Elbahrain.net Max Verstappen has the chance to add to one of the most entertaining Formula One seasons in recent memory by becoming a four-time World Drivers’ Champion at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

McLaren’s Lando Norris emerged as Verstappen’s closest challenger and has hunted the Dutchman for much of the season, though the British driver’s title dreams are close to fading entirely.

Mercedes driver George Russell qualified on pole position for the race and will have Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz alongside him on the grid in P2.

Pierre Gasly took a surprise P3 for Alpine, with Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc starting fourth. Verstappen will have the upper hand on Norris at the race start, qualifying P5 ahead of the Brit, who will start just behind him in P6.

How to watch the Las Vegas Grand Prix
The 22nd race of the 2024 season gets underway at 10 p.m. PT on Saturday/1 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Fans in the US can keep up with all the action on ESPN. International broadcasters can be found here.

How Verstappen can become champion
Norris entered the weekend 62 points behind Verstappen, meaning that all Verstappen needs to do is finish in front of Norris in Sin City and the title will be his for the fourth consecutive season.

Norris needs to outscore Verstappen by at least three points to extend his challenge to next week’s penultimate race in Qatar.

If both fail to score points, Verstappen will be crowned champion.

Four in a row?
When Verstappen won seven of the opening ten races this year, it looked as though he would ease to the title essentially unopposed for the third straight season. After a titanic battle with Lewis Hamilton for the championship in 2021, the Red Bull driver swept to the title in 2022 before winning 19 out of 22 races the following year to win the championship by an almost 300-point margin.

However, he has only won one Grand Prix since Round 10 in Spain, as the pendulum swung in McLaren’s favor.

Red Bull’s dominance that it had established over the past couple of seasons quickly evaporated as the chasing pack reeled in the Austrian team. The McLaren pair of Norris and Oscar Piastri, Ferrari’s Sainz and Leclerc and the Mercedes duo of Russell and Hamilton have all won at least one race this campaign.

Forced into unfamiliar territory, Verstappen has been made to play catchup for much of the year but has shown the characteristics that have made him a multi-time champion. In a testament to the Dutchman’s ability, the gap between him and Norris is wider than it was after Round 9 in Miami – where Norris took his first career victory – despite Red Bull not having the fastest car over the course of the season.

“Once we are doing that then you get closer to the end result. Of course, the target is to win the championship.”

Verstappen is aiming to become the sixth driver ever to win at least four titles.

The mood is slightly less upbeat in the McLaren camp, with the championship on the brink of slipping through Norris’ fingers. Despite the recent disappointment, the Brit has said he now knows he has “what it takes.”

“I think it’s the first time in the last six years of F1 when we’ve (McLaren) had a chance to fight at the front,” said Norris. “This is our, and my, first opportunity to do so, and my first opportunity to see where I stand.

“I’m confident to say I have what I think I need to fight for a championship. It doesn’t mean I’m complete, it doesn’t mean I’m perfect. When you’re competing against drivers who are close to that, like Max, you have to be close to perfect if you want to challenge him.”

The Constructors’ Championship is still firmly up for grabs. Only 49 points separate first-placed McLaren from Red Bull in third, with Ferrari lurking in second.

Elbahrain.net Harry Kane became the fastest player to score 50 Bundesliga goals as Bayern Munich beat Augsburg 3-0 on Friday.

The 31-year-old striker netted all three of Bayern’s goals as the club continued its impressive start to the Bundesliga season.

Kane has now scored 50 goals in 43 games in the German top division, beating Erling Haaland’s record of 50 goals in 50 games when he was starring for Borussia Dortmund.

After a goalless opening 45 minutes, the England striker found the back of the net three times following the halftime break. Kane scored twice from the penalty spot before completing his hat-trick with an innovative finish.

“We said at half time we should just keep going and create chances,” Kane said following the game, per Reuters. “Thankfully we got the penalty and from there the game opened up.”

Kane struck twice in added time of the second half where he also scored the pick of the goals.

With time running out, Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka delivered a perfectly weighted cross which found Kane in the Augsburg box. Rather than shoot first time, Kane expertly controlled the ball – deceiving the Augsburg goalkeeper – before heading into an open net.

“That’s what makes it so difficult against Harry Kane: you can defend well against him the whole game, but then eventually the space opens up and he strikes,” Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany said, per the German team. “He always knows that when he gets the opportunities, he can score goals.”

With the win against Augsburg, Bayern extended its lead at the top of the Bundesliga table and now sits eight points clear of RB Leipzig.

Bayern Munich is now unbeaten through its first 11 games of the season with nine wins and two draws with Kane scoring 14 goals along the way.

Bayern faces French giant PSG in the Champions League in its next game and will be hoping Kane can continue his blistering form in front of goal.

Elbahrain.net Marc Rowan, a contender for what is arguably the most important economic job in the US government, is the CEO of Apollo Global Management, a behemoth in private equity, an industry notorious for its cutthroat, profit-at-all-costs standards.

The 62-year-old executive’s ascent to Donald Trump’s Cabinet could, if he were nominated and confirmed, represent a major win for one of the most powerful (and often despised) sectors of finance.

As Treasury secretary, Rowan would directly oversee the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is nominally responsible for policing the “nonbank” financial system, including the private equity industry in which he is currently a major player. The Treasury also houses the IRS and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC, which regulates banks.

More to the point, Rowan, as Treasury secretary, would be able to ensure that those regulatory bodies continue to treat private equity the way they always have, under administrations of both Democrats and Republicans. That is to say, largely left alone.

Rowan is one of the wealthiest financiers on Wall Street — Bloomberg estimates his personal fortune to be $11 billion — and as the nation’s Treasurer he would be well positioned to defang any efforts by regulators to rein in Apollo and other major private equity players like KKR, Blackstone and the Carlyle Group.

Apollo declined to comment.

The dark arts of finance
Private equity firms, along with hedge funds and venture capitalists, make up the shadowy world of “private capital” — a more than $24 trillion market, according to EY research. That’s roughly half the size of the US stock market, which is public and policed primarily by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The words “private equity” are almost poetic in their power to obfuscate in such a way that most people simply tune out when they hear them. That is by design.

“It is an industry that likes to operate quietly,” said Megan Greenwell, a journalist and author of a forthcoming book, “Bad Company,” about private equity. “People are not necessarily going to know the ways in which private equity affects their lives until there is some sort of crisis.”

Put simply: Private equity firms (also known by the decidedly less poetic label of “leveraged buyout” firms) invest in struggling companies that aren’t publicly traded, overhaul their operations and later sell them for a profit. Which sounds reasonable enough. But there’s a reason workers tend to have a negative association with private equity.

To buy a company, a PE firm typically relies on debt financing, aka borrowing the money from a bank. That debt then sits on the acquired company’s balance sheet, and only gets paid off using money generated by the business.

For example, when a buyout firm acquired Red Lobster a decade ago, it sold off the company’s real estate for a profit. Then, Red Lobster was forced to pay rent on those buildings that it had previously owned, significantly inflating its operating costs.

Target companies often resort to laying off staff and making other other aggressive cost-cutting measures to service the debts their private equity owners saddled them with to avoid going under. (Though very often, they eventually do go under. Research shows that the bankruptcy rate of target firms acquired by private equity is 10 times the rate of comparable non-targeted companies.)

“Putting a PE executive in charge of the Treasury Department would be a disaster for the American people,” Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of the nonprofit organization Better Markets, which advocates for strong market regulations, said in an email. “The PE industry is grossly under-regulated, and its business model is based on extreme leverage and wealth extraction, often enriching itself at the expense of communities, patients and workers.”

No stopping it
Apollo, which Rowan co-founded in 1990, has more than $700 billion in assets under management, and it wants to double that figure by 2029. Per Bloomberg, Apollo “built its name as the scrappiest private equity and distressed-debt investor on Wall Street by buying businesses and loading them up with debt that offered creditors meager protections in the face of default.”

Historically, private equity deals were largely handled by big banks. But in the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, as traditional banks became more regulated and risk-averse, specialized PE firms like Apollo stepped in to take on deals that traditional financiers no longer had the stomach for.

The industry has become a concentrated and powerful force in the global economy, with more than $8 trillion in assets under management last year.

Private equity firms now hold controlling stakes across an array of industries, including supermarkets, housing, health care, fashion, restaurants and vet clinics.

It’s hard to overstate just how complex and opaque private equity’s financing can be, and that’s partly why regulators and some lawmakers have targeted the industry as a threat to financial stability. (The Financial Times created the clearest possible flow chart of PE’s tangled financing web, and it’s honestly still pretty confusing.)

Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have introduced a bill that would make PE firms liable for the conduct of their target companies and better protect employees whose jobs are eliminated.

But that legislation has struggled to garner bipartisan support. And other efforts to force more transparency and accountability in private equity have similarly faced opposition. Over the summer, a federal appeals court struck down an SEC effort to impose new rules on the industry.

As of Thursday afternoon, the president-elect hadn’t announced his pick for Treasury, though Rowan was widely reported to be among the top choices, along with hedge fund manager Scott Bessent and Kevin Warsh, a former investment banker and former Federal Reserve governor.

“I think if you are concerned about the growing influence of private equity, there is nothing here that is going to slow it down,” Greenwell said. “Maybe Democrats weren’t going to slow it down, either, but certainly now it will just continue to grow in size, power and influence.”

Elbahrain.net Bond at the Bazaar
The many red-tiled roofs of the bazaar — one for each shop — will be familiar to cinema audiences around the world after their star appearance in the epic opening chase sequence of the James Bond film “Skyfall,” from 2012.

As the suited spy, Daniel Craig raced a motorbike along the rooftop walkways that mirror the market’s streets below, but it’s a much quieter scene that greets us when we ascend to the rooftops on a clear, hot Friday afternoon in September.

Up here, we’re alone but for a reclining cat and the occasional seagull taking a rest from flying over the Bosphorus or the Marmara Sea.

Istanbul was the most touristed city in the world in 2023, attracting 20.2 million international visitors, but this is a view of the metropolis still only a select number have seen.

“The Grand Bazaar rooftop was once only accessible to shop owners. They’d go up there to make repairs before winter,” Elif Yildiz Güven, head of the Grand Bazaar’s board of directors, tells CNN. “Since 2020, the rooftop has been open to the public through registered travel agencies and licensed guides.”

However, tours are limited to just 10 people at a time in 20-minute slots, Monday to Saturday, and names and passport details need to be provided 24 hours in advance for safety and security reasons.

The restoration project
The roof has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation since its appearance in “Skyfall,” with up to 100 workers a day busy across its vast expanse. Now, keeping the 800,000 tiles in excellent repair is an ongoing task.

“The rooftop hadn’t undergone significant restoration until 2016,” says Güven, but “restoring such an ancient and expansive marketplace isn’t a one-time affair. Istanbul has weathered many earthquakes, and remnants of the 1894 quake can still be seen.” That 1894 earthquake struck close to Istanbul, leaving hundreds dead and causing extensive damage.

“The red tiles were specially made for this project, designed in a semi-circle to help rainwater flow off easily,” she adds.

The bazaar’s original 15th and 16th century structures were built in wood, before one of several fires led to it being rebuilt in stone and brickwork.

We are stood in the central Fatih district on the European side of Istanbul and, gazing round, we can see Asia across the Bosphorus Strait and the seven hills upon which the ancient city of Constantinople was founded. The bazaar itself is on the slope of the third hill.

The tours last 20 minutes and, with your guide, you stroll along the walkways and steps previously only used by shop owners and maintenance workers. Running is not permitted, nor is walking along while filming — the risk of falling is high if you are not paying close attention.

“As you walk, you can spot Nur-u Osmaniye, Turkey’s only fully Baroque mosque. Then, the majestic Beyazit and Süleyman the Magnificent Mosques come into view,” says Güven.

Gold and jewels
We pause at 5 p.m. as the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, rings out across the city in a crescendo of overlapping melodies, a sound that is heard five times a day.

“You can also see the fire watch tower and many other historical buildings, and if your eyesight is sharp, you might even catch a glimpse of the Galata Tower.” she adds. The 14th century fortification is one of Istanbul’s well-known landmarks.

Below us, the market is thronged with harvest season visitors, the busiest time on the bazaar’s calendar.

Traditionally at harvest time, “people start to marry their boys and girls,” explains tour guide Barış Partal, and wedding preparations begin. “Here is the place you should buy the gold with best price.”

With so much precious gold beneath us, “safety is very important,” says Partal. “That’s why they have to record every single person’s name, surname, passport number, just in case.”

There is also the “highly valuable stone business, like emerald, ruby, diamond, not just gold.”

Elbahrain.net A Thai court has handed down the death penalty to a woman accused of fatally poisoning at least a dozen people, the first ruling in a high-profile serial murder case that has gripped the nation.

Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn killed her friend last year by spiking the victim’s food with cyanide, then stole property from her worth more than $4,400, according to a summary of the Bangkok court’s judgment on Wednesday.

The gambling addict had turned to murder and robbery to pay off her debts, the judge said during the three-hour long hearing, government-owned broadcaster NBT Connext reported.

National attention on the case has been fueled by Sararat’s ties to her ex-husband – a former senior police officer – and her pregnancy when she was arrested last May in connection with the suspicious death of Siriporn Khanwong, which sparked a sweeping investigation into a spate of other unsolved cyanide poisonings.

The two women were seen together on CCTV footage before Siriporn fainted and died, police previously told CNN.

Siriporn’s autopsy found traces of cyanide in her system, which a police probe later revealed to be a common factor among victims who ate or drank with Sararat prior to their deaths, police told CNN last year

death. In addition to the death sentence, she was also ordered to pay compensation for unrecovered stolen items.

Siriporn’s family wept and embraced when the sentence was read out, NBT Connext reported. Sararat did not make eye contact with the plaintiff’s side of court, though she smiled and chatted with her lawyer during the hearing.

Sararat’s lawyer and her ex-husband were also sentenced on Wednesday.

Following Siriporn’s killing, the killer’s lawyer, Thanicha Eksuwanwat, urged her ex-husband, Witoon Rangsiwuthaporn, to destroy or conceal evidence that linked her to the crime, according to the judgment summary.

Witoon, the former police officer, was sentenced to one year and four months in prison, according to the summary. Thanicha, the lawyer, was sentenced to two years in prison.

Thanicha and Witoon were both granted bail by the court pending their appeals.

Thanicha told CNN on Thursday that Saratat denies the accusations against her and plans to appeal her conviction. “My client is innocent … She is not satisfied with the court verdict,” Thanicha said.

The national police agency will submit a string of additional murder cases against Sararat to the prosecutor next week, NBT Connext reported.

Thailand lifted a de facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty in 2018, executing a man by lethal injection in the country’s first execution since August 2009, according to rights groups.

No executions have taken place since, but courts have handed down the death sentence in several cases, including the high-profile murders of two British backpackers in 2019.