French Oil-Services Firm Viridien Mulls Selling Sensor Unit to Cut Debt





© Win McNamee/Getty Images
Led by Māori and Pasifika queer communities, the counterculture has gone from performing in lounges and clubs to Wellington’s national museum
In a large gallery at New Zealand’s national museum in Wellington, a 600-strong crowd cheers ecstatically as a group of fabulously dressed performers take to the stage.
In impossibly high heels, the predominantly Māori and Pasifika (Indigenous people of the Pacific Islands) performers twist their arms into geometric forms and spiral to the ground, contorting their bodies into outstretched shapes. Other performers parade their highly stylised costumes, while some embody the struts, poses and attitudes of supermodels.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Renati Waaka

© Photograph: Renati Waaka

© Photograph: Renati Waaka

© Fred Ramos for The New York Times

© United States Air Force

© Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times





Norris is 11th Briton to win title after, tense third place
Max Verstappen second in title race, Oscar Piastri third
In tears and almost rendered speechless by the sheer weight of emotion, what winning his debut Formula One world championship meant to Lando Norris was writ large across every inch of his face. What had begun as a childhood dream and at one point this season had seemingly slipped from his grasp was, finally, a reality he clearly found hard to take in, as he sealed it with third place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
It would have taken truly a heart of stone not to have been moved by it all as he secured the title after what has been an enormously hard‑fought season across 24 gruelling races that went to the wire at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: ANP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: ANP/Shutterstock

© Photograph: ANP/Shutterstock
García and Carreras sent off, Swedberg double for Vigo
Napoli move top of Serie A after Højlund sinks Juventus
Real Madrid suffered a shock 2-0 loss and finished with nine men against Celta Vigo in La Liga on Sunday after Williot Swedberg scored an audacious goal with his heel and a second in stoppage time to leave the hosts four points off leaders Barcelona.
Swedberg cleverly diverted a cross from Bryan Zaragoza past Thibaut Courtois in the 53rd minute to put Celta ahead and had an easy finish three minutes into added time, going around the goalkeeper to wrap up the points.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Ana Beltran/Reuters

© Photograph: Ana Beltran/Reuters

© Photograph: Ana Beltran/Reuters
World championship rivals side by side at front of grid
McLaren driver still well placed for the season finale
The world championship remains finely poised after the three contenders duked it out for pole position at the decisive season-finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Max Verstappen scored first blood with pole position in front of his rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in second and third, but all three drivers know the title will be decided on Sunday and Norris still has the edge.
A competitive and tense qualifying was a perfect curtain-raiser for the race and sets up an unmissable and potentially dramatic opening as the three head into turn one together.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Jakub Porzycki/Reuters

© Photograph: Jakub Porzycki/Reuters

© Photograph: Jakub Porzycki/Reuters
Tāme Iti’s colourful memoir covers his decades-long fight for Indigenous rights in New Zealand and takes aim at ‘saboteurs’ in the government
There are so many ways to begin telling the story of Tāme Iti, arguably New Zealand’s most recognisable Māori rights activist, who was once branded a terrorist by the state and is now considered by many a national treasure.
You could begin with his formative school years at the foot of Te Urewera ranges, where he was made to write the lines “I will not speak Māori” as punishment for speaking his language – lines that have since become a prominent feature of his art and activism.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Alan Gibson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alan Gibson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alan Gibson/The Guardian
He has a 12-point lead before Sunday’s Abu Dhabi GP but the British driver vows to ‘crack on’ if the title goes elsewhere
The atmosphere at a season-deciding finale in the Formula One world championship is like no other. The paddock positively hums with a febrile, pulsing excitement and sense of expectation that is impossible to ignore. Amid all of which the title favourite, Lando Norris, finds himself at the moment he has dedicated his life toward, destiny lying in his own hands.
After a gruelling 23-race trek around the world, the conclusion of all the work, sacrifice and effort will be decided in just an hour and a half on Sunday afternoon in Abu Dhabi.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images

© Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images

© Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images
Syriens Regime hatte keinen Menschen so lange eingekerkert wie den Kampfpiloten Raghid al-Tatari. Ein Jahr an der Seite eines Helden, der endlich wieder leben und lieben darf – und zurückkehrt in ein Land, das sich gerade findet.
Leader will not ask Piastri for favours against Verstappen
McLaren to discuss all relevant scenarios in Abu Dhabi
Lando Norris would not want McLaren to have to use team orders to aid him in winning his first world championship at the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Both he and his teammate, Oscar Piastri, insisted they had not yet discussed the potential use of orders for the decisive grand prix.
Norris goes into the 24th and final race of the season as favourite but still in a close, high-pressure fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Piastri, enjoying a 12-point lead on Verstappen and 16 on Piastri. Norris will take his first title if he finishes in front of both his rivals or claims third place or better. Verstappen would need to win and hope Norris finishes outside the podium places while Piastri would need to win and have Norris finish sixth or lower.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images

© Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images

© Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty Images
Red Bull driver can win fifth world title in Abu Dhabi
He was 104 points behind top after Dutch GP in August
Max Verstappen is fired up to go to Abu Dhabi and compete for his fifth F1 world championship after the Dutchman won in Qatar, narrowed the gap to 12 points within the championship leader, Lando Norris, and overtook Oscar Piastri to set up a three‑way season-deciding finale at the Yas Marina circuit.
Verstappen produced a superb drive for Red Bull in Lusail on Sunday but it was a victory handed to him by McLaren, who made a calamitous strategy call for Norris and Piastri.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: DPPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: DPPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: DPPI/Shutterstock
Norris only fourth in Qatar, making Abu Dhabi decisive
McLaren failure to pit on safety car costs their drivers
Max Verstappen believed he had long since “checked out” from being able to defend his world championship. Yet the Dutchman, while down, was far from out and has, with victory in the Qatar Grand Prix, battled and bludgeoned his way back into contention just as McLaren have somehow contrived to leave Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri vulnerable to his late charge, as Verstappen forced the title race to the wire at the final round next weekend in Abu Dhabi.
With Lando Norris, the title leader, fourth and his teammate Oscar Piastri second in Doha, after McLaren made an egregious strategy error, there will now be a three-way fight to the finish at the season finale, with 16 points separating all three drivers. Verstappen is 12 points back from Norris, with Piastri a further four worse off. It is a scenario that was all but unthinkable when Verstappen was 104 points behind Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix on 31 August and he had in effect written off his championship ambitions.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

© Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

© Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters
Norris slips up in final lap to give rival advantage
Max Verstappen third on grid; Hamilton 18th
Oscar Piastri knew going into the weekend of the Qatar Grand Prix he would have to be at his best to keep his world championship ambitions alive and, with a battling performance, he did exactly that, by claiming victory in the sprint race and then pole position for the grand prix at the Lusail circuit.
Both were significant but pole was crucial in the tense title fight with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who lines up alongside him on the front row of the grid, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who starts from third, with the three contenders set to go head to head into turn one on Sunday.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Jakub Porzycki/Reuters

© Photograph: Jakub Porzycki/Reuters

© Photograph: Jakub Porzycki/Reuters
Norris third in Lusail, with Russell second on grid
Verstappen furious with car after qualifying sixth
Oscar Piastri took pole position for the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix. The McLaren driver beat the Mercedes of George Russell into second and, with Lando Norris in third, it was the result the Australian required for his world championship ambitions and allows a chance to narrow the gap to the leader Norris. The other title contender, Max Verstappen, was furious with his Red Bull’s erratic performance and will start in sixth.
On the first hot runs in Q3 Piastri set the pace with a 1min 20.241sec lap, four-hundredths quicker than Norris. However Verstappen was complaining his car was suffering with bouncing through the corners, lacking the stability in the fast turns that had been a strength of the car and an issue he had also experienced in the only practice session. Going off wide on his first run he did not set a competitive time on his first run.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock