Saturday, December 7, 2024

#CNBC - Why Facebook-Parent Meta Is Willing To Lose Billions On The Metaverse

7 December 2024

Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021 and CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the occasion to show the world his vision of a digital future of work and play accessible through a VR headset. Two months later the company launched its virtual universe, Horizon Worlds. Propelling the metaverse hype to an all-time high. But, as the rebranding to Meta hits its third anniversary, the metaverse seems to be stalled out. So what happened to the metaverse?

#CNBC

#Syria - Israel will watch this like a hawk, retired four-star general says: Fox Business

7 December 2024

Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane explains the impact of the Syrian civil war on Israel, the Ukrainian ambassador meeting with JD Vance and Michael Waltz and a report of Israel's president calling Elon Musk to revive hostage talks.

#foxbusiness

#USA - Why Are US Ports Among the Most Inefficient in the World? | Wall Street Week

7 December 2024

On the World Bank's annual Container Port Performance Index not one US port ranks among the top 50 and just two are in the top 100. The busiest - the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles - rank 373 & 375. Why is that? And what can be done to improve it?

#F1 - 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday "Disappointing final Qualifying of the year" Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

Press Information
07 December 2024

F1: Session Report

2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Saturday

Disappointing final Qualifying of the year

George Russell will line up P6 with Lewis Hamilton starting P17 for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
An encouraging FP3 saw Lewis maintain his pace from earlier in the weekend as he set the third fastest time.
Unfortunately, in Q1, Lewis was hindered by traffic on his out lap, impacting his preparation, and a rogue bollard becoming stuck underneath his car at turn 14 affecting the final corners of the lap.
Before that, he was on pace to make it through to Q2 but was sadly knocked out in P18.
George made it through to Q3 but did not have the pace to challenge for the front three-rows, setting the seventh quickest time.
Owing to grid penalties, George will line up P6 tomorrow with Lewis starting P17.
The team's focus is now on making sure we end the season as strong as we can after a disappointing Saturday.

Driver	FP3	Q1		Q2		Q3
George Russell	P6	7 Laps 1:23.678	P9 Hard, Soft, Soft	6 Laps 1:23.283	P8 Soft, Soft	6 Laps 1:23.132	P7 Soft, Soft
Lewis Hamilton	P3	7 Laps 1:23.887	P18 Hard, Soft, Soft

George Russell
It has been a strange weekend for us as a team. It's been very up and down. There's been moments where we've looked quick and then other times when we're not sure where the pace has gone. We are a little confused by that but, on my side of the garage, we didn't have the speed to fight for the first couple of rows today. That is frustrating but P7 is likely the best we could have hoped for today. It was a real shame for Lewis too. He's been really quick this weekend, ahead of me comfortably, and I think he would have been right up there at the end of Q3.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, it will be tough to move forward. It is perhaps surprising to see the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg up there, but I think firstly they did an amazing job and secondly, I think that their pace this weekend is genuine. We will have a fight on our hands but we will take that on and look to end the season as strongly as we can.

Lewis Hamilton
Today was really unfortunate. We've worked so hard to get the car into a good place and it has been feeling strong all weekend. Sadly, our timing at the end of Q1 wasn't the best. We weren't able to optimise the out lap, having to push through traffic. That compromised my last effort in that session; a bollard then got stuck under the car at turn 14 and affected the final few corners of the lap. To that point, I was level on pace with George and looking good to make it through to Q2. It is obviously really frustrating.

It is difficult to say what would have been possible if we had made it through to the final part of Qualifying. We have been looking good across the practice sessions so I think we could have challenged for the first couple of rows. It is what it is though, and I will be giving it my all to end as strongly as we can tomorrow. It will be difficult from P17, but I will be trying to enjoy it as much as possible and make up as many positions as we can.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO
We need to apologise to Lewis and everyone in the team who has worked so hard to deliver a great final weekend for him here in Abu Dhabi. He has been quick across all three practice sessions and was looking good for a strong result tomorrow. Sadly, we totally let him down at the end of Q1. We made the mistake of not sending the drivers out early enough. That compromised both their out laps and then their final push laps as they wrestled through traffic. Lewis was then additionally compromised by a bollard becoming stuck under his car. Without that, he would likely have got through, but we shouldn't have been risking so much in Q1.

It will be very difficult for Lewis to get back to where he should have been racing tomorrow. Nevertheless, I know he will be giving it absolutely everything to do so. That is his character and always has been. With George starting P7, we will also be looking forward, but we must be realistic. The cars ahead of him have looked quick and it will be challenging to make progress. Hopefully we can enjoy a better day than today though and end the season on a high.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
That was a tough evening and one that didn't go the way we had hoped. Firstly, we can only apologise to Lewis for his Q1 exit. Traffic is always a challenge here in Qualifying and something that you account for. Unfortunately, we didn't get it quite right. Both cars left the pit lane at the back of the queue; with overtaking in the tunnel not allowed, many cars ahead took the opportunity to form larger gaps to the car in front than usual. That left Lewis and George on the back foot and having to cut their way through traffic on the out lap to make the flag. They were then further compromised by having less than ideal gaps to the car ahead of them. All that said, both were on pace to make it through to Q2 before a loose bollard became stuck under Lewis's car at turn 14. That impacted him in the final few corners and, in an already tight session, cost him a couple of vital few tenths.

It is not the way we wanted to head into our final race day together. We will be doing everything we can tomorrow to enable Lewis to work his way back through the field. Fighting drives are an absolute speciality of his and we know he will be giving it his all to end our time together on a high.

On George's side, he has struggled pace wise a little more this weekend. We will need to evaluate why that is but, in the meantime, our focus is on trying to make gains tomorrow. Starting from P7 that will be tough. The field is close, and we know overtaking is a challenge here. Nevertheless, we will see what we can do and hope that we can finish the year more strongly than we did today.

Drivers React After Qualifying | 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

#Syria - Reports suggest anti-Assad rebels have captured most of key southern Syrian | BBC News

7 December 2024

Rebel forces in southern Syria have reportedly captured most of the Deraa region - the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. A UK-based war monitor reports that the "local factions" were able to take control of many military sites there following "violent battles" with government forces. According to Reuters news agency, rebel sources say they had reached a deal for the army to withdraw and for military officials to be given safe passage to the capital, Damascus - roughly 100km (62 miles) away. Meanwhile in the north, Syria's military says it is carrying out air strikes around Homs, trying to push back rebels who've reached the edges of the strategic city.

#BBCNews

Friday, December 6, 2024

#France - Notre Dame Cathedral LIVE | Notre-Dame Cathedral Reopening Ceremony LIVE | Paris LIVE | N18G

6 December 2024

The iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is set to reopen its doors to the public on December 7, marking a huge milestone in the historic monument's recovery following the devastating fire in April 2019. #notredame #notredameparis #france #news18live

#F1 - 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday "Final Friday of the season completed in Abu Dhabi" Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

Press Information
06 December 2024

F1: Session Report

2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Friday

Final Friday of the season completed in Abu Dhabi

The team began what is sure to be an emotional weekend in Abu Dhabi as we bid farewell to Lewis Hamilton.
The team ran the Medium and Soft compound tyres in both sessions, saving the Hard compound for the remainder of the weekend.
In FP1, Lewis posted the third fastest time with George fourth quickest using the Soft tyre.
As the sun set, both took to the track for FP2 and again used the Soft compound to set their quickest times.
Lewis went fifth fastest, but was improving on his second push lap before a snap at turn 12 cost him time.
George was less happy but chose only to set one time on the Soft tyre in order to focus on his long run work.
The team return to the track tomorrow for FP3 and Qualifying.

Driver	FP1				FP2
Lewis Hamilton	27 Laps	1:24.806	P3	Medium, Soft, Medium	28 Laps	1:24.119	P5	Medium, Soft, Medium
George Russell	27 Laps	1:25.165	P4	Medium, Soft, Medium	24 Laps	1:24.534	P13	Medium, Soft, Medium

Lewis Hamilton
It's all feeling very surreal being my last weekend with the team. I'm trying to be as present as I can and enjoy every moment. I've enjoyed driving the car, working with everyone in the garage, with the engineers, and I'm just trying to capture the moments as much as I can. I'm aiming to channel all of my emotions into the car and the team because I have so much love for them and as always, I want to do really well for them. This weekend I have one last chance to go for it and try to do so.

I'm not planning on changing too much on the car tonight. We obviously have some work to do as the McLarens are still fast and the Ferraris are also within that mix too. So, we do need to find some time. Overall, though, my feeling with the car has been good today. It's never easy to determine what our long run pace looks like, but it didn't seem too bad today so hopefully that's a positive for us. Ultimately, we have some work to do on our single lap pace and I hope tomorrow we can be closer to those ahead of us.

George Russell
Today was a bit of a struggle, but it's only Friday. We were also trying a lot of different things today in preparation for next year as obviously this is our last opportunity to do so. We therefore wanted to go a little more radical with the set-up options, see if there's anything more we can learn, and test things to develop our learnings and understanding for 2025.

As we saw, Lewis did some great laps today. Still, as a team, we don't seem to be on the pace of the very front runners on a single lap. McLaren in particular look to be in a league of their own at the moment and their pace in both sessions showed that again today. Tomorrow, I expect the Ferraris to be back in the mix but I'm hoping we can make some improvements overnight and have a more competitive showing than today.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
We've had strong single lap performance at the last two races but today we've found the Soft tyre quite tricky. McLaren were clearly very fast today and they will be hard to beat this weekend, but if you look at Lewis' lap then you can see how with a few improvements he could put himself just behind.

George has a bit more to find but we were experimenting with some new setup directions and the cars were quite different for the low fuel work. We can unpick that work on the simulator overnight, but I'd expect we'll find a good direction through which George can improve for tomorrow. The long run picture was better; Lewis a bit ahead of George and like the single lap, we can see some areas that we ought to be able to improve that should put us closer to the front. We'll use FP3 to continue the work on low fuel and hope that tomorrow we'll close the day a bit nearer the top of the timing screen.

#Israel - war on the media: Accusations of propaganda, intimidation and censorship • FRANCE 24

6 December 2024

Israel's government has been accused of increasing pressure on journalists over coverage of the war in Gaza.

Press advocates say the decision to impose economic sanctions on Haaretz is part of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's master plan to control the narrative and stomp out criticism.