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Feds arrest two men accused of smuggling Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box

Authorities say this Dec. 30, 2019, image from security camera video shows Michael Taylor, center, and George-Antoine Zayek at passport control at Istanbul Airport in Turkey. Taylor, a former Green Beret and his son, Peter Taylor, 27, were arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box in December 2019, while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges. / Getty Images   WASHINGTON — A former Green Beret and his son were arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges. Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and private security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, are wanted by Japan on charges they helped Ghosn escape the country in December after he was released on bail. The men were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Harvard and were expected to appear before a judge via videoconference later Wednesday. The tale of the daring escape began on Dec. 28, 2019, when Peter Taylor arrived in Japan and met with Ghosn at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo for about an hour, authorities said. Just before 10 a.m. the next day, Michael Taylor flew into Osaka, Japan, on a chartered Bombardier Global Express jet from Dubai with another man, George-Antoine Zayek, carrying two large black boxes with them. The elder Taylor was experienced with sticky situations. Over the years, he has been hired by parents to rescue abducted children, gone undercover for the FBI in a sting on a Massachusetts drug gang and worked as a contractor for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last assignment had landed him in a Utah jail for 14 months, caught in a federal contract fraud case that upended TaylorÂ’s family and finances before he agreed to plead guilty to two charges. It's not clear yet how Ghosn hooked up with Taylor. At their arrival, Taylor and Zayek, his Lebanese-born colleague, told airport employees they were musicians carrying audio equipment. Meanwhile, Ghosn, who was out of custody on a hefty bail, headed to the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and met up with Peter Taylor in his hotel room, authorities said. The elder Taylor and Zayek joined after a brief stop to rent a separate room near the airport. And soon after their arrival, the group left the Grand Hyatt and split up.

Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla Model X 0-100 video, Nissan-Renault record EV sales

A video shows that a Tesla Model X can accelerate from 0-100 mph faster than a Model S P85D. DragTimes tested a Founders Edition Tesla Model X P90D with Ludicrous Mode, and found that it did 0-60 mph in 3.178 seconds, which is faster than Tesla's stated 3.2 seconds. The 0-100 mph happened in just 7.98 seconds, which is faster than the 8.3 seconds DragTimes clocked in Model S P85D using Insane Mode. Even more impressive is that the Model X used is a seven-seater with all the boxes ticked, which means that it's lugging a lot of extra weight on the drag strip. DragTimes says it intends to do more tests with other configurations of Tesla models – perhaps we'll get to see how two vehicles with Ludicrous Mode compare. See the video above, and read more at Teslarati. Nissan and Renault saw record sales of electric vehicles in 2015. The two automakers sold 84,754 battery-powered vehicles last year, a rise of 2.5 percent. Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 sales dropped by almost 10 percent, but Leaf sales are expected to improve with the next generation. The Alliance's EV sales, though, were boosted by Renault selling 45 percent more EVs in 2015. Government incentives in France are partially responsible for Renault's success. Since they began selling them, Renault and Nissan have sold 302,000 EVs worldwide by the end of 2015. Read more at Bloomberg Business. A study finds that E20 provides higher peak load capability and thermal efficiency than gasoline in reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion. The dual-fuel combustion technique uses in-cylinder blending to optimize combustion. The study used E20 ethanol blend or gasoline blended with highway diesel or B20 biodiesel blend and compared the results. In addition to the load capacity and thermal efficiency benefits, E20 also produced fewer hydrocarbon emissions. Read more at Green Car Congress. Related Gallery Renault-Nissan Alliance at COP21 View 22 Photos News Source: Teslarati, YouTube: DragTimes, Bloomberg, Green Car Congress Green Nissan Tesla Renault Alternative Fuels Ethanol Green Automakers Electric Videos recharge wrapup

Game on as Formula One fields teams for virtual eSports competition

HORLEY, England — Grand prix teams could be racing each other in the virtual world as well as the real one next season, and fighting to sign up the hottest gamer talent, as Formula One wakes to the power of eSports. Darren Cox, the man behind McLaren's "World's Fastest Gamer" competition who also saw one of his drivers win Formula One's first eSports series in Abu Dhabi last month, feels a tipping point has been reached this year. The former Nissan motorsport boss, who runs the eSPORTS+CARS virtual team, can also see the day dawning — in maybe three to five years' time — when top gamers are earning more than the lowest paid drivers on the real F1 starting grid. In a wide-ranging interview at a simulator center where his drivers train near London's Gatwick airport, Cox told Reuters that he expected Formula One teams to become involved in next year's eSports series. "If you look at what the NBA (basketball) has done ... they engaged the teams right at the beginning. So 17 of the NBA teams have got franchises for the virtual side of the sport, and there's a draft like in the real world. "So expect something like that to come out of (Formula One owners) Liberty," added Cox. "It's happening now. Those conversations are being had. "This absolutely will be a big priority for them (Liberty), and I believe they have made it clear to the teams that they will be involved, in some way. "And then I guess it's down to the teams about how involved they want to be." Kitchen porter turns champion Formula One's first eSports series was won by Brendon Leigh, an 18-year-old kitchen porter who had never previously been out of Britain. Leigh, who drives for Cox's team and emerged triumphant from 63,000 initial hopefuls, is likely to go professional. Some gamers in other arenas are already earning more than $1 million a year, and Cox said the rewards in motorsport were growing all the time. "If you go back 18 months, these guys were winning an X-box and a free subscription, not any cash. The cash has suddenly come, and I think that will ramp up," said the man who has been dubbed the "Godfather of virtual racing." Cox dismissed as irrelevant the debate about whether eSport is a sport. "It's here, it's got millions of viewers, it's got a commercial backbone that is strong. It doesn't matter if someone in sport thinks it's a sport or not. eSports don't care." He expected all the big F1 teams to end up partnering with outfits like his.