Round 11 of 2025 brings us to the Liqui Moly Grand Prix of Germany, which means one thing – we’re Sachsenring bound. We’ve had some fantastic races at the historic layout, and to get yourselves in the mood for our latest chapter, why not enjoy some that we’ve picked out for free?
2003: Rossi vs Gibernau
Less than a tenth – 0.060s to be exact – split the rivals at the flag in 2003, with Sete Gibernau getting the better of Valentino Rossi coming out of the final corner in a superb finish to a brilliant encounter. The duo were in a league of their own, with Troy Bayliss 13s away from the fight in P3 for Ducati.
2006: Rossi vs Melandri vs Hayden vs Pedrosa
Four riders all fighting for victory until the final lap? That’s exactly what MotoGP fans were treated to back in 2006 as title-chasing Rossi and Nicky Hayden were joined at the front by Marco Melandri and star rookie Dani Pedrosa. Rossi eventually came out on top, but the quartet crossed the line just 0.3s apart, with Pedrosa the one narrowly missing out on a podium.
2009: Rossi vs Lorenzo
Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have treated us to plenty of memorable moments, and the 2009 German GP was one of them. Pedrosa stuck with the Yamaha pair for as long as he could, but the 25-point fight was between the #46 and #99, with 0.099s the gap in favour of the Italian.
2010: Pedrosa vs Stoner vs Lorenzo
In a red-flagged race at the Sachsenring, we enjoyed a Pedrosa vs Lorenzo vs Casey Stoner battle at the front. Three legends all racing for different manufacturers. In the end, Pedrosa came out on top to claim his second MotoGP victory at the venue.
2016: Marquez wins flag-to-flag epic
Wet to dry, and Marc Marquez coming out on top at the Sachsenring. There was drama aplenty in the 2016 edition and the #93’s early call to switch to an intermediate front and slick rear paid off, while others – including Rossi – stayed out too long. Marquez claimed victory by 9s as Cal Crutchlow and long-time race leader Andrea Dovizioso stood on the podium in P2 and P3.
Accelerating its efforts to create ever-better motorsports-bred cars and realise a carbon-neutral society, TOYOTA has been competing with a hydrogen-engine Corolla since 2021 in the Super Taikyu series in Japan. Jari-Matti Latvala, Team Principal of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team, has been among the drivers who have raced with the innovative powertrain and provided their feedback in its development.
In 2022, the technology was demonstrated on the rally stages of Europe for the first time when the experimental GR Yaris H2 made its debut at the FIA World Rally Championship round in Belgium, driven by Akio Toyoda and Juha Kankkunen.
Since then, development has continued to create the Rally2 H2 Concept, which will be demonstrated at Rally Finland to allow rally fans to experience the potential of hydrogen as one of the options for the future of motorsport in a carbon neutral society.
The car is based upon the successful GR Yaris Rally2 chassis and fitted with an internal combustion engine fuelled by compressed hydrogen, delivering near-zero emissions while retaining the sounds and sensations so enjoyed by rally fans.
The GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept has been developed at TGR-WRT headquarters in Jyväskylä, Finland, and tested on local roads, including runs on gravel forest roads like those used in Rally Finland. For its public debut, the car will be demonstrated on the mixed-surface Harju stage in the centre of Jyväskylä, which runs as the opening stage of the rally on Thursday evening and again as SS10 on Friday. Four-time world champion Kankkunen, Deputy Team Principal of TGR-WRT, will be at the wheel.
The car will also be exhibited in the service park during the event alongside other hydrogen vehicles like the Toyota Mirai and Tundra, as part of a wider showcase of hydrogen technology across the city of Jyväskylä.
Follow us!
Follow TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT: ∇Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TOYOTAGAZOORacingWRC ∇X: https://x.com/TGR_WRC(@TGR_WRC) ∇Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tgr_wrc/ (@TGR_WRC) ∇YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TOYOTAGAZOORacingJPchannel
Patient’s demographic and clinical characteristics
A total of 442 CHC patients (mean age = 48.26 ± 14.67 years, 272 males and 170 female) were included in this study, including 242 CHC patients (the CHC group) and 200 CHC patients combined with T2DM (the CHC + T2DM group). As shown in Table 1, several baseline characteristics were significantly different from between the two groups. Compared to the CHC group, the CHC + T2DM group had significantly higher age (P < 0.001), BMI (P = 0.001), fasting blood glucose (P < 0.001), fasting insulin (P = 0.015), HOMA-IR (Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance) index (P < 0.001), transaminases alanine transaminase (ALT) (P < 0.001) and aspartate transaminase (AST) (P < 0.001), total bilirubin (P < 0.001), γ-Glutamyl Transferase (GGT) (P < 0.001), and cirrhosis prevalence (P < 0.001). In addition, the types of hepatitis diagnoses were also significantly different between groups (P < 0.001). The CHC + T2DM group had more moderate, severe hepatitis, cirrhosis, and even hepatic carcinoma as compared with the CHC group.
Table 1 Baseline characteristics of CHC patients with and without T2DM (Mean ± SD or n (%))
Independent variables associated with T2DM
To investigate independent variables associated with T2DM in CHC patients, the univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed using the CHC group as a reference outcome (Table 2). The associated factors significant in both univariate and multivariate models included age (univariate models OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.07–1.53, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.05–1.13, P < 0.001), fasting blood glucose (univariate models OR: 6.64, 95% CI: 4.46–9.88, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 16.20, 95% CI: 6.67–39.38, P < 0.001), fasting insulin (univariate models OR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01–1.06, P = 0.002, multivariate models OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.03–1.46, P = 0.021), HOMA-IR (univariate models OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.37–1.70, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.25–0.92, P = 0.027), and GGT (univariate models OR: 1.01 95% CI: 1.01–1.02, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00-1.02, P = 0.011). It seemed that higher age, fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, and GGT were risk factors of T2DM in CHC patients. In addition, cirrhosis (univariate models OR: 9.24, 95% CI: 4.25–20.07, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 15.32, 95% CI: 4.82–48.73, P < 0.001) and hypertension (univariate models OR: 19.50, 95% CI: 7.64–49.76, P < 0.001, multivariate models OR: 31.00, 95% CI: 7.34-130.96, P < 0.001) also increase the risk of T2DM in CHC patients.
Table 2 Logistic regression analysis of independent factors associated with diabetes
Diagnostic efficacy of continuous associated factors
To further evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the independent variables associated with T2DM, ROC analysis was conducted. In Table 3, significant AUCs were found in all factors, including age (0.783), fasting blood glucose (0.904), fasting insulin (0.569), HOMA-IR (0.749), and GGT (0.715) (all P < 0.05). As shown in Fig. 1, a higher associated factor predicted a higher risk of T2DM. Fasting blood glucose had the best AUC (0.904), with a sensitivity of 0.81 and specificity of 0.94. The cut-off was 5.94 mmol/l was suggested by comparatively maximum Youden’s index (0.74). These results indicate that fasting blood glucose was a good factor in discriminating against the CHC group and CHC + T2DM group.
Fig. 1
The ROC results of all significantly continuous associated factors to DM, including age, fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and GGT
Table 3 The receiver operating characteristic analysis of all significantly continuous associated factors with diabetes
The clinical characteristics of CHC patients combined with T2DM by genotypes
HCV Genotyping was performed in 286 CHC outpatients, including 242 cases in the CHC group and 44 in the CHC + T2DM groups (Table 4). The distribution of HCV genotypes was significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.008). Specifically, the CHC group had a higher proportion of genotype 1b (140/242, 57.85%) and other genotypes (14/242, 5.79%), while the CHC + T2DM group had a higher proportion of genotypes 2a (7/44, 15.91%), 3a (5/44, 11.36%), and 6a (12/44, 27.27%). Notably, genotype 3a was significantly more prevalent in the CHC + T2DM group compared to the CHC group (5/242, 2.07% vs. 5/44, 11.36%, P = 0.032).
Table 4 The distribution of genotypes between the two groups
Subgroup analysis stratified by HCV genotypes was performed in the 44 CHC + T2DM outpatients. As shown in Table 5, BMI was the only significant variable among the four genotypes subgroups (P = 0.011).
Table 5 Subgroup analysis stratified by genotypes of the clinical characteristics of in patients with chronic hepatitis C combined with diabetes
Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie announced today that Donna McComber has rejoined the Firm as a Principal Economist in Washington, DC.
Donna is a widely recognized transfer pricing practitioner with more than 25 years of international tax experience in the US Government and private practice, including negotiating Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) and mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases with numerous US treaty partners. Donna has extensive experience working with multinational corporations to analyze intercompany transactions and develop creative and practical transfer pricing solutions including detailed market analyses, cost sharing agreements, intellectual property valuations, and intercompany pricing analyses for a wide range of industry sectors including financial services, automotive, technology, consumer, pharmaceutical, medical device, apparel, and retail.
Donna served in numerous positions including Assistant Director within the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement (APMA) Program in the US Internal Revenue Service for over 15 years, and most recently worked at a Big Four accounting firm.
“The international tax landscape has evolved considerably over the last few years as governments around the world focus on increasing tax revenue, and the result has been a sharp rise in double tax disputes,” said Salim Rahim, Chair of the Firm’s North America Tax Practice Group. “Donna’s government experience, especially her work negotiating APAs with US treaty partners, will be a tremendous asset to our clients who are looking to obtain certainty.”
Baker McKenzie’s Tax Practice is one of the most highly regarded in the world. With more than 730 tax practitioners in over 40 countries, the practice collaborates across borders and specialties to stay abreast of changing tax landscapes worldwide. The Firm’s Tax advisory practice works closely with the Firm’s M&A Practice on transactions, assisting clients with post-acquisition integrations and pre-disposition restructurings, and consulting with clients on a wide variety of domestic and international tax issues.
“Donna is a seasoned transfer pricing advisor, who is well known throughout the tax community for her elite technical skills,” said Maurice Bellan, Managing Partner of Baker McKenzie’s Washington, DC office. “More importantly, she has always been a highly-valued member of the Baker team and we are delighted to have her back.”
“Baker has an unmatched international Tax Practice, which works on some of the most interesting and complex transfer pricing issues in the world today,” Donna added. “I am thrilled to return to the collaborative and collegial work environment at Baker, which feels like home.”
Donna received her BA in Economics from the University of Mary Washington and her MA in Economics from Vanderbilt University.
Robert Kraft (founder, owner, chairman), Jonathan Kraft (president)
NFL’s New England Patriots, MLS’ New England Revolution, Kraft Analytics, Patriot Place
9
Golden State
$10.85B
Joe Lacob (owner, co-executive chairman, CEO), Peter Guber (owner, co-executive chairman)
NBA’s Golden State Warriors, WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries, Chase Center, Thrive City
10
Yankee Global Enterprises
$10.48B
Hal Steinbrenner (owner, chairman, managing partner)
MLB’s New York Yankees, MLS’ New York City FC,* YES,* Legends,* Serie A’s AC Milan*
11
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
$10.23B
Keith Pelley (president, CEO), Larry Tanenbaum (chairman)
NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA’s Toronto Raptors, MLS’ Toronto FC, Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts
12
The Glazer family
$10B
Bryan Glazer (co-owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; director of Manchester United), Joel Glazer (co-owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; co-chairman of Manchester United)
NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Premier League’s Manchester United
13
Shahid Khan
$9.88B
Shahid Khan (owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fulham FC, All Elite Wrestling), Tony Khan (CEO, GM and head of creative of All Elite Wrestling)
NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, Premier League’s Fulham FC, All Elite Wrestling
14
Gayle Benson
$9.77B
Gayle Benson (owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans)
NFL’s New Orleans Saints, NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans
15
Stephen Ross
$9.55B
Stephen Ross (owner, chairman of the Miami Dolphins), Tom Garfinkel (CEO of the Miami Dolphins; managing partner of Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix)
NFL’s Miami Dolphins, Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, Miami Open Tennis*
16
The York family
$9.22B
Denise DeBartolo York (owner and co-chairman of the San Francisco 49ers), John York (owner and co-chairman of the San Francisco 49ers)
NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, Premier League’s Leeds United, Elevate Sports Ventures,* Scottish Premiership’s Glasgow Rangers*
17
Haslam Sports Group
$9.07B
Jimmy Haslam (owner, co-chairman), Dee Haslam (owner, co-chairman)
Clark Hunt (co-owner, chairman, CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas), Dan Hunt (co-owner and president of FC Dallas; co-owner of the Kansas City Chiefs)
NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, MLS’ FC Dallas, NBA’s Chicago Bulls*
The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy: Book 1 of the Dearly Beloathed Duology
By Brigitte Knightley Ace: 384 pages, $30 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
Brigitte Knightley’s debut novel, “The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy,” has everything fans of enemies-to-lovers romance are looking for: disagreement that becomes flirtatious banter, ethical quandaries, forced proximity, and characters who can overcome their prejudices to see a human beneath a label. Featuring a brutal assassin and a magical healer forced to work together while trying — desperately — not to fall in love, the heat of this romantasy novel is perfect for warm summer nights.
Osric Mordaunt, considered a dark magic user, is part of an order of assassins hated and dismissed by Aurienne Fairhrim’s light magic order of healers. When Osric seeks medical treatment for a degenerative condition, he gets roped into helping Aurienne’s order cure an outbreak of pox that is killing children in droves. The pair traipses around seeking healing under romantic full moons and become involved in spycraft that reveals evidence that the outbreak is not what it seems. They begin to see each other beyond their individual allegiances, but it happens slowly, prejudices unraveling at a crawling pace. The author’s bio declares that she puts the unresolved back in “unresolved sexual tension,” and it’s true: Knightley is a master of the slow burn.
There is plenty of fun along the way: Getting to know both magical orders, their fortes and foibles, is a squelching, bodily fluid-filled delight: The only thing sharper than their wit is the divide that separates their lives. The magic system has an almost science-fiction element to it, with lots of medical talk about magical maladies and a well-rendered in-line breakdown of how “Outlander”-esque menhir travel works. Aurienne is as much a scientist as a witch, which is a treat in a genre overrun by wand-waving laziness. The novel is set in the 19th century, but in a version of England where the Norman Conquest of 1066 failed. Instead of a unified empire, the smaller kingdoms of the Heptarchy still dominate, their various dangerous machinations providing the raison d’être for the differing orders.
“Irresistible” might be set in the period we know as the Victorian era, and there are royals and attendant paraphernalia, but lovers of polite courtly romances might want to steer clear. With more dick jokes than a Deadpool movie, Knightley’s novel is dirty. Sexual attraction is not hidden behind genteel metaphors; Aurienne and Osric want. They’re not blushing virgins on their way to an altar, but adults who have loved and lost, who each bring a trolley’s worth of emotional baggage and sexual preferences to their relationship. Their self-awareness is part of the charm; they might wield magic like us mortals wield butter knives, but they’re relatable.
Readers plugged into the world of fan fiction may recognize the author’s name, which is a pseudonym. Writing under a previous nom de plume, isthisselfcare, Knightley gained an enormous fan base dedicated to “Draco Malfoy and The Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love,” her 199,000-word Dramione — short for Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy — on a popular fan-fiction site. With a Jane Austen-influenced voice, it was ironic, sarcastic and delightful. Knightley’s new novel is like a grown-up version of “Mortifying” — more mature, more grounded and more voicey than ever. Fans will be pleased to see how she’s grown.
People love to denigrate fan-fiction writers, though some of today’s most popular authors started as fan-fiction writers: Cassandra Clare, Naomi Novik and Andy Weir, to name just three. Novels like “Irresistible” are proof positive that writing fan fiction is an excellent training ground for building a novel. To write truly great fan fiction, a writer must identify what makes the source material sparkle and then replicate it. It’s not enough to graft existing characters into new situations. The most effective fan fiction shows readers how characters can continue to grow beyond the bounds of the original work while remaining consistent with the source material. That exercise in maintaining consistency and internal logic is excellent practice for creating original worlds.
In some cases, that also means identifying elements about characters that original authors themselves might not see. This was especially true of the explosion of Draco/Hermione fic after the Harry Potter series ended. Where author J.K. Rowling saw an irredeemable villain in Draco Malfoy, thousands of people saw an abused child who had grown up in a dangerous household and was trying to survive. Fan fiction allowed writers to transform Draco into a good person who falls in love with his childhood enemy; this gave readers the redemption arc Rowling set up but didn’t follow through on. There are tens of thousands of fics that explore this arc.
Literary-minded sociologists could probably study how millennial women never fully recovered from Draco’s lost redemption. The preponderance of platinum blond bad boys with chances at redemption has only grown as the girls who grew up reading Harry Potter became authors themselves: Coriolanus Snow in Hunger Games trilogy prequel “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” Sebastian Morgenstern in “City of Glass,” Cardan in “The Cruel Prince.” (“Buffy’s” Spike is a clear predecessor.)
With Knightley’s debut, we can add Osric Mordaunt to the list. He is a tragic figure, doomed to a life filled with violence after an abusive childhood. He’s shaken out of this destiny by meeting the STEMinist figure Aurienne, who accepts no excuses for his bad behavior.
Though Osric seems to have Malfoy DNA at his heart, the rest of the cast is original and well-developed. That said, Aurienne does toe the line between aloof and arrogantly unlikable. We get the hint that she has a dark backstory, that her snark is a shield, but we’ll have to wait for Book 2 to find out. Until then, “Irresistible” will probably inspire fan fiction of its own, training a new generation of authors.
Castellanos Clark, a writer and historian in Los Angeles, is the author of “Unruly Figures: Twenty Tales of Rebels, Rulebreakers, and Revolutionaries You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of.”
The latest Apple iPad Mini is on sale for a record-low price as part of the Prime Day extravaganza. The tablet is available for $380, which is a discount of $120. That’s a pretty good deal for a device that’s only around nine months old.
This tablet made our list of the best iPads and we recommend it specifically for people who want a device with a smaller form factor. It’s the only tablet that Apple makes in this size. Don’t let the size fool you, however, as this is a full-featured iPad. It supports the Apple Pencil Pro and starts at 128GB of storage.
Apple
We called it “reliable” and everything we “want in a small tablet” in our official review. The speakers sound great, which has become standard with modern Apple devices, and the form factor makes it easy to hold for long periods of time without causing hand cramps. It’s an iPad, just smaller.
There are a couple of little caveats. The display is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which could impact some action-heavy games. There’s also no Face ID here, which forces users to enter a password or use a fingerprint.
‘Sugarbag’ honey, long used by the Australian First Nations peoples, may be commercially scalable
Resistance to synthetic antibiotics continues to pose a serious global health challenge. While European honeybee products and various other natural substances have been explored as alternative therapeutics, little has previously been known about the medicinal potential of honey from Australian native bee populations.
Research led by Dr Kenya Fernandes from the University of Sydney has revealed the notable antimicrobial properties of honey produced by three Australian stingless bee species: Tetragonula carbonaria, Tetragonula hockingsi, and Austroplebeia australis.
Known collectively as ‘sugarbag bees’, these native species have historically provided both nourishment and traditional remedies for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The honey has been used to treat conditions such as sores and itchy skin.
The study found that the honey maintains its antimicrobial potency even after heat treatment and prolonged storage. This differentiates it from conventional honeybee honey and underscores its potential as a stable, sustainable treatment option against drug-resistant infections.
“Given the growing medical challenge of antimicrobial resistance, our findings suggest stingless bee honey could complement, or provide a valuable alternative to, synthetic antibiotics,” said Dr Fernandes.
Unlike the more common honey from the European honeybee – Apis mellifera – which depends heavily on hydrogen peroxide for its antimicrobial effect, honey from stingless Australian bees displays high levels of both peroxide and non-peroxide activity. In fact, when hydrogen peroxide was removed in tests, the honey continued to demonstrate antimicrobial activity.
“Manuka honey from honeybees displays strong non-peroxide antimicrobial activity, which is one reason why its production has been a commercial success,” continued Dr Fernandes.
“However, that is largely reliant on the source of its nectar from specific myrtle plant. In contrast, the persistent antimicrobial activity of heat-treated, non-peroxide honey from stingless Australian bees across diverse locations and nectar sources suggests there is something special about these bees, rather than just nectar, that plays a critical role here,” she concluded.
Co-author of the paper, Professor Dee Carter, noted: “We discovered the antimicrobial activity is consistent across all sugarbag samples tested, unlike honeybee honey, which can vary significantly based on seasonal changes and floral sources.”
This reliability may prove beneficial in developing commercially viable medical products. However, the research also highlights challenges. Each stingless beehive produces only about half a litre of honey per year, raising concerns about large-scale supply.
“While the yield is small, these hives require less maintenance than traditional beehives, allowing beekeepers to manage larger numbers,” said co-author Dr Ros Gloag.
“With proper incentives, such as commercial value for the honey, it is feasible to cultivate more hives, providing a pathway for commercial scalability.”
Researchers emphasise that the honey’s broad antimicrobial profile, combined with evidence that microbes rarely develop resistance to honey, makes it an appealing candidate for therapeutic use.
“While we have yet to test the honeys against drug-resistant bacteria specifically, the presence of multiple antimicrobial factors significantly reduces the likelihood of resistance developing,” said Dr Fernandes.
And, notably, Food Standards Australia New Zealand last year approved native stingless bee honey for human consumption, opening up opportunities for domestic and international trade.
Dr Fernandes is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. She is also a member of the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute and the Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation.
For further reading please visit: 10.1128/aem.02523-24
