Latest news with #Avi
Time Out
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The best local restaurant in London has been crowned by the Good Food Guide
Congratulations to Ida in Queen's Park, which has been named the Best Local restaurant in London by the Good Food Guide. This is the 15th year of the GFG's Best Local Restaurants campaign, which sees the publication celebrate 100 cosy neighbourhood spots across the UK. According to the Good Food Guide, the list heralds 'wine bars serving sensational small plates, neighbourhood bistros breathing life into faded seaside towns, and the cherished family-run gems where you can enjoy a great meal for under £20'. The list is broken down into areas and Ida, a family-run Italian on Kilburn Lane, came up top in London. However, the overall number one was Malaysian pub residency Lucky Lychee in Winchester, which also topped the South East list. Ida opened in 2007, taking over a Grade II listed corner shop site. It is run by husband and wife, Avi and Simonetta, alongside their three children. 'The dream was to recreate the kind of simple, home-cooked Italian food you might eat at the house of your favourite aunt,' they say. The other London restaurants given the nod in the list included Time Out's current best restaurant in London, Miga in Hackney, as well as Clapton's Mambow, which topped our best restaurants list in 2024. See below for the full list of London restaurants named in the Best Local Restaurants campaign. London restaurants in the Good Good Guide's 2025 Best Local Restaurants list Ida, Queen's Park Brutto, Farringdon Chuku's, Tottenham Cinder, St John's Wood Giulia, Shepherd's Bush Home SW15, Putney Les 2 Garçons, Crouch End Lorne, Victoria Mambow, Clapton Miga, Hackney Paulette, Maida Vale Slowburn, Walthamstow The Lacy Nook, Walthamstow
Glasgow Times
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
13 London restaurants named among UK's best and the 1 winner
The list highlighted Britain's 100 best local restaurants for 2025, celebrating the "spotlight brilliant, independently run venues that define affordable and accessible dining across Britain." Now in its 15th year, the Best Local Restaurant awards are chosen by anonymous inspectors who travel around the UK to put the many nominations to the test. Among the lucky few named by The Good Food Guide were 13 London restaurants, with just one the best. The 13 London restaurants named among the UK's best The overall winner for London was Ida in Queen's Park, with the full list of named spots as follows: Ida, Queen's Park (London winner) Giulia, Shepherd's Bush Home SW15, Putney Les 2 Garçons, Crouch End Chuku's, Tottenham Lorne, Victoria Miga, Hackney Paulette, Maida Vale Brutto, Farringdon Mambow, Clapton The Lacy Nook, Walthamstow Slowburn, Walthamstow Cinder, St John's Wood Ida first opened its doors in 2007 in a Grade II listed corner shop and is family run by husband and wife team, Avi and Simonetta, along with their three children. Sharing what the aim of the restaurant was, the website for Ida reads: "The dream was to recreate the kind of simple, home-cooked Italian food." Ida's specialty is fresh pasta and gnocchi, all made in-house, with everything made fresh every day. Discussing their win, Ida's owner, Simonetta Wenkert, said: "Winning Best London local restaurant couldn't make us happier. "We are nothing without our neighbours, and love being part of the community here on Kilburn Lane. "There's no better feeling than watching our customers' children grow up and return with families of their own. "We are grateful to everyone who has supported us in the almost twenty years we have been here, as well as to our small but mighty team." Recommended Reading On the online review website Tripadvisor, Ida has an impressive 4.1 out of 5 rating with one happy guest sharing: "Little gem in residential Queen's Park area. "Lovely warm atmosphere with very good Italian specialities where quality is kept high." Another guest wrote: "Lovely little local Italian restaurant, special atmosphere, good food and very friendly staff."
Techday NZ
10-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Avalara unveils AI assistant Avi to simplify complex tax research
Avalara has announced the launch of Avi for Tax Research, a generative AI assistant embedded within Avalara Tax Research (ATR), aimed at supporting tax and trade professionals with immediate, reliable responses to complex tax law queries. Avi for Tax Research draws on Avalara's extensive library of tax content to provide users with rapid, comprehensive answers regarding the tax status of products, audit risk, and precise sales tax rates for specific addresses. Capabilities outlined The AI assistant offers several features to advance the workflow of tax and trade professionals. Among its core capabilities, Avi for Tax Research allows users to instantly verify the taxability of products and services through straightforward queries. The tool delivers responses referencing Avalara's comprehensive tax database, aiming to ensure both speed and reliability in answering enquiries. Additional support includes access to up-to-date official guidance to help mitigate audit risks and reinforce defensible tax positions. By providing real-time insights, professionals can proactively adapt to changes in tax regulations without needing to perform extensive manual research. For businesses operating across multiple locations, Avi for Tax Research enables the generation of precise, rooftop-level sales tax rates tailored to individual street addresses, which can improve compliance accuracy to the level of local jurisdiction requirements. Designed for ease of use The assistant is built with an intuitive conversational interface intended to be accessible to professionals across departments, including those lacking a formal tax background. According to Avalara, this functionality should help improve operational efficiency and collaboration by reducing the skills barrier usually associated with tax research. Avalara's EVP and Chief Technology Officer, Danny Fields, described the new capabilities in the context of broader industry trends. "The tax compliance industry is at the dawn of unprecedented innovation driven by rapid advancements in AI," said Danny Fields, EVP and Chief Technology Officer of Avalara. "Avalara's technology mission is to equip customers with reliable, intuitive tools that simplify their work and accelerate business outcomes." The company attributes Avi's capabilities to its two decades of tax and compliance experience, which inform the AI's underlying content and context-specific decision making. By making use of Avalara's metadata, the solution is intended to shorten the time spent on manual analysis, offering instant and trusted answers to user questions and potentially allowing compliance teams to allocate more time to business priorities. Deployment and access The tool is available immediately to existing ATR customers without additional setup. New customers have the opportunity to explore Avi for Tax Research through a free trial, which Avalara states is designed to reduce manual effort and deliver actionable information for tax research. Customers can use the AI assistant to submit tax compliance research questions and receive instant responses tailored to their requirements. Avalara delivers technology aimed at supporting over 43,000 business and government customers across more than 75 countries, providing tax compliance solutions that integrate with leading eCommerce, ERP, and billing systems. The release of Avi for Tax Research follows continued developments in AI applications for business compliance functions, reflecting the increasing demand for automation and accuracy in global tax and trade environments.
BBC News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
"We need to keep hitting them": Israelis in city struck by Iran back offensive
Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, has long been a stronghold of support for Israel's right-wing governing coalition. In the early hours of Sunday morning, an Iranian missile struck a 10-storey block of flats there, killing at least eight people and trapping dozens more under thick layers of the severe damage, locals here strongly back Israel's attack on Iran, which began on Friday and has targeted nuclear facilities, missile sites, air defences, an airport and other infrastructure as well as nuclear and military personnel. "It needed to be done," says Veronica Osipchik, 33, who lives about 200m (321ft) from the strike site. "But we didn't expect it to affect us like this."Ms Osipchik had the windows and shutters of her apartment completely blown through. Almost every building in the vicinity suffered similar damage."We were in shock," she said, sat on a camping chair alongside a suitcase packed with food and toiletries. The ballistic missiles that caused the damage in Bat Yam are far more powerful than the rockets fired by Hamas and Hezbollah over the past year and half. Those are mostly intercepted by Israel's sophisticated air defence first of those trapped under rubble were pulled out within hours. As of late Sunday, at least three people remained unaccounted for. "I saw fear in their eyes," said rescue paramedic Ori Lazarovich. "People came out all grey, covered in soot and ash and debris."Avi, a 68-year old who did not want to give his surname, was born and raised in Bat Yam. "We need to keep hitting [Iran]" he says. "Of course we have to keep going. Otherwise, they'll drop an atomic bomb on us.""They're weak. We're much stronger," he adds. "Israel is number one in the world."Emil Mahmudov, 18, agreed: "We should have done this sooner. That's what most Israelis think." Israel's justification for its attack on Iran is to stop its nuclear programme. For well over a decade, successive governments have sounded alarm about the Iranian regime gaining nuclear weapons - something Iran denies as Netanyahu has come under fire within Israel for the state of the war in Gaza, his chief political rivals - Benny Gantz, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Lapid - have all expressed support for attacking Iran. Professor Yossi Mekelberg, of the Middle East Programme at Chatham House, says there has "always been support to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear military capabilities".But, he says, "this is much bigger than fighting Hamas in Gaza, even Hezbollah in Lebanon, or a very limited direct confrontation with Iran.""This is evolving into a full-blown war. And there is fatigue in Israel after 20 months of war.""If there are more casualties, if people are spending a long time in shelters, and if it becomes, again, another never-ending war," then support, he says, could mid-afternoon on Sunday, Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir - who was recently sanctioned by the UK government for "inciting violence against Palestinians" - arrived in Bat Yam to meet by a cohort of armed security personnel, he shook hands with shop owners along a street where many had their windows blown through by the shock of the blast. One, who did not want to give his name, was sat on a plastic chair outside his bakery, which he'd run for 29 years. He said he was there to prevent he support opening a new front against Iran? "Of course," he says, waving his hands. "What kind of question is that?"Netanyahu also visited Bat Yam on Sunday, to chants of "Bibi, King of Israel" - a play on a popular song about the Biblical warrior King David that many Jewish children learn in later, in an evening address, he mourned the dead, telling the nation: "This is a difficult day. I told you, there will be difficult days."Even with broad support for the conflict, if it continues to escalate - and civilian deaths continue to rise - there will be a question over how many difficult days the Israeli public will tolerate.
Tom's Guide
15-06-2025
- Tom's Guide
I use Gemini to explain the world to my kids - these 3 prompts nail it every time
For the past six months, I've used Google Gemini to do something few other tools can accomplish: synthesize news stories and turn them into simple but engaging summaries for children. My nine-year-old son Avi is curious about the world as he enters a stage in his life where he'll ask about, say, the role of AI technology, or how do wildfires start. But when he's dabbled in reading the news online or listening to a report on CNN, he gets confused. The way the news is delivered can be complex for pre-teens. Also, these kids simply are ignoring the news. A 2025 survey found that about only one in nine of 11- to 13-year-olds in the U.S. said they regularly get their news through any kind of app. Enter Gemini, which has allowed me to use prompts to encapsulate news of the day and pop out recaps and stories ideal for a nine-year-old kid. During our bedtime reading sessions, between chapters of The Hobbit or the latest Dog Man, I'll share with him these shortened and streamlined articles. He'll go to bed with a clearer understanding of what people are talking about daily, armed with deep knowledge about a topic that fuels his curiosity. Below are some of the prompts I've used with real headlines I've found in local or national news media (note I'm based in Canada). Gemini is often adept at taking in all sorts of links, even those with paywalls. What works best is inserting the URL and inputting this prompt: Summarize this news story and make it understandable and interesting for a nine-year-old child. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. I recently found a news article about wildfires raging in Northern Ontario, forcing some residents to live in hotels temporarily. It's the kind of story we've heard on repeat in Canada due to wildfires blazing from B.C. to Quebec, affecting thousands of communities. Gemini summed up the news report and offered a simple way for my son to sort out what's happening:Imagine your house is surrounded by a giant, smoky bonfire, and you have to leave quickly! That's kind of what happened to a community called Deer Lake First Nation, far away in Northern Ontario….Now, all 900 people from Deer Lake are staying in hotels near a big airport in Toronto. It's a bit like a big, long sleepover, but away from their own beds and familiar places. The grown-ups, like their leader Chief Leonard, are working hard to make sure everyone is safe and happy…' My son appreciated how this summary made the news story more relatable while also refraining from attaching any scary imagery that may instigate nightmares. We all love stories, from when our parents read us Dr. Seuss at night to Black Mirror episodes we post about on socials soon after they air. That's why I decided to bring storytime to our media moments. I realized how science and health coverage can especially be dense for children and require a lighter touch if there was going to be any chance of them retaining information. I used the 'tell me a story' prompt for this article on screen time and kids, a topic that comes up often in our household. The prompt I use is: 'Tell me a story with relatable characters for a nine year old boy based on this news story…' and then I'll insert the link. The output reminds me of the podcast LOL Storytime, where realistic characters take part in fun adventures or are embroiled in family situations other kids can see in themselves. Below is what Gemini gave us that evening: By the story's end, Avi understood how too much screen time can lead to feelings of anger and frustration, and why going outside can ease that 'glitchy' emotion. Sometimes, certain news updates don't need the storytelling treatment; my son just wants the most important information without any fluff. For example, he loves all things Nintendo Switch and he wanted to find out the latest news about his favourite gaming console. I turned to Gemini to summarize this review of the new Switch 2, using this prompt:'Summarize this report using bullet point takeaways that would be understandable to a nine-year-old boy.' The output was just what Avi wanted. The slow intro is stripped away and I read to him the key bullet points: A new Mario Kart game is coming out with it, and it's also more expensive. This new game costs $80! Nintendo usually tries to make their game systems affordable for families, but this one is more expensive. The new Switch 2 is more powerful, so games will look even better, load super fast, and run really smoothly. It's like watching a movie with no pauses or blurry parts! I like to think AI-enabled news stories for kids will be leveraged by more than just parents. I can see teachers, especially, using these prompts to teach children about interesting or complex headlines in order to foster a greater appreciation for journalism and media literacy. After all, we can't just hope kids will find ways to learn about what's happening around them; we have to use freely available technologies to enable them to do exactly that.
