BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions.
Could F1 have an artificial wet race?
German leader presses for ceasefire before Putin-Zelensky meeting
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday pressed for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine before President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meet.
“I can’t imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So let’s work on that, and let’s try to put pressure on Russia because the credibility of these efforts, these efforts we are undertaking today are depending on at least a ceasefire from the beginning of the serious negotiations from next step on,” Merz said in a meeting Monday with Trump and other European leaders.
On Friday, Trump met with Putin in Alaska amid a push from himself and his administration for an end to the war in Ukraine — a push in which they have not had much luck. The president then met with multiple European leaders and Zelensky at the White House on Monday, with Trump and the Ukrainian president holding a more even-tempered Oval Office meeting than in February.
During the Oval Office meeting, Trump said a ceasefire may not be needed before arriving at a larger peace agreement, and he left open the chance that U.S. forces could take part in some peacekeeping force in Ukraine to stop further aggression in the future.
In a Truth Social post Monday evening, Trump said that he had “called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy.”
“After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years,” the president added.
Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) Could Help With Government Functioning, Says Jim Cramer
We recently published 12 Latest Stocks Jim Cramer Discussed. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s shares are among the top performers in 2025 as they have gained 135% year-to-date. The stock has benefited from back-to-back strong earnings reports which have seen the firm expand its valuation multiple known as the Rule Of 40. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) currently trades at a 589 P/E ratio, which makes it one of the most highly valued stocks on the market. Cramer discussed the firm in the context of improving the US government’s operations:
“If I brought in, yes, the stock that actually reversed yesterday in a criminal fashion, just kidding. Palantir. I think Palantir, with its ontology, its ability to be able to figure out an organization, would have much better numbers. I know praise Alex Karp almost the way I praised Jensen Huang. Which is completely wrong because one man is a force of good and the other one’s the force of I have no idea. But I do believe Palantir could do the numbers much better.”
Here are his previous thoughts about Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s CEO, Alex Karp:
“And, Alex Karp, congratulations again for getting the stock up. What a guy. What a sweetheart. That’s a word that’s not used by anyone in the world, remember pistol competition he does.”
While we acknowledge the potential of PLTR as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Entire church begins two-day journey across Swedish city of Kiruna
Erika Benke
BBC News, Kiruna
ReutersA landmark 113-year-old church at risk from ground subsidence is being relocated in its entirety – in a 5km (3 miles) move along a road in Sweden’s far north.
The vast red timber structure in Kiruna dating back to 1912 has been hoisted on giant rolling platforms and will now begin its move to the new city centre.
Travelling at a maximum speed of 500m an hour, the journey is expected to take two days.
The old city centre is at risk from ground fissures after more than a century of iron ore mining. The church’s move is the most spectacular and symbolic moment of the wider relocation of buildings in Kiruna, which lies 145km north of the Arctic Circle.
In the words of culture strategist Sofia Lagerlöf Määttä, “it’s like finally, let’s get it done. We’ve been waiting for so many years”.
“We’ve done so much preparation,” says the man in charge of the move, project manager Stefan Holmblad Johansson.
“It’s a historic event, a very big and complex operation and we don’t have a margin of error. But everything is under control.”
His composure reflects years of planning.
By the mid-2010s, other buildings in Kiruna were already being shifted to safer ground. Most were demolished and rebuilt, but some landmarks were moved intact.
These include buildings in Hjalmar Lundbohmsgården such as the so-called yellow row of three old wooden houses and the former home of mining manager Hjalmar Lundbohm, which was split into three parts.
The clock tower on the roof of the old city hall was also moved and can now be found next to the new city hall.
Robert YlitaloUnder Swedish law, mining activity can not take place under buildings.
Robert Ylitalo, chief executive officer of Kiruna’s development company, explains: “There’s no risk of people falling through cracks. But fissures would eventually damage the water, electricity and sewage supply. People have to move before the infrastructure fails.”
The iron ore mine’s operator, LKAB – also Kiruna’s biggest employer – is covering the city’s relocation bill, estimated at more than 10bn Swedish krona ($1bn; £737m).
Kiruna Church is 35m (115ft) high, 40m wide and weighs 672 tonnes. It was once voted Sweden’s most beautiful pre-1950 building.
Relocating such a large building is an unusual feat. But instead of dismantling it, engineers are moving it in one piece, supported by steel beams and carried on self-propelled modular transporters.
“The biggest challenge was preparing the road for such a wide building,” says project manager Mr Johansson.
“We’ve widened it to 24 metres (79ft) and along the way we removed lampposts, traffic lights as well as a bridge that was slated for demolition anyway.”
Among the most delicate aspects of the move is the protection of the church’s interior treasures, especially its great altar painting made by Prince Eugen, a member of Sweden’s royal family.
“It’s not something hanging on a hook that you just take off,” says Mr Johansson.
“It’s glued directly onto a masonry wall so it would have been difficult to remove without damage. So it will remain inside the church during the move, fully covered and stabilised. So will the organ with its 1,000 pipes.”
Reuters
LKABThe move is much more than an engineering marvel for local residents – it’s a deeply emotional moment.
“The church has served as a spiritual centre and a gathering place for the community for generations,” says Sofia Lagerlöf Määttä, who remembers walking into the church for the first time as a young child with her grandmother.
“The move has brought back memories of joy and sorrow to us, and we’re now moving those memories with us into the future.”
That feeling is also shared by project manager Stefan Holmblad Johansson, an engineer who doubles as a member of the church’s gospel choir.
“This is a very special task for me,” he says. “The church was built over a 100 years ago for the municipality by LKAB. Now we move it to the new city. There simply can’t be any other way.”
ReutersFor the church’s vicar, Lena Tjärnberg, the moment carries added meaning.
“The church is leaving a place where it truly belongs,” she says.
“Everyone knows it has to be relocated: we live in a mining community and depend on the mine. I’m grateful that we’re moving the church with us to the new city centre but there is also sorrow in seeing it leave the ground where it became a church.”
As the massive walls of Kiruna church begin to inch forward, thousands of residents and visitors – Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf among them – are expected to line the route.
Swedish television is also broadcasting the entire journey live as “slow TV”, marking a rare moment when a piece of history does not just survive change – it moves with it.
Trump administration restores public spending data after legal fight
The Trump administration restored a public database that showed how funding is apportioned to federal agencies following a recent order by a federal appeals court.
Public access to the data was restored over the weekend, not long after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the website be restored in a unanimous ruling.
“To hear the Government tell it, the separation of powers hangs in the balance and only this Court can set things right. But when it comes to appropriations, our Constitution has made plain that congressional power is at its zenith,” U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson wrote last week.
Under the apportionments process, agencies are given limited authority to spend funding allocated by Congress in installments.
Congress required the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to implement an “automated system to post each document apportioning an appropriation” as part of a legislative funding deal signed into law in 2022. The office was also ordered to “operate and maintain” the automated system for “fiscal year 2023 and each fiscal year thereafter” in another funding bill that also became law that year.
But the website went dark earlier this year after the Trump administration said it could not continue to operate the system, arguing it contained sensitive information that could pose a threat to national security.
Advocates have hailed the return of the tracker as a major win for transparency, as the administration has faced legal challenges in recent months over efforts to freeze funding already allocated by Congress.
“Publicly disclosing apportionments helps protect against any illegal abuses or withholdings of funds as President Trump attempted to do when he sought to illegally withhold federal funds from Ukraine in exchange for political favors,” Donald K. Sherman, executive director and chief counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement.
“We are gratified that Congress and the public will not be left in the dark while this case proceeds, and we will continue to fight for the permanent availability of this information.”
Cerin Lindgrensavage, counsel for Protect Democracy, also said in a statement Monday that access to the apportionment process “means we can finally see where OMB may have abused this tool to unlawfully delay spending.”
Both groups sued the administration over the website’s previous takedown.
However, Democrats have continued to raise scrutiny over the administration’s revival of the database, with some describing the website’s return as a “partial restoration.”
“It should never have required months in court for this administration to begin complying with a truly basic and straightforward transparency requirement,” Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement on Monday.
“OMB must now ensure every last bit of this important budget data that has been hidden is promptly made public, as the court has ordered, and that the data is posted within days, as the law requires, going forward.”
I Was Okay With Stock Coming Down A Little, Says Jim Cramer
We recently published 12 Latest Stocks Jim Cramer Discussed. Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) is the latest firm to list its shares on the stock exchange. Since being listed, the stock has lost 7.7%. Cramer commented on the movement and ascribed the drop to profit taking. Here are his complete remarks about Bullish (NYSE:BLSH):
“[On his thoughts about Bullish’s price action] Okay, so I think that it was amazing. Basically because it went up, a huge amount. And then there was profit taking. And that was actually, shows a little bit of rationality. I think there are a lot of people who just say, when I was watching someone’s, Frank Holland’s actually, show talking about how we all know it’s frothy. And I am a little more in the Rick Rieder camp, who says that it’s a really good time to invest. And the fact that Bullish came down a little bit made me feel okay, it’s not completely crazed. I was confused by Tom Farley, he’s the CEO, talking about how it’s gonna be a Solana-based business. Because you can’t buy Solana at Fidelity. IF you wanna buy Solana at Coinbase, you have to have a picture of your driver’s license. I mean they were like carding you to buy Solana. I want to know more about Solana was their choice.”
Copyright: welcomia / 123RF Stock Photo
While we acknowledge the potential of BLSH as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
The Papers: 'Suited not booted' and 'property tax shake-up'
The White House Ukraine summit and Rachel Reeves’s potential new taxes dominate Tuesday’s papers.
How Trump introduced European leaders
President Trump met with European leaders on Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine alongside the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, amid a push from the White House for an end to the conflict.
Among those who participated in the meeting included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
As the meeting kicked off, Trump gave his fellow world leaders colorful introductions, using descriptions such as “great political leader,” “my friend” and “an inspiration.”
Here’s how the leaders got introduced by Trump at the meeting;
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte
Trump referred to Rutte as “a great gentleman, great — great political leader in Europe, generally, but now he’s the NATO secretary-general and you’re doing a fantastic job.”
Ahead of Friday’s meeting between Trump and Putin, Rutte said the alliance is “making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
“Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom, our friend and my friend and doing really well,” Trump said of Starmer at the top of the meeting. “And people like him a lot. We all like him.”
After February’s rocky meeting between Zelensky and Trump, Starmer offered a warm embrace of the Ukrainian President.
“You have full backing from the United Kingdom, and we stand with you with Ukraine for as long as it may take,” Starmer, said during a presser with Zelensky in March.
French President Emmanuel Macron
Trump especially heaped praise upon Macron when introducing him, saying he “liked him from day one.”
“Everyone knows President Macron of France, who’s been with me from the beginning, one of the first people I met as a foreign dignitary, and I liked him from day one,” Trump said. “And I like him even more now.”
“That’s pretty good, that’s unusual,” the president remarked. “That’s a pretty unusual thing.”
Earlier this year, Macron praised Trump after Trump called for Russia and Ukraine to agree to a 30-day ceasefire or face potential sanctions.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
Trump called Meloni “a really great leader and an inspiration over there,” most likely referring to her country.
“She’s served now, even though she’s a very young person, she’s served there for a long period of time relative to others. They don’t — they don’t last very long, you’ve lasted a long time. You’re going to be there a long time.”
As the head of a far-right party, Meloni is ideologically aligned with Trump on several political and social issues. But stark differences have emerged in Meloni’s unwavering support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
Merz was described by Trump as “a very strong person and a very strong leader and very highly respected in Germany, and he’s my friend and it’s an honor to have him as my friend, thank you very much.” Trump also added that Merz appeared “great with” a “tan.”
Merz’s election in February gave Ukraine a strong supporter in Germany. He has joined Trump’s push for a ceasefire deal in the war with Russia, while also positioning Germany to better support Ukraine without the U.S.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb
Trump appeared confused about where Stubb was at the table during the meeting at first, with a voice chiming in a second later saying, “I’m right here.”
“Oh, you look better than I’ve ever seen you look,” Trump said. “But you’ve done a great job and we wanted to have you here, because you’re somebody that we all respect. And, you’ve had a lot to do with the success, I think and the potential success and thank you very much for being here, we appreciate it.”
Stubb and Trump played golf together in March. At the time, Stubb said Trump seemed to be growing “impatient” with Putin, who rejected a U.S. ceasefire proposal and added various conditions to a more limited deal.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
Trump noted a recent trade deal with von der Leyen, calling her “somebody that we just made a big deal with.”
“With all of those countries, I don’t know, I think you might be more powerful than all these guys at this table, I don’t know,” Trump added.
Von der Leyen said in a post on the social platform X on Sunday that she was joining the meeting “at the request of President Zelenskyy.”
Tapestry, Inc. (TPR) Was “Kind Of, Quizzical,” Says Jim Cramer
We recently published 12 Latest Stocks On Jim Cramer’s Radar. Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE:TPR) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed.
Apparel company Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE:TPR)’s shares have gained 53% year-to-date despite a rather massive 15.7% drop in August. The shares fell after the firm’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings report. The results saw Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE:TPR) guide full-year fiscal 2026 earnings to $5.30 to $5.45 per share, which fell short of analyst estimates of $5.49. At the heart of the lower guide was the firm’s warning that it expected tariffs to hit its income statement. Cramer was surprised by Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE:TPR)’s earnings report:
“[On shares being down due to impact from tariffs] Now there’s one where if you want to have a consumer price index problem, I didn’t that there’s was going to be as bad as it is. And that’s Coach. And you know, wow, I mean they didn’t signal that beforehand. It was kind of, quizzical.”
Previously, the CNBC TV show host discussed Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE:TPR) in significant detail:
“Late last year, the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission blocked yet another merger, Tapestry’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri Holdings… Despite all the tariff uncertainty, Tapestry was able to raise its sales and earnings guidance. What’s driving the strength? Now, a lot of it’s because the Coach brand keeps getting better and better… Now, why is Coach winning? I think this is another example of what we have seen in the consumer discretionary space for a while now. Consumers want value, not necessarily absolute value, but relative value. They want high-quality goods at reasonable prices…
Copyright: dolgachov / 123RF Stock Photo
When your competitors are in bad shape, you don’t try to take them over, you just eat them alive, which is what Coach has been doing to Michael Kors… Given the stock’s incredible performance since last October, obviously the expectations here are high… I don’t think the stock is crazy expensive here, trading at just under 22 times this year’s earnings estimate, 18% earnings growth business looks good.
Intel shares jump as Softbank to buy $2bn stake in chip giant
Intel shares have jumped after Japanese technology investment giant Softbank said it is buying a $2bn (£1.5bn) stake in the US computer chip maker.
The announcement came just hours after new reports that the Trump administration is in talks to take a stake of around 10% in Intel by converting government grants into shares.
The potential deal, which was first reported last week, aims to help Intel build a flagship manufacturing hub in Ohio. At the time, a White House spokesman told the BBC that the reports “should be regarded as speculation” unless officially announced.
The BBC has contacted the White House and Intel for comment.
Under the deal announced on Monday, Softbank will pay $23 per share in Intel.
“The investment comes as both Intel and SoftBank deepen their commitment to investing in advanced technology and semiconductor innovation in the United States,” the two companies said in a joint statement.
Intel shares rose by more than 5% in after-hours trade in New York on Monday.
Last week, US President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet met Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan.
The meeting came just days after Trump called for Mr Tan to resign, accusing him of being “highly conflicted” due to his earlier ties to China.
The developments came as the US chip industry is under intense scrutiny by the White House.
Some analysts have described Intel’s potential deal with the US government as a lifeline for the firm.
Intel is one of the few US firms capable of manufacturing high-end semiconductors at scale.
But globally, it has lost out to rival chip manufacturers like Samsung and TSMC.
On Thursday, the company declined to comment on the reported discussions and said it was “deeply committed to supporting President Trump’s efforts” to strengthen manufacturing and technology in the US.
Such an agreement would mark a “major escalation” in what seems to be an attempt by the Trump administration to reshape the US government’s role in the private sector, said political scientist Sarah Bauerle Danzman from Indiana University.
But the potential move sets a “concerning precedent” as it raises questions about whether companies may be pushed to follow political agendas, she said.
It also signals Washington’s determination to ensure Intel succeeds and that the supply chain for computer chips is protected, said Dan Sheehan from Telos Wealth Advisors.
“[The Government’s] agenda is clear: Accelerate domestic production, reduce dependence on Asia, and position Intel at the centre of the AI and national security landscape,” he said.
SoftBank’s investment is a “clear vote of confidence” in Intel’s turnaround, he added.
Last week, Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay the US government 15% of their Chinese revenues as part of an unprecedented deal to secure export licences to China.