The world used to be filled with magic and mystery and V12 engines. There’s still plenty of the former two, but the latter is rapidly going the way of the thylacine, and while we get it — it’s hard to justify the cost and complexity of a big V12 engine in a world where going electric makes a lot more sense — we’re still sad to see them go. 

This weekend mark the first Easter without the late Queen after she died aged 96 on September 8 last year 2022. It is also the second anniversary of the death of her devoted husband Prince Philip on Sunday. 

Those aero tweaks include a wider body, a big wing at the back and a new, vented hood. The overall look is pretty aggressive, befitting a car wearing the Vantage name, and Aston claims it produces 450 pounds of downforce at 200 mph, which is pretty good for a road car. The majority of the new body bits are made of carbon fiber to help cut weight. Aston also made the exhaust out of 1mm-thick stainless steel tubing to shave nearly 16 pounds off the car compared to the exhaust in the V8 Vantage.

One of the last holdouts of V12 engine production has been Aston Martin with its twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter unit in the DB11 and, now, as a farewell, in the V12 Vantage, after a 15-year run, according to an announcement made by the company on Wednesday. The 2023 V12 Vantage will be strictly limited to 333 units, and it’s already sold out.

People from around the world took to anonymous sharing app Whisper to admit the ordinary things they feel too embarrassed to do in public, from one who hates to blow their nose, to a Californian woman who avoids kissing her boyfriend in view of others. 

Moscow has not concealed a programme under which it has taken thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied areas, Online Geimetry middle school Grade Program but presents this it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.

The International Criminal Court last month issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine.

Tens of thousands of flag-waving Russians packed out Moscow’s Luzhniki World Cup stadium on Friday as the despot attempted to drum up support for his stalled invasion of Ukraine, peddled debunked claims about why the war started and shilled a false narrative of Russia’s battlefield ‘success’.

‘The best confirmation of this is how our guys are fighting during this operation, shoulder to shoulder, helping each other. When it is necessary, they cover each-other as if it was their own brother from bullets.

The V12 Astons have been since the DB11 came out, but we are genuinely looking forward to this leaner, meaner swan song of a car, and while we wish it could be had with a different gearbox, we expect it will still be a real experience to drive.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis appeared to ask Russians to seek the truth about their country’s invasion of Ukraine in his Easter message to the world on Sunday and reading tutor for 3rd grader appealed for dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians following recent violence.

UKRAINE/BELARUS BORDER, April 8 (Reuters) – More than 30 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine this weekend after a long operation to bring them back home from Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea, where they had been taken from areas occupied by Russian forces during the war.

The despot took to the stage dressed in a £10,000 Loro Piana jacket – despite his country’s economy crumbling under the weight of Western sanctions – to address a crowd waving Russian national flags and banners marked with the letter ‘Z’, which has become a potent symbol of the invasion. 

The three said they had been separated from their parents who were pressured by Russian authorities to send their children to Russian summer camps for what was billed as two weeks, from occupied parts of Kherson and Kharkiv regions.

The Pope Francis, 86, presided at a solemn Easter day Mass after unseasonal cold forced him to skip an outdoor service on Friday – a precaution following his hospitalisation for bronchitis at the end of March. 

In his speech, Putin quoted the Bible’s book of John, praising his troops in Ukraine. ‘The words from the sacred scripture come to my mind: “There is no greater love than if someone laid down his life for his friends,”‘ he said.

“Now the fifth rescue mission is nearing its completion. It was special regarding the number of children we managed to return and also because of its complexity,” said Mykola Kuleba, the founder of the Save Ukraine humanitarian organisation.

People from around the world took to Whisper to reveal the ‘normal things’ they are too embarrassed to do in public – including a Californian woman, who doesn’t like kissing her boyfriend in view of others 

The V12 Vantage also gets some extra goodies for its last go around the carousel. It will be the most powerful Aston Martin Vantage ever with 690 horsepower and 555 pound-feet of torque. Those figures, plus new aerodynamic body tweaks mean that this Vantage is good for 200 mph and will make the sprint to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. An eight-speed ZF automatic transmission is the only gearbox on offer, though Aston claims it’s been recalibrated to be more sporty.