F1 | Hamilton digs deep to beat Verstappen in qualifying and seal top grid slot for F1 Sprint

Lewis Hamilton put in a sensational qualifying lap to light up Silverstone and ensure he will start the first-ever F1 Sprint from P1 ahead of title rival Max Verstappen.

This historic Friday evening qualifying session, which sets the grid for the first-ever F1 Sprint on Saturday as opposed to Sunday’s British Grand Prix itself, saw the drivers giving it their all for P1 on soft tyres only – as per the regulations on this experimental weekend.

Mercedes may have taken nine of the last nine pole positions available at this track but Verstappen fired the first shot for Red Bull, topping Q1 by 0.035s ahead of Hamilton. But Hamilton bounced back in Q2, his time there nearly a half a second faster than Verstappen’s. That left the 90,000-strong crowd salivating for Q3 in the evening sunshine.  —read more—

watch: Qualifying Highlights | 2021 British Grand Prix

CNN US I Black Americans are battling ‘three pandemics,’ new report finds

(CNN) – Higher unemployment rates, lower household incomes and lack of access to health care left Black Americans more vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic and there is an urgency to address these structural inequities, according to a new report on the state of Black America released Thursday by the National Urban League.

The report titled “The New Normal: Diverse, Equitable & Inclusive,” concluded that Black people are facing the burden of “three pandemics,” which include racial inequity in health care, economics and public safety.

The authors of the report also point to overpolicing — including frequent targeting of young Black men — and lower vaccination rates due to a dearth of health care facilities and poor internet access as key challenges for the Black community that have been unmasked by the pandemic.

Police brutality against Black people was back in the spotlight after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor sparked a nationwide reckoning on racism last year even as the country battled a pandemic, the report said.  —read more—

F1 | F1 Sprint – True or False? Separate the fact from the fiction about F1’s new format in this handy guide

The drivers will have a free choice of tyres for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix itself

This coming weekend at Silverstone, F1 is boldly ripping up the standard weekend format and trying something new: F1 Sprint. This flat-out 100km event will take place on Saturday – between qualifying and the race on the schedule – with the result setting the grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday.

We’ve set out exactly how it will work in our handy guide – but even then we noticed a few misconceptions about the format floating around the internet. So with that in mind, here’s our myth-busting guide to F1 Sprint.

TRUE OR FALSE: The Top 10 finishers in the Sprint will be reversed to create a new grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix

ANSWER: FALSE!

No, this isn’t F2 or F3 – there will be no reversing of the grid. It’s actually super simple – the order that the cars finish F1 Sprint in will set the grid for Sunday’s main event: The Grand Prix itself.  —read more—

CNN BUSINESS | Microsoft to acquire cybersecurity firm RiskIQ as cyber threats mount

New York (CNN Business) – Microsoft on Monday announced that it’s buying cybersecurity firm RiskIQ to help companies better protect themselves as ransomware and other cyber attacks become increasingly disruptive.

Microsoft (MSFT) said the acquisition will help its customers address the unique risks created by remote work and relying on cloud computing amid “the increasing sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks.”

RiskIQ’s software allows organizations to monitor their entire networks — including operations running on various cloud providers — and its threat intelligence research helps businesses understand and mitigate potential risks.  —read more—

F1 | Hamilton Commission makes 10 recommendations in first report on representation of black people in motorsport

F1 chief Stefano Domenicali has pledged to take action on the issues highlighted by Hamilton.

Hamilton’s Mercedes team have been supportive of his endeavours to improve diversity in motorsport, including switching to a black livery in 2020.

“It is an important piece of research that shines a light on many of the barriers that have contributed to the under-representation of people from minority ethnic backgrounds in British motorsport, and it enriches our understanding of those barriers and how they can be addressed,” said Mercedes in a statement.

“Together with Lewis, we have begun working to build a more diverse and inclusive sport for the future, starting with the Mercedes Formula 1 team. We are at the beginning of a long journey together to make this happen and we look forward to building on a number of the Commission’s recommendations in the years ahead.”  —read more—

CNN BUSINESS | These Burger King workers all had it their way, and quit

CNN BUSINESS | Many homebuyers are dropping out of the market

Buying a home of her own became a priority for Kelly Robinson during the pandemic, as she began to feel cramped in her Indianapolis apartment.

“Last fall having to stay home so much, that really made me decide that it is time to buy a house,” she said. Among the top amenities she was looking for: outdoor space and more privacy.

Further motivated by record low interest rates, Robinson set her sights to buy in the spring when she expected more properties would be available. It would also give her time to get her finances in order.

“But by the time I got pre-approved and started seriously looking at homes, the market got crazy” she said.  —read more—

CNN BUSINESS | Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak: ‘It’s time to recognize the right to repair’

Hong Kong (CNN Business) – Woz is throwing his weight behind the “right to repair” movement.

Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak, known in the tech world by his nickname, spoke out on the issue during a recent appearance on Cameo, a website that lets fans pay celebrities for video messages.

In a post to Louis Rossmann, a YouTube personality and a right-to-repair advocate, Wozniak said that he was “totally supportive” of the cause — which gives consumers the right and information to fix their own devices — and somewhat “emotionally” affected by it.

“I do a lot of Cameos, but this one has really gotten to me,” he said in the nine-minute video. “We wouldn’t have had an Apple had I not grown up in a very open technology world.”  —read more—

CNN BUSINESS | Why it’s so difficult to bring ransomware attackers to justice

San Francisco (CNN Business) – An incident takes place. Law enforcement investigates. A culprit is identified, apprehended and prosecuted.

That’s typically how we think of addressing a crime. But as some ransomware victims may now be discovering, that process is much more complicated when the criminal is on another continent and the crime takes place virtually.

A spate of ransomware attacks in recent months has compromised critical infrastructure and disrupted daily life across the United States and globally, with one massive attack last week on software vendor Kaseya potentially impacting more than 1,000 companies around the world. Cyber researchers say the attack was carried out by REvil, a group with suspected ties to Russia that also hit meat processing company JBS Foods last month, Apple (AAPL) supplier Quanta Computer in April and electronics maker Acer in March.  —read more—

CNN | Why Al Sharpton and Ben Crump are taking up the case of a White teen killed by police

(CNN) – The Rev. Al Sharpton and Ben Crump are taking up their first case involving a White person who was killed after being shot during an encounter with a police officer.

The civil rights leader and the high-profile attorney, who Sharpton has dubbed “Black America’s Attorney general,” deemed the police shooting of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain “one of the most significant” cases in the fight to push Congress for landmark police reform legislation.

Attorneys Crump and Devon Jacob, along with Sharpton and representatives from the NAACP, were invited to attend Brittain’s memorial on Tuesday at Beebe High School in Beebe, Arkansas.

Brittain was fatally shot June 23 by a Lonoke County sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop around 3 a.m. outside of a local auto repair shop along Arkansas Highway 89 south of Cabot, a Little Rock suburb, according to Arkansas State Police.  —read more—