soft

The leader known as Qatar’s father emir was able to redefine his nation’s position on the political map of the Middle East.

From a tiny state struggling to survive to a country punching above its weight with soft power, wealth and influence felt in the region and beyond, Qatar and its success story were propelled by late Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Sheikh Hamad, who died on Sunday aged 74, was able to redefine Qatar’s position on the political map of the Middle East, moving it from the margins of the Gulf to regional prominence in the political, diplomatic, national and humanitarian fields, relying on his vision that transcended the country’s modest size and narrow borders.

Those who knew Sheikh Hamad said he was aware, even before assuming power in 1995, of his country’s lack of traditional elements of strength and understood the need to invest in soft power.

From the early days of his reign, he implemented enormous projects in education, health, scientific research and sports in addition to the vital energy sector, transforming his country’s wealth into international diplomatic weight and not merely a source of prosperity for his own people. The former emir also understood the power of media when he created Al Jazeera, one of the most successful news channels in the Arab world, which later transformed into a powerful media network.

Qatari diplomacy led fruitful mediations in complex disputes and conflicts across a vast geographic expanse from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Horn of Africa.

Doha brought together leaders in Lebanon in 2008, concluding a historic agreement that quelled the risk of another civil war. Qatar sponsored negotiations that lasted 30 months between the Sudanese parties over the Darfur crisis, culminating in 2011 in the signing of the Doha Document for Peace.

Qatar continued to sponsor dialogue between Hamas and Fatah, the two sides in the Palestinian divide, and settled disputes in Yemen and Somalia and between Eritrea and Djibouti in a rare diplomatic model.

During the Father Emir’s era, Qatar established the Al Udeid military base, which hosts the largest United States military force in the Middle East. Not far from it, Doha hosted the leadership of Hamas, a stance that prompted some residents to describe Sheikh Hamad as the “emir of the resistance” when he visited southern Lebanon in 2010 to inspect villages that had been rebuilt with Qatari funding after the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war.

He was the first Arab leader to visit the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the Israeli war in 2012, announcing from there the launch of housing and reconstruction projects with a grant worth $400m.

Qatar’s mediation role remained shielded from affecting its political principles, especially the Palestinian cause, considering it had to maintain open communication channels with all parties to the conflicts, including Israel.

The Gulf state supported the “Arab Spring” revolutions, and it adopted policies that explicitly backed the right of the region’s peoples to freedom and dignified lives.

The Qatari project during the father emir’s era was not focused solely on economic modernisation but also built an independent political identity capable of regional and international influence.

Sheikh Hamad left his post in 2013 after his vision for Qatar became a reality, and during the era of his son and successor, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, he witnessed Qatar’s transformation into an energy and mediation power.

Donny Hathaway had already been expounding on the splendors and indignities of American life by the time he got to the Troubadour in West Hollywood in the last week of August 1971.

A classically trained pianist with a declamatory voice shaped by his years in the church, Hathaway closed Side 1 of his 1970 debut with an original called “Tryin’ Times” — “Maybe folks wouldn’t have to suffer,” he sang, “if there was more love for your brother” — and finished the LP with a stately rendition of Nina Simone’s “To Be Young, Gifted and Black.” Months after the album was released, he dropped a joy bomb of a holiday single, “This Christmas,” that unapologetically made space for a Black experience in the yuletide-industrial complex.

Donny Hathaway performs at Mister Kelly’s in Chicago in 1971.

(Val Mazzenga / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Yet Hathaway captured something indelibly American during his week of shows at the Troubadour, which were recorded (along with a later gig at New York’s Bitter End) for the singer’s classic “Live” album that came out in February 1972. On an LP full of spine-tingling performances, the undeniable high point is Hathaway’s take on Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” — a clear-eyed if optimistic portrait of resilience and cultural exchange.

King — who’d made her name in the 1960s as half of a prolific Brill Building songwriting duo with her husband, Gerry Goffin — wrote “You’ve Got a Friend” after leaving Goffin and moving to Los Angeles with her two young daughters. Here she remade herself as a low-key singer-songwriter dispensing wise yet unflashy tunes about love, home and family — part of a gentle resetting of pop’s mood after the turmoil of the previous decade.

Cut like the rest of the album at A&M Studios on La Brea Avenue, “You’ve Got a Friend” helped drive King’s 1971 “Tapestry” LP to sales of more than 10 million copies and to a boatload of trophies (including album, record and song of the year) at the Grammy Awards; the singer’s pal James Taylor, whom she’d performed with for the first time in late 1970 at the Troubadour, topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with his own cover of “Friend” featuring background vocals by Joni Mitchell.

On the advice of Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler, Hathaway also recorded “Friend” as a studio duet with Roberta Flack, a fellow Howard University alum; their take sat in the Top 20 of Billboard’s R&B chart as Hathaway began his run at the Troubadour — popular enough that the audience on “Live” erupts at the sound of Hathaway’s opening organ lick.

Carole King at A&M Studios in Los Angeles in 1970.

(Jim McCrary / Redferns via Getty Images)

Indeed, the crowd is really the thing in this live version of “You’ve Got a Friend.” Hathaway and his band — including guitarist Phil Upchurch, bassist Willie Weeks and 16-year-old Fred White (soon to be of Earth, Wind & Fire) on drums — are cooking, to be clear; the groove is funky and viscous, and Hathaway’s vocal is gorgeous, not least in his nimble ad-libs.

But it’s his interplay with the few hundred folks in the room that elevates the recording to a deeply moving piece of art.

For King (and Taylor), the song’s promise of unflagging support is an intimate one-to-one matter; their renditions use homey acoustic arrangements to create a picture of two people exchanging confidences. In Hathaway’s hands, “Friend” is about community: Before he even asks them to, the audience takes over for him on lead vocals in the song’s chorus, a congregation in all but name.

Given the proximity to the civil rights movement, it’s impossible to hear Hathaway’s “You’ve Got a Friend” as disconnected from the struggles of Black people. At the Troubadour (as in his and Flack’s duet), he nixes the song’s second verse to arrive more quickly at the bridge, in which he describes a cold world filled with those who’d “hurt you and try to desert you” — even “take your soul if you let them.”

As Emily J. Lordi notes in her 2016 book about “Donny Hathaway Live,” the crowd lays back during the bridge before rejoining Hathaway for the song’s second chorus; the decision, somehow spontaneous and collective at once, is an expert bit of record-making on the part of an audience that, according to legend, hadn’t been told the concert was being taped.

“From this perspective,” Lordi writes of Hathaway’s fans — some number of whom had surely availed themselves of the Troubadour’s bar, as she points out — “they are not stealing the show so much as they are holding him up, ensuring he won’t sing the duet alone.” Together, performer and audience are turning back (not that they necessarily had a choice) to the ugly truths that singer-songwriter music sometimes sought to move past.

In this way, Hathaway’s “Friend” becomes a reinvention of a reinvention — an act of moral imagination about as American as it gets.

This wasn’t the only instance of a Black soul singer interpreting a tune King had written as a single mom newly arrived in L.A.: In May 1972, the Isley Brothers released a sultry cover of “It’s Too Late”; a month after that, Aretha Franklin’s live “Amazing Grace” album mashed up “You’ve Got a Friend” with “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” completing the gospel-ification that Hathaway had begun in a bastion of white rock culture temporarily remade as an African American church.

Yet in Hathaway’s “Friend” you can hear the whole story American music tells about identity and belonging (and about commercial ambition).

“This might be a record here,” Hathaway tells the crowd near the end of the song, and so it was — a document of adaptation, a testament to borrowing, a bulwark against pretty fictions.

A HUGE new indoor soft play park is coming to a major city in the UK this weekend.

Families are set to get a new destination for rainy-day fun with everything from laser tag to trampoline games.

Epicland UK will launch in Partington, Greater Manchester on Sunday, July 5.

Owners say the venue has been completely fitted out from scratch, with all-new play equipment installed throughout.

Children can look forward to light-up racing slides, interactive trampoline games, laser tag arena and soft play zones.

Parents won’t be left out either as they can sit back and enjoy fresh coffee and matcha drinks at a brand-new cafe.

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After an active play, your little ones won’t go hungry as the cafe offers healthy snacks and children’s lunch options.

The centre is designed to cater for children of all ages, with plenty of space for toddlers and older youngsters alike.

To celebrate the opening, the centre is offering a bargain deal with 20 per cent off all entry tickets until the end of August.

Customers can use the code “WELCOME20” to book a play session at a discounted rate.

The new attraction will open its doors at 9am on Sunday with a full programme prepared for the occasion.

The grand opening will be packed with fun activities from face painting, balloon artist, traditional lion dancing to giveaways.

The centre will stay open until 6pm on July 5, which means you’ll have to be quick to make the most of it.

June 23 (UPI) — A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot allow states to bar federal food assistance recipients from using their benefits to buy soft drinks, snacks and candy, finding the Agriculture Department lacked the authority to approves such restrictions.

About 42.1 million low-income individuals across the nation receive federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP, which allows recipients to use the benefits to purchase most foods, excluding alcohol, tobacco and hot prepared foods.

Amid soaring obesity rates across the United States, 22 states received waivers from the Trump administration to exempt certain foods and beverages from the federal definition of food to ban SNAP recipients from using the benefit to purchase these items. Though the waivers vary by state, they all target high-calorie, sugary foods, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, candy and others.

In March, five SNAP recipients in Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Tennessee and Nebraska sued the Trump administration over its approval of waivers, saying the restrictions were vague, complicated and counterintuitive, causing significant confusion for both them and retailers, while harming SNAP recipients who rely on sugary beverages to manage chronic health conditions, such as diabetes.

In her ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found the Agriculture Department’s waivers violated the Administrative Procedure Act, stating the department acted in excess of its authority and without following public input noticed procedures as required by law.

“The secretary purports to waive not just a mere administrative or technical obstacle, but the very definition of ‘food’ as it was laid down by Congress,” the President Barack Obama appointee wrote in her 68-page ruling.

“Neither the USDA nor the states can force this square peg into a round hole to avoid the plain language of the statute and the requirement of 2026(k),” which requires SNAP projects to be consistent with the program’s food-assistance purpose.

The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, which filed the lawsuit, celebrated Monday’s ruling as “a major step in restoring essential food assistance to the millions of families that rely on SNAP nationwide.”

“This decision makes clear that the USDA cannot bypass the legal guardrails that establish how SNAP must operate across the country,” Katie Deabler, senior attorney at the NCLEJ, said in a statement.

“It affirms that families deserve a program that works without confusion.”

Sitting in the control room of their home studio known as the Centre of Mental Arts (COMA for short), Long Beach husband-and-wife duo Scott Montoya and Julia Kugel smile as they discuss new music they recorded for their band Soft Palms. Their new album, titled “In Echo,” has been in the works for over five years. The 10-song album, out Friday on Everloving Records, was inspired by their frustration about how they feel the world has devolved since 2020.

“The first record I was like, ‘I want to give the world a hug,’” Kugel says. “And then this one I was like, f— this world.”

For Kugel and Montoya, the album serves as the latest chapter of their creative and personal journey. The pair met in 2012 at a music festival in Dallas (“The most romantic city,” Kugel quips), while playing in the Atlanta-based band the Coathangers and Orange County’s the Growlers, respectively. They bonded over a shared disgust at gladiator shoes, and soon thereafter, were in a relationship.

By 2017, they were married and settled in Long Beach. Despite Kugel’s role in the Coathangers at the time (Montoya left the Growlers in 2016), the couple wanted to form a band. Previously, they recorded a pair of songs that constituted Kugel’s second solo seven-inch single. That experience made them comfortable knowing they could balance their professional and personal lives.

“He’s super easy to work with,” Kugel says of Montoya, who sits beside her, trying to hide a smile. She looks at him and continues, “he’s very talented and very patient.”

“When we were in our other bands, we used to meet up on tour,” Montoya, who also produces and engineers for other artists, says. ”You see the absolute worst of people on tour … so this is nothing.”

To kickstart Soft Palms, Kugel drew from a batch of songs she had previously written that had no home. Being able to record in their own studio allowed the pair to craft songs without feeling any pressure to meet a deadline.

By late 2019, the pair put the finishing touches on their self-titled debut. When the record was released in July 2020, the pandemic was still in full force. The pair were disappointed and upset by the state of the world, and after a few years of stewing, Kugel and Montoya got started on a second album.

Don’t be fooled by its breezy ’60s-analog vintage pop sound. Soft Palms are angry, and that informs the spirit of “In Echo.”

The pair points to “Radio” as the album’s bellwether. First released in 2025, the song rails against how, over the past handful of years, people have fought for the sake of fighting, with no end in sight.

More strikingly, on the biting “Nervous as Hell,” Montoya points to Fox News as “infecting everyone’s parents.”

“I did some digging because I couldn’t believe something that hateful existed,” he says of the network, specifically its landmark $787-million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. “It turned it from this horrible thing into this s— business that has taken advantage of the elderly and destroyed families.”

That anger continues on the angsty rocker “The Wedding Song.” Kugel points to attending a wedding where a family member married a “total raging maniac,” and how they dealt with the buildup of delicately balancing being cordial yet firm.

“He [the family member] goes, ‘I just want you to show up and shut up!” she says. “I was like, ‘Well, firstly, f— you. Then secondly, this is a song — you just handed me gold.”

Since settling in Long Beach, for the last 10 years Kugel and Montoya took it upon themselves to help foster a positive, artistic community. It’s that mindset that pushed them to found and operate their 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Studios for Schools with the goal of providing recording equipment to underprivileged schools.

Their DIY work ethic in entertainment was also the driving force behind Happy Sundays, a free Long Beach-based music festival. Running for 10 years, the fest created a block party in the city’s Zaferia neighborhood that eventually expanded into a full weekend of shows across stages set up at local businesses to host a diverse lineup of veteran and up-and-coming area bands. Though the event was paused this year so they can focus on the new album and book, the couple plan to bring it back in 2027.

“It was like a statement in that way of like f— these giant prices, VIP experiences and all of that stuff,” Kugel says. “It’s the anti-music festival and a celebration of community.”

Keeping with that spirit, and drawing from the experiences of their two-decade careers, last month the pair released a book titled “How to Be Self-Reliant in the Music Business.” The genesis of this self-published guidebook occurred when the pair realized they were not receiving a portion of a royalty stream they were owed. They knew that if they were in the dark on the issues they thought they knew, others likely were as well.

“We decided to turn it into a book because we realized there’s so much stuff that few artists know about on their own,” Montoya says. “I want people to understand the scope of what they’re actually getting into, and the reality of their situations.”

“It’s a very thorough overview,” Kugel adds.

The book includes information beyond what one would find in Donald S. Passman’s longstanding industry bible “All You Need to Know About the Music Business.” With assistance from a lawyer friend and a CPA family member, the pair addresses topics ranging from backstage etiquette to managing social media to dealing with record labels and publishing companies. They hope that it will provide a blueprint for bands old and new to better navigate music’s notoriously choppy waters. Their accessible, snack-size chapters move fluidly as they explain the realities artists face in 2026.

Battling through the disappointment of the first part of the decade allowed Kugel and Montoya to find their creative way. Armed with this infusion of activity across various disciplines, the couple is inspired to continue to shake their way out of the past. Though focused on their impending U.S. and European tour, the duo promise that the next Soft Palms album won’t take as long and are mulling over their next music-industry book project. For now.

“It’s a lot to keep up with all of these projects,” Montoya says. “We work all day, every day. And it’s been cool to see signs that it’s paying off.”

THE UK’s warm weather might seem like a thing of the past, but the rain doesn’t don’t mean you have to miss out on theme parks and amusement attractions.

And as the weather takes a turn for the worse across the UK the rest of this week and into the weekend, what better way to spend it than heading to one of these spots?

The UK is home to several, with most catering to the different age groups – even adults – so here are some of the best to check out.

Babylon Park in Camden, London

Theme parks are a lot of fun, but when it is rainy and all the rides are outside it can quickly become less fun.

However in Camden, London, you can head to Babylon Park which is a space-themed indoor amusement park with its own indoor rollercoaster.

Across different levels, there are a number of rides including a drop tower and there is also a soft play area from smaller kids.

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There are several retro arcade games too including dance challenge machines and you can have a go at hooking a duck – though it is actually a hybrid unicorn-duck.

For adults, there’s a restaurant and bar to grab a drink in while the kids play.

The attraction is free to enter, but you will need to buy a £1 Babylon Card to pay for the attractions.

You then load credit onto the card via an app or at the attraction’s kiosk.

For reference, £15 will get you around 144 game coins and the attractions cost different amounts of game coins – for example, the rollercoaster costs 48 game coins.

Gravity Max in Liverpool, Cardiff and London

For kids who love adrenaline and competitive fun, take them to Gravity Max either in Liverpool, Cardiff or a couple spots in London.

The parks feature e-karting across huge tracks that leave visitors feeling as if they have stepped into a real life Mario Kart game.

The venues also have augmented reality bowling and immersive gaming zones.

Fancy a tipple? Don’t worry they have a bar as well.

Adult karting (visitors aged 14 or older) costs from £16 per person and junior karting (kids aged eight or older) costs from £15.25.

The Playhive, Stockeld Park in North Yorkshire

The Playhive in North Yorkshire is thought to be one of the biggest indoor playgrounds in the UK with a “journey through four interconnected worlds of space, air, the jungle, and sea”, according to the attraction’s website.

Inside visitors will find spaceships, planes and submarines, which are all different play structures.

There are even jungle-themed climbing walls for kids to let out their inner Tarzan.

Toddlers get their own areas too with smaller climbing features and swings.

Parents who feel like chilling can hang out in the Playhive Pizzeria, where a variety of snacks, pizzas and drinks are served.

Sessions at the attraction allow visitors an hour-and-a-half of play time costing from £13.50.

Woodlands Family Theme Park, Devon

Woodlands theme park in Devon is home to the county’s largest soft play area with drop slides, ball pits, climbing frames and obstacle course sections.

Dedicated to children over 90cm tall, it’s the ideal place to let your kids run around and burn some energy for hours on end.

There are two other areas for smaller kids – one for toddlers under 95cm and another for children up to 125cm tall.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Circus Dome Zone has more soft play and in another area – Big Top Soft Play – you’ll find stacking cubes and games for younger children.

Travel Reporter Cyann Fielding grew up nearby and visited many times – she said: “Woodlands is a great day out, especially when the weather takes a turn.

“After stepping foot inside the play area, my family knew they wouldn’t see me for hours on end and they only time they would is when I was worn out or wanting a drink after running around.”

Tickets to Woodlands cost from £23.31 per person.

Play Factore, Manchester

Claiming to be the biggest indoor family entertainment arena in the UK, Play Factore boasts the tallest standing indoor slide in the UK as well as a huge laser tag arena.

There’s also a trampoline area and a zip wire.

Little ones aren’t left out though, as there are two floors for kids under five-ears-old which include a soft play area and obstacle courses.

There’s even a football pitch and basketball court inside as well.

For six to 11-month-olds, it costs £3.95 each and then for one to four-year-old’s, it’s £12.95 each.

Kids aged between five and 16 years old cost £13.95 each and parents cost £5.25 each.

Riverside Hub, Northampton

In Northampton, you could head to the Riverside Hub which has a number of zones including Role Play Villages where kids can explore an imaginary world with its own cafe, shop, witch’s house and tooth fairy dentist.

Older kids on the other hand can venture on a number of climbing activities, including a 10-metre beanstalk.

Toddlers can also test out a number of ball pits and activity walls.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a giant play frame with slides, games and even a football pitch.

Travel writer Catherine Lofthouse said: “There’s so much to do here that it’s a struggle to fit it into the two and a half hours that each session is allocated.

“We could have happily spent the whole day and still have gone back for more.

“With three boys aged between five and 12, it can sometimes be difficult to find somewhere that has enough to keep all ages happy as the older two are getting a bit big for soft play, but that certainly wasn’t a problem here.”

Tickets cost £8.50 per adult, £14.50 per child aged one to three-ears-old and £17.50 for kids between four and 17-years-old

Flip Out, various locations

Flip Out has several locations across the UK including Bradford, Doncaster, Chichester and Coventry.

Each Flip Out boasts an indoor adventure and trampoline park, where visitors can bounce into foam pits and off of stunt walls.

In some of the more recent venues, such as Flip Out Canary Wharf, you can also have a go at laser quest or bumper cars.

And for football fans, some venues have interactive football.

Travel writer Catherine Lofthouse headed to Flip Out Coventry with her three children.

She said: “The dark space and graffiti vibe of the upper floor really appealed to my 11-year-old and 13-year-old, feeling a bit more grown-up than the bright lights and primary colours of soft plays aimed at younger children.

“But there was still lots to love for primary aged children here too – my six-year-old enjoyed the inflatables, roller rink and football zone.

“For little ones, there’s a dedicated toddler soft play next to the cafe area, so they can play in safety while tired parents have a rest nearby, hot drink in hand.”

Prices vary depending on destination and session length.

IF you’re looking for inspiration to entertain your kids during the half term, the UK’s biggest garden centre could be the solution.

The 25-acre site boasts numerous gardens, shops, a cafe and soft play area.

Bridgemere Garden Centre, in Nantwich, Cheshire, features more than enough to keep the family entertained the whole day.

Named Britain’s largest garden centre by The Guinness Book of Records, the massive space holds a restaurant and tearoom on site.

Visitors can feast on a range of deli goods and brunch specials, before retiring to the tearoom to indulge in a handmade patisserie – or two.

The area has more than six acres of gardens, including the Cottage Garden and Woodland Walk, where kids will have plenty of space to run around.

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When you tire out from visiting any of the 13 show gardens, an open-air café is situated right in the centre – ideal for a quick coffee and cake.

The site even has a Hobbycraft, which sells everything from clothing and books to gardening supplies.

For those with younger children, the centre’s soft play area is the perfect place to keep them busy.

The gardens also have a number of rotating events, including an upcoming food festival on June 27 and 28.

General admission is free, meaning a visit won’t be a burden on your budget.

Pets are also welcome, so you don’t need to leave your furry friend at home.

During the summer, the centre operates between 9am and 6pm on Monday to Saturday, and from 10.30am to 4.30pm on Sunday.