Suspected car bomb found in Times Square

Police evacuated part of Times Square after finding a suspected car bomb in the busy midtown Manhattan district Saturday night, media reports said.

Officials said it was not considered to be a terrorist threat, and New York City police reportedly asked federal authorities to stand down.

The New York Times quoted an explosives' expert saying it was an improvised device using propane cylinders and powder, but the ignition source 'failed to function the main charge'.

Kevin Barry, a former supervisor in the New York City police bomb squad, speculated that if it had functioned 'it would be more of an incendiary event' than an explosion, the Times reported.

The explosive materials were discovered about 6.30 p.m. by a mounted police officer who saw a box with smoke pouring from it in the back of a Nissan Pathfinder, officials said.

Jaguar Luxury Sports Cars New XK-S

Jaguar will be launched a new XK limited edition model this month, the Jaguar XK-S. Like every Jaguar to carry the XK badge, the XK-S is all about performance with style – plus a large helping of individuality. The Jaguar XK-S offers its own spin on the 4.2 liter V8 XK in coupe form.

German car exports up by nearly half in May

An industry group says German car exports saw another strong year-on-year rise in May _ increasing by nearly half as global demand recovers.

The VDA group said Wednesday that Germany exported 367,700 cars last month _ an increase of 46 percent compared with May 2009. That followed a 58 percent rise in April.

Sales in Germany itself have been slipping in year-on-year terms for months after a popular government car-scrapping program expired.

That trend continued in May. Some 252,800 new cars were registered in Germany _ 34 percent fewer than a year earlier. They were down nearly 32 percent in April.

VDA said the healthy export performance helped push up production _ which rose 10 percent on the year to 470,100.