List of All Articles with Tag 'b'

Amazon.com Inc. is rolling out a workplace chatbot called Amazon Q, designed to help corporate customers search for

Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $12 million in fines for submitting false mortgage-lending information to the

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh thinks the Wolverines rivalry with the Ohio State Buckeyes is 'manufactured'.

The Women’s Super League and Championship are preparing to break free from the Football Association after the top two tiers unanimously agreed to be governed by a new, independent body from next season. Former Nike and Citigroup executive Nikki Doucet has been appointed to lead the organisation, NewCo, effective immediately, and will oversee plans for all 24 clubs to move into the new governance structure ahead of the 2024-25 campaign. Each club who participates in the WSL and Championship will act as shareholders under the NewCo model, which has long been in the works and is seen as an important step in growing what an independent review concluded this summer has potential to become a billion-pound domestic women’s football industry within 10 years. Baroness Sue Campbell, the FA’s director of women’s football, said: “The women’s professional game is in the strongest place that it has ever been thanks to the hard work of everybody involved in its development so far, but we firmly believe that the NewCo will take it to another level entirely. “Each of our 24 clubs and the league itself wants the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship to be setting the standards for women’s football around the world, and this venture into a new governing body is the next step in us achieving that ambition. “This is a historical moment for the women’s professional game in this country, and it is a move that will see our clubs and players make even bigger strides both on and off the pitch.” Former England international Karen Carney led the independent review into the women’s game, commissioned by the government in 2022, concluding in July that “women’s football is a start-up business.” “If you’re starting something you have to have an influx of money. In 10 years’ time I really do believe this sport could be a billion-pound industry,” she said. This is a historical moment for the women’s professional game in this country, and it is a move that will see our clubs and players make even bigger strides both on and off the pitch Baroness Sue Campbell NewCo, a restructure of power similar to the Premier League’s 20-club governance model, is viewed by many as a critical next phase in the commercial growth of the English women’s game. A working group chaired by Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham, with Doucet serving as an independent consultant, led on developing the proposal for NewCo and involved 10 representatives from WSL and Championship clubs including Crystal Palace chair Steve Parish and Patrick Stewart, who earlier this month was appointed interim chief at Manchester United. Venkatesham added: “This is a pivotal moment in the history of the women’s professional game, as we look to work together to build the most distinctive, competitive and entertaining women’s football club competition in the world. “Setting up NewCo provides the opportunity to accelerate the sustainable growth of the women’s game and will not only support the development of the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship, but the entirety of the women’s football pyramid. “It has been a constructive and collective effort to get to this stage, and Nikki’s appointment encapsulates the ambition we have for NewCo. With her vision for women’s football, the future is incredibly bright.” Asked for her thoughts on the news, England forward Beth Mead told a press conference: “We want the game to move to a new level and keep pushing it forward and I think although the FA has done an amazing job over so many years, it was time to let go of those stabilisers and let somebody else take over. “Hopefully in the long run that can help us push the game and the leagues to the next level and ultimately that’s what we want to keep doing. I think the sky’s the limit and we have to keep pushing it there.” Read More Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink wants aspiring black managers to get ‘a fair chance’ ECB boss admits challenges remain for cricket after positive impact report England’s Zach Mercer installs oxygen chamber at home to combat ankle injury Tom Daley targets Paris 2024 in return to British Swimming’s World Class Programme Former Sheffield United and Everton defender Phil Jagielka announces retirement Bruno Fernandes excited for ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Galatasaray

Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is set to be out until February after tearing a ligament in his ankle, the PA news agency understands. The 26-year-old was injured in a tackle from Aston Villa’s Matty Cash during Sunday’s 2-1 home Premier League defeat, and a scan on Tuesday confirmed the extent of the damage. The Uruguay international was making his first start since returning from an ACL injury that had kept him out since February. It represents a further blow for manager Ange Postecoglou, who is already contending with a lengthy list of absentees, with nine first-team players having been unavailable through injury or suspension for the Villa defeat. That list includes summer signings James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, who were influential in Spurs’ unbeaten start to the season that saw them go top after eight games. Both went off during the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea earlier in November and are likely to be out until January, while defender Cristian Romero is currently serving a three-game ban after being red-carded against the Blues. Tottenham are on a run of three straight league defeats that has seen them slip from first to fifth. Read More Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink wants aspiring black managers to get ‘a fair chance’ ECB boss admits challenges remain for cricket after positive impact report England’s Zach Mercer installs oxygen chamber at home to combat ankle injury

Today on The Whiteboard, we're exploring the matching seven-game winning streaks of the Phoenix Suns and Orlando Magic.

The euro advanced to $1.10 for the first time since August as the dollar sustained its weakening trend.

Drax Project is making waves Down Under as one of the biggest bands to ever come out of New Zealand. The four-piece has received 24 Platinum certifications to date, surpassing over half a billion streams with their music, collaborating with Hailee Steinfeld and performing as the opening act on tour with big names such as Ed Sheeran, Christina Aguilera, Camila Cabello and Lorde – it’s been quite the journey for the group who first began with busking on the streets of Wellington back in 2014. After reaching number two on the Official New Zealand Music Charts with their 2019 self-titled album, the band has followed up this success with their sophomore album ‘Upside,’ released last Friday (November 24). The 10-track album promises an infectious blend of Pop and RnB, not forgetting their signature jazz-inspired roots too – with the band’s name being a portmanteau of 'drums' and 'sax'. Double bassist Sam Thomson and guitarist Ben O’Leary spoke exclusively to Indy100 about the recording process behind their new album, their special headline show at London’s Jazz Café next year on July 19, as well as their career highlights so far. Almost a decade ago, lead singer and saxophone player Shaan Singh and drummer Matt Beachen were studying jazz performance at Massey University when they began busking, before recruiting fellow classmate Thomson to form their band. O’Leary a music student at nearby Whitireia joined a year later after meeting through mutual friends to make the final line-up for Drax Project. “We started writing our own songs and playing high school balls, corporate events and everything in between, we kind of just worked our way up from there,” Sam told indy100. Given the band’s jazz origins, it was no surprise to hear this genre alongside “old school funk,” are sources of musical inspiration. “We have we all have quite different musical tastes personally, but our common ones are people like D'Angelo. Justin Timberlake is probably our biggest common inspiration as a band but we honestly love all types of music,” Ben said. “That’s always changing as well,” Sam added. “I think that we are all people constantly wanting to learn that's part of our collective motivation, listening to new music is part of learning.” Five years on from their first album release, Ben noted the process for ‘Upside’ has taken a “fair few years,” with their jubilant opening track ‘Atmosphere’ being written during their first LA trip back in 2018. “That song and a few other ones were made through that period 2018-2019 before COVID and we were just living in the States, writing heaps of music with a bunch of writers,” namely Rogét Chahayed (Drake, Travis Scott, SZA), Imad Royal (Doja Cat, Chainsmokers), Ferras (Katy Perry, Dua Lipa), and Marlon Gerbes (Six60). While Sam recalled they had “a short list of about 40 different ideas” for the record that they had to cut it down from. Then the Covid pandemic hit and like all of us, the quartet were stuck at home which is where the final touches of the album came together. “We were in New Zealand and bunkered down and couldn't go anywhere like the rest of the world and we would kind of just locked away in the studio where we finished all the songs over the last year or two, and pieced the album together that way which was cool,” Ben added. However, this resulted in an opportunity to become hands-on with the production side of things as the band produced five songs from the album themselves. “I'd say that in comparison to the first record, we've taken a lot of the processes on board ourselves and it's kind of cool because it means that it's not us trying all the time to express something that's in our heads to somebody else,” Sam said. Ben agreed with this and added how the experience forced them to step back and “become a lot more self-sufficient as a band.” It is always interesting to learn about an artist’s creative process and for Drax Project who are all “primarily instrumentalists,” the instrumentation tends to formulate first for the former music students. “We all come from an instrumental background and I think that that is the thing that comes most naturally to us,” Sam explained, giving Singh as an example who has been playing the saxophone since the age of eight. “But sometimes it might be you just have a flow of something and there's lyrics and melody that come out.” ‘Luxury,’ the third (and lead) track on the album is all about living in the moment and with this, Sam says the guitar riff came first while “the lyrics and melody came pretty quickly after that.” Making music is always a collaborative effort between the four as Ben described how “Everyone gets involved,” so that by the end they have created a “product everyone’s happy with.” “Sometimes it takes a long time for us to get a song done because we kind of have this rule that we just try everyone's ideas no matter how other people might feel about it. So sometimes it takes a while for everyone to land on the same page.” Often we see bands who break up after so many years, so perhaps this is one of the keys to the band’s longevity, with almost a decade under their belt. “We're all we're all really, really good friends,” Ben said, and noted that their time as music students has helped them to develop honest relationships with each other to voice their opinions on their sound. “We don't really beat around the bush and I think that's kind of a culture from like coming from music school where if you're rehearsing and you're playing a song and something's not sound sounding right, there's no egos in the room or anything.” Sam believes the success of this long-term collaborative relationship is also down to choosing a “good collection of personalities to work together.” “I think the way that we write, the fact that we work together on every part of the music creates this culture of everybody being on the same level.” Although it was 10.30 pm with the 13-hour time difference for Sam and Ben in New Zealand when chatting via Zoom, the pair were excited to share some of their favourite songs from ‘Upside.’ For Ben, “Luxury,” is a particular highlight to listen to and writing the song was also “super fun,” while “Oh My,” the last song to make the album is also a favourite of his as it’s “a glimpse into how we play live,” with the saxophone going off. “We wanted something that kind of was a bit of a nod to how we play live like our live sets are quite energetic and higher,” explaining the song’s sound. Sam’s pick is “Good Life,” which is the fifth song on the album and has a catchy bass line hook. “I believe we hadn't played ‘Good Life’ live before and we played it last night at the album release party and it was like so fun to play.” He added: “I really also love the song Supernova. I really like it lyrically and it's kind of a different sound for us.” Following the release of 'Upside,' Drax Project have upcoming shows around New Zealand in December and January and is flying across the world to the UK in July to perform a special headline show at the Jazz Café. It’s not the first time the group has performed here, having previously been the opening act on tour for Christina Aguilera and Camila Cabello as well as playing a headline show at the O2 Academy Islington back in 2019. We had such a good time when we were there, and we spent quite a bit of time like when we were like, going back and forth from the States to London for promo and other stuff. So yeah, we really cannot wait to get back it's really one of our favourite spots,” Ben said. Sam also added: “We have a bunch of friends as well who have either moved there recently or have been there for a while but we haven't seen especially some in music who are absolutely killing it over there. So I'm pretty excited to see them.” For New Zealand, Lorde is no doubt the biggest Kiwi musical export but the country has a thriving music scene and “amazing music culture,” according to Sam and Ben. “New Zealand's tiny and then the musician circle was even smaller,” Ben explained. “So it's like everyone knows everyone,” and commented on how artists are “for the most part really supportive as well, which is good and we're really lucky.” “This new wave after the world has opened up [post-Covid] and this new scene is maybe coming through in New Zealand there's a bunch of really cool artists,” Sam said. Some honourable mentions include Che Fu, Fat Freddy's Drop, Dave Dobbyn who the band grew up listening to as well as emerging talent such as Wet Denim, Aacacia, Balu Brigada, and Neil McLeod. With the release of their second album, the pair reflected on some of their career highlights so far which include travelling to different countries, opening for some of the biggest artists as mentioned earlier and performing for their album release party on a boat sailing around Sydney Harbour. “Coming to London is right at the top of the list and just below that, I would say probably opening for Ed Sheeran or New Zealand that was massive,” Ben recalled. “It was by far the most people we had ever seen in one spot when we did that and we just kind of had our first song we're really well on radio. “So 40,000 people were singing our song back to us which was a pretty crazy feeling.” “We played our album release show last night, and it was on a boat going around the Sydney Harbour so there was like the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House while we were playing, which was a really good feeling." He continued: “It kind of just hit me it was like, ‘Oh, this is our second album now cool, this is this is what we're celebrating. This is a nice feeling.’” After the pandemic, Sam thinks releasing the second album “getting past the first album stages is going to be nice,” and playing this new material live. “I think one of the most fun shows that we've played was at this venue called Broadcast in Glasgow,” which he describes as a basement that has 200 capacity and the crowd were “really up for it,” as which lived up to Scotland’s reputation as a country known for having some of the best crowds. “It was just a good time. I'm really, really excited to go back to Glasgow as well.” Now that the album has been released, Drax Project is looking forward to the year ahead of them and shared their aspirations for 2024. “We just want to play heaps of live shows and to tour lots we've really missed doing which we will be and then get working on the next album.” Drax Project’s sophomore album 'Upside' is available to listen to on streaming platforms now and tickets for their show at London's Jazz Cafe on July 19 are available to buy here. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Former Chelsea forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink believes aspiring black managers are not taking their coaching badges because they do not believe they are given ‘a fair chance’. The ex-Netherlands international has reunited with former Middlesbrough team-mate Gareth Southgate earlier this year when he joined the England boss’ staff in March ahead of the Euro 2024 qualification campaign. Burnley’s promotion to the Premier League ensured the top flight would have one black manager this season – Vincent Kompany – but once again highlighted the disparity between the number of black players and bosses, a problem that extends beyond the pitch. Asked on the latest episode of the Matt Haycox Show podcast, to be released on Wednesday, if football was moving in the right direction, Hasselbaink said: “The only thing that I can say is I have applied for a lot of jobs, and the majority I didn’t get an interview. “Why? I don’t know. I can only tell you I didn’t get an interview, and I only want to get a job because they think that I’m the right person for the job. “And I do know that a lot of black ex-players don’t want to go and take their coaching badges because they think that we don’t get a fair chance. “I can only give you an answer of my experience, and my experience is that I don’t get interviewed.” I do know that a lot of black ex-players don't want to go and take their coaching badges because they think that we don't get a fair chance Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Hasselbaink’s managerial career started at League Two Burton in 2014 and also took in Championship QPR and League One Northampton, before his second stint with the Brewers ended with his resignation last year. He continued: “I was always told, ‘Jimmy, start in League Two, and start small, do well, and then you will get an opportunity’. “However, other players who are white, who have more or less a name like mine, they don’t have to do that. So, that is my fact. “Patrick Vieira would say the same. Thierry Henry would say the same. Sol Campbell would say the same. Those are the facts, you know.” Last season saw Vieira sacked at Crystal Palace and Hope Powell dismissed by Women’s Super League Brighton, leaving both the English men’s and women’s top flights without a black manager until Kompany steered the Clarets to promotion. And a January 2023 paper commissioned by the Black Footballers Partnership revealed that while black athletes comprised 43% of players in the Premier League and 34% in the EFL in 2021, black employees accounted for just 4.4 per cent of those occupying management-related positions in football clubs the following year. Hasselbaink told entrepreneur and investor Haycox: “I know there’s a lot of black managers that want to be coaches, but they have to put bread on the table as well. “They need to make a living and they’re thinking ‘I need to do something that is going to feed my kids, and if I’m not going to get a chance, why pursue this?’ While Hasselbaink believes some prominent football figures could be stronger allies for black players hoping to pursue leadership roles, he has nothing but praise for Southgate, his former captain at Middlesbrough, who brought the 51-year-old into the England fold after a chance meeting. He added: “He believes in me, and he gives me the chance to be with him and to help the team. “Black or white, Gareth doesn’t look at me like that. And I know that, because I’ve played with him for two years. “Gareth was always around everybody. He was with the white guys, he was with the black guys. He was joking with all of us, and he was tough on all of us as a captain when he needed to be, regardless of our backgrounds. “Working with the best talent in the country, seeing them flying over the pitch, and seeing that group together is magnificent.” Read More ECB boss admits challenges remain for cricket after positive impact report England’s Zach Mercer installs oxygen chamber at home to combat ankle injury Top two tiers of women’s football poised to break away from Football Association Tom Daley targets Paris 2024 in return to British Swimming’s World Class Programme Former Sheffield United and Everton defender Phil Jagielka announces retirement Bruno Fernandes excited for ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Galatasaray

Bank of America will pay a $12 million penalty for submitting false mortgage lending information to the government,

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper admitted the team expected to trade up to No. 2 and select CJ Stroud rather than Bryce Young in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Citigroup Inc. is among lenders that have provided credit to a now-insolvent unit of Rene Benko’s Signa group