The recent destruction of England’s famous Sycamore Gap tree prompted outrage and also highlighted the reverence for certain remarkable plants around the world.
While nature has always dazzled humans, particular trees have exalted status because they are sites of religious pilgrimage, tied to major historic events, linked to key mythology or simply unique in appearance.
This is true from the Middle East to Africa, the Americas and Europe, where the 300-year-old Sycamore Gap tree had long thrilled tourists, hikers and photographers in Northumberland, England.
Located next to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco-listed Roman defensive barrier, the sycamore appeared in films and was voted England’s favourite tree.
This month it was illegally cut down, leading to the arrest of two men. Although tourists can no longer admire that photogenic sycamore, there are still many other esteemed trees they can visit around the planet.
Here are five examples:
The Great Banyan Tree, Kolkata, India
It easily could be mistaken for a forest. Yet the natural wonder that stars in Kolkata’s finest botanical garden is actually a single tree.
Boasting one of the widest canopies of any tree on Earth, the Great Banyan Tree is more than 500 metres in circumference.
What makes it even more dramatic, and unmistakable, are more than 3,000 downroots. From a distance they can look like individual trees and a visitor may think that they are peering into a grove.
The Great Banyan Tree is in the western suburbs of that ancient Indian city, where visitors are lured by the serenity and splendour of AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden.
Others visit that garden’s famed banyan as a pilgrimage because for millennia, in Hindu beliefs, this species of tree has been considered to possess rare powers.
Banyans are also called a “Tree of Life” and praying before them is commonly believed to boost fertility and attract good fortune.
Tree of Life, Bahrain
Bahrain has its own Tree of Life, a 400-year-old mesquite specimen called Shajarat Al Hayat.
This 10 metre-tall tree is marooned in a patch of desert about 35km south of Manama, the modern capital of Bahrain, with no other trees in its vicinity.
It is this extremely dry environment that has earned the tree mythical status.
For generations, people have visited Shajarat Al Hayat to ponder how a tree of this size could survive in such a parched, inhospitable setting. One local legend suggests it may represent the site of the Garden of Eden.
The Tree of Life is particularly popular with tourists in the early evening, when the sun’s disappearance sees Shajarat Al Hayat cast a striking silhouette against a colourful sky.
General Sherman, California, US
Vast, massive, gigantic, monumental – the General Sherman tree is so big that it’s almost as if those adjectives were coined just to describe it. By volume, this Californian colossus is the world’s largest tree.
Not only is General Sherman remarkably tall, stretching 83 metres above the lush forest floor of Sequoia National Park, it is also absurdly broad.
Measuring 31 metres in circumference at its base, 15 average adults could spread out around its trunk with their arms outstretched, and still not surround it completely.
It is one of the key attractions of the national park, which is abouty midway between San Francisco and Las Vegas.
To reach General Sherman, visitors follow a short walking trail beneath the giant Sequoia canopy.
Long before tourists began visiting General Sherman, it was revered by Native American tribes who admired the enormous Sequoia trees.
Baobab Prison Tree, Derby, Australia
Australia’s remote and spectacular north-west has been inhabited by Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years, a passage of time so vast that suddenly this region’s Baobab Prison Tree doesn’t seem so old at 1,500 years.
This distinctive tree species, with its bulbous trunk and skinny branches, has long been treasured by Australian Aboriginals, who collected its large nuts to eat or carve into artworks.
This particular boab, a short distance from the small West Australian coastal town of Derby, is significant for three reasons.
First, it is unusually big, with a base 14 metres in circumference. Second, its broad trunk has a door-like slit, which makes it look like a house.
Third, this tree has a dark history. In the late 1800s, it was used to detain Aboriginal people kidnapped from their communities to be enslaved in the pearling industry near Derby.
This baobab is now a protected Aboriginal site, and attracts tourists who wish to observe its unique appearance and learn about its grim back story through the plaques alongside it.
Cnoc Meadha fairy tree, Galway, Ireland
Near Ireland’s popular tourist city of Galway, a small hill is cloaked by verdant forest.
Visitors who follow a narrow walking trail beneath this majestic canopy can reach a tiny wooden home, far too small to accommodate humans.
This was built for fairies and is attached to the base of Cnoc Meadha fairy tree.
According to Irish lore, this entire hill is a 1,000-year-old fortress for the country’s Sidhe fairies.
These supernatural beings supposedly use Cnoc Meadha as a gateway to move back and forth between Earth and another dimension filled with other fairies and powerful entities.
Regardless of whether you are interested in such folk tales, Cnoc Meadha is wonderfully scenic.
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
Results
5pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner No Riesgo Al Maury, Szczepan Mazur (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner Marwa W’Rsan, Sam Hitchcott, Jaci Wickham.
6pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner Dahess D’Arabie, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi.
6.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 2,200m
Winner Safin Al Reef, Connor Beasley, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
7pm Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 2,200m
Winner Thulbaseera Al Jasra, Shakir Al Balushi, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami.
7.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh 80,000 2,200m
Winner Autumn Pride, Szczepan Mazur, Helal Al Alawi.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The five pillars of Islam
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
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On sale: now
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
The Matrix Resurrections
Director: Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick
Rating:****
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
