WHEN it comes to the world’s tallest Christmas tree, you might think it would be in one of the Nordic countries – but you’d be wrong.

In fact the world’s biggest living Christmas tree is right here in the UK.

In Northumberland on the National Trust Cragside Estate there is an enormous 147ft Christmas tree.

To put that into perspective, it’s around the size of a 14-storey building, or double the size of the Angel of the North.

It’s officially a Guinness World Record holder too, and this year it was awarded the title of being the ‘world’s tallest bedded Christmas tree’.

That means it’s still living rather than having been cut down.

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To be counted as a Christmas tree, the fir has to be decorated as such, so on it there are 800metres of lights, which is 1,320 multi-coloured bulbs.

And for further decoration, there are two huge purple bows measuring in at 6ft each.

With the tree being so high, these were all placed using a cherry picker.

If you’re a fan of baubles, sadly this tree doesn’t have any – but that was due to health and safety concerns if there was bad weather.

Posting the fact that its Christmas tree is now a Guinness World Record holder, the comments were flooded with support.

One wrote “Now that’s impressive! Congratulations” another added “Wow Beautiful! We love Cragside but this makes it even more special”.

The record for the tallest ever Christmas tree belongs to one put up in 1950 in Northgate Shopping Centre in Seattle in the United States.

Not bedded into the ground like the one in Cragside, the Douglas fir was a whopping 212ft tall.

The impressive Cragside tree sits on the National Trust Estate in Northumberland among the gardens.

Cragside is a pretty Victorian country estate and is famous for being the former home of inventor Lord William Armstrong.

Thanks to its owner, Cragside House is considered one of Britain’s ‘original smart homes‘.

It was the first house to be lit up by hydroelectricity – using man-made lakes to power generators for lights and phones.

Visitors can explore Cragside House and gardens during the Christmas period (November 29 to January 4, 2026) from £16.50 per adult, or £8.30 for children (ages 5-17).

Film fans will recognise Cragside after it appeared in a well-known movie franchise, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom.

Cragside House served as the set location for Lockwood Manor, where heroes Owen (played by Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) attempt to stop a genetically engineered dinosaur from being sold at auction.

It wasn’t just the main house that appeared in the movie, Cragside Garden Cottage, found in the heart of the estate, was used as the backdrop for several scenes in the film.

The cosy cottage has three bedrooms and sleeps up to six.

It’s still available for a December booking – a three-night stay between December 8 and 11, 2025 starts from £909, which is £50.50pppn.

Next door is Cragside Park Cottage which has the same rates but a different style of decor inside.

A stay in either gets you free access to the Cragside gardens, house and woodlands.

For more on Christmas, one travel writer discovered a fairytale city that looks like it’s from a Disney movie with cosy Christmas markets and hot chocolate by the pint.

Plus, the UK Christmas market named one of Europe’s best – with over 100 stalls, live bands and a singing festive moose.

As the chapter closes on Yasser Abu Shabab, 32, the “Popular Forces” militia leader who appeared in Rafah during the war and was widely viewed as a collaborator with Israel, Ghassan al-Duhaini has been named his successor.

Soon after Abu Shabab was killed last Thursday, reportedly during a family dispute mediation, al-Duhaini, who was said to be injured in the same altercation, appeared in a video online dressed in military fatigues and walking among masked fighters under his command.

But who is Ghassan al-Duhaini? Has he just appeared, or was he there all along? Here’s what we know:

Who is Ghassan al-Duhaini?

Palestinian media sources say al-Duhaini, 39, has long been the group’s de facto leader, despite being officially the second-in-command.

They argue that his experience and age made him the operational head, while Abu Shabab, the figure publicly recruited by Israel, served as the face of the militia.

Al-Duhaini was born on October 3, 1987, in Rafah, southern Gaza. He belongs to the Tarabin Bedouin tribe, one of the largest Palestinian tribes that extends regionally and to which Abu Shabab belonged.

He was a former officer in the Palestinian Authority security forces, where he held the rank of first lieutenant.

Then he later joined Jaysh al-Islam, a Gaza-based armed faction with ideological ties to ISIL (ISIS).

Did he really take over after Abu Shabab?

The militia announced al-Duhaini as its new commander on its official Facebook page on Friday.

Al-Duhaini pledged to continue the group’s operations against Hamas.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, comments later reported by The Times of Israel on Saturday, al-Duhaini insisted he had no fear of Hamas.

“Why would I fear Hamas when I am fighting Hamas? I fight them, arrest their people, seize their equipment … in the name of the people and the free,” he said.

On Friday, the militia published a promotional video on an affiliated Facebook page showing al-Duhaini inspecting a formation of armed fighters.

He told Channel 12 that the footage was intended to demonstrate that the group “remains operational” despite the death of its leader.

“His absence is painful, but it will not stop the war on terrorism,” he declared.

Has he always been against Hamas?

Hamas lists al-Duhaini among its most wanted figures, accusing him of collaborating with Israel, looting aid, and gathering intelligence on tunnel routes and military sites.

Little information is available on why he left the security forces.

Al-Duhaini has been increasingly active on social media, recently appearing prominently in a video showing the militia capturing and interrogating several Hamas members from a tunnel in Rafah.

Abu Shabab’s group claimed the detentions were conducted “in accordance with the applicable security directive and in coordination with the international coalition”.

He also appeared in a social media post beside what appeared to be several bodies, the caption saying they were Hamas men who had been “eliminated” as part of the group’s “counterterrorism” operations.

Hamas has attempted to assassinate al-Duhaini twice, killing his brother in one operation and narrowly missing al-Duhaini in another, when a booby-trapped house east of Rafah was detonated.

A Hamas source said al-Duhaini survived the blast “by sheer luck”, while four members of the attacking unit were killed and others wounded.

What is the Popular Forces militia?

The Popular Forces militia first came to prominence in 2024 under the leadership of Abu Shabab. It has an estimated 100 to 300 fighters who operate only metres from Israeli military sites, moving with their weapons under direct Israeli oversight.

The militia is primarily based in eastern Rafah, near the Karem Abu Salem crossing, the only entry point through which Israel currently permits humanitarian aid into Gaza.

A second unit is in western Rafah, near the notorious US-Israeli GHF aid distribution point, where hundreds of Palestinians have been shot as they sought aid.

Security sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that the Israeli army oversaw the arming of Abu Shabab and that he leads “criminal gangs specialising in intercepting aid convoys coming from the [Karem Abu Salem] crossing in southern Gaza and firing on civilians”.

Israeli newspaper Maariv reported in June that Israel’s intelligence agency, Shin Bet, was behind the recruitment of Abu Shabab’s gang, its chief Ronen Bar advising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enlist and arm the group.

The so-called “pilot project” involved supplying the militia a limited and monitored number of rifles and handguns, the paper said.

Shin Bet’s idea, Maariv continued, was to use the gang to test whether it could impose a form of “alternative governance” to Hamas in a small, contained area of Rafah.

Still, some Israeli security officials, it added, do not view the group as a credible replacement for Hamas.

Abu Shabab’s name later appeared in an internal United Nations memo in late 2024 that identified him as a central figure behind the systematic and large-scale looting of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

Reports about the group’s finances and operations suggest a pattern of systematic profiteering from Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Frank Gehry, who died Friday at 96, challenged the notion that buildings needed to behave themselves — creating artful, strange, kinetic combinations of structure, material, form and light, and transforming cities in the process. Here are 10 of his most famous structures that pushed the boundaries of architecture, culture, taste and technology.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, 1997

Curves and angles mix in this section of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

(Javier Bauluz / Associated Press)

While only one piece of a much larger urban transformation, this uproarious structure, perched at the edge of the Basque city’s industrial waterfront, utterly transformed its image, giving birth to the overused phrase “Bilbao Effect.” Its curving, ever-changing titanium facade — with offset panels catching the light and wowing millions of visitors — became a symbol of a new era of baroque, digitally-driven architecture. (Gehry and his team worked with CATIA, a software formerly employed by aircraft designers.) Inside, a dizzying atrium ties together a fluid series of galleries, all sized for contemporary art’s expanding scale. “I didn’t mean to change the city, I just meant to be part of the city,” Gehry told the design magazine Dezeen in 2021. The project would achieve the former, and transform the field of architecture in the process.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, 2003

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is a visual anchor in downtown Los Angeles.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Dreamed up by Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, in 1987, the project wouldn’t be completed until 2003. But it was worth the wait. Now the cultural and visual anchor of downtown Los Angeles, Disney’s riot of steel sails reflect rippling waves of music, Gehry’s love of sailing, fish scales and other nautical themes, and the frenetic city around it. Inside, the boat-like, wood-clad hall has an intimate, vineyard-style seating arrangement, with its superb acoustics shaped by Yasuhisa Toyota. Don’t forget the 6,134-pipe organ, which resembles a box of exploding French fries. Lillian Disney, a connoisseur of flowers, would die before the hall was finished, but its hidden rear garden is centered around the “Rose for Lilly” fountain, composed of thousands of broken blue and white Delft china pieces.

Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2014

The “Fondation Louis Vuitton” has 3,600 glass panels that form its 12 sails.

(Frederic Soltan / Corbis via Getty Images)

Commissioned by LVMH Chief Executive Bernard Arnault, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, set in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, is wrapped in 12 massive, curved glass sails, hovering above a white concrete “iceberg.” The museum’s billowing forms, which help lighten its considerable scale, were realized via head-spinning structural complexity: None of its 3,600 glass panels are the same, while each timber and steel supporting beam is curved uniquely. Inside and out, Gehry orchestrates a meandering gallery of paths and multistory overlooks that frame both art and landscape. While marooned on Paris’ western edge, the spectacular building has nonetheless become a cultural icon in a city where that’s very hard to achieve.

Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, 1989

Frank Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum helped inspire other inventive buildings on the campus.

(Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty)

While tame in comparison to his later work, Vitra marked Gehry’s transition from rough-edged, industrial bricolage to sculptural spectacle. Its tumble of white plaster forms — cubes, cylinders, sweeping curves — seem to freeze mid-collision, as if the gallery had been torn apart by seismic forces. (Just a year before, Gehry had been included in MoMA’s “Deconstructivist Architecture” exhibition, but he always rejected that label.) The structure also helped launch a string of impressive experiments on the Vitra campus, including buildings by Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Nicholas Grimshaw, Álvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron and more.

8 Spruce (formerly New York by Gehry), New York, 2011

8 Spruce in Manhattan has 76 stories.

(Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images)

Gehry’s first skyscraper, 8 Spruce, reimagined the Manhattan high-rise as a kind of gleaming, pleated fabric, its shifted stainless steel panels rippling downward, catching daylight in a constantly shifting display. A buff brick base contains a public school and retail frontages, activating the street and helping establish the financial district as a legit residential neighborhood. Inside, apartments are far more rational, organized around generous windows that frame the city. Only 30 of the building’s 76 floors had been constructed when the Great Recession hit. For a time, the developer, Forest City Ratner, considered cutting the building’s height in half. But by 2010, the structure was back on.

Dancing House (Fred and Ginger), Prague, 1996

The Dancing House stands out amid Prague’s 19th century facades.

(Insights / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Designed with Czech architect Vlado Milunić, the building — a major step forward for Gehry, who increasingly dabbled in digital design — pits a leaning glass tower against an upright, solid partner, creating a kinetic duet that instantly earned the nickname “Fred and Ginger.” The complex’s opaque tower is clad in cream-colored concrete panels, stepping rhythmically with protruding windows that drift off-center. Its frenetic steel-ribboned crown, which stands out amid 19th century facades along Prague’s Vltava River, is nicknamed “Medusa.” The glass tower — emerging from a cluster of angled columns — cinches inward at its waist, bulging outward again as it rises, like a figure leaning into a twirl. Traditionalists panned the project when it first opened, but it’s now core to the city’s identity.

Stata Center, Cambridge, Mass., 2004

The Ray and Maria Stata Center on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stands out for its form — and the lawsuit the university filed over leaks and cracks, which was settled amicably.

(Steven Senne / AP)

The Stata Center tilts, twists and fractures, its brick towers — referencing traditional Cambridge architecture — leaning into planes of glass, mirrored steel, aluminum, titanium, corrugated metal and plywood. The village-like building’s spatial looseness was part of a concerted effort to encourage chance encounters and interdisciplinary exchange at the school. The fragmented forecourt echoes the building around it, with skewed paving patterns, angled retaining walls and unpredictable sight lines. In 2007, MIT filed suit against Gehry’s firm and the general contractor Skanska USA, alleging persistent leaks, cracking masonry, poor drainage and sections where ice and snow slid off the building. The lawsuit was “amicably resolved” in 2010, but it represented one of several instances in which Gehry’s ambition would butt up against practical realities.

Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, 1993

The Weisman Art Museum.

(Raymond Boyd / Getty Images)

Perched on a bluff above the Mississippi River at the University of Minnesota, the museum was a trial run for Bilbao and Disney, without the help of advanced digital tools. Its stainless steel facade unfurls toward the river in faceted, reflective forms that contrast with the building’s campus-facing facade, a series of various-sized cubes wrapped in earth-toned brick, matching the rest of campus. Inside, a series of flexible galleries support changing exhibitions. The museum is named for Frederick R. Weisman, a Minneapolis-born entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist who broke sharply with conventional wisdom to support a Gehry-designed building that would loudly announce the arts and become an artwork in its own right.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, 2004

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion stands out in the center of Millennium Park. The main stage can accommodate a full orchestra and 150-person chorus.

(Andia / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The centerpiece of Chicago’s wildly successful Millennium Park, the bandshell’s billowing 120-foot proscenium, supported by a web of aluminum arms, is fronted by dozens of torqued stainless steel ribbons, which exuberantly frame the stage. The ribbons connect to an overhead trellis of crossed still pipes that house lights and speakers, while the stage itself is sheathed in warm Douglas fir, and includes a colorful light projection system (first planned for Disney Hall, but scuttled for budget reasons) that transforms the pavilion’s face. Seating 4,000, the Pritzker envelops a “Great Lawn,” with room for another 7,000.

DZ Bank Building, Berlin, 2000

Curves abound in the DZ Bank Building.

(Henri-Alain Segalen/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

A stone’s throw from the Brandenburg Gate, DZ’s stone facade aligns seamlessly with its blocky neighbors on Pariser Platz, providing little hint of its shocking interior. A curved stainless steel conference hall, clad inside with a riot of warm wood panels, resembles an angry sea creature, its humpbacks, saddles, bulges, tucks and pinches creating one of the most kinetic building forms this author has ever seen. The piece dominates a soaring atrium, capped with a curved, crystalline glass roof. Locals nicknamed the split-personality building the “Whale at the Brandenburg Gate.” It remains one of the architect’s most underrated masterpieces.

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (UPI) — Adjusting U.S.-South Korea joint military drills could be considered under certain conditions, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Monday, as the administration of President Lee Jae Myung seeks ways to reopen dialogue with North Korea.

“I believe these issues can be discussed in the future, as conditions and circumstances allow,” ministry spokesman Yoon Min-ho said at a press briefing when asked about scaling back the allies’ exercises, an idea that has been floated as a potential bargaining chip to restart talks with Pyongyang.

President Lee said last week that Seoul was prepared to help Washington create “strategic leverage” for new negotiations, including the possibility of downsizing joint drills, which North Korea routinely denounces as rehearsals for invasion.

“We will do our best to create objective conditions so that we can communicate and cooperate at any time,” Lee said during a press conference with foreign media. “The issue of the joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises is one of them.”

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has also argued that reducing the drills could become “inevitable” if Washington and Pyongyang are to hold a summit in the first half of next year.

Seoul and Washington have taken similar steps before, scaling back or suspending major drills during a period of detente with the North in 2018-19 and shifting large field maneuvers to command-post exercises.

The current administration has sent mixed signals, however, as national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said Sunday that the option was not currently under active review.

“While there are many possible options, we are not directly considering using the Korea-U.S. joint exercises as a card,” Wi said at a press briefing.

Yoon declined to respond directly to Wi’s comments Monday, but highlighted the broader geopolitical significance of the drills. “South Korea-U.S. joint exercises have important implications not only in military terms, but also in inter-Korean relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

Seoul has rolled out several conciliatory steps since Lee took office in June, including dismantling border loudspeakers and tightening restrictions on activist balloon launches in an effort to lower tensions. North Korea has so far dismissed the overtures, continuing to advance its nuclear and missile programs while deepening military cooperation with Russia.

A prominent Sudanese doctor’s group has accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of raping at least 19 women as they fled the city of el-Fasher in Darfur.

The Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement on Sunday that it documented the rapes among women who had fled to the town of al-Dabba in the neighbouring Northern State.

Two of the women were pregnant, the group said.

“The Sudan Doctors Network strongly condemns the gang rape being perpetrated by the RSF against women escaping the horrors of El-Fasher, affirming that it constitutes a direct targeting of women in a blatant violation of all international laws that criminalise the use of women’s bodies as a weapon of oppression,” the group wrote on X.

Sudan Doctors Network: We have documented 19 cases of rape committed by the Rapid Support Forces, including two pregnant women, at Al-Afad Camp in Al-Dabba

The Sudan Doctors Network team at Al-Afad Camp in Al-Dabba has documented the rape of 19 women while they were fleeing from… pic.twitter.com/u5qWp4bdSD

— Sudan Doctors Network – شبكة أطباء السودان (@SDN154) December 7, 2025

Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary RSF. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million, according to the United Nations. It has also left some 30 million in need of humanitarian aid.

The RSF took the city of el-Fasher, the capital of the state of North Darfur, in October after an 18-month campaign of siege and starvation. The city was the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the region.

Survivors who fled the city in the subsequent days recounted mass killings, rape, pillaging and other atrocities, prompting an international outcry.

Amnesty International has accused the RSF of “war crimes”, while the UN Human Rights Council has ordered an investigation into the abuses in el-Fasher. Officials who visited Darfur and spoke to survivors described the region as an “absolute horror show” and a “crime scene”.

Widespread sexual assault

Mohammed Elsheikh, a spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that he was “100 percent sure” that sexual violence committed by RSF fighters is far more widespread than reported.

“Because most of the communities look at it as a stigma, most of the raped women tend not to disclose this information,” he said.

Elsheikh said the network had also documented 23 cases of rape among women who fled el-Fasher for the nearby town of Tawila.

“Unfortunately, the age of these raped victims varies from 15 years to 23 years old,” he said.

In its statement, the Sudan Doctors Network urged the international community to take urgent action to protect Sudanese women and girls.

It also called for “serious pressure on RSF leaders to immediately stop these assaults, respect international humanitarian law, and secure safe corridors for women and children”.

The latest accusations came amid a growing outcry over another RSF attack on a pre-school in the state of South Kordofan that local officials said killed at least 116 people. Some 46 of the victims were children, according to the officials.

On Sunday, Justice Minister Abdullah Dirife said Khartoum was willing to pursue political talks aimed at ending the conflict, but insisted that any settlement must “ensure there is no presence for ‘terrorist’ militias in both the political and military arenas”.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, he said the rebels “need to agree to give their weapons in specific areas and leave all these cities, and the police should take over”.

Dirife also called for putting a stop to the “transfer of weapons and the infiltration of mercenaries into Sudan” and claimed that fighters and arms were entering from regions including South America, Chad and the UAE.

The RSF currently holds all five states of Darfur, while the Sudanese army retains control of most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.

Dirife also accused the RSF of repeatedly breaking past commitments to adhere to regional and global mediation initiatives.

“The last initiative we signed was the Jeddah Declaration. However, this militia didn’t commit to what we agreed on,” he said in Doha.

The Jeddah Declaration – brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia in May 2023 – was meant to protect civilians and lay the groundwork for humanitarian access. Several ceasefires followed, but both sides were accused of violating them, prompting the mediators to suspend talks.

The UN has meanwhile formally declared famine in el-Fasher and Kaduguli in South Kordofan and warned of the risk of a hunger crisis in 20 additional areas across the Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan regions.

The World Food Programme’s Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the agency was providing aid to five million people, including two million in areas that are difficult to reach, but warned that assistance has fallen far short of needs.

“World attention needs to be on Sudan now, and diplomatic efforts need to be stepped up in order to prevent the same disaster we saw in el-Fasher,” he said.

Rick Stein, one of the UK’s leading culinary voices, has written about the time he was robbed as a young man in Mexico whilst travelling the world following a tragic event

Rick Stein has opened up about how he was nearly killed during a terrifying incident abroad. The celebrity chef, now 78, said that after the death of his father by suicide he went abroad going as far away as Australia, the United States, Mexico.

He found it “very special” visiting Mexico and its bars, but things weren’t totally plain sailing. Rick told the Times: “The bars were not exactly glamorous, but there was something very special about drinking ice-cold beer and tequila in a room full of cowboys.

“Having said that, a couple of English lads and I did get robbed in Acapulco. They managed to take our backpacks — we were on the beach — without waking us up, which I was told was quite lucky. If we had disturbed them, they would probably have killed us.”

This isn’t the first time Rick has spoken about the events that shaped his life as a young man and how those experiences transformed him into the man he is today.

In 2020, he was asked by the Guardian how his father’s early death had moulded him as a father to his children and stepchildren.

In response, he said: “It really made me want to be a lot more communicative with my own children. I still think of my dad as being somebody really special in my life.

“I think it’s very confusing…On the whole, my dad was a hero, it’s just that it got really difficult in his depressive phases, very introspective. And I think he took it out on me really.”

Rick added that he had developed a good sense of “not being very good at stuff” and that despite his immense career success that he still sometimes doubts himself.

In the decades since his life travelling the world, Rick has built a multi-million pound empire out of the small Cornish fishing town of Padstow.

However, just like all hospitality business owners in recent years, Rick has been battered by economic headwinds caused by events such as Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

Speaking to the London Standard earlier this year, Rick called for more support for the industry.

He said: “I appreciate that the country is not in a good state, but it seems to me a complete ‘home goal’ to target parts of the economy that are not well-equipped to deal with it.

“Hospitality is always taken as slightly second-rate way of the national wealth, but tourism and hospitality are so important.

“The National Insurance increase in the last budget was really hard. It started with the war in Ukraine, and food prices have just continued to increase. It’s a tough business.”

A picturesque Peak District village in Derbyshire, gained worldwide fame when its railway station appeared on Oasis’s ‘Some Might Say’ single cover – the band’s first number one hit

A quaint Derbyshire village nestled at the edge of the Peak District may seem like a typical old hamlet, but upon closer inspection, it’s more familiar than you might realise.

Historically, this place is renowned for its role in the industrial revolution, with Sir Richard Arkwright establishing the world’s first water-powered cotton mill there. From 1771 onwards, Cromford emerged as a trailblazer for factory systems, fostering an entire community of industrialisation that remains accessible for exploration today. However, it’s not this history that makes the now-defunct railway station in the village centre recognisable to many. Oasis fans worldwide will identify this building as the train station featured on the cover of the band’s first number one hit, Some Might Say.

The album cover depicts famous brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher standing at Cromford railway station, situated right in the heart of the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, during the winter months. Liam can be seen on the bridge, saluting the camera, while Noel is on the platform edge, holding a watering can.

But the burning question is, why did they select this station, so distant from their native Manchester and seemingly unrelated to the song? The answer lies in the station’s history – it fell victim to the cuts of the 1960s when it was part of a main line between London and Manchester, before its closure in 1968. This left the remainder of the line as a single-track railway, rendering their waiting room and platform completely derelict with no purpose. Consequently, it provided the ideal location for the Gallagher brothers’ photoshoot without any train disruptions.

Graphic designer and art director Brian Cannon, who helped create the cover, explained to the BBC that the entire artistic concept hinged on using a disused station. He said: “The idea was if you’re standing at a disused station waiting for a train, you’re in need of education, which is the next line of the song.”

The lyric he references is: “Cause I’ve been standing at the station, in need of education in the rain.” Alongside photographer Michael Spencer Jones, they dismissed numerous other stations before settling on Cromford.

The station remains standing today as a Grade II listed structure owned by Network Rail and overseen daily by East Midlands Railway. Tucked behind the waiting room sits a stunning house that was previously neglected but has since been purchased and transformed into a magnificent residence with quite spectacular views.

Beyond this, holidaymakers often flock to the renowned Cromford Mills, celebrated for their significant role in Britain’s industrial revolution. The site provides a guided tour that delves into the rich history of the building and the Midlands’ pioneering early days that had a profound influence globally.

This charming village near the Peak District offers an impressive food scene, independent shops, and the stunning 14th century ‘cathedral of the Peaks’

This sizeable village, nestled amidst the stunning beauty of the Peak District and perched high in the hills, boasts a fantastic array of small businesses serving up delicious fare to locals.

Tideswell, situated on a limestone plateau just six miles east of the renowned Derbyshire spa town Buxton, may not be as frequented by tourists but has much to offer. Serving as a hub for surrounding villages, it’s an excellent spot for a cuppa, a pub crawl, or sampling delectable food – all supported by local businesses. In honour of their culinary delights, the village hosts an annual food festival. The next one is slated for 2 May 2026, celebrating the local flavours. The community bands together to display their hard work and sample a diverse range of artisan foods, along with other handmade goods.

Among the village’s most acclaimed eateries are The Merchant’s Yard Restaurant, The Star Inn, Tideswell Lounge, The Anchor Inn, and the modest chippy, Elliott’s Fish and Chips. When it comes to food and drink, the village packs a punch, with seven pubs dishing out tasty grub within a compact area. Beyond its gastronomic offerings, the village is home to an extraordinary church boasting unique architecture, often dubbed the ‘cathedral of the peak’.

The Church of St John the Baptist, constructed in the 14th century, houses a collection of original monuments, brasses, and woodcarvings. The church has held Grade I listed status since 1967 and, with support from the Friends of St John Tideswell, has undergone numerous restoration, preservation and repair works.

The group continues to help preserve this magnificent structure, which they regard as “one of the most important of the county’s mediaeval parish churches”. A recent guest shared their thoughts on TripAdvisor, saying: “A beautiful church; it’s easy to see why it’s known as the Cathedral of the Peak. I’m told I’d been before, but I couldn’t remember anything about it, so I enjoyed a visit in peace and tranquillity. Spectacular stained glass windows and beautiful and intricate carvings in the choir, combined with an interesting history, make it worth a visit. Also don’t miss the altar tomb, which is very unusual, as is the stone effigy beneath.”

Tideswell historically served as an important centre not just for markets but also for numerous industries including quarrying, lead mining and cotton and velvet production. Much of this heritage survives in the town today, with many choosing to explore the Tideswell Dale walk, which passes the historic mill.

Following the river’s course through the village, this six-mile route takes walkers across level ground for a journey lasting two to three hours. Many consider this an excellent opportunity to appreciate the area’s natural splendour whilst discovering the town’s character.

Leo Carlsson scored two goals and rookie Beckett Sennecke had a goal and an assist in the Ducks’ 7-1 victory over the road-weary Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.

Jacob Trouba, Mason McTavish, Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano also scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks, who have won three of four. The Ducks took charge with a four-goal second period that featured a franchise-record 27 shots on Chicago’s net, capped by Carlsson’s 15th goal on a fluttering deflection for a 5-0 lead.

Ville Husso made 19 saves for the Ducks, who beat Chicago for the first time in three tries this season. Ryan Strome, Cutter Gauthier and Chris Kreider had two assists apiece.

Arvid Söderblom stopped 46 shots — 39 in the first two periods — in a standout effort for the struggling Blackhawks, who will be eager to get out of Southern California after losing 6-0 to the Kings on Saturday. Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Chicago, which has lost eight of 10 after a 10-5-4 start to the season.

Connor Bedard had an assist for his 40th point in 29 games. Carlsson, drafted one pick after Bedard in 2023, has 38 points in 29 games.

Trouba opened the scoring in the first period with an undefended slap shot after an egregious Blackhawks turnover. The veteran defenseman has five goals in his last 23 games — which is more than he scored in his previous 165 games over parts of four seasons with the Rangers and Ducks.

Sennecke set up McTavish’s power-play goal to open the second period before scoring his eighth goal on a beautiful dangle. The 19-year-old forward — who wasn’t a sure thing to make the Ducks’ roster in October — has played his way into the Calder Trophy race with nine goals and 15 assists in his first 29 games.

Anaheim’s 27 shots in the second surpassed the club record set Jan. 1, 1994.

Chicago avoided a second straight shutout with Bertuzzi’s goal on a power play moments later. Bertuzzi has scored 12 of his 15 goals on the road.

Up next for the Ducks: at Pittsburgh on Tuesday to open a five-game trip.

December 8 marks one year since the al-Assad dynasty, which lasted 54 years, was removed from power by a rebel offensive.

The 14-year-long war led to one of the world’s largest migration crises, with some 6.8 million Syrians, about a third of the population, fleeing the country at the war’s peak in 2021, seeking refuge wherever they could find it.

More than half of these refugees, about 3.74 million, settled in neighbouring Turkiye, while 840,000 found refuge in Lebanon and 672,000 in Jordan.

The animation below shows the number of Syrian refugees who fled from 2011 to 2025, highlighting the top 10 countries that hosted them.

Now, as Syria is entering a new chapter, millions of refugees and members of the diaspora are weighing the decision to return home and rebuild their lives.

‘The feeling of belonging’

Khalid al-Shatta, a 41-year-old management administration professional from Damascus, decided to return to Syria after fleeing the country in September 2012.

Al-Shatta, along with his wife and one-year-old son, first fled to Jordan by car before flying to Turkiye, which became their temporary home.

Al-Shatta recalls the anticipation surrounding al-Assad’s fall. On the night it happened, he said, everyone stayed up to watch the news.

“The moment Syria was liberated, we made our decision,” he told Al Jazeera. “My family and I came to the conclusion that we have to return to Syria, and be part of its future,” he explained.

Al-Shatta describes returning to Syria for the first time in 13 years and feeling “like I have never left Syria before, with one difference, the feeling of belonging to this country, to this nation, this land”.

How many Syrians have returned from abroad?

Al-Shatta and his family are among the more than 782,000 Syrians documented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) who have returned to Syria from other countries over the past year.

Of those who have arrived from abroad, 170,000 have returned to Aleppo, 134,000 to Homs and 124,000 to rural Damascus.

Since returning to Damascus, al-Shatta has opened his own business, focused on power solutions. However, he says many returnees are struggling to find work with suitable salaries.

“Syria is not cheap [to live] compared with the average salaries; there are job opportunities, yet the salaries are challenging,” he says.

He explains how the quality of life varies greatly for Syria’s population, which now stands at 26.9 million. “Some families are living on $150 to $200 per month, while others live on $1,500 to $2,000, and some earn even more,” he explains.

Despite the rise in returns, limited job opportunities and high living costs continue to undermine long-term resettling. Housing remains unaffordable for many, leaving returnees in damaged homes or expensive rental units.

According to the IOM, while 69 percent of Syrians still own their property, 19 percent are renting, 11 percent are being hosted for free, and 1 percent are squatting.

New EU asylum guidelines

In the days following the fall of al-Assad, several European countries – including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom – announced plans to pause asylum applications from Syrians.

The freeze applied to both new applications and those already in process, leaving many Syrians in limbo about whether they would be accepted, rejected or deported.

As of mid-2025, total asylum applications across the EU+ – European Union countries plus Norway and Switzerland – fell by 23 percent compared with the first half of 2024.

The decline was driven mainly by a steep drop in Syrian applications. Syrians lodged about 25,000 applications in the first half of 2025, a two-thirds decrease from a year earlier.

For the first time in more than a decade, Syrians are no longer the largest nationality group seeking asylum in Europe.

On December 3, the EU issued updated guidance for Syrian asylum applicants, saying opponents of al-Assad and military service evaders “are no longer at risk of persecution”.

Between 2012 and June 2025, EU+ states granted refugee status to approximately 705,000 Syrian applicants, according to the European asylum agency.

Returning to ‘destroyed and demolished’ homes

In addition to the 782,000 Syrians returning from abroad, the IOM has documented nearly 1.8 million internally displaced Syrians returning to their towns over the past year.

This brings the total number of Syrian refugees and IDPs who have returned home over the past year to 2.6 million. Of those internally displaced, 471,000 have returned to Aleppo, nearly 460,000 to Idlib, and 314,000 to Hama.

Talal Nader al-Abdo, 42, from Maaret al-Numan in southern Idlib, was one of the internally displaced Syrians who returned home from a tent where he and his family had been living.

“I was one of the victims of [Bashar al-Assad’s] brutality,” al-Abdo told Al Jazeera.

His family had been internally displaced multiple times, first from Maaret al-Numan, then to Ariha, then to Idlib, and finally to the border camps Kafr Jalis and Harbanoush of northern Syria, where al-Abdo recalls the harsh days they spent in the extreme cold and intense heat.

“When the regime fell, I knew that relief had come, the bombing had ended, and the time was near for us to return to our homes, even though they were destroyed and demolished. We would return and rebuild them,” al-Abdo added.

Throughout the war, al-Abdo, together with his wife, three sons, daughter, and elderly mother, stayed in northwestern Syria “because we had great faith that one day God would grant us relief and we would return home”.

Despite many returning home, there are still more than six million Syrians who remain internally displaced, according to the IOM.

The largest share of those are living in rural Damascus (1.99 million), followed by Aleppo (1.33 million) and Idlib (993,000).

US President Donald Trump has flagged potential concerns over Netflix’s planned $72bn (£54bn) deal to buy Warner Brothers Discovery’s movie studio and popular HBO streaming networks.

At an event in Washington DC on Sunday, he said Netflix has a “big market share” and the firms’ combined size “could be a problem”.

On Friday, the two companies said they had reached an agreement to bring Warner Brothers’ franchises like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones to Netflix, creating a new media giant.

The planned deal, which has raised concerns among some in the industry, is yet to be approved by competition authorities. The BBC has contacted Warner Bros, Netflix and the White House for comment.

Launched in 1997 as a postal DVD rental business, Netflix has grown to become the world’s largest subscription streaming service. The deal, the biggest the film industry has seen in a long time, would cement its number one position.

Under the agreement several global entertainment franchises, such as Looney Tunes, The Matrix and Lord of the Rings, would move to Netflix.

The deal is expected to be completed after Warner Bros splits its business in the second half of 2026.

The US Justice Department’s competition division, which oversees major mergers, could contend that the deal violates the law if the combined businesses account for too much of the streaming market.

At an event at the John F Kennedy Center in the US capital, Trump said that Netflix has a “very big market share” which would “go up by a lot” if the deal goes ahead.

Trump added he would be personally involved in the decision on whether or not to approve the deal and repeatedly highlighted the size of Netflix’s market share.

He also said that Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently visited the Oval Office and praised him for his work at the company.

“I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a great person,” said Trump. “He’s done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies.”

Mr Sarandos earlier acknowledged that the agreement may have surprised investors but said it was a chance to position Netflix for success in the “decades to come”.

Blair Westlake, a media executive and former chair of Universal Studios’ television and networks group, told the BBC’s Today programme that “the only two pieces that matter” when it came to competition concerns were the combination of Netflix and Warner Brothers’ HBO streaming business.

“Netflix is not in the studio production business the way Warner Brothers is, and even the library size of films and television programming that Netflix owns pales in comparison to Warner,” he said.

Mr Westlake said he thought the deal would eventually be approved, but “I think that there will probably be concessions that have to be made”.

Bill Kovacic, a former chair of the US competition watchdog the Federal Trade Commission, told the Today programme that Trump’s comments meant negotiations over any problems surrounding the deal were “going to run through the White House”.

“That means that we’re going to have probably a deep level, an unprecedented level of presidential control in the resolution of what used to be a technical analysis of a merger,” he said.

Netflix beat several rivals including Comcast and Paramount Skydance to strike an agreement with Warner Bros.

Paramount Skydance, which is headed by David Ellison, had previously tried to buy all of Warner Bros, including its cable networks.

Warner Bros rejected that approach before putting itself up for sale.

David Ellison’s multi-billionaire father, Larry Ellison, is a close ally of Trump.

The Writers Guild of America’s East and West branches called for the merger to be blocked, saying the “world’s largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent.”

“The outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers,” it said on Friday.

IT’S every music lover’s dream to share the stage with their favourite artist – and that came true for one lucky superfan.

The legendary frontman of an iconic noughties band recently surprised a musician by taking to the mic and belting out one of his band’s biggest songs that became a megahit in the early 00s.

US rock band Train rose to fame in 1993 and lead singer Pat Monahan has been it’s sole constant member over the years.

In a new video, the singer, 56, was recently spotted taking over the mic of a fellow musician and superfan. 

In a moment straight out of every fans wildest fantasy, Pat shocked gig goers as he walked up to where vocalist Sedona Rose was performing after being called up mid-performance.

The fan was playing with her band when the Train frontman, who looked inconspicuous dressed in all black, suddenly stepped in as lead singer.

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Without missing a beat he grabbed the mic and continued to sing Train’s smash hit Drops of Jupiter.

The 2 minute video sees Pat and the band perform the full track together in a sweet moment, as the audience applauded and watched on mesmerised.

Released in 2001, Drops of Jupiter reached No. 6. on the Billboard 200 list and went on to win two Grammy Awards in 2002.

The song remains one of Train’s biggest hits and this year the band celebrated as it hit 1 billion streams on the music app Spotify.

Taking to TikTok, artist Sedona shared the pinch me moment adding the caption: “It’s not everyday you get to sing your fave song of all time with the dude who wrote it …” 

Fans took to the comments gushing over the clip, as one user said: “Love Train. His voice hasn’t changed a bit.”

“5 minutes of his time to make a life long memory,” remarked one fan with another writing: “This is incredible.”

Some in the comments section voiced that Pat had stolen the fans ‘thunder’, saying: “Why not just let u sing the song? Sorry but it bothers me that he took over- stealing your thunder.”

However, the musician was quick to hit back revealing she had called the frontman up to the stage. 

She said: “I knew he was there and before I started the song I said ‘this next one is my fave song of all time and the person who wrote this is actually here tonight, sooo you can come up if you’d like’.

”It was an honor for him to come up and sing fr! I had the rest of the 3 hours of the gig for my “thunder”.”

Train hail from San Francisco and are a popular pop rock band who has had many smash hits over the years.

In addition to Drops of Jupiter, Train’s top songs include Careless Whisperer, Hey, Soul Sister and Drive By.

As of 2025 the band consists of Pat, Matt Musty, Jerry Becker, Butch Walker and Hector Maldonado.

Last year, it was sadly revealed that one of the group’s founding members Charlie Colin had passed away at the age of 58.

The musician’s mother revealed Charlie died after he slipped and fell in the shower.

Charlie formed the band alongside Pat, Scott Underwood, Rob Hotchkiss, and Jimmy Stafford.

But in 2003, he was given an ultimatum for his substance abuse and was ultimately forced to leave the band.

“I had a really great run, but it was difficult,” Charlie previously told the Los Angeles Times about his time with the band.

The Santa Maria di Missione chapel in Villafranca Piemonte, northern Italy, stands at the end of a long cornfield. Behind it, the mountains rise gently, their outlines caressed by the sun. The colours of autumn frame the 15th-century frescoes that embellish the structure’s interior, painted by Italian artist Aimone Duce, of the Lombard school. The chapel is the municipality’s oldest religious building, serving about 4,000 inhabitants, and stands on the site of a pre-existing building dating back to 1037.

Inside the small chapel, my footsteps echo softly against the walls, breaking the stillness of the surrounding countryside. The sharp scent of plaster mingles with the earthy smell of the fields outside, carried in on the wind along with the sweetness of wheat. Light filters through the narrow windows, catching the vivid hues of a fresco that depicts the seven deadly sins – a theme often revisited in medieval iconography.

There were a few contenders for game of the weekend and this one was right up there.

Pau have been enjoying a brilliant season, led by Pumas Julian Montoya and Facundo Isa and former Wasps scrum-half Dan Robson.

They are currently second in the Top 14 and the atmosphere was electric at the Stade du Hameau for their first Champions Cup game in 25 years.

Both sides played some superb rugby to make for an absorbing contest which remained level until the closing stages, when George Hendy scored the winning try to give last year’s finalists a five-point victory.

But as a relative unknown to many fans watching at home, Pau certainly announced themselves on the big stage and no-one will fancy facing them at home, where they hadn’t lost this season before this weekend.

As Saints and England scrum-half Alex Mitchell said after the game: “Pau are one hell of an outfit.”

Northampton are unfancied by many but after this impressive win on the road, in which they fought back after a 20-minute card, the Saints have made a statement.

People with a migration background accounted for more than 5 percent of South Korea’s total population in 2024, marking a slight increase from the previous year, government data showed Monday.

As of Nov. 1, 2024, there were 2.72 million people with a migration background in Korea, taking up 5.2 percent of the country’s total population, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Data.

The figure marked a 0.3 percentage point increase from the corresponding tally for 2023.

This marks the first time the statistics ministry released a registration-based census survey on the population with a migration background.

South Korean nationals accounted for 24.8 percent, or 672,000, of the total population with a migration background in 2024, while foreigners took up the remaining 75.2 percent, or 2.04 million.

Of the Korean nationals with such background, 381,000 were second-generation immigrants, while 245,000 were naturalized or acknowledged citizens.

By gender, 52.5 percent of the migratory population were male, and 47.5 percent were female.

By age, those in their 30s accounted for 24.3 percent of the migratory population, followed by those in their 20s at 21 percent, those in their 40s at 15.4 percent and those in their 50s at 11.6 percent.

The working age population, aged between 15 and 64, accounted for 81.9 percent of the total, while those aged 14 or below took up 12.7 percent and the elderly population aged 65 or above stood at 5.5 percent.

Meanwhile, there were 738,000 children and adolescents aged 24 or below with a migration background last year, up 7.9 percent from 2023.

Of the 738,000 children and adolescents, 27.2 percent had Vietnamese parents, while 16.5 percent had Chinese parents and 12 percent had Chinese citizens of Korean descent as their parents.

Data also showed that nearly 57 percent of those who migrated to Korea resided in the greater Seoul area, comprising the capital city, Gyeonggi Province and the city of Incheon.

Some 10.6 percent lived in the central Chungcheong provinces, another 9.3 percent in the southeastern Gyeongsang provinces and 6.3 percent in the southeastern Jeolla provinces.

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MILAN — The gala crowd at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala cheered the season premiere of Dmitry Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’’ with a 12-minute standing ovation Sunday, as the storied theater synonymous with the Italian repertoire opened with a Russian melodrama for the second time since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The crowd of luminaries fully embraced stage director Vasily Barkhatov’s bold telling of merchant wife Katerina Izmajilova’s fall into a murderous love triangle against the backdrop of Stalin’s Soviet Union, right up to the jarring final scene with a Soviet truck barreling into a wedding party, and two characters perishing in a burst of flames.

U.S. soprano Sara Jakubiak was showered with carnations and cheers for her portrayal of Katarina, the title character, over the 2-hour, 40-minute opera, and the audience cheered its appreciation for conductor Riccardo Chailly, making his last Dec. 7 gala premiere appearance as music director.

“No one ever expects this,’’ Jakubiak said backstage of the enthusiastic reception. ”I am just so happy.’’

From ‘Boris Godunov’ to ‘Lady Macbeth’

Three years after the 2022 gala season premier of “Boris Godunov” drew protests from the Ukrainian community for highlighting Russian culture in the wake of Moscow’s invasion, the premiere of “Lady Macbeth” inspired a flash mob demonstrating for peace.

Shostakovich’s 1934 opera highlights the condition of women in Stalin’s Soviet Union, and it was blacklisted just days after Stalin saw a performance in 1936, the threshold year of his campaign of political repression known as the Great Purge.

A dozen activists from a liberal Italian party held up Ukrainian and European flags in a quiet demonstration, removed from the La Scala hubbub, that aimed “to draw attention to the defense of liberty and European democracy, threatened today by [President Vladimir] Putin’s Russia, and to support the Ukrainian people.’’

A larger demonstration of several dozen people in front of City Hall called for freedom for the Palestinians and an end to colonialism, but was kept far from arriving dignitaries by a police cordon. Demonstrations against war and other forms of inequality have long countered the glitz of the gala season premiere that draws leading figures from culture, business and politics dressed in their finest frocks.

Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli was joined by the senator for life Liliana Segre, a Holocaust survivor, and Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala in the royal box. Italian pop stars Mahmoud and Achille Lauro were also among those in attendance.

Shostakovich’s journey to La Scala premiere

Chailly began working with Barkhatov on the title about two years ago, following the success “Boris Godunov,’’ which was attended by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, both of whom said they separated Russia’s politics from its culture.

Outside the “Godunov” premiere, Ukrainians protested against highlighting Russian culture amid a war rooted in the denial of a unique Ukrainian culture.

Chailly called the staging of Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth” at La Scala for just the fourth time “a must.’’

“It is an opera that has long suffered, and needs to make up for lost time,’’ he said at a news conference last month.

La Scala’s new general manager, Fortunato Ortombina, defended the choices made by his predecessor to stage both Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth” and Modest Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” at the theater whose history is tied to the Italian repertoire.

‘‘Music is fundamentally superior to any ideological conflict,’’ Ortombina said on the sidelines of the news conference. “Shostakovich, and Russian music more broadly, have an authority over the Russian people that exceeds Putin’s own.’’

American soprano makes her La Scala debut

Jakubiak, 47, made her La Scala debut in the title role of Katerina, whose struggle against existential repression leads her to commit murder, landing her in a Siberian prison where she self-immolated to kill herself and her treacherous second husband’s new lover — deviating from the original story’s drowning. It’s the second time Jakubiak has sung the role, after performances in Barcelona last year, and she said Shostakovich’s Katerina is full of challenges.

“That I’m a murderess, that I’m singing 47 high B flats in one night, you know, all these things,’’ Jakubiak said while sitting in the makeup chair ahead of the Dec. 4 preview performance to an audience of young people. “You go, ‘Oh, my gosh, how will I do this?’ But you manage, with the right kind of work, the right team of people. Yes, we’re just going to go for the ride.”

Speaking to journalists recently, Chailly joked that he was “squeezing” Jakubiak like an orange. Jakubiak said she found common ground with the conductor known for his studious approach to the original score and composer’s intent.

“Whenever I prepare a role, it’s always the text and the music and the text and the rhythms,” she said. “First, I do this process with, you know, a cup of coffee at my piano, and then we add the other layers and then the notes. So I guess we’re actually somewhat similar in that regard.”

Jakubiak, best known for Strauss and Wagner, has a major debut coming in July when she sings her first Isolde in concert with Anthony Pappano and the London Symphony.

Stage direction highlights Stalin’s end

Barkhatov, who at 42 has a flourishing international career, said “Lady Macbeth” is a “very brave and exciting” choice for La Scala’s season opening.

Barkhatov’s stage direction sets the opera in a cosmopolitan Russian city in the 1950s, the end of Stalin’s rule, rather than a 19th century rural village as written for the 1930s premiere.

For Barkhatov, Stalin’s regime defines the background of the story and the mentality of the characters for a story he sees as a personal tragedy and not a political tale. Most of the action unfolds inside a dark restaurant appointed in period Art Deco detail, with a rotating balustrade creating a kitchen, a basement and an office where interrogations take place — all grim and dingy.

Despite the tragic arc, Barkhatov described the story as “a weird … breakthrough to happiness and freedom.’’

“Sadly, the statistics show that a lot of people die on their way to happiness and freedom,’’ he added.

Barry writes for the Associated Press.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is peppered with players who finished long, distinguished careers by donning a Dodgers uniform, their performance dwindling as their age increased. Greg Maddux, Rickey Henderson, Juan Marichal and Eddie Murray are among those who leap to mind.

An exception was Jeff Kent, who Sunday received 14 of 16 possible votes by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, the only player among eight on the ballot with enough for induction into Cooperstown.

With unmatched power as a second baseman and an unrelenting approach to his craft, Kent was a Dodger for the last four seasons of his 17-year career, solidifying his Hall of Fame credentials statistically while also serving as a curmudgeonly leader on a roster crowded with young stars such as Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Andre Ethier and James Loney.

“It’s a moment of satisfaction of the things I did right in my career, the things I consistently stuck to,” he told MLB Network. “The hard work, the gratification of playing the game the right way. I love the game.”

The son of a motorcycle police officer and a product of Huntington Beach Edison High, Kent became emotional during a news conference at the 2005 MLB Winter Meetings when it was announced that he’d signed a two-year, $17 million contract with the Dodgers.

“This is the third time I’ve tried to get with the Dodgers,” he said at the time. “I want to be on a team with the potential to win because I’m running out of time. This team has that mentality.”

The Dodgers never won a World Series during Kent’s tenure, but he quickly fell into the role of a veteran leader, making himself available to the media after tough losses to shield younger players from the glare.

He said what was on his mind, sometimes to a fault, once suggesting that legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully “talks too much.”

Maybe that’s why Kent getting the Hall of Fame nod from a list of candidates that included all-time home run leader Barry Bonds, 354-game winner Roger Clemens, 509-home run slugger Gary Sheffield, 1980s stars Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy, and Dodgers icon Fernando Valenzuela was unexpected.

Even Kent was surprised.

“The emotions are overwhelming — unbelievable,” Kent said. “I didn’t even expect it. For me, there were so many quality guys that the committee had to argue through and vote for. I’m grateful that they considered me and gave it a shot at putting me in.”

Valenzuela, Bonds, Clemens and Sheffield each had fewer than five votes, meaning they will not be eligible the next time their era is considered in 2031. They can be nominated once more at that time, but will not be eligible for consideration if they again fall short of five votes.

All of the candidates already had been spurned by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America. Seventy-five percent of the votes are necessary for induction, and Kent never received even 50% during his 10 years on the BBWAA ballot that ended in 2023.

“The time had gone by, and you just leave it alone, and I left it alone,” Kent said. “I loved the game, and everything I gave to the game I left there on the field. This moment today, over the last few days, I was absolutely unprepared. Emotionally unstable.”

Kent was named National League most valuable player in 2000 with the San Francisco Giants, the team with which his career is most associated. He batted a career-best .334 with 33 homers and 125 runs batted in that season and drove in more than 100 runs in each of his six seasons batting behind Bonds.

He said he plans to enter the Hall of Fame wearing a Giants cap.

“The turning point in my career was with Dusty Baker, the manager I got with in San Francisco,” said Kent, who played in college at California. “He motivated me to get the peak performance out of me.”

Kent finished with 377 career homers, 351 as a second baseman, the most ever for the position. He also is the only second baseman to collect more than 100 RBIs in eight seasons.

As a Dodger, he hit 75 homers and batted .290 in more than 2,000 plate appearances. His last manager with the Dodgers was Joe Torre, who described Kent’s impact on the franchise.

“He’s one of those players whose actions are supposed to make you understand what he thinks,” Torre said. “It’s the old pro thing.”

Syria is marking one year since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad after nearly 14 years of war.