Spain’s National Court has ordered internet providers to suspend the use of the Telegram instant messaging service, pending an investigation into claims of copyright infringement.
Friday’s ruling came after Spain’s four leading media organizations – Mediaset, Atresmedia, Movistar, and Egeda – filed a complaint arguing that the platform allows users to distribute their content without permission. According to local media, Judge Santiago Pedraz requested certain information from Telegram’s owners as part of the probe. After the request was not fulfilled, he ordered for access to the app to be blocked, effective on Monday. The judge described the measure as “precautionary” and cited Telegram’s lack of cooperation. The suspension is expected to last throughout the investigation. The newspaper El Pais said that Telegram largely remains accessible in Spain, although some users started to report problems with the service on Friday night. The ruling was met with widespread criticism. Consumer rights watchdog FACUA called it “absolutely disproportionate” and said that the blocking of the popular service will cause “enormous damage.” “It would be like shutting down the internet because there are websites that illegally host copyrighted content, or cutting the entire television signal because there are channels that engage in piracy,” FACUA Secretary General Ruben Sanchez said in a statement. Fernando Suarez, the president of the General Council of Professional Associations of Computer Engineering in Spain, made a similar point, comparing the suspension of Telegram to “completely closing off one province in our country because there was a case of drug trafficking or theft on that territory.” According to a survey conducted by independent competition regulator CNMC, nearly 19% of Spaniards use Telegram. Telegram is a cloud-based service that allows users to exchange text messages, share media files, and make voice calls and public live streams. The platform was launched in 2013 by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov. It reached 800 million active users in 2023, according to industry news website Business of Apps.
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2023 FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS
2023 Formula 1 World Championship Drivers' Standings
FORMULA 1 AWS GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2023 - Race Results
FORMULA 1 AWS GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2023 - Top 10 Qualifying Results
It is a Cessna with the flight number OE-FGR. The airplane, registered in Austria, started in Jerez in southern Spain and was actually supposed to land in Cologne/Bonn. But after take-off, the machine reported pressure problems in the cabin. Then contact broke off shortly behind the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish and French fighter jets took off to check the situation on the private plane. But the pilots could not make out anyone in the cockpit or in the cabin. Attempts to make contact by radio also failed. On board there was a pilot, a woman, a man and the daughter on board.
Traces of oil and debris were discovered at the crash site, a spokesman for the Swedish Coast Guard told STV. There is probably no hope for the occupants of the plane. Aviation security expert Hans Kjäll told Swedish news agency TT pressure problems could have caused passengers to lose consciousness.
According to the expert, this can happen quickly, especially at altitudes where small aircraft are flying. Fernando Alonso has completed a surprise move to Aston Martin for the 2023 F1 season. Sebastian Vettel confirmed his retirement from the sport last week to open up a seat at the Silverstone-based team, with fellow German Mick Schumacher tipped by some to take the drive. However, 41-year-old Alonso was confirmed as Aston’s new driver on Monday morning having signed a multi-year deal. The Spaniard said: “This Aston Martin team is clearly applying the energy and commitment to win, and it is therefore one of the most exciting teams in Formula One today. “I have known Lawrence [Stroll, executive chairman] and Lance [Stroll] for many years and it is very obvious that they have the ambition and passion to succeed in Formula One.
“I have watched as the team has systematically attracted great people with winning pedigrees, and I have become aware of the huge commitment to new facilities and resources at Silverstone. “No one in Formula One today is demonstrating a greater vision and absolute commitment to winning, and that makes it a really exciting opportunity for me.” Alonso currently sits tenth in the 2022 F1 championship and has delivered points finishes in his last eight races, helping Alpine overtake McLaren for fourth place in the Constructors’ standings. Young Australian driver Oscar Piastri is the likely choice to be promoted from Alpine’s academy programme to take Alonso’s seat for next season. Alonso continued: “I still have the hunger and ambition to fight to be at the front, and I want to be part of an organisation that is committed to learn, develop and succeed. “We all appreciate that there is much to be done to get to the front, and that we must apply all our energies in working together to find performance. “The passion and desire to perform that I have witnessed convince me to maintain my enjoyment and commitment to the sport. I intend to win again in this sport and therefore I have to take the opportunities that feel right to me.” Fernando Alonso has been handed a time penalty for weaving during today's Canadian Grand Prix, and as a result drops to 9th position. Between turns 10 and 12, on the penultimate lap of the race, the Spaniard made repeated changes of direction to defend against Valtteri Bottas who had to lift at one point and briefly lost momentum. Whilst noting the Spaniard's point that at no stage was any point of Bottas' car alongside his Alpine, the Montreal stewards considered this to be a clear breach of 2 b) of Chapter IV Appendix L of the FIA International Sporting Code and consequently imposed a 5 seconds time penalty in line with that imposed for a similar incident in Australia.
The penalty drops Alonso from 7th to 9th behind the two Alfa Romeos. In addition to the time penalty, Alonso was given a penalty point bringing his twelve month total up to 6. Starting from the front row, the Spaniard's race was compromised by the failure to react strategically to the virtual safety cars, and a subsequent engine issue which saw him fall into the clutches of Bottas and the ensuing DRS train that had built up after the safety car period that followed Yuki Tsunoda's accident. "We had an engine problem on lap 20 where we cut the energy very early on the straights, as soon as we exited the corners," explained the Spaniard at race end. "It was just a case of trying to survive, trying to get the DRS, driving kamikaze in the corners before the detection, because the DRS was my only safety on the straights after that." Spanish oil company Repsol and Italy’s Eni will begin shipping Venezuelan oil to Europe as early as July, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters. This will resume the oil-for-debt swaps, which were suspended two years ago, when Washington intensified sanctions against Venezuela. The oil from Venezuela is intended to help Europe ease its dependence on Russian crude.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, confirmed in a televised press conference that the United States had authorized Chevron, Eni and Repsol to exploit their gas and oil deposits in Venezuela. “Steps are being taken, the first steps. About a week ago, the United States took small but significant steps by granting licenses to the US company Chevron, the Italian company ENI and Repsol,” he said. But while Chevron has been allowed to resume operation in the country, it has not yet been authorized to export oil to the US. The change in position comes after the US authorized European oil companies to operate in Venezuela in a bid to promote dialogue between Maduro and Venezuelan opposition groups. The green light from Washington to resume flows of oil from Venezuela to Europe could provide a symbolic boost for Maduro. US authorities communicated the news to the companies last month, but the details and the resale restrictions had not been communicated until now. The administration of US President Joe Biden hopes that Venezuelan crude oil will help Europe reduce its dependence on Russia and redirect some of Venezuela’s cargoes from China. The volume of oil expected to be supplied by Eni and Repsol from Venezuela is not large, according to one of the sources, who said that any impact on world oil prices will be modest. Eni and Repsol did not respond to requests for comment. Repsol’s financial exposure to Venezuela at the end of 2021 amounted to €298 million. According to the Spanish company’s 2021 financial statements, this amount includes: “the US dollar financing granted to the joint ventures Cardon IV, S.A. and Petroquiriquire, S.A., amounting to €166 million and €304 million, respectively, and trade receivables from [Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA] Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. amounting to €344 million [...] less provisions for liabilities and charges amounting to €500 million.” Lewis Hamilton had a puncture on Lap 1 of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix courtesy of an over optimistic Kevin Magnussen, after which the Briton was relegated to the back of the grid some 50 seconds down on the race leaders.
Hamilton then radioed his team to retire the car and save the new power unit he had bolted to his W13, only for his team to refuse and ask him – an inspired decision by the way – to carry on. Former Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle was baffled by Hamilton’s demeanor and said in his Sky Sports F1 column: “Lewis’ contact with Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap surely cost him a chance of a spectacular result. “He was 50 seconds behind the leader on lap two and 54 seconds at the end despite backing off by four seconds on the final tour. “Lewis’s radio call-in after falling to the back of the field with a puncture, basically wanting to stop and ‘save the power unit mileage’, was alarming,” the pundit insisted. “It gave us the true picture of how little he’s been enjoying this season. “Presumably 65 laps later he was somewhat more satisfied after showing great pace,” Brundle pointed out lauding the fans for voting Hamilton Driver of the Day. George Russell’s defence on Max Verstappen fair Mercedes had a great race in Barcelona, with George Russell taking third position after an epic duel with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, despite the latter’s DRS troubles on the day. Brundle said it was “fascinating to witness” the Dutchman’s “first proper wheel-to-wheel battle with Russell” who he believed was “defending robustly but fairly, and very well”. The 62-year-old added: “I happened across the race stewards on Sunday evening and they were of the same opinion that George was pushing the boundaries but not breaking the rules. “And his run back past Max between the very short turns one and two will be played out for a good while,” he maintained. The veteran of 158 grands prix praised Verstappen for keeping his battle with Russell within the proper boundaries, and said: “Once again Max was very clean and fair in this enduring battle, more so than when he was against Hamilton last year, which is more fitting of a champion. “But of course the championship is not up for grabs yet,” he remarked.
2022 Formula 1 World Championship Drivers' Standings
FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2022 Race Results
FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2022 Qualifying Results
Speculation that Ferrari is about to roll out its first major package of upgrades in 2022 have been sparked by intensive security measures surrounding a filming day at Monza. Access to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza was blocked by barriers set up on access roads preventing fans from getting anywhere near to the Italian GP venue. Ferrari released a single image from the session on its social media channels, and a further 'spy' shot has emerged in which the F1-75 is mostly hidden by barriers making it impossible to make out details of any possible changes. The team said that it had hired the venue for a promotional day in which Charles Leclerc would be in the cockpit to produce video material of the car on the track and in the pits and garage. The team needs new footage after dropping livery advertising for the Kaspersky brand in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Filming days in which teams are limited to just 100km of running (17 laps of Monza) are a fairly routine occurrence. Each team is permitted two per season and Ferrari held their first at Barcelona in the run-up to official pre-season testing in February. But the level of security on Friday was unusual, and follows rumours that Ferrari are working to overcome their current estimated 0.2s deficit to Red Bull with a new package of upgrades in time for Spain and Monaco.
Ferrari is said to be working at ways to reduce weight and drag from the car with a new rear wing, modifications to the sidepods and floor and the removal of a transparent film from the bodywork paint. Leclerc appeared to have the upper hand over Max Verstappen in Miami in practice and qualifying, but lost out in Sunday's race. While Ferrari look to have the upper hand in low/medium corners and under acceleration, the Red Bull's superior straight line speed ended up giving the RB18 an unassailable advantage. "We are running a bit more downforce in terms of wing configurations," explained Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. "Lacking speed on the straights but normally gaining a bit more on the corners. Binotto said that in Miami this had "been the case in the corners five, six and seven, but maybe it has not been the case in the very slow ones after 11, 12 and 13. "Red Bull has been very good in that respect," Binotto acknowledged. "They are very good on the medium tyres, to be as fast as us at least in the very slow speed corners.. "The reason why is something that we need to assess and understand," he added. "I believe it's in the fact that they have got upgrades in the last races that have made their car simply faster." Leclerc said it was clear that Red Bull had made performance gains on softer tyres over race distances. "It's been already two races that in terms of race pace [that] they seem to be a bit stronger and managing those tyres better," he suggested. "In qualifying we always managed to put those tyres in the right window which helps us," he continued. "But on the on the long runs, we struggle a bit more compared to them." As for the view from the other side of the fence, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that the performance of the respective teams' cars was now so close that the advantage changed from circuit to circuit. "They are very closely matched. I think it's just trying to piece together the best race that you can," he offered. "They had a very high downforce, we were very low downforce, and the set-up worked for us." Red Bull has denied suggestions from their Ferrari counterparts that it is 'burning through' its development budget in order to maintain its current advantage over Ferrari. Lora Smith MADRID, July 19 -- It has been a strange 48 hours for Barcelona left back Marc Curcurella which have seen the young defender pass through three different clubs. On Tuesday, Barcelona decided to take up the four million (4.5 million US dollars) euro buy-back option they had with Eibar (after the club he spent last season on loan with had themselves taken up an option to make that loan deal permanent at the end of last season). That meant the 20-year-old was briefly back in the discipline of the club where he had begun his career. However, Curcurella's return to the Camp Nou was about as brief as they can get as late on Thursday evening Barcelona reached agreement with Getafe to send him on loan at the side from the south of Madrid for another season. Getafe also have the option to make the move permanent at the end of the 2019-20, with Barcelona to receive 40 percent of the price of any future sale of the player. "FC Barcelona and Getafe have reached an agreement for the loan of the player Marc Cucurella to the Madrid based club for the 2019-2020 season," confirmed the Barca website, which also wished the youngster luck for the future. The move to Getafe will give Cucurella the chance to play European football with Getafe in this season's Europa League after finishing fifth in the Liga Santander last season. |
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