FIGUEIRA, Portugal, 29th November, 2021 (WAM) — Team Abu Dhabi are UIM F1H2O world champions for a fourth year in succession after a day of extreme drama at the Grand Prix of Portugal, which saw Thani Al Qamzi agonisingly lose out to Sweden’s Jonas Andersson in the race for the drivers’ title.
Victory in a tense final round of the shortened 2021 season, his second in the space of 48 hours, saw Andersson edge out third-placed Al Qemzi by a single point to prevent the Emirati from becoming the first Arab driver to win the F1H2O crown.
Defending champion Shaun Torrente finished fifth on the day, and third in the championship, just two points adrift of his Abu Dhabi team-mate, after his own title hopes had been upset earlier in the day by a blown engine in qualifying.
Torrente had started the day in a powerful position to claim a third successive F1H2O triumph, holding a three-point lead over Al Qemzi, with Andersson another seven points adrift.
But the American’s engine failure in the second qualifying session led to him starting the race from the back of the field four hours later after the impressive Andersson had recorded a second successive pole position.
Qualiying in sixth, Al Qemzi made a typically strong bid to climb into a second place finish which would have made him world champion, ultimately losing out by a single spot as Finnish rookie Alec Weckstrom finished second to Andersson.
The outcome was in doubt until the final seconds of the 40-lap race, however, after Sharjah Team’s Sami Selio crashed out spectacularly while holding second place with five laps remaining.
But Al Qemzi’s last chance to claim runner’s up spot in the race, and with it the world title, ended as the yellow flag stayed in place for the remaining laps, allowing Andersson to squeeze home as the new world champion.
There had been drama earlier on the 29th lap when Norway’s Marit Stromoy crashed out of the race, bringing out the yellow flag and halting proceedings with the world championship still hanging in the balance.
After high winds making conditions dangerous forced the postponement of yesterday’s three-stage qualifying session, this morning’s rescheduled fight for pole position was dramatically cut short for Torrente.
The defending champion set a good early time in Q2, but by then he had already felt a worrying vibration in the boat. After stopping to have this checked for a possible propeller problem he set of again, only for the engine to blow moments later.
"It’s the first failure I’ve had in three years," said Torrente as the Team Abu Dhabi mechanics set about fitting a new engine. "It’s not over yet – all I have to do is pass 14 boats."
He gave everything, knowing that a third place finish would see him complete a world title hat-trick, but ultimately fell two places short, although he was able to celebrate another world team championship success with Al Qemzi
Russia has no access to damaged Togliatti-Odesa pipeline: Reports
Russian Industry and Trade minister Denis Manturov said on Thursday that Moscow has no access to the damaged part of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, and does not expect to be granted it, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia has made the restart of the pipeline, which before the war carried ammonia from Russia to Ukraine for export, central to future renewal of a deal allowing Ukraine to export its grain safely from its Black Sea ports.
Both Russia and Ukraine this week reported damage to a section of the pipeline that runs through the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. The two sides have blamed each other.
EU launches new effort to resolve longstanding migrant crisis
European Union interior ministers on Thursday made a fresh attempt to overcome one of the bloc’s most intractable political problems as they weighed new measures for sharing out responsibility for migrants entering Europe without authorization.
Europe’s asylum system collapsed eight years ago after well over a million people entered – most of them fleeing conflict in Syria – and overwhelmed reception capacities in Greece and Italy, in the process sparking one of the EU’s biggest political crises.
The 27 EU nations have bickered ever since over which countries should take responsibility for people arriving without authorization, and whether other members should be obliged to help them cope.
Arriving for the meeting in Luxembourg, the EU’s top migration official, Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said it was an “extremely important day” to resolve what has “been a marathon” issue for Europe.
“Of this marathon, we have maybe 100 meters left. So, we are so close to actually find an agreement today,” Johansson said. “I expect the member states to be able to do the final extra meters to reach the agreement.”
“If we are not united, we are all losers,” she said.
Under the existing rules, countries where migrants first arrive must interview and screen them and process the applications of those who might want to apply for asylum. But Greece, Italy and Malta maintain that the burden of managing the numbers of people coming in is too onerous.
Later attempts to impose quota systems on countries to share out the migrants were challenged in court and finally abandoned. EU countries now seem to agree that the assistance they provide must be mandatory but can take the form of financial and other help rather than migration sharing schemes.
The EU’s presidency, currently held by Sweden, has proposed a system under which countries who do not want to take migrants in could pay money instead. Figures of around 20,000 euros ($21,400) per migrant have circulated in the runup to the meeting. It remains unclear if the idea will be accepted.
Diplomats said ahead of the meeting that an agreement is only likely if big member countries France, Germany and Italy back the plan. A deal requires the support of a “qualified majority” – roughly two thirds of the 27 members but crucially also making up about two thirds of the EU population.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the compromise on the table “is very difficult for us.” She said that “I am fighting for us to have a Europe of open borders,” and warned that “should we fail today … that would be the wrong signal.”
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that he had come with compromise proposals and that plenty of work remains to be done on what is a “very difficult” issue.
“What we want to do is completely change the situation on migration,” Darmanin said.
His Spanish counterpart, Fernando Grande-Marlaska – whose country has struggled to deal with an influx of people trying to enter from North Africa through Spanish islands in the Atlantic – warned that “if we don’t reach that agreement, I think that all of us will be losers.”
Even if a political agreement is reached Thursday, the member countries must still negotiate a full deal with the European Parliament, which has a different view of solidarity – one that requires countries to draw up detailed “annual migrant support plans” in case of emergency.
Lawmakers have warned that this is a last chance to solve the conundrum before EU-wide elections in a year, when migration is likely once again to be a hot-button issue.
Should the EU fail, the project might have to be abandoned or completely overhauled as it’s taken up by the next European Commission – the bloc’s executive branch – and the new members of parliament after next June’s polls.
“If we miss this chance to make it right, I don’t think we will have another,” Spanish Socialist lawmaker Juan Fernando López Aguilar, a leader on migration policy, said in April. “The kind of a message would be: ‘Hey, listen, it’s not going to happen. Not this time. Ever.’
The long-festering dispute has led to the collapse of Europe's asylum system. Unable to agree, the EU has tried to outsource its migrant challenge, making legally and morally questionable deals with countries like Turkey or Libya, which many people transit through on their way to Europe.
Indian leader Modi expected to visit Egypt after official US trip: Source
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to Cairo on his way back from an official visit to the US in June, the Times of India reported Thursday, citing official sources.
It will mark the Indian premier’s first visit to the Middle Eastern country. No official announcement has been made.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi joined India’s President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a parade celebrating the south-Asian nation’s Republic Day in January 2023.
Ahead of the parade, al-Sisi met with Modi and held talks, including on deepening military cooperation, and invited the Indian premier to Egypt.
The January visit elevated ties between the two countries, especially in counter-terrorism, energy and economy. Egypt and India share historic diplomatic relations.
As for trade, it bilaterally expanded in 2021-22, amounting to $7.26 billion, registering a 75 percent increase compared to 2020-21, according to data provided by the Embassy of India in Cairo.
India’s exports to Egypt during this period amounted to $3.74 billion, registering a 65 percent increase over the same period in 2020-21, the same report said.
Egypt’s exports to India reportedly reached $3.52 billion, registering an 86 percent increase over the previous year.
US President Joe Biden will host Modi at the White House for an official visit from June 21 to 24. They will reportedly address a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate, one of the highest honors Washington affords to foreign dignitaries.
The speech would be Modi’s second to a joint meeting of the US legislature and comes as Biden seeks to deepen ties with the world’s largest democracy as part of his bid to win what he has framed as a contest between free and autocratic societies, especially China.