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All the Tips Podiatrists Taught Us About Foot Health in 2022

December 31, 2022 Published by Amelia McBride

Well+Good

Whether you ran a marathon for the first time, went on a hot girl walk with your besties, or embarked on a nature hike this year, your feet—quite literally—carried you through 2022. In an effort to thank them for all the hard work they put in, we’re looking back at all the foot health advice expert podiatrists shared with us this year. From how to pick out the best shoes for hammertoes to what exactly a ‘foot facial’ entails, we gained a wealth of information about how to best keep your soles in check.

Want to start 2023 on the right foot? Keep scrolling to see the best, most beneficial foot health tips we learned from podiatrists this year.

10 lessons we learned about foot health from podiatrists in 2022

1. Our feet can tell us about our overall health

Before your next checkup, take inventory of your feet. Apart from telling us if we have dry skin or a fungal infection, our feet can reveal a lot about our overall health. Bluish discoloration in our toes and toenails can indicate cardiovascular disease, while tingly or painful toes can be a sign of diabetes. And while curved toenails can occur naturally, they can also be a sign of lung disease.

2. How to find our arch type

Unsure of what arch type you have? Grab a sheet of paper and a bowl of water to find out!

The “wet foot test” can tell you if you have normal, low, or high arches. Simply dip the soles of your feet in water, let the excess drip off, and step onto the sheet of paper. Podiatrist Yolanda Ragland, DPM, walked us through what each impression indicates and how to pick out the best shoes for each arch type.

“Understanding the biomechanics of the foot can guide what type of performance shoes one should select,” Ragland previously told Well+Good, “and leads to how a medical professional approaches…patients with common foot complaints directly.”

3. Exactly when we should toss our old sneakers

Sneaker manufacturers recommend throwing out your sneakers after 300–500 miles of wear, and podiatrists agree. The midsole (cushiony part of the footbed between the bottom of the sneaker and where your foot sits) begins to wear down at this range. According to podiatrist Bruce Pinker, DPM, you definitely don’t want to wear shoes past this point. Without this support, you open yourself up to stress fractures, shin splints, and runner’s knee.

His pro tip: “Stay with well-known brands. Higher-quality shoes, such as those from New Balance, Saucony, Brooks, and Asics, often last longer due to preferred materials and construction,” Pinker previously told Well+Good.

4. What your ‘shoe wear pattern’ can reveal about your gait

Before tossing out your old sneakers, take a good look at their soles. Over time, the pressure between the ground and our feet wears down the bottom of your shoes in particular ways based on where you apply pressure and carry yourself consistently showing potential issues in your gait.

Surgical podiatrist and avid runner Jacqueline Prevete, DPM, walked us through exactly what each pattern means and how to adjust our strides accordingly for more optimal function of our feet (and the rest of our body).

5. Why you shouldn’t go through airport security barefoot

While taking off your shoes to pass through TSA is unavoidable sometimes, podiatrists say that you should keep your socks on. Losing that protective layer opens your feet up to bacteria and small, sharp items that may have fallen off the luggage of hurried travelers.

“Shoes and socks serve a protective function,” podiatric professor Mark Kosinski, DPM, previously told Well+Good. “Shoes protect us from injury, from things dropping on our feet, from stubbing our toes, and from stepping on sharp objects. We lose that protection when we go barefoot and need to be careful with each step.”

6. Foot health red flags you should look for at the nail salon

A good pedicure has the power to improve our mood and self confidence, but if your salon is slacking on its hygiene game, consider finding a new one. Podiatrists warn against frequenting salons with dirty workstations, no visible certifications, unlined foot tubs, and tools that haven’t been sterilized. Salons with poor hygiene standards put you at risk of getting ingrown toenails, fungal nails, and warts. Yuck!

7. How to relieve foot pain in a flash

Your feet support your weight all day, and as such, are easily prone to discomfort. Luckily, podiatrists say you can relieve most occurrences of foot pain at home—no office visit necessary. If you own a tennis ball (or really any firm, round ball like a lacrosse ball, for example), you can use it to roll out and stretch tight, uncomfortable soles. Meanwhile, toe spacers can offer serious relief from foot pain caused by poor toe flexibility.

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8. The differences between walking and running shoes

Walking and running are two different forms of exercise, so it would make sense to wear shoes specifically suited for each. Podiatrists say your walking shoes should be flat, rigid, and heavy, while your running shoes should be flexible, contoured, and light.

As with all shoes, consider your own physical makeup and exercise habits when shopping for running and walking sneakers. New York City podiatrist Nelya Lobkova, DPM, previously told Well+Good that the New Balance Fresh Foam X 880v12 is her all-time favorite sneaker for running, while the wide ON Cloudventure sneaker offers great support for everyday walking.

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9. The benefits of a foot facial

We treat our faces to luxurious skin-care routines, so why not do the same for our feet? Well+Good beauty writer Kara Jillian Brown revealed what it’s like to get a ‘foot facial’ from aesthetic podiatrist and podiatric foot surgeon Suzanne Levine, DPM. According to Brown, foot facials go beyond your standard salon pedicure.

During the 45-minute appointment, Dr. Levine carefully scraped off Brown’s old callouses and blisters, applied detoxifying masks to the entire foot, massaged hydrating creams into her skin, and examined her feet for signs of infection. Besides being a fabulous way to pamper her toes, Brown says this foot facial provided valuable insight into her overall foot health.

10. How to properly prep our feet for boot season

While we’re well into boot season, it’s never too late to adjust your boot and foot-care habits to be more comfortable and kind to your soles. Boots tend to be more rigid and constraining than other types of shoes and commonly cause blisters, cracked heels, bunions, and even pinched nerves, so it’s worth rebooting your routine to avoid such issues.

To that end, stretching your boots with a shoe stretching spray and stretcher tool can soften and loosen too-tight boots, preventing discomfort. Replacing worn-out insoles with podiatric Dr. Scholl’s inserts can add support with every stride. And aside from properly adjusting your boots, podiatrists recommend getting a pedicure to prevent ingrown toenails as well as slathering your feet in petroleum jelly to prevent dry skin during the colder months.

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Flying blind: The problem isn’t flight cancellations — It’s flying!

December 31, 2022 Published by Sidney Tarrow, opinion contributor

Just In | The Hill

After a tumultuous week when hundreds of thousands of travelers were blocked from reaching their destinations by flight delays, cancellations, and reroutings, the website Flightaware.com reported that Friday, Dec. 29th, would be a good day for people trying to fly: The total number of delays was expected to be 14,606, and the total number of cancellations only 1,599. Delta, American, and United had recovered fairly quickly from the cancellations and delays of the previous week, but over Christmas, as many as 80 percent of Southwest’s flights failed to take off.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg lost no time making clear that Southwest would be held responsible for commitments it had made following Hurricane Ian last September to protect stranded passengers. “The Department will use the fullest extent of its investigative and enforcement powers to hold Southwest accountable,” he warned, “if it fails to adhere to the promises made to reimburse passengers for costs incurred for alternate transportation.”

Good for Buttigieg. But why has no official at any level of government noted that it is climate change that has made such airline failures almost predictable? We warn of climate change in the very abstract and the very particular, but when it comes to the responsibility of a powerful industry, we tend to focus on the failures of particular companies, like Southwest.

It isn’t only that climate change is responsible for airline failures like the one we have just experienced. Through their prodigious use of fossil fuels, the airlines are disproportionately responsible for polluting the environment. For example, according to the French consumer group Quechoisir, on short-haul flights, planes emit 77 times more greenhouse gasses per passenger than trains that cover the same distance.

As climate change produces more and more travel crises and airlines leave more and more passengers stranded, why has it occurred to no government agency to encourage passengers to use the train, which is cheaper, more convenient, and less subject to cancellations?

Think of France: In recent days, the French government received permission from the European Union to cancel short-haul flights where there is a train available on equivalent routes. For example, a passenger arriving at Paris’s Orly Airport who is going on from there to Nantes, Lyons, or Bordeaux can get there by train in less than two-and-a-half hours, so why take a plane? Urged by a citizen’s group founded by the Macron government, the French asked the EU for permission to cancel competing flights on these routes — in order to encourage passengers to spend less money, risk fewer cancellations or delays, and to contribute four times less global pollution than if they took a plane covering the same route.

Of course, the United States is a far larger country than France. Americans who are heading to the other side of the country to spend our brief Christmas holiday with family or friends are pretty much condemned to flying. But that ignores the significant number of short-haul flights in our system that connect, say, New York and Washington, D.C., Chicago and Minneapolis, or Austin and Houston, or San Francisco and Sacramento. Except for the Acela, which connects Boston to D.C. in seven hours, there is no decent train service to offer passengers a cheaper, more relaxing, and more reliable alternative to the short-haul flights connecting these cities.

Moreover, few American cities possess anything like the smooth connections between airports and the national train network that are found in Paris, Brussels, or Zurich. When I landed in Geneva on my way to Turin — only to find that my flight had been cancelled — I strolled downstairs from the airport’s arrival hall to board a train that got me to the Italian city inside of two hours.

This is not to claim that there are no improvements in the American airline network that a determined government could effect (and Secretary Buttigieg reportedly is on track to propose some). What is lacking is a failure of public imagination. We need to imagine a transportation network in which airlines do what they do best — carry passengers on long-haul flights — while trains are given the resources and the planning permissions to handle the short-haul routes for which they are most suited.

We should watch what happens in France as the Macron government’s train-friendly policy for short-distance travel goes into effect next year. My bet is that the airline industry will survive (after all, it makes most of its money on long-haul flights), while France’s efficient train network will substantially increase its ridership. Stay tuned!

Sidney Tarrow is the Maxwell Upson Emeritus Professor of Government at Cornell University and an adjunct professor at the Cornell Law School. His most recent book is “Movements and Parties: Critical Connections in American Political Development,” from Cambridge University Press.

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Barbara Walters left behind messages about her ‘sense of isolation’ as a child — and what drove her success

December 31, 2022 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News

Millions of Americans are mourning Barbara Walters, a pioneer in broadcasting and an Emmy Award winner, who died this week at age 93.

Walters was a longtime ABC News anchor who also hosted the primetime show “20/20” and created the women’s talk show “The View” in 1997.

When Walters’ personal account of her life, “Audition: A Memoir,” came out in 2008, book critics widely praised the “blockbuster” nonfiction work for being a “smart, funny, fascinating book” as well as “compulsively entertaining.”

BARBARA WALTERS, JOURNALIST PIONEER, DEAD AT 93

It was full of “heartfelt candor,” critics said.

It was “indispensable” and “intensely readable,” they also said.

It was also “suffused with an emotional intensity,” one critic wrote.

Still another wrote that it was “intimately personal” while at the same time “wonderfully larger than life.”

Knopf published the book in May 2008 — and today, as of publication time, the book is ranking at the no. 2 spot on Amazon’s “journalist biographies” bestseller list as well as no. 4 on its “television performer biographies” bestseller list.

In her memoir, Walters detailed the numerous steps she took in her storied journalism career after growing up in Boston and attending Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.

Notably, Walters also peeled back the layers of her early family life.

She described her alternately precarious and loving relationship with her older sister, Jackie, whom she described as “mentally retarded, as the condition was called then,” Walters wrote in her book.

Walters said her sister, while older, seemed like the younger sibling.

Her intellectual impairments, wrote Walters, were “just enough to prevent her from attending regular school, from having friends, from getting a job, from marrying — just enough to stop her from having a real life.”

KIRK CAMERON GREETED BY OVERFLOW NEW YORK LIBRARY CROWD FOR MESSAGE OF FAITH, FAMILY, COUNTRY

The TV personality also shared in her book that from a “very early age,” she realized that “at some point, Jackie would become my responsibility” — and that keen understanding was “one of the main reasons I was driven to work so hard.”

But it wasn’t just about the financial responsibility, Walters wrote, when it came to how she would be responsible for her sister throughout their lives.

“For so many years, I was embarrassed by her … ashamed by her … guilty that I had so much and she had so little,” Walters detailed in “Audition.”

She noted that when Jackie was born — over 100 years ago now — there was very little known about “mental retardation” or the “mentally impaired.”

She also said there were few schools for those who were different and that few employers who would take on such workers.

“Today,” Walters wrote in 2008, “Jackie could probably get a job, something simple but productive … She might even have met and married a nice man.”

However, back then, her sister’s life, wrote Walters, “was essentially one of isolation” — except, she added, for the “relationship she had with me, and my mother and father.”

Walters said her sister’s condition was “never discussed” outside the family circle.

That was because, she added, her parents felt others wouldn’t understand — or would “shun” her or humiliate her.

Notably, Walters added that because her sister’s life was so isolated — so was her own life.

“As a child, I didn’t have birthday parties because Jackie didn’t. I didn’t join the Girl Scouts because Jackie couldn’t join. I rarely had friends over to the house because they didn’t know what to make of my sister, and I would hear the whispers, real or imagined.”

Walters said that as she grew older and started going out with friends or on dates with young men, her mother would ask her to please take Jackie along with her.

“I loved my sister. She was sweet and affectionate — and she was, after all, my sister.”

Added Walters, “There were times I hated her, too, for being different … [and] for the restraints she put on my life.”

She also said, “I didn’t like that hatred, but there’s no denying that I felt it. Perhaps you’ll be horrified at my admission,” Walters added bluntly.

“Or, perhaps you’re guilty of the same emotions and will feel relief that you are not alone,” she also wrote.

Walters noted that almost anyone else who has a chronically ill sibling, or a sibling who is mentally or physically impaired, will “understand what I mean.”

She went on to note how beautiful her sister was physically — and “you wouldn’t have known” there was anything different about her “until she opened her mouth to talk.”

She revealed her sister’s stuttering — and that their parents tried everything possible in those days to try to help her with “her speech impediment.”

She shared, too, how difficult it was for her to watch her sister be bullied by other children.

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Walters said her sister died in 1985 of ovarian cancer — but that up until that point, Walters “agonized” over the relationship with her sibling and over Jackie’s challenging life circumstances. Still, she knew her sister always loved her, she said.

Walters’ memoir “Audition,” released originally in hardcover and a no. 1 national bestseller when it came out, was also produced in paperback as well as in Kindle and audiobook versions.

CNN Sports' top stories of 2022

December 31, 2022 Published by CNN

CNN
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From a World Cup like no other in Qatar to Ukrainian athletes returning home to fight in the war against Russia, CNN Sport has picked out the must-read stories from the last 12 months.

Gay Australian footballer Josh Cavall reflects on life-changing year

It has been more than a year since Josh Cavallo announced he is gay, but even now he still struggles to comprehend the far-reaching impact his announcement has had.

Since making that life-changing decision in October 2021, Cavallo has become one of the most recognizable names and faces in world football, as well as becoming something of an icon.

“I’m walking in the streets of London and getting stopped,” Cavallo told CNN in October.

“I’ve only been to London twice now and I’m like: ‘Wow, I’m all the way from Australia and what I did was via social media,’ and to see the impact it’s had from people on the other side of the globe is absolutely phenomenal.”

Josh Cavallo has become one of football's most recognizable faces since coming out as gay.

Exclusive: World Cup soccer fans stopped by security officials for wearing rainbow-colored items

During the World Cup in Qatar, two German soccer fans told CNN’s Ben Church that they were asked by security officials at Qatar 2022 to remove the rainbow-colored items that they were wearing as they made their way to watch the match between France and Denmark.

CNN witnessed the conclusion to the incident at the Msheireb Metro Station, in Doha, as Bengt Kunkel, who was wearing a rainbow-colored sweatband and his friend – sporting a similarly colored armband – refused to hand over the items.

After taking the Germans to one side, a group of security guards eventually let them go – on condition that they put the rainbow-colored items in their pockets, according to Kunkel.

“Out of nowhere. They took my friend quite aggressively on the arm and pushed him away from the crowd and told him to take it [the armband] off,” Kunkel told CNN,

German fan Bengt Kunkel wearing a rainbow-colored arm and wristband outside Stadium 974 on Saturday, November 26.

Exclusive – ‘This is not saving, this is destruction’: Ukrainian MMA champion Yaroslav Amosov recounts the horrors of war

After Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, a number of high-profile Ukrainian athletes chose to return to their home country and help in the war efforts.

Among them was Yaroslav Amosov, a reigning welterweight world champion in the MMA championship Bellator.

On May 13, he should have been defending his world title at Bellator’s event at Wembley Arena in London. Instead, Amosov returned to his hometown of Irpin and joined the territorial defense to aid civilians in and around the town.

“It’s hard to look at your city that was once full of happiness, life,” Amosov told CNN’s Matias Grez in an exclusive interview back in May.

Yaroslav Amosov missed his world title fight to return to Ukraine.

Remembrance Sunday: For one dissenting voice, this is his most dangerous day

For footballer James McClean, Remembrance Sunday is arguably his most difficult day of the year.

Since he first refused to wear the poppy in 2012, McClean and his family have been subjected to abuse both in football stadiums across England and online.

The Republic of Ireland international, who was born in Northern Ireland, has been outspoken about what the poppy and Remembrance Sunday mean to his community and its relationship to the British military.

James McClean has been regularly abused for his stance on the poppy.

YouTubers, doping and greed: It’s been a tough year for boxing

Simiso Buthelezi, Miracle Amaeze and Luis Quiñones are some of the talented boxers who have died this year as they pursued their sporting careers and chased dreams of world titles.

It’s an accepted risk of the profession. A database first compiled by anti-boxing activist Manuel Velazquez and updated in the Electronic Journal of Martial Arts and Sciences estimated 1,604 boxers died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the ring between 1890 and 2011 – an average of 13 deaths a year.

That’s a shocking statistic for a professional sport, but perhaps not altogether that surprising. As Stephanie Alessi-LaRosa, director of Hartford Healthcare’s sports neurology program, points out, it’s a boxer’s objective in a fight “to neurologically impair the opponent.”

2022 has been a tough year for the sport of boxing.

‘Our dreams never came true.’ These men helped build Qatar’s World Cup, now they are struggling to survive

The plight of migrant workers in Qatar was a dark cloud that marred what should have been the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet.

For all the incredible action on the pitch, including arguably the greatest World Cup final in history, tournament organizers could not escape accusations that the workers who helped build the stadiums were subjected to awful conditions, which contributed to the deaths of migrant workers.

Ahead of the World Cup, CNN spoke to Kamal, a Nepali worker in Qatar, who recounted his experience of being arrested without explanation and kept in a Qatari jail for a week.

Describing the conditions in the cell he shared with 24 other Nepali migrant workers, he says he was provided with a blanket and a pillow, but the mattress on the floor he had to sleep on was riddled with bed bugs.

“Inside the jail, there were people from Sri Lanka, Kerala (India), Pakistan, Sudan, Nepal, African, Philippines. There were around 14-15 units. In one jail, there were around 250-300 people. Around 24-25 people per room,” he says.

The treatment of migrant workers was a major talking point throughout the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

‘Straight up child abuse’: Canadian gymnast quit at the age of 13 due to what she alleges was a horrific and abusive environment

Amelia Cline can still remember what she loved about gymnastics; the 32-year-old Canadian says it was the chance to explore the limits of gravity.

At the age of two, Cline says that her interest was obvious to her parents by the way she’d be pulling “little baby chin-ups,” at the kitchen counter. By the time she was nine or 10, Cline had outgrown her local coaches and was now travelling an hour from home to train at an elite club.

For a while, her love of the sport continued, but Cline says everything changed when Vladimir Lashin and his wife Svetlana arrived as the new coaching team. Cline says that the mood in the gym quickly darkened.

“Immediately, it was verbally abusive,” she recalled. “If you made any mistakes, they would scream and humiliate you.” According to Cline, it wasn’t long before the coaches resorted to physical abuse, too.

Amelia Cline spoke to CNN about the alleged abusive training regime.

How has this World Cup affected the ‘brands’ associated with it?

Traditionally billions of viewers watch the World Cup, and as they concentrate on what is happening on the pitch, the names of some of the world’s biggest companies flash behind the players on a rolling, technicolored loop – Budweiser, Visa, Coca-Cola, Qatar Airways, Adidas, McDonalds, Wanda, Vivo, Hyundai Kia.

But Qatar 2022 is different. Many of these brands, particularly those with Western world roots, have become caught in the geopolitical crosshairs of this tournament, balancing their sponsorship with criticisms levelled at FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, and Qatar, the host, notably around human rights issues.

Not that it is affecting FIFA’s bottom line.

Fearing torture and possible execution, Iranian powerlifter Amir Assadollahzadeh quit team in Norway and ran for his life

Athletes who are good enough to compete in the world championships are among the very best in their field. They dedicate their lives to the pursuit of their craft, they are proud to represent their countries, and they all dream of returning home with medals around their necks.

But at the IPF World Powerlifting Championships held in November, one athlete wasn’t competing for glory; Iranian Amir Assadollahzadeh says he found himself quite literally running for his life.

The 31-year-old Iranian lifter told CNN that in the middle of the tournament, he felt compelled to abandon his team and flee from his teammates.

He had agonized over a decision that would forever change his life, but at around 3.30 a.m., he had made up his mind and slipped out of his hotel in the Norwegian city of Stavanger, on the North Sea Coast.

“I took what I needed for my journey and left,” Assadollahzadeh recalled. “I quickly ran towards the bus station, but I arrived five minutes too late.”

He was one of Iran's top athletes. Then his life unraveled.

Camille Herron put her ‘heart and soul’ into breaking the 100-mile world record. But officials now say the course was too short

Camille Herron has called it a “unicorn moment” for the sport of ultrarunning – a performance that expanded the notion of what women can achieve in endurance events.

When Herron crossed the finish line at Jackpot Ultra Running Festival’s 100-mile race in Henderson, Nevada in February, she did so as the outright winner – even beating all the male competitors – and in world record time.

But her efforts now appear to be in vain, at least as far as the record books are concerned.

Capturing Lionel Messi’s viral moment: The story behind the most liked photo on Instagram, told by the photographer who took it

Lionel Messi vs. an ordinary brown egg was the clash that nobody expected in 2022.

But the photo that Messi chose to upload to his Instagram page to celebrate winning the World Cup smashed the app’s previous record – held by said egg – for the most liked post ever.

It was captured by Getty photographer Shaun Botterill, who had a front row seat to one of the most iconic moments in sports history.

This is his story on how he captured the most liked photo of all time.

The blind skateboarder challenging misconceptions about sight and sport

Dan Mancina is a skateboarder whose jaw-dropping videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

Mancina also happens to be blind and videos of him using his white cane as he skates inspire curiosity and admiration.

The blind skateboarder challenging misconceptions about sight and sport

03:06

– Source:
CNN

‘Didn’t see ourselves represented’: This figure skating pair is ditching the gender norms rooted in their sport

US figure skaters Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc bring a different story to the ice – one based on equality.

The pair stands out in their discipline, one rooted in traditional gender norms, through their performances and skating style.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JANUARY 08: Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc pose on the medals podium after winning the Pairs competition during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Bridgestone Arena on January 08, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

‘Didn’t see ourselves represented’: This figure skating pair is ditching the gender norms rooted in their sport

04:51

– Source:
CNN

source

[World] Ukraine war: Zelensky tells Russians – Putin is destroying you

December 31, 2022 Published by

BBC News world

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Watch: A Kyiv resident describes hearing explosions and glass shattering as strikes hit the city

By Robert Greenall

BBC News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told Russians that their leader is destroying their country.

Responding to Vladimir Putin’s New Year address delivered while flanked by people in military uniform, he said the Russian president was hiding behind his troops, not leading them.

On a day of deadly Russian air strikes across Ukraine, he said Ukrainians would not forgive Russia.

At least person died and dozens were injured in the attacks.

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhny, said air defences had shot down 12 of 20 Russian cruise missiles.

The attacks happened two days after one of the largest air strikes since the start of the war. Dozens of attacks in recent weeks have caused repeated power cuts.

Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Mr Putin has recently admitted hitting critical energy facilities.

In an address on his Telegram channel, Mr Zelensky said those who carried out Saturday’s attacks were inhuman and they would “lose”.

Switching from Ukrainian to Russian, he then attacked Mr Putin.

“Your leader wants to show you that he’s leading from the front, and his military is behind him,” he said.

“But in fact he is hiding. He’s hiding behind his military, his missiles, the walls of his residences and palaces.

“He’s hiding behind you, and he’s burning your country and your future. No-one will forgive you for terror. No-one in the world will forgive you for that. Ukraine will not forgive.”

Battlefield is deadlocked, Ukraine spy chief tells BBC Five ways Ukraine war could go in 2023

He was speaking in response to Mr Putin’s New Year address, which is being broadcast for each of Russia’s 11 time zones as they see in 2023.

The Russian leader tried to rally people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying the country’s future was at stake.

Reuters

Image caption,

President Putin was pictured celebrating with members of the military, who he presented with medals

In combative mood, Mr Putin said: “We always knew, and today it is confirmed to us yet again, that a sovereign, independent and secure future for Russia depends only on us, on our strength and will.”

He presented the invasion of Ukraine’s sovereign territory as “defending our people and our historical lands” and said “moral, historical rightness is on our side”.

Mr Putin also accused the West of “provoking” Moscow to launch its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

“The West lied about peace. It was preparing for aggression… and now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia,” he said.

Ukraine and the West reject Russia’s claims about the start of the aggression.

Lawmakers remember journalist Barbara Walters as a ‘trailblazer,’ ‘glass ceiling shatterer’

December 31, 2022 Published by Jared Gans

Just In | The Hill

Lawmakers are praising journalist Barbara Walters and remembering her as a “trailblazer” and “glass ceiling shatterer” following her death on Friday.

Walters repeatedly broke barriers throughout her career that spanned more than half a century, becoming the first woman to co-host a news program when she started as an anchor for The Today Show and the first woman to co-host a network evening news program when she joined ABC Evening News.

She interviewed every sitting president from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama, world leaders like Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and celebrities like Michael Jackson.

ABC News confirmed Walters death on Friday at the age of 93.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said it was her “privilege” to sit down with Walters on multiple occasions and see her “masterful” work firsthand.

“Barbara Walters was a trailblazer and an icon: transforming television journalism with her intellect and integrity, courage and poise,” she said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted that many of Walters’s interviews were “unforgettable” and that she broke a glass ceiling for many women and girls. He said Walters always wanted to get the truth.

Former President Trump also praised Walters, saying in a Truth Social post that she was the “greatest of them all, by far.” Walters interviewed Trump on multiple occasions, including in 2015 while he was running for president.

“I knew her well, was interviewed by her many times, and there was nobody like the legendary Barbara Walters – And never will be!” he said.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) tweeted that Walters always drew the audience into her interviews and was “quintessential” in her job.

“Many younger women came of age watching Barbara Walters torpedo her way into the hearts and minds of Americans as a pioneering woman in the man’s world of journalism,” she said.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said Walters will be remembered as a “fearless trailblazer who shattered the glass ceiling & paved the way for women in journalism.”

In The Know, Blogs, House, Senate, Barbara Lee, Barbara Walters, Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Sheila Jackson Lee Read More

NOAA satellite captures Earth mosaic showing stunning panoramic view

December 31, 2022 Published by

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released the first image from its NOAA-21 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument.

The recently-launched satellite captured a stunning panoramic view of the Earth, created from swaths of data captured throughout the full globe over a period of 24 hours between Dec. 5 and Dec. 6.

Polar-orbiting satellites observe the entire planet twice each day, unlike geostationary satellites.

According to the agency, the mosaic image shows bright blue water containing phytoplankton in the Caribbean Sea, weather systems moving and smog from agricultural fires in Northern India.

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Dr. Satya Kalluri, Joint Polar Satellite System program scientist, said in a release that the turquoise color around Cuba and the Bahamas is due to sediment in the shallow waters around the continental shelf.

VIIRS provides measurements of ocean color helping to detect harmful algal blooms and monitor phytoplankton activity and sea surface temperature.

Over land, the satellite – which also flies on the Joint Polar Satellite System’s NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP satellites – is able to detect and measure the intensity of wildfires, droughts and floods.

The fire intensity is fed into a product that tracks the thickness and movement of wildfire smoke.

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VIIRS also generates critical environmental products on snow and ice cover, clouds, fog, aerosols and dust, as well as the health of the world’s crops.

The instrument was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base on Nov. 10.

NOAA-21, previously known as JPSS-2, is the second operational satellite in a series called the Joint Polar Satellite System.

NOAA and NASA oversee the development, launch, testing and operation of all the satellites in the system.

LeBron James scores season-high 47 points on 38th birthday

December 31, 2022 Published by CNN

CNN
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LeBron James knows how to celebrate in style, scoring a season-high 47 points as he inspired the Los Angeles Lakers to a 130-121 win over the Atlanta Hawks on his 38th birthday.

James helped his team come back from 15 points down at the State Farm Arena and ended the game with 10 rebounds and nine assists.

“I feel better than 18,” James told reporters. “At 18 years old I knew how to play the game, I knew I belonged in the NBA but I didn’t know what I could become. I just knew that [if] I continued to put in the work, continued to be true to the game that I could be one of the greatest players to ever play this game, I just always believed that, so there are times when I’m on the floor when I feel like a kid again … I wouldn’t say 18 but I definitely felt like a kid again at moments out on the court.”

According to Reuters, only two other players have scored more points in a game after turning 38, with Michael Jordan and Jamal Crawford netting 51 points each.

“Just awesome man, he’s put the team on his back and been doing what he’s done for the last 20 years. A hell of a performance,” coach Darvin Ham told reporters when asked about James.

“Dropping 47 [points] is inspiring because he plays the game the right way… He motivates and inspires the team to go out there and do their jobs.”

Lakers’ Thomas Bryant finished with 19 points, including a season-high 17 rebounds, while Russell Westbrook got 14 points and Dennis Schroder 12 points.

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Russia fires 20 cruise missiles at Ukraine on New Year’s Eve, at least 1 dead, dozens injured

December 31, 2022 Published by

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Russia on Saturday fired 20 cruise missiles at Ukraine as civilians looked to welcome in the New Year, resulting in the death of at least one and dozens injured.

Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 12 of the 20 missiles launched using Tu-95ms strategic bombers positioned in the Caspian Sea along with ground-based missile systems Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said on Telegram.

The strikes hit locations across the Kyiv, Zhytomyr and the Khmelnytskyi regions.

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Ukrainian air defense forces shot down six missiles in Kyiv where at least one person was killed and 16 were injured, along with five missiles in the Zhytomyr region and one in the Khmelnytskyi region, which left seven injured, including three in “serious condition” according to Ukrainian news outlets.

Five districts in the western, central, southern, and eastern parts of Kyiv were hit including at least one hotel, the Ukraine Palace concert hall, and residential buildings.

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Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko took to Twitter to announce the strikes Saturday morning and said, “There are explosions in Kyiv! Stay in shelters!”

Klitschko said that while Kyiv residents still had access to water and heat, certain train lines had been closed and roughly 30 percent of the city was without electricity.

No. 3 TCU upsets No. 2 Michigan 51-45 in wild CFP semifinal

December 31, 2022 Published by RALPH D. RUSSO

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TCU quarterback Max Duggan (15) dives for yardage as Michigan linebacker Junior Colson (25) defends during the first half of the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football semifinal playoff game, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Max Duggan accounted for four touchdowns, TCU returned two interceptions for scores and the third-ranked Horned Frogs withstood a frenetic second-half surge by No. 2 Michigan to win the Fiesta Bowl 51-45 on Saturday night and advance to the College Football Playoff national championship.

TCU (13-1), the most unlikely team ever reach the four-team playoff in its nine-year history, has one more game left in its improbable season and it will come against either No. 1 Georgia or No. 4 Ohio State on Jan. 9 at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Coming off a losing 2021 season and picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 in Sonny Dykes’ first year as coach, the Horned Frogs will try to win the program’s first national championship since 1938.

Duggan and the Frogs will no doubt be underdogs — again. That didn’t matter much against Michigan (13-1) as they took it to the big, bad Big Ten champions and turned the Fiesta Bowl into circa-2010, Big 12-style scorefest.

It was the highest scoring Fiesta Bowl ever and the second-highest scoring CFP game behind Georgia’s 54-48 Rose Bowl victory against Oklahoma on Jan. 1, 2018.

Maybe it was fitting.

TCU, the little private school from Forth Worth, Texas, that was left out of the Big 12 when it first formed in the mid-1990s, became the first team from the conference to win a CFP game and will be the first to play for a national title since Texas in 2009.

Hub peek embed (Collegefootball) – Compressed layout (automatic embed)

This one was 34-16 with 2:46 left in the third quarter and the Hypnotoads, a nickname borrowed for the animated TV show “Futurama,” and their purple-clad fans could sense their wild ride wasn’t over.

Of course, nothing has come easy for these Frogs all year. During their unbeaten regular season, they won seven straight games by 10 points or fewer.

What followed was five touchdown drives — with a TCU turnover tucked in between — each taking less than a minute.

Roman Wilson’s 18-yard touchdown run on a reverse and a 2-point conversion pulled Michigan within 41-38 with 14:13 left in the fourth quarter.

Back came the Frogs, unleashing their best weapon. Future first-round draft pick Quentin Johnston took a short crosser from Duggan and turned it up the sideline for a 76-yard score that put the Frogs up 10.

Duggan threw for 225 yards and two interceptions and ran for 57. Johnston had six catches for 163 yards and Emari Demercado, picking up the slack for an injured Kendre Miller, ran for 150. All of that against a defense that ranked third in the nation coming in.

TCU finally got a stop on Michigan’s next possession and turned it into a 33-yard field goal by Griffin Kell to go up 51-38 with 10:02 left.

After the Frogs and Wolverines combined for 62 points in 20 second-half minutes, the pace was throttled back. But Michigan cut the lead to six with 3:14 left on J.J. McCarthy’s 5-yard TD pass to Wilson.

McCarthy was spectacular at times with 343 yards passing, 52 rushing and three touchdowns. He also made two killer mistakes, tossing pick-sixes in each half.

TCU couldn’t ice it and Michigan got one more shot, starting from its 25 with 52 seconds left — but couldn’t get first first down.

Before TCU could line up in victory formation, there was an officials’ review for targeting on the Frogs. What was another minute or so of drama in a season filled it for TCU?

The play was clean. Duggan, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, took one last snap and a knee and the exhausted Frogs rushed the field and celebrated under cloud of purple and white confetti.

The Frogs hopped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, with safety Bud Clark making two of the biggest plays of the game. First, he chased down Michigan’s Donovan Edwards to prevent a long touchdown on the very first play from scrimmage.

TCU then used a goal line stand — stymieing a Philly Special-style fourth down play by Michigan — to keep the Wolverines off the board.

On Michigan’s next possession, Clark broke fast on a throw to the sideline by McCarthy and raced 41 yards with a pick-6 that put TCU up 7-0.

Duggan completed a long touchdown drive with a 1-yard plunge with 2:27 left in the first quarter and the Frogs were up 14-0 on touchdown-favorite Wolverines.

Michigan broke the ice with a field goal and then looked as if it had flipped the game back its way.

Rod Moore picked off a tipped pass at midfield by Duggan and McCarthy went deep to Roman Wilson on the next play for what appeared to be a 51-yard touchdown pass. A review overturned the call and set up Michigan inside the 1. No problem for a team with the nation’s best offensive line, right?

Michigan ran a quick hand off to fullback Kalel Mullings, who fumbled. TCU recovered, putting down another Michigan scoring threat.

Coach Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines put up a better showing in their second straight CFP semifinal appearances, but will lament the missed opportunities. Their first three first-and-goal situations produced three points.

Michigan fell to 1-6 in bowl games under Harbaugh.

UP NEXT

TCU: The Frogs are a combined 1-9-1 all-time against Georgia and Ohio State.

Michigan: The Wolverines open next season in the Big House against East Carolina.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25