New recruitment campaign to target adults in their 30s and 40s in bid to create 10,000 new foster care places Viennetta Basterfield, 67, spent two decades fostering more than 100 children in her west London home before she and her husband handed in the reins during Covid. Her own mother had died when she was nine and she was brought up by another woman who took her in. There was no doubt in her mi…
Former investor alleges BitMEX sold products in UK despite not being regulated by Financial Conduct Authority A cryptocurrency exchange founded by the billionaire Reform UK donor Ben Delo is being sued for £20m over claims that the company mis-sold financial products in the UK. Lewis Barber, who is a software engineer, alleges that BitMEX offered crypto derivative products to investors in the UK,…
Historic eatery in capital’s theatreland given to heritage charity after changing hands only three times in 228 years When Thomas Rule served his first oyster to diners on Maiden Lane in London’s Covent Garden, “mad” George III was on the throne of England, John Adams was US president and William Pitt the Younger had just come up with a wheeze called income tax to pay for the Napoleonic wars. More…
Research shows that the best linguists process unfamiliar foreign speech sounds more like non-speech sounds If you want to get really good at French, Arabic or Hungarian, don’t start with rote learning vocabulary and grammar, focus on how they sound instead, research suggests. A new study of how humans learn modern languages has found that the brains of the most talented linguists hear foreign ter…
Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem was a father of 10-year-old daughter, and overcame two bouts of cancer, his family says Police on Tuesday identified the victim of the fatal accident at Six Flags Over Georgia as 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta. Kariem fell to his death after being ejected from his seat and several others were injured in an incident involving a rollercoaster at the theme park…
Prime minister reiterates UK backing after the Ukrainian president’s latest round of difficulties with Donald Trump Andy Burnham will host Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street on Wednesday as the UK seeks to further underline its support for the Ukrainian president, in contrast to his difficulties with Donald Trump. The UK prime minister said his message to Zelenskyy and his country would be: “We…
Governor Ron DeSantis says death toll ‘sad’ but praises work of local officials for helping to minimize storm’s impact Six deaths have been confirmed in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias. In a press conference on Tuesday, Florida governor Ron DeSantis praised the work of local officials for minimizing the impact of the storm, which made landfall late on Friday, bringing strong winds, r…
