Lewis Hamilton’s latest victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix was overshadowed by a horror crash for Romain Grosjean in the opening moments of the race.
The French driver’s Haas car split in two and was engulfed in flames after slamming into the barriers but miraculously he escaped without serious injury.
In the Premier League, there were victories for Manchester City and Manchester United while Wolves’ 2-1 success at Arsenal was overshadowed by a sickening head injury suffered by striker Raul Jimenez.
England celebrated victories in rugby union and cricket, and St Helens claimed a dramatic success in the Super League Grand Final.
Here, the PA news agency tells the story of the sporting weekend in pictures.
Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa granted clemency to more than 4,000 prisoners, including some who were on death row, in an independence day amnesty on Thursday. Zimbabwe marked 44 years of independence from white minority rule, which ended in 1980 after a bloody bush war. The country’s name was changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.
Fady Joudah, an acclaimed Palestinian-American poet who has said he writes for the future because “the present is demolished,” has received a $100,000 award from Poets & Writers. Joudah's books include “The Earth in the Attic” and “Tethered to the Stars," along with English-language translations of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.
The parliament of Bosnia´s autonomous Serb Republic adopted a report on Thursday stating that the killing of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war did not constitute genocide, contravening the rulings of international courts. The massacre in 1995, which happened in the week after the U.N. safe zone of Srebrenica was attacked by the Bosnian Serb forces, was seen as Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two. The parliamentary step came as Serbia and the Serb Republic campaign against a resolution to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide that is being debated in the United Nations and should be voted on in the General Assembly in early May.
Generative AI is advancing so quickly that the latest chatbots available today could be out of date tomorrow. Google, Meta Platforms and OpenAI, along with startups such as Anthropic, Cohere and France’s Mistral, have been churning out new AI language models and hoping to persuade customers they've got the smartest, handiest or most efficient chatbots. Meta is the latest to up its game, unveiling new models Thursday that will be among the most visible: they're already getting baked into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenceman Cade Webber to a two-year, entry-level contract, the NHL club announced Thursday. The contract carries an average annual value of US$875,000. The 23-year-old Weber had six assists in 38 games during the 2023-24 NCAA season with Boston University. He helped the Terriers reach the 2024 Men's Frozen Four semifinals. Webber, from Meadville, Penn., has 16 points (one goal, 15 assists) in 123 career NCAA games with Boston University. He was name
Guitar legend Dickey Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, “Ramblin’ Man,” has died. He was 80. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer died at his home in Osprey, Florida, David Spero, Betts’ manager of 20 years, confirmed. Betts had been battling cancer for more than a year and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Spero said. “He was surrounded by his whole family and he passed peacefully. They didn’t think he was in any pain,” Spero said by phone. Betts share
U.S. mortgage rates increased by the most since June and also crossed the 7% threshold for the first time since December, muddling home sales growth, a Thursday report said. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.10% for the week ended April 18 from 6.88% the week prior, Freddie Mac reported. “As rates trend higher, potential homebuyers are deciding whether to buy before rates rise even more or hold off in hopes of decreases later in the year," said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist.