‘It was pretty wild’: F1 champion Max Verstappen learns how to drift
F1 champion Max Verstappen learnt how to drift ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Red Bull star took on the challenge last month at Millbrook Proving Centre, under the guidance of professional drift driver and fellow Red Bull athlete “Mad” Mike Whiddett. “It was really pretty wild, I didn’t expect to have that much grip in the drift cars,” Verstappen told Indy100, before admitting there was a lot of pressure on him to do well in the challenge. “It’s something very different of course to what I’m doing.”
2023-08-10 18:26
FTC queries on Kroger's Albertsons deal focus on small grocers
By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON U.S. antitrust enforcers reviewing Kroger's plan to buy rival grocery giant Albertsons are probing
2023-08-10 18:20
A year ago, an Iranian woman's death sparked hijab protests. Now businesses are a new battleground
Iranian authorities have for months done little to enforce the law on women wearing the mandatory headscarf, but now the country’s theocracy is pushing to make businesses the new battleground over the hijab
2023-08-10 13:51
Pakistan climber cleanses K2 as shrine to fallen father
Gazing up from K2 Basecamp, Sajid Ali Sadpara sees Earth's second-highest mountain, his father's final resting place, and a blight of litter on the furthest...
2023-08-10 10:56
Philippine director puts women at the 'heart' of drug war film
Widows and mothers are at the "heart" of a gritty documentary by Philippine filmmaker Sheryl Rose Andes, who turns the camera on women left behind by former...
2023-08-10 10:50
Grimes says her and Elon Musk’s three-year-old child X ‘knows a lot about rockets’
Grimes has opened up about raising her children with ex, Elon Musk, with the musician revealing that their three-year-old son “knows a lot about rockets”. The singer, 35, spoke candidly about co-parenting with the Tesla CEO during her cover story interview with Wired, published on 8 August. Along with their three-year-old, X Æ A-12 - who goes by “X” - the former couple shares a one-year-old daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, who goes by “Y”. While speaking to Wired, Grimes was asked about Musk’s “weird kind of protégé thing going on” with their son, as he’s taken him to “meetings” and work events before. However, Grimes said that she’s “here for that” relationship between the father and son, before explaining that they share common interests. “X knows a lot about rockets,” she said. “It’s crazy. He knows more about rockets than me.” She then specified that she and Musk have stopped giving X toys, since he “gets upset” if “they’re not anatomically correct”. However, the singer confessed that she’s been a little worried about her son’s interest in space, as she described his reaction to the Starship rocket exploding earlier this year. “He’s a little engineer, for sure. But his obsession with space is bordering on: ‘Is this healthy?’ When X saw Starship blow up, he had, like, a three-day PTSD meltdown,” Grimes recalled. “Every hour, he was waking up and going: ‘Starship …’ and I had to rub his back.” Grimes - who announced her split from Musk in 2022- shared that her daughter is “a little engineer too,” explaining: “She likes industrial shipping. She’s very strange.” As she continued to open up about co-parenting with her ex, she said that she’s “trying to find a great peer group,” or “other parents who are sort of like us and share similar values”. She went on to speak candidly about the different boundaries she wants to set as a parent. “I really care about having a very good relationship with my kids. I think I understand how to be a good parent to them,” she said. “Both enforcing discipline and being their friend. Who knows, maybe they’ll resent me and reject family culture, but I feel like they will not.” She also confessed that she’s “a little bit” worried about her children’s privilege, as their father holds the title as the richest person in the world. “I think their life is gonna be pretty intense,” she said. “Being Elon’s kid is not the same as being anyone’s kid. In my house, at least, I want it to be more of a crazy warehouse situation and a cool art space.” Grimes and Musk first met in 2018 when he direct messaged her on social media, where they then made the same pun about artificial intelligence. In September 2021, Musk revealed to Page Six that he and Grimes have “semi-separated” due to conflicting schedules and locations. Two months later, the pair welcomed their daughter together via surrogate. After the announcement made headlines, Grimes told Vanity Fair in March 2022 that she and Musk have a fluid, inexplicable partnership. However, she later made a clarification about the comment on Twitter, noting that while she and Musk had broken up since welcoming their daughter, “he’s my best friend and the love of my life”. Elsewhere in her interview with Wired, Grimes acknowledged that she’s learned a lot from her ex, specifically when it comes to leadership skills. “I learned from him, like, the best internship ever. People don’t like talking about Elon, but it was incredible to be right there watching all that SpaceX stuff happen,” she said. “That’s a master class in leadership and engineering and makes you understand how rare it is to have a leader of that quality.” Grimes continued to praise Musk’s management skills, adding: “Elon has an old-world kind of discipline I really respect. And I think it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They don’t want to be in that hardcore zone. If you’re not consenting to being in that hardcore zone, I get it.” She also specified that Musk has “challenged” her a lot, and taught her about running her own company and team. When asked what her ex learned from her, she said that she’s helped him “have more fun”. “I try to soften him up, to build family culture,” she said. “And he steals a lot of my memes.” Read More Elon Musk gave Grimes a ‘trivia test’ on Lord of the Rings when they first started dating Grimes criticised for remarks about Lizzo accusers Grimes weighs in on alleged cage match between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Elon Musk gave Grimes a ‘trivia test’ on Lord of the Rings when they started dating Grimes weighs in on alleged cage match between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg reveals his 4,000 calorie diet and large McDonald’s order
2023-08-10 06:28
Disney Rises After Management Cuts Capex, Spending Outlook
Walt Disney Co. rose more than 6% in extended trading after management of the world’s largest entertainment company
2023-08-10 05:56
Outcry as Turkish journalist jailed by text
Even in a country which regularly holds the world record for jailing journalists, the case of Turkish investigative reporter...
2023-08-10 01:51
Former F1 racer names 5 drivers who could win world title by replacing Max Verstappen
A former Formula 1 driver believes as many as “seven or eight” other men would be able to win a world title if they had use of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. The Dutchman is cruising towards a third successive Drivers’ Championship crown, leading the standings by 125 points at the summer break. The 25-year-old has won the last eight races and Red Bull are yet to be beaten at a Grand Prix this season. And while praising Verstappen, Juan Pablo Montoya believes that the Red Bull vehicle’s superiority over the rest of the cars on the grid would allow plenty of his rivals to become world champions were they to swap with him. “Well right now, he’s doing a very good job,,” Montoya, who won seven times in six seasons in F1 at the start of the century, told Semana of Verstappen’s dominance. “He looks just as invincible as when [Lewis] Hamilton was winning everything, that’s the reality. “Max is a very good driver, but so far in the best car. Max’s speed right now is no better than Max’s speed two years ago, it’s probably the same. The car is much faster. “If you take Max out of that car, there are about seven or eight drivers who could be world champions in that car. If he were not there, Checo [Sergio Perez], Hamilton, [Carlos] Sainz, [Charles] Leclerc, he would be world champion. “It is the timing of motorsport, not only one as a driver, but also the machine one has. The luck of which car is fast. The Red Bull with these rules is the best car; suddenly, if the rules change, it could be no longer. “It is the balance between the better you are, the more chance you have of being in a good team. The best drivers are in the best cars. “Lando Norris, for example, is a very good driver and the McLaren has improved a lot this year, but Lando in Red Bull would probably be world champion.” The F1 season is set to resume on the weekend of 27 August at Verstappen’s home Grand Prix in the Netherlands. No team has ever completed a clean sweep of race victories across a full campaign. There are ten stops left on the calendar, with the concluding event in Abu Dhabi on the final weekend of November. Read More F1 2023 mid-season awards: Best driver, worst race and biggest surprise How Max Verstappen and record-breaking Red Bull compare to Formula One greats F1 2023 season race schedule: When is the Dutch Grand Prix? F1 2023 calendar: All 23 Grand Prix this year F1 2023 mid-season awards: Best driver, worst race and biggest surprise Continued struggles will leave Mercedes frustrated and confused – Martin Brundle
2023-08-10 00:58
Ohio vote shows enduring power of abortion rights at ballot box, giving Democrats a path in 2024
Abortion wasn't technically on the ballot in Ohio's special election. But the overwhelming defeat of a measure that would have made it tougher to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution this fall was the latest indicator that the issue remains a powerful force at the ballot box. The election saw heavy turnout for what's typically a sleepy summer election date and sets up another battle in November, when Ohio will be the only state this year to have reproductive rights on the ballot. It also gives hope to Democrats and other abortion rights supporters who say the matter could sway voters their way again in 2024. That's when it could affect races for president, Congress and statewide offices, and when places such as the battleground of Arizona may put abortion questions on their ballots as well. Democrats described the victory in Ohio, a one-time battleground state that has shifted markedly to the right, as a “major warning sign” for the GOP. “Republicans’ deeply unpopular war on women’s rights will cost them district after district, and we will remind voters of their toxic anti-abortion agenda every day until November,” said Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The measure voters rejected Tuesday, known as Issue 1, would have required ballot questions to pass with 60% of the vote rather than a simple majority. Interest was unusually high, with millions spent on each side and voters casting more than double the number of early in-person and mail ballots ahead of the final day of voting as in a typical primary election. Early turnout was especially heavy in the Democratic-leaning counties surrounding Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Opposition to the measure, which became a kind of proxy for the November abortion vote, extended even into traditionally Republican areas. In early returns, support for the measure fell far short of Donald Trump’s performance during the 2020 election in nearly every county. The November ballot question will ask voters whether individuals should have the right to make their own reproductive health care decisions, including contraception, abortion, fertility treatment and miscarriage care. Ohio's GOP-led state government in 2019 approved a ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected — around six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant — but the ban was not enforced because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which granted a federal right to the procedure. When a new conservative majority on the high court last year overturned the nearly 50-year-old ruling, sending authority over the procedure back to the states, Ohio's ban briefly went into effect. But a state court put the ban on hold again while a challenge alleging it violates the state constitution plays out. During the time the ban was in place, an Indiana doctor came forward to say she had performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who could not legally have the procedure in her home state. The account became a national flashpoint in the debate over abortion rights and underscored the stakes in Ohio. Ohio is one of about half of U.S. states where citizens may bypass the Legislature and put ballot questions directly to voters, making it an option that supporters of reproductive rights have increasingly turned to since Roe v. Wade fell. After abortion rights supporters said they hoped to ask voters in November to enshrine the right in the state constitution, Ohio Republicans put Issue 1 on Tuesday’s ballot. In addition to raising the threshold to pass a measure, it would have required signatures to be collected in all 88 counties, rather than 44. The 60% threshold was no accident, abortion rights supporters say, and was aimed directly at defeating the Ohio abortion measure. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, six states have had elections regarding reproductive rights. In every election — including in conservative states like Kansas — voters have supported abortion rights. In Kansas, 59% voted to preserve abortion rights protections, while in Michigan 57% favored an amendment that put protections in the state constitution. Last year, 59% of Ohio voters said abortion should generally be legal, according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the electorate. Last month, a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found the majority of U.S. adults want abortion to be legal at least through the initial stages of pregnancy. The poll found that opinions on abortion remain complex, with most people believing abortion should be allowed in some circumstances and not in others. Opponents of the Ohio abortion question ran ads that suggested the measure could strip parents of their ability to make decisions about their child’s health care or to even be notified about it. Amy Natoce, spokesperson for the anti-abortion campaign Protect Women Ohio, called the ballot measure a “dangerous anti-parent amendment.” Several legal experts have said there is no language in the amendment supporting the ads’ claims. Peter Range, CEO of Ohio Right to Life, said he has been traveling across Ohio talking to people and “I’ve never seen the grassroots from the pro-life side more fired up to go and defend and protect the pre-born.” While the November question pertains strictly to Ohio, access to abortion there is pivotal to access across the Midwest, said Alison Dreith, director of strategic partnership for the abortion fund Midwest Access Coalition. Nine Midwestern states — Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin — are considered restrictive, very restrictive or most restrictive of abortion rights by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports legal access to abortion. “Ohio in particular has always been a destination state for the states around it,” Dreith said. “If we don’t protect abortion access in Ohio, the options just continue to shrink for people seeking care in the Midwest.” Sri Thakkilapati, the executive director of the Cleveland-based nonprofit abortion clinic Preterm, said the effect of the Ohio vote will reverberate throughout the country. “When we restrict access in one state, other states have to take up that patient load,” she said. “That leads to longer wait times, more travel, higher costs for patients." Thakkilapati called the energy around abortion rights in last year's midterms “exciting.” But she said the media attention died down, and people quickly forgot “how tenuous abortion access is right now.” The special election and ballot measure in Ohio are “a reminder of what’s at stake," Thakkilapati said. “Other states are watching how this plays out in Ohio, and it may give anti-abortion groups in other states another strategy to threaten abortion rights elsewhere,” she said. “And for the majority who do want abortion access in their states but are seeing it threatened, the results in November could give them hope that the democratic process may give them relief.” Kimberly Inez McGuire, the executive director of Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, which focuses on young people of color under age 30, says the results of elections involving reproductive rights show that support doesn't come just from Democrats or in cities and states considered liberal bastions. “There was this idea that we couldn’t win on abortion in red states and that idea has really been smashed,” McGuire said. So, too, she said, is the “mythology” that people in the South and Midwest won't support abortion rights. “I think 2024 is going to be huge,” she said. “And I think in many ways, Ohio is a proving ground, an early fight in the lead up to 2024.” Dreith said that since abortion hasn't been on a major ballot since last year, the Ohio vote this fall is “a good reminder” for the rest of the country. “Abortion is always on the ballot — if not literally but figuratively through the politicians we elect to serve us,” she said. "It’s also a reminder that this issue isn’t going away.” Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Why Ohio's Issue 1 proposal failed, and how the AP called the race Ohio voters reject GOP plan to thwart upcoming abortion rights proposal Abortion rights advocates push for 2024 ballot initiative in Arizona
2023-08-09 23:50
Rising prices for travel yet to curb wanderlust
By Joanna Plucinska, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Doyinsola Oladipo and Priyamvada C LONDON/CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) -The post-pandemic travel boom and the
2023-08-09 22:51
Biden Decries Climate Threat But Does Not Declare Emergency
President Joe Biden stopped short of saying he would declare a national climate emergency, a move progressive lawmakers
2023-08-09 22:19