abandons

Mayer, the son of former McLaren team principal Teddy Mayer and a long-time steward for the FIA before being fired by Ben Sulayem last year, said he had submitted a number of ethics complaints to the governing body about the election process.

“We strongly believe a series of ethics violations have been committed in this election process,” he said. “And we have now submitted numerous ethics complaints.

“Assuming the Ethics Committee finds validity to our complaints, who does this go to for action? The president of the FIA or the senate president – both conflicted parties. The statutes don’t provide for any other method or for any appeal. Where is the accountability? This is how institutions fail.

“I am not a revolutionary. I do want to evolve the FIA to a better place so I intend to use the processes of the FIA as much as is don’t believe they are independent or free and open.”

He also questioned the appointment of Daniel Coen as a representative for the world council from Costa Rica when the country has no motorsport events listed, which is a requirement of membership.

Mayer quoted from a report into the FIA produced by the Utrecht School of Governance, which studies public organisations in their interaction with the developments in politics and society.

Its report said the FIA score on the sports governance observer index was 45% which places it “among federations that have adopted the formal trappings of modern governance but lack robust institutional policies and safeguards”.

The report continued: “The FIA’s governance structurally concentrates power in the office of the president, and accountability remains confined within a system over which the president exercises decisive control.”

An FIA spokesperson said: “The FIA presidential election is a structured and democratic process, to ensure fairness and integrity at every stage.

“The requirements for the 2025 FIA elections, including the relevant deadlines and eligibility criteria for the presidential list and World Councils, are defined in the FIA statutes and internal regulations, which are publicly available on the FIA’s website.

“Detailed information regarding these elections has also been made available on a dedicated page on the FIA’s website since 13 June 2025 and communicated to all FIA members.

“The requirements related to the regional representation of the vice-presidents for sport, and to select them from the World Motor Sport Council in order to draw up a presidential list, are not new. These criteria applied to previous elections.

“As to be expected, preparing a candidature for a presidential list or the World Councils requires certain steps to be taken. Prospective candidates have had since the publication of the detailed information on 13 June to prepare their applications.”

Responding to the Utrecht report cited by Mayer, the FIA spokesperson said: “The report commissioned by Tim Mayer’s team finds the FIA’s governance practices to be in line with other federations, particularly those ‘that have made progress in formalising governance structures’.

“The benchmarking process outlined within the report does not find the FIA to be behind the curve. This reflects the fact that the FIA has taken several steps to strengthen its corporate governance policies.

“The FIA was not contacted to confirm any of the statements or assumptions made about its processes, policies and administration within the report.”

Holiday-maker Jason Hall was heading home after a nine-day break in Cyprus with his 13-year-old daughter when they found themselves ‘abandoned’ at the wrong airport

A holidaymaker vowed to boycott an airline after he and his daughter were left ‘abandoned’ overnight.

Jason Hall, 54, had been enjoying a nine-day getaway with his 13-year-old daughter in Cyprus, and they had been due to land at Birmingham Airport at 5.30pm on August 6. But, after a small aircraft crash-landed on the runway, their flight was diverted to Cardiff Airport, arriving at 6.10pm.

Passengers on the aircraft were promised that return transport would be arranged for them – but, according to Jason, that did not take place. He has gone on to slam the company’s ‘shocking’ after-care.

Jason, of Clayton, told StokeonTrentLive: “I can’t complain about the holiday – it was lovely. Coming back was where the trouble started. We were promised that we’d be provided with coach travel back to Birmingham – I didn’t mind, these things happen sometimes.

“We spent an hour-and-a-half collecting our bags because they weren’t expecting two massive 300-passenger TUI planes in. But once we’d got our things, we couldn’t see a single member of TUI staff in the whole airport. We left for the car park, and there were around 450 people stood waiting for these coaches.”

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He continued: “Eventually, a member of staff from Cardiff Airport – not a member of TUI staff – came out to tell us that three coaches had already been and gone. But if you think that a coach can hold roughly 50 people, that was nowhere near enough for the 600 of us who had landed.

“There were young families, children, kids in wheelchairs, all sorts of people left with no way of getting home. We stood in the car park for around an hour waiting for some sort of direction. Then everybody’s phone went off at the same time. It was an email from TUI informing us that they could not get us home and that we’d need to make our own arrangements.”

Passengers left stranded at Cardiff Airport were told that the airline was ‘having issues sourcing transport’ and encouraged passengers to pay for their own travel arrangements. TUI promised customers it would compensate them in full for any extra costs after their journey.

“We were all just abandoned by TUI,” Jason explained. “There were students and people who didn’t have the money to pay for this up front. Some people were getting local taxis that were costing £350. Others were getting Ubers which were costing £450. Within half an hour, you couldn’t even book one. They’d all gone.

READ MORE: ‘Jet2 gave me a broom cupboard for a hotel room in holiday from hell for bizarre reason’

“I made a decision to get a nearby hotel room for me and my daughter, as I didn’t want to make her sleep in the airport. We got a little room down the road for £85. We couldn’t physically get home. There were no taxis and you couldn’t get a train until the next day.

“The next morning, we went to the station and caught four different trains. We went from Cardiff to Bristol, Bristol to Birmingham New Street, and Birmingham New Street to the airport. When we finally arrived back to the car, I’d got a parking fine.”

Jason’s disastrous journey home led him to miss a day’s paid work as well as the £85 hotel bill, £100 in train fares, and the £60 parking ticket. But he claims TUI refused to compensate his costs in full.

He added: “They only offered to pay for my train fares. I explained the rest of my additional costs, but they just weren’t interested. They made out as if I should have just gone straight back, but that wasn’t possible. The duty of care and customer service was just non-existent.

READ MORE: Mum and kids driven ‘out of our minds’ as they’re ‘stranded’ after TUI cancellation

“It was absolutely shocking. I’ll never use them again. They’re fine so long as everything runs smoothly. But as soon as there’s some kind of incident, it seems they just don’t want to look after you at all. The bare minimum is ensuring they can get you to your destination – not just abandon you somewhere else.”

TUI has since repaid Jason in full.

A spokesperson for TUI UK & Ireland said: “We would like to apologise to all customers impacted by this unexpected flight diversion, which was unfortunately out of our control. We always strive to provide our customers with the best possible travel experience, and we understand that this situation impacted the end of their holiday.

“We have been in direct contact with all customers, including Mr Hall, and have arranged refunds for out-of-pocket expenses.”

Sept. 28 (UPI) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that he will abandon his re-election bid just five weeks before the election after a federal bribery indictment and the Campaign Finance Board’s decision to withhold millions in public matching funds.

Adams made the announcement with a nearly nine-minute video posted to social media that began with Frank Sinatra‘s “My Way.” He did not make any endorsements in the video.

His name will remain on the ballot in November, but his departure leaves the election to three main challengers, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat running independently after allegations of sexual misconduct led to his 2021 resignation as governor.

“Despite all we’ve achieved, I cannot continue my re-election campaign,” Adams said. “The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.”

The announcement caps a dramatic fall for Adams, a former NYPD captain and Brooklyn borough president who won City Hall in 2021, promising to restore order after the pandemic. His tenure was quickly overshadowed by controversies over homelessness, migrant housing and public safety, and he never recovered politically after federal prosecutors began probing his fundraising.

The indictment, unsealed earlier this year, accused Adams and aides of soliciting and accepting illegal foreign donations during his 2021 campaign, including money allegedly funneled from Turkish interests. Adams, who was indicted and pleaded not guilty, saw the case later dropped.

The video largely followed prepared remarks that were shared with The New York Times ahead of its release. That draft included criticism of Cuomo, calling him power-hungry and untrustworthy, which did not appear in the final version — fueling speculation Adams may ultimately endorse the former governor, who is viewed as Mamdani’s strongest challenger.

Mamdani, an Astoria, Queens, assemblyman, has surged in polls with support from younger voters and progressive activists, reflecting a broader leftward shift in city politics.

“The choice Eric Adams made today was not an easy one, but I believe he is sincere in putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them.”

Cuomo’s statement reads similarly to comments by Adams in his video, who appeared to warn voters against choosing Mamdani. Without naming Mamdani, Adams criticized “insidious forces” for pushing “divisive agendas” that seek to “destroy the very system we built together over generations.”

Antiques Road Trip descended into bitter clash on Sunday afternoon’s episode as an expert abandoned co-star during a heated row that saw them split up at the auction house

Antiques Road Trip descended into a bitter clash on Sunday afternoon’s episode as an expert abandoned co-star during a heated row. The BBC afternoon favourite returned over the weekend with a previous instalment when Paul Laidlaw joined fellow expert Margie Cooper on the valuation programme, and the pair ventured from Lincolnshire as they set off on their way to the auction house in Harrogate.

With Paul behind the wheel as Margie set out on an expedition that would see her try to contact spirits from beyond, she warned him ‘not to start with all this war stuff’ as they made their way to the auction house.

Paul began: “I don’t know much about it, airfields! Lincs, East Coast. I’ve got to bring the war up.” Margie then joked: “Oh, don’t, you’re not going to start with all this war stuff!”

READ MORE: Antiques Roadshow painting gets ‘record-breaking’ value before sad twistREAD MORE: Antiques Road Trip expert issues warning after ‘falling over’ during chaotic deal

Paul shot back: “My tactic is… but you won’t. I’m sure this won’t upset you. I will just be hovering behind, ready to snatch. Is that the best you can do?”

Margie hit back: “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare!” Paul, who was pursuing the purchase of military memorabilia and did go on to discover some rather interesting artefacts, joked to his co-star: “We may end up in the same shop this morning. I’m talking about militaria.”

Not quite satisfied with that stance, Margie shot back: “Sniffing around! Oh no! Please! You’re not still buying that old rubbish, are you?” and she suggested once they had arrived: “Shall we divide and conquer? I’ll just abandon you by the roadside!”

Once inside, Margie deliberately crept up on her co-star and he fumed: “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you familiar with the concept of trespassing? I thought you were,” but she fired back: “I am allowed to go where I want to! I was told!”

Paul, furious at this stage, ranted: “is this? An interrogation? You come in here and interrogate me!” Despite this, the pair still maintained a good rapport on screen for the rest of the episode and were on civil terms by the time the auction came around.

It comes just days after dealer Paul was gobsmacked after he stumbled upon a rare vintage camera in an antique shop. The camera later fetched a whopping £20,000 at auction.

Paul had snapped up the camera for a mere £60 and was left stunned alongside competitor Kate Bliss at the Bury St. Edmunds auction in Suffolk when the hammer fell at such an astronomical price, especially after watching the bidding increments soar.

The specialist found the camera while hunting for curiosities and collectables in Margate, Kent. The shop owner explained: “Three floors, the upstairs is mainly furniture, but there’s stuff everywhere. And on this floor, there are four rooms through, and in the middle, there’s a staircase which goes down to a room full of chairs and another room full below!”

Faced with the daunting task ahead, Paul joked: “Don’t send the cavalry, okay?” After spending a considerable amount of time rummaging through the treasures, Paul returned to the counter and proposed: “In your cabinet over there, optical instrument… £75 on that, I bid you £50.

“Give me £60 and I’ll shake your hand, but I’m not doing any better than that, I’m afraid,” the proprietor responded. “Shake my hand!” Paul retorted, and the owner added, “Good man, deal done.”

He then turned to the camera and revealed: “What do you get for your money when you open it up? That looks like a peepside and it is!”.

“I think this is a very early camera. If I’m right, that could be quite exciting. The photographic market is very much in the ascent, it’s a hot market, I think that’s a good thing.”

Antiques Road Trip is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reports the vessel is taking on water after being targeted with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.

A commercial vessel in the Red Sea has come under attack after small boats fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons towards the ship.

According to the organisation United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), the incident took place 94km (51 nautical miles) southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

“The vessel has been engaged by multiple small vessels who have opened fire with small arms and self-propelled grenades. [The] armed security team have returned fire and situation is ongoing,” said UKMTO, which is run by Britain’s Royal Navy.

The UKMTO said the attack resulted in a fire onboard and the vessel began taking on water Sunday night as its crew prepared to abandon ship.

“Authorities are investigating,” it said, adding later the ship was ablaze after being “struck by unknown projectiles”.

“UKMTO has had confirmation from the Company Security Officer that the vessel is taking on water and crew are preparing to abandon ship,” a statement said.

Maritime security sources added that the vessel was identified as the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas.

British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an advisory that the ship was attacked by four unmanned surface vehicles [USVs].

“Two of the USVs impacted the port side of the vessel, damaging the vessel’s cargo,” Ambrey added.

While no one has claimed responsibility, Ambrey said the attack matched the “established Houthi target profile”.

The Yemen-based armed group the Houthis began targeting vessels in the Red Sea shortly after Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, which the Houthis say is in defence of the Palestinians living in the besieged enclave.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks targeting commercial vessels, disrupting global shipping and forcing firms to reroute.

Their campaign has expanded to include vessels linked to the United States and the United Kingdom since the two countries initiated military strikes in January 2024.

In May, the Houthis and the US agreed on a ceasefire that would see the end of attacks on US ships. But the Houthis vowed to continue to target Israeli-linked vessels.

A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area.

This comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East as a possible ceasefire in the war on Gaza hangs in the balance, and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear programme following US air strikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites.

When four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, President George H.W. Bush expressed the shock and horror many Americans felt.

“What you saw and what I saw on the TV video was revolting,” Bush said in a nationally televised speech from the Oval Office. “I felt anger. I felt pain. I thought: How can I explain this to my grandchildren?”

Bush spoke after dispatching National Guard troops to Los Angeles following three days of civil unrest sparked by the not-guilty verdicts — some of the worst domestic violence the country had ever seen. He acted at the request of California Gov. Pete Wilson and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Bush offered no apologies. To the contrary, he said “there can be no excuse … for the murder, arson, theft, and vandalism that have terrorized the law-abiding citizens of Los Angeles.”

At the same time, however, Bush sought to address some of the underlying issues — the racist history of the LAPD, chief among them — that festered for decades before exploding into molten rage. And he promised to use Washington’s power to pursue justice, which eventually led to a federal trial of the officers who battered King.

That is, historically, what presidents have done: Facing volatile circumstances, confronting crises, they summon the powers of their office to explain, to ameliorate, to reassure and above all, to try to calm the situation.

Not Donald Trump.

Anger and aggrievement are the twin engines that power the president’s glowering soul. He used the pretense of some relatively modest, scattered protests to seize control of the National Guard and unilaterally dispatch troops to Los Angeles — launching an assault on the Constitution and the limits of presidential power yet again.

He demonstrated anew his eagerness to divide and conquer and, with swagger, put the bully into bully pulpit.

“He does not see that calming role as being very integral to what he does,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton historian and author of a book on Trump’s first term. “He is definitely willing to provoke conflict and to fuel division rather than to move in the opposite way. … Instead of calming a situation, it’s the opposite. It’s ramping up a situation.”

Before we continue, let’s be clear. As Bush said, there’s no excuse for arson, theft or vandalism.

Violent protest doesn’t bring about justice. It only begets more violence. It justifies crackdowns like the one Trump has so eagerly employed — playing into the president’s hands, as Gov. Gavin Newsom put it.

Moreover, waving the flag of a foreign country isn’t prideful, or politically smart in the least. Rightly or wrongly, it’s inciteful, serving only to distract from and hurt the pro-migrant cause the flag-wavers profess to champion.

And, to be clear, there are some people who use protests like the ones against Trump’s immigration raids as a cover and excuse to pursue an extraneous agenda of violence and anarchy. They’re doing more than just physical damage.

None of which, however, justifies the conduct of a president who, when faced with flames, comes running with gasoline. Instead of a steady hand or the consoler-in-chief, we have a political arsonist residing in the White House.

The fact Trump dispatched troops to tamp down protests in Los Angeles, the biggest blue megalopolis in the nation’s biggest blue state, cannot be ignored.

“The president loves to take symbolic acts,” said George Edwards, a presidential scholar at Texas A&M University, in this instance targeting California and a long-time nemesis, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and using immigration — long an issue at the heart of his political agenda — as his sword and shield.

“Aside from an incidental goal of keeping peace,” Edwars said,. “I think that’s important in his mind.”

You can practically see Trump salivate.

And there is something else worth noting, as the president calls in the Guard and positions himself as the savior of law-and-order.

“They spit, we hit!’” Trump blustered, warning demonstrators of the consequences they would face if they assaulted police and troops in such a manner.

This from a president who unconditionally pardoned 1,500 criminals convicted in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and its peace officers — one of whom attacked a policeman by plunging a stun gun multiple times into his neck.

“You tase, we’re unfazed!” — is that how it’s going to be, so long as the violence is conducted on Trump’s behalf?

In the decade since his descent down a gilded escalator — and emergence as the most dominant and consequential political figure of the 21st century — Trump has proven himself a peerless master of distraction and deflection. And so it is again.

Elon who?

But in looking out for his own interests, and conflating policy with personal grudges, Trump has abdicated one of the responsibilities of a president: to dampen unruly passions, to quell violence and, as the preamble of the Constitution states, to “insure domestic tranquility.”

“Any moment like this is very dangerous,” Zelizer said, “because the more force that that is there, the more potential there is for something bad to happen.”

We can hope for the best. But this will probably not end well.

It was the second time in one day that the FTC pulled out of litigation begun during the Biden administration.

The Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission is abandoning a Biden-era effort to block Microsoft’s purchase of Call of Duty video game maker Activision Blizzard.

In an order issued Thursday, the FTC said it had determined that “the public interest is best served by dismissing the administrative litigation in this case.”

It was the second time in one day that the FTC pulled out of litigation begun during the administration of former President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Earlier Thursday, the FTC said it was dismissing a lawsuit against PepsiCo that was filed by the Democratic-controlled FTC in January.

Microsoft announced a $69bn acquisition of Activision in January 2022. It was one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history and was designed to boost sales of Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console, which has lagged in sales behind Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo.

In December 2022, the FTC – then led by Democratic Chairwoman Lina Khan – sued to temporarily block the acquisition, saying it would let Microsoft suppress competitors who want access to Xbox and its subscription content.

In July 2023, the United States District Court in Northern California denied the FTC’s request to pause the acquisition, but the FTC appealed. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court also denied the FTC’s request.

In the meantime, Microsoft completed its purchase of Activision in October 2023 after it won approval from the United Kingdom’s competition watchdog, which had also considered blocking the merger.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chairman and president, said Thursday in a statement on X that the decision is a victory for video game players and for “common sense in Washington DC”.

“We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement,” Smith said.

Political actions

Khan stepped down from the FTC when President Donald Trump took office in January, and Trump fired Democratic Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya in March. Bedoya and Slaughter have sued the Trump administration, saying their removal was illegal.

Right now, the FTC is made up of three Republican commissioners, and it’s unclear when the two Democrats on the commission will be replaced. A message seeking comment was left with the FTC.

In the PepsiCo case, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said the Biden-era FTC rushed to authorise a case just three days before Trump’s inauguration. He said on Thursday that the case, which alleged that PepsiCo was violating the law by giving unfair price advantages to Walmart, was a “dubious political stunt”.

But the FTC hasn’t stood in the way of some Biden-era policies. Earlier this month, a rule the FTC announced in December requiring ticket sellers, hotels, vacation rental platforms and others to disclose their fees upfront went into effect.