Nissan

TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. said yesterday that it lost 32.55 billion yen ($266 million) in the first half because of slumping sales and extensive stock losses, forcing Japan's second-largest automaker to predict its sixth full-year loss in seven years.The maker of midsized sedans and pickup trucks projected that the company and its subsidiaries will lose 30 billion yen for the fiscal year that ended March 31, jettisoning an earlier forecast of breaking even.Without the stock loss, a 76 billion-yen charge on its plunging investments in banks and other securities, Nissan would have remained in the black, analysts said.

* Town Center: 10300 block of Little Patuxent Parkway: A gray 1986 Nissan 300-SX was stolen between noon and 5 p.m. Thursday.

Jose A. Munoz, the man accused of participating in a drag race in November that left an Annapolis man dead, was indicted by a grand jury Friday on a charge of vehicular manslaughter. Munoz, 42, of Martha Court in Annapolis, is accused of being one of three drivers who were speeding south on Generals Highway in Crownsville on Thanksgiving Day when the crash occurred. Maximiliano Merlos, 34, of Wellington Place died at the scene. He was a passenger in a 1991 Honda CRX being driven by Byron H. Hernandez of Housley Road that was trying to pass Munoz's 1995 Nissan Sentra, police said.

A car involved in a fatal June accident on Route 140 near Finksburg may have blown a tire before the driver lost control, crossed the median and killed a Westminster woman, a witness said yesterday.The crash killed Geraldine Lane "Geri" Wu, 42, and injured her daughter, Min-li, 14.Pamela Elwood, a registered nurse, testifying during the second day of the auto manslaughter trial of Frederick H. Hensen Jr., 21, of Westminster and Scott D. Broadfoot Sr., 25, of Parkville, told jurors she heard a loud bang and saw a maroon Nissan go out of control.

Police logLong Reach: 8800 block of Flowerstock Row: A burglar ransacked a home Wednesday after kicking open its door and took a VCR, jewelry and a CD player.Owen Brown: 9300 block of Cornshock Court: A black 1994 Nissan Quest with Maryland tags BJE 929 was stolen Wednesday or Thursday.

Early morning gunfire on Baltimore National Pike in the Westview area left one man wounded yesterday and led to a convoluted chase involving two cars and six arrests.The wounded man, Noel Samuel Smith, 23, of the first block of Athol Ave. in Irvington, told police that he was shot in his left side when two cars pulled alongside his car and the occupants started shooting.Mr. Smith was reported in good condition last night at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center after the 3 a.m. shooting. Police said they had not yet determined whether Mr. Smith was alone in the car.The six men arrested were being questioned last night but had not been charged.

A city police officer was injured yesterday when a car being chased by other officers slammed into the driver's side of her cruiser at a West Baltimore intersection. Southwestern District Officer Joy Jackson, 31, who has been on the force six years, was listed in good condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Firefighters had to cut her out of the crumpled cruiser. The man being chased in a gold Nissan Maxima was taken to Bon Secours Hospital complaining of chest pains, police said.

Police arrested a man and a teen-ager last night in Southwest Baltimore and seized a quantity of illegal drugs and four firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle.Lt. Russell Shea said he and Sgt. Tim Devine and Officer Sean Kapfhammer, all of the Southwestern District drug enforcement unit, were patrolling in an unmarked car in the 3500 block of Windsor Mill Road in Walbrook about 7 p.m. when they saw two males seated in a parked 1989 Nissan.After the officers got out of their car and approached the Nissan on foot, the teen-ager ran from the vehicle but was caught a short distance away, Shea said.

A two-car collision near Highland left three people injured early yesterday, Howard County police said.According to a police report, a 1993 Nissan, driven by a 19-year-old Tiffany Leigh Brooke of the 6500 block of Prestwick Drive in Highland, collided with a 1993 Acura that crossed the center line of the 13800 block of Route 108 near Briarridge Court about 1: 10 a.m.Police said the driver of the Acura, Jeanette Alayna Chambers, 27, of the 8600 block of...

A 23-year-old Eastpoint woman was critically injured and 13 others were hurt in an 11-vehicle pileup that started when a dump truck carrying 22 tons of asphalt literally drove over the woman's car on the Harbor Tunnel Thruway just north of the Harbor Tunnel.Kimberly Ann Schroeder of the 7400 block of Kirtley Road was flown by state police medevac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center at University Hospital, where she was being treated for head injuries and was reported in "very critical" condition last night, according to a hospital spokesman.