FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2022 - Race Results
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US gasoline prices averaged more than $5 per gallon on Saturday, setting a new all-time high, data from the American Automobile Association (AAA) shows. According to the non-profit AAA, which tracks prices at more than 60,000 gas stations across the country, the national average price for regular unleaded gas rose to $5.004 per gallon on June 11 from $4.986 the day before. The highest prices have traditionally been recorded in the state of California, at up to $6.43 per gallon, and the lowest in Georgia, at $4.46 per gallon. Data shows that US fuel prices have now more than doubled since US President Joe Biden was inaugurated in January 2021, when a gallon of gasoline cost only $2.39 on average.
The Biden administration has been determined to curb the soaring prices, which have propelled inflation to four-decade highs. The government has ordered a record-large release of barrels from US strategic reserves, suspended a rule prohibiting the sale of higher-ethanol blend gasoline during the summer, and pressured the major producers of OPEC to boost production. However, these efforts have so far proven futile in the face of rebounding post-pandemic demand and Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia, including a US embargo on Russian oil. The pandemic-induced decline in US refining capacity has also contributed to the price surge, as at least five refineries in the country have reportedly been shut down during the past two years.
FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2022 - Qualifying Results
Podcaster Matt Walsh can be abrasive on Twitter, where he’s known for skewering liberals and their causes mercilessly. But when he began posing a four-word question to strangers a year ago, Walsh was polite and nonconfrontational; it was the question itself — and his insistence that there is a correct answer — that got under people’s skin.
The question was “What is a woman?” and it’s both the title and subject of a film released last week by Walsh and The Daily Wire, the conservative media company founded by Jeremy Boreing and Ben Shapiro. In the film, Walsh, a 35-year-old father of four who lives in Nashville, travels around the world asking the question of strangers, from women on the streets of U.S. cities to men in Africa. He also interviews specialists, including a gender-affirming marriage and family therapist in Nashville and author and psychologist Jordan Peterson. The Daily Wire bills the film as a documentary, although it’s not quite a documentary in the vein of those produced by National Geographic; it’s too cheeky for that. But neither is Walsh a conservative Borat making an outlandish “mockumentary” like those produced by Sacha Baron Cohen. He’s just a funny guy asking a serious question, one that he believes “brings down the house of cards” of gender ideology. “Most of the people we talked to either didn’t want to talk about it, or they appeared to be confused about something as simple as what a woman is,” he told me. The wafflers included the Nashville therapist who said, “I’m not a woman so I can’t really answer that,” to a group of women who laughed and said, “That’s a stumper,” to a man on the street who said, “I honestly don’t know.” Dr. Marci Bowers, a gynaecologist and surgeon, said womanhood is “a combination of your physical attributes and what you’re showing to the world and the gender clues you give.” Patrick Grzanka, an associate professor at the University of Tennessee, said a woman is “a person who identifies as a woman” and angrily pushed back at Walsh, asking why he would even ask the question. It’s a question, of course, that’s not only being asked by a podcaster on the street but also in the halls of Congress. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee asked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to define a woman during Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings in March. Jackson replied that she couldn’t, “not in this context. I’m not a biologist.” There is method in what Walsh’s critics see as his madness. He believes that extremists in gender ideology have dealt conservatives a winning hand in the culture war by trying to vaporize ideas about sex and gender that were unquestioned for most of human history. Walsh points out that he’s being called an “extremist” and a “dinosaur” for saying things that were widely considered biological facts two decades ago. “This is a fight we can actually win,” he told me. “When I say ‘we,’ I mean rational, sane people. "You don’t have to be a conservative to realize that men are men and women are women.” He added, “The other side can be brought to its knees by one question, ‘What is a woman?’ There’s a real weakness there, and we can win this fight, and then it becomes like kicking blocks out of the Jenga tower. You win this one, and then you move on to the other cultural battles.” Beyond that, Walsh hopes to bring the issue to the attention of people beyond the “conservative bubble of people who listen to my podcast” and reach people who are not politically engaged and may be unaware of what’s being taught on the frontlines of gender ideology. Some of the people Walsh interviews in the film say that gender cannot and should not be assigned by doctors at birth and that children should be encouraged to explore different forms of gender expression without being influenced by their parents or society. At the centre of this discussion is the issue of transgender rights, which Americans are still divided on, largely along party lines. According to a February report from Pew Research Center, 38% of Americans said that greater acceptance of transgender people is generally good for society, 32% said it is bad and 29% said neither good nor bad. Although a growing share of Americans say they know someone who is transgender or uses gender-neutral pronouns (they/theirs instead of she/hers and he/him) they remain sharply divided on the subject of pronouns. Last year, half of respondents said they are comfortable using alternative pronouns when asked, while 48% said they are not. These percentages are “virtually unchanged” since 2018, Pew said. Walsh, who calls progressive gender ideology a cult, uses the divide over pronouns as a tidy insult, often responding to negative tweets about him by simply saying of his critics “pronouns in bio.” Lewis Hamilton has trailed the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers so far in 2022. Lewis Hamilton may not have had it his own way so far this season, but Emerson Fittipaldi believes things will change this weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Hamilton already trails championship leader Max Verstappen by 75 points after just seven races. But even more worrying for Hamilton has been his record against Mercedes team-mate George Russell. With Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton was rarely beaten throughout their time together at Mercedes. However, Hamilton has beaten Russell just once this season and that came in the opening Grand Prix of the year in Bahrain. The seven-time world champion has had his fair share of bad luck due to safety car periods and differing strategies. But there has been small improvements since the Spanish Grand Prix with both Mercedes cars starting to show good pace against Ferrari and Red Bull. The tight streets around Monaco proved troublesome with neither Russell or Hamilton able to gain much ground.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix may present similar issues with drivers racing around the streets of Baku. But Fittipaldi believes the Mercedes pair will be ones to watch this weekend and the two-time F1 champion has tipped Hamilton to "come back strong". “George Russell is definitely going to do well (in Baku),". "Mercedes is improving quite a lot. "Lewis Hamilton's car has been doing well for the last two Grands Prix, and I think he'll continue to be stronger and come back strong in Baku. It will be great to see George Russell challenge Lewis Hamilton throughout the whole year. All the racing fans are watching that closely. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has warned Twitter’s board of directors that he may back out of a deal to buy the social media platform for $44 billion because the company has failed to provide information on spam and fake accounts.
“This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement, and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” lawyers for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said on Monday in a letter to Twitter. At issue is Musk’s demand for the calculations supporting Twitter’s estimate that less than 5% of its accounts are fake. The South African-born billionaire has claimed that around 20% of supposed Twitter users aren’t real, and he has vowed to crack down on spam bots. He said last month that he had paused the takeover due to concerns over the fake accounts and that he might try to renegotiate the acquisition price to reflect the number of bogus users.Twitter said it has shared information with Musk in accordance with terms of the takeover agreement. “We intend to close the transaction and enforce the agreement at the agreed price and terms,” the company said in a statement. Musk could be hit with a $1 billion breakup fee, as well as investor lawsuits, if he aborts the deal. Twitter shareholders have already sued him for driving down the company’s stock price by sowing doubt about the transaction. The stock fell 1.5% on Monday to $39.56, currently 27% below the takeover price of $54.20 that Musk agreed to pay for each share that he doesn’t already own. “At this point, Mr. Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Mr. Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover,” his lawyers said in Monday’s letter. “If Twitter is confident in its publicized spam estimates, Mr. Musk does not understand the company’s reluctance to allow Mr. Musk to independently evaluate those estimates.” It is a route Wei Siu-lik remembers by heart. She knew where to turn, where to cross, where to pause but mostly she cherished the sense of camaraderie with others who ran alongside her. For more than 10 years, she had joined the annual marathon in Hong Kong commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown ahead of its anniversary on June 4. Starting from Tsim Sha Tsui, dozens of them would cross the harbour by ferry, run past government headquarters in Admiralty and the Pillar of Shame – a sculpture at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) honouring those who died in the crackdown in 1989 – before finishing at Beijing’s liaison office in Western district.
But this year, Wei and three friends were left on their own to carry on their decade-long tradition on May 22, after event organiser, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which was behind the annual candlelight vigil marking the crackdown anniversary, disbanded last September. Three core leaders of the alliance were charged with subversion under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 and which also bans acts of secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Apart from having to accept that some of her running peers were now behind bars amid a new political landscape, Wei also found it hard to believe the Pillar of Shame was gone. Last December, HKU removed the eight-metre sculpture in light of “external legal advice and risk assessment”. Depicting a mass of writhing, tortured bodies, the artwork, a gift to Hong Kong from Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt, was regarded as a June 4 icon. A day after HKU’s move, Chinese University and Lingnan University followed suit, removing a statue known as the Goddess of Democracy and tearing down a wall relief respectively, both symbols marking the crackdown. “Things have taken a drastic turn at a fast pace,” Wei, a former district councillor, said. “I still remember we decided to start in Tsim Sha Tsui because we wanted to promote the cause to mainland tourists there. But now maybe even Hongkongers will refrain from sharing any posts related to the crackdown on social media.” That insecurity was also carried by Wei, who did not take any group pictures following the run. “I know in my heart what we did is not illegal, but you just never know where the so-called red line is being drawn,” she said. In 1989, China was gripped by a pro-democracy movement, leading to street protests, weeks of sit-ins and hunger strikes at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Students and residents demanded reforms, culminating in a military crackdown on June 4. It is still unclear how many died. Johnny Depp will release a new album with Jeff Beck next month. The actor made his latest appearance alongside Beck at the Sage concert hall in Gateshead on Thursday night (June 2). During their performance, per the BBC, Beck announced Depp’s next career move. He told the audience that the pair are due to release an album together next month. The gig came a day after Depp won his high-profile defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard. In photos from the evening, Depp and his security guards can be seen swarmed by a crowd of fans.
Depp – who began his career as a musician and founded the band The Hollywood Vampires with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry in 2015 – and Beck have previously collaborated together on the 2020 track “Isolation”. He first turned up to perform alongside Beck in Sheffield on Sunday (May 29), following the closing arguments of his trial. Depp was absent from the Virgina court on Wednesday (June 1) when the jury announced their decision. The actor was seen leaving The Bridge Tavern pub in Newcastle shortly before the reading of the verdict, according to ITV News. Singer Sam Fender had spent the evening with Depp, sharing a photograph with the star to his Instagram Stories minutes after the verdict came in. “Some serious heroes,” Fender captioned the post, which he has since deleted amid backlash. Depp sued Heard for $50m over a Washington Post op-ed titled: “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.” The article does not mention Depp by name, yet his lawyers said it falsely implies he physically and sexually abused Heard while they were together. Heard countersued for $100m, accusing Depp of orchestrating a “smear campaign” against her and describing his lawsuit as a continuation of “abuse and harassment”. During closing remarks, both sides urged jurors to think about other victims of domestic abuse. Heard’s legal team highlighted the message that a verdict in Depp’s favour would send to others, while the actor’s representatives said her claims were “an act of profound cruelty to true survivors”. On Wednesday (June 1), the jury shared their verdicts, finding that Heard had defamed Depp on all three counts. She was demanded to award him $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages. Heard was found to have a partial win in her case and was awarded $2m in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages. Kshama Bindu, 24, from Vadodara, India has announced that she is planning to hold a wedding this month – but the groom will be none other than herself. As reported by the Times of India, the wedding will reportedly include all the traditional elements typical of an Indian wedding, such as the Saat Phere ceremony and the applying of the Sindoor – a vermillion mark indicating that a woman is married. The only thing absent will be the groom and the associated ‘baraat’ wedding procession.
“I never wanted to get married. But I did want to become a bride. So I decided to marry myself,” Kshama, who works in a private firm, said. She says her decision to tie the knot with herself came after she realized she would become the first woman in India to practice sologamy and “set an example of self-love.” “Self-marriage is a commitment to be there for yourself and unconditional love for oneself. It’s also an act of self-acceptance. People marry someone they love. I love myself and hence this wedding,” she explained. Kshama added that her self-marriage is an attempt to show that “women matter,” even if some people think it is nothing but a joke. The wedding is set to be held at a temple in Gotri on June 11. Kshama says she has already received her parent’s blessings for the union, and that she has written five vows she will recite to herself during the ceremony. And, of course, she will also go on a honeymoon trip, for which she decided on Goa, where she will stay for two weeks after the wedding. Sologamy, also known as autogamy, is the marriage of a person to themselves. The practice has become more widespread in the 21st century, especially among women, as supporters of the idea argue that it affirms one’s own value and leads to a happier life. However, self-marriage has yet to be legally recognized in any country, and has quite a way to go before becoming a social norm. No matter how many children die in mass shootings, the United States continues to protect its so-called right to bear arms. THE United States is off my travel bucket list. I used to love visiting the country but I now put it on the same level as Yemen and Afghanistan. It’s too dangerous. After all, you might get shot anytime, anywhere. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration. Just last week, 19 young lives were lost when a teenage gunman went on a rampage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Two teachers were also killed and 17 others wounded. And yet, America does nothing. It is almost 10 years since my column titled “Free to shoot and kill in the land of the free” appeared in The Star on Dec 19, 2012 (online at bit.ly/star_shoot). I wrote it days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre in Connecticut in which another young man, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot dead 20 children – aged six and seven – and six adults.
So far, half a year into 2022, there have been 27 shootings with injuries or deaths in US schools, according to EducationWeek, a site that has a school shooting tracker. (Shocking, isn’t it? I mean, does any other country have such a tracker?). Like after every mass shooting, America convulses in agony and tries to ask why it happened, what motivated the shooter and gets no answers. The gunman, Salvador Ramos, like Lanza, was shot dead by police. What they have found so far is that Ramos had left violent, threatening messages on social media and told of his plan to attack a school on Facebook. And yet, he was able to legally buy two assault rifles and carry out his deadly deed. National Public Radio, citing statistics from the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection organisation, reported there have been 212 shootings in the United States so far this year. The archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed, excluding the shooter. And these shootings can take place anywhere. In recent years, gunmen have fired at cinema audiences, supermarket shoppers, bus passengers, coffee shop patrons, temple worshippers and concertgoers. But the favourite hunting grounds for these shooters seem to be schools. Perhaps they know their young prey will be the easiest and most vulnerable targets. The Uvalde as well as the May 14 Buffalo grocery store shooting that left 10 people dead reminded me of what I wrote a decade ago: such tragedies are self-inflicted by a rich and powerful country. As CNN.com opined: “Ramos’ personal background reveals a bullied loner with no criminal history and – like so many other mass shooters in America – an interest in and access to high-powered firearms and ammunition in a political system that prioritises gun rights.” The US ended 2021 with 693 mass shootings, as recorded by the Gun Violence Archive. The year before the number was 611 and in 2019, it was 417. Perhaps Covid-19 got to Americans, but the pandemic got to the rest of humanity as well yet we didn’t take to guns to express our anger and frustration. It is only in the US that ordinary citizens can buy military grade assault weapons with very poorly enforced checks and controls. Despite many groups lobbying for more stringent gun control legislation, like the youth-led March For Our Lives and Everytown for Gun Safety, they cannot overpower the National Rifle Association (NRA), the largest gun owners’ organisation in the US that fights against gun control laws. Nothing seems to move the NRA or US lawmakers despite the fact that gun violence has overtaken motor accidents as the leading cause of death for American children and teens. My siblings and I grew up with a gun in the house that belonged to our police officer father. And we had a healthy respect for it because Dad drilled in us that a gun was not a toy. We never ever thought of playing with it and I am absolutely happy that Malaysia has harsh penalties for illegal gun possession. Under the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971, just being in unlawful possession of a firearm can put you in jail for up to 14 years and get you at least six strokes of the rotan. |
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