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For years, Egyptian jasmine picker Wael al-Sayed has collected blossoms by night in the Nile Delta, supplying top global perfume houses.But in recent summers, his basket has felt lighter and the once-rich fragrance is fading."It's the heat," said Sayed, 45, who has spent nearly a decade working the fields in Shubra Balula, a quiet village about 100 kilometres north of Cairo and a key hub for Egypt's jasmine industry.As temperatures rise, he said, the flowers bloom less and his daily harvest has dropped from six kilograms to just two or three in the past two years.In this fertile pocket of the delta, jasmine has sustained thousands of families like Sayed's for generations, but rising temperatures, prolonged dry spells and climate-driven pests are putting that legacy at risk.From June to October, families, including children, traditionally head into the fields between midnight and dawn to hand-pick jasmine at peak fragrance.With yields shrinking, some are leaving the trade entirely and those that have stayed now work longer hours.More children are also being pulled in to help and often stay up all night to pick before going to school.Child labour remains widespread in Egypt with 4.2mn children working in agriculture, industry and services, often in unsafe or exploitative conditions, according to a 2023 state study.This year, Sayed has brought two of his children -- just nine and 10 years old -- to join him and his wife on their 350-square-metre (3,800-square-foot) plot."We have no other choice," Sayed said.TOO HOT TO BLOOMAccording to the country's largest processor, A Fakhry & Co, Egypt produces nearly half the world's jasmine concrete, a waxy extract from the plant that provides a vital base for designer fragrances and is a multi-million dollar export.In the 1970s, Egypt produced 11 tonnes of jasmine concrete annually, according to the International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades.Now, A Fakhry & Co says that's down to 6.5 tonnes.Ali Emara, 78, who has picked jasmine since the age of 12, said summers used to be hot, "but not like now".Mohamed Bassiouny, 56, and his four sons have seen their harvest halve from 15 to seven kilograms with pickers now taking over eight hours to fill a basket.The region's jasmine is highly sensitive to heat and humidity, said Karim Elgendy from Carboun Institute, a Dutch climate and energy think tank."Higher temperatures can disrupt flowering, weaken oil concentration and introduce stress that reduces yield," Elgendy told AFP.A 2023 report by the International Energy Agency found Egypt's temperature rose 0.38C per decade (2000-2020), outpacing the global average.The heat is affecting the strength of the jasmine's scent, and with it the value of the oil extracted, said Badr Atef, manager of A Fakhry & Co.Meanwhile, pests such as spider mites and leaf worms are thriving in the hotter, drier conditions and compounding the strain.Alexandre Levet, CEO of the French Fragrance House in Grasse, France's perfume capital, explained that the industry is facing the effects of climate change globally."We have dozens of natural ingredients that are already suffering from climate change," he said, explaining that new origins for products have emerged as local climates shift.VILLAGES AT RISKWith the Nile Delta also vulnerable to the rising Mediterranean water levels, which affect soil salinity, jasmine farmers are on the front line of a heating planet.The labourers are left "at the mercy of this huge system entirely on their own," said rural sociologist Saker El Nour, with "no stake" in the industry that depends on their labour.Global brands charge up to $6,000 per kilogram of jasmine absolute, the pure aromatic oil derived from the concrete and used by perfumeries, but Egyptian pickers earn just 105 Egyptian pounds ($2) per kilogram.A tonne of flowers yields only 2-3 kilograms of concrete and less than half that in pure essential oil -- enough for around 100 perfume bottles."What's 100 pounds worth today? Nothing," said Sayed.Egypt's currency has lost more than two-thirds of its value since 2022, causing inflation to skyrocket and leaving families like Sayed's scraping by.Last June, pickers staged a rare strike, demanding 150 pounds per kilogram. But with prices set by a handful of private processors and little government oversight, they only received an increase of 10 pounds.Every year farmers earn less and less, while a heating planet threatens the community's entire livelihood."Villages like this may lose their viability altogether," Elgendy said.

The Qatar chess team is competing in the 1st Fujairah Global Chess Championship, which runs until September 2, with approximately 600 players from both genders, hailing from 75 countries, competing across three main categories.With a total prize fund of $125,000, the contests feature the superstar division for players rated 2560 and above, including 44 grandmasters within the FIDE circuit, the world’s strongest ranked events, the master division for players rated above 2200, with around 330 participants, as well as the open division for players rated below 2200.The Qatar team includes International Master (IM) Hussein Aziz, Khaled al-Jumaat, Hamad al-Kuwari, Turki al-Kuwari, Fahad al-Mansouri, Ibrahim al-Janahi, Saif Ahmed, Layan al-Qassabi, and Rawda al-Qassabi.In addition, International Arbiter (IA) Sara al-Mahmadi is set to participate in the International Fair Play Seminar on the margins of the tournament from August 28-31.The Qatar News Agency (QNA) spoke with Qatar Chess Association (QCA) president Mohammed al-Mudahka, who asserted that hopes are high for the national team to achieve incredible results throughout this participation, which is set to yield significant gains amid the presence of a contingent of players ranked among the world’s top 100 in chess.Al-Mudahka further indicated that all preparations are fully primed for those players, describing the tournament as one of the most powerful globally in terms of the average rating of the participating players, with some 600 players coming from a wide swath of countries.He noted that these competitions receive tremendous global interest and are directly broadcast on FIDE’s website, as well as other renowned global platforms.

Silawi made his class tell with a strong front-running performance in the Gr.3 Weatherbys Global Stallions App Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor on Saturday, 23 August late evening. Run over 2000m for 3yos and older, the race brought together a field of five.Trained by Hamad Al Jehani, ridden by Cieren Fallon and racing in the silks of Wathnan Racing, the 5-year-old gelding was already proven at the track, having won the Thorn Plant Hire Ltd Handicap on the same course in May. He arrived for this assignment on the back of a fifth-place effort in the Coral Chesterfield Cup Handicap over the same trip, but stepped up to Group company with authority, becoming a Gr.3 winner.Quickly into stride, Silawi took the lead from the outset, tracked closely by Devil’s Advocate (Too Darn Hot) while the strongly fancied Military Order (Frankel) raced behind. Travelling comfortably down the back straight, Silawi soon had his rivals off the bridle as the pace lifted approaching the final bend.The favourite Military Order began to close and looked the only danger, but Silawi kept finding more in front. The pair fought out the finish for much of the straight, but the leader always looked in control, staying on strongly to win by three-quarters of a length. Military Order had to settle for second, with Royal Playwright (Lope De Vega) running on from behind to snatch third.Bred by Wertheimer et Frère, Silawi is out of Silasol, a dual Gr.1 winner over 1600m at two and 2000m at three. He is a half-brother to Fasol, twice runner-up at Gr.3 level over 3000m and 3100m at three and four, and a full brother to Silius, Listed winner over 1500m at three and three-time Gr.3 placed over 1400m and 1600m. He is also a half-brother to Silastar, a four-time winner between 1600m and 2400m.

From Pakistan’s historic neighbourhoods to stateless football teams and displaced communities, Northwestern University in Qatar’s (NU-Q) Global Undergraduate Fellows showcased student-led projects rooted in lived experience and global inquiry.NUQ put student voices, curiosity and field-based learning centre stage as it hosted the fourth cohort of the Global Undergraduate Fellows Presentations on January 28, with 16 students showcasing original research and creative projects developed over a year-long fellowship at its events hall. **media[410381]**The programme, run by NUQ’s Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South (IAS), enables selected undergraduate and graduate students to develop evidence-based storytelling and knowledge production through three tracks: academic research papers, multimodal or creative projects, and short documentary films. Fieldwork for this year’s cohort took place across 10 countries, engaging diverse methodologies and perspectives centred on the Global South. Speaking at the event, Marwan M Kraidy, Dean and CEO of NUQ and founder of IAS, described the fellowship as a platform for students to undertake graduate-level research while producing original insights “in words, images and sounds”**media[410382]**“What this fellowship allows our students to do is true graduate-level research,” Kraidy said. “They produce original insights about the world, whether through research papers, websites, multimodal projects or documentary films.”Kraidy emphasised the programme’s competitive nature, noting that fellows are selected through a rigorous proposal process. Once admitted, students receive intellectual, academic, technical, and professional mentoring from faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and staff while balancing their academic coursework. **media[410384]**“The classroom is just one place where education happens,” he said. “Going outside the classroom and pursuing projects driven by intellectual and creative curiosity is where real personal growth takes place.”This year’s fellowship was represented through a custom illustration that reflected the journey of the 2025 cohort. The artwork places the Global South at the centre, presenting it as an interconnected whole rather than isolated regions, with visual elements symbolising specific countries and shared histories, movement and dialogue. According to Clovis Bergère, director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South, the fellowship is designed as a 12-month journey that mirrors the realities of professional research and storytelling.**media[410387]**“Students spend the spring refining their ideas, the summer in the field conducting research or filming, and the fall producing their final work,” Bergère explained. “Throughout the year, they face moments of doubt, challenge and uncertainty — but that struggle is essential to their growth.”  He added that the projects are united by personal passion. “These are questions students care deeply about. They’re the ideas that keep them up at night. Our role is to help them become better evidence-based storytellers.”**media[410386]**Among the student presentations was Mohammad Shayan Ahmad, a third-year journalism student, who presented a research paper titled Gentrified Time and Mismatched Clocks: Asynchronous Gentrification of Shahi Muhalla. His work examined urban change in Lahore, Pakistan, and its impact on local communities. “People enjoy the view, the food, the heritage — but they don’t see what’s behind the view,” Ahmad said. “I wanted to create awareness about those who are being neglected in the process.” **media[410385]**Ahmad described the challenge of building trust with residents and navigating climate-related disruptions during fieldwork, adding that the experience reshaped his understanding of journalism and research.Fourth-year journalism student Neel Shelat presented a multimodal project titled The Struggle for Sporting Recognition, focusing on stories from the 2025 CONIFA Asia Cup, which features teams excluded from mainstream international football.**media[410389]**“Football is global, political, social and cultural,” Shelat said. “These communities use the sport as a platform to tell their stories.” Despite logistical challenges, including venue changes and visa arrangements, Shelat said the project reaffirmed his belief in grassroots sport as an authentic expression of identity and resistance.Meanwhile, Isra Fejzullaj, also a fourth-year journalism student, presented a short documentary titled My Soil, My Soul, exploring displacement, memory and identity through the story of The Albanian Cham Plight / community.“It wasn’t just a film,” Fejzullaj said. “It was uncomfortable growth.” She described the difficulty of finding a compelling central character and navigating emotionally charged conversations around displacement and genocide. The project also connected deeply with her own family history, leading her to discover a personal dimension within the story she was telling. **media[410383]**“Through this process, I found my passion for documentary filmmaking,” she said.The event highlighted how experiential learning programmes, such as the Global Undergraduate Fellowship, allow students to apply classroom knowledge to real-world contexts while developing confidence, empathy and professional skills.As Kraidy noted, the programme showcases “the very best students and the very best projects” at NUQ — not only for their academic rigour, but for their ability to humanise complex global issues through storytelling grounded in lived experience.