SINGAPORE (AP) — Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was punished Friday for swearing in a news conference in which he argued against greater restrictions on drivers swearing.
Stewards ruling for the sport's governing body, the FIA, decided Verstappen should “accomplish some work of public interest." Exactly what that involves is to be agreed with the FIA.
Speaking ahead of Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, Verstappen used an expletive Thursday to describe his car's performance in qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the week before.
The stewards' ruling Friday said the Dutch driver argued the word was “ordinary in speech as he learned it, English not being his native language.” The stewards said that Verstappen was a role model and should be “mindful when speaking in public forums".
At the same news conference, Verstappen argued against “putting bans on drivers” for swearing. He said airing drivers' radio messages during races if they included swearing was a question for broadcasters.
“In other sports you don’t run around with a mic attached to you. I think a lot of people say a lot of bad things when they are full of adrenaline in other sports, it just doesn’t get picked up,” he said.
The ruling comes after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem criticized the amount of swearing, telling the motorsport.com website that “we have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music."
Ben Sulayem was criticized by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who said he used “stereotypical” language about rappers with a “racial element”.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the first practice session of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Singapore, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands during the first practice session of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Singapore, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people injured by shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who have been launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Another 14 people had minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before dawn, the military said.
The Houthis in a statement on Telegram said they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target that they did not identify. Israel's military said it was investigating, adding that “we emphasize that aerial defense is not hermetic.”
“A flash of light, a blow and we fell to the ground. Big mess, broken glasses all over the place,” said Bar Katz, a resident of a damaged building.
The attack came after Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, and port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people Thursday. The strikes came hours after a missile from Yemen hit a school building in central Israel. The Houthis also claimed a drone strike targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel that day.
Israel's military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the 14-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthis have also attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli strikes Thursday caused “considerable damage” to the Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The Hodeida port has been key for food shipments into Yemen in its decade-long civil war.
Mourners in Gaza held funerals for 19 Palestinians — 12 of them children — killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.
One strike hit a residential building in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least seven, including five children and one woman, and injuring 16 others, health officials said.
In Gaza City, a strike on a house killed 12, including seven children and two women, according to Al-Ahli Hospital where the bodies were taken.
One man cradled a tiny shroud-wrapped body as mourners gathered at the hospital in Gaza City. Women comforted each other as they wept.
Later Saturday, al-Awda Hospital said an airstrike hit a house in Nuseirat and killed four people including two children, with 14 other people wounded. Israel's military said it was checking the report.
More than 45,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, when a Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people and triggered the war. Gaza's Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said more than half of fatalities are women and children.
Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian deaths in Gaza. It says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.
Gaza's Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal for medical and food supplies to be delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in largely isolated northern Gaza, as Israel's military pressed its latest offensive.
The ministry reported continuous gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital, saying “shells have struck the third floor and the hospital’s entrances, creating a state of panic.”
Hospital director Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh said the facility faced “severe shortages” and asserted that requests for essential medical supplies and ways to maintain oxygen, water and electricity systems "have largely gone unmet.”
He said 72 wounded people were being treated at the hospital.
“Food is very scarce, and we cannot provide meals for the wounded," Safiyeh added. “We are urgently calling on anyone who can provide supplies to help us.”
Aid groups have said Israeli military operations and armed gangs have hindered their ability to distribute aid.
The Israeli military organization dealing with humanitarian affairs for Gaza said Saturday it had led an operation delivering thousands of food packages, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north. It said trucks with the U.N. World Food Program transported them to distribution centers in the area Friday.
Iran on Saturday said unknown gunmen killed a local staffer of the Iranian Embassy in Syria in Damascus last Sunday, the official IRNA news agency said.
Its report quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei as saying “terrorists” opened fire on Davood Bitaraf’s car. It did not say what he did with the embassy. The shooting occurred the day that opposition fighters took Damascus and ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
Baghaei said Iran considers Syria’s interim government responsible for finding and prosecuting those behind the killing. Iran had been a key Assad ally.
Shurafa reported from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A Palestinian boy carries jerrycans of water along a dirt road in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Saturday Dec 21, 2024 (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israeli soldiers stand on armoured vehicles after crossing the security fence near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An Israeli bulldozer maneuvers on the buffer zone near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, viewed from the town of Majdal Shams, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Israeli soldiers stand on armoured vehicles inside the buffer zone near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, viewed from the town of Majdal Shams, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An Israeli soldier stands on an armoured vehicle on the buffer zone after crossing the security fence near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, viewed from the town of Majdal Shams, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp are prepared for the funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Men pray over the bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp during a funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat arrive at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital before their funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An Israeli soldier observes the site where the missile launched from Yemen landed Jaffa district, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)
