For years, cryptocurrency startups have tried to replicate parts of the US stock market on the blockchain for

By David Shepardson (Reuters) -Ford Motor said on Sunday that despite progress in some areas, it still has "significant gaps

Al Roker is partnering with Marisa Renee Lee for an exciting new project

First, Chris Billam-Smith was raised aloft. As Shane McGuigan hauled his fighter’s hulking frame into the air, for the adoring mass of fans to see, the cruiserweight’s face vanished behind his gloves. Somewhere under the battered leather, his left eye – swollen half-shut – closed completely. So did the right, trying to trap the tears. Inevitably, the dam broke. The stream washed away his sweat, while his bawls were drowned out by the flood of noise around him. Then, the cruiserweight sank to his knees, all 6ft of him reduced to the stature of a boy who once dreamt of this very moment. Or rather, this meshing of moments. To a young Billam-Smith, fighting in front of a sold-out crowd at the home of his beloved AFC Bournemouth would have represented a dream fulfilled; so would winning a world title. Doing both on the same night? If that plays like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster, then it is the kind of moment that one would deride for stretching our suspension of disbelief a fibre too far. Boxing is not Hollywood. Boxing does not provide fairytale endings. Boxing is unforgiving, and cruel. But if any boxer has earnt a mote of kindness from this sport, it is Billam-Smith. It was granted in the form of his decision win over former teammate Lawrence Okolie last month, but it should not be taken for granted. Nor could it have been when “112-112” was the first scorecard to boom over the PA at Dean Court. “I remember listening and thinking... like frowning,” Billam-Smith, 32, tells The Independent, with stitches still hovering over his left eye. “I wasn’t really listening to the [other] scores, but I just knew it was obviously a majority decision. If I had listened, I think I would have known [I’d won] because obviously one of them was a 107, and that couldn’t have been me because I had no points deducted and wasn’t knocked down or anything. Obviously I was just waiting for them to say ‘and new’. He said it, and a wave of emotion came over me. I was just thinking, ‘I’ve done it.’ I just couldn't believe it. It was such... it’s been such a long journey.” As Billam-Smith knelt in the ring, his face soaked in tears, his mother came to his mind. Dedicating his victory to her, Billam-Smith revealed in the ring that she is battling cancer. “Obviously at the moment, with my mum being unwell and stuff,” he tells The Independent, “for it to be all worth it and worth all the hard graft put in over the years, the years of not earning any money as an amateur and even early on as a pro – not earning a huge amount of money and scraping by at times... To finally to do it and achieve my ultimate dream of winning a world title at the stadium, it was just... You can’t really put it into words to be honest with you. “I had so many reasons to win; I had 15,000 people there that I couldn’t let down, my mum, my wife, my son. I was never going in there without giving it 100 per cent, because of all those reasons. And obviously for myself as well, with the growth through the years. Yeah, my mum obviously was a huge part of that as well.” So was Billam-Smith’s son, Frank, as he says. “Having to miss my son’s first birthday the day before the fight, that’s a completely different emotion. It’s weird; he has no idea what’s going on, doesn’t know that I missed his birthday – thankfully – to stand half-naked in front of loads of people at Bournemouth pier. You know, it’d be amazing for him to grow up and hopefully be proud of his dad.” These various factors, and the emotional weight loaded into each of them, had to be put aside for the sake of performance; so did the sense of occasion around fighting at Dean Court. “On the Friday, I went and sat in my old season-ticket seat and just looked at the set-up,” says Billam-Smith. “I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ The ring-walk rehearsal was very important for me to visualise how everything was going to be, so it wasn’t overwhelming and I wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, this is actually happening.’ [During the actual ring walk], there’s a point where I sort of look around and just nod to myself. Like, I’m still very much in the zone and focused and staying calm, but I thought: ‘This is awesome.’ “[In the fight], I very much had blinkers on. All the visualisation helped. I was very calm in the ring and the whole time in the build-up, just thinking about those 12 rounds and how I was going to react – making sure I reacted logically to every situation.” Billam-Smith did just that, capping off an eclectic trilogy of fights across the last 11 months. First, there was his war with Isaac Chamberlain, which ended as a points victory in Billam-Smith’s favour, then his knockout-of-the-year candidate against Armend Xhoxhaj in December, before this often-bitty bout with Okolie. The 12 rounds against Okolie will not be what fans remember from this particular night, however. They will remember the aftermath – the stirring scenes of a dream being realised in real time. “Now it’s about creating another dream,” says Billam-Smith, looking ahead to the future. “You know, I’d love to fight in Las Vegas, but most importantly I need to secure my family’s future financially. And I’m not the finished article as a boxer. “In any sport I’ve ever played, I’ve always just wanted to give it 100 per cent and improve. That’s still the same me now.” Lorton Entertainment’s“STABLE”, a four-part documentary series covering Shane McGuigan’s work with his fighters, will be released this Autumn. Read More Leigh Wood and Chris Billam-Smith win world titles with victories over familiar foes How a unique night of action could lay groundwork for future super-fight ‘I could kill a guy and get away with it’: Teofimo Lopez is treading a disturbing path through boxing How unique night of action could lay groundwork for future super-fight Leigh Wood and Chris Billam-Smith win world titles with victories over familiar foes Boxxer’s Ben Shalom: ‘I sacrificed my twenties, I sacrificed absolutely everything’

FIFA 22 93+ EFIGS TOTS Pack was released June 15 containing one player 93 rated or higher from EFIGS leagues. Here's how to complete the SBC and if it's worth it.

For many of us, flip-flops are synonymous with sunny days, whether we’re by the pool or meeting friends at the pub. But an expert has rained on the parade of summer’s most ubiquitous footwear by pointing out the significant flaws in their design. Taking to TikTok, Singapore-based podiatrist Paul Macaulay, explained why he, personally, would never wear the thonged slip-ons. However, he also had unfavourable things to say about a number of alternatives – so don’t ditch your flops for Crocs just yet. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In the clip, he singled out sandals made by the popular brand Havaiiana for featuring a number of red flags. “They’re very flat and very thin, they don’t offer much foot support,” he explained, adding that in order for a flip-flop to get his particular seal of approval they’d need to have “a bit of a heel cup”. He also criticised flip-flops that don’t have built-in arch support, and pointed out that the standard strap offers “no security to the foot”. “We want to see something with a strap around the heel, which will give more stability to the ankle and hold the foot in place, or even the style that has a strap coming over the front, which holds the foot down,” he said (so, good news for slider-fans). @paulthepodiatrist Macaulay also pointed out that the lack of support offered by classic flip-flops means that many people have to grip hold of the shoe with their toes to keep them on. “If you wear it for prolonged periods of time over many years, [your feet] can start to stiffen and claw up, and then that can be hard to reverse,” he warned. Finally, he warned that because they’re so open, flip-flops can dry out your feet. This can be particularly “high risk” for diabetics, he said, because “dryness can open to cracks, and those cracks can turn to wounds.” Still, he insisted, there’s a time and a place for the sandals – namely, for wearing on a trip to the beach or the pool. “If you're only walking, say like 500 to a thousand steps and you're not going to be massively physically active, then I'm all for it,” he said in a second TikTok. “But then for something like [...] you're going to walk like five miles, I'm not for it.” Macaulay’s also “not for” the following four shoe types, which he insisted he’d “never wear” as a podiatrist: slip-on loafers; stilettos; ballet pumps and strapless shoes. He didn’t explain why he wouldn’t wear them, however, so maybe it’s just a taste thing… @paulthepodiatrist Save yourself some problems and avoid these shoes! Podiatrist has warned you! There are better shoe options out there for you! #fypsg #foryoupage #fashion #shoes #feet #footpain #podiatrist And for anyone wondering what shoes they should wear, especially when the sun’s out, he has you covered there, too. In another TikTok, captioned: “Don’t regret your footwear choices this holiday”, he said “People don't realise that when you go on holiday you actually rack up so many steps, so it's really important this holiday season to get yourself a good pair of shoes.” His first recommendation was a sandal made by the company Keen which is made for “multi-terrain”. “You can wear these in a concrete jungle style city, somewhere like New York or Singapore, you can even wear these in a mountainous area, maybe like Snowdonia National Park or in the hills of Hong Kong,” Macaulay said. “What I like about it is the straps – it keeps your foot nice and tightly secure.” His second endorsement was for adidas’s Adilette adventure sandals, which he noted were cheaper and softer than his two alternatives. And finally, he gave a big thumbs up to Dr. Martens’ popular Voss sandals which he said he particularly liked because of their “thick, durable sole,” and “ideal” straps, coviering the foot, ankle and back of the heel. @paulthepodiatrist You dont want to end up with sore feet this holiday season! Check out my three top recommendations to stop blisters and painful feet this summer! #fypsg #fashion #shoes #sandals #summeroutfit #podiatrist #feet He wrapped up his video by reinforcing his point that: “These three options would make great additions to your holiday wardrobe for this summer.” So, in the end, it looks as though it’s time to trade in your flops for Docs, people. 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.

Europe's Euclid space telescope is scheduled to blast off Saturday on the first-ever mission aiming to shed light on two of the universe's greatest mysteries...

Frank Borman, the NASA astronaut who led the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon, has died at the age of 95...

Sure, we’ve been going to work all summer long, but there’s something about September that signals a fresh start. Maybe it’s the back-to-school buzz, the slight shift in the weather, or the business-core trend. Whatever the reason, a fresh start creates an excuse to freshen up our closets — especially our back-to-school-office attire. That’s why we’ve narrowed down the styles that we think make the best work dresses.

Barack Obama continued his yearly tradition of sharing his summer playlist, once again revealing his impressive knowledge of different musical genres

The FBI and other agencies failed "at a fundamental level" to assess the risk of violence, a report claims.

Triston Casas hit a two-run homer and Alex Verdugo finished a homer short of hitting for the cycle as the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 9-5