Free Republic

Leasing firms will terminate their contracts with Russian airlines and repossess aircraft. Under EU sanctions announced on Sunday, leasing firms must terminate all contracts with Russian carriers over the next 30 days. Over half of Russian planes on foreign lease According to ch-aviation, 777 of Russia's 980 passenger planes are on lease, of which 515 are from foreign aviation firms. AerCap, the world's largest aircraft lessor based in Dublin, has 149 planes leased by Russian airlines, while SMBC has 34.

Audio of a message left with a repo company; she's mad that her car is being repossessed, and tells the company that she "ain't rich, but one day, this year, we will be, because of Barack Obama." She then hangs up. Listen here

NORFOLK -- The repo man may be getting the hook. An electronic device that attaches to a car's ignition system easily can take the place of a tow-truck repossession, and the units are finding their way onto high-risk car lots across the country. No pay, no start. It's worked wonders at Norfolk's Patriot Auto Sales, where nearly every car that is driven off the lot is outfitted with a PayTeck Smart Box, a system that hands over a five-digit code in exchange for each payment. Come due date, the car won't crank until the customer punches the code into a...

Jul 7, 10:26 AM EDT Court Reimburses Man for Watermelons RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- When Jackie L. Eley's pickup truck was repossessed, more than just her ride was taken away. The 130 watermelons in the truck bed also were repossessed. Revenge, though, has been sweet. The state Court of Appeals has ruled that the repo firm, Mid-East Acceptance Corp., must pay Eley $1,365 - three times the melons' value - as well as legal fees. Eley's truck was repossessed July 29, 2002, a day when the temperature would reach 98 degrees with 89 percent humidity. She had missed two payments....

<p>THE Rev. Al Sharpton is having his 2001 Ford Explorer repossessed - if the repo man can find it. According to papers uncovered by "Celebrity Justice," Ford Motor Credit Co. filed suit Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court after Sharpton stopped paying $1,127.95 a month in November and then bounced a check for $3,600 in February. A spokeswoman for the presidential candidate said he was unaware of the matter: "Rev. Sharpton personally does not drive, nor does he have a driver's license." Sharpton's lawyer, Michael Hardy, is investigating.</p>

It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your car is? Max Pineiro knows where somebody's is, and he is about to steal it. Driving his Ford F-150 truck around a rough-and-tumble neighborhood of Rahway, N.J., on a Monday night, he and his partner, Sergio Costa, don't take long to find what they want, a red Honda Accord. Unlocking the car will be easy — they even have a key — but if there's an alarm, they are worried about disabling it before being caught. Mr. Pineiro takes a deep breath. "O.K., I'm going in," he says to Mr. Costa. He...