El Máster Edwin

Haaland is the joint top scorer in the Premier League this season with 14 goals Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is likely to be out until the end of January, manager Pep Guardiola says. A foot injury has kept 23-year-old Haaland out since the defeat by Aston Villa on 6 December, although few details have been given. It had been hoped City's top scorer would return for the Club World Cup in December but the injury has still not healed. "It's the bone. It needs time," Guardiola said. "With every injury you can do whatever you want but it's a question of time." Norway international Haaland, who has scored 19 goals in 22 club games this season, had already been ruled out of Saturday's Premier League match against Newcastle, after which City have a 13-day break, when they will depart for warm weather training in Abu Dhabi. If he misses the remainder of the month he will be absent for the visit to Tottenham in the FA Cup on 26 January and the league match at home against Burnley on 31 January. "It's fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi," Guardiola said. "Hopefully at the end of this month he'll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning." City are unbeaten in the eight games Haaland has missed, including their Club World Cup victory, and sit five points off Premier League leaders Liverpool with a game in hand. But Guardiola said his side miss Haaland "a lot". "We need him," Guardiola said. "Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem." Centre-back Manuel Akanji is likely to miss a similar period after he was forced off in the 18th minute of last week's FA Cup win against Huddersfield. "He will be some weeks out," Guardiola said. "It's not a big problem but until the end of the month." Link

Rally-bred hot hatch gets more power and optional eight-speed auto with ‘competition-standard’ shifting. Yes please Strap in folks, there’s a new Toyota GR Yaris in town. Already a 10/10 hot hatch in TopGear.com’s humble opinion, the Japanese carmaker has returned to the drawing board and come back with something even racier than before. Yikes. Revealed at the Tokyo Auto Salon show, the headlines are thus: the turbocharged 1.6-litre 3cyl remains, but a host of mods see max power climb from 257 to 276bhp (at 6,500rpm) and torque rise from 266 to 288lb ft (between 3,250 and 4,600rpm). Care for the details? A stronger valvetrain, sturdier exhaust valve material, increased fuel injection pressure and new lightweight pistons with wear-resistant rings all help the GR Yaris take more of a thrashing for longer. All rigorously tested in the Japan Rally Championship, naturally. Meanwhile rigidity is up, and the suspension (Macpherson struts up front, rear double wishbones with trailing arms at the rear) has been toughened and its spring rates revised. As before, it rides on Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss (225/40ZR18), with 356mm four-pot front brakes, 297mm two-pot rears. The other big news is a new (and optional) race-inspired eight-speed auto from the Gazoo Racing department, which Toyota says produced faster lap times than the existing six-speed manual in testing. Good grief. Using a new torque control system, compact, high-response linear solenoid and much heat-resistant material, Toyota claims the auto will sense how the driver is using the brakes and throttle to work out exactly when to shift. Failing that, there’s still a lever for manual control: at the insistence of chairman Akio Toyoda, it’s forwards for downshifts and backwards for upshifts, as per your average rally car. Of course. And as before, it’s all about the driver inside. Only more so. The seat’s been lowered by 25mm, and the cockpit redesigned so the stuff you might need mid-rally stage - intercooler spray, traction control, hazard lights etcetera - is closer to hand. The instrument panel drops by 50mm to give a better view of the road/gravel track ahead. Three driving modes (need you ask? Normal, Eco and Sport) tamper with the power steering, air con and throttle response, and in the auto they’ll fiddle with the shift behaviour too. The permanent AWD gets three settings of its own: Normal, Sport and Track. As with any facelift, the exterior has been fine-tuned: there’s a new, steel mesh grille with a larger side grill opening, and at the back there’s a new opening on the bottom edge to let air escape, boosting stability and lowering drag. The rear lights have had surgery too. And as you’d expect, Toyota’s latest safety gear, sat nav and digital key are thrown in. Autos will get a posher spec, with forged wheels and a JBL sound system. So when does it arrive? Clear your diary for this summer, when the GR Yaris goes on sale in the UK and Europe in a single ‘Circuit’ spec that comes with a powertrain cooling pack with an extra radiator and a modified air intake as standard. Pricing details will follow, but bank on significantly more than the £31k the old one cost. Oh, and there are two special editions coming; one for each of Toyota’s world rally champions. So keep an eye out for the Sebastien Ogier Special Edition and Kalle Rovanpera Special Edition at the Monte Carlo Rally later this month. Altogether now... ooh! Link

The former president's attacks on the prosecutors and judges in his civil and criminal cases are frequently tied to developments in his court cases, an NBC News analysis shows. Donald Trump at state Supreme Court in New York City on Oct. 17. Former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attacks on the judicial system are frequently tied to developments in his court cases, an NBC News analysis of his social media platform shows, and at times they've outnumbered his posts about his re-election bid. NBC News analyzed more than 14,000 Trump posts and reposts on Truth Social from April 2022 to Jan. 6, 2024, and found he often uses the platform as a megaphone to attack people and agencies involved in his numerous legal cases. For most of the first half of 2023, a larger share of Trump’s posts were dedicated to his legal issues than his presidential campaign, the review found. The posts generally portray Trump as the victim of a Democratic scheme designed to derail his presidential bid, with an array of judges and prosecutors working against him at the behest of President Joe Biden, and all part of a partisan "witch hunt," a term he used about 250 times during that time period. The attacks on the court system have come as Trump finds himself in dire legal jeopardy. He is facing up to four criminal trials, a multimillion-dollar defamation case and a civil verdict all in the next 12 months. The results of those trials could potentially devastate his business, maim his re-election hopes and cost him his freedom. He's denied any wrongdoing and has criticized the prosecutors, plaintiffs and almost all of the judges involved, and his attacks have often led to threats and vitriol from his supporters. The former president in recent months has been lashing out online and at political rallies with increasing frequency against judges and prosecutors in New York and Washington, while also taking potshots at judges in Colorado and even the heavily conservative U.S. Supreme Court. “These vicious attacks on the judiciary and the federal court and even on individual judges are unprecedented in American history by anyone, let alone a president of the United States. They represent a grave threat to the judiciary and the independence of the courts,” said J. Michael Luttig, a retired federal appeals court judge. “The purpose and intended effect of the former president’s attacks on the courts is to delegitimize them in the eyes of the American public. His attacks are having their intended effect,” Luttig said. A spokesman for Trump’s campaign did not return multiple requests for comment. Attacks on prosecutors According to the NBC News review, the biggest target of Trump’s Truth Social attacks has been special counsel Jack Smith, whose office is prosecuting the federal election case and a second criminal case in Florida alleging Trump mishandled and tried to hide sensitive national security documents after he left the White House. Trump has posted about Smith — calling him “deranged,” a “nut job” and a “thug” — over 175 times. James, the New York AG, has been singled out close to 100 times. He’s posted about Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan DA, almost 70 times, and over two dozen times about Fulton County DA Fani Willis, who brought racketeering charges against Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the result of Georgia’s 2020 election. He’s repeatedly referred to the two DAs, who are Black, as “racist.” Both also reported receiving a large number of threats from Trump supporters. The frequency of Trump’s attacks on judges and prosecutors on Truth Social increases near key dates in the cases. Those posts made up roughly 37% of his social media feed when he was deposed by James’ office, had his mug shot taken in Georgia, and was fighting the partial gag order in New York, the NBC News review found. He posts on average of 20-40 times a day. Arguing in support of a gag order limiting Trump’s ability to lash out at prosecutors and witnesses in his federal election interference trial, Smith’s lawyer said in November that the special counsel had experienced “multiple threats” and “intimidating communication” as a result of Trump’s attacks. Smith was also the target of an attempted “swatting” on Christmas Day, two law enforcement sources said. NBC News legal analyst Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, said Trump’s repeated attacks on judges and prosecutors pose two dangers. “First, Trump‘s false baseless claims of an unfair process could taint the jury pool and result in a hung jury if even one juror falls for his lies,” she said. “Second, and perhaps, even more concerning, his constant drumbeat, targeting prosecutors and judges, could result in political violence against them or their families.” Civil fraud case To date, the main target of Trump’s campaign against the judiciary has been Arthur Engoron, the New York state judge who’s been presiding over the $250 million civil fraud case brought against Trump and his company by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office. An NBC News review of Trump’s social media platform shows he has blasted Engoron by name on the site over 70 times, a number that rose sharply after the trial began in October. In various Truth Social posts over the past two months, Trump has said that Engoron is a “highly political and disrespectful” “tyrannical and unhinged” “Trump Hating Radical Left Judge, who may be crazy." The vitriol was often tied to various developments in the trial, including opening statements and Engoron's imposition of a gag order against the former president. That order did not bar Trump from badmouthing the judge — it directed that he stop making comments about the judge’s law clerk and other court staff. Trump has taken full advantage of the exception — posting pictures and criticism of the judge and even bashing Engoron’s “Trump hating wife,” whom he falsely accused of having posted memes making fun of him. He’s also ripped the judge at rallies, in remarks to reporters and even while testifying at the trial, where he called Engoron a “very hostile judge” while he was on the witness stand. A state courts official said in a November court filing that Trump’s frequent shots had led to a “deluge” of credible threats against the judge, his family and his staff. Trump’s attorneys countered in a separate court filing arguing against the gag order that their client was not to blame for the actions of “third parties.” Trump’s bashing of Engoron ramped up in recent days as the closing arguments in the case drew nearer, including one Monday in which he suggested that the judge was a puppet of the AG — who's now seeking a $370 million judgment against Trump. Hours before the closing arguments began on Thursday, police responded to a bomb threat at Engoron's Long Island home. Defamation case Trump has also increased the frequency of his attacks on writer E. Jean Carroll, whose civil damages trial in her defamation case against him is scheduled to begin in federal court in New York on Jan. 16. Trump posted a barrage of over 50 posts involving Carroll on Jan. 4, including several that were old reposts from her own social media. In one, she described herself as a “massive” fan of Trump’s TV show “The Apprentice.” About 20 of the posts referred to the judge presiding over the case as “another Highly Partisan Clinton-Appointed Friend.” Trump previously claimed the judge, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, was biased. After a jury found Trump liable in a separate case last year for sexually abusing Carroll in a New York City department store in the 1990s and hit him with a $5 million verdict, Trump complained the judge “hated President Donald J. Trump more than is humanly possible.” “He is a terrible person,” Trump wrote. Criminal cases Other “haters,” according to the former president, are U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan and New York state Judge Juan Merchan. Chutkan is presiding over the federal election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C., while Merchan is presiding over the Manhattan district attorney’s falsifying business records case against him. Chutkan appeared to be the target of a "swatting" attack over the weekend as police said they responded to false reports of a shooting at a house that a witness identified as hers. The incident occurred less than two days before an appeals court was set to hear arguments over a ruling of hers that went against Trump. Merchan and his family also received multiple threats after Trump bashed them as “Trump haters,” two sources familiar with the matter said. Trump has mentioned Chutkan by name 11 times on Truth Social and Merchan by name only once but has complained about them being partisan and biased in numerous other posts that did not name them. The post ripping Merchan's family came hours before Trump was arraigned in the Manhattan case in April of last year. One judge Trump has not attacked is U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump judicial nominee who's overseeing the criminal case alleging he mishandled national secrets and tried to conceal his wrongdoing. However, last July, after the judge set an earlier-than-expected trial date of this May, Trump ramped up his attacks on Smith, who's prosecuting the case. Almost 40% of Trump's posts in that time period were attacks on Smith and the court system, the NBC review showed. Colorado ballot ruling Trump is also facing a legal issue that could derail his presidential bid — a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that he should be barred from the ballot there under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Trump said on Truth Social that the ruling “is being ridiculed and mocked all over the World." The ruling led to a flood of threats against the judges that the FBI is now investigating. That decision is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices nominated by Trump. The high court has repeatedly ruled against Trump in cases involving his criminal probes and his bogus stolen election claims, and Trump has expressed concern it could do so again in order not to appear partisan. “All I want is fair. I fought really hard to get three very, very good people and they’re great people, very smart people. And I just hope that they’re going to be fair because you know, the other side plays the ref,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Sioux City, Iowa, over the weekend. Luttig said Trump’s “concerns” are just another part of the strategy designed to undercut the court. “In this instance, he is speaking directly to the conservative justices on the court,” Luttig said. Attack playbook Trump's attacks on judges who have issued rulings against his interests have been a part of his playbook since the 2016 presidential campaign. That's when he said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel couldn’t be impartial in a case against his failed Trump University because he was “Mexican” and one of Trump’s campaign promises was to build a wall along the Mexican border. Further, the judge, who is of Mexican descent and was born in Indiana, was a “Trump hater,” Trump contended. That's a label that's similar to the ones he has used to attack Engoron, Chutkan, Merchan, Kaplan, James, Willis and Smith, the review found. In addition to trying to foment distrust in the court system, the avalanche of attacks "is intended to intimidate the judges and the courts — federal and state — who will preside over his cases," Luttig said. Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor and current NBC News legal analyst, said the attacks are “a political strategy, not a legal strategy” and part of a “transparent” pattern of Trump trying to delegitimize any person or institution seeking to hold him to account. Kirschner said he's never seen anything like what "Trump is allowed to get away with by our institutions — that's the most disappointing part." Link

Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters gathered near the ICJ in the Hague to watch the proceedings The UN's top legal body has now heard two days of powerful legal argument on the "crime of all crimes": genocide. It is now for the judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to decide whether Israel, in its war in Gaza, is guilty of an attempt to "destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part," as defined by the 1948 Convention on Genocide. There could hardly be a more weighty matter. Both sides have played heavily on the strong emotions swirling around the conflict that erupted on 7 October last year. Around 1,300 people - most of them civilians - were killed and about 240 others were taken hostage during the Hamas attack on southern Israel. More than 23,350 people have been killed - mostly children and women - during Israeli retaliatory attacks on Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The case, brought to the ICJ by South Africa, included a litany of alleged Israeli offences, from the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians to the wholesale destruction of Gaza's infrastructure. "This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life," said one of South Africa's lawyers, Adila Hassin. Israel's war in Gaza could not be allowed to continue, the South African team argued. "Entire multi-generational families will be obliterated," Irish barrister Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh warned, "and yet more Palestinian children will become WCNSF - Wounded Child No Surviving Family - the terrible new acronym borne out of Israel's genocidal assault." But on Friday morning Israel hit back, with a mixture of its own emotion and a forensic assault on the South African case. Images of 132 missing Israelis - most of them still being held hostage in Gaza - were shown to the court. "Is there a reason these people on your screen are unworthy of protection," Tal Becker, a hugely experienced legal adviser at Israel's Foreign Ministry, asked the court. Mr Becker and his colleagues were scathing about South Africa's submission, arguing that if anyone was guilty of genocide, it was Hamas. "Under the guise of the allegation against Israel of genocide," Mr Becker said, "this court is asked to call for an end to operations against the ongoing attacks of an organisation that pursues an actual genocidal agenda". South Africa, the Israelis said, is guilty of supporting Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organisation by 41 countries, including the US, EU and UK. During his speech, Professor Malcolm Shaw briefly seemed to imply that the very country bringing this case against Israel was itself complicit. "South Africa has given succour and support to Hamas, at least," he said. It will probably take the ICJ several years to reach its verdict on the charge of genocide. The South Africans must know there's a legal mountain to climb to prove their case. Genocide is notoriously difficult to prove. There needs to be compelling evidence of intent by those actually in charge of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, as well as a pattern of behaviour by the Israel Defense Forces that cannot reasonably be explained as anything other than genocidal. Remember: this is only about genocide, not whether war crimes have been committed in Gaza, or even whether Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing, as some allege. It's one thing to be horrified, even enraged, by countless images of the suffering inflicted on the Palestinians. It's quite another to conclude that the killing of 1% of the Gazan po[CENSORED]tion, sobering though that number is, represents an Israeli effort to destroy the Palestinian people, "in whole or in part". But for Israel, which may feel it's on safe ground when it comes to the "crime of all crimes", there's a more immediate concern. South Africa has appealed to the ICJ to issue nine "provisional measures", designed, in the words of South Africa's 84-page submission, "to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people". The first of these calls on Israel to "immediately suspend its military operation in and against Gaza". If obeyed, it would have the effect of bringing Israel's military campaign to a halt. This could happen within weeks, long before Israel feels it has achieved its military objective of utterly destroying Hamas as a political and military force in Gaza. For this reason, its lawyers attempted to demolish South Africa's case for "provisional measures", arguing that they had no legal basis and would tie Israel's hands but leave Hamas free to act. Israel doesn't like the ICJ, and feels that the UN as a whole is inherently biased against the Jewish state. But at a time when international pressure is mounting on Israel to put an end to the huge level of violence in Gaza, it knows that if the court agrees to issue provisional measures, that pressure will only increase. It's prepared to ignore the court if it feels it has to (and the ICJ has no powers of enforcement), but it would much prefer to win the legal argument. Link

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Legendary coach Bill Belichick says his success "exceeded his wildest dreams" as he confirmed his exit from the New England Patriots after 24 years. Belichick has agreed to leave after another poor season in which the Patriots came last in the AFC East for the first time since 2000. But, alongside quarterback Tom Brady, Belichick won a record six Super Bowls with the franchise from 2001 to 2018. "For me, this is a day of gratitude and celebration," said the 71-year-old. The Patriots were also runners-up three times under Belichick's leadership and he added: "We had a vision of building a winner, a championship football team, here and it exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations. "I will always have those great memories and will carry those for the rest of my life." Belichick's six Super Bowl titles are a record for a head coach and his departure was confirmed after discussions with franchise owner Robert Kraft. At a short news conference, Kraft said: "The man standing to my left brought the leadership and coaching skills that were needed to make this unprecedented success possible. "He is the greatest coach of all time, which makes this decision to part ways so hard. "This is a move we mutually agreed was needed at this time. What Bill achieved with us will never be replicated." Despite the previous success, Belichick's Patriots have only made the play-offs once since Brady left in 2020. They ended the latest regular season on Sunday with defeat by the New York Jets. It was their 13th loss of the campaign, the most Belichick has endured during a season in his 26-year head coaching career. Belichick led the Patriots to 17 division titles, 13 AFC Championship games and the only undefeated 16-game regular season in 2007 On Sunday he said it was "way too early" to decide his future, having reportedly signed a multi-year deal at the start of the 2023 season. Belichick's Patriots have finished with losing records in three of the past four seasons. The team recorded back-to-back losing campaigns for the first time since 1993 this term. During their golden period, led by Brady and Belichick, they played in nine Super Bowls - more than any other NFL franchise. They also won 17 division titles, made 13 AFC championship game appearances and had the only undefeated 16-game regular season in 2007. Belichick has eight Super Bowl titles in total after winning two titles as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. He was also runner-up during a short spell as Patriots assistant in 1996. He is the head coach with the most play-off appearances (19), play-off games (44) and play-off wins (31) and, with 333 victories overall - including play-offs - is second on the all-time list behind legendary Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula on 347. Belichick will turn 72 in April and has been coaching in the NFL since 1975 but, with Shula's record in sight, it has been reported in US media, external he wants to stay in the league. The Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals and Washington Commanders have all been linked with the three-time NFL coach of the year. Analysis BBC American football writer Ben Collins During the Patriots' golden era, there was always a debate over whether their success was more down to Brady or Belichick. Some dismissed Brady as a 'system quarterback', yet the fact he went on to win a Super Bowl in his first season away from New England - with an unfancied team such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - suggests he deserves more credit than he had been given. Belichick, meanwhile, has been unable to replace him. Cam Newton lasted one season, while draft picks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe have failed to hit the lofty standards Brady set, although the quality of the Patriots roster has gradually declined since he left. As the team's de facto general manager, Belichick has been in charge of player recruitment as well as coaching. After winning three Super Bowls between 2001 and 2004, he managed to rebuild his team to win three more between 2014 and 2018. Patriots owner Kraft has accepted he won't be able to regenerate his roster again, but just as Brady is now regarded as the greatest quarterback of all-time, Belichick is arguably the coaching GOAT for leading a franchise to such prolonged success in a sport where so much is in place to prevent it. Link

The giant apes made the "fatal mistake" of failing to adapt their strict diet, one of the study’s lead researchers told NBC News. HONG KONG — It did not fall off the Empire State Building. Instead, a giant ape sometimes dubbed the “real King Kong” was driven to extinction by climate change that put its favorite fruits out reach during the dry season, according to new research published Wednesday in the journal Nature. An artist impression of a group of the giant ape Gigantopithecus blacki within a forest scene in Southern China. Standing 10 feet tall and weighing up to 650 pounds, the Gigantopithecus blacki roamed the forested plains of southern China's Guangxi region hundreds of thousands of years ago, chowing down on fruits and flowers. But the apes' strict diet may have led to the species' demise, researchers found. The herbivore ape made a “fatal mistake of being reluctant in changing its food preference to find new, more nutritious food,” Yingqi Zhang, the study’s lead researcher, told NBC News on Thursday. “When environments change, the preferred food by this giant ape became less available. But this giant ape didn’t adapt his dietary preferences. It still relied on his less nutritious food,” he added. The creatures also stuck to dense forests, whereas apes like orangutans adapted rapidly, eating small animals and moved to open forests, said Zhang, a Beijing based paleontologist. Thought to be the largest primate to ever exist on Earth, the Gigantopithecus blacki roamed the plains of southern China before going extinct. Until now, the reason for the species' demise had been a mystery since one tooth was found in a Hong Kong apocathery in 1935 by the German Dutch paleontologist Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald. It was marketed as a “dragon tooth.” The discovery prompted a wider search for more fossils, but after 85 years, only 2,000 isolated teeth and parts of the lower jaw have been found. No parts other than the skull have been recovered. Without a “precise timeline” on a creature's extinction, “you’re looking for clues in the wrong places,” said Kira Westaway, one of the study's lead authors and a geochronologist at Macquarie University in Sydney. But researchers were able to use one of the latest techniques called “luminescence dating,” which enabled them to date the soil around the fossils in 22 caves in southern China. This helped them to conclude that the giant apes' demise occurred sometime between 295,000 years ago and 215,000 years ago. “Now we had a target zone, we had a target time period. So then we kind of start looking at the environmental changes,” Westaway said. The team also found clues in the fauna surrounding the caves and a pollen analysis and the wear on the teeth of the giant apes underscored that the changing climate meant seasonal and fruits became more scarce and they were forced to rely on less nutritional foods. “Giganto couldn’t really extend its range for foraging to find more suitable food, because it’s so large, and orangutans are really small, mobile and quite agile,” said Westaway, adding that the new study offered a blueprint into further research on major extinction events. “You need to get a very, very accurate timeline, you need to look at what the environment is doing, and then look at how they were behaving,” she said. Several dozen species of great apes inhabited Africa, Europe and Asia between around 2 million and 22 million years ago. Today, only gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans remain. Westaway said that the research could also a possible window into the future on how humans can adapt to adverse climate events and ensure the survival of the species. “It really puts a precedent on trying to understand how primates respond to environmental stresses and what makes certain primates vulnerable. And what makes other ones resilient,” she said. Link

Porsche has also placed a heavy impetus on aero and efficiency to aid the 600bhp+ powertrain The all-electric, second-generation Macan is due to land later this year, and Porsche has confirmed it will offer a minimum driving range of 310 miles to stand tall against rivals like the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Mercedes-Benz EQE. Truly, these are exciting waters. Excitement that continues when you learn efficiency is at the forefront of the new car’s design. Yay! So beyond the typical Porsche traits, such as the huge vents out front, single bar tail-light out back, and low-squat stance in between, an extending active rear wing and cooling flaps beneath the front air intakes form part of the Macan’s aero focus group. In optimal streamline mode, the chassis lowers to create an area of low resistance, resulting in a drag coefficient of just 0.25. If true, that would make the Macan one of the most aerodynamic SUVs around. “Finding the optimal connection between our design principles and the specifications given to us by the aerodynamics engineers is certainly a challenge,” said Porsche’s director of exterior design, Peter Varga. “We’re working together on every millimetre to achieve the optimal balance between aesthetics and function.” The original target of two million test kilometres has actually now surpassed three-and-a-half million, with the Macan spending time getting frostbitten in the coldest reaches of Scandinavia between trips to the sweltering heat of California’s Death Valley to receive a better tan than 90 per cent of Essex’s po[CENSORED]ce. Exact performance figures are being kept largely under wraps for now, but we do know an all-wheel drive setup is present alongside Porsche’s Active Suspension Management System to distribute around 730lb ft of torque to the road. This is further aided by two-valve damper technology, rear-axle transverse lock and rear-axle steering, but sadly no vertical thrusters. We expected better from you, Porsche. Meanwhile, power is provided by the manufacturer’s latest permanent magnet synchronous motors, which it says will exceed the 600bhp mark. If true, that’ll make Stuttgart’s baby SUV a fair bit more potent than the 911 GT3 RS, and much more than almost every Cayenne model barring the ridiculous Turbo E-Hybrid. The first-generation Macan proved to be a po[CENSORED]r model across its now decade-long production span, but could the second be an even bigger success for Porsche? It certainly has the tools for it. Link

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was admitted to Walter Reed on Jan. 1 following complications from surgery for prostate cancer. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at the Pentagon on Nov. 22. WASHINGTON — The Pentagon inspector general said in a memo Thursday that it plans to begin a review of how the department handled Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization due to a diagnosis of prostate cancer. "The objective of the review is to examine the roles, processes, procedures, responsibilities, and actions related to the Secretary of Defense’s hospitalization in December 2023 – January 2024, and assess whether the DoD’s policies and procedures are sufficient to ensure timely and appropriate notifications and the effective transition of authorities as may be warranted due to health-based or other unavailability of senior leadership," the memo from Robert Storch said. Austin has come under fire for how he and his staff handled communicating his cancer diagnosis and hospitalization over the last month. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said earlier this week that lawyers at the Defense Department were reviewing whether any laws were broken in the delay to notify top government leaders In a statement Wednesday, Ryder said that Austin remained hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and was "in good condition." "He’s in contact with his senior staff and has full access to required secure communications capabilities and continues to monitor DOD’s day-to-day operations worldwide," Ryder said. "The Secretary also took an operational update today from the U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Erik Kurilla and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr." Ryder said that there was still no date for him to be discharged from the hospital. Austin, 70, was diagnosed in early December with prostate cancer and underwent a prostatectomy on Dec. 22, during which he was “under general anesthesia,” Walter Reed said in a statement Tuesday. He went home the next day but was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 1 after experiencing severe pain. Doctors discovered he had a urinary tract infection and a collection of fluids impairing the function of his small intestines. Walter Reed said that Austin was in the intensive care unit for several days. On Jan. 2, a day after Austin was admitted, Ryder and his deputy were informed about his hospitalization. That same day, some of the secretary’s duties were transferred to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico. Hicks wasn’t told, however, that Austin was in the hospital until two days later, on Jan. 4, a senior defense official said. It was also on Jan. 4 that President Joe Biden and some other top White House officials learned of Austin’s hospitalization, three days after he was admitted. The department's first public statement about Austin's hospitalization was on Jan. 5. Walter Reed didn’t disclose why Austin was hospitalized on Jan. 1 until this week. On Tuesday, officials told the public about Austin's cancer diagnosis and it was only that morning that the White House, including Biden, learned about the diagnosis, as well. Members of Congress have criticized Austin for taking days to notify top defense officials, the White House and lawmakers. On Wednesday, Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania became the first Democrat in Congress to call on Austin to resign from his Cabinet post. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed, D-R.I., told NBC News on Wednesday that the committee wouldn't rule out holding a hearing on the issue but is "trying to accumulate all the information that we think is appropriate to examine what happened." Austin has been hospitalized during a tense period in the Middle East, as Israel continues its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, as the United States launched a rare and controversial strike against a senior Iranian-backed militia member in Baghdad, and as the U.S. and its allies contend with attacks by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels against commercial ships in the Red Sea. Link

Iran has warned it would respond to the US seizure of the same vessel, which previously sailed under the name Suez Rajan, last year (file image) Iran has seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. Armed men wearing masks reportedly boarded the vessel St Nikolas, close to the Omani port of Sohar, and ordered it to sail to an Iranian port. Iranian state media, quoting the navy, said the seizure was in retaliation for the ship and oil it had aboard being confiscated by the US last year. The St Nikolas was in transit between the Iraqi port of Basra and its intended destination in Turkey. UK Maritime Trade Operations said on Thursday it had received a report that four to five "unauthorised persons", reportedly wearing "military style black uniforms with black masks", had boarded the ship at 03:30 GMT. They added that communications with the vessel had been lost and the authorities were investigating. Iranian state media quoted the army as saying the vessel is American, although it is Greek-owned. The company that manages it, Empire Navigation, said it was loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil and was carrying 18 Filipinos and one Greek citizen as crew. The St Nikolas was seized in April by the US under its previous name, the Suez Rajan, as part of sanctions enforcement against Iran. Suez Rajan Limited, which formerly chartered the ship, later pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate sanctions by covertly selling and transporting oil abroad on behalf of Iran. The US has called for the immediate release of the vessel and its crew, describing the seizure as the latest attempt by Iran to disrupt international commerce. "We believe this kind of action will simply add uncertainty for commercial shipping and for regional and global economies," said US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel. This latest act appears to be separate from attacks carried out by Houthi rebels from Yemen in the Red Sea on the opposite side of the Arabian peninsula. Thursday's incident was in a different ocean from the Houthis' usual area of operations - where they have been attacking any ships they suspect of being linked to Israel in retaliation for the country's actions in Gaza. The US and UK have hinted they could take military action against Yemen's Houthi rebels following the largest attack yet. Carrier-based jets and warships shot down 21 drones and missiles launched by the Iran-backed group on Tuesday night. The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding an immediate end to the Houthi attacks. Link

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Nick movie: THE KARATE KID Time: June 22, 1984 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 127 M Trailer: