List of All Articles with Tag 'b'

Continuing applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in almost two years, underscoring the increasing

Taylor Swift fans are always sleuthing for the next Easter egg so it was only a matter of time for Swifties to delve into Travis Kelce's old tweets. The pop star and NFL player are headline news as the pair have been dating for the past three months, with Swift attending Kansas City Chiefs games, Kelce going to Swift's recent shows in Argentina where she gave a shoutout to "the guy on the Chiefs," during her performance of Karma and their very public post-show kiss. So Swifties have taken a deep dive into Kelce's old tweets which are over a decade old, and like with most celebs whose old posts resurfaced there are some entertaining comments from their younger self. But also other negative tweets have been discovered which fans have slammed as ableist, misogynistic, and fat-shaming. Here's a glimpse at Kelce's past thoughts when he was feelin' 22 (and 21). He was at one with nature and animals, despite misspelling squirrels. What time is it? We can all relate... but what is Kelce tweeting from? Treating Twitter as a diary/calendar back in the day, and he misspelled the restaurant name Chipotle as “Chipolte.” Expressing his love for Olive Garden is pretty relatable and the restaurant chain even recently replied: "It's a love story, baby just say 'when.'" In a since-deleted tweet, Kelce wrote: "happy easter to all!!! #shoutout to Jesus for takin one for the team.... haha." However, fans have also spotted and highlighted some problematic tweets from Kelce. Most of these tweets appear to have since been deleted, while the gossip subreddit r/FauxMoi has shared an example of one. One tweet read: "Haha just caught myself judging every person that walked past me whether they were ugly, fat, funny looking, sexy haha I'm trippin." “As a man, You have something wrong with you if your going for girls that weigh more then you!!” another tweet from Kelce read, as per Daily Beast. A third used an ableist slur in his reply: "they slow as hell cuz there parents have been talkin to them like they were re**rded since they were babies.” People have been sharing their thoughts on the matter, and it has provoked mixed opinions. One person said: "He was 21-22 then. Hopefully, he's grown up." "I mean… how do such famous people not even think to have their teams go through and scrub their Twitter," another person wrote. Someone else added: "People in these comments acting like misogyny, fatphobia, and ableism aren’t that big of a deal are weird as hell to me." "Why is everyone clamoring to assume he’s changed?" a fourth person asked. 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.

The Saudi Pro League will target players “of the highest level” in future transfer windows, its head of recruitment has said. Top-flight Saudi Arabian clubs spent £701m to bring in talent from overseas in the summer, according to Fifa. That figure could have been even bigger if bids from Saudi teams for Paris Saint Germain striker Kylian Mbappe and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah had been accepted. Michael Emenalo, the league’s director of football and the man in charge of the country’s Player Acquisition Centre for Excellence (Pace), admitted the Saudi league had “competed aggressively” in the summer window and that the focus was now on top-quality additions. “I’m hoping [the January transfer window] is not very busy, because I think the job that was done has been quite interesting and aggressive, and most of the clubs, I believe, have what they need,” the former Chelsea technical director said in an interview with the league’s in-house media team. “And hopefully the attention will now turn to work within the training facilities to improve these players and to allow the time to adapt and perform. “Now, whatever additional improvement that we need to do for any club, with time on our hands and preparation, we believe will be additions of the highest level. “We will continue to support and to see every opportunity we have to bring more talented individuals that want to come to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is open for business.” Saudi clubs have always traditionally been one of the top recruiters of talent in Asia but Al Nassr’s signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in January of this year marked a gear shift and paved the way for other superstars to join the league. Neymar, Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, Ruben Neves and Sadio Mane are among the big names who subsequently moved to the kingdom in the summer. Emenalo added: “These guys have been the best performers for a very long time in our industry. We’re very, very lucky to have them. “I’ve always explained, privately and publicly, that top-level footballers are incredible and unique artists, and what they can do, you can only dream of until you try to do it, when you realise how difficult it is. “Those guys are exceptional artists, and the artists as time goes on will be greatly appreciated and copied by youngsters in the country and that will be for the good of everyone.” PA Read More No end to pursuit of the world’s best players, Saudi Pro League official says Brazil issue Neymar recovery update after ACL surgery as Ederson withdraws from squad Rumours: Man United could sell duo in January and Newcastle target midfield pair Rumours: Fernandes targeted by Saudi clubs and Moyes could get ‘upstairs’ role Cristiano Ronaldo scores 400th goal since turning 30 as Al Nassr beat Al Khaleej Jarell Quansah keen to become ‘top centre-back’ after Liverpool breakthrough

Pedro Sanchez won reelection as Spain’s prime minister in a confidence vote in parliament on Thursday with the

There's been a rise in the number of fatal crashes on both sides of the border compared to 2022.

Poland’s home market risks more volatility after a government program to subsidize mortgages triggered an abrupt surge in

Renault SA started with a daring wager. On Christmas Eve in 1898, a young mechanic named Louis Renault

The UN Environment Programme recently published its annual Adaptation Gap Report, examining how much funding the world’s developing

Deontay Wilder ducks his head, cramping his 6ft 6in frame under the vent in a seemingly endless, narrow green hallway in Wembley Arena, and howling as he marches towards his dressing room. Across the corridor – three steps for you or me, one for the American – is Anthony Joshua’s dressing room. Once inside his own, Wilder hurries to the bathroom, where he belts out the refrain of “This Is How We Do It” repeatedly, for about 90 seconds. When he emerges, the “Bronze Bomber” is ready to get down to brass tacks. Wilder soon declares that he has been metaphorically “knocking on Joshua’s door for years”, but what if he were to take the short trip across the hall and knock literally? “At this moment in time, I’d tell him it’s good to see him,” the 38-year-old tells The Independent and a small group of reporters. “I’d tell him it has been a long time coming, and I wish him nothing but the best.” Moments later, in Joshua’s dressing room, I ask the Briton the same question. “I’d probably do more listening than talking,” the 34-year-old replies. “I don’t have much to say to these guys. I don’t have much to say. These heavyweights, man...” But these two particular heavyweights are not here for a press conference promoting a long, long, long-awaited fight between them. On this November evening in Wembley, the former world champions share a stage, and on 23 December, they will share a ring in Riyadh – just not at the same time. Joshua will box Otto Wallin, after Wilder fights Joseph Parker. Yet inevitably, our conversation in Joshua’s dressing room revolves almost entirely around Wilder, and vice versa once we cross the hall, with December’s event intended to pave the way to one of the most hotly anticipated fights in history. And while Wilder’s hypothetical message to Joshua is a polite one, it is not necessarily in keeping with his overall thoughts on “AJ” this evening. That’s OK, though, because Joshua has no intention of pleasantries tonight. The Briton’s first issue is with Wilder questioning his identity. Wilder, sitting beside his manager Malik Scott, his arms stretching almost the entire length of their purple, velvet sofa, has this to say: “I worry about every fight Joshua is in. Eddie Hearn built Anthony Joshua; he wasn’t born a champion, he was made a champion. I think they did a f***ing amazing job of promoting him and getting him to the top. I am happy for him as a fellow fighter, I am proud of him and happy for him. But I would have been the undefeated, undisputed heavyweight world champion many years ago, for many years, if I had the opportunities he was given. “If you have a company with only one moneymaker, you will never risk him against the best, you will put him in with mediocre guys. I don’t want to call guys mediocre, I’m not downplaying them, but they’re not at the top of the competition. “Man, Joshua better get ready. That’s all I can say. It’s that time.” Ten minutes later, we hear Joshua’s response. “Who the f*** is he? He’s a boxer, not a psychologist.” The Olympic gold medalist is reclining on a sofa beside Hearn, and sporting a grey tracksuit and a black beanie hat. It is a less ostentatious get-up than Wilder’s tuxedo-and-varsity-jacket combination, and similarly, the dim, grey walls around Joshua are a world away from the flowered wallpaper in Wilder’s room – if just a few steps away in reality. “I’ve stood 10 toes on what I represent, I’ve been two-time champion of the world, defended, fought X amount of world champions,” Joshua continues. “The boy has had 50 fights, and he fought Jason Gavern in his 30-somethingth fight; I fought him in my 11th. We are different; my identity is strong. If they’re looking for weaknesses and gaps, then they need to stop looking over here, because I’m solid. I don’t know what he’s talking about if I’m honest.” Joshua, it must be said, seems to be in a somewhat prickly mood. It’s apparent later, in his back-and-forth on stage with Jarell Miller (understandably, after the American’s failed drug tests derailed their planned clash in 2019, leading to Joshua’s stoppage loss to Andy Ruiz Jr) and his dismissal of host Dev Sahni. Joshua would prefer that Hearn ask him questions, not Sahni, who is employed by Hearn’s rival Frank Warren. It is also evident in his response to a question about Ben Davison, who worked with Tyson Fury and is – in a sense – Joshua’s fourth coach in two years. “I don’t want to talk about trainers,” Joshua says, before pretending not to know about Davison’s past with Fury. Wilder, meanwhile, is in a more playful mood, but he picks his moments to be cutting. After questioning Joshua’s identity, he questions the Briton’s grit. “I don’t want you to get in the ring [with me] because the money’s right; I want you to get into the ring because you feel like you can beat Wilder, in your heart,” he says. “When you get in that ring, you’re going to put on a great performance and not lay down the first time you get hit.” Then, he questions Joshua’s courage, to a degree. “The fight is closing in, and Joshua has nowhere to run. I don’t think he’s scared of me, but the people around him are. Maybe there is some fear in him, but we are in a business where we all risk our lives. The sport and the dangers get under your skin, so I understand that side, [but] everyone will get in the ring for the right price, especially when there is over $50m (£40m) on the table. Everything is going in the right direction now, and the fight will happen. The time is finally here, and people are going to get what they have wanted for years. “There have been a lot of lies and manipulation going on, there have been a lot of years I have been waiting. I have never been the hold-up, and I could say a lot of things. All of these guys – promoters, managers – they don’t want me to say certain things, because it exposes them. But, at the end of the year, we are here now.” Joshua, for his part, says: “We’ve stayed around long enough to see the changes happen, and just the timing factor. It was either going to happen now or 10 years from now, we were just lucky enough to be in the driving seat at this present time.” Yet, again, it is worth remembering: Joshua and Wilder are not fighting each other on 23 December. Instead, their respective bouts will top an admittedly remarkable card involving the likes of Daniel Dubois, Dmitry Bivol, Filip Hrgovic and Jarrell Miller. The event – the likes of which the boxing world has never seen before – marks a sudden, stupefying collaboration between Hearn’s Matchroom, Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, and various other companies. “In terms of Frank and Eddie, you’d have to ask [Eddie],” Joshua says, “but me and Wilder, we’re fighters; we were going to fight each other one day. It was either going to be on his card or someone else’s card. To have us all working together, it’s unbelievable.” But Joshua and Hearn repeatedly stress that Wilder may not even be next for AJ after 23 December. “I want to go for the title – we might fight [Oleksandr] Usyk,” Joshua says of the man who dethroned him in 2021 and outpointed him again in 2022. “It’s better to plan for everything than to plan for nothing. This might happen, this may not. I fought a tall guy, [Robert] Helenius – that’s leading me towards Wilder; I fight a southpaw [Wallin] – that’s leading me towards Usyk. Either way, I’m going down a positive route. “Do you know what’s good? I’ve got opportunities. That’s what I think is the best thing right now. I feel like the fight with Wilder is massive, it will happen, but I have options. I don’t aim to be a part of the circus, I aim to own the circus.” Right now, boxing is certainly a circus. But how could you take your eyes off it? Read More Anthony Joshua sees Otto Wallin as stepping stone on way to title fight Joshua vs Wallin and Wilder vs Parker official for 23 December Boxing’s heavyweight saga sees biggest plot twist yet Joshua and Wilder in line to fight on same Saudi card – but not against each other Eddie Hearn makes surprising revelation about Anthony Joshua coach Anthony Joshua and Louis Theroux break into freestyle rap battle: ‘Fire in the booth’

By Granth Vanaik Workers at hundreds of Starbucks stores have begun walking off their jobs during a key

Finland will close four of its busiest border crossings with Russia after concluding that an influx of migrants

Asset management giant BlackRock on Thursday began courting public investors for an ethereum trust, doubling down on its