F1 | Leclerc takes stunning Bahrain pole for Ferrari ahead of Verstappen and Sainz

Charles Leclerc took the first pole position of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, ahead of reigning champion Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, in a qualifying session that went down to the wire in Bahrain.

Ferarri’s Leclerc was fastest in Q1 but Red Bull’s Verstappen hit back in Q2, making it to the top-10 shootout in one take. The stage was thus set for a face-off between the champion and the Scuderia in Q3.

And it was then that Leclerc set a blistering benchmark of 1m 30.558s, taking his second Bahrain GP pole. Verstappen could only come within 0.123s while Sainz couldn’t improve on his first run, ending up third by 0.129s. In a distant P4 was Verstappen’s team mate Perez.  –read more–  

CNN travel | Turkey opens record-breaking bridge between Europe and Asia

Istanbul (Reuters) — President Tayyip Erdogan opened a massive suspension bridge across Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait on Friday, the latest in a series of major infrastructure projects which he has prioritized during his two decades in power.

Connecting Turkey’s European and Asian shores, the 1915 Canakkale Bridge was built by Turkish and South Korean firms with an investment of €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion). It has the longest main span — the distance between the two towers — of any suspension bridge in the world.  –read more–  

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

Pirelli have announced which tyre compounds they will bring to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 18-20.

The brand-new 18-inch Pirelli tyres have a tough test in Bahrain, with high temperatures, sand and an abrasive surface their main challenges. This weekend will see Pirelli supply C1 (hard, x2 sets), C2 (medium, x3 sets), and C3 (soft, x8 sets) compounds – one step harder than in 2021 – for practice, qualifying and the race.

Furthermore, teams will have to use the soft tyres in Q3 and will not be required to start the race on their qualifying tyres throughout 2022.

“We’ve opted for the hardest tyres in the range for this first Grand Prix, given the track layout, asphalt characteristics and temperatures: also because the compounds are different compared to previous years,” said Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola.  –read more–  

CNN World | NASA will send your name around the moon. Here’s how to sign up

NASA is preparing for the Artemis I mission at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

(CNN) – You may have a slim chance of traveling to outer space, but at least your name can go.

NASA is collecting names to be put on a flash drive and sent into space on the Orion spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch later this year.

The initiative is part of the agency’s uncrewed Artemis I mission, which is the first mission of their Artemis program to eventually return astronauts to the moon.

It’s free to add your name to the flash drive, said NASA spokesperson Kathryn Hambleton.  –read more–  

B/R | Naomi Osaka Cries, Addresses Crowd After Fan Heckles Her During Loss at Indian Wells

Naomi Osaka was brought to tears after being heckled during her second-round match at the 2022 BNP Paribas Open on Saturday.

An unidentified woman could be heard screaming “Naomi, you suck!” after Veronika Kudermetova broke Osaka’s serve in the first game of the match. A visibly upset Osaka asked to have the fan thrown out of the match and requested to speak to the crowd to address the heckling, but her requests were denied by the chair umpire.

Osaka never recovered from the incident, losing 6-0, 6-4, and addressed the crowd after the match.  –read more–  

CNN US | A Black couple had a White friend show their home and its appraisal rose by nearly half a million dollars

(CNN) – A Black couple’s lawsuit against a home appraisal company is now catching the attention of the Department of Justice.

Last week, the DOJ filed a statement of interest in the couple’s claim that the first appraiser of their Marin County home violated the Fair Housing Act. Tenisha Tate-Austin and her husband, Paul Austin, say they were victims of appraisal bias. After spending months on renovations, a White appraiser valued their home much lower than they had anticipated, the couple told CNN in December. When a White friend showed the couple’s home as her own, its appraisal rose $500,000. The new appraisal for their home was now valued at more than $1.4 million, the couple said.

The couple filed the lawsuit in December, and it underscored decades long discussions about housing discrimination, Black homeownership and racial bias.  –read more–  

CNN BUSINESS | Don’t believe these 8 common credit score myths

You probably already know that you need a good credit score to get the best interest rates on a mortgage or auto loan, which can make a big difference to your budget over time.

“With something like a mortgage, even a minor difference in rates can have a big impact on your monthly payment and can mean tens of thousands of dollars or more over the life of the loan,” said Justin Pritchard, a certified financial planner and founder of Approach Financial.

But that’s just the beginning of how the three-digit number impacts your financial life.  –read more–  

CNN US | America’s disdain for Black men and boys hasn’t diminished in the years since Trayvon Martin was killed

Emmett Till

Washington (CNN) – Police officers’ aggressive handling of a Black teenager in New Jersey wasn’t anomalous — it was part of an age-old pattern of treating Black men and boys as threats to be subdued.

In a video that went viral last week, two Bridgewater Township officers break up a fight at a mall between two boys: one White, the other Black. While the White teenager is pushed onto a nearby couch, the Black teenager is pinned to the ground and then handcuffed. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who’s representing the family of the Black teenager, said in a recent statement that the incident pulled into focus “the kind of racial bias that we need to root out of our system of policing.”  –read more–

CNN travel | Best boutique hotels opening in Europe in 2022

(CNN) — Small, intimate and well-placed, a good boutique hotel offers far more than just a place to lay your head.

The best, especially those in the charm-filled cities of Europe, exhibit local flavor, distinctive character and a strong connection to the community.

While the pandemic may have put paid to many travel plans over the past two years, things are looking slightly more hopeful for 2022, with a number of new boutique hotels slated to open across Europe by the end of the year.

Whether you’re looking for a home away from home, a hideaway from the bustle of the city, or somewhere in the center of it all, here are some of the most stylish new European boutique boltholes to watch out for this year.  –read more–

CNN US | Video showing how police treat Black and White teens in mall fight sparks outrage

(CNN) – A video showing police officers breaking up a fight between a Black teenager and a White teenager at a New Jersey mall has prompted outrage over the police response.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday that the “appearance of what is racially disparate treatment is deeply, deeply disturbing.”

One video of the incident reviewed by CNN shows the boys arguing before the White teenager points his finger at the Black teenager’s face, and the Black teenager pushes the White teenager’s hand back. The White teenager pushes the Black teenager, who begins to throw punches at the other boy. The White teenager punches back.  –read more–