List of All Articles with Tag 'b'

Tottenham Hotspur are close to agreeing personal terms with David Raya, but they are still way off Brentford's asking price for the goalkeeper.

Jude Bellingham says he is harnessing the pain of England’s near misses as the talented teenager homes in on European Championship glory next summer. The national team are in the midst of their most successful period since Sir Alf Ramsey led Bobby Moore’s heroes to World Cup glory in 1966. The surprising run to the 2018 semi-finals in Russia was followed by manager Gareth Southgate leading England to a first European Championship final two years ago. Bellingham’s first tournament ended in an agonising shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley and his maiden World Cup ended in a galling quarter-final exit to France in December. But now attention turns to their quest for Euros glory in Germany next summer – a tournament England will take a giant step towards by winning June’s qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia. Bellingham, who is closing in on a move to Real Madrid after Borussia Dortmund accepted their offer, will play no part in those matches due to a knee injury, yet he still reported to St George’s Park as he continues rehabilitation. “We’ve got to attack the qualifiers with the same mentality as we attack major tournaments,” Bellingham recently told the PA news agency. “The last three (tournaments), I’d say, we’ve been pretty successful. The last one was a bit disappointing, but we probably played a harder opponent than the previous ones. “The way we went out was disappointing, but you take confidence in the fact that you can go toe-to-toe with one of the better teams in Europe. “It stands you in good stead when you know there’s not many better teams on paper – you’d like to think – that are better than us. “So, you take that confidence and you take the experience that we’ve gained from the last few. “The goal is always to try and win it. That should be the goal for all of us going into it and that’s what we’ll try and do.” Bellingham does not lack confidence and nor should he given England’s performances in Qatar. A narrow defeat to eventual finalists and Euro 2024 favourites France did for Southgate’s side in the desert, where the midfielder says their progress was no mirage. “I felt so confident going into that France game that we’d get a result,” said Bellingham, speaking in his role as ambassador for McDonald’s Fun Football programme – which provides free, inclusive football coaching for children aged five to 11 across more than 1,500 locations in the UK. “I think probably we fell short in the big moments for their goals and obviously the penalties and moments like that. “The majority of the game we didn’t have clear chances, but when we did, we could have been a bit more decisive maybe. But, like I said, it’s an experience to take into the next ones. “I just really enjoyed the experience as a whole – relishing being away, playing in such a good team, having that pressure on me and on the team. It’s something that I really enjoyed.” Bellingham underlined his place as one of the greatest talents in the world in Qatar, flourishing in England’s midfield after a restricted but valuable role at Euro 2020. Aged 17 he became the youngest English player to feature in a major tournament, making three substitute appearances in a crash course summer of learning. “It was a bit of weird one for me because I didn’t play (much),” Bellingham said. “It was my first major tournament and I didn’t play too much. “But I was still like a sponge while I was there, trying to learn from everything that was going on around me, having it in England as well. “You could see the pressure up close almost and you went to the games and the atmosphere was incredible. We fell short at the final hurdle, so you take a lot of experience from that. “But there’s also a level of…not regret but motivation that you can take from the tournament. “I think, for me, the pain that I felt after that final and after the World Cup will definitely drive me in the tournaments to come.” You certainly would not back against ambitious Bellingham and his talented England team-mates as they look to finally land silverware in Germany. “I’d just say stick with us, really,” the 24-cap teenager said when asked what his message to supporters would be. “England fans can feel it themselves, They’re ambitious, but they’re not stupid. There’s a reason for the kind of expectation and the hype around the team at the minute. “The truth is that we are delivering. We’d like to deliver a trophy and a tournament win, of course, but I think there’s steps to doing that. “A lot of the great international teams in the past didn’t win straight away. They had to build for years before they managed to get over the line. “I think that there’s something similar happening with this England team now. I wouldn’t say patience is the word but just stick with us because we’ll deliver.” :: Jude Bellingham was speaking at a McDonald’s Fun Football session to announce his role as an ambassador for the UK’s largest grassroots participation programme for 5-11 year olds. Find your nearest free session at www.mcdonalds.co.uk/football. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Nottingham Open to commence as normal despite ‘horrific’ incident in city centre Joelinton: I received racist insults after Arsenal game Sheikh Jassim waiting to hear if final offer to buy Man Utd has been successful

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Romelu Lukaku & Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have both been approached over moves to Saudi Arabia.

Jack Grealish has urged Bernardo Silva to snub interest from Barcelona & PSG to remain with Man City.

'I mean, I do not in any way support them but I knew they were gonna show up to the premiere of their own movie eventually,' a user wrote

The toll from nightime Russian missile strikes on infrastructure including a five-storey residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig has risen...

Sheikh Jassim is still waiting to hear whether his fifth and final offer for Manchester United has been successful, according to sources close to the Qatari. Recent reports within Qatar had indicated that the Sheikh’s bid – which is for 100 per cent of the club – had seen off the bid from Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe. However, the Sheikh Jassim camp described those reports as pure speculation and say they remain in a ‘holding pattern’. They expect the next step will be for the United board to meet and consider both bids. United have been approached for comment. Sheikh Jassim’s fifth bid was made last week, but at the same time it was made clear to the Glazer family – who own the club – and to the Raine merchant banking group which is overseeing the sale that he would not engage with the process beyond last Friday. The Qataris are eager to get the deal done with the summer transfer window about to kick into gear. Sheikh Jassim’s bid is understood to be a fully cash deal for 100 per cent of the club, and that all United’s debts would be cleared. Sources close to the Sheikh’s bid say that separate, additional funding would be made available for player recruitment, infrastructure and other investment needs. The Glazers first announced their intention to consider a sale of the club in November last year, with the first bids from Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim tabled in February. There have been reports that Ratcliffe’s offer is for 60 per cent of the club, with Avram and Joel Glazer retaining a combined 20 per cent stake, but sources close to Ratcliffe have not confirmed this. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Cathie Wood’s funds have reentered Meta Platforms Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. after nearly a year and

Newcastle midfielder Joelinton has revealed he received racist messages following last month’s Premier League defeat to Arsenal. The 26-year-old spoke about the subject while on international duty with Brazil, saying “many things need to be changed”. Newcastle were beaten 2-0 by the Gunners at St James’ Park on May 7. “It’s an important moment to speak about racism,” Joelinton told a press conference. “We have been talking about it for a long time. “Still, many things need to be changed. We talk about a combat against racism but we didn’t have much of a change. “This (racism) is not something happening now, but for a long time. “And, in the 21st century, we still see things like that. It’s hard to accept and believe that we are evolving when things like that still happen.” Asked if he had suffered racist abuse, the player replied: “Not on the pitch, no. “But after that match against Arsenal playing at home, I have received some messages with racist insults. But it’s gone, it didn’t affect me.” Joelinton, who is in line to win his first cap for his country in upcoming friendlies against Guinea and Senegal, received a message of support from his club. A post on Newcastle’s official Twitter account read: “There is no room for racism. Anywhere. We’re with you, Joe.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Private equity firms hunting for acquisitions with their $1.5 trillion of unspent capital are struggling to seal deals

E-commerce giant Amazon has said it uses artificial intelligence systems to prevent fake reviews on the platform that can intentionally mislead customers. While the company already uses machine learning models to detect risks such as links to other accounts, sign-in activity, review history, and other indications of unusual behavior that point to fake reviews, the tech giant said on Tuesday that is further investing in sophisticated fraud-detection tools. Using several such methods, the company said it “proactively blocked over 200 million suspected fake reviews” from its stores in 2022. “We will continue to build sophisticated tools that protect customers, our selling partners, and our store from bad actors that attempt to profit by proliferating fake reviews globally,” Amazon said. In the new statement, the e-commerce giant warned of the emergence of an illicit industry of “fake review brokers,” who approach consumers via social media channels, and messaging services, soliciting them to write fake reviews in exchange for money or other incentives. These brokers, according to Amazon, portray themselves as legitimate businesses with networks of hundreds of employees stationed worldwide. So far, it has taken legal action against over 90 such bad actors around the world who facilitated fake reviews and sued more than 10,000 Facebook group administrators who attempted to put fake reviews. It also reported over 23,000 abusive social media groups, with over 46 million members and followers, that facilitated fake reviews in 2022, the company added. These high-volume fake review brokers a “global problem” impacting multiple industries, according to Amazon, which called on the private sector, consumer groups, and governments to work together to stop fake review brokers. “Through cross-industry sharing – including information on bad actors’ tactics and techniques, who they are targeting, the services they provide, and how they operate – we can more effectively shut down these schemes, thereby protecting more consumers across different industries,” the company said. In countries that already have laws against soliciting fake reviews, it said regulators could do more to use their authority to take action against fake review brokers. “We also support greater funding for law enforcement to build further technical expertise to investigate and take down these brokers,” the multibillion-dollar conglomerate said. “Amazon will continue to protect our stores from fake reviews by investing in proactive tools to detect and stop fake reviews from impacting a customer’s buying decision,” it added. Read More Revealed: The delivery apps charging you double for your food shop Amazon staff spied on women private through Ring cameras, officials say ‘Last Beatles record’ was created using AI, says Paul McCartney Best Amazon deals and offers to buy now, from air fryers to Apple watches Jeff Bezos mocked for spending $4k on bottle of ‘engagement wine’ worth just $650 Elon Musk is once again world’s richest person