World

Lewis Hamilton wins wild Saudi GP to level with Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton won a crazy, twice-halted Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to go level on points with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen and set up a winner-takes-all title showdown.

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On a chaotic night in Jeddah, the first race in the Gulf kingdom took almost as many twists and turns as an already astonishing and enthralling rollercoaster season — and also left a bitter aftertaste.

There were crashes and collisions, safety cars, red flags, and claims of dirty driving after seven-times world champion Hamilton hit the back of Verstappen’s suddenly slowing car on the super-fast Corniche street circuit.

Extraordinary, at times angry, radio exchanges between the race director Michael Masi and the top two teams filled the airwaves.

With a bonus point for fastest lap, Hamilton moved alongside Verstappen at the top of the standings with 369.5 points after 21 races.

Verstappen, who finished second with Valtteri Bottas third for Mercedes, leads 9-8 on wins, however — meaning that the Dutch 24-year-old will be champion if neither he nor Hamilton scores another point.

Mercedes extended their lead in the constructors’ championship to 28 points, with an eighth successive title looking more real.

The final round of the season is at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina next weekend.

Brake-test

Hamilton had started on pole position but twice lost out to Verstappen, who began the day eight points ahead and was determined to give no quarter, at the standing re-starts.

The Dutch driver was ordered to hand back the lead, after going wide as Hamilton tried to pass on lap 37, but when he slowed Hamilton ran into the back of him.

“He just brake-tested me. I’ve just hit him, man, my wing’s broken,” exclaimed the Briton. “That was dangerous driving dude.”

Both were summoned to the stewards after the race.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner defended his driver. “I don’t know why he ran into the back of you like that, it made no sense,” he told Verstappen over the radio.

The Dutchman did hand back the lead on lap 42 but took it back immediately.

Stewards then gave him a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage but Verstappen again let Hamilton through.

“We didn’t need to do that, Max,” said his race engineer.

Mercedes were already angry with Masi, saying they had not been given sufficient time to inform Hamilton that Verstappen had been told to give back the place, and the Red Bull driver was also furious.

“What happened today is unbelievable and this sport is more about penalties than racing. For me, this is not Formula One,” he fumed.

Verstappen was still named ‘Driver of the Day’ in a fan vote.

Red flags

The red flags first came out on lap 14 after a safety car period triggered by Mick Schumacher crashing his Haas into the barriers.

That stoppage played into the hands of Verstappen, who stayed out while Hamilton pitted from the lead for fresh tyres to take advantage of the safety car deployment.

The advantage disappeared, however, when the standing re-start triggered more chaos.

Hamilton made the better getaway but Verstappen went off track to keep the lead, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon forcing his way past Hamilton into second place.

“I had to avoid a collision there,” exclaimed Hamilton. “He cut across the whole kerb. He just overtook me outside the white line.”

The race was halted a lap later when Haas’s Russian rookie Nikita Mazepin and Williams’s George Russell collided while Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez spun and was hit by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Masi then offered Red Bull the “opportunity” to line up on the grid for the third standing start behind Hamilton, with Ocon in the lead.

“You’d be back behind Lewis,” said the Australian. “That is my offer.”

“We accept that,” came the reply from Red Bull’s team manager Jonathan Wheatley.

Verstappen seized the lead again, with Hamilton passing Ocon, and the battle was on — punctuated by more virtual safety car periods.

“Get in there Lewis!” Hamilton’s race engineer shouted at the chequered flag. “That has got to be the craziest race I can remember, the cool heads won that out.”

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World

Saudi Arabia on track to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030: Minister

Saudi Arabia is on track to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the country’s Deputy Minister for Water told the UN this week.

Dr Abdulaziz al-Shaibani – who headed the Kingdom’s delegation participating in the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York between March 22-24 – said the Kingdom will achieve its goals thanks to the restructuring of the water sector and the development of the National Water Strategy, state news agency SPA reported Friday.

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Saudi Arabia has allocated $80 billion for water projects within the coming years as part of Saudi efforts to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.

Dr. Al-Shaibani added that the Kingdom launched Vision 2030 and adopted the National Water Strategy in line with the goals of sustainable development.

The National Water Strategy aims to preserve water resources, protect the environment, and provide high-quality and efficient services.

The objectives of the National Water Strategy are in line with SDG6 in enabling access to clean and safe water globally.

“The Kingdom aspires to provide sanitation services to all by increasing the percentage of the population covered by sanitation services to be more than 95 percent by 2030. Also, KSA established the National Water Efficiency and Conservation Center,” Dr. Al-Shaibani added.

He noted that sustainable and resilient water management was on the G20 agenda during Saudi Arabia’s presidency and stressed that the Kingdom is on the right track to improving water demand management in agriculture to achieve SDG6.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, saw all 193 member countries of the UN unanimously adopt a landmark set of development goals intended to accelerate the world’s efforts to eradicate poverty, end hunger, protect the oceans and address climate change by 2030.

The 17 sustainable development goals are broken down into 169 specific targets that each country has committed to try to achieve voluntarily over the next 15 years.

Saudi Arabia progresses with its 2030 climate action plan: Energy Minister

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World

South Korea’s Yoon vows to make North pay price for its provocations

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Friday he will make sure North Korea pays a price for its “reckless provocations”, hours after the North said it has tested a new nuclear-capable underwater attack drone.

North Korean state news agency KCNA said on Friday it tested a new nuclear underwater attack drone under leader Kim Jong Un's guidance this week, as a US amphibious assault ship arrived in South Korea for joint drills.

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The North's state news agency also confirmed it fired cruise missiles during the weapon test and firing drill that took place from Tuesday to Thursday.

During the drill, the North Korean drone cruised underwater for over 59 hours and detonated in waters off its east coast on Thursday, the KCNA said. It did not elaborate on the drone's nuclear capabilities.

The drone system is intended to make sneak attacks in enemy waters and destroy naval striker groups and major operational ports, the KCNA said.

“This nuclear underwater attack drone can be deployed at any coast and port or towed by a surface ship for operation,” the news agency said.

World

Ukraine prepares counteroffensive as Russia’s assault on Bakhmut flags

Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for months, will soon counterattack as Russia’s offensive looks to be faltering, a commander said, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that without a faster supply of arms the war could last years.

Zelenskyy said Europe must increase and speed up its supply of weapons, again calling for long-range missiles, ammunition and modern aircraft, and impose additional sanctions on Russia.

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“If Europe waits, the evil may have time to regroup and prepare for years of war,” a clearly frustrated Zelenskyy said on Thursday in a video address to European Union leaders, delivered from a train.

At the EU summit, leaders approved a plan agreed by foreign ministers on Monday to send 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next year. They also discussed global food security and sanctions on Russia.

Britain has pledged to supply armor piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to help destroy Russian tanks, a step President Vladimir Putin said would force a response from Russia as the weapons had “a nuclear component”.

Slovakia said on Thursday it had handed over the first four MiG-29 jets it has pledged to Ukraine, with the rest to be delivered in weeks.

Ukraine’s top ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said his forces would soon begin a counter offensive after withstanding Russia’s brutal winter campaign.

He said Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who have been at the front line of Moscow’s assault on eastern and southern Ukraine, “are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam”.

“Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” he said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.

There was no immediate response from Moscow to suggestions its forces in Bakhmut were losing momentum, but Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin issued statements in recent days, warning of a Ukrainian counterassault.

On Monday, Prigozhin published a letter to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, saying Ukraine aimed to cut off Wagner’s forces from Russia’s regular troops.

Reuters journalists near the front line north of Bakhmut saw signs consistent with the suggestion that the Russian offensive in the area could be waning. At a Ukrainian-held village west of Soledar, on Bakhmut’s northern outskirts, the intensity of the Russian bombardment noticeably lessened from two days earlier.

“It was really hot here a week ago, but in the last three days it has been more quiet,” said a Ukrainian soldier who used the call sign “Kamin”, or “Stone”.

“We can see this in the enemy’s air strikes. If before there were five-six air raids in a day, today we had only one helicopter attack,” said the soldier.

A slowdown by Russia in Bakhmut could mean it is diverting its troops and resources to other areas.

Britain said on Thursday that Russian troops had made gains further north this month, partially regaining control over the approaches to the town of Kreminna. Intense battles were also under way further south.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov agreed with that assessment. He said on YouTube that Russia’s attacks on Bakhmut were decreasing, and it was shifting its efforts south to the town of Avdiivka.

Russia’s forces have become more active in areas to the north in the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions as well as central Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson regions, he said.

Any shift in momentum in Bakhmut, if confirmed, would be remarkable given the city’s symbolic importance as the focus of Russia’s offensive, and the scale of the losses on both sides there in Europe’s bloodiest infantry battle since World War Two.

On the ground in Ukraine, front lines have largely been frozen since November. Ukraine had looked likely to pull out of Bakhmut weeks ago but decided to fight on.

Zelenskyy had earlier on Thursday continued a tour of front-line provinces, visiting the Kherson region in the south a day after meeting troops near Bakhmut.

A video showed him meeting residents in Posad Pokrovske, a bombed-out village on the former Kherson front line recaptured in Ukraine’s last big advance last year.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it calls a “special military operation”, saying Ukraine’s ties to the West were a security threat. Since then, tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides have been killed.

Russia has destroyed Ukrainian cities and set millions of people to flight. It says it has annexed nearly a fifth of Ukraine. Kyiv and the West call the war an unprovoked assault to subdue an independent country.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU would work to find Ukrainian children deported to Russia and press for their return. She said 16,200 children had been deported and only 300 returned to Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin a week ago for the forcible removal of Ukrainian children.

“It is a horrible reminder of the darkest times of our history … to deport children. This is a war crime,” von der Leyen said.