List of All Articles with Tag 'b'

Dillon Danis said, 'If you go to my story I didn’t delete anything but everything with Tate is deleted and now I’m disabled this is actually nuts'

The White House is considering formal defense treaties with Saudi Arabia and Israel as part of its plan

Christy Turlington's daughter Grace Burns, 19, made her Milan Fashion Week debut on September 20

Harry Styles made a new record last year by performing at Madison Square Garden with 15 consecutive sold-out shows between August and September

Zac Efron's The Iron Claw has been granted an interim agreement from the actors union SAG-AFTRA so the cast can promote the movie despite the ongoing Hollywood strikes

Take That will release their new album 'This Life' on 24 November and will head out on tour next year.

Justin Timberlake has finally explained why he mangled his pronunciation in NSYNC song It’s Gonna Be Me - revealing it was a request from Swedish songwriter/producer Max Martin

Screenwriter David S. Goyer has revealed he and Guillermo Del Toro were going to work together on a 'Star Wars' movie a few years ago.

Game on! Microsoft Corp.’s stop-and-go deal to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc. got an early-morning boost from the UK’s

Joy Behar disucsses Sunny Hostin's bedroom life during 'Hot Topics' segment

The task for every subsequent Manchester United manager has been to emulate Sir Alex Ferguson. Erik ten Hag did it twice in a night. Neither was cause for celebration. When Serge Gnabry scored Bayern Munich’s second goal, it was the first time since Ferguson’s team of 2001 that United had conceded twice in five successive games. When Mathys Tel added a late fourth, it meant the class of 2023 became the second United side to let in four goals in a Champions League game: the first was Ferguson’s 1994 group, when eviscerated by Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona ‘Dream Team’. That could be explained in part by the regulations about foreign players at the time and Ferguson’s disastrous decision to omit Peter Schmeichel; this in part by a different kind of goalkeeping error, Andre Onana’s blunder for Leroy Sane’s opener. Yet defensive difficulties have been a constant of late. To paraphrase Clive Tyldesley, who commentated on both the most famous and the most recent meetings of Bayern and United, can Manchester United concede? They always concede. Even their lone clean sheet this season had a fortunate feel and highlighted issues. Wolves, the lowest scorers in last season’s Premier League, had 23 shots, the most of any visiting side at Old Trafford in the top flight since 2005. They received an apology from PGMOL after they were not awarded a penalty. Since then, Onana has retrieved the ball from his net 14 times. United have shown they can concede early – they had never let in two goals as early into a Premier League game until they went two behind Nottingham Forest inside four minutes – and late, being breached twice in injury time by Arsenal. They have conceded in spurts, with quickfire doubles coming at their expense in three of the last four games, and at regular intervals. Twice in the Allianz Arena, they conceded soon after scoring. If the diagnosis on the opening night against Wolves was that the midfield was malfunctioning, with the introduction of Mason Mount leaving Casemiro exposed, subsequent matches have indicated there are also issues in goal, in the back four and on the wings that have led to opponents scoring. Ten Hag was asked in the Allianz Arena if the problem lay in the mentality or injuries. Both, he replied: certainly United had an alternative back four on the treatment table, in Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, plus another sidelined left-back, in Tyrell Malacia. Certainly every game he misses accentuates Varane’s importance and his status as United’s best defender; that he is ageing and injury-prone, however, offers scant consolation. But as he defended Onana, pointing out the summer signing made several second-half saves in Munich, Ten Hag inadvertently underlined that the damage could have been greater. Bayern hit the post twice. Four goals might have been eight. As Ten Hag suggested that United could have done more to halt Sane before he shot, he touched on a recurring theme: United are opened up too easily on the flanks. All three Brighton goals stemmed from the wings, when Ten Hag’s decision to field a side without cover in front of his full-backs backfired. So did Bayern’s first two, with Jamal Musiala embarking on a storming solo run. At left-back, United are discovering that Sergio Reguilon, the emergency signing given a baptism of fire, is more of an attacking full-back. On the right, Diogo Dalot is struggling; Bayern, with their quick wingers, might have been a match to suit Wan-Bissaka, had he been fit. But neither Marcus Rashford nor, when available, Antony is the most diligent at shielding full-backs and low crosses and cutbacks can lead to goals against United. So can quick breaks. If, at times, United are chasing games and that is a factor in Arsenal’s third goal and Bayern’s fourth, there is nevertheless the sense that Casemiro can flounder when surrounded by open space and opposition runners. In different ways, Nottingham Forest’s first goal and Arsenal’s second reflected shortcomings from set-pieces – including United’s own corner. Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal was one of several that Onana perhaps could have saved. Declan Rice’s crucial strike for Arsenal was one of two when Ten Hag’s auxiliary centre-back partnership consisted of Maguire and Jonny Evans; a Leicester 2017 reunion consisting of one player low on confidence and another who might have retired. Ludicrously, United were one more injury away from starting Evans in Munich. And yet he is not the centre-back providing the most cause for concern. Neither is Maguire: the frequent scapegoat has only played 23 minutes this season. Victor Lindelof belongs in the bracket of the out of form. Lisandro Martinez is in still worse shape: substituted three times already this season, often threatening to get sent off, his commitment now looks like rashness, last season’s cult hero like this season’s calamity. That Ten Hag has faith in his former Ajax players, whether Martinez or Onana, is not in doubt, but his recruitment strategy now leaves him more open to criticism. In one respect, United may argue that nothing has changed. Last season, defensive problems were restricted to defining away games, to the eight trips to the rest of the Premier League’s top nine, when they were breached 28 times, and the visit to Sevilla, when they let in three. Now the fixture list has thrown up similar tests: Arsenal and Tottenham away, Brighton, who struck twice at Old Trafford last year, and Bayern. Now the kind of matches that brought clean sheets last season – Burnley, Crystal Palace twice, FC Copenhagen – beckon. But even if a few shutouts would be welcome, they would not be conclusive. Because a question will remain for the tougher games: can Manchester United defend? And, under Ferguson, they usually could. Read More Andre Onana’s wretched start at Manchester United just got worse – has anyone seen David de Gea? How Harry Kane unshackled Bayern Munich with a classic move from his Tottenham days Jamie Carragher claims Arsenal ‘will never win the league’ with Aaron Ramsdale Jadon Sancho set for cut-price Manchester United exit Classy Kane and brilliant Bellingham – England duo making waves in Europe The key questions behind Manchester United’s poor start to the season

The US has pledged to send 31 of its M1 Abram battle tanks, worth an estimated $400m, to Ukraine to help the resistance fight back against the Russian onslaught as the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion approaches. Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the US, said the decision by Joe Biden’s administration amounted to “another blatant provocation” against Moscow, pledged that the tanks would be destroyed and warned the West it would come to regret the “delusion” that Ukraine could ever win the day. Russian state TV has since made a point of mocking the Abrams as “battered” and prone to getting stuck in a segment downplaying the threat the new additions to Kyiv’s arsenal pose. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes tanks are crucial to replenish his nation’s military hardware ahead of what he says will be increased Russian offences in the spring, with intense fighting already seen in eastern Ukraine for weeks. Kyiv also wants them to boost its bid to recapture territory taken by Moscow’s forces earlier in the conflict. Germany has dithered on the question of whether to answer Mr Zelensky’s appeal for tanks but has since agreed to send Leopard 2 models, with Poland, Canada, Norway and Spain now looking set to follow suit. When it comes to the M1s, experts have warned of the complex logistics involved in getting these high-tech vehicles to the battlefield. The extensive and tricky maintenance required for their use mean that it could be some time before they appear on the frontlines in Eastern Europe. The first M1 tank was manufactured by American armoured vehicle manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems in 1978 and was first delivered to the US Army in 1980. Each model costs around $10m to make, according to Reuters. It has to be crewed by a team of four (driver, commander, loader and gunner), has a maximum speed of 42 miles per hour, has a maximum range of 624 miles and runs on a 1,500 horsepower gas turbine engine. The M1 is armed with an M256 120mm smoothbore cannon, as well as two machine guns: a 12.7mm and a 7.62mm M240. Defence industry expert Sydney Freedberg described them as “big vehicles, heavily armoured” to Al Jazeera, adding that they are “much better protected than anything the Soviets built, or anything the Russians currently have.” He also cautioned that they have been used far less often in Europe than the Leopard and could end up posing the Ukrainians problems, given that they require additional training and will need spare parts, warehousing and a high degree of care. “It guzzles fuel and the engine is difficult to repair and maintain,” Jack Watling, a senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, has also warned. More positive about their potential impact – while still favouring the Leopards over all – was retired US army general Mark Hertling, who commanded the 1st Armored Division in Iraq during the troop surge of 2007 to 2008, and who said in a Twitter thread: “The M1-series, in my view, is the best in the world.” He too stressed that training was “critical”, adding: “Having fired T-72s, Chieftains, Challengers, Leo IIs & Abrams, the M1 requires the most turret training.” Read More Ukraine-Russia news – live: Putin ‘shifting war to focus on Nato and West’ Russian shells kill 10 in Ukraine as Putin’s forces seek gains before Western tanks arrive Who is sending tanks to Ukraine?