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News.com.au
9 hours ago
- News.com.au
Bernie Ecclestone blasts ‘idiot' Christian Horner after Red Bull sacking
Bernie Eccleston has labelled Christian Horner 'an idiot' in the wake of his Red Bull sacking earlier this week. The ex-Red Bull team principal seemed a permanent fixture in F1 until allegations of him sending suggestive WhatsApp messages to a female employee emerged last year, The Sun reports. Horner, 51, has consistently denied the claims of inappropriate and controlling behaviour made against him. In February 2024, Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing after multiple probes. He spent a tumultuous three weeks fighting for his career after a female colleague alleged controlling and coercive behaviour by the boss. The probe later investigated him allegedly sending improper messages to a woman. A KC cleared Horner for a second time in August after the unnamed accuser launched an appeal following the internal probe. Now F1 legend Bernie Ecclestone – a longtime friend of Horner – has criticised him for his conduct regarding the scandal. He told the Telegraph: 'This other business that he got involved with 18 months ago, he was just an idiot. 'He was a 50-year-old who thought he was 20, thought he was one of the boys.' Ecclestone and Horner's friendship extends to beyond the latter's arrival at Red Bull, with the pair reportedly attending each others weddings. Ex-Formula One boss Ecclestone was not surprised with the sacking, suggesting that unease surrounding Horner's prominence within the Red Bull brand could have played a role. He said: 'It would probably have been better if they had said 'Come in Christian, sit down.' 'But the bottom line is there are people who thought he was getting away with things, that he was acting as if it was not the Red Bull ring, but the Christian Horner ring.' Horner gave an emotional speech to Red Bull staff following his sacking. He was not the only staff member to be fired, with a number of his closest allies also axed. Ecclestone suggests the timing of the decision to move on from Horner coinciding with Red Bull's struggles to compete this season is not a coincidence. He continued: 'He got away with so many things. 'All the time you are delivering, people close their eyes – but when you stop delivering, people start looking. 'One or two begin thinking 'Well I could do a better job.'' Reigning world champion Max Verstappen is third in the standings while Red Bull trail McLaren by a whopping 288 points in the Constructors standings at the half way stage of the season. The British racing executive ran the Red Bull F1 team for 20 years since his appointment in 2005, in which time he has become one of the most decorated team bosses of all time. Horner's tenure oversaw six constructors titles and EIGHT drivers' championships across dominant spells with Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen. The latter posted an emotional farewell to Horner following the dismissal. Horner will be succeeded in his role by French engineer Laurent Mekies.
News.com.au
13 hours ago
- News.com.au
Lufthansa CEO's wife investigated for running over babysitter
The wife of Lufthansa airline's billionaire CEO fatally ran down a babysitter while on vacation in Sardinia — then flew home to Germany while under investigation for vehicular homicide, according to reports. Vivian Alexandra Spohr, 51 — the wife of CEO Carsten Spohr — was behind the wheel of a BMW X5 on Tuesday afternoon when she struck Gaia Costa, 24, on a pedestrian crosswalk in the upscale Italian resort town of Porto Cervo, according to Corriere News. Spohr allegedly continued driving until onlookers waved her down — leaving her so shocked that she fainted, Italien News reported. Paramedics spent 20 minutes trying to revive Costa, but the babysitter died from severe head injuries, the reports said. Spohr was formally identified as being under investigation for involuntary manslaughter — but the mum of two had already flown home to Berlin, Germany, according to the reports. However, she was not legally required to remain on the Italian island, and has vowed to co-operate, her lawyer said, New York Post reported. 'Vivian Spohr, who was involved in the tragic death, expresses her dismay and deep regret over this very serious accident,' the lawyer, Angelo Merlini, told La Repubblica. 'She has placed herself at the complete disposal of the judicial authorities for the necessary investigations and, although aware that such a great personal loss cannot be remedied, will take steps to mitigate the consequences.' The CEO's wife tested negative for alcohol or drugs, according to the reports, which said investigators are analysing surveillance footage and Spohr's phone records to see if she was distracted at the time. Porto Cervo is a luxury resort area in Sardinia known for attracting high-profile visitors during the summer season. Italian prosecutors and Lufthansa did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Post. Carsten Spohr, 58, and his wife share two daughters.
ABC News
17 hours ago
- ABC News
Ukrainians live through record strikes as Russia ramps up new drone tactics
Eight-year-old Andrii and his six-year-old brother Maksym's wooden fort is covered with cloth netting. Protection, they said, from the drones fired from Russia. The children, who live just 15 kilometres from the Russian border in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, play with plastic guns. They scamper through abandoned trenches and the charred shells of armoured vehicles, and keep watch from their makeshift fort. When fighting intensifies, their mother Varvara Tupkalenko takes them back to the family's apartment in nearby Kharkiv, the regional capital. But Ukraine's second city itself is a major target, and the swarms of drones that pound it at night terrify the boys. Europe's largest land conflict since the Second World War is now in its fourth year and does not appear to be easing. The rhythm of attacks has been increasing in recent months since diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled. Air strikes targeting cities are getting worse, with record numbers of drones and missiles flying overhead. Analysts say Russia appears to have a new tactic: launching hundreds of weapons simultaneously from different altitudes and directions, encircling a city. "This is an obvious escalation of terror by Russia," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a post to social media. Russian forces launched 728 drones and 13 missiles on the night of July 8, according to US think tank the Institute for the Study of War. It was the largest combined drone and missile strike of the war, and about a 34 per cent increase from the previous record high of 550 earlier this month. Lutsk, a city that's home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army, was the hardest hit, according to Mr Zelenskyy. It lies near the border with Poland in western Ukraine, a region that is a crucial hub for receiving foreign military aid. Another 10 regions were struck, killing one person in the Khmelnytskyi area, and wounding two in Kyiv, officials said. Kyiv's military downed almost all the drones, but some of the six hypersonic missiles caused unspecified damage. The attack came just days after US President Donald Trump announced that arms shipments to Ukraine would resume, and aimed unusually sharp criticism at Russian President Vladimir Putin. A day later, hours before a conference in Rome at which Kyiv won billions of dollars in aid pledges, Kyiv was struck with a record bombardment. It lasted for nearly 10 hours, killing two people and wounding 26, according to figures from the national emergency services. The Institute for the Study of War assessed that recent major attacks have occurred off the back of diplomatic efforts, such as the US and Ukraine offering a 30-day ceasefire in March. Russia also launched more than 500 drones in the early hours of July 4, American Independence Day, just hours after Mr Trump and Mr Putin had a telephone conversation. Russia expert Matthew Sussex from the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre said the Russian president was sending a message. Russian authorities have also reported dozens of attempted Ukrainian drone attacks over the last week, including four bound for Moscow. The Ukrainian capital of 3 million people has endured several consecutive weeks of escalating Russian attacks. Civilians say they face nightly terror, kept awake by air raid sirens and endless booms of explosions. "Most people don't even sleep in our beds anymore," Kyiv-based journalist Emmanuelle Chaze told ABC The World. Russia's defence ministry said it had hit "military-industrial" targets in Kyiv as well as military airfields. It denies targeting civilians although towns and cities have been hit regularly in the war and thousands have been killed. June saw the highest monthly civilian casualty count in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, according to UN data. It said it reflected a "worsening trend", with 6,754 civilians killed or injured in the first half of 2025 – a sharp 54 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2024. Professor Sussex said attacks had been "really bad" and the situation was becoming more difficult for Ukrainians. He described that Russia was conducting "double taps" where a target would be struck twice — usually once firefighters had arrived. "First of all they attack a target, then wait until the first responders get there and then attack it again," he told the ABC. "And they've started to also target recruitment centres for the Ukrainian armed forces when people are basically lined up waiting to get their call up." Russia has been ramping up local production of drones, increasing both the quantity and quality of their supply. Maksym Beznosiuk, a strategic policy expert and director of UAinFocus, an independent platform connecting Ukrainian and international experts, said Russia was producing new drones with a range technological upgrades. "This is making it possible to launch massive bombardments of Ukrainian cities that overwhelm Ukraine's limited air defences and terrorise the civilian population," he wrote in analysis for the Atlantic Council. The mix of new drones with hypersonic cruise missiles was making barrages more difficult to defend against. Professor Sussex said Russia's Khinzhal missiles were particularly hard to counter. Russia was also now flying its Shahed attack drones at much higher altitudes. Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ihnat reported that Russian forces used more than 400 decoy drones in a record strike on July 8 in order to overwhelm air defences. Professor Sussex said improving the situation for Ukraine would depend on how much Europe could come to the table, and whether Russia could keep its economy on a war footing. This week, Ukraine's allies pledged more than 10 billion euros ($17.8 billion) to help rebuild the country, and the EU announced another 2.3 billion euros in support. Mr Trump has signalled willingness to send more Patriot air-defence missiles, which have proven critical to defending against fast-moving Russian ballistic missiles. Mr Zelenskyy said the record strikes called for "biting sanctions" to be imposed on Moscow. Mr Trump also said he was considering supporting a bill that would impose steep sanctions on Russia, including 500 per cent tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. "Even if Trump does it partially (import the sanctions bill), that still puts pressure on the Russian economy at a time that inflation remains very high, interest rates remain very high, and there are also ruptures going on within the Putin elite," Professor Sussex said. Analysts say Russia's massive bombardments are largely aimed at demoralising the Ukrainian population and breaking morale. But often it can instead harden their resolve, with many residents determined to hold on to some normality. When 24-year-old translator Kateryna emerged after the record strikes on Kyiv this week, she got on with her daily routines. "I took a cold shower, drank two coffees, sat and thought for a bit, realised that for now I can't change anything, then went to work," she said while waiting at a bus stop. "That's it."
