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Package delivery firm DHL said Thursday it acquired a 49% stake Polar Air Cargo Express, a unit of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, to expand its business in the Asia-Pacific region.

A convoy of 100 diesel trucks motored slowly along the Harbor Freeway from South Los Angeles to the Port of Long Beach Wednesday as part of a push for cleaner air and better working conditions for drivers, television station KTLA reported on its Web site.

We have had many examples of questionable DOT inspections — including two we had last month in Idaho on the same owner-operator’s tractor-trailer that were clean, but not Level 1s, which are the most thorough standardized inspections.

Sweden’s Volvo AB said its truck sales fell 10% first five months of the year, as U.S. deliveries plunged after stricter emissions standards made trucks more expensive, Bloomberg reported.

A push for lower emissions from heavy-duty trucks, coupled with grants from state and localities in order to meet Southern California’s air-quality standards, are prompting interest in and sales of new trucks in the region, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported Monday.

The Senate last week weakened legislation that would have set mileage standards for heavy trucks, instead ordering an 18-month study of large-truck fuel economy before the government can set such standards.

Class 8 truck makers said they are offering electronically controlled air disc brakes as an option in 2007 models, promoting them as safer and easier to maintain than the drum brakes most U.S. heavy trucks use.

The Senate passed a comprehensive energy bill late Thursday that raises average auto fuel efficiency standards, but the measure did not include a tax on oil companies that would have boosted alternative fuel development, Agence France-Press reported.

Crude oil fell back by almost $1 a barrel following an Energy Department report that showed oil inventories jumped much higher than expectations last week, Bloomberg reported.