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• The Montgomery County, Md., Police Department said earlier this week that it was inspecting its 324 Crown Victorias because of a steering problem with its cruisers. Police said that since July, two cruisers were affected by the problem that had the potential to cause the steering to fail during normal operation. There were no crashes are injuries during the incidents. Police in Tucson, Ariz. also recently began inspecting its fleet of Crown Victorias. The police officer union says that at least six vehicles were found to be deficient and in need of repair. Tucson police said the department expects to conduct a more thorough investigation in the coming weeks.
• Ford replaced the ubiquitous "Crown Vic" with a new police interceptor sedan based on the Ford Taurus. The new car has anti-stab plates built into the front seats to protect occupants from attacks, vinyl rear seats and floors that can be hosed down, and available bulletproof doors. Ford used to sell 70 percent of all U.S. police cars.
• The company stopped production of the Crown Victoria late last year at its St. Thomas assembly plant near London, Ontario.
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Al-Qaida calls for more attacks on embassies
AYA BATRAWY,Associated Press
MAAMOUN YOUSSEF,Associated Press
• CAIRO (AP) -- Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen praised the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya in a Web statement Saturday and called for more attacks to expel American embassies from Muslim nations.
• The statement suggests al-Qaida was trying to co-opt the wave of angry protests in the Muslim world over a film produced in the United States denigrating the Prophet Muhammad.
• In a move to try to end the unrest, the top religious authority in Saudi Arabia said Muslims should not be "dragged by anger" into violence, suggesting the film could not truly hurt Islam.
• So far, there has been no evidence of a direct role by al-Qaida in the protests, which brought a flurry of attacks on American and other Western diplomatic missions this week. The protests have been fueled mainly by ultraconservative Islamists. But U.S. and Libyan officials are investigating whether the protests were a cover for militants to target the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi and kill Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans on Tuesday.
• Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the group in Yemen in known, said the killing of Stevens was "the best example" for those attacking embassies to follow.
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