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It takes 15 trees to
produce the amount
of paper that we
use to write one exam.
join us in promoting the noble
cause of saving trees.
SAY NO TO EXAMS.
Renault has unveiled a new concept car which it says symbolises the company’s new design direction for its cars in the future. Design at the front looks similar to a Corvette, while the back and sides seems to remind me of the Audi E-tron concept car.
Given the designation DeZir, the Z in the name symbolises zero emission which means that this concept is an electric vehicle. The powertrain in question will be an electric motor producing 150hp with 226Nm of torque from its vertically-mounted 24kWh lithium-ion battery, located behind the backseats.
his provides a driving range of 160km and has three different recharging options when it runs out of juice. This includes a standard charge from a normal household plug, a fast charge using a 400V three-phase current (recharges 80 percent in 20 mins) or a fast battery exchange where you drop your old battery off for a fully charged unit.The DeZir uses lightweight materials such as Kevlar and a tubular steel frame. Driving dynamics are further egged on by a full underbody and a rear diffuser which results in a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.25. Other neat features include KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) along with a futuristic driver graphic display.
This goes hand in hand with the exterior design which will feature gullwing doors that are hinged to different sides of the door frames, full-width front air intake that stretch from the Renault logo, along with Audi-R8-like side intakes.
Moving on inside, you will find a design synonymous to concept cars which Renault say is supposed to make you feel like you’re floating on a cloud. The new concept is expected to debut at the 2010 Paris Motor Show this year. If you can’t make it to the show, have a look for yourself after the jump for a picture gallery.The debate about whether Fernando Torres should be in Spain's World Cup football starting lineup in the semi-final against Germany continued apace on Monday.
The Liverpool striker has started all of Spain's matches in South Africa - except in the debut defeat against Switzerland, when he came on after an hour - but has looked slow and sluggish, without fitness, rhythm or confidence.
The struggling 26-year-old Torres has not yet scored in the World Cup and has never come close to finding the net.
In the Round of 16 clash against Portugal, Torres was replaced by Fernando Llorente after an hour. The Spanish attack improved without Torres - and David Villa scored the winning goal.
Against Paraguay in the quarter-finals, Torres again got the starting nod from coach Vicente del Bosque but again looked out of sorts. He was replaced after another fruitless hour by Cesc Fabregas - and Villa's winning goal soon came.
Now the question is whether Torres should start in Wednesday's semi-final against Germany.
An online poll taken by Madrid sports daily Marca showed Monday that 75.2 per cent of readers think he should not.
Marca suggested that Del Bosque should start with either David Silva - who has not played since the Switzerland fiasco - or Fabregas.
A similar poll taken by AS showed that 67 per cent of readers think Torres should not start against Germany.
AS held a massive debate about Torres Monday. One columnist, Manolo Lama, argues that it is "a lack of respect" to question Torres' first-choice status, and that the Germans are "afraid of him" because of his winning goal against them in the Euro 2008 final.
Lama also claimed that Torres "opens up important spaces for Villa, who takes advantage of all his hard work".
Another AS columnist, Manu Carreno, said that Torres should be given "a psychologial and physical rest" on Wednesday, and be "saved for the final," with Llorente taking his place.
Torres has never been a unanimous popular choice for Spain, unlike goal-scoring hero Villa, mainly because his international scoring record is much poorer than Villa's.
Torres has played 78 times for La Roja, scoring only 24 goals.
He was doubtful to go to South Africa after an injury-ruined season for Liverpool which saw operations to remove damaged carliage in his right knee in January and April.
He convinced Del Bosque of his fitness by coming off the bench and scoring a goal in the pre-World Cup friendly thrashing of Poland.
Del Bosque has been faithful to Torres - too faithful according to the media. On Sunday, however, he hinted that his faith might be wearing thin by saying that "Torres will continue to give us his work and personality...but he is not an automatic starter.Elin Nordegren's divorce settlement with Tiger Woods will net her considerably less than the $750 million being reported in recent weeks, according to celebrity website TMZ.
Nordegren will be getting much closer to $100 million from the world's number one golfer once their divorce becomes final, according to TMZ's sources. Those same sources indicate that Nordegren will receive additional funds in the form of monthly child support for the couple's two children.
Nordegren, a former model, and Woods were married in October, 2004. Their marriage came to a public end in December when Woods admitted to repeated infidelity.
Nordegren, 30, and Woods have been living in separate homes in the Orlando suburb of Windermere since December.
The World Cup turned on its axis over the weekend. Before Friday, virtually every soccer expert was certain that the power in this tournament belonged to teams from Latin America, that European soccer was stale.
And what happened? Predictions were shot through with holes and grown men were reduced to tears.
First, Brazil was outplayed in a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands in Port Elizabeth. Then Ghana lost in a shootout after a deliberate use of hands by a Uruguayan player at Soccer City in Johannesburg.
Next, Argentina was overwhelmed by Germany, 4-0, in Cape Town. Finally, David Villa, Spain’s savior once again, scored with seven minutes left in regulation time to eliminate a spirited Paraguay team at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Four fields featuring four contests that confounded the critics.
Who would have it any other way? Uncertainty is a good thing in sports. If the results were known beforehand, why bother to go to the stadium or to switch on the television at all hours of the day and night? The Dutch players probably did not think much of their chances at halftime Friday, when they trailed, 1-0. Wesley Sneijder, who scored the goals that turned the game around, and Arjen Robben said that the players in the locker room saw no way that they could advance to the next round. Not after being dominated in every way by Brazil for a half.
What changed that, Sneijder said, was the realization that nothing would be gained by staying timid. Dutch courage, maybe Brazilian overconfidence and certainly a foul that resulted in a red card for Felipe Melo of Brazil turned things around.
But the key to Brazil’s elimination was that it was not true to its traditional flowing soccer style. Its coach, Dunga, tried to make Brazil more like Germany: bigger, stronger, more efficient, less flamboyant. Brazil fell between the two approaches, and on Sunday, Dunga was fired for that. Relying on its rhythm and creativity, Brazil plays the best game on earth; attempting to emulate the style of a European team, Brazil did not scare the Dutch.
Argentina took the opposite approach. Knowing that its defense was poor, it pushed everything forward, giving this World Cup more thrills during the first three weeks than any other team. That strategy failed against Germany, which knew exactly how to beat such an unbalanced team: take advantage of its weakness, crowd out Lionel Messi, and never let Argentina’s attacking offense get any momentum.
“It was absolute class,” Germany Coach Joachim Löw said of Saturday’s victory. “We analyzed their games and expected that Messi would drop into midfield. We managed to take him out of the game, keeping him under pressure without fouling him.”
He added: “I told my players, ‘You are younger, faster, more enduring.’ We were able to put Argentina’s defense under pressure and take it apart completely.”
Full marks for thoroughness. Yet Löw is still auditioning for his job at this World Cup. A month ago, the German soccer federation was not prepared to give him a contract beyond 2010.
How could they or Löw have known a few months ago that Thomas Müller, then just a young prospect with little experience at the international level, would burst into this World Cup like a star? How could Löw be sure that Sami Khedira, Jérôme Boateng and Mesut Özil would bring to Germany a youthful self-confidencethat would make them not only powerful as a unit but pleasing to watch, too?
The joy of putting them in and finding out is part of this World Cup’s revelatory essence. The fall of presumed powers like England, France, Italy and Brazil is quite the opposite.
And it is not only teams that are going home without fulfilling their potential. The exit of England’s Wayne Rooney, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and now Messi was shocking. They came into the tournament hailed as the heirs to the legacies of players like Pelé, Diego Maradona and Zinédine Zidane. They are, by anyone’s estimation, the three current outstanding individual stars in soccer, both on the field and in its marketing.
Rooney and Ronaldo did nothing to enhance their reputations. Messi did, until he was neutralized by Germany.
Maradona, now Argentina’s coach, would seem to be a man with a singular insight about star players — and perhaps why they fail. When his own tears were spent Saturday, he said he felt as if he had been flattened by a punch from Muhammad Ali.
Verbal punches were thrown at him from all angles. Surely Maradona was responsible for Argentina’s collapse? Surely he accepted what Germany’s players had said beforehand, that Argentines were nothing but temperamental artistes? Maradona, now almost 50, said in effect that he was the father of this team, that he would go home defending them, that he was proud of them. He, and they, knew no other way to play. He may quit, but he says he will first consult his family and friends.
But it was when he was asked why the great players had not demonstrated greatness here, had not risen to World Cup glory as he had done in 1986, that he gave his most interesting response.
“I think we were more selfish, and now players are more collective, more team players,” he said. “They want to do everything with their teammates.”
He added, “Before, perhaps it was a matter of being selfish players who had the rest of the team working for us.”
How interesting, and how perceptive that answer was. Maradona had succeeded as a player on this stage, but was perceived as little more than a cheerleader masquerading as a coach in this World Cup.
Messi was the only player on the Argentine roster whose talent approached that of Maradona’s, yet when Messi tried to run through Germany the way he had through previous opponents, he was rebuffed.
The inquests will be relentless, the taunts cruel, and they will start in South America. But the Latin Americans are not done with this tournament. There is still Uruguay against the Netherlands on Tuesday, and Spain, the European Latins, waiting for Germany on Wednesday.
Spain-Germany is almost a European final in its own right — a repeat of the Euro 2008 final, which Spain won, 1-0.
Germany has eliminated Argentina, and now it faces Spain, which has a flair with the ball that is bonded with patience and a team concept that fuses the European and South American styles.
A prediction? No chance. Surprise is this tournament’s lesson.