Amaury Cordeel’s helmet certainly catches the eye, a design like no other on the Formula 2 grid, and that is just how the Rodin Motorsport driver wants it to be.
Recently, we caught up with him to discuss his 2025 look, and how it came to be, as well as what we can expect maybe at some point this season.
“It’s actually a design I did last year for the last two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, together with an artist, whose logo is on the top, from Belgium, and he did the design for the helmet.
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“I think it was a great idea because he is a friend of mine that was an artist and I wanted to do something new with the helmet and it just popped out, so I did something nice with him.
“But because of the last moment change to drive this season, I am just using the helmet from the last two rounds from last year, because I really like it.
Cordeel’s helmet was designed a good friend of his and it helps him standout
“He asked me what has to be on it and I just said to him ‘go crazy on it’. For me there is nothing that has to be on it, because before I had my logo on it but then it’s not art anymore. So I just wanted him to go crazy on it.
“The wonderful thing is I have a duplicate version of it at home that is painted by the artist themselves.
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“This is designed by the artist but not painted, because it has to be homologated by the FIA, but I have one at home that is painted by hand.
“I don’t know if I have a favourite part of the helmet. I would say I like that it’s all split into different parts and the designs on it is really nice.
“I think I first saw it before the designer saw it because I got it from the painter and then I sent the photos to him.
Cordeel says he is working on a new helmet with someone else
“Going forward, what I do will depend on if I do it with him or without him. I am currently working on one that will not be with him but maybe in the future we can do something together again. But it will be something else again.
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“I won’t reveal the new helmet yet, it will be something completely different which I like to do. Before I had the mosaic, and I like to do a lot of different things with a lot of different designs.
“I think it’s boring to always have the same design and the same patterns in your helmet. So that’s why I asked an artist to do it, but now I am also working on something myself that is completely different to other helmets. That’s what I like!”
The ICC has also been heavily criticised for promising too much and delivering too little.
Modern international criminal law was born after the Second World War, when the Allied powers sat in judgment over the crimes of the Nazis in the trials at Nuremberg. Justice Robert Jackson remarked in his opening speech at the tribunal, “that four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury, stayed the hand of vengeance, and voluntarily submitted their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason”. The promise of international criminal justice was set from that point and it was set rather high; not only was it to deter future violators and morally denounce such conduct, it was also to create lasting peace and promote national reconciliation.
The question of whether criminal accountability can achieve those aims is now laid at the feet of the International Criminal Court. In particular, its critics argue that it must ensure that it is not only those on the losing side of the war who get prosecuted, others take issue with the aims themselves, that the notion that peace cannot exist without justice is itself false, as ‘[t]he offer to a terrible dictator—go away and live out your life in an obscure village— cannot be persuasively offered, as it may be trumped by an [International Criminal Court] prosecution. If mediators can only say that he’s a dead man either way, he will probably prefer to die in his boots than expire in a pin-striped suit at The Hague.’ If the prospect of prosecution means that ‘terrible dictators’ are more likely to cling to power, then the pursuit of justice may itself trump peace.
Victors’ Justice?
Former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda notes that the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials after World War II laid the bricks for a global system based on the international rule of law. The long arc of justice that started in Nuremberg, she says, then continued towards Rome (where the treaty to establish the ICC was formulated). However, many argue that the trials of German and Japanese leaders by the Allied powers were themselves a form of victors’ justice, and that that arc too continues to today.
After World War I
Traditionally international law was addressed to states and while there were some instances of individual violators being punished (such as the Von Hagenbach trial of 1474 and the French-Siamese Arbitral Tribunal in 1893-4) and there was some domestic law punishing violations of the laws of war (such as the Lieber Code 1863), by and large individuals were outside the purview of the law (apart from arguably pirates in the 17th century). There was a renewed emphasis on individual responsibility following World War I where the Treaty of Versailles included four articles providing for the punishment of those who had violated the laws of war.
Raymond Poincaré, the French President, announced to the victors at Versailles that “[h]umanity can place confidence in you, because you are not among those who have outraged the rights of humanity.’ At the same time, the Belgians, French and British (all included in ‘humanity’) were responsible for three centuries of ‘sometimes violent, certainly racially-inflected, Empire’. Still, no trials were ever held under the Treaty of Versailles and while the agreement sought to prosecute the Kaiser of Germany, he had fled to the Netherlands and his surrender was not requested.
After World War II
Post-World War II, however, individual responsibility for the Axis powers was preferred by the United States and France over the summary executions favoured by the British and the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials were held. The judges at Nuremberg noted that “[c]rimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced”. Articles 1 and 6 of the London Charter establishing the Nuremberg trial noted that any person committing an act in violation of international law is criminally punishable. Ultimately, twenty-two leading Nazis were tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace; twelve were sentenced to death, seven received jail terms and three were acquitted.
There were several criticisms of the trials. Detractors called them ‘high-tech lynching’ because it was only the victors trying the vanquished in what was essentially a pre-determined proceeding, in that the leading Nazis were almost certain to be found guilty. Moreover, it was argued, particularly by the Indian Justice Radhabinod Pal in the Tokyo Trials, that “the tribunal was a sham employment of legal process for the satisfaction of a thirst for revenge.” He argued that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the worst crimes committed during the war, comparable with the Holocaust, and yet there were no prosecutions for those crimes. However, the Nuremberg trial was hailed as a victory of reason over vengeance, and modern international criminal law was born.
Other International Criminal Tribunals
Since Nuremberg, there have been tribunals established by the United Nations’ Security Council under its mandate to maintain international peace and security. These were the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The ICTY’s conviction of Duško Tadić made him the first non-Nazi to be tried before an international criminal court in Europe since 1946, and he was one of the first non-Nazis to be tried anywhere for crimes against humanity. Both of these tribunals have, however, been criticised. The ICTR did not prosecute individuals who were connected with the then-government of Rwanda and the ICTY was noted for having viewed ethnic groups in terms of victims and perpetrators rather than focusing on individuals and their conduct. Moreover, United States’ President Bush tied the handing over of former Serbian President Milošević to aid for Yugoslavia, furthering accusations of political bias.
The International Criminal Court
In 1998, the Rome Statute created the only extant and permanent international criminal court to be established under a multilateral treaty. The ICC came into being on July 1, 2002 and state parties accept the jurisdiction of the Court for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression. The ICC has also been heavily criticised for promising too much and delivering too little. In the fifteen years after it was established, it had cost between 80 to 140 million Euros, with 300 staff, and had only brought ten cases, securing five convictions with one overturned on appeal. If its success was judged on the number of convictions secured it may be asked whether it is worth it given the enormous resources poured into the institution. Though it is also arguable that the mere fact of acquittals may indicate that the process is fair, particularly given the high burden of proof for such crimes.
Others argue in favour of other means of justice apart from criminal accountability. In particular they point to South Africa after the fall of apartheid, where prosecutions were generally not held. Instead of adversarial proceedings, there was a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in which the evidence of what had occurred during apartheid was recorded for the public record. Instead of determining guilt, victims wanted what had happened to their loved ones to be publicised. In doing so, they endeavoured to educate generations to come and preserve the historical record of the crimes that had occurred, rather than holding criminal trials.
Today, for the first time, the ICC is looking into a situation, and issuing arrest warrants for the head of state, of an ally of the West. It is its chance to show that international criminal justice is not simply a case of victors’ vengeance. The crimes conducted by the leaders of Israel after October 7, 2023 also give the court the chance to prove that the path to peace is through justice.
This article by Ayesha Malik was produced with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as part of the Legally Speaking podcast series. The views expressed are the author’s own.
Blood pressure readings differ considerably according to where and how they are taken, especially when a patient already has hypertension, according to a recent systematic review and network meta-analysis in Annals of Internal Medicine.
For an accurate diagnosis of hypertension, new standards are needed for better agreement between office, at-home, or ambulatory measurements, researchers said.
“Office blood pressure measurements may be misleading owing to white-coat or masked hypertension phenomena, and current guidelines advocate for out-of-office monitoring,” said Hao-Min Cheng, MD, PhD, a cardiologist and director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, and an author of the study. “Only limited research has directly compared all major methods or investigated whether discrepancies fluctuate at varying blood pressure levels — an essential gap we aimed to address.”
Cheng and his colleagues observed clinically important differences between research reference office-based blood pressure measurement (OBPM) and those taken in other settings, differing from guidelines on hypertension diagnosis.
The findings also showed that differences are not fixed but depend on underlying systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure levels, with divergence between office and other methods increasing when patients have higher blood pressure levels.
Cheng said he was surprised by the magnitude of the disparities and advised clinicians to account for differences when analyzing readings.
“Uniform conversions are ineffective,” he said. “Acknowledge that out-of-office measurements are typically diminished, especially during nocturnal hours, and employ BP [blood pressure]-level-specific reference values instead of standardized modifications.”
The results highlighted the need for more nuanced clinical guidance in translating blood pressure values between various settings while supporting the growing use of out-of-office measurement in diagnosis and management.
Variations in Accuracy
To compare blood pressure estimates across settings using an office reading based on a research protocol as the reference value, the investigators analyzed 65 studies involving 40,022 adults through October 2024.
Studies were included if they contained data on readings with at least two of the following methods: research OBPM taken by professionals using standardized protocols, an automated and unattended OBPM, convenient OBPM taken with no defined protocols, blood pressure measurement automatically measured at home, and ambulatory blood pressure measurement taken at regular intervals for several hours.
The biggest mean difference was with nocturnal ambulatory blood pressure measurement, at 18.14 mm Hg lower than the office reference. Readings taken at ambulatory settings over 24 hours averaged 8.63 mm Hg lower (95% CI, 6.97-10.28), and home readings were 4.59 mm Hg lower (95% CI, 2.83-6.34). Daytime readings taken in the ambulatory setting and automated readings in the office were 4.22 mm Hg and 4.57 mm Hg lower, respectively.
The study also showed a difference between 24-hour ambulatory and office measurement as high as 31 mm Hg for systolic blood pressures in the 180s and as low as 0 mm Hg for those in the 120s. With greater divergence from the mean reference linked to higher blood pressure levels, the variations were not likely to be random, Cheng said.
“It is often assumed that the 24-hour ambulatory BPM [blood pressure measurement] average (including both daytime and nighttime readings) for systolic BP is approximately 10 mm Hg lower than routine office measurements,” wrote Gregory Murphy, MB BCh, a cardiology fellow, and John W. McEvoy, MB BCh, PhD, a professor of preventive cardiology at the University of Galway School of Medicine and the National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health in Galway, Ireland, in an accompanying editorial.
The authors wrote that the findings support recommendations from the European Society of Cardiology in 2024 to use a systolic blood pressure treatment target of 120-129 mm Hg no matter if measured in the office, at home, or in an ambulatory setting during the day.
Recent guidelines for detecting and managing hypertension recommend timely drug therapy if blood pressure stays at or above 130/80 mm Hg after 3-6 months of lifestyle changes.
Khashayar Hematpour, MD, a cardiologist and associate professor of the electrophysiology division at UTHealth Houston, who was not involved in the study, said the study confirms that at least two measurement techniques are needed to establish blood pressure, including a secondary method outside of the standard office setting.
“Doctors who deal with hypertension all the time — cardiologists, internists, primary care doctors — already know you don’t diagnose and treat hypertension based on one or two readings in the office,” Hematpour said.
Cheng said he and his colleagues are soon launching a randomized controlled trial of the clinical effectiveness of various methods for detecting and managing hypertension.
This study was supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare, the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology.
The study authors, Hematpour, McEvoy, and Murphy, reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.
Researchers have fused two incompatible fields, quantum technology and biology.
In an interesting development, the team at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) has created a protein-based quantum bit (qubit).
The group successfully turned a “protein from a living cell” into a functional qubit, the fundamental unit of information for quantum computing.
This protein qubit could work as an incredibly sensitive quantum sensor, even in a living cell’s warm, noisy environment. This is a sharp contrast to the freezing conditions that quantum technology usually needs.
The advance could help transform biological research by offering a new way to see the inner workings of life at its most basic level, something never before possible.
“Rather than taking a conventional quantum sensor and trying to camouflage it to enter a biological system, we wanted to explore the idea of using a biological system itself and developing it into a qubit,” said David Awschalom, co-principal investigator of the project.
“Harnessing nature to create powerful families of quantum sensors—that’s the new direction here,” added Awschalom, also director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE).
Overcoming previous limitations
Interestingly, the new study bridges the gap between quantum technology and biology.
Scientists have long believed that the chemistry of life and the quantum world were separate. Quantum effects required a controlled, frigid environment, while biology was considered warm and messy.
It was believed that quantum phenomena like “coherence” couldn’t survive in a living cell. However, recent discoveries have overturned this idea. Scientists are now finding coherent quantum processes everywhere in nature.
This new development adds to it, suggesting that the protein qubit can be a quantum sensor even within the complex environment of a living cell.
Moreover, the protein qubit overcomes the limitations of previous tools.
Previously, tools like fluorescence microscopy and fluorescent proteins were used to observe cells, but these methods only provided a superficial view.
In this new work, enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) was converted into a quantum bit. The EYFP protein is commonly used in biology as a fluorescent tag.
Scientists can now directly measure quantum properties inside living cells by turning proteins into quantum sensors.
Quantum Insider explained that the research confirms that the protein qubit exhibits quantum behavior, demonstrating measurable spin coherence and optically detected magnetic resonance within the complex, noisy cellular environment.
The team could initialize, manipulate with microwaves, and read out the qubit’s state using light.
Moreover, the protein qubit works not just in pure samples, but also inside living cells, which means it could be used to create quantum sensors.
A new window into life
The new protein qubits aren’t as sensitive as today’s best quantum sensors, which are often made from diamonds. However, their true power comes from being genetically encoded directly into living cells.
This unique capability promises a future where experts can observe biological processes, such as protein folding and the early stages of disease, at the most fundamental level.
Interestingly, this innovation could drive a forward quantum-enabled nanoscale MRI, providing an unprecedented look at the atomic structure of cells.
“We’re entering an era where the boundary between quantum physics and biology begins to dissolve. That’s where the transformative science will happen,” said Benjamin Soloway, PhD candidate.
What’s more? It also opens new frontiers for the field of quantum technology itself, as it introduces a “radically different approach to designing quantum materials,” according to co-principal investigator Peter Maurer.
Blood pressure readings differ considerably according to where and how they are taken, especially when a patient already has hypertension, according to a recent systematic review and network meta-analysis in Annals of Internal Medicine.
For an accurate diagnosis of hypertension, new standards are needed for better agreement between office, at-home, or ambulatory measurements, researchers said.
“Office blood pressure measurements may be misleading owing to white-coat or masked hypertension phenomena, and current guidelines advocate for out-of-office monitoring,” said Hao-Min Cheng, MD, PhD, a cardiologist and director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, and an author of the study. “Only limited research has directly compared all major methods or investigated whether discrepancies fluctuate at varying blood pressure levels — an essential gap we aimed to address.”
Cheng and his colleagues observed clinically important differences between research reference office-based blood pressure measurement (OBPM) and those taken in other settings, differing from guidelines on hypertension diagnosis.
The findings also showed that differences are not fixed but depend on underlying systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure levels, with divergence between office and other methods increasing when patients have higher blood pressure levels.
Cheng said he was surprised by the magnitude of the disparities and advised clinicians to account for differences when analyzing readings.
“Uniform conversions are ineffective,” he said. “Acknowledge that out-of-office measurements are typically diminished, especially during nocturnal hours, and employ BP [blood pressure]-level-specific reference values instead of standardized modifications.”
The results highlighted the need for more nuanced clinical guidance in translating blood pressure values between various settings while supporting the growing use of out-of-office measurement in diagnosis and management.
Variations in Accuracy
To compare blood pressure estimates across settings using an office reading based on a research protocol as the reference value, the investigators analyzed 65 studies involving 40,022 adults through October 2024.
Studies were included if they contained data on readings with at least two of the following methods: research OBPM taken by professionals using standardized protocols, an automated and unattended OBPM, convenient OBPM taken with no defined protocols, blood pressure measurement automatically measured at home, and ambulatory blood pressure measurement taken at regular intervals for several hours.
The biggest mean difference was with nocturnal ambulatory blood pressure measurement, at 18.14 mm Hg lower than the office reference. Readings taken at ambulatory settings over 24 hours averaged 8.63 mm Hg lower (95% CI, 6.97-10.28), and home readings were 4.59 mm Hg lower (95% CI, 2.83-6.34). Daytime readings taken in the ambulatory setting and automated readings in the office were 4.22 mm Hg and 4.57 mm Hg lower, respectively.
The study also showed a difference between 24-hour ambulatory and office measurement as high as 31 mm Hg for systolic blood pressures in the 180s and as low as 0 mm Hg for those in the 120s. With greater divergence from the mean reference linked to higher blood pressure levels, the variations were not likely to be random, Cheng said.
“It is often assumed that the 24-hour ambulatory BPM [blood pressure measurement] average (including both daytime and nighttime readings) for systolic BP is approximately 10 mm Hg lower than routine office measurements,” wrote Gregory Murphy, MB BCh, a cardiology fellow, and John W. McEvoy, MB BCh, PhD, a professor of preventive cardiology at the University of Galway School of Medicine and the National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health in Galway, Ireland, in an accompanying editorial.
The authors wrote that the findings support recommendations from the European Society of Cardiology in 2024 to use a systolic blood pressure treatment target of 120-129 mm Hg no matter if measured in the office, at home, or in an ambulatory setting during the day.
Recent guidelines for detecting and managing hypertension recommend timely drug therapy if blood pressure stays at or above 130/80 mm Hg after 3-6 months of lifestyle changes.
Khashayar Hematpour, MD, a cardiologist and associate professor of the electrophysiology division at UTHealth Houston, who was not involved in the study, said the study confirms that at least two measurement techniques are needed to establish blood pressure, including a secondary method outside of the standard office setting.
“Doctors who deal with hypertension all the time — cardiologists, internists, primary care doctors — already know you don’t diagnose and treat hypertension based on one or two readings in the office,” Hematpour said.
Cheng said he and his colleagues are soon launching a randomized controlled trial of the clinical effectiveness of various methods for detecting and managing hypertension.
This study was supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare, the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology.
The study authors, Hematpour, McEvoy, and Murphy, reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.
Du Preez, whose last Test start was against England in June 2018 in Johannesburg, warned that the second Castle Lager Rugby Championship Test at the DHL Stadium would be another epic battle.
The 30-year-old loose forward will start at the back of the scrum in the absence of the injured Siya Kolisi in a loose trio with flankers Marco van Staden and Franco Mostert, and after the Boks’ 38-22 defeat against the Wallabies at Ellis Park last week, he said the key for him was to be as prepared as possible going into the match.
“This will be my first Test start in seven years, and I’d like to do my best for the team and help get us on the front foot and hopefully, we can do a good job on Saturday” said Du Preez, who was in action earlier this year against the Barbarians.
“I’ve been thinking quite a bit after the last week’s result. There’s a lot of pressure on us, and on me after not starting in seven years. But I’ve tried not to think about the outside noise too much and just get my preparation right in the week.”
Du Preez may have had to wait patiently for his chance to play in the last few years, but he said the lure of the Springbok jersey always remained in the back of his mind.
“Your mind is a powerful thing – there were times that I thought I should give up hope, but I would never be able to do that,” said Du Preez.
“Yes, it took some time to start again, but then again, I can never take it for granted. When you get a shot, you must take it.
“I did a lot of prep and worked hard, and so much has changed. I’m just so thankful for the opportunity to get a run on Saturday and to represent my country again.”
Giving his thoughts on what they expected from the Wallabies this week, Du Preez said: “We are expecting much of the same from them. We must give credit to the Aussies, they did well last week. Their turnover attack cut us up a little, so we’ve been working hard on our defence and breakdowns this week.
“Fraser McReight might be a very good fetcher, but for us, it’s about our urgency to get to the breakdown, and we’ve focused on that this week. We need to get there before the breakdown is formed.”
The match kicks off at 17h10 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
Can you remember what your expectations were on the eve of [Deftones’ 1995 debut] Adrenaline being released? JonnyT I was very excited that we were about to put out a real record, on a real record label. I was a little scared as well – we were this new band, putting ourselves out there. The label sent us physical copies of Adrenaline when it came out – I think we even got cassettes back then. It was so exciting to open it up and have something tangible to hold. But we had no sense of the longevity it would enjoy. I didn’t anticipate people would still be listening to it, or even that we’d still be a band this many years later. We still have nerves, obviously, whenever we release something. But we also have a sense of confidence, especially with this new record.
Do you find your creativity burns brightest in hardship?Or can peace be just as potent?shenead There’s something to be said for both, and our music has that dichotomy built into its DNA – a lot of our songs have that yin and yang within them. There’s a lot more peace than chaos in our lives at the moment, and I’m happy it’s that way. A lot of our earlier records were made when life was more crazy, and we were able to capture that. But with this record, there’s some of that beauty that comes with this invigorated time we’re living in now. But it’s always good to be able to yell and scream sometimes, right? The pandemic was really difficult for everybody, but as someone who was spoilt by having this outlet my whole adult life, to be able to tour and play shows and express myself … I really came to a dead stop during Covid. It really affected me. Making music – to be able to express emotions, good and bad – has definitely been a gift.
Deftones in 1996, (from left) bassist Chi Cheng, singer Chino Moreno, turntablist Frank Delgado, drummer Abe Cunningham and guitarist Stephen Carpenter. Photograph: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images
I work at HMV in a small town and we sell at least five copies of 1997’s Around the Fur to teenagers every week – way more than Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours or Nirvana’s Nevermind. To what do you ascribe its longevity? DameHedwig I would hope it’s because we made some good records that have been able to transcend time, and that people of all ages find something within them they connect with. It’s probably no different from when I was a kid discovering groups like Led Zeppelin. And I’m not saying that we’re as great as them, but those bands were around for many years before I discovered them. I was able to connect with what they created, and it’s a lovely thing. We’ve always made a constant decision to not date ourselves with the music we make. We were always afraid of being lumped-in with the nu metal groups that came up at the same time we did. Not that we felt we were in another league; we just wanted to have our own identity. So we would make certain creative decisions to try not to fall too deep into any category.
Deftones’ Covers compilation shows a wide range of influences, including a number of British artists from the 1980s such as Duran Duran, the Cure, the Smiths and Sade. How much of an influence were they on your music? JimmyD It’s the first music that I fell in love with, and it seemed very exotic to me as a sixth-grader. When you’re watching videos by Duran Duran, and they’re cruising on yachts in Sri Lanka, it just seemed like this music from far away. It was the 80s, and this stuff was pop music, but a lot of my friends were listening to Michael Jackson and stuff like that. And I loved that as well, but this British music was different. I felt very … selective, that I had this music that nobody else knew about. And there’s things there that I’ve carried over to Deftones. We’re still a hard rock/metal group, but I’ve snuck some of those influences in. And it’s not shoehorned; it’s very natural, because I genuinely have an affinity with this music.
Moreno at Lollapalooza in Chicago, 2024. Photograph: Josh Brasted/FilmMagic
It seems your recent albums have had deeper, almost occult themes and symbolism. Is this intentional, or just something unconscious coming out through your art?Phronesis It’s unconscious. I’ve always been intrigued by things we don’t understand. It’s not me buying into any of these things at all – it’s just being curious about that which I don’t understand. I don’t do it for shock value. When I was a kid, my grandmother would go to church, and all of us kids would go to the kids’ church group, where they gave us an illustrated book of stories from the Bible. It had the scariest illustrations. I would stare for hours at these illustrations of, like, King Solomon holding up a baby by its feet. And then I’d read the story, these two people fighting over who the baby belonged to, and Solomon chopping it in half. It boggles me to this day, that it would be something a kid might read. But I’ve always had a curiosity about stuff like that.
What music did you listen to when you were 22? Jlimbless I was probably touring and listening to a lot of early electronic stuff and trip-hop. I was really into Portishead, Unkle, DJ Shadow and Tricky. I still love that music. It was marrying a lot of things that I love: sample-driven music, drum-forward music. It had a lot of the elements of hip-hop, but slowed down, and there was a lot of romantic imagery within it.
I listen to a lot of the songs from Eros [Deftones’ unfinished sixth album, abandoned after bassist Chi Cheng was left comatose after a car crash in 2008; he died of complications from the accident in 2013] floating around the internet – Dallas especially. Do you think that record will ever see the light of day? weavermachine We’re always asked about Eros. It will most likely never see the light of day. That would involve going back to that period and resurrecting unfinished things, and somehow bringing them to completion. Dallas is the only song that was anywhere near finished. This new album started with ideas we’d been working on alone, through the pandemic. And when we got together to actually start making the record, none of us wanted to look back at those ideas from the pandemic – we wanted to capture the moment we’re in today. So going back to try to capture what was happening back during Eros, and finishing those ideas, doesn’t really make sense.
Usually for me, it’s the heavier, the better – but then I heard Sextape [from 2010’s Diamond Eyes], which I love (and its mellower parts, especially). What inspired the lyrics, and how did it become the banger it is? danozism I don’t have any recollection of writing the words. A lot of our songs are written very abstract, to paint a picture of a feeling. There’s three notes that go through the whole of Sextape, and they’re very lush and beautiful – they take that side of us to the extreme. There’s beauty there, in the sonics of it. Lyrically, I just ran with that emotion.
How do you separate your different creative modes between Deftones and your other projects? Mdrudolph I don’t. Each is its own thing, but I don’t approach them in any different way. I react how Chino would react. What I mean is, there’s no such thing as “Chino from Deftones” and “Chino from Crosses” and “Chino from Team Sleep”. There’s just one Chino. And I just react to what’s presented to me, musically, as myself. [A pause] I don’t often refer to myself in the third person. Actually, I feel like that was the first time. And I felt really weird doing that!
Deftones in 2025. Photograph: PR
Your cover of the Sade song No Ordinary Love is just otherworldly. Did she ever get to listen to it or give any feedback? Lazygunn That was sacred ground because, as an artist, Sade’s unique. Even when we were recording it, it felt like a very self-indulgent thing to be doing. We weren’t intending for it to come out. The demo was recorded in my garage; we really just made it for ourselves. The fact that it ever saw the light of day at all was scary, to be honest. If you’d asked me, “Would you want to cover a Sade song, and other people are going to hear it, including possibly Sade?”, I would never have done it. I’m glad people do like it. I’m not sure that she’s ever heard it.
If you could go back in time and offer advice to your younger self, what would you tell him? Zack_S917 There’s a lot of life lessons that I had to learn the hard way, and they created the person that stands here today. I don’t have many huge regrets in life, because it all shaped who I’ve become. That said, it might be nice to go back to a few moments and tap myself on the shoulder and say, “No – go that way.”
You must get a ton of love from fans, and I imagine the gifts can get pretty creative. What’s one of the sweetest or coolest things you’ve received from a fan? StarrXperience People often give me drawings of myself. I always wonder what they assume I will do with them. I don’t even like to look at photos of myself. They’re all different types of drawings – there’s cartoony ones, pen and ink ones. And I think it must bring the artist some kind of joy, that I’m holding on to a piece of art they created. “You shared your art with me – I want to share my art with you.” I do appreciate it. But because of that, I have stacks and stacks, hundreds of drawings of myself in my house.
The Indian men’s hockey team lost the four-match friendly series against Australia, which ran from August 15 to 21, by a 3-1 margin. All the matches were played at the Perth Hockey Stadium.
India began their campaign with a 4-1 loss on August 15 and went down by a 3-0 scoreline in the second rubber on the next day.
However, the Indian hockey team bounced back in the third game and snapped the losing streak with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Kookaburras.
The final match of the series on Thursday saw India trail 1-0 at half-time before conceding the contest 3-2.
India are currently seventh in the hockey rankings while the Australian men’s hockey team is world No. 5.
A tour Down Under was part of India’s final preparations for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, scheduled in Rajgir, Bihar, from August 29 to September 7.
The continental championship also doubles up as a qualifier for the Hockey World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium next year.
The Asia Cup winner will get a direct spot in next year’s global showcase while the teams ranking second to sixth will earn a spot in the 2026 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers to be played in February-March next year.
China and Pakistan said their “friendship is significant” for maintaining regional peace and stability as the two Asian nations held strategic talks to strengthen decades-old political and economic ties.
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi met with his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Thursday and the two officials “agreed to continue close coordination and communication,” according to a Pakistan’s foreign ministry statement at the end of the sixth round of Foreign Minister’s Strategic Dialogue.
