The United States on Tuesday sent the first of three military planes to Egypt to bring vital humanitarian aid for Gaza during a truce between...

Chef Maria Bradford remembers the first time she came to Peckham market. Originally from Sierra Leone, she moved to England in her late teens, and after four years she was desperately homesick. She was living in Kent and felt far removed from her home of Freetown – until she went to Peckham in South London. “The first time I ever came to Peckham, it was such a shock. I didn’t think a place existed like that [in England] – it reminded me so much of the hustle and bustle in Freetown,” she says. “All of a sudden, you get off the train and you come to this place and you’re like, Oh my God. I’m home.” Bradford, now 42, says she “desperately needed” a place like Peckham, and has been coming to the market regularly ever since. We’re back there today – on a hot but overcast London day, and Bradford is showing me how to pick out the best Sierra Leonean ingredients. We go on a weekday, as she says a weekend would take us a lot longer to get round, once she’s spoken to all the aunties in the community who want a chat. As we walk through the market, Bradford starts talking about Sierra Leonean cuisine. “I would say it’s quite healthy. We eat lots of leaves and greens, and we eat a lot of seafood as well. There’s lots of layers to Sierra Leonean food, because we mix things like smoked fish and meat in the same dish… Because we use fish more as a flavouring.” The words that spring to mind when she thinks about the food of her homeland? “Healthy, homely, comforting.” Bradford continues: “I don’t know if that’s because I’m Sierra Leonean, it brings me that calmness and home feeling. That warmth. It feels like I’m sitting at the back of our house with my mum, my nan, my grandmother, my aunties and everyone – we’re sitting around cooking, and it feels like comfort.” When she really wants to feel comforted and soothed, Bradford whips up a bowl of egusi soup (egusi – also known as melon seeds – is a thickener, and the recipe includes oxtail, goat meat, white sorrel, smoked barracuda and Scotch bonnet chillies) that Bradford says is like a “food hug, because when you eat it all you want to do is sleep”. After looking at some of the outdoor stalls full of colourful produce – bright pumpkins, squat varieties of cucumber, browning plantains – we go into Bit By Bit, a Sierra Leonean shop run by Sarian Karim-Kamara. Karim-Kamara immediately starts singing Bradford’s praises (“you’re flying the Sierra Leonean flag – we’re so proud of you!”) and thumbing through her new cookbook, called Sweet Salone – a nickname for the country. The shop is full of speciality ingredients you’ll need to make some of the recipes in the book – from the brightly coloured red palm oil (a staple in the country) to frozen cassava leaves and smoked barracuda. Bradford is keen to promote local shops such as this one, saying: “People are really friendly and want to talk about the ingredients – they don’t just know about the ingredients, they know what to do with it, how to promote it… It’s nice to step into these shops and have conversations, because you might learn so much more than what you bargained for.” As well as running the shop, Karim-Kamara is an FGM campaigner – she’s just launched a new campaign with the Mayor of London – and runs a food bank out the back. “For three years I’ve been supporting refugees and asylum seekers, but the food bank is open now to the community because everyone is struggling,” she says. Karim-Kamara adds she doesn’t talk much about it because “some people are really shy… The way we do the service is people come to the back and help themselves”. We move onto another shop selling West African ingredients – including jute leaves, black velvet tamarind and white hibiscus – and Bradford strikes up a conversation with the shopkeeper, who says she’ll pre-order the cookbook and give it to her daughter, so traditional Sierra Leonean cooking continues down the generations. “The children that are born here, they don’t really know how to cook the traditional stuff,” Bradford says after this exchange. “They’ll be more gearing towards the Afro-fusion side. It’s really important we keep the core traditional stuff, and also keep it separate.” But Bradford is an advocate for Afro-fusion dishes as well, describing it as “taking traditional Sierra Leonean ingredients and using techniques we wouldn’t necessarily use to extract as much flavour from those things”. After working as an accountant for 10 years (which she hated), Bradford did an evening course at prestigious cooking school Leiths and set up a catering company, and now uses her classical training to give a spin on the dishes she grew up eating. Examples of Afro-fusion recipes in the book include cassava chips with truffle and Parmesan, and the oxtail pepe stew – which has red wine added, a French technique she drew upon to deepen the flavours. Whether it’s traditional dishes or Afro-fusion flavours, Bradford – who is still based in Kent – uses cooking to connect with her roots. It started when she first moved to the UK and was missing home. “So I started cooking, making stuff I like to eat with stuff I can get my hands on,” she says. One of the first dishes she made was peanut soup (“you can get peanut butter anywhere, and you can pick up chicken anywhere”) and it grew from there. “Cooking and throwing those things together to feel like you’re home, connecting back to Sierra Leone.” ‘Sweet Salone’ by Maria Bradford (Quadrille, £30). Read More A week’s worth of summery recipes (even when the weather is dire) The dish that defines me: Frank Yeung’s prawn wontons How to make cassava chips How to make a traditional Sierra Leonean rich cake How to make West African brasied beef shorts in peanut and coconut milk In Horto: Hearty, outdoorsy fare in a secret London Bridge garden

By Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON Markets showed signs of a slight recovery in sentiment on Monday, as European stock

Victor Lindelof says Manchester United must keep building after Erik ten Hag’s below-par side fought for a fourth narrow win in five Premier League matches. This has been a difficult second campaign to date for the Dutchman, who oversaw a ninth loss in 17 games in Wednesday’s 4-3 Champions League collapse at Copenhagen. United rallied at a packed Old Trafford on Saturday and Lindelof’s second-half goal secured a 1-0 win against unfancied Luton, easing pressure before an international break they head into in a surprisingly good spot. Despite relentless scrutiny and some chastening defeats, no team has won more points over their last five Premier League games than a Red Devils team with plenty of improvements to make. “We want to score more goals and that’s the next step for us,” Lindelof said. “Right now the most important thing is the three points and the result. “But after that we have to keep going, keep working and building and hopefully we can score goals, close the game and not make it difficult for ourselves. But it’s step by step. We want to score more goals and that’s the next step for us Victor Lindelof “We haven’t been playing at the highest level and we know that. We’ve just got to keep working hard. “”We’re (not far) off the top four, and it shows that even if we’re not playing at the highest level, we can still get a result.” All seven of United’s Premier League wins this term have come by a one-goal margin. Ten Hag believes things will improve when his goal-shy frontmen’s form turns and is happy how others have stepped up in the meantime, with defender Lindelof lashing home just his fourth for the club on Saturday. “It’s always special and nice to score a goal – I don’t score that many anymore,” the Sweden skipper told MUTV. “To score the match-winner in front of the Stretford End is a special feeling and I felt that today. “I saw the ball drop and I was thinking to myself ‘just try and hit it quite hard and quite high’. It was a good goal, I think. “After the goal we dropped a little bit but, like I said, three points was the most important thing.” Lindelof and many of his team-mates now turn their attention to international matters with United now not back in action until the trip to Everton on November 26. Luton return to Premier League matters a day earlier at home to Crystal Palace as Rob Edwards’ promoted side look for a second victory of a season after a pair of promising displays. “We are disappointed,” the Hatters boss said after a narrow loss at Old Trafford followed a 1-1 home draw with Liverpool. “Of course, there was hard work in the performance and there was good quality in the second half from us. “We showed a lot of bravery on the ball, and our fans know we aren’t a team that necessarily dominates on the ball. “To grow on the ball in one of the best stadiums in the world and in the toughest league in the world is difficult, so the boys showed incredible bravery. “It was harder to break United down later in the game as they got more players behind the ball, we just needed to find moments in the game at the right times and create some chances. “I saw a determination, a steel, a grit about us in that first half, we rode our luck once or twice but had a chance of our own through the Carlton (Morris) header and it was important to stay in the game. “The support we had from the fans was incredible today. It was very important at the beginning that we showed that respect which we did immaculately, and then I could hear them the whole game. “It made me really proud to be representing this club and I hope everyone has a safe journey home. “Take a lot from it, be proud of the football club today, but we are greedy and we want more points.” Read More Rob Key ready to take share of blame for England’s poor World Cup Tom Aspinall beats Sergei Pavlovich to become UFC interim heavyweight champion On this day in 2004: John Toshack becomes Wales boss on five-year deal Gareth Southgate: England have won over the world – now for our own fans It is hard to overtake Manchester City under Pep Guardiola – Mauricio Pochettino Pep Guardiola: Only small clubs worry about selling players to their rivals

'RHOSLC' Season 4 stars Lisa Barlow, Heather Gay, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, Monica Garcia, Angie Katsanevas, and Mary Cosby

It seems viewers have finally realized who would be the best person to lead Waystar Royco

Airbnb “horror stories” are a genre unto themselves

Sheffield Wednesday have appointed former Watford boss Xisco Munoz as their new manager. The 42-year-old Spaniard replaces Darren Moore, who surprisingly departed the Owls having guided the club to promotion via the League One play-offs. Munoz steered Watford back into the Premier League having taken charge midway through the 2020-21 campaign, but was sacked during November 2021 after just 36 games in charge. Former winger Munoz won both the LaLiga title and the UEFA Cup while at Valencia, before moving into management with Georgian club Dinamo Tbilisi and moved to Watford in December 2020. A short statement on the Owls’ club website read: “Sheffield Wednesday are delighted to announce the appointment of Xisco Munoz as our first team manager. “The Spaniard, who gained promotion to the Premier League with Watford in 2020/21, takes charge of the Owls with immediate effect.” Munoz will give his first press conference as the club’s new manager at Hillsborough on Wednesday afternoon.

Crews across the Northeast are surveying the destruction and beginning clean-up efforts as sunshine briefly returns after devastating floods put towns under water, damaging homes and washing out roads.

Video from an Ohio school's hallway camera shows a school employee chasing a 3-year-old down the hall and hitting him in the head from behind, knocking him to the ground, an attorney for the boy's family alleges.

Tristan Tate posted images of four actors he feels he has a striking resemblance to

New Zealand unemployment rose to the highest in two years in the third quarter while wage inflation slowed,