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Liam Lawson on Thursday reflected on a “crazy” start to his first full season in Formula One.Axed after just two races by Red Bull he was demoted to their sister team RB for last weekend’s race in Japan, with Yuki Tsunoda replacing him as Max Verstappen’s teammate.”Obviously it’s been a crazy couple of weeks and months and a lot of it has been not the most enjoyable,” confessed the young New Zealander.Lawson is preparing for his second run out with the RB team he had 11 races with last season at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.With the temperature gauge at the Sakhir circuit nudging 37 degrees Celsius it was nothing like the heat he felt at Red Bull after two pointless performances in Australia and China.Mentally it’s been a tough start to his first full season in the fast lane, but the 23-year-old said he was taking solace in still being able to do his day job.”The fact that I’m racing each weekend at the moment is probably the best thing for me because it just means I can focus on driving,” he said, with the drone of helicopters arriving at the circuit overhead.He finished 17th in Suzuka last Sunday on his return to RB, with his fellow rookie teammate Isack Hadjar picking up his first ever F1 points in eighth, but vows there is better to come.”I think the weekend (in Japan) didn’t really show properly what I think we were capable of.”Unfortunately we just missed out on qualification, but in general I think I felt pretty comfortable.”Bahrain is the middle leg of a ‘triple header’, book-ended by Japan and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah.Lawson feels that hectic schedule has helped him avoid dwelling too much on what has been a tough start to 2025.”I think that’s the best thing, had it been a three week gap or something like that, you’re just sitting on it and although you don’t want to talk about it, it ends up coming up in conversation and at least this way because we are racing, I have enough to think about.”- ‘Shooting zombies’ -Lawson’s teammate Hadjar had a baptism of fire in the season-opener in Australia, crashing out on the formation lap.But the talented French rookie dusted himself down to finish 11th next time out in China, followed by last Sunday’s deeply impressive eighth spot after qualifying seventh.Whilst understandably thrilled to get his first points of his career on the board he said it came with a twist.”Of course now being rewarded with points definitely gives me a bit more confidence but it’s not like I don’t need to work anymore, you know?”I always put the pressure on me to keep delivering, so now the expectations from people are maybe a bit higher, but I keep doing what I do.”Hadjar and Lawson have been gelling as teammates off the track, with the Parisian raised to an Algerian family describing the pair’s chemistry as “really good”.”We played padel, we went to virtual Call of Duty together.”Like two days ago, we were shooting zombies together in the same team” he disclosed.Hadjar received praise after his Suzuka drive from Red Bull’s influential advisor Helmut Marko.That led to the big question – would he answer the call if and when it came to become four-time world champion Verstappen’s latest partner – a position that does not come with a lot of job security.”Honestly, now it seems like it’s really hard to be next to Max,” he reflected.”It makes me want to go even more, to find out why, what’s going on, but that’s still the main target.”Both young drivers will be out to impress in this fourth round of the season held under floodlights on Sunday evening.

As stock prices flashed across a huge screen at a bustling intersection in China’s business hub Shanghai, finance workers shared their concerns after getting front-row seats to the global market turmoil wreaked by Donald Trump this week.After equities tanked at the beginning of the week, the US president on Wednesday paused the sweeping tariffs he …

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US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will be in Oman for breakthrough talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme this weekend.Here are short profiles of the two negotiators: – Witkoff: real estate to world stage -With no prior experience in foreign policy, he landed one of the world’s biggest jobs as US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, and has since led high-stakes talks on Gaza and Ukraine.Real estate magnate Steve Witkoff first stepped into the spotlight when his close friend Trump credited him with sealing a truce in the Israel-Hamas war.While the ceasefire collapsed weeks later, it did enable the release of 25 living hostages and the return of eight others’ remains.Witkoff, a 68-year-old billionaire and a regular golfing partner of Trump’s, later became the first US official to visit Gaza since the war began with Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel.He defended Trump’s stunning suggestion that he wanted to “take over” the Palestinian territory and move out its two million inhabitants.”When the president talks about cleaning it out, he talks about making it habitable, and this is a long-range plan,” Witkoff told reporters at the White House.Witkoff has also spearheaded negotiations on Ukraine, with Trump U-turning on his predecessor Joe Biden’s policy on Russia.He was in Russia to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin when a scandal erupted over a leaked Yemen air strike chat on the Signal app that involved National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other officials.Witkoff himself has drawn criticism from Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky over his praise for Putin and for appearing to legitimise Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine.In March, he was Trump’s man in Saudi Arabia for talks on Ukraine, voicing optimism that any agreement struck could pave the way for a “full-on” ceasefire.Trump has made it a foreign policy goal to end wars that Biden could not stop, meaning that the stakes could hardly be higher for Witkoff.Ultimately, Witkoff’s win in Gaza was short-lived, with US ally Israel restarting intense strikes on March 18.On Ukraine, the Russian president has yet to accept a long-term truce.Born on March 15, 1957, in the New York borough of the Bronx, Witkoff made his fortune in real estate, first as a corporate lawyer and then at the head of big realty firms.In 1997, he founded the Witkoff Group, which describes itself as “one part developer, one part investor (and) one part landscape-changer.” His wife and a son work there.- Araghchi: Iran’s career diplomat -A career diplomat and key architect of the 2015 nuclear accord, Araghchi will be pushing the United States to lift its punishing sanctions on Iran.The 62-year-old, who hails from a family of carpet traders, is fluent in English and has a long career spanning multiple roles in Iran’s foreign ministry.With his crisp beard and salt-and-pepper hair, Araghchi is known for his calm demeanour. He typically wears a suit and a tie-less white mandarin-collared shirt, a standard look among Iranian diplomats.He holds a bachelor’s degree from the foreign ministry’s Faculty of International Relations, a master’s in political science from the Islamic Azad University, and a doctorate in political thought from the University of Kent in England.Following the 1979 Islamic revolution, Araghchi joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He served on the front lines during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s before joining the foreign ministry as an expert on international affairs.Araghchi was appointed foreign minister after President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has called for reviving talks with the West, took office in July.He was the chief negotiator at the talks that culminated in the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers, which imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) fell apart after the United States, during Donald Trump’s first term, unilaterally withdrew from it and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions.Araghchi remains a fervent supporter of the deal but said in a recent interview with Khabar Online news agency that the JCPOA “cannot be revived in its current form and text.””Our nuclear programme has advanced significantly and we can no longer return to the conditions of the JCPOA,” he said, adding that the deal “can still be a basis and a model for negotiations”.burs-ser-mz/

Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC reported Thursday a better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter on strong demand for AI technology, after tariffs slapped onto major economies by US President Donald Trump caused global uncertainty.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world’s largest contract maker of chips that are used in everything from Apple’s iPhones to Nvidia’s cutting-edge …

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World Expo opens on Sunday with host Japan aiming to bring humanity together, despite global turmoil and tepid public enthusiasm for the six-month event showcasing innovation as well as Hello Kitty in algae form.A Mars meteorite the size of a sourdough loaf and a beating heart grown from stem cells are among the myriad futuristic attractions crammed into a vast waterfront site in Osaka hosting more than 160 countries, regions and organisations.Most pavilions — each more outlandishly designed than the last — are encircled by the world’s largest wooden architectural structure, a towering latticed “Grand Ring” meant as a symbol of unity.But with conflicts raging and US tariffs threatening economic chaos, that goal may be optimistic.”Not for sale” states a yellow and blue sign over Ukraine’s booth — echoing defiant comments from leader Volodymyr Zelensky about the war with Russia, which chose not to mount a display at Expo 2025.Yahel Vilan, head of Israel’s equally compact pavilion, which features a stone from Jerusalem’s ancient Western Wall, told AFP that “we came with a message of peace”.Israel is not at Expo “to deal with politics”, he said. There is also a Palestinian pavilion, but it was not open at a Wednesday press preview. At the imposing US exhibit, absent was any mention of President Donald Trump’s hefty levies on trade partners, most of which he has now paused.Instead, the pavilion focuses on the world’s largest economy’s diverse landscapes, AI tech and space — including a simulated rocket launch where dry-ice blasters appear to ignite above visitors’ heads.- Human washing machine -After enjoying the view and sea breeze atop the Grand Ring’s “skywalk”, visitors can stop by the world’s longest sushi conveyor belt or meet many-eyed Expo 2025 mascot Myaku-Myaku.Among the more bizarre displays are 32 sculptures of Hello Kitty dressed as different types of algae — to symbolise the slimy plant’s many uses — and a “human washing machine” that shows imagery based on the bather’s heart rate.Elsewhere are demonstrations of drone-like flying vehicles, and the tiny artificial heart made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) shown in public for the first time.”It has an actual pulseByron Russel of Pasona Group, which runs the exhibit, told AFP.Human stem cells were modified to become like “cardiac muscle cells” and “grown into the shape of the heart”, he explained. It will not beat continuously for six months but will be replaced every week or so.Themes of sustainability run through the Expo, including at the bauble-like Swiss pavilion, which aims to have the smallest ecological footprint.But Expos have been criticised for their temporary nature, and after October Osaka’s man-made island will be cleared to make way for a casino resort.According to Japanese media, only 12.5 percent of the Grand Ring will be reused.- Slow ticket sales -Expo is also known as a World’s Fair, and the phenomenon, which brought the Eiffel Tower to Paris, began with London’s 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition and is held every five years.The 2020 edition in Dubai was postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic, so Osaka Expo organisers say it will “restore much-needed connections” and “provide the opportunity to create a better tomorrow”.Osaka last hosed the Expo in 1970 when Japan was booming and its technology the envy of the world. It attracted 64 million people, a record until Shanghai in 2010.But 55 years on Japan is less of a trendsetter and opinion polls show low levels of enthusiasm for the Expo among the public.So far 8.7 million advance tickets have been shifted, below the pre-sales target of 14 million.This time around “inflation is causing a lot of anxiety, especially among younger generations”, Yani Karavasilev of the APIR think-tank told AFP.Japan is also experiencing a record tourism boom, meaning accommodation in Osaka — near hotspot Kyoto, and home to the Universal Studios Japan theme park — is often fully booked with prices sky-high.A lack of viral online posts about the Expo is another reason for low excitement levels, according to Karavasilev.”I think as long as sharing on social media picks up, ticket sales will pick up as well,” he said.

World Expo opens on Sunday with host Japan aiming to bring humanity together, despite global turmoil and tepid public enthusiasm for the six-month event showcasing innovation as well as Hello Kitty in algae form.A Mars meteorite the size of a sourdough loaf and a beating heart grown from stem cells are among the myriad futuristic …

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