| Stoner wins Qatar race in '07 MotoGP opener
Casey Stoner of Australia edged seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi to win Saturday's season-opening Qatar GP. Ducati's Stoner overtook Rossi, who started the race on pole position, on the first lap and completed 22 laps of the 3.3-mile Losail International Circuit in 43 minutes, 2:48 seconds for his first MotoGP victory in 17 races. .
Passengers overpower armed plane hijacker
SPANISH police arrested the hijacker of a Mauritanian aircraft last night after he was overpowered by passengers as the plane landed. The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 was on an internal flight in the African country when the hijacker, armed with pistols, demanded to be flown to France, officials said. The pilot landed in the Canary Islands instead. .
Real Estate Tax Proposal Targets Affordable Housing
The Legislature is being asked to give communities the option to impose a real estate transfer tax of 1 percent on properties that sell for more than $500,000, to help build affordable housing for middle-income families now priced out of the market, because of the influx of second-home buyers along the coast.
Sponsored by Majority Leader Rep. Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, the bill would allow cities and towns to vote on whether they want to adopt the transfer tax. Money raised would be used for building or buying housing available to people earning less than 120 percent of the median income for the local labor market.
Pingree, who lives on an island and represents others, said she is sponsoring the legislation to make sure Maine working families can continue to live on the coast where they grew up and work.
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