of development, a new kind of freedom. (General aviation also promises this, but we tend to fool ourselves into thinking that a flightworthy car would be more affordable and require less hours of study.) And although the dream is not new, it refuses to flicker and dim: According to a recent MSNBC poll, 90 percent of the country would buy a flying car if given the chance.

“Why is the airborne car such an enduring dream? There’s something tantalizing about the freedom of a personal transportation device unhampered by roads or traffic, particularly in a world where gridlock and invasive airport-security checks have become the norm. If history is any guide, we’ll be seeing a slew of new personal levitating devices in coming years — if nowhere else, then in the pages of [this magazine].”

— Adam Voiland, Popular Science

Perpetual optimism: It’s what America was built on, and both PopSci and our air-car dream wouldn’t exist without it. We endorse that kind of thinking — heck, the phrase “flying cars” was once part of this site’s motto — even if it fails to produce results. In other words, Popular Science, keep the faith. We get where you’re coming from, and we’ll keep looking to the skies. Asphalt bonds, however strong, can’t hold us forever.

Don’t forget to walk through the gallery above to read the rest of the story!

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Chile has sacked the head of its oceanographic service following the earthquake and tsunami that killed about 800 people.

The service, part of the Chilean navy, has been widely criticised for failing to issue a nationwide tsunami warning immediately after the quake.

The navy has also launched an inquiry into how the disaster was handled, a government statement said.

Meanwhile three powerful aftershocks rattled Chile on Friday.

The tremors were strong enough to bring down some damaged buildings in the second city of Concepcion.

Last Saturday’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the seventh most powerful on record, was centred 115km (71 miles) north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago.

‘Diagnosis error’

The official statement said Commander Mariano Rojas had been removed from his post at the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (Shoa) because he had failed to provide a clear warning of the tsunami.

Port authorities in several coastal towns issued their own tsunami warnings, but a national alert never came.

Some experts have said the failure led to deaths.

An investigation will "determine responsibility and clear up the circumstances surrounding the decision-making process" in response to the quake, the statement added.

Military officials have admitted "an error of diagnosis" and said they transmitted "very unclear information" to President Michelle Bachelet on whether to lift or maintain a tsunami alert.

Nations around the Pacific issued their own tsunami alerts but the feared giant waves never materialised.

The Chilean navy has named Commander Patricio Carrasco as the new head of Shoa.

President Bachelet has said that Chile’s reconstruction will take three to four years.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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Most people think that when they have credit problems, that buying a car is out of the question. That’s just not true! Today, there are many, many options to get you toward car ownership – no matter what your credit is like. That’s the good news.The better news is that we’re giving you ALL the information you’ll need! Inside the pages of our new book, “How to Buy a Car with No Credit or Bad Credit”, you’ll learn how to find the car of your dreams and how to get financing for that car regardless of your past.So many people are just like you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a young person who’s never had to have credit or if you fell on hard times and now have a bad credit history. You can still get financing for a car and own your own vehicle

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Cavallo Verde! These purport to be the first photos of the Ferrari 599 Hybrid set for reveal in Geneva. And while it’s blasphemous to the extreme, at least they’ve given it an ugly paintjob so we can avoid it.

Yeah, blah blah blah electric motors and batteries and crap like that. (Hat tip to Liverpool!)

[CarSpyShots]

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A "vulnerable" man was kept as a slave and tortured for his benefit money before his headless body was dumped in a Bedfordshire lake, a court has heard.

The decapitated body of 26-year-old Michael Gilbert was found in the Blue Lagoon in Arlesey last May.

James Watt, 27, is accused of murder and familial homicide. Brother Robert Watt, 20, faces the same charges.

Luton Crown Court heard Mr Gilbert was forced to sleep handcuffed to a bed to stop him escaping.

The Watt brothers, of Chertsey Close, Luton, deny murdering Mr Gilbert on or about 21 January last year.

The prosecution said the victim had suffered years of violence before being killed, his body dismembered and head cut off.

The brothers’ father Antonio Watt, 60, of Chertsey Close, is charged with familial homicide and perverting the course of justice.

Missing head

Their mother, Jennifer Smith-Dennis, 58, is charged with familial homicide and two counts of perverting the course of justice.

Nichola Roberts, 21, of Burfold Close, Luton, the girlfriend of the accused men’s brother, Richard Watt, is charged with murder, familial homicide and perverting the course of justice.

Natasha Oldfield, 29, of Chertsey Close, who is the girlfriend of James Watt, faces the same charges as Ms Roberts.

Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC told the court that Mr Gilbert was held captive at the Watt family home and all six people charged had some responsibility for what happened to him there.

He said family members beat Mr Gilbert and filmed the attacks on mobile phones "for entertainment", before he was killed.

The remains of Mr Gilbert were then driven to a lake 14 miles (22.5 km) away and weighted down with heavy stones.

The jury heard how two men discovered a bag in the water last May.

Inside was Mr Gilbert’s torso, left forearm, severed hands and his lower legs and feet.

His knees, right forearm and head were missing but were discovered earlier this month in the lake, the court heard.

The court was told he had been burnt, beaten and his body still had airgun pellets in it when it was taken from the lake.

The case continues.</p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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This fall, Silver Lake Publishing is “crashing” into retail stores a new book on loan mods and other renegotiations. CRAMDOWN: Renegotiating Mortgages, Car Loans, Student Loans, Credit Card Debt, Taxes & Other Obligations in the Age of Wall Street Bailouts follows in the series that has included the national bestsellers Identity Theft and Scams & Swindles. This is the first comprehensive book on the topic of loan mods widely available to a national audience.Today’s financial environment may seem like a chaotic free-for-all. But it’s not. In order to take advantage of the opportunity to improve your situation (or your clients’) and to tell the honest brokers from the crooks, you need to know the rules. RESPA, TILA, ARRA, the FCRA, Regulation Z. This book explains those rules—and gives you the tools for explaining them to clients and prospects.Each part of the financial sector (home loans, car loans, student loans, etc.) has its own standards, priorities and pr (more…)
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Although GM’s exploiting Toyota’s recall woes for sales, Honda’s being nicer, urging dealers to avoid predatory practices. Maybe that’s because Honda’s got their own recall now or they’re just a swell bunch of folks. Yeah, probably not the latter.

Presented below is a letter released to dealers from American Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel dicussing how dealers should handle the situation and (sarcasm alert) in general not be opportunistic capitalist pigs like Government Motors:

The recently announced Toyota recall has prompted some customer questions to you, our Honda and Acura dealers, regarding the effect on or applicability to their Honda or Acura vehicles. In fact, Toyota’s recall, while serious, has no impact whatsoever on Honda or Acura customers.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc., is not aware of any reports for either Honda or Acura vehicles, regarding the type of failure Toyota is citing as the cause for its recall. Additionally, while we use the same supplier as Toyota for some of our products (as do other manufacturers), we do not use the same components.

As this issue relates to one of our competitors, we will not be making any further comment regarding Toyota’s circumstances. Additionally, we will not react in a predatory way toward either Toyota or Toyota customers. I would ask that you and your sales and service teams refrain from comment other than the facts outlined above, and only then, in response to customer inquiries.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation,

John Mendel
Executive Vice President
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

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