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I've a big Bond fan and I'm sad to see him go.. But I'm chuffed to see he returned for one more outing... I own all the past movies and I'm pretty sure I'll get this on 4k UHD too. Of all the Bond, he's the most kinetic, although Brosnan was the most sauve. One little snippet, he was in Oz for a filming stint, and he walked into my friend's GP rooms, said hello asked for a physical. Apparently you need one before they allow you to film. So my friend obliged and he promptly whipped off his top and sat there gamely... my friend could barely hold her stethoscope properly... I think she almost had a cardiac event... This is one action packed show, and wraps up the plot nicely, with many a tip of the hat to past outings. I thought Skyfall was the best of the lot, but this one gets pretty close. There are far more gadgets, and the thrills and spills come fast and furious. I'm not so fond of the lady 00 idea, but I'll go with it. And Dame Judi Dench was the best M, whilst the best Moneypenny was Samantha Bond. The Austrian Waltz was my best villian, followed by Jardem. Do see this movie, and I look back at the Craig series with great fondness but I also look forward to the new one.

Aston Martin DBX shown in near-production form before 2019 launchhttps://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/aston-martin-readies-dbx-suv-2019-launch Aston Martin has confirmed that its first-ever SUV model will be called DBX and launch before the end of next year. The brand has also released official 'spy' images showing the car's near-production bodywork. The DBX was first previewed as a concept car in 2015 but had been tipped to take another name for production, with Varekai one of the rumoured possibilities. Unlike the concept, the production DBX will feature a more conventional five-door layout rather than the sleeker three-door design that was originally expected. The DBX is arguably the most important model in Aston Martin’s history and the next phase of the company’s turnaround plan under boss Andy Palmer. While every Aston produced under Palmer to date as part of his ‘Second Century’ plan has been a replacement for an existing model (DB11, Vantage and DBS Superleggera), the DBX breaks new ground by having no direct predecessor. As well as being the first Aston SUV, it is also the first Aston to be produced in a new purpose-built factory in St Athan, Wales. During its life cycle, it will introduce hybrid technology to Aston, and it will also play a key role in trying to attract female buyers to the Aston Martin brand. The DBX is built on an Aston Martin architecture that will be closely related to that set to be used by the Lagonda saloon and SUV that Aston also has in the pipeline and which will be built alongside the DBX in Wales from 2021. Whereas the Lagonda models will be electrically driven, however, the DBX will start life with petrol power, before getting Mercedes-sourced hybrid technology early in the next decade. Aston Martin’s own V12 and Mercedes-AMG’s V8 engines will both find their way into the DBX, with Mercedes also donating the car’s electrical architecture. The DBX will compete against the likes of the Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga, Rolls-Royce Cullinan and upcoming Ferrari SUV. Given the broad appeal and rise in popularity of SUVs, the DBX is expected to quickly become Aston’s bestselling model. New official shots show DBX's design for first time Aston has released images of the DBX undergoing testing on the gravel stages of the Wales Rally GB, for the first time giving hints of the final production car’s design. There’s little left of the DBX concept in the camouflaged test mule, although the sleek silhouette does remain, albeit with an extra pair of doors. Sharp body creases and a pronounced shoulder line help reduce the overall visual bulk on what is the most high-sided Aston yet produced, while a new integrated grille design performs a similar role at the front of the car. Aston Martin is already talking up the DBX’s all-terrain capabilities, which are revealed in these official testing images with the company’s chief engineer Matt Becker at the wheel. The DBX is the first Aston Martin to go through a new dedicated test programme, to ensure it can produce the kind of dynamic on-road performance on which Aston has always made its name, allied to some credibility off-road. Testing is also due to take place in the Arctic, the deserts of the Middle East, on German autobahns and at the Nürburgring, as well as both on and off-road in the UK. Itwill also be the first all-new Aston Martin model launched after the company’s stock market flotation, a formal intention for which was finally confirmed in late August after the firm returned to profitability last year. In a long-rumoured move, Aston Martin is set to offer more than £1 billion of shares, which equates to some 25% of the company, on the London Stock Exchange in the autumn. The initial public offering (IPO) values the British manufacturer at around £5bn and would place it in the FTSE 100. Following its own IPO in 2015, Ferrari’s value doubled to around £15bn a year later. Aston Martin has changed significantly as a company under the leadership of Andy Palmer, who joined as CEO in 2014. He has brought financial stability to the company and returned it to profit. Last year, it was in the black for the first time since 2010. Aston’s first-half results in 2018 showed that it recorded a pre-tax profit of £20.7 million. Palmer has underpinned that growth with his so-called ‘second century’ plan, which is formed of seven models being launched over seven years at the rate of one per year, each then on sale for a seven-year model cycle with various derivatives and special-edition versions launched within that. Hybrid powertrains to arrive later in DBX's lifecycle Daimler will provide Aston’s hybrid technology and is also one of two routes for sourcing full-electric drivetrains, according to Palmer, with other external partners also being explored. Aston has sourced an 800V system for its first electric car, the limited-run RapidE due in 2019, and Palmer said 800V and access to the latest chemistry is key to any future EV powertrain from the firm. Although hybrid versions of the DBX are a long way off, the car will be launched with a Mercedes-sourced 4.0-litre V8 and Aston’s own 5.2-litre V12 as core engine options. Palmer said that although he lists the DBX’s rivals as the Bentayga, Urus, Cullinan and upcomingFerrari, each model performs a very different role in the super-luxury SUV segment. “Those minded towards a beauty of execution will move to Aston,” he said. First-time Aston customers are expected to be found in China and North America in particular for the DBX, but Palmer said plenty of existing Aston owners will be interested, too. “It’s fascinating to me that 72% of Aston customers also own an SUV, and normally these are Cayennes or Range Rovers,” he said. “If you’re converted to Aston, it’ll be easier to convert buyers to an Aston SUV.” The final model name of the DBX has yet to be decided upon. However, earlier this year Aston trademarked the name Varekai. The seventh model in its product plan, a mid-engined supercar to rival the Ferrari 488, will be called the Vanquish. The DBX is expected to sell at around 5000 units per year, which would comfortably make it Aston’s most popular model. Last year, the firm sold 5117 sports cars, with the long-term goal of up to 14,000 split between 7000 each from Gaydon and St Athan, and the rest from up to two special, limited-run models each year.

JAMES BOND 007: No Time To Die Trailer (2020) In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

A classic Aston Martin V8 Vantage will star in the new James Bond film. As much was confirmed after an amateur video surfaced on social media showing the car on set during filming for 007’s next outing in Norway. The video provides confirmation that the latest Bond movie will feature a petrol-powered Aston, following recent speculation that Bond would be seen behind the wheel of the £250,000 all-electric Aston Martin Rapide e. There’s nothing to suggest the Rapide e won’t make an appearance as well but now we know for sure that Bond will get his V8 hit. Bond last drove the classic Aston in the 1987 film, The Living Daylights, with actor Timothy Dalton at the helm. Both a convertible and hardtop version of the V8 Vantage appeared in the movie.’ The ‘Q-branch’ hardtop version featured a range of upgrades, such as retractable skis, spiked snow tyres and an afterburner hidden behind the rear number plate. Like all Bond cars, Dalton’s V8 Vantage was also fitted with a host of gadgets, including a pair of heat-seeking missiles, a police scanner radio, laser beams built into the front wheels and a self-destruct function. Whether or not similar toys will appear on the Vantage for the latest Bond film is yet to be confirmed.

What happened to angmoh standard of Human Rights? Britain's MI6 aided torture of Nepal Maoists, book claims British authorities funded a four-year-long intelligence operation in Nepal that led to Maoist rebels being arrested, tortured and killed during the country's civil war, according to the author of a new book on Kathmandu. Launched in 2002, "Operation Mustang" targeted Maoist guerillas and saw British intelligence agency MI6 fund safe houses and provide training in surveillance and counter-insurgency tactics to Nepal's army and spy agency, the National Investigation Department (NID), writer Thomas Bell told AFP Saturday. Nepal's decade-long civil war left more than 16,000 dead, with rebels and security forces accused of serious human rights violations including killings, rapes, torture and disappearances. "According to senior Nepalese intelligence and army officials involved in the operation, British aid greatly strengthened their performance and led to about 100 arrests," said Bell, whose book "Kathmandu" hits stores in South Asia on Thursday. "It's difficult to put an exact number on it, but certainly some of those who were arrested were tortured and disappeared," he said. Maoist commander Sadhuram Devkota, known by his nom-de-guerre "Prashant", was among those captured during "Operation Mustang" in November 2004. Six weeks later, he was found hanging from a low window in his cell, with officials saying he had committed suicide. Despite protests, no independent investigation was ever carried out. British authorities helped construct a bug-proof building in the NID headquarters, created a secure radio network for communications and supplied everything from cameras to computers to mobile phones and night vision binoculars, according to Bell's sources in the Nepalese security establishment. "The agency also sent a small number of British officers to Nepal, around four or five -- some tied to the embassy, others operating separately," Bell said. The officers gave the Nepalese training in how to place bugs, how to penetrate rebel networks and how to groom informers. - 'They knew what was happening' - Bell spent about a year interviewing some 20 highly-placed sources to corroborate the details of the operation, and said a senior western official told him the operation was cleared by Britain's Foreign Office. A Foreign Office spokeswoman told AFP: "We do not comment on intelligence matters but, as we have repeatedly made clear, the UK does not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. "In no circumstances will UK personnel ever be authorised to take such action; we neither condone such activity, nor do we ask others to do it on our behalf. "We would never authorise any action in the knowledge or belief that torture would take place at the hands of a third party." A Nepalese general with close knowledge of the operation told the writer there was no doubt that British authorities realised that some of the arrested suspects would be tortured and killed. "Being British they must have thought about human rights also, but they knew exactly what was happening to them," the general said. "The thing must have been approved at a high level." Bell said it was "a peculiar contradiction that while calling for an end to abuses... the British were secretly giving very significant help in arresting targets whom they knew were very likely to be tortured". The British-born writer covered Nepal's civil war from 2002 to 2007, reporting for The Economist and the South China Morning Post before moving to Bangkok for a two-year stint as The Daily Telegraph's Southeast Asia correspondent. Tejshree Thapa, senior researcher at the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said: "Nepal's army was known by 2002 to be an abusive force, responsible for... summary executions, torture, custodial detentions". "To support such an army is tantamount to entrenching and encouraging abuse and impunity," Thapa told AFP. Nepal army spokesman Jagdish Chandra Pokharel denied all knowledge of the operation, which apparently continued even after a coup in February 2005 by the then-king Gyanendra seizing direct control prompted the British to publicly suspend all military aid to the country. "I have no idea about MI6 training the Nepal army or any Operation Mustang," Pokharel told AFP. Nepal is in the process of drafting a new constitution, a key step in a stalled peace process begun after the end of the civil war in 2006. http://news.yahoo.com/britains-mi6-aided-torture-nepal-maoists-book-claims-025143311.html

fans of james bond, can start collecting miniature 1:43 diecast metal cars from 7-11 every week. just bought the 1st model out, a bmw z8 from the bond movie, the world is not enough for S4.90 2nd issue lotus espirit driven by roger moore 3rd issue aston marttin DB5 driven by sean connery (this is the ultimate bond car) 4th issue jaguar XKR driven by the villan Zao

I think this is a very cool tech demo by LR. Its technically not a transparent hood so don't expect to see Bond's invisible car yet... but its damn functional using camera on the underside/front to project the terrain on the hood of the LR. Blardy useful I say

If you are a James Bond fan and will be visiting the United Kingdom in 2012, then this piece of news might interest you. The Bond in Motion exhibition is going to take place from January 2012 at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum. It will hold the largest display of vehicles from the James Bond movies. Next year (2012) marks the 50th anniversary of the first ever James Bond movie, Dr. No. and to commemorate this special anniversary, the Beaulieu National Motor Museum and EON Productions will put 50 of the most famous vehicles featured in the James Bond movie series (EON Productions is the film production company that produces the James Bond movies). Starting from 18th of January 2012 right through December 2012, the exhibition will give visitors to the museum the opportunity to get up close and personal with not only the cars but also with other vehicles, such as boats, trucks, motorcycles, etc. from the Bond movies. Some of the cars exhibited will be the Aston Martin DB5, driven by Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan in Goldfinger, Thunderball and Goldeneye. It will be joined by the Lotus Esprit S1 that turned into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me. Also will be featured are the newer Aston Martin models that was used in the recent James Bond movies. Other than the cars from the Bond movies, vehicles like the Bede Acrostar jet from Octopussy will be displayed too. The Beaulieu National Motor Museum is located in Hampshire, England and if you require more information about the exhibition or the venue, you may check at the link below. Beaulieu National Motor Museum website

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James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 from the movies Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965) is going under the auctioneer's hammer on October 27. The car with number plate FMP 7B has been under the ownership of US radio broadcaster Jerry Lee since 1969, which he had bought from the factory for US$12,000. RM Auctions will conduct the event through its Automobiles of London sale where it is expected to fetch at least

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