#saudi arabia 2024 wednesday

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton arrives to the track on media day, saudi arabia - march 6, 2024 📷 darko bandic / apimages.com

[ummick]

mick schumacher arrives to the track on media day, saudi arabia - march 6, 2024 📷 hoch zwei / apimages.com

[umgeorge]

lewis hamilton and george russell in the garage on media day, saudi arabia - march 6, 2024 📷 james moy / alamy

[umseb]

The Day Sebastian Vettel Decided To Retire From F1 — Then Annoyed Aston Bosses With Climate Campaign

Two years ago, Sebastian Vettel decided to bring an end to his glittering F1 career, so picked up the phone to Matt Bishop, then Aston Martin comms boss. He details the ensuing scramble and Vettel's increasing determination to speak out

Just over two years ago, on Wednesday July 27, 2022, I was forced to do something that I really hate doing: at the eleventh hour I had to cancel a long-standing dinner arrangement with my husband and two of our dearest friends, who live in New York and were on holiday in London for a week. The reason was that, at 5 pm that afternoon, I received a phone call from Sebastian Vettel telling me that he had decided to announce his retirement from Formula 1 in the Hungarian Grand Prix paddock the following day. I was Aston Martin's chief communications officer at the time, and, when something as big as that is sprung on a Formula 1 team's most senior comms/PR operative, he or she has to drop everything and focus on briefing colleagues in confidence, writing press releases, planning social media content, arranging press conferences, and formulating comms/PR strategies designed to optimise the management of a tricky news narrative that in this case would surely unfold rapidly, and perhaps also trickily, over the next 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours. I have written above that Vettel had "sprung" his decision on me, but, although the imminence of his announcement was a surprise, its content was not. Four months earlier you will recall that he did not travel to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, since he was recovering from a bout of Covid-19. His place was taken by Nico Hülkenberg, who, despite race-rustiness caused by his not having competed in F1 the previous year, did a typically excellent job.

Seb had made no secret of his disapproval of the Saudi regime when we had all gone there the first time, in December 2021, and, not surprisingly, in March 2022 rumours soon began to spread to the effect that he had invented a Covid-19 diagnosis so as to avoid racing there a second time. The truth was that he had indeed had Covid-19, and that he was indeed still unwell; however, was he disappointed to have had to skip the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix? No, he was not. Two weeks later, in Melbourne, he was back. On the Thursday before the Australian Grand Prix, in the Albert Park paddock, I gave him his comms/PR briefing, as was my habit on the Thursday before every grand prix. We discussed media matters of moment, including his not having raced in Jeddah. "The truth is that I was ill, honestly," he said, "but I admit that I don't like or approve of the country, so if I was going to have to miss a race because of Covid-19 that's probably the one I'd want to miss." He paused, smiled, and added, "I'm pretty sure I'm never going to race there again." Then and there I realised that 2022 would probably be his final season as an F1 driver. Not only was the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix going to be a fixture on the F1 calendar for years to come, but also one of Aston Martin's principal sponsors was Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state-owned national oil company. Missing that particular race without a 24-carat excuse would henceforth therefore be impossible for any Aston Martin driver. So, axiomatically, it followed that the only way he could make sure that he would never have to race there again would be to retire from F1 at the end of the year.

On the morning of Thursday, July 28, 2022, having worked until 3 am the night before, my comms/PR team and I issued a video in which our much loved four-time world champion announced his F1 retirement in his own words, and he posted it on his then brand-new Instagram channel at the same time. It included the following sentences, which he spoke with his usual eloquence: "I love this sport but, as much as there's life on track, there's also life off track. Being a racing driver has never been my sole identity. I want to be a great father and a great husband. I believe in change, and progress, and that every little bit you do can make a difference. We all have the same rights, no matter where we come from, what we look like, or whom we love. I'm an optimist and I believe that people are good, but, in addition, I feel that we live in very difficult times. How we shape the next few years will determine the rest of our lives. Talk is not enough. We can't afford to wait. I believe that there's still a race to win." The race to which he was referring was his growing and accelerating commitment to doing whatever he could to leverage his fame and popularity for the good of the inhabitants of planet Earth. That may sound grandiose, but it is also entirely valid. In the two years during which I worked with him, 2021 and 2022, we won awards for the inspirational way in which he did just that.

Just before the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, helped by local schoolchildren, he created an F1 car-shaped 'bee hotel' at the Red Bull Ring. Three weeks later, straight after the British Grand Prix, in which he had raced hard for forty laps until his Aston Martin's Mercedes engine had terminally overheated, he led a group of volunteer litter-pickers to clear the Silverstone grandstands of the trash that irresponsible spectators had left behind. A month after that, in Hungary, infuriated by that country's new anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, he wore rainbow-coloured sneakers in the F1 paddock, and he donned a similarly hued T-shirt bearing the legend #SameLove as he took the knee on the grid before the race. Throughout the weekend he had talked to journalists and TV crews intelligently, thoughtfully, and compassionately on the subject of LGBTQ+ rights, equality, and inclusion. In May 2022 he visited and spoke inspirationally at HMP (Her, or now His, Majesty's Prison) Feltham, a young offenders institution in a suburb of west London, formally opening a new workshop in which the teenage inmates could learn how to become car mechanics as part of their rehabilitation. Immediately afterwards he and I took a South Western Railways train to London's Waterloo Station, sitting among regular commuters, so that he could spend time with the pupils of Oasis Johanna Primary School, which is in a disadvantaged part of inner London, and after that we went by Uber taxi to a church in Hackney, in the East End, where the BBC's prestigious political television talk show Question Time would be filmed. As the TV cameras rolled, he conversed fluently on the subjects of Brexit, the UK's cost of living crisis, the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'partygate' shenanigans, and even Finland's desire to join NATO, consummately out-arguing one of his fellow panellists, Suella Braverman, who was then the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland.

In addition, as the months went by, he continued to speak out in support of what he saw as humankind's collective global responsibility to address the climate crisis, doing so with increasing regularity, vehemence, and fearlessness, with the result that he began to irritate the very most senior people at Aston Martin, even though what he said tended to please most journalists and fans. "I don’t care," he said when he learned of his big bosses' disquiet. "I must do what's right." Behind the scenes what he did was perhaps even more admirable. F1 teams receive communications from troubled people all the time. You try to do what you can to help them, but sometimes their difficulties are of the type that human kindness alone cannot resolve. I am thinking of recently bereaved people, terminally ill people, profoundly disabled people, people with debilitating mental health issues, etc. Sometimes all you can do is send them a team cap signed by a driver. It is not much, and it breaks your heart that you cannot do more, but it is better than nothing.

Yet Vettel always tried to do more. On one occasion, I had been contacted by a young man who was deeply depressed. I told Seb about him, and he said, "Let's do a Zoom call with him." So I arranged it. I had thought that Seb might speak for five minutes or so, but no. He chatted animatedly for more than twenty minutes, with touching humility and heart-warming empathy, and I feel confident when I say that those twenty-odd minutes were significant in expediting the lad's mental and emotional recovery. A few months later, Seb hand-wrote the boy a four page letter. He gave it to me at a grand prix-I cannot remember which one-and he instructed me to post it on when I returned to the UK. I read it before I did so, and the tenderness and beauty of Seb's prose brought me to tears. There are many other examples of his remarkable generosity and sensitivity: too many to mention, in fact. This column has been about Vettel the man, not Vettel the driver. He was fast and clever in the cockpit, and I may well write about that side of him one day. I could write much more about Vettel the man, too, for I have dozens of stories that I could tell on that subject, because I worked very closely with him for two years and, more importantly, because he is a truly great man. In my long career I am lucky enough to have spent time in F1 teams with four world champions-Seb, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and Jenson Button-and they are all fantastic guys in their own, very different, ways. But, in my 61 years on this planet, I can state with confident and emphatic certainty that Sebastian Vettel, from the small town of Heppenheim, south-west Germany, is one of the most impressive people whom I have ever had the pleasure and honour to know, whether that be inside or outside F1. As he is fond of saying, "You can't always be the best, but you can always do your best." As a maxim to live by, it is hard to beat.

article by matt bishop

[brasiliangp]

wednesday, saudi arabia 2024

[livetogether--diealone]

Alex - SAUDI ARABIA 2024, wednesday

Clive Mason

[micro87]

The moon tonight 🖤

Wednesday 19 Jun 2024.

Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

[good-old-gossip]

Saudi Arabia continues to kill Ethiopians and Yemenis at its border with impunity, despite international reports documenting the abuses, a new report has found.

According to the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), Saudi border authorities have continued to fire indiscriminately at Ethiopian and Yemeni migrants attempting to cross the border irregularly from Yemen in 2023 and 2024. Human Rights Watch has labelled the killing as possible crimes against humanity, but MMC says that international inaction continues to enable Saudi Arabia to commit the violations with impunity.

Middle East Eye revealed last year how Ethiopians who fled the conflict in Tigray were met with live fire and forced to bury the dead in mass graves along the Saudi-Yemen border.

Prior to the release of an HRW report, MEE also reported that Yemenis were braving violence at the border in pursuit of work in Saudi Arabia. In its report, published on Wednesday, MMC said that Saudi border police arrest large groups of migrants when they fail to deter them with rounds of shelling.

They are then taken to Saudi jails, where they face beatings, torture and sexual abuse. MMC added that Saudi guards attempt to scare migrants by using loudspeakers, automated firing systems and heavy surveillance.

Across three months in 2022, MMC found evidence of 430 killings and 650 injuries caused by Saudi border guards.

Shortly after the 2022 MMC report, a UN communication accused Saudi authorities of violating migrants’ human rights, highlighting that girls as young as 13 were reportedly raped by Saudi security forces.

The UN letter included a report of a clandestine cemetery in Al Khals in Saudi Arabia, where 10,000 bodies of migrants were buried, believed to have been killed in Yemen’s border area of Ar Raqw.

The updated 2024 report by MMC said that international indifference towards the Saudi-led mass shootings has allowed the crimes to continue.

[groupfazza]

محمد بن راشد يتوّج السوري حاتم التركاوي والسعودية كادي الخثعمي والفلسطينية سلسبيل صوالحة أبطالا لتحدي القراءة العربي 2024

سجل صاحب السمو الشيخ محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم نائب رئيس الدولة رئيس مجلس الوزراء حاكم دبي “رعاه الله” في آخر تدوين لسموه عبر حسابه في «إكس» 🔻

‏اختتمنا اليوم الدورة الثامنة لتحدي القراءة العربي .. أكبر مشروع للقراءة في العالم .. بمشاركة 28 مليون طالب من 50 دولة ..

‏فرحتنا بتدافع الشباب العربي بالملا��ين نحو القراءة تدفعنا للتفاؤل رغم جميع الظروف ..

‏واستثمارنا في القراءة هو استثمار في العقل العربي وفي الوعي العربي وفي مستقبل الشباب العربي .. مبروك للطلاب الناجحين وأبطال الدول من الأوائل .. سلسبيل حسن من فلسطين الحبيبة.. وحاتم التركاوي من سوريا الشقيقة .. وكادي بنت مسفر من المملكة العربية السعودية الشقيقة .. ونبارك لمدرسة الإبداع من دولة الإمارات أيضاً ..

‏ونقول لجميع المشاركين .. استمرار شغفكم بالمعرفة .. هو استمرار لشغفكم بالحياة وبالمستقبل .. وقادمكم جميعاً أفضل وأعظم بإذن الله.

______________

توّج صاحب السمو الشيخ محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم نائب رئيس الدولة رئيس مجلس الوزراء حاكم دبي “رعاه الله” اليوم الأربعاء، السوري حاتم التركاوي والسعودية كادي الخثعمي والفلسطينية سلسبيل صوالحة أبطالاً لتحدي القراءة العربي 2024.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, crowned Hatem Tarkawi from Syria, Kadi Khathaami from Saudi Arabia and Salsabil Sawalha from Palestine as Arab Reading Champions in 2024.

Wednesday, 23 October 2024 الأربعاء

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Cutting Payroll Taxes

President Trump has announced that he is going to pursue a stimulus to our economy in order to cope with its present decline resulting from the Corona Virus and the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. As part of his stimulus, he proposes a cut in payroll taxes—an extremely shortsighted and unwise decision, to say the least. Just listening to this recalls to my mind the words of the great French economist, Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) in his discussion of “That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen”:

“In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate: it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause — it is seen. The others unfold in succession — they are not seen: it is well for us, if they are foreseen. Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference — the one takes account of the visible effect; the other takes account both of the effects which are seen, and also of those which it is necessary to foresee. Now this difference is enormous, for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the ultimate consequences are fatal, and the converse. Hence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, — at the risk of a small present evil.”

Reducing payroll taxes to stimulate the economy is easy. It is popular and readily acceptable to those on the receiving end; but, from whence does the money come to pay our Social Security and Medicare? Does it come out of the air? I don’t think so, and I suspect neither do you. How about when the time comes to reinstate these tax cuts? How popular and readily acceptable will that be then? How much harder will it be for our Representatives and Senators in the Congress to sell to the people?

Let us pursue this a little further. It is common knowledge that present payments into the fund are insufficient, and tax collections must be increased in order for the fund to remain solvent. How acceptable will that be? Now, when you add this increase to the reinstatement above, how much more difficult will that be to achieve? Are we just going to let our Social Security fund go broke?

But we are not only talking about Social Security. Also included in those payroll deductions are payments for Medicare. Although not frequently discussed, it too is common knowledge, i.e. everybody knows it or should, that Medicare is insufficiently funded. In fact, it is a major contributor to our annual government deficit and, therefore, national debt.

If our long range intent is to keep and improve these benefits for the good of our people, it would seem to me that cutting these payroll deductions to stimulate an already over-stimulated economy (One should note that the preponderance of spending by our country and our people is supported by borrowing, i.e. national debt, credit cards, mortgages, student loans, auto financing, payday loans at 100% interest plus, etc.) is, to say the least, very unwise and short-sighted.

On the other hand, if our plan is to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, this is the way to go. It’s a sure winner.

Hmm… This brings to mind the sayings of Forrest Gump. “You never know what you’re going to get when you open a box of chocolates” I think he also said, “Stupid is as stupid does”.

Also, I am compelled to quote the famous words of William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March”.

Respectfully,

From: Steven P. Miller, @ParkermillerQ, gatekeeperwatchman.org Founder and Administrator of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Group Wednesday, August 7, 2024, Jacksonville, Florida., Duval County, USA.  X … @ParkermillerQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sparkermiller.JAX.FL.USA, Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956 #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO.

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 12/8/2023 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 12/8/2023

by Kyle Anzalone

Venezuela

The US military said Thursday that it would conduct flight operations in Guyana amid tensions between the Caribbean nation and its neighbor Venezuela over the disputed Guayana Esequiba region. AWC

Russia

Ukrainian and Eastern European Officials Travel to Lobby Congress for More Military. The HillAWC

White House Announces New $175 Million Weapons Package for Ukraine. Press ReleaseAWC

The US and Sweden have signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) that will grant the US military access to bases across the Nordic country as Stockholm has abandoned its centuries-old policy of neutrality. AWC

Senate Republicans blocked a motion to advance a massive $111 billion spending package that includes military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan over a partisan dispute on border issues. AWC

Israel

Top UN Chief Says Gaza Situation “Apocalyptic.” Guardian

US Officials Say Israel Will Continue Major Military Operations in Gaza into 2024. CNN

White House Interns Pen Letter Demanding Gaza Ceasefire and Call Israeli Actions Against Palestinians a “Genocide.” MEE

Despite the soaring civilian deaths in Gaza, the Biden administration is not considering using any of the leverage it has over Israel to get the Israeli military to change its tactics, Reuters reported on Tuesday. AWC

The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Friday to discuss the Israeli onslaught in Gaza after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time during his tenure, which started in 2017. AWC

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that Hezbollah must be pushed back from the Israeli border, and if it’s not achieved through diplomatic means, Israel will take military action. AWC

Joint Investigation Finds Israeli Tank Shell Killed Journalist in Lebanon. WashPoThe Institute

Egypt Warns Israel Driving Palestinians Into Sinai Will “Rupture” Ties. Axios

US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said Thursday that the Biden administration has not set a deadline on Israel’s war in Gaza and reiterated US opposition to a ceasefire. AWC

Yemen

US Navy Claims to Shoot Down Another Houthi Drone. VOA

Saudi Arabia Is Requesting the US Show Restraint Responding to Houthi Attacks in Red Sea. Jerusalem Post

US Places Sanctions on Houthis in Response to Attacks in Red Sea. VOA

Israel Claims to Shoot Down Yemeni Ballistic Missile. Haaretz

The Biden administration has asked Israel not to respond to recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. AWC

Read More

[umlewis]

lewis hamilton talks about meeting doriane pin on media day, saudi arabia - march 6, 2024 Lewis: "I just spent some time with her just now in the garage. It's really impressive to see the growth within that organization, and then to see the other teams and the sport actually really embracing it. Even, for example, seeing in this room there's more diversity than… I've been here for a long time and I'm seeing so many women here, so that's an amazing step in the right direction. There's still a huge amount of work that needs to be done, but the work that Susie's doing with the F1 Academy, I'm really, really proud of her and I think she's a great, great spokesman for it. For me, I was just talking to her. It was really interesting to talk to a young driver. Just I remember myself being at that kinda stage, and so I just spoke to her about the things that I did back then, or things I could have done better, like note-taking, for example."

[ummick]

mick schumacher arrives to the track on media day, saudi arabia - march 6, 2024 📷 michael potts / alamy

[umgeorge]

george russell during the press conference on media day, saudi arabia - march 6, 2024 📷 darko bandic / apimages.com

[workersolidarity]

Photo: NY Times

🇩🇿🇦🇴🇨🇬🇬🇶🇬🇦🇮🇷🇮🇶🇰🇼🇱🇾🇳🇬🇸🇦🇦🇪🇻🇪

[🇦🇿🇧🇭🇧🇳🇰🇿🇲🇾🇲🇽🇴🇲🇷🇺🇸🇸🇸🇩]

⛽🛢️OPEC+ ANNOUNCES OIL PRODUCTION CUT EXTENSION THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR

In separate statements on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and Russia both announced the extension of OPEC+ production cuts through the end of the year.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy announced they would continue to cut oil output by 1 million barrels per day, as per the policy instituted July 2023.

Together, the months of November and December will see the production of approximately 9 million barrels per day.

"this additional voluntary cut comes to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by the OPEC Plus countries," the statement read.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy agreed to revisit the policy of production cuts in one month's time.

At the same time in a separate statement, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia would "continue additional voluntary supply cuts of 300,000 barrels per day from its exports to global markets, which has gone into implementation in September and October 2023."

Novak said the policy would be revisited in one month's time to see if further production cuts are necessary, or whether the Russian Federation will increase production at that time.

Deputy Prime Minister Novak further said the production cuts "reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC Plus countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets."

OPEC+ is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and comprises 13 members plus 10 more countries which voluntarily follow OPEC policies.

OPEC+ announced last October they cut oil output by a collective 2% from global demand from last November through the end of 2023. OPEC+ later agreed to extend production cuts through 2024.

Global oil prices have risen especially sharply since Russia and Saudi Arabia announced further cuts in July, with oil trading at $76 a barrel at the time. And although the US and its allies have been flooding markets with oil reserves since cuts were first announced in October 2022, those reserves are now largely empty and prices have risen once more, now trading at $89 per barrel.

#source

#source2

#source3

[brasiliangp]

wednesday, saudi arabia 2024