Fernando Alonso is not a man often indifferent in his persona. The two-time world champion has made a career, sometimes to his detriment, out of doggedly striving for more, with an insatiable greed that has motivated him to keep racing into his 40s. But for the first time this season – a season which started with so much potential and excitement – the Formula 1 veteran is apathetic. A mood indicative of Aston Martin’s monumental drop-off in performance. “Honestly we are not fighting for anything,” Alonso said, off the back of a weekend to forget in Mexico City and a second retirement in a row. “In the constructors’ championship, we are locked in the position we are. In the drivers championship, we will lose a couple of places.” While Max Verstappen has continued to sail off into the sunset, Alonso’s 2023 optimism has slowly waned away. After six podiums in eight races, the 42-year-old has recorded just one in the last 11 grands prix. Milliseconds from what could have been a win-clinching pole position in Monaco, Alonso’s goal of a first race win in 10 years has inched further and further out of reach. Spanish fans had been dreaming of “Como 33” – a nod to a forthcoming 33rd victory – but with three races to go Aston Martin, in what seems no time at all, have gone from second-strongest to distinctly the fifth best team on the grid. Mexico on Sunday was perhaps a new low. Starting in 13th place, Alonso dropped back rapidly after sustaining suspected floor damage in the aftermath of Sergio Perez’s collision with Charles Leclerc. By the time the mid-race red flag was issued, he was dead-last and even suffered the indignity of being asked to let team-mate Lance Stroll pass. Eventually, over 20 laps from the end, his race was brought to an end by his team. It left Martin Brundle, on commentary for Sky, to describe the Spaniard’s weekend as a “thoroughly miserable event.” It marks quite the turnaround for the sport’s early-season surprise package. Buoyed by an rapid aerodynamic package that was quickly nicknamed “the green Red Bull” and a muti-million pound investment including a new state-of-the-art factory at Silverstone, Lawrence Stroll’s gamble in buying Force India in 2018 looked finally to have paid off following testing and the first race of the season in Bahrain. Technical director Dan Fallows, poached from Red Bull, had designed a car capable of beating Mercedes and Ferrari, while still some way off Adrian Newey’s rocketship. Alonso, like a kid in a candy shop, was beaming in just about every interview he did. That critical qualifying in Monaco is as close as he has come to a victory. With overtaking on-track a near-impossibility in the principality, Alonso looked to have claimed pole until Verstappen – with a final sector for the ages – snatched top spot. And while a second-place in Canada soon followed, Austria at the start of July represented a sea-change in the pecking order. Mercedes were making slow inroads; Ferrari had found pace on Saturdays. But the biggest shock of all was McLaren’s revolutionary upgrades. Suddenly, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were challenging for podiums. And in a matter of months, the papaya have replaced the racing green as a leading contender mixing with the big boys. Put simply, while upgrades have quickened most of the field, Aston’s changes throughout the season have not had the desired effect. Since Zandvoort in August, Alonso has claimed just 15 points and has gone from being settled in third place in the championship behind the leading Red Bull duo to now languishing in fifth. Stroll’s antics – most notably in Qatar, pushing his personal trainer and sulking in the media pen – have not helped the general morale surrounding the team, too. Alonso finishing as low as eighth in the world championship, with George Russell just 32 points behind now, is now very plausible. The demise has been substantial. But in the wider scheme of the F1 arms race, Aston’s significant rise up the rankings was perhaps bound to conclude this season with a decrease in performance. Was it all too much too soon? Perhaps. But while Alonso is keeping his chin just about up for now, the Spaniard is not the sort to accept mediocrity. Rumours on social media on Monday speculated that Alonso could replace Perez at Red Bull next season in what would be an incomprehensible straight swap. Not afraid to ruffle feathers, don’t be surprised if the Spaniard asks the question over the coming weeks. Most of all, Aston Martin need to prove again to their most valuable asset that a reverse of their current slide is on the horizon, heading into 2024. Read More Max Verstappen gives blunt verdict on Sergio Perez’s Mexican Grand Prix crash Christian Horner drops Daniel Ricciardo hint as pressure mounts on Sergio Perez Kevin Magnussen’s car catches fire after high-speed crash in Mexico F1 fan banned for life after attacking Ferrari supporters in Mexico Sergio Perez lasts just 14 seconds in home race as Max Verstappen wins in Mexico ‘A lot of booing!’ Charles Leclerc reacts after jeers from Mexican fans

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Louisiana Republicans have refused to add exceptions for rape and incest to one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country after the US Supreme Court revoked a constitutional right to abortion access. The state’s anti-abortion Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards opposed the exclusion, but he signed the state’s anti-abortion law last year despite pleas from abortion rights advocates to veto the measure. This year, state Rep Delisha Boyd introduced a bill that would amend the law to add exceptions for pregnancies from rape or incest, but lawmakers on a state House committee voted down the proposal, effectively killing it for the remainder of the legislative session. On 10 May, the committee struck down the bill after hearing testimony from rape survivors and abortion rights advocates who shared their experience and urged lawmakers to support survivors. Lawmakers voted 10-5 on party lines to keep exemptions from rape or incest out of Louisiana’s anti-abortion law. Lawmakers also heard from anti-abortion activists and John Raymond, a former Survivor contestant and pastor accused of taping students’ mouths shut and hanging another student by his ankles. Mr Raymond, who has pleaded not guilty to the allegations, told the committee that women will “clamor to put old boyfriends behind bars in order to dispense with the inconvenience of giving birth” if the state allows rape survivors to access abortion care. In this year’s legislative session, lawmakers are considering a package of bills aimed at loosening the state’s near-total ban on legal abortion care, but most of the proposals have been shelved. During the committee hearing, Ms Boyd revealed that she was born after her mother was sexually assaulted when she was 15 years old. “My mother never recovered,” she said. “No one looked after my mother. No one looked out for me.” Republican state Rep Tony Bacala said he opposed the legislation by pointing to Ms Boyd, who was born from rape, as a good person. In a statement, the governor said he was “deeply disappointed” by the vote. “The committee’s decision to prevent this important bill from being debated by the full House is both unfortunate and contrary to the position of a vast majority of Louisianans, who support these exceptions,” he added. “I simply do not understand how we as a state can tell any victim that she must be forced by law to carry her rapist’s baby to term, regardless of the impact on her own physical or mental health, the wishes of her parents, or the medical judgment of her physician,” said the anti-abortion Democratic governor, who signed the law that bans nearly all abortions, without exceptions, last year, despite pleas from abortion rights advocates to veto the bill. “As I have said before, rape and incest exceptions protect crime victims,” he added. Roughly 3 million women in the US have experienced rape-related pregnancy during their lifetime, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana also had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation, disproportionately impacting Black women, according to the state’s Department of Health. Louisiana is among more than a dozen states, mostly in the South, that have effectively outlawed or severely restricted access to abortion care in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last year to reverse the half-century precedent for abortion access affirmed by Roe v Wade. The state also is central to a closely watched case that could determine the future of a widely used abortion drug used in more than half of all abortions in the US. The legal case over the federal government’s approval of mifepristone will return to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on 17 May, the next step in one of the biggest abortion rights cases after the fall of Roe. The Supreme Court’s decision on 21 April maintains the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug after a federal judge in Texas struck it down in a ruling that would have profound and potentially dangerous consequences for millions of Americans if allowed to go into effect. A three-judge panel at the federal appeals court in Louisiana will hear arguments in the case next week. Read More Alabama Republicans would charge abortion patients with murder under proposed legislation A Texas man sued his ex-wife’s friends for allegedly helping her with an abortion. Now they’re suing him McConnell opposes Alabama Republican's blockade of military nominees over Pentagon abortion policy

MILANO (AP) — The Milan fashion world has become a designer carousel. Powerhouse Gucci and Swiss luxury brand Bally both introduced designers this season, while Tod's bade their creative director farewell and Moschino is in an interim phase.

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Irregular sleep patterns may be linked to harmful bacteria in your gut, new research suggests. The study is the first to find multiple associations between social jet lag – the shift in internal body clock when sleeping patterns change between workdays and free days – and diet quality, diet habits, inflammation and gut microbiome (bacteria) composition. According to the findings, even a 90-minute difference in the midpoint of sleep – half-way between sleep time and wake-up time – can encourage microbiome that has negative associations with health. Previous research has suggested that working shifts disrupts the body clock and can increase risk of weight gain, heart problems and diabetes. This is the first study to show that even small differences in sleep timings across the week seems to be linked to differences in gut bacterial species Dr Wendy Hall King’s College London However, according to researchers from King’s College London there is less awareness that the body’s biological rhythms can be affected by smaller inconsistencies in sleeping patterns. This is due to people working regular hours waking early with an alarm clock on workdays compared to waking naturally on non-workdays. Senior author Dr Wendy Hall from King’s College London, said: “We know that major disruptions in sleep, such as shift work, can have a profound impact on your health. “This is the first study to show that even small differences in sleep timings across the week seems to be linked to differences in gut bacterial species. “Some of these associations were linked to dietary differences but our data also indicates that other, as yet unknown, factors may be involved. “We need intervention trials to find out whether improving sleep time consistency can lead to beneficial changes in the gut microbiome and related health outcomes.” First author Kate Bermingham, from King’s College London and senior nutrition scientist at ZOE, said: “Sleep is a key pillar of health, and this research is particularly timely given the growing interest in circadian rhythms and the gut microbiome. “Even a 90-minute difference in the mid-point of sleep can encourage microbiota species which have unfavourable associations with your health.” Researchers suggest the composition of the microbes in the gut may negatively or positively affect health by producing toxins or beneficial products. Specific species of microbes can correspond to an individual’s risk of long-term health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity. The microbiome is influenced by what food someone eats, which makes the diversity of the gut adjustable. Researchers assessed a group of 934 people from the ZOE Predict study, the largest ongoing nutritional study of its kind. They looked at blood, stool and gut microbiome samples, as well as glucose measurements in people whose sleep was irregular compared to those who had a routine sleep schedule. Unlike past research, the group consisted of mainly lean and healthy individuals with most of them getting more than seven hours sleep throughout the week. The study, published in The European Journal of Nutrition, found that just a 90-minute difference in the timing of the midpoint of sleep is associated with differences in what the gut microbiome is made up of. According to the findings, having social jet lag was associated with lower overall diet quality, higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, and lower intakes of fruits and nuts. This may directly influence the abundance of specific microbiota in the gut, researchers say. Three out of the six microbiota species more abundant in the social jet lag group have what researchers describe as unfavourable associations with health. They are linked with poor diet quality, indicators of obesity and cardiometabolic health, like heart attack, stroke, and diabetes, and markers in your blood related to higher levels of inflammation and cardiovascular risk. Previous research has found social jet lag is associated with weight gain, chronic illness and mental fatigue. Dr Sarah Berry from King’s College London and chief scientist at ZOE added: “Maintaining regular sleep patterns, so when we go to bed and when we wake each day, is an easily adjustable lifestyle behaviour we can all do, that may impact your health via your gut microbiome for the better.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live N-Dubz cement comeback with first new album in 13 years Babies as young as four months have taste in fine art, study shows ADHD symptoms in children can be transformed with brain stimulation therapy

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Earlier this year, a new beer appeared on the menu at Fox City Brewing Company in Forsyth, Georgia.

Some of Adidas’ remaining Yeezy shoes are back on sale — months after the German sportswear company cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West