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McLaren were streets ahead of the pack in second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday leaving Max Verstappen lamenting his “too slow” Red Bull.Oscar Piastri posted a quickest lap of 1min 30.505s with his teammate Lando Norris only a tenth of a second adrift.Mercedes’ George Russell took third, albeit over five tenths of a second back in an ominous display of force by McLaren at a track where the Bahraini-backed team have yet to win in 21 visits.Verstappen, who moved to within one point of championship leader Norris after his win in Japan last weekend, struggled to make any significant impact, the four-time world champion trailing in seventh, close to one second back.”We’re just too slow basically every lap, and it was honestly not a lot of fun out there in the long run,” lamented the Dutchman. “The gap was quite massive,” he added.To add insult to injury immediately in front of Verstappen were two rookies – Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and RB’s Isack Hadjar, who both did brilliantly to finish fifth and sixth.Red Bull’s plight was not helped by the sight of Yuki Tsunoda coming in 18th, six places behind RB’s Liam Lawson, the driver he replaced at Red Bull last time out.Norris was keeping his feet firmly on the ground, suggesting the bare results didn’t tell the whole story.”Everyone just looks at the timesheets,” the Briton said.”They have no idea on the information on who turns up (the engine).”Russell though was in no doubt that McLaren had an edge, saying Piastri and Norris were “a big step ahead”.Second practice at the Bahrain International Circuit got underway as the sun set to make the session more meaningful than opening pracice held in the searing mid-afternoon heat.With the floodlights illuminating the track to give like-for-like conditions with Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race it placed extra importance on the 60 minutes evening run out.Verstappen, Russell and Charles Leclerc were among six established drivers to lend their cars to rookies to gain valuable experience in FP1 as per the sporting guidelines.- ‘The car is jumping’ -Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton, in the upgraded Ferrari kitted out with a new floor panel, put his foot down early to lead the timesheets.Verstappen got his weekend up and running but was soon grumbling on the team radio: “The ride is very bad, the car is jumping a lot.”Things were worse over with Fernando Alonso, who told his Aston Martin engineer: “Change the steering wheel” as the veteran Spaniard headed back to the pits, the wheel literally coming off in his hands.A human wall of Aston mechanics blocked any inquisitive competitors as they frantically worked to resolve the unusual and worrying issue.Back on track Leclerc (who took fourth) pushed his teammate Hamilton (eighth) off the top of the time sheets to give early encouragement to the scuderia.With plenty of action on track as teams tried to cram in effectively three practice sessions in one – Saturday’s third session is also unrepresentative being held in daytime – the Ferrari duo dropped down the field as the Mclarens rose to the surface.As Alonso, who will be having his 50th race for Aston on Sunday, rejoined the circuit, there was no change at the top as McLaren set out their stall for the business part of the weekend.Earlier teams took the opportunity to use ‘FP1’ to give a half dozen rookies a shot as a ‘Friday driver’ as per the governing body’s guidelines.Verstappen had some down time with Ayumua Iwasa taking the wheel of his Red Bull.Luke Browning stepped into Carlos Sainz’s Williams, ut had  scary moment with his temporary teammate Alex Albon, the pair coming close with a quarter of an hour left of the session.The stewards investigated the incident, with Albon deemed guilty of impeding Browning and given a smack on the wrist with a four-figure fine.

Oscar Piastri topped the times as McLaren dominated second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday with Max Verstappen struggling to make an impact in his Red Bull.Piastri posted a quickest lap of 1min 30.505s with his teammate Lando Norris only a tenth of a second adrift.The chasing pack was led by the Mercedes of George Russell albeit over five tenths of a second back in an ominous display of force by McLaren at a track where the Bahraini-backed team have yet to win in 21 visits.Verstappen, who moved to within one point of championship leader Norris after his win in Japan last weekend, was given plenty of food for thought ahead of this fourth race of the season as he trailed in seventh, close to one second back.To add insult to injury immediately in front of the four-time world champion were two rookies – Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and RB’s Isack Hadjar, who both did brilliantly to finish fifth and sixth.Red Bull’s plight was not helped by the sight of Yuki Tsunoda coming in 18th, six places behind RB’s Liam Lawson, the driver he replaced at Red Bull last time out.Second practice at the Bahrain International Circuit got underway as the sun set to make the session more meaningful than opening practice held in the searing mid-afternoon heat.With the floodlights illuminating the track to give like-for-like conditions with Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race it placed extra importance on the 60 minutes evening run out.Verstappen, Russell and Charles Leclerc were among six established drivers to lend their cars to rookies to gain valuable experience in FP1 as per the sporting guidelines.- ‘The car is jumping’ -Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton, in the upgraded Ferrari kitted out with a new floor panel and a record five-time winner in Bahrain, put his foot down early to lead the timesheets.Verstappen got his weekend up and running but was soon grumbling on the team radio: “The ride is very bad, the car is jumping a lot.”Things were worse over with Fernando Alonso, who told his Aston Martin engineer: “Change the steering wheel” as the veteran Spaniard headed back to the pits, the wheel literally coming off in his hands.A human wall of Aston mechanics blocked any inquisitive competitors as they frantically worked to resolve the unusual and worrying issue.Back on track Leclerc pushed his teammate Hamilton off the top of the time sheets to give early encouragement to the scuderia.With plenty of action on track as teams tried to cram in effectively three practice sessions in one – Saturday’s third session is also unrepresentative being held in daytime – the Ferrari duo dropped down the field as the Mclarens rose to the surface.Piastri and Norris both stepped on the gas to pull well clear.As Alonso, who will be having his 50th race for Aston on Sunday, rejoined the circuit, there was no change at the top as McLaren set out their stall for the business part of the weekend.Earlier teams took the opportunity to use ‘FP1’ to give a half dozen rookies a shot as a ‘Friday driver’ as per the governing body’s guidelines.Verstappen had some down time with Ayumua Iwasa taking the wheel of his Red Bull.Dino Beganovic was handed the keys to Leclerc’s Ferrari.Other new faces were Fred Vesti (in for Russell), Luke Browning (Williams/Carlos Sainz), Felipe Drugovich (Alonso) and Ryo Hirakawa, in for Ollie Bearman at Haas.Browning had a scary moment with his temporary teammate Alex Albon, the pair coming close with a quarter of an hour left of the session.The stewards investigated the incident, with Albon deemed guilty of impeding Browning and given a smack on the wrist with a four-figure fine.

An onslaught of tariffs by the United States will send “shock waves” through African economies, the president of the African Development Bank said on Friday, warning of reduced trade and higher debt-servicing costs.The comments come as US President Donald Trump has upended global markets by pushing — and then retracting — a slew of tariffs …

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Dozens of Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed “only women and children” after a ceasefire collapsed, the UN said, as an Israeli attack in the territory’s south on Friday left a family of 10 dead.A UN rights office report also warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders were resulting in the “forcible transfer” of people into ever-shrinking areas, raising “real concern as to the future viability of Palestinians as a group in Gaza”.Israel’s military said it was looking into the attack that killed members of the same family in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, adding separately that it had struck approximately 40 “terror targets” across the territory over the past day.Israel resumed its Gaza strikes on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.Since then, more than 1,500 people have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory to which Israel cut off aid more than a month ago.”Ten people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital as martyrs following an Israeli air strike that targeted the Farra family home in central Khan Yunis,” civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP.AFP footage of the aftermath showed several bodies wrapped in white shrouds and blankets, and footage of the house showed mangled concrete slabs and twisted metal.- ‘Women and children’ -Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed denounced Israel, saying: “If this is not barbarism, I ask you, what is it?”Early Friday, Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning to residents of several areas east of Gaza City ahead of a new offensive there.The UN decried the impact of the ongoing Israeli strikes, finding that “a large percentage of fatalities are children and women”.”Between 18 March and 9 April 2025, there were some 224 incidents of Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for internally displaced people,” the UN human rights office said in Geneva.”In some 36 strikes about which the UN Human Rights Office corroborated information, the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children.”Israel’s military has repeatedly said Palestinian militants often hide among civilians, a charge Hamas denies.UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani also raised concerns over “the denial of access to basic necessities within Gaza and the repeated suggestion that Gazans should leave the territory entirely”.Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, after meeting regional counterparts in Turkey, urged “maximum pressure to ensure” aid is delivered into Gaza.The war broke out after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Gaza’s health ministry said Friday at least 1,542 Palestinians have been killed since March 18, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,912.- Ceasefire efforts -A truce brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar that took effect on January 19 and lasted until March 17 saw the return of 33 Israeli hostages, eight of them in coffins, in exchange for around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.In a Passover holiday message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his pledge to bring the remaining captives home.He spoke after US President Donald Trump suggested progress in hostage release talks, telling a cabinet meeting on Thursday that “we’re getting close to getting them back”.Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was also quoted in an Israeli media report as saying “a very serious deal is taking shape, it’s a matter of days”.Israeli media reported Friday that Egypt and Israel had exchanged draft documents on a ceasefire-hostage release deal.The Times of Israel said Egypt’s proposal would mean eight living hostages and eight bodies released in exchange for a truce of between 40 and 70 days and a large number of Palestinian prisoner releases.A senior Hamas leader who declined to be identified told journalists the group had “not received any new ceasefire offer”.”The movement is open to any new proposal that would achieve a ceasefire, withdraw the occupation’s forces, and end the suffering of the Palestinian people.”In his message for Passover — a holiday celebrating the biblical liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt — Netanyahu said that “together we will return our hostages”.He has insisted that increased military pressure is the only way to get the captives home.

The trial of dozens of Tunisian opposition figures resumed on Tuesday under tight security, with six detained defendants on hunger strike after they were barred from attending court in person.Foreign diplomats were in court to monitor the trial of around 40 high-profile accused. They include activists, politicians, lawyers and media figures, some of whom have been vocal critics of President Kais Saied.Saied, elected after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy from the Arab Spring, staged a sweeping power grab in 2021. Rights groups have since raised concerns over a rollback on freedoms.The accused face charges including “plotting against the state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group”, according to lawyers, which could entail hefty sentences and even capital punishment.Tunisia’s judiciary had ruled when the trial opened on March 4 that the defendants would only be allowed to attend Friday’s hearing remotely.Six of them, including jurist Jawhar Ben Mbarek and a former leader of the Islamist party Ennahdha, Abdelhamid Jelassi, have gone on hunger strike to demand permission to attend the hearing in person, their defence team said.”The defence asks that the hearing be suspended and the accused be brought before their lawyers,” said one of their legal counsel, Abelaziz Essid. “We cannot make our arguments under these conditions and we refuse to be false witnesses.”According to an AFP journalist, security was tight at the entrance to the courtroom in the Tunisian capital.- NGOs denied access -Representatives of France, Canada, Germany the Netherlands and European Union attended the hearing.Local NGOs were, however, not given access and only one relative of each accused was allowed entry.Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, who heads the main opposition coalition the National Salvation Front and is also named in the case, called the accusations “wild fabrications”.The defence lawyers say that Chebbi, along with several other defendants, is accused of holding contacts deemed suspicious with foreign diplomats.Several of the defendants were arrested in February 2023, after which Saied labelled them “terrorists”.Others, like Chebbi, have remained free pending trial, while some have fled abroad, according to the defence committee.Human Rights Watch has dubbed the trial a “mockery” based on “abusive charges”. In February, the leader of the Ennahdha party, Rached Ghannouchi, 83, was sentenced to an additional 22 years in prison for plotting against state security.Ennahdha has been Tunisia’s main opposition party and the main rival to Saied.The United Nations urged Tunisian authorities last month to bring “an end to the pattern of arrests, arbitrary detentions and imprisonment of dozens of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, activists and politicians”.Tunisia’s foreign ministry at the time dismissed the UN statement with “astonishment” and denounced its “inaccuracies”.”Tunisia can give lessons to those who think they are in a position to make statements,” it said.

India’s gems and jewellery industry is breathing a momentary sigh of relief after US President Donald Trump paused harsh tariffs that threatened to hit lucrative exports and tens of thousands of jobs.At manufacturing and processing hubs across India, exporters and buyers worried over how they would absorb Trump’s gruelling 26 percent tariff on a multi-billion …

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