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Carlos Sainz acknowledged that he needs to make a decision about his Formula 1 future this year, but said that his priority is to continue the "project" of helping Williams move up the grid.Sainz joined Williams ‌for the 2025 season on a multi-year contract. The exact terms were ​not revealed, but the ‌deal is believed to include a clause that would allow the ‌Spaniard to walk ⁠away after ‌two seasons if he's not pleased with ‌the team's direction or is offered a seat with a top team.Williams team ⁠principal James Vowles said recently that he has "zero doubt" about moving forward with the driver tandem of Sainz and Alex Albon, and Sainz shared that commitment ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix."Obviously very happy to hear from James," Sainz said. "I think we've made it mutual across one another that the ideal scenario and the ideal path moving forward for me has ​always been Williams and has always been seeing the progress of this team and continuing to help this team become a competitive team."That's what I would love the most and ‌very happy to see that ⁠my boss still wants ​me."Vowles has stated a goal of competing for a world ​championship by 2030. However, after Williams finished fifth with 137 points in last year's constructors championship, the team sits in eighth place with just seven points through five races this season.Six of those have come from Sainz, with Albon earning only one thus far as Williams has struggled to adjust to F1's new regulations.That has not deterred the 31-year-old Sainz, who signed with Williams in 2024 after losing his seat at Ferrari to Lewis Hamilton."I know I obviously need to take a decision this year ‌about my future but at the ‌same time, I made it ⁠very clear to Williams and to my management team that my priority is to ⁠make this project work," ⁠Sainz said. "When I did the commitment a couple of years ago to come here, it was with the commitment of trying to make this work and I wish we can do that."Obviously this year we've hit a bit of a big bump that we didn't expect and now all my attention and focus is ​to try and get this team out of the bump as soon as possible."Sainz added that when he joined Williams he knew that winning races was unlikely until at least 2028. However, he sees the following season as a realistic goal for regularly competing for podiums and 2030 as the year to challenge for a championship."I'm committed to try and help the team get out of this bump and do the best we can to recover," Sainz said. "I just ‌want to be winning ​in F1, that's my main message to my management and at the same time help Williams get back to the top." 

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said additional interest-rate cuts will be warranted if inflation slows further once most of the impact of tariffs has passed.“If inflation follows the path I expect, further reductions in the federal funds rate will eventually be warranted to prevent monetary policy from inadvertently becoming more restrictive,” Williams said Tuesday in remarks prepared for an event in Washington.Tariffs should have some additional impact on consumer prices during the first half of the year before the inflation rate declines to 2.5% at the end of 2026, and to 2% in 2027, he added.At the same time, Williams said there’s been “promising signs of stabilization” in the labor market during recent months, and the unemployment rate should continue to edge down this year and next, helped by “solid” growth. He expects the economy will grow by around 2.5% this year.“Given the lack of second-round effects and well-anchored inflation expectations, I expect the tariffs largely to have one-off effects on prices,” he said, adding that the peak effect of the levies will pass “later this year.”Given the full impact of tariffs is yet to be felt, progress toward the Fed’s 2% inflation goal “has temporarily stalled.”A growing chorus of Fed officials are pointing to signs of stabilization in the labor market following a pick-up in hiring in January and a drop in the unemployment rate. Many policymakers would now prefer to wait for further signs that inflation is falling back to the Fed’s 2% goal. A few other policymakers, however, worry the lack of widespread job creation could still warrant more rate cuts.Williams said the job market remains in an “unusual low-hire, low-fire” dynamic. He also noted there’s a more pessimistic perception from households surveys, which provide a “cautionary signal” for policymakers to monitor. 

Seven-time major singles champion Venus Williams said Sunday she's still driven to play good tennis - and "it gives you great legs" - as she prepares for an Australian Open tilt at age 45.Williams will become the oldest woman to play in the main draw at the season-opening Grand Slam after accepting a wildcard, five years after she last competed in Melbourne.The American said she was unaware of the record she was poised to break, adding she didn't have the same intense approach to achieving milestones as in her prime.However, her drive to succeed on court remained."I think one of my goals is to be joyful and just embrace being uncomfortable because that's the things champions can do," she said."I definitely don't wake up and come halfway across the world -- or more than halfway -- to not be feeling the fire."And, well, tennis burns a lot of calories. It gives you great legs. I figure if I want to stay fit, I've got to keep playing."A five-time Wimbledon champion, Williams was an Australian Open singles finalist in 2003 and 2017 and won the doubles title four times alongside sister Serena.Williams' last tournament was the US Open in August, not long after returning from a 16-month break.She will play warmup events in Auckland next week and Hobart ahead of the January 18-February 1 Australian Open and hoped she can shake rust out of her system."It's interesting because I have so much experience, but I've probably played the least amount as any other player in this draw," Williams told reporters in Auckland."So I have a lot to pull out but I also have to come out of the gates playing quickly."The good news is that, you know, tennis matches are long and you have a chance to figure things out."Her first opponent in Auckland on Monday will be Polish fifth seed and world No.54 Magda Linette. 

Serena Williams insisted she had no plans to make a return to tennis after her registration with the sport’s drug-testing body sparked reports of a dramatic comeback. The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion has not competed since a third-round loss at the 2022 US Open left her one short of the all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, held by Margaret Court in the women’s game and Novak Djokovic in men’s tennis. “It is correct that she is back on the Registered Testing Pool list,” Adrian Bassett, a spokesman for the the International Tennis Integrity Agency, the sport’s drug-testing body told AFP in London on Tuesday in response to media reports the 44-year-old American had registered. “At this stage we have no other information.” But Williams denied she was planning a return to competitive tennis by posting later Tuesday on X: “Omg (Oh My God) yall (you all) I’m NOT coming back. This wildfire is crazy”.Following her three-set defeat by Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows three years ago, Williams said she did not want to use the word “retiring” but instead explained she was “evolving” away from tennis. Players who decide to return to testing need to provide information about their time and locations when they are available to give samples. They also need to complete testing for six months before they are allowed to return to competition. Williams’s older sister, Venus, - seven times major singles champion - returned to tennis in July at the age of 45 after almost two years away from the Women’s Tennis Association tour.When Venus, a seven-time major singles champion, came back at the DC Open, she spoke about wishing Serena would join her on tour again. The sisters won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles as a pair and three Olympic gold medals as well. “I keep saying to my team: The only thing that would make this better is if she was here,” said Venus at the time. “Like, we always did everything together, so of course I miss her.“But if she comes back, I’m sure she’ll let y’all know.” 

Stuart Williams Shortly after French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned after less than a month in the job, President Emmanuel Macron was filmed walking by the River Seine in Paris deep in phone conversation with only his security detail at a discreet distance.Whom Macron was speaking to and what he was discussing remains unclear. But the image symbolised the political solitude of the president as he faces a dwindling array of options, all of them hazardous.What will Macron, who must step down as president in 2027 after serving the maximum two mandates, do next?Here are four options evoked by analysts. None offer a quick solution.Reappoint Lecornu Macron appears to have given himself this option after Bruno Le Maire, a loyal former finance minister whose appointment as defence minister triggered the crisis, said he would withdraw from the government.The Elysee then announced Lecornu was being given two days to put together an action plan, with the premier saying he would hold "final discussions" with "all the political forces".But it is far from clear that Lecornu would be able to appoint a government, let alone survive a confidence vote in parliament where his forces are in the minority.Even were his mission to succeed, his reappointment as premier would not be automatic, said a French presidential official."The fundamentals of the problem remain the same: with or without Le Maire, they (the other parliamentary blocs) don't agree on the budget, pension reform, immigration and so forth," said Paul Taylor, senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre.A new PM If Macron appointed a new prime minister, the person would be the eighth premier of his rule and the third this year alone — not good for France's reputation.The left wants him to appoint a person who would push through a more expansive budget. But it is far from clear Macron would do this and even if he did, the new premier might not even enjoy support from throughout the fractious left."Another PM could be toppled within weeks — making a new legislative election almost inevitable," said the Eurasia Group risk analysis firm.Early elections Macron has always resisted calling early elections, after his gamble to call snap polls in summer 2024 backfired and left France with a hung parliament.But the president will "assume his responsibilities" if Lecornu fails over the next two days, a presidential official said, in apparent reference to calling early elections.Such elections could lead to the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen bolstering its presence in parliament and even giving her protege Jordan Bardella the chance of becoming premier.The outcome of such polls is far from clear, though Le Pen has described such elections as "absolutely essential"."It is uncertain whether new elections will produce a different result than the one from last July," said Celia Belin, head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).ResignMacron has always rejected resigning before his mandate ends, which would trigger early presidential elections. But pressure is building on the president like never before."If new snap elections do not allow for a governing majority, the political crisis could turn into a regime crisis. In this case, President Macron's ability to stay in power could be questioned," said Belin.