“FGM is violence, child abuse and sexual assault  …and of course we handed out Vulva cupcakes” is not a phrase you hear every day. But of course, it isn’t every day you speak to Leyla Hussein. Leyla has been at the forefront of the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) for over a decade. Her willingness to talk candidly – and at times even humerously– about her experiences has played a key role in challenging the culture of silence around...

The desperate parents of conjoined ten-year-old twins attached at the head are appealing for help to raise £75,000 to separate them. Joy and Joyce Magsino were born with angular frontal partial craniopagus - they are attached at the forehead. A touching video released by their father devoted Patrick Magsino, 30, shows them taking selfies and playing video games, just like any other ten-year-old girls. Doctors in Albay in the Philippines said it was possible to separate them with a risky...

No kisses on text messages, women saying 'I'm fine' and locking the bathroom door when showering are all signs men are in the doghouse, a study has found. A poll of 2,000 women has given men a helpful insight into how they can tell if their partner is cross with them, without her having to utter a single word. Going to bed early to read and not making their partner a cup of tea when they make themselves one are...

This is potentially the largest corporate scandal in history, but it hasn't been widely reported This is a story of deception on an unimaginable scale, but the UK mainstream media has been strangely mute. This year average global temperatures continued to break records. Devastating flooding, mud slides and forest fires were seen throughout the world. Simultaneous harvest failures occurred in several key regions. Glacier melts continue at alarming rates, and the largest split in the Antarctic ice shelf left the...

When I get through to Skinner's office, the phone is answered by a gentleman with a hushed voice and a regional dialect that I don't recognise at first. "Who is it?", Skinner says. Not quite the start I'd hoped for. I’d read reports he could be quite difficult to interview but he comes across patient, polite and affable. Curious to find out how someone had managed to persuade a modest ex-miner to make a film about himself, I ask him how...

LXi REIT buys another supported living portfolio - LXi REIT has exchanged contracts on the acquisition of the freehold interest in a portfolio of regulated long-let supported living properties located across England. The purchase price is GBP12.9 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.0% (net of acquisition costs). Each property is immediately income producing and has been let on a new 25-year lease, with no tenant break, to a specialist Registered Provider of social housing. The Registered Provider is regulated by the...

Tequila’s complex sibling, mezcal is finally beginning to receive the attention it deserves. Tying in with London Mezcal Week, taking place later this month, The Bloomsbury Club Bar at The Bloomsbury Hotel,on Great Russell Street, will celebrate by adding 30 varieties of mezcal to their drinks list; making it one of Europe’s largest mezcal collections. A traditional Mexican liquor, mezcal is distilled using the agave plant’s heart (piña), which is cooked and aged. Made from over 30 varying agave species...

Back in 2007, Science Daily published a report by Marko Siitonen of Jyvaskyla University covering online gaming communities. At the time, web-based multiplayer media was relatively new, and everyone involved was intrigued as to where the new interaction platform would take us in the future. Even then, the study showed that online games caused long-lasting relationships between players who would transcend chat systems by meeting in real life, talking on the phone and speaking via email. The report also acknowledged...

The poo girl from the 'worst Tinder date ever' has broken her silence via an anonymous internet post - to reveal friends have nicknamed her Miranda Hart. Liam Smyth, 24, launched a fundraising campaign after his window was broken by firefighters rescuing a woman who got stuck half-way out. But it went viral - smashing the £200 target - when he revealed she got stuck trying to rescue a poo she failed to throw out the window when it wouldn't...