Friday, December 22, 2017

Think twice before wearing your favourite heels this festive season – they could be damaging your feet

Feet should not be forgotten in the festive season, especially when partying, an expert says.
Consultant foot and ankle surgeon Kaser Nazir urged women to wear “sensible” heels and outlined sprain-avoiding steps for active holidaymakers.
He said: “Christmas revelry is great and a naturally happy time but it does result in a good many injuries and people hobbling around in pain over the New Year instead of enjoying the celebrations to the full.
“One of the most common series of problems is caused by high heels.

(solar22/Getty/PA)
“Some ladies need to take extra care to wear fashionable but sensible heels, not too high or wobbly to avoid neuromas, sesamoid problems and painful bunions.”
A neuroma, also known as a “pinched nerve”, is a benign growth of nerve tissue that causes a burning sensation, tingling or numbness.
Sesamoids are bones embedded in tendons.
Mr Nazir added that many travellers jetting off to the ski slopes over the New Year break would not be foot-fit.
High Heels Exercise GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY
“It’s essential that good ankle and leg exercise is taken for a couple of weeks before a skiing trip and also warming up your leg muscles before taking the first run of the day is an absolute must,” he said.
“Most people are well aware of the knee injuries skiing can cause but despite the design of modern ski boots, ankle injuries are also possible.”
Maintaining correct posture was also essential for good foot and ankle health, Mr Nazier said.


He suggested this as a worthwhile New Year resolution: “I will look after my feet a little better in 2018.”
 
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Ex-Miss America winners mocked in CEO emails demand resignations

Some former Miss Americas who were attacked in emails by the beauty pageant’s CEO are calling on him and other organisation leaders to resign.
Three former title holders who were targeted for abuse in emails to and from Miss America Organisation CEO Sam Haskell have said the group’s leadership needs to be replaced.
Miss New York Mallory Hytes Hagan reacts as she is crowned Miss America 2013 in Las Vegas. Some former Miss Americas shamed in emails from the pageant's CEO are calling on him and other leaders of the Miss America Organization to resign.
Mallory Hagan’s appearance and sexual habits were mocked in the emails.
Pageant officials also wrote that when one former Miss America died, they wished it had been a different former Miss America instead.
They also mocked former winner Gretchen Carlson.
The Huffington Post reported on the emails, which it says it received from two sources.
Ms Hagan, who won in 2013, said: "My hope is that this story that broke will bring light to the type of behaviour that’s been in leadership of the Miss America Organisation and really help us put in place some people who care and who embody the mission of Miss America.
"Having somebody bully you, demean you, degrade you in any way is not OK."
In other emails, a former writer for the pageant notes the death of one former Miss America, and muses that he wished it had been 1998 Miss America Kate Shindle who had died instead.
Ms Shindle wrote a book critical of the Miss America Organisation.
Mr Haskell responded to the email, indicating it made him laugh.
Ms Shindle wrote on Twitter: "The entire board of directors must immediately resign, including and especially Sam Haskell."
She added that the content of the emails "makes me physically ill".
Mr Haskell also wrote of tactics that would drive 1989 Miss America Ms Carlson "insane".
The Huffington Post reported she had clashed with Mr Haskell and pageant officials over her push to modernise the organisation, and her refusal to attack other former Miss America winners.
Ms Carlson wrote on Twitter that any board member or official who tolerated such conduct should resign immediately.
"No woman should be demeaned with such vulgar slurs," she wrote.
The Miss America Organisation said on Thursday night that Mr Haskell has apologised, and that the group is revising its policies regarding communications, adding it considers the matter closed.
Mr Haskell and Miss America Organisation officials did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
The emails have cost the pageant its television production partner and raised questions about the future of the nationally televised broadcast from Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall the week after Labour Day each year.
Dick Clark Productions said it has cut ties with the Miss America Organisation over the emails, the content of which they found "appalling".
The Huffington Post article shows that Mr Haskell and others directed considerable attention to Ms Hagan.
He forwarded an email he had been sent regarding Ms Hagan to a writer for the pageant.
The writer responded by questioning whether he and Mr Haskell were part of a tiny group of people who had not had sex with Ms Hagan.
"It appears we are the only ones!" Mr Haskell replied, according to the Huffington Post.
Mr Haskell also responded to an email from the writer which used a vulgar term to refer to former Miss Americas by indicating he found it amusing.
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Ex-Catalan leader urges talks with Spanish PM following election

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has called for talks with his Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy following a regional election in Catalonia that gave pro-independence parties a parliamentary majority.
Mr Puigdemont, who fled Spain almost two months ago to avoid arrest after going against court rulings and pushing for unilateral Catalan independence, said in Brussels that Thursday's election opened up "a new era" for Catalonia.
He said he was ready to meet Mr Rajoy without pre-conditions anywhere in the European Union other than Spain.
Referring to the poll results, he said: "More than two million people are in favour of Catalonia's independence.

"Recognising reality is vital if we are to find a solution."
He added that he would return to Barcelona if the new parliament elects him as regional leader, though the legal protections he would have as an elected leader are unclear.
Mr Rajoy called the snap election after Catalan separatists declared independence in October following a referendum deemed illegal by Spanish authorities.
The Spanish PM also sacked the Catalan government that Mr Puigdemont ran and dissolved its parliament. He has ruled out independence for the wealthy north-eastern Spanish region, saying it is unconstitutional.
Though the pro-Spain Ciutadans (Citizens) party collected most votes in the ballot, separatist parties won the most seats in the region's parliament.
Mr Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia snared 34 seats in the 135-seat regional assembly, making it the most popular separatist party.
Two other pro-independence parties made up the dominant bloc: the left-wing republican ERC party, which collected 32 seats, and the radical, anti-capitalist CUP, which has four seats.
Mr Rajoy's conservative Popular Party came last with just three seats in what was a major blow to the country's governing party.
The separatists' slim parliamentary majority will allow them to negotiate the formation of a government. Past squabbles between them suggest this will not be easy.
Fernando Vallespin, a professor of political studies at Madrid's Autonomous University, said there were many unpredictable factors clouding the immediate future of Catalonia, including the legal issues and whether the separatist parties can find common ground.
A reminder of the separatists' legal woes came when a judge investigating them for leading an illegal independence push in October announced the rebellion and sedition probe will be extended to six more Catalan politicians.
Mariano Rajoy
Mr Rajoy said he expects a "new era based on dialogue" to begin in Catalonia.
The Spanish PM said during a news conference that the election's outcome showed a diversity of views exist in Catalonia, which compel the new government to abide by the law.
He said he will talk with the region's new leaders so long as they do not violate Spain's constitution.
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BCP fined €210,000 over rules for retail investors

The Central Bank has fined investment firm BCP Asset Management €210,000 after an enforcement investigation found nine of the firm’s retail clients were wrongly categorised as professional investors and afforded a lower level of protection as a result.
The regulator said the factors in deciding the size of the fine included the “seriousness” of the cases, the length of time of some of the breaches which extended up to four-and-a-half years, and “the firm’s conduct in altering two already signed declarations without the clients’ consent”.
The settlement closes its investigation with the firm, the Central Bank said. The inspection, which included a sample of the firm’s 50 professional clients, found nine clients were part of a BCP investment plan that required a minimum investment of €100,000 over three or five years. Most of the clients were signed up by the company’s retail intermediaries for the investment products designed for professional investors only.
The Central Bank said the BCP enforcement was the 11th action this year which resulted in the collection of almost €7.24m in penalties.
This year’s fines included the largest penalty in 2017 of €3.15m imposed on Bank of Ireland relating to breaches in procedures designed to protect against money laundering. At 16, the highest number of enforcement orders to be imposed were in each of the years of 2012 and 2013. By value, the largest penalty in any single year was €12.1m levied in 2016.
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Brexit uncertainty weighed on UK in 2017

Britain's economy saw the first cracks appear from Brexit uncertainty in 2017 as growth slowed and households were gripped in the worst income squeeze since the 1950s.
After a resilient performance in 2016, the economy kicked off 2017 with sharply slowing growth and a flurry of downgrades after Brexit-fuelled inflation saw cash-strapped consumers cut back on spending.
Inflation surged to levels not seen for more than five years, hitting 3.1% in November, as the full impact of the pound's plunge since the Brexit vote sent the price of food, energy and services soaring.
Combined with paltry wage growth, family finances suffered a double whammy as pay failed to keep up with inflation.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney told Britons to brace for impact in the spring as he warned 2017 would see the worst of the squeeze.

Just six months later, the Bank delivered its first interest rate hike for a decade as it sought to cool inflation, with a rise from 0.25% to 0.5%.
The milestone move reversed the quarter point emergency cut seen in the wake of the Brexit vote and came as the Bank admitted growth was set to languish at a new "lower speed limit".
The Bank also signalled another two hikes may be needed over the next three years to bring inflation back to target, which could take rates to 1%.
Activity pulled back from 0.6% in the final three months of 2016 to a meagre 0.3% in the first quarter and has since bumped along, edging slightly higher to 0.4% by the third quarter.
While this was still a long way off the doomsday predictions of many in the run up to the Brexit vote - including the Bank itself - it showed that the uncertainty surrounding negotiations were undeniably taking their toll.
Mounting uncertainty over the UK's future relationship with the EU has held back business investment and consumer spending, while also sending import costs racing higher for UK firms.
The Office for Budget Responsibility delivered a withering assessment on Budget day when it slashed growth predictions for the next five years.
It also pencilled in lower government borrowing this year and next, but hiked its long-term forecasts.
But it is households who appear to have suffered the most, with real wages the weakest since the middle of the 19th century.
As Mr Carney said in the spring when the squeeze first began emerging, households will face a "more challenging time" in 2017.
It has not been all gloom, however, with employment at record levels and the weak pound offering a much-needed boost to the manufacturing sector.
The most recent survey from the sector showed Britain's manufacturing activity jumped to its highest level in more than four years amid solid domestic demand and a wave of export orders.
Service sector growth has been pegged back, but this may come as a welcome rebalancing of the economy.
Mr Carney also pronounced alongside hiking rates that the worst of the income squeeze is over, with wages showing signs of picking up and inflation due to start easing back.
Policymakers said in the last rates meeting of the year that there were further signs of respite on the way for households as it confirmed inflation was "close to its peak".
But on the economy, the Bank signalled a year-end dip in growth, forecasting a slight slowdown in the fourth quarter on the 0.4% seen in the previous three months.
There were also signs of cracks appearing in the otherwise robust jobs market with the number of people in work falling by 56,000 between August and October - the biggest quarterly drop in more than two years.
This is small beer, given that there are just over 32 million people in employment, but the reduction is the largest since the three months to May 2015 and will be watched closely for signs of further falls in months to come.
Investec economist Philip Shaw dismissed the employment fall as "erratic" and said he believed that labour market conditions will "continue to tighten".
He believes the outlook will get cheerier as "the pace of economic expansion will edge up slightly over the next year or so, supported by strong global growth, less restrictive fiscal policy and a fall in inflation easing the squeeze on household finances".
Though next year will undoubtedly be buffeted by developments in Brexit negotiations as talks enter more crucial phases.
Borrowers could also be hit with one or possibly two more rate hikes by the end of 2018, although as the Bank has said itself, there are more than a few "uncertainties" ahead with the country facing one of its biggest upheavals in living memory.
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Bitcoin plunges as rally runs out of steam

Bitcoin went into freefall on Friday, its price collapsing from the dizzying heights of nearly $20,000 earlier this week to around $13,000 as steam appeared to be running out of its year-end rally.
According to Coindesk, the cryptocurrency was trading at $12,504 US dollars, a fall of over 30% in five days.
Its price has fallen by more than $3,000in the space of 12 hours.
12 Hour history. Graph: Coindesk
It comes after a troubled week for Bitcoin, in which a cryptocurrency exchange went bust in South Korea following a cyber attack, knocking its price.

Coinbase, another exchange based in the US, also said it was opening an investigation into sharp price increases.
Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said: "Has the bubble finally popped? It's hard to see the bell tolling just yet.
One year history. Graph: Coindesk
"Large price swings have become so normal that it's hard to decide - we can easily see this market bounce back in very short order.
"Whilst there have been some hacks, public infighting in the mining community, lots of rumoured forks and regulatory pressure building on some fronts, this is likely to be a simple bout of risk-off selling as investors rebalance towards year-end.
"It looks like it's time to cash in the gains and spend the winnings on a bumper Christmas."
But it hasn't all been bad news this week.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched its own bitcoin futures trading on Monday, following in the footsteps of the CBOE exchange.
US regulators approved futures trading in Bitcoin earlier this month and Goldman Sachs is reportedly gearing up to enter the market.
JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon has branded Bitcoin a "fraud", while Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund said "it may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies".
The Treasury has announced plans for closer scrutiny of the cryptocurrency as part of EU-wide plans that will require online platforms that trade in Bitcoin to carry out due diligence on customers and report suspicious transactions.
But that has not curbed excitement over its emerging investment opportunities.
Despite its Friday flop, the currency is still well up on the year, rising from around $900 in January to the circa $13,000 today.
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Thursday, September 28, 2017

Everything Amazon announced at its Echo product event

Amazon has unveiled a wide range of new smart home devices, including two new versions of its flagship Echo smart speaker.
During a hectic event at the company headquarters in Seattle, five new versions of the Echo were announced as well as a new version of the Fire TV streaming box.
Here is a breakdown of all the new devices:

Amazon Echo

New Amazon Echo
(Martyn Landi/PA)
The flagship Amazon smart speaker has been completely redesigned, having been made smaller and had its audio output improved thanks to enhanced internal speakers.
That is down to a new dedicated woofer and tweeter as well as improvements to the far-field voice recognition software inside the speaker.
The Echo now also comes in six different finishes, including a wood veneer for the first time.
The price has also dropped to £89.99, with the first generation device having cost £150.

Echo Plus

Echo Plus
(Martyn Landi/PA)
The first Echo device described as containing a “smart home hub”, the high-powered Echo Plus automatically detects smart home products when switched on and connects to them with approval from owners.
The same design as original, tall Amazon Echo, the Plus discovers items such as smart lightbulbs and other devices, and quickly adds them to a user’s smart home group.
Amazon confirmed it will ship the Echo Plus with a Philips Hue smart lightbulb in order to help customers begin the creation of their smart home.

Echo Show

Echo Show
(Amazon)
First released in the US earlier this year, the Echo Show houses a seven-inch screen which is used to display information.
Now confirmed as coming to the UK, the Show can display weather information and news updates as well as some video content.

Echo Buttons

Echo Buttons
(Amazon)
The most light-hearted of the new products announced, Buttons use Bluetooth to connect to an Echo and then act as game show-style buzzers for games played with voice and Alexa.
Amazon’s Dave Limp spoke of the Buttons helping to revitalise family games night when used for trivia games, adding a new dimension to Alexa’s existing list of fun group quizzes.

Echo Spot

Echo Spot
(Martyn Landi/PA)
The smallest of the new Echo devices, the Spot is designed to replace the alarm clock on your bedside table. The 2.5-inch circular screen can be used to display a range of clock faces, as well as making video calls.
It’s set to be released in the UK early next year but as yet we don’t know what it’ll cost.

Fire TV

Fire TV
(Amazon)
There’s a new Fire TV on the way, too, one that has been redesigned to now less than half the size of the previous Fire TV.
It also has HDR and 4K support built in too, meaning higher quality images, a wider range of colours and an all-round better viewing experience as a result.
It still comes with the Voice Remote, so you can fire up Alexa to help find shows you want to watch as well.
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Amazon’s cute new Echo Spot is already stealing hearts

Among the squad of new Echo devices Amazon has just unveiled, the little Echo Spot is already proving an early favourite.
The small circular device that has a 2.5-inch screen that displays the time as well as short video news flashes and can be used for video calls has been mooted as the replacement for your bedside alarm clock.
Even though Amazon also took the covers off a redesigned Echo, a smart home hub powered Echo Plus and several others, the Spot appears to have already won hearts and minds.

The Echo Spot is the round screen start of the Echo Watch.

This form factor and use case just feels right.

🔮 The Echo Watch is next...
The downside to this early excitement is that there is still some time to wait until the Spot will be sitting in your home.
The device is due to launch in the US in December but the UK has to wait until early 2018 to get hands on it.
The price also remains an unknown factor. In the US it’s going for $129.99, so a figure in that region is likely.
Sadly, this makes it one of the more expensive Echo devices Amazon announced – even more than the fully-fledged second generation Echo, which has been redesigned and given a major price cut to £89.99.

Judging by the early response, the price is one many sound willing to pay.
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