F1 | Leclerc holds off Red Bull charge to take pole in action-packed Australian Grand Prix qualifying

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the first Australian Grand Prix pole position since 2019 with a blistering performance at Albert Park – with Max Verstappen lining up second on the grid for Sunday’s race and Sergio Perez a provisional third.

The new layout relinquished a DRS zone ahead of FP3 – that session led by Lando Norris – on Saturday, with final practice seeing both Aston Martins crash and numerous drivers go off-track.

Verstappen topped Q1 and Red Bull team mate Perez led Q2 – the Mexican driver under investigation for not slowing for a caution in Q1 – but Ferrari regrouped and it was Leclerc who aced the top 10 shootout with a time of 1m 17.868s to keep Verstappen 0.286s at bay in P2.  –read more–

CNN BUSINESS | Warren Buffett is buying big again

London (CNN Business) – For years, billionaire investor Warren Buffett has been sitting on a mountain of cash. But with stocks at record highs, he struggled to find deals that caught his eye.

Now, with many other investors in selling mode, he’s going shopping.

What’s happening: Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway just disclosed that it bought almost 121 million shares of HP worth about $4.2 billion, giving Buffett a stake of more than 11% in the technology company.  –read more–  

CNN politics | Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to be first Black woman to sit on Supreme Court

(CNN) – The Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Thursday in a historic vote that paves the way for her to become the first Black woman to serve on the highest court in the nation.

The tally was 53-47, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining Democrats to vote in favor.

The confirmation represents a significant victory for Democrats, which they can tout as bipartisan, and a way for the President to deliver on a campaign promise at a time when the US faces a number of challenges at home and abroad, including soaring inflation and the crisis in Ukraine. Democrats broke out into loud applause and cheers when the vote was gaveled.  —read more– 

F1 | What tyres will the teams and drivers have for the 2022 Australian Grand Prix?

Formula 1 returns to Australia for the first time since 2019 and Pirelli have announced what tyres the teams will be using at a re-designed Albert Park.

The 18-inch tyres will face the test of another street circuit, Albert Park hosting the 2022 Australian Grand Prix – and Pirelli have announced a different choice of compounds compared to the first two races of the season.

This weekend will see the teams use an unusual mix of compounds: the C5 (soft tyres, x8 sets) for the first time this season, then a step to the C3 (medium tyre, x3 sets) and the C2 (hard tyre, x2 sets).  –read more–  

CNN politics | US tested hypersonic missile in mid-March but kept it quiet to avoid escalating tensions with Russia

(CNN) – The US successfully tested a hypersonic missile in mid-March but kept it quiet for two weeks to avoid escalating tensions with Russia as President Joe Biden was about to travel to Europe, according to a defense official familiar with the matter.

The Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) was launched from a B-52 bomber off the west coast, the official said, in the first successful test of the Lockheed Martin version of the system. A booster engine accelerated the missile to high speed, at which point the air-breathing scramjet engine ignited and propelled the missile at hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 and above.

The official offered scant details of the missile test, only noting the missile flew above 65,000 feet and for more than 300 miles. But even at the lower end of hypersonic range — about 3,800 miles per hour — a flight of 300 miles is less than 5 minutes.  –read more–

CNN BUSINESS | Howard Schultz suspends Starbucks’ share buyback program

Howard Schultz returns to Starbucks as interim CEO on Monday, April 4.

New York (CNN Business) – Howard Schultz’s first act on his return as Starbucks CEO is to pause the company’s share buyback program.

“Starting immediately, we are suspending our share repurchasing program,” Schultz wrote in an open letter to Starbucks employees, customers and others which was published early Monday. “This decision will allow us to invest more into our people and our stores — the only way to create long-term value for all stakeholders.”

Monday marks Schultz’s first day as interim CEO, and his third stint as chief executive of the company. Starbucks said it will find a permanent CEO by the fall. In the meantime, Schultz is helping run the company and aiding in the search for a successor.  –read more–  

CNN underscored | 20 of the best garage storage ideas and organizing tools, all under $35

The garage is a place where we tend to put everything that doesn’t have another place to go: Holiday decorations, bins of hand-me-down clothing and extra bedding, tools and sporting equipment and extra household supplies.

All of that stuff can quickly turn into a cluttered mess and, because the garage contains a jumble of different types of things, finding the right garage organizing solutions can be really tricky.

With the help of organizing experts Lisa Kron, who documents the process of making her small home functional and stylish on the site Smallish Home, and Ann Lightfoot, co-founder of Done & Done Home, we picked out 20 of the best garage organization tools and products.  –read more-–

CNN US | Native American tribe gets its land back after being displaced nearly 400 years ago

Fones Cliff, the ancestral home of the Rappahannock Tribe, hang over the shoreline of the Rappahannock River in Richmond County, Virginia.

(CNN) – The Rappahannock Tribe, a Native Tribe in Virginia, has reacquired 465 acres of sacred land at Fones Cliff.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and US Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams celebrated the tribe’s reacquisiton of the land Friday, according to a press release from the Department of the Interior.

“We have worked for many years to restore this sacred place to the Tribe,” said Rappahannock Tribe Chief Anne Richardson, according to the Chesapeake Conservancy. “With eagles being prayer messengers, this area where they gather has always been a place of natural, cultural and spiritual importance.”  –read more– 

CNN BUSINESS | Why this recent change just made it harder to buy or sell an apartment

New rules rolled out earlier this year by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are creating a bottleneck in the real estate market for those seeking to buy or sell condo or co-op apartments, according to agents and condo associations.

The new rules are intended to address concerns about aging building infrastructure in the wake of the collapse of Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, last year. In order to protect buyers and lenders, the rules ask condo and co-op boards to disclose any known significant deferred maintenance issues that may impact the safety and structural integrity of the building and the financial plans for addressing them, according to Fannie Mae.

“Freddie Mac’s requirements are designed to help ensure residential buildings with aging infrastructure are safe for its residents and that condos and co-ops needing critical repairs have a plan to do so,” a Freddie Mac spokesperson said.  –read more–  

CNN Sports | Lewis Hamilton opens up on struggling ‘mentally and emotionally for a long time’

(CNN) – Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton said he has “struggled mentally and emotionally for a long time” in a candid social media post on Thursday.

Writing in an Instagram Story, the seven-time F1 champion said he has endured “a tough year already with everything that is happening around us” and that it is “hard some days to stay positive.”

However, he also offered support and reassurance to his followers.

“I’m writing to tell you it’s ok to feel the way you do, just know that you are not alone and that we are gonna get through this!” Hamilton added.  –read more–