Extreme heat and drought has destroyed 70% of Jordan’s olive crop, endangering livelihoods of 80,000 families and a centuries-old tradition
Abu Khaled al-Zoubi, 67, walks slowly through his orchard in Irbid, northern Jordan, his footsteps kicking up dust from the parched earth beneath centuries-old olive trees. He stops at a gnarled trunk, its bark split and peeling from months of unrelenting heat.
He points out that the branches should be sagging under the weight of ripening fruit, but instead they stretch upward, nearly bare, with only a few shrivelled olives clinging to the withered stems.
“You mentioned second-bottom Newport’s visit to leaders Bromley – just above them there’s a ding-dong in my old stamping ground of Shrewsbury, with fourth-bottom Town hosting third-bottom Bristol Rovers in the first (of what may be many) big relegation six-pointer of 2026,” writes Jeremy Boyce. “I’m predicting a festive 0-1 and the second managerial departure of 2026 (Michael Appleton). Cheers!”
Full time in the early kick-off, and it’s finished Blackburn 0-2 Wrexham. Sam Smith opened the scoring before Ollie Rathbone smashed in an early goal-of-the-year contender for the visitors, who climb to eighth in the table.
The president is scrutinising studio deals, and was rewarded with the promise of a Rush Hour reboot. With Supergirl, Hoppers and a live-action Moana on the way, can Hollywood stand up to Trump?
It’s fair to say that Hollywood is in crisis, or at least in transition. Studios getting taken over, culture wars all over the place, and gen AI rearing its head. The last thing they need is an interventionist president determined to wage war on the entertainment industry, as well as no doubt extracting what value he can. Donald Trump, as we know, is very interested in the movie business: in his pre-politics days, he made dozens of appearances in films, as well as on TV. It seems very likely that he’s eyeing a place at Hollywood’s top table after he leaves office (presuming he does).
Perhaps that’s what is behind his most spectacular recent intervention: demanding, and getting, a fourth Rush Hour movie from the new owners of Paramount Pictures, the studio that was recently taken over by David Ellison, son of Larry, one of Trump’s key allies. Coincidentally, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is one of the funders of Paramount’s subsequent bid to derail Netflix’s takeover of Warner Bros, with Trump himself suggesting he might influence US corporate regulators to prevent the Netflix deal from going ahead. And of course, in the background, is Trump’s threat of non-specific “tariffs” on the film industry, ostensibly aimed at keeping movie production inside the US. But, arguably, this could also be a way of keeping Hollywood’s top executives nervous and pliable.
The Colla Indigenous people claim Rio Tinto’s plans to extract the key mineral will harm fragile ecosystems and livelihoods
Miriam Rivera Bordones tends her goats in a dusty paddock in the russet mountains of Chile’s Atacama desert. She also keeps chickens and has planted quince and peach trees and grapevines, which are watered by a stream winding down the hills towards the Indigenous community of Copiapó.
But now the huge British-Australian mining multinational Rio Tinto has signed a deal to extract lithium, the “white gold” of the energy transition, from a salt flat farther up the mountains, and she fears the project could affect the water sources of several communities in the area.
The billionaire – who had no government experience – left various federal agencies in disarray while overseeing an ‘efficiency’ drive across Washington
As Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, splurged more than $250m on Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, the US president commissioned his new ally to oversee a sweeping “efficiency” drive across the federal government.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss, who had no experience inside government, was tasked with eradicating waste and cutting spending as part of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) – and was quick to stoke expectations.
Gabon’s government has announced the suspension of the national football team, the sacking of their coach and the kicking of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang off the squad in the wake of three defeats at the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
Gabon’s acting sports minister announced on television the suspension of the national team after they finished last in their group and were eliminated from the tournament in Morocco.
Closure of country’s 400-year-old service made headlines and prompted Gillian Taylor to appeal for final missives
Some describe the joy of receiving dispatches from far afield, others speak of the discipline of sitting down to carefully order their thoughts in a letter.
One writer tells of finding a poignant cache of letters after a parent’s death, while another has shared a map of where the postboxes used to be in her town.
Tragicomedy will be performed outdoors in Northern Irish countryside as part of new festival celebrating Irish playwright
Beneath a stark steel tree in a bleak upland bog, a literary masterpiece is set to assume a different linguistic mantle.
Samuel Beckett’s enigmatic tragicomedy Waiting for Godot will make its world premiere in Ulster Scots, a moment described as a “coming of age” for the minority language, and the antithesis of the trend for celebrity Godots.
It is very hard to describe a work by the British conceptual artist Ceal Floyer because description overburdens it. Her practice was so finely wrought that it existed only in the experience between a work’s idea and its absorption. Ceal handled this equation deftly and with perfect poise, but it was a perilous and naked process with little or no place to hide, or none.
Resolving the relationship between an idea’s inception and its manifestation became increasingly fraught for her and many works never made it to fruition. Therein lay her courage. This is why I wanted to add something to last month’s obituary of her by Jonathan Watkins.
After biggest loss for producers since 2020 the slide could continue, with global output expected to remain high
Oil markets have recorded their steepest annual fall since the Covid pandemic and could be on track to plummet further as oil producers continue to pump more crude than needed by the global economy.
Oil prices slumped by almost 20% in 2025, marking the biggest annual loss since 2020 and the first time that the oil market has recorded three consecutive years of annual losses.
*Searle (1) 2-0 (0) Clayton Another break of throw for Searle! Clayton missed a dart at D16, a terrible effort, and Searle took out 116 on tops with the air of a man strolling to the paper shop on a brisk winter morning. His finishing has been outrageous.
Afghanistan and Yemen excluded from list of 17 priority countries chosen by Trump administration to receive aid laden with demands
The $2bn (£1.5bn) of aid the US pledged this week may have been hailed as “bold and ambitious” by the UN but could be the “nail in the coffin” in changing to a shrunken, less flexible aid system dominated by Washington’s political priorities, aid experts fear.
After a year of deep cuts in aid budgets by the US and European countries, the announcement of new money for the humanitarian system is a source of some relief, but experts are deeply concerned about demands that the US has imposed on how the money should be managed and where it can go.
From CMAT and the Carpenters’ fresh starts to the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun and Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, starting again is a rich theme in pop. Here are some of the best examples
It’s hard to imagine anyone’s heart not being lifted a little by Right Back Where We Started From: the euphoric rush of new love rendered into three minutes of cod-northern soul (performed, unexpectedly, by various ex members of ELO, the Animals and 60s soft-poppers Honeybus). Avoid the 80s cover by Sinitta at all costs.
I wasn’t sure journalism was for me until I ended up in a bar with a group of lawless, funny co-workers who complained long and hard about the panther suspended above us in a cage
In the mid-90s, I was working as an admin assistant on the listings magazine of the London Evening Standard, and was about to be fired. OK, I wasn’t that good at the job, but I was also done with it. It was on my mind that I needed an actual job, one that you could describe to someone: “I’m an X.” At what point did you get to say: “I’m a journalist”? And was that even a real thing? A lawyer friend had told me: “I see mine as a profession and yours as more of a trade.” I ruminated on that a lot.
Anyway, some time between my latest misdemeanour and my inevitable disciplinary letter, someone from the main paper, let’s call him Pete Clark because that was his name (everyone else will go by initials, but Pete’s dead now, and he would want to be named, I think), asked if I wanted to go to a party. It was no special occasion, just the launch of a bar; this happened every night in the 90s, even Mondays. He was 43, but all old people look the same when you’re 23, so I felt as if the viscount owner of the paper had noticed me from the top of his gold mountain and invited me to a ball.
If you don’t fancy the last warm finger or two of beer in your can, save it to bake into these fluffy, flavourful rolls
I often don’t finish a large bottle or can of beer, leaving a bit in the bottom that barely seems worth saving. When I remember, I’ll pop it in the fridge and save it to add to a stew or batter, but today’s rolls are my new favourite way of using it up.
When I look at Mamdani, I don’t see some radical departure. I see him an heir to the Yiddish socialism that helped build New York
Billionaires raised fortunes against him. The president threatened to strip his citizenship. Mainstream synagogues slandered him as the spawn of Osama Bin Laden and Chairman Mao. But today, Zohran Mamdani became the first socialist mayor of New York City.
For all the hysteria, when I look at Mamdani, I didn’t see some radical departure from the past. I see him as the heir to an old and venerable Jewish tradition – that of Yiddish socialism – which helped build New York.
Analysts attribute increase to kingdom’s ‘war on drugs’ as authorities kill 356 people by death penalty
Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year.
Analysts have largely attributed the increase in executions to Riyadh’s “war on drugs”, with some of those arrested in previous years only now being executed after legal proceedings and convictions.
Our friend Bridget is serious about Christmas, and she does it spectacularly: come 1 December, her tree will be up, beautifully lit and decorated, her nearest and dearest (us included, thankfully) will get their bespoke Advent calendar (this year it was a cheesy one for me and a puzzle for Sarit – perfect) and a month of fun activities will ensue, culminating in a magnificent day. She is so serious about it, in fact, that her planning for next year starts now: she hits the January sales for everything that’ll keep for the next Christmas holiday – stocking fillers, festive candy, decorations, jumpers and socks – and it’s all stored neatly in a cupboard in anticipation of another gloriously executed December.
We may not be quite as organised and foresightful as Bridget, but we are looking ahead to the coming year with the usual mix of excitement and angst, and starting to mentally put things in the calendar: maybe you have a spring holiday, or an autumn baby? Maybe there’s a visitor from abroad you’re looking forward to, or tickets for a once-in-a-lifetime gig? Even if there is nothing planned yet, summer is something we are always excited about, and the coming year starts to slot into place, as plans become experiences and, before we know it, memories. Time rushes forward, and suddenly it’s gone.
Italian departs Stamford Bridge role after 18 months
Maresca told bosses he discussed replacing Guardiola
Enzo Maresca’s shock departure at Chelsea came after he informed the club that he had held talks with figures associated to Manchester City over replacing Pep Guardiola.
Chelsea have been weighed down by uncertainty ever since cracks in Maresca’s relationship with the board became apparent last month, but there is a feeling at Stamford Bridge that the Italian was looking to engineer an exit before a parting of the ways was confirmed on Thursday morning.
At 50, I find myself in a gazing-up-at-trees phase. What does it all mean? It’s not completely clear – but it’s certainly bothering my kids
According to research undertaken by Stanford Medicine in 2024, adult human beings are subject to two “massive biomolecular shifts” – spikes in ageing, in other words – one at 44 and another at 60, confirming what most of us instinctively know to be true: that we get older in jagged bursts – not with gentle, steady progression. As the new year issues its annual invitation to stocktake, the thing I keep thinking is where we might place the equivalent emotional pivot points, those periods in which, after years of – God willing! – pottering along feeling roughly the same, suddenly, one day, there’s a change.
I bring this up because I seem to be in the middle of one, an inflection point that manifests in the number of times on the walk back from the school drop-off I stop to look at a bird in a tree, or a snail on a wall, or any number of other overwrought visual metaphors that allow me to feel momentarily like I’m inside a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hard to put one’s finger on what’s going on, but it has to do with the sense of an ending, which, if it’s sad at all, isn’t sad-sad; rather, it occupies that category of sadness I think of as the anticipation of future nostalgia.
(4AD) The standout act in the sprechgesang wave, the four-piece’s newly expansive sound carries singer Florence Shaw’s distinctive tales of mundane lives spiralling out of control
Dry Cleaning’s third album features a lot of strikingly odd lyrics. Take your pick from “alien offshoot mushroom, going the gym to get slim”; “my dream house is a negative space of rock”; or, indeed, “when I was a child I wanted to be a horse, eating onions, carrots, celery”. But it’s an ostensibly more straightforward line, from Cruise Ship Designer, that seems destined to attract the most attention. “I make sure there are hidden messages in my work,” says vocalist Florence Shaw as the track draws to a conclusion, the muscular guitar riff that’s driven it along devolving into a janky, trebly scrabble.
Initially, the lyric appears to characterise what Dry Cleaning do, and Shaw in particular. From the moment they first appeared with the 2018 EP Sweet Princess, the south London quartet have attracted adjectives such as “surreal”, “enigmatic” and “inscrutable”. Most of the British bands who emerged around the same time bearing a roughly equivalent blend of post-punk guitars and spoken-word vocals sounded angry or sarcastic or straightforwardly comedic. Dry Cleaning, on the other hand, seemed mysterious. Shaw’s lyrics were collages of overheard remarks, recycled YouTube comments, lines from adverts and non sequiturs, delivered in a voice that was too icy to sound whimsical. It’s variously been characterised as “anhedonic” and “achromatic”, but might more straightforwardly be described as sounding politely bored. She occasionally shifts from speaking into singing in an untutored voice that brings to mind Stuart Moxham of Young Marble Giants’ line about their understated vocalist Alison Statton sounding “as if she was at the bus stop or something”. It was all intriguingly confusing: here were songs that could indeed contain hidden messages, that seemed like puzzles to be unpicked.
Polling indicates strong public backing for a much less permissive approach to promotion, including sponsorship
Ministers will come under mounting pressure to introduce curbs on gambling advertising this year, as MPs and campaigners latch on to polling that indicates widespread public support for tougher restrictions.
Policies affecting gambling have been the subject of fierce debate over recent years, leading to stricter regulation of the £12.5bn-a-year sector and higher taxes announced in November’s budget, despite intensive lobbying by the industry.
Today’s newsletter looks at 10 superlative talents who are ready to take the next step in the coming 12 months
Alara Sehitler, Bayern Munich and Germany (19): Sehitler’s transition into Bayern Munich’s first team has come as little surprise and the creative midfielder has established herself as a strong impact player for José Barcala’s side. She has three Frauen Bundesliga goals this season and sparked Bayern’s comeback against Arsenal in the Champions League. After making her senior debut for Germany in November 2024, she will be looking to establish herself as a regular for their upcoming 2027 World Cup qualifiers.
Giulia Galli, Roma and Italy (17): Galli is widely regarded as one of the best young Italian talents to emerge for a long time and became Roma’s youngest player to make her Serie A debut in May 2024, aged 16 and one month. Establishing herself in the senior squad this season, she scored her first club goal in September and has featured in the Champions League. After starring in Italy’s sensational run to the semi-finals of last summer’s Under-17 Euros, the talented forward played a significant role at the subsequent Under-17 World Cup, picking up the bronze boot. She will surely feature at this autumn’s Under-20 World Cup.
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