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F1 Marks 30th Anniversary of Senna’s Death at Imola and Norris Tries to Follow up Miami Win

Formula One drivers pay tribute to the late Formula One Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna at the Tamburello turn, at the Dino and Enzo Ferrari racetrack, in Imola, Italy, Thursday, April 16, 2024. (AP)
Formula One drivers pay tribute to the late Formula One Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna at the Tamburello turn, at the Dino and Enzo Ferrari racetrack, in Imola, Italy, Thursday, April 16, 2024. (AP)
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F1 Marks 30th Anniversary of Senna’s Death at Imola and Norris Tries to Follow up Miami Win

Formula One drivers pay tribute to the late Formula One Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna at the Tamburello turn, at the Dino and Enzo Ferrari racetrack, in Imola, Italy, Thursday, April 16, 2024. (AP)
Formula One drivers pay tribute to the late Formula One Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna at the Tamburello turn, at the Dino and Enzo Ferrari racetrack, in Imola, Italy, Thursday, April 16, 2024. (AP)

Formula 1 arrives at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with a look to the past — it’s 30 years since Ayrton Senna’s death — and the future prospect of tougher competition for Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

Drivers joined a memorial run around the Imola track on Thursday evening to mark the anniversary of three-time champion Senna’s death in a crash there during the 1994 race.

Senna was a childhood hero to many, including seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who was nine in 1994, and is a part of F1 history for the 13 current drivers who were not born when he was killed.

Drivers wore shirts in Senna’s helmet colors of yellow with blue and green stripes as they gathered around a memorial at the Tamburello corner where he died.

The Brazilian and Austrian flags were laid out in memory of Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, who was killed in a crash in qualifying one day earlier.

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who retired from F1 in 2022, organized the memorial event with the Senna Foundation and will drive the Brazilian great’s 1993 McLaren car in a demonstration during the race weekend.

FRIDAY PRACTICE

Charles Leclerc was fastest in both Friday practices as Ferrari raised its game in front of its home crowd. Leclerc led from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda of RB in the second session, with Hamilton fourth. Verstappen was seventh and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez eighth.

Earlier, Verstappen was only fifth in the first session after going into a gravel trap while on a fast pace on his last lap. Behind Leclerc, Mercedes’ George Russell was second and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. third.

Imola has been slightly modified since F1 last raced there in 2022. Some asphalt run-off areas have been replaced with gravel traps, heightening the “old-school” feel that many drivers love.

It also stops drivers trying to gain time by running wide of the track, a persistent source of F1 controversy. The track is narrow and excursions into the gravel were common in Friday practice. Last year’s race at Imola was canceled because of fatal flooding in northern Italy.

NORRIS’ NEXT STEPS

For Lando Norris, it’s back to work after the thrill of taking his first F1 win at the Miami Grand Prix two weeks ago.

The McLaren driver said on Thursday he didn’t sleep the night after the Miami race as he partied with the team and friends. He then headed off to spend two days playing golf at Augusta National, home of the Masters.

“I scored my best day of golf, which was even better than a win, almost,” the British driver said.

Norris said he was surprised by McLaren’s pace in Miami — where he was helped by a fortunately timed safety car — but warned it doesn’t mean his team can match Verstappen’s dominant Red Bull team consistently yet, let alone fight for the title.

“I think we’re still too far behind,” he said. “But we’re not a mile away. We’re talking one or two tenths (of a second) a lap at this point between being ahead in qualifying and being able to stay ahead in the race, versus being behind and just not having what it takes.”

Norris was eighth in the first practice on Friday.

FERRARI’S FUTURE

Expectations are always high when Ferrari races in Italy, and the team is aiming to give its passionate “Tifosi” fans something to cheer.

Red Bull is still the team to beat, though, even though Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari in March when Verstappen’s brakes failed.

Ferrari has been inconsistent, doing well at some tracks like Miami and poorly at others like China.

“We’re going to be very track dependent and hopefully Imola is one of those good tracks for us. And we can put on a good show in front of the crowd,” Sainz said on Thursday.

What could shake things up next year is if Hamilton, who’s replacing Sainz at Ferrari next year, gets his wish of Red Bull car designer Adrian Newey joining him in Italy.

Newey is widely considered F1’s greatest ever designer with 13 drivers’ championships and 12 constructors’ titles. He will leave Red Bull in early 2025, in time to help a rival team build a car for the new regulations in 2026.

Newey said in a recent video interview with his manager Eddie Jordan that he’ll take a vacation and “probably go again” with a new team.

“If you’d asked me 15 years ago, at the age of 65, would I seriously be considering changing teams, going somewhere else and, doing another four or five years, I’d have said you’re absolutely mad. And then a few things happened at once,” he said in comments made public on Thursday.

Newey was surprised by all the attention: “I never thought it would be big news, to be honest.”

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World

US Again Seizes Oil Tanker Off Coast of Venezuela

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Washington had seized a second crude oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. Handout / US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's X account/AFP
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Washington had seized a second crude oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. Handout / US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's X account/AFP
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US Again Seizes Oil Tanker Off Coast of Venezuela

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Washington had seized a second crude oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. Handout / US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's X account/AFP
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed Washington had seized a second crude oil tanker in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. Handout / US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's X account/AFP

The United States "apprehended" an oil tanker off Venezuela on Saturday, a move Caracas deemed a "theft and kidnapping," in the latest salvo of a pressure campaign by Washington, the US government said.

It was the second time in two weeks that US forces have interdicted a tanker in the region, and comes days after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" heading to and leaving Venezuela.

"In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela," US Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said in a post on X.

The post was accompanied by a nearly eight-minute video of aerial footage that showed a helicopter hovering just above the deck of a large tanker at sea.

Caracas slammed the seizure as theft and kidnapping, saying "those responsible for these serious events will answer to justice and to history for their criminal conduct."

A post from Homeland Security identified the vessel as the Centuries and said it was "suspected of carrying oil subject to US sanctions."

Centuries is a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged oil tanker, according to TankerTrackers, an online service monitoring oil shipments and storage.

It said that Centuries loaded 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a Venezuelan port earlier this month before being escorted out of Venezuela's exclusive economic zone on December 18. The VesselFinder database also listed the ship's last recorded location as off the Venezuelan coast.

An AFP review found that Centuries does not appear on the US Treasury Department's list of sanctioned companies and individuals.

White House deputy spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a post on X the tanker "contained sanctioned PDVSA oil," in reference to Venezuela's state oil company, and charged the ship as being "a falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet."

'Waging a battle against lies'

On December 10, US forces seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, which the attorney general said was involved in carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran.

The United States has for months been building a major military deployment in the Caribbean with the stated goal of combatting Latin American drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez voiced defiance in comments at a public event in Caracas broadcast Saturday on state TV -- although he made no mention of the interdicted ship.

"We are waging a battle against lies, manipulation, interference, military threats, and psychological warfare," the defense minister said, adding "that will not intimidate us."

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil also said Iran, one of Caracas's largest international allies, was offering support "in all areas" to combat "piracy and international terrorism" by the United States.

There are currently 11 US warships in the Caribbean: the world's largest aircraft carrier, an amphibious assault ship, two amphibious transport dock ships, two cruisers and five destroyers.

Caracas views the operation as a campaign to push out leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro -- whom Washington and many nations view as an illegitimate president -- and to "steal" Venezuelan oil.

The US military has also conducted a series of air strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September. Critics have questioned the legality of the attacks, which have killed more than 100 people.

The ship interception occurred as South American leaders gathered for a summit of the Mercosur bloc, where tensions over suspended member Venezuela overshadowed discussions of a future trade deal with the European Union.

At the gathering, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva clashed with his Argentinian counterpart Javier Milei, arguing that an outbreak armed conflict over Venezuela could cause a "humanitarian catastrophe."

Milei, a Trump ally, countered by saying Argentina "welcomes the pressure from the United States and Donald Trump to free the Venezuelan people."

World

Thai Border Clashes Displace over Half a Million in Cambodia

A village security volunteer splashes water to control a fire at a house after what a Thai soldier said was a Cambodian artillery strike in the area in Sisaket province, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A village security volunteer splashes water to control a fire at a house after what a Thai soldier said was a Cambodian artillery strike in the area in Sisaket province, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
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Thai Border Clashes Displace over Half a Million in Cambodia

A village security volunteer splashes water to control a fire at a house after what a Thai soldier said was a Cambodian artillery strike in the area in Sisaket province, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A village security volunteer splashes water to control a fire at a house after what a Thai soldier said was a Cambodian artillery strike in the area in Sisaket province, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

More than half a million people in Cambodia have been displaced from their homes by two weeks of deadly border clashes with neighboring Thailand, Phnom Penh's interior ministry said Sunday.

The renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbors this month, including with tanks, drones and artillery, has killed at least 22 people in Thailand and 19 in Cambodia, according to officials.

The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier.

"At present, more than half a million Cambodian people, including women and children, are suffering severe hardship due to forced displacement from their homes and schools to escape artillery shells, rockets, and aerial bombardments carried out by Thailand's F-16 aircraft," Cambodia's interior ministry said in a statement, giving the total number of people evacuated as 518,611.

Around 400,000 people have been displaced in Thailand due to the reignited border conflict, Bangkok has said.

Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fresh fighting and traded accusations of attacks on civilians, after five days of clashes in July killed dozens, AFP said.

The United States, China and Malaysia brokered a truce to end that round of fighting, but the ceasefire was short-lived.

Border temple clashes

In October, US President Donald Trump backed a follow-on joint declaration between Thailand and Cambodia, touting new trade deals after they agreed in Kuala Lumpur to prolong their truce.

But Thailand suspended the agreement the following month, after Thai soldiers were wounded by landmines while on patrol at the border.

Bangkok has accused Cambodia of laying fresh mines, an allegation denied by Phnom Penh.

Trump, who has placed the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand on a list of wars he said he solved, this month claimed the two countries had agreed to a new ceasefire.

But Bangkok denied any truce had been agreed, and fighting has continued daily since a border skirmish on December 7 sparked the latest clashes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Washington was hoping Cambodia and Thailand would reach a new ceasefire by Monday or Tuesday.

Foreign ministers of ASEAN nations, including Cambodia and Thailand, are set to meet on Monday in Kuala Lumpur for talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution.

China sent its special envoy for Asian affairs to Cambodia and Thailand last week, with Beijing aiming to "rebuild peace".

Cambodia's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the Chinese envoy, Deng Xijun, met with Prime Minister Hun Manet in Phnom Penh the day before, urging a truce.

Cambodia, which is outgunned and outspent by Bangkok's military, said Sunday that Thai forces had continued to attack since dawn, with fighting occurring on the border near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.

A patch of contested land next to the UNESCO-listed heritage site was the site of military clashes in 2008, and sporadic violence for several years led to the deaths of two dozen people.

A UN court ruling in Phnom Penh's favor in 2013 settled the matter for more than a decade, but this year's crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash.

Features

Iraq's Political Future in Limbo as Factions Vie for Power

FILED - 02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf, ahead of the Iraqi parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on 11 November 2025. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa
FILED - 02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf, ahead of the Iraqi parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on 11 November 2025. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa
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Iraq's Political Future in Limbo as Factions Vie for Power

FILED - 02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf, ahead of the Iraqi parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on 11 November 2025. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa
FILED - 02 November 2025, Iraq, Najaf: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign rally of his Reconstruction and Development Coalition in Najaf, ahead of the Iraqi parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on 11 November 2025. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa

Political factions in Iraq have been maneuvering since the parliamentary election more than a month ago to form alliances that will shape the next government.

The November election didn't produce a bloc with a decisive majority, opening the door to a prolonged period of negotiations, said The Associated Press.

The government that eventually emerges will be inheriting a security situation that has stabilized in recent years, but it will also face a fragmented parliament, growing political influence by armed factions, a fragile economy, and often conflicting international and regional pressures, including the future of Iran-backed armed groups.

Uncertain prospects

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's party took the largest number of seats in the election. Al-Sudani positioned himself in his first term as a pragmatist focused on improving public services and managed to keep Iraq on the sidelines of regional conflicts.

While his party is nominally part of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iran-backed Shiite parties that became the largest parliamentary bloc, observers say it’s unlikely that the Coordination Framework will support al-Sudani’s reelection bid.

“The choice for prime minister has to be someone the Framework believes they can control and doesn't have his own political ambitions,” said Sajad Jiyad, an Iraqi political analyst and fellow at The Century Foundation think tank.

Al-Sudani came to power in 2022 with the backing of the Framework, but Jiyad said that he believes now the coalition “will not give al-Sudani a second term as he has become a powerful competitor.”

The only Iraqi prime minister to serve a second term since 2003 was Nouri al-Maliki, first elected in 2006. His bid for a third term failed after being criticized for monopolizing power and alienating Sunnis and Kurds.

Jiyad said that the Coordination Framework drew a lesson from Maliki “that an ambitious prime minister will seek to consolidate power at the expense of others.”

He said that the figure selected as Iraq's prime minister must generally be seen as acceptable to Iran and the United States — two countries with huge influence over Iraq — and to Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ali al-Sistani.

Al-Sudani in a bind

In the election, Shiite alliances and lists — dominated by the Coordination Framework parties — secured 187 seats, Sunni groups 77 seats, Kurdish groups 56 seats, in addition to nine seats reserved for members of minority groups.

The Reconstruction and Development Coalition, led by al-Sudani, dominated in Baghdad, and in several other provinces, winning 46 seats.

Al-Sudani's results, while strong, don't allow him to form a government without the support of a coalition, forcing him to align the Coordination Framework to preserve his political prospects.

Some saw this dynamic at play earlier this month when al-Sudani's government retracted a terror designation that Iraq had imposed on the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group and Yemen’s Houthis— Iran-aligned groups that are allied with Iraqi armed factions — just weeks after imposing the measure, saying it was a mistake.

The Coalition Framework saw its hand strengthened by the absence from the election of the powerful Sadrist movement led by Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, which has been boycotting the political system since being unable to form a government after winning the most seats in the 2021 election.

Hamed Al-Sayed, a political activist and official with the National Line Movement, an independent party that boycotted the election, said that Sadr’s absence had a “central impact.”

“It reduced participation in areas that were traditionally within his sphere of influence, such as Baghdad and the southern governorates, leaving an electoral vacuum that was exploited by rival militia groups,” he said, referring to several parties within the Coordination Framework that also have armed wings.

Groups with affiliated armed wings won more than 100 parliamentary seats, the largest showing since 2003.

Other political actors

Sunni forces, meanwhile, sought to reorganize under a new coalition called the National Political Council, aiming to regain influence lost since the 2018 and 2021 elections.

The Kurdish political scene remained dominated by the traditional split between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan parties, with ongoing negotiations between the two over the presidency.

By convention, Iraq’s president is always a Kurd, while the more powerful prime minister is Shiite and the parliamentary speaker Sunni.

Parliament is required to elect a speaker within 15 days of the Federal Supreme Court’s ratification of the election result, which occurred on Dec. 14.

The parliament should elect a president within 30 days of its first session, and the prime minister should be appointed within 15 days of the president’s election, with 30 days allotted to form the new government.

Washington steps in

The incoming government will face major economic and political challenges.

They include a high level of public debt — more than 90 trillion Iraqi dinars ($69 billion) — and a state budget that remains reliant on oil for about 90% of revenues, despite attempts to diversify, as well as entrenched corruption.

But perhaps the most delicate question will be the future of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of militias that formed to fight the ISIS group as it rampaged across Iraq more than a decade ago.

It was formally placed under the control of the Iraqi military in 2016 but in practice still operates with significant autonomy. After the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 sparked the devastating war in Gaza, some armed groups within the PMF launched attacks on US bases in the region in retaliation for Washington’s backing of Israel.

The US has been pushing for Iraq to disarm Iran-backed groups — a difficult proposition, given the political power that many of them hold and Iran’s likely opposition to such a step.

Two senior Iraqi political officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment publicly, said that the United States had warned against selecting any candidate for prime minister who controls an armed faction and also cautioned against letting figures associated with militias control key ministries or hold significant security posts.

“The biggest issue will be how to deal with the pro-Iran parties with armed wings, particularly those... which have been designated by the United States as terrorist entities,” Jiyad said.