ROME The European Central Bank (ECB) needs to be careful not to cause "unnecessary damage" to the economy

There's big money in trendy sandals.

Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix following Saturday’s rain-hit qualifying session in Montreal. Verstappen has won five of the opening seven rounds and even a wet-dry-wet track in Montreal could not slow the Dutchman down. Nico Hulkenberg took advantage of the sodden track to take second spot for Haas, 1.2 seconds behind Verstappen, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso third. Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth, one spot ahead of George Russell in the other Mercedes, while Lando Norris claimed seventh for McLaren. Verstappen has been in a class of one this year and the Red Bull man kept his composure in changeable conditions to take an impressive pole. Verstappen was quickest out of the marks in Q3 before Oscar Piastri’s shunt on the exit of the second corner led to a red flag. The session was delayed for eight minutes and – with the intensity of the rain increasing – no one would threaten Verstappen’s time. Hamilton had briefly held third spot, but the seven-time world champion was usurped by Hulkenberg just as the red flag arrived for Piastri’s collision with the wall. Sergio Perez’s string of poor races continued after he was eliminated in Q2 and starts Sunday’s round from 12th place. Perez, who trails team-mate Verstappen by 53 points, started last in Monaco after he crashed out of qualifying and then was only 11th on the grid last time out in Spain. Here, the Mexican again begins a race outside of the top 10 after he failed to get a clean lap together and faces losing even further ground to Verstappen. On an afternoon of surprise results, Charles Leclerc was also knocked out in Q2. The Monegasque, who, too, performed badly in Barcelona – qualifying 19th and taking the chequered flag in 11th – was denied an early switch by Ferrari to dry rubber. When the brief changeover to slicks arrived, Leclerc could not do enough to progress to Q3, yelling in frustration over the radio. “The tyres are not ready,” he said. “Come on!” Earlier, qualifying was red-flagged after a handful of minutes when Zhou Guanyu temporally broke down in his Alfa Romeo. The Chinese driver managed to get going again, limping back to the pits, with the session restarted after a seven-minute suspension. Zhou was able to continue in Q1, but he finished 20th and last. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Lewis Hamilton fastest as practice for Canadian Grand Prix finally gets started Max Verstappen closes in on ‘amazing achievement’ of matching Ayrton Senna Lewis Hamilton plays down talk of imminent new Mercedes deal

A tentative agreement has been reached to cease the labor action that has shut down production of TV shows and movies.

By David Morgan WASHINGTON Republican Mike Johnson, the untried speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, faces an

Tudor Investment Corp. senior portfolio manager Emil Dabora pitched an investment in Live Nation Entertainment, citing explosive growth

A new study finds that far more people are in harm's way as they move into high flood zones around the world

More than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates are urging Bangladesh to suspend legal proceedings against Muhammad Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people

The Premier League may have to scrap its mid-season break due to the overcrowding of the football calendar. The change could come into effect next season with FIFA’s revamped 32-team Club World Cup set to take place in the summer of 2025, as well as a larger-scale World Cup the following year. The Premier League introduced the break – which this season will take the form of a structured two-week period in January – in 2018 in a bid to ease the workload on players, but chief executive Richard Masters admits it is under discussion as it could become unworkable. “It is one of the things we are discussing with the FA and EFL. We want the Premier League, the big cup competitions and the EFL to flourish and that requires an adjustment,” he said. “It is the last season where it’s recognisable under the current international match calendar, where the Premier League starts on a particular weekend and the FA Cup final has its own weekend and you have the Champions League after that and a mid-season player break in the middle. “A lot will have to change because of the additional European dates. We are also very much aware of the changes to FIFA’s competitions. The World Cup is getting bigger, an additional group stage game is going to be added. Inevitably that’s going to take up more calendar space. “You obviously have the views of the players’ union and the players being expressed very strongly now. “From a leagues perspective, the European Leagues and World Leagues Forum are very clear on this, there has to be a forum for domestic competitions to be able to discuss the impact of regional and global decisions on the calendar. “There’s lots of dialogue with UEFA, very little dialogue with FIFA.” There were almost double the usual amount of yellow cards shown over the first weekend of the EFL season as the crackdown on time-wasting and player behaviour came into force. Masters expects the same in the top flight until players and managers get used to the law changes. “I think these things will level out,” he added. “It’s not the first crackdown that the governing bodies have had, in relation to surrounding referees for example. “Players and managers need time to adjust and actually the officials need time to adjust. “But over a period of time, rather than it to sort of dissipate and not have impact, everyone’s behaviour adjusts and things settle down. “There will be more yellow cards. I don’t know whether a doubling of yellow cards is a good thing or a bad thing. It certainly sends a message that the officials are true to their word.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Premier League looking into ‘historic’ financial issues at Chelsea I’ve struggled with the pressure – Katie Archibald misses out on omnium medal Gael Monfils rolls back the years to shock Stefanos Tsitsipas in Canada

A government audit has found that the U.S. agency charged with keeping the roads safe is slow to investigate automobile safety defects, limiting its ability to handle rapidly changing or severe risks

Two more women have come forward to accuse Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting them in the early 1990s

The debt-limit deal would rein in spending on some federal government services but barely dents the roughly $20