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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Last year Helene Bevilacqua, a senior associate at consultancy PwC, swapped her role in London for four months working in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

The change of scene was enabled by one of the company’s secondment programmes, which assigns staff to short-term placements with overseas teams. “One of the things that drew me here was PwC’s global presence and the opportunity to move around,” Bevilacqua says.

Her experience is part of a fresh push by some employers to expand flexible working offers adopted during the pandemic, drawing up policies that enable, or even encourage, staff to work from overseas for periods of several weeks or more a year.

Staff at holiday rental platform Airbnb, for example, are now able to work from different countries either remotely or from a company office, for up to 90 days annually. Spotify, the audio streaming service, goes further. On being hired staff can choose where they work all-year-round, if there is a Spotify base in the country selected.

Since introducing its work from anywhere policy in 2022 Airbnb has reaped the rewards. “In the first year after announcing it, people visited our career page nearly 10mn times — more than double the year before,” says Iain Roberts, Airbnb’s head of employee experience. “Flexibility fuels creativity, attracts talent and keeps our teams around the world engaged.”

Spotify said attrition had dropped by 50 per cent since it introduced its own policy in 2021. The company’s time to hire has also fallen. “As a global company, we leverage our multinational presence to tap into diverse talent pools . . . adapting to employee motivations,” says Katarina Berg, Spotify’s chief HR officer.

According to a survey by HR software company Jobbatical, more than half of all UK staff want to work overseas and say the chance to do so would encourage them to stay with their employer for longer. More than two-thirds of workers aged 18 to 34 would choose a company that lets them work abroad over one that doesn’t.

The appetite among employees makes offering such opportunities a “no-brainer” for multinational employers, argues workplace consultant Lucy Kemp. “If you’ve already got the infrastructure in place, you should use it to your advantage,” she says. “It’s a smart retention strategy.”

But offering flexibility on location is not without complexity. Asma Bashir, founder of multinational expansion platform Centuro Global, says companies must adhere to legal and regulatory requirements and consider salary adjustments, depending on the “length of the stay, the purpose of the assignment and location”.

Shorter postings can sidestep such challenges and make it easier for firms to feel the benefits. Law firm Reed Smith operates an inter-office secondment scheme that allows early to mid-career employees to spend two weeks working at any of its 31 global offices. Jeni Taylor, Emea HR director, says participants “bring a wealth of knowledge” when they return home, “which helps in fielding the best teams to support our clients on their most complex cross-border needs”.

During her secondment, Bevilacqua spent weekends travelling solo around Europe, which she says boosted her confidence, and helped her career skills. “Experiencing different working styles has given me a better understanding of global business practices,” she reflects. “Living in Warsaw allowed me to immerse myself in a new culture.”

Lorna Hughes, managing director of PR agency Harvard, another employer that encourages staff to take stints at offices around the world, believes demand for career-linked mobility is unlikely to fade, particularly among younger employees.

“Many of the people who are now two to three years into their career grew up during various Covid lockdowns,” she says. “I understand where that hunger [to travel] comes from.”

The sole caretaker of the pyramids at Meroë, a former capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kush, is the only person standing between some of Sudan’s greatest art treasures and rampaging armies accused of looting priceless antiquities from museums across the country.

In times of peace, Meroë, 200km north of Khartoum along the Nile, drew intrepid tourists to see the carvings and hieroglyphs housed in some of the 200 pyramids — more than in the whole of Egypt — which were constructed nearly 2,500 years ago. Nomads played zumbara flutes to visitors, who crossed the sand dunes of the Nubian Desert in camel caravans en route to nearby temples.

But since civil war broke out in April 2023, the archeological site has been deserted and Fozia Khalid, the sole caretaker, has been braced for its destruction.

“The militias are not far,” said Khalid, a woman in her sixties, referring to troops from the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that has taken over much of the country and left a trail of wreckage and alleged ethnic cleansing in its wake.

“Nobody has come here in over a year — all is dead here now,” she said from what remains of a welcome centre built in 2018 using Qatari funding, at a time when hopes for tourism in the region were rising.

“I fear they may come and ravage centuries of history,” Khalid said.

Ikhlas Abdel-Latif Ahmed, head of museums at Sudan’s national antiquities authority, said that RSF soldiers had stolen artefacts from the recently renovated Sudan National Museum in the capital Khartoum in what she called “a major looting operation”.

Many of the objects taken from the museum were loaded on to trucks and smuggled across the border into South Sudan, Ahmed said.

The RSF, which locals say has forces less than 20km from the pyramids, has taken over Khartoum and much of Darfur, forcing the official government to retreat 800km north-east to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast. RSF drones have been shot down on the way to Shendi, not far from Meroë. The RSF did not reply to requests for comment about the alleged looting.

The national museum was opened more than 50 years ago to house objects rescued from an area flooded by the construction of Egypt’s Aswan dam. Among the 100,000 pieces it houses are those from the Palaeolithic, Meroë, Christian and Islamic eras, as well as artefacts, such as ushabti burial figurines of Kushite kings from Kerma, a capital in the north of Sudan that predated Meroë. The Kushite kingdom was known for its iron work.

“Unfortunately, all this has become a target of the war,” Ahmed said.

Reports of looting have become so persistent that Unesco issued a statement in September warning that the “threat to [Sudan’s] culture appears to have reached an unprecedented level”.

The UN cultural body called on art market professionals and members of the public “to refrain from acquiring or taking part in the import, export or transfer of ownership of cultural property from Sudan”. Its entreaty followed concerns that some of the antiquities may have ended up for sale online disguised as Egyptian artefacts.

“Any illegal sale or displacement of these cultural items would result in the disappearance of part of the Sudanese cultural identity and jeopardise the country’s recovery,” Unesco said.

The war in Sudan, which has killed an estimated 150,000 people and pushed 10mn into exile, now threatened the country’s entire cultural heritage, said Zeinab Badawi, a Sudanese-British author of An African History of Africa and president of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Much of Sudan’s culture, long under-appreciated by what she called Egypt-centric scholars, could be lost forever, she said.

“It breaks my heart. I can hardly even think about it,” Badawi added. “Today Sudan is a country that’s synonymous with conflict, but in the ancient world it was the centre of an amazing civilisation.”

Sudan was home to some of Africa’s earliest human settlements, dating back to as early as 8,000BC, by which time it was already producing “exquisitely decorated” pottery, Badawi said. By 2,500BC, the Kingdom of Kush was established at Kerma, present-day Karima, in northern Sudan. The Kushites even ruled Egypt for more than a century after conquering it in the eighth century BC, she said.

Reports of widespread looting of artefacts, including at a museum in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and damage to the Museum of the House of the Caliph Abdullah Al-Taayshi in Omdurman, recalls the wholesale theft of artefacts during recent wars in Iraq, Syria and Mali.

The Iraq Museum in Baghdad was looted after the 2003 US invasion. Although a 4,000-year-old statue of Sumerian king Entemena was later returned to the museum, many stolen pieces remain missing. The museum only reopened in 2015.

In 2016, Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, an Islamist militant, became the first person to be tried for the war crime of destroying antiquities when he was sentenced to nine years in prison by the International Criminal Court for demolishing historic monuments in Timbuktu, Mali.

Meroë itself has a history of both looting, and being looted. In 1834, the tops of dozens of pyramids at the site were blown up by Italian treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferlini.

The British Museum in London, much of whose collection was derived from plunder, includes the Meroë Head, a large bronze head depicting the first Roman emperor Augustus, which was taken in 1910 from Meroë where it ended up after being looted from Roman Egypt in 24BC.

Amani Gashi, an archaeologist and co-ordinator of cultural protection initiative Safeguarding Sudan’s Living Heritage Against Conflict and Climate Change, said none of the country’s treasures was safe. That included the Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal in Karima, as well as the lion-headed god Apedemak in Naqa and the elephant carving at the temple at Musawwarat, near Meroë.

“All the objects that have been stolen are unique pieces,” Gashi said. “All the archeological sites are now at risk due to the war.”

Several Starbucks customers in the United States complained that they were unable to place orders through its mobile app on Thursday — the first day of the coffee chain’s holiday menu. However, Starbucks later claimed that the issue was resolved.

From ordering beverages to buying reusable cups and merchandise, multiple services offered by the Starbucks app were unavailable, US citizens claimed on social media. They were asked to place their order at a Starbucks store, US media reports quoted people as claiming. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience,” the message displayed by the app was headlined. “Mobile ordering is currently unavailable. Please visit one of our stores and place your order with a barista,” it further said. 

Confirming the glitch, Starbucks Care’s official handle replied to a customer stating, “we are currently experiencing a temporary outage of the order ahead and pay feature in our app. We continue to welcome and serve customers in our drive-thrus and stores.” However, the coffee chain hasn’t elaborated on the cause, nature and scale of the issue. 

The response was given to a user called Chritine D, who asked, “is the app down? first day of Christmas at Bucks and my app with ALL my stars won’t work?” 

According to a Business Insider news report, a platform tracking website outages found several users reporting problems with the Starbucks app around 8 a.m. local time. It coincided with the time most Americans tried to order their morning coffee. The media house, in an online article, mentioned that its staff in  Washington, DC, and New York City offices tried to place orders using the app but failed.

As a part of the ‘Starbucks Holiday Menu 2024’, the company is offering Cran-Merry Orange Lemonade Refreshe, Cran-Merry Orange Refresher, Peppermint Mocha, Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai and Turkey Sage Danish among other items. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS FULL MENU

Welcome to the world of Cannabidiol or CBD, derived from plants like Cannabis Sativa and Cannabis Indica that we better know by names ranging from marijuana and hemp, or simply, by its variant, ganja.

But CBD refers to the medicinal products derived from the plant. Administered as oils, tinctures or even as a neat capsule, CBD is a bonafide medicine whose popularity has been on the upswing in India in recent times — so much so that that there are over 20 CBD-focused medicine manufacturers in the country, with top players like Bombay Hemp Company, Awshad and Indian Hemp Organics (IHO). 

“With more people seeking natural remedies for conditions like pain, anxiety, and insomnia, demand for safe, effective CBD products is rising,” said Richa, co-founder of Awshad. 

Richa ventured into cannabis-based medicines and pain relievers after witnessing the agony and struggle of her beloved pet dog Champ, as he went through a slow, agonising death due to cancer.

“Witnessing his pain inspired me to explore plant-based wellness, leading me to co-found Awshad with Shivam in 2021,” Richa said.

CBD is used for pain, anxiety, insomnia and inflammation, coming in various forms, ranging from full-spectrum of the tetrahydrocannabinol (the main psychotropic part of the cannabis plant), broad spectrum and isolate forms, the levels strictly regulated for medical formulations.

Of course, let’s put any mistaken notion of morality and civics to rest, right away. Cannabis and its various forms of psychoactive substances have been culturally and an intrinsic part of Indian history and social life for centuries, ranging from the mythologies down to lifestyles and festive observations. They were regulated only in the mid-1980s in the country with the draconian Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Prevention) Act 1985, commonly known as NDPS. The act came mainly after major pressure from the Reagan-era USA, which was then struggling under an influx of cocaine and other chemical drugs easily smuggled in from Latin America. 

More worryingly, such trade was also increasingly seen to be financing terrorism and the mafia in many parts of the world. While nations of the world cracked down, a natural Indian healer ended up as the big casualty.

However, the CBD formulation we are talking about is completely legal, a Schedule E-1 drug that is regulated by the Ministry of AYUSH as well as state excise departments. The products are officially allowed on prescriptions and for therapeutic use only, with the cannabis sourced from government-approved farms in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, which are strictly regulated and monitored.

“The scope of medical cannabis in India is growing immensely as awareness of its therapeutic benefits expands with our efforts and other companies on educating customers,” added Richa. 

In recent years, recreational cannabis, too, is getting legalised by an increasing number of countries, including Canada, Thailand, many states in the US as well as many countries in Europe. A discussion paper asking comments whether to legalise cannabis and the like is pending with the union government. An expert committee in Himachal Pradesh last year recommended that cannabis be legalised in the state, to generate revenue and create employment.

WADING out of the sea, my daughter Riley is breathless with excitement as she tells me a huge turtle has just floated under her as she was swimming.

Bearing in mind she is 13 and rarely excited by anything these days, it’s clearly an impressive sight.

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That is just one of many things that will wow us on our week in Sarigerme, on Turkey’s Dalaman coast.

It’s been almost three decades since I last visited Turkey – on a girls’ holiday to tourist hot spot Marmaris.

This time, I’ve picked the four-star Tui Blue Tropical, just 20 minutes’ drive from Dalaman airport, for a getaway with my husband Alistair and our twins Riley and Harris.

Here, a marble-clad lobby leads out to the pool area, where you’ll find low-rise buildings housing 500 rooms.

Our junior suite is close to the pool, but not too close to be noisy.

There’s one bedroom with a king-size bed, while two sofas in the living area turn into beds come night.

A spacious balcony overlooks tranquil gardens, while the bathroom comes with a power shower, bathrobes and slippers.

All you can eat

We soon establish that people are up early to get the best sunbeds, but manage to nab a few close to the bustling restaurant by the main pool (there are seven to choose from) and spend the afternoon riding the two water slides and eating vanilla and strawberry ice cream.

At breakfast, we enjoy everything from freshly cooked waffles and pancakes to sausages, bacon and eggs in the main restaurant.

For lunch, we opt for the pool eatery, feasting on a delicious assortment of fresh salads and fish straight from the grill, and it feels super-healthy (other than the glass of white to wash it down).

Anyone with children knows the joy of an all-inclusive – especially with teens who never seem to stop eating.

My two tuck into pizza, pasta, grilled chicken and salad, accompanied by smoothies.

In the evening, it’s back to the buffet, with its variety of themed nights, including Chinese and Italian.

But the Turkish kebabs, houmous, meatballs and delicious breads are all a hit, and the huge selection of Insta-worthy desserts on offer are also a winner.

After dinner, the resort is always buzzing with entertainment – from live music to acrobats and discos, as well as several Turkish-bazaar-style shops to explore.

The kids pick up cheap football shirts, while a Louis Vuitton Neverfull dupe costs me £24, as opposed to the designer handbag price of £1.4k, and it’s pretty hard to tell the difference!

Our favourite place by far, though, is the pristine stretch of sandy beach, with its clear-blue waters.

The nearby beach bar plays cool tunes and serves up a cocktail of the day at 4.30pm to sip from our loungers.

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Some afternoons, I even manage a much-needed exercise class, such as a HIIT and yoga, while morning football goes down a treat with Harris.

There is also daily beach volleyball with the Tui reps, which proves very competitive!

Water activities include parasailing and banana boats – we brave the inflatable and it’s an experience to remember.

A river runs through it

The hotel’s beachfront is not the only place to spot turtles.

Midweek, we take an excursion down the River Dalyan on an eco boat, which costs £49 for adults, £28 for children.

It’s a brilliant way to see a completely different side of Turkey, taking in luscious vegetation, beautiful homes and luxe hotels along the riverbank.

Our first destination is the Dalyan Mud Baths, which claim to have anti-ageing properties and is said to have been visited by Cleopatra to maintain her beauty.

The smell of sulphur hits as soon as we pull up, and it takes some persuasion to get Riley and Harris into the mud pool, where we all cover ourselves in what seems very similar to potent green slime.

After we’ve let the mud dry in the sun, it’s time for a hose down, before a dip in a warm sulphur pool, followed by a cleansing shower.

It’s all great fun, though my bikini has never been the same again and I’m not quite convinced I look any younger!

Back on the boat, we spot a few ancient rock tombs carved into the cliffs by the Lycian civilisation, before stopping at Iztuzu Beach, nicknamed Turtle Beach after the endangered loggerhead turtles that nest here.

We feed several that are swimming around the boats with crab claws, before a spot of sunbathing and a refreshing swim.

Later that evening, when we’ve made sure we are totally mud-free, we walk the 2km into the village of Sarigerme and wander the winding streets.

In quaint little eatery Dorya, we feast on fresh calamari, £3, fillet of sea bass, £7.60, and a huge salad, £1.80, before popping into a few of the village shops to admire the colourful crockery.

I only wish I could fit some in my suitcase!

Before we know it, it’s time to fly home and say goodbye to one of the loveliest places we’ve ever been.

• Seven nights for a family of four at Tui Blue Tropical cost from £879 per person (Tui.co.uk).

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I FEEL about six years old, hands and knees covered in thick mud, as I emerge from a tunnel only big enough to crawl through, first used by Christian settlers more than 1,200 years ago to escape Viking raids.

I’m at Knowth, the world’s largest passage tomb, just 20 minutes north of Dublin in Ireland’s Boyne Valley.

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The ancient sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Howth were built 5,000 years ago for the burial of around half a dozen “god-like” people.

Our tour guide explains that the monuments, older than the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge, were built like giant lasagnes, with huge stones piled one on top of the other.

Known as the birthplace of Ireland’s ancient east, the Boyne Valley is ideal for exploring Ireland’s history and tradition — without travelling too far from Dublin Airport.

After my ancient sites tour, I headed to Causey Farm in Fordstown, which offers groups of tourists the chance to “be Irish for the day” for as little as £12pp.

Arriving to the homely smell of a wood-burning stove, I’m shown how to make Irish soda bread, before moving on to a lesson on the traditional Irish drum, known as a bodhrán (pronounced bow-ran).

Next comes a tour of the animals — I get to meet a fluffy, ten-week-old border collie that melts my heart, as well as a slightly less charming (actually terrifying) pig, some alpacas and rabbits.

The visit finishes with farmer Matt Murtagh demonstrating how his sheepdog Crick effortlessly corrals a herd of sheep wherever he demands, at one point playfully running the herd inches from me.

The Boyne Valley is also ripe with history — it’s the setting for the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart and where the Battle of the Boyne was fought between deposed King James II and the newly crowned King William III in 1690.

At Trim Castle, a guided tour starts at just £2.50 and it is free to explore the grounds.

We get to climb right to the roof, stopping to see key rooms along the way, with walls covered in 18th century graffiti — a John Gibney marked his name in 1760.

We’re then shown the chapel where the priests’ ornate wash basin can still be seen, and there’s even a medieval toilet (read hole in the floor) — lucky us!

If history isn’t your thing, Park Beo, an adventure base in Wilkinstown, offers a “gateway” to the Lakelands Greenway — a cycle path stretching 18 miles along an old railway line from Navan to Kingscourt — as well as shops selling everything from cheese toasties to cherry bakewells produced by a local.

With a huge car park, it acts as space to service visitors who want to head out for a walk with a fresh takeaway coffee.

There’s also a bi- cycle hire office with bikes and e-bikes to rent from £8.30 an hour.

If you prefer a seafront amble, this region boasts miles of impressive coastline.

The village of Annagassan, a former Viking settlement, has breathtaking coastal views, with a dramatic tide perfect for razor clams.

Seafood banquet

You can sample them fresh at local joint, The Glyde Inn, a charming 18th-century pub with roaring fires and an award-winning restaurant with panoramic sea views.

For something extra special, the family-run Irish National Pub of the Year award winner offers a dinner-and-show style “Viking VR Experience” for £50pp.

Each ticket gets you a pint of Irish Pale Ale, brewed down the road, as well as a ten-minute VR show of what the area would have looked like at the time of the Vikings in 841 AD, when Bjorn the Great was in charge of the settlement there.

Then comes the main event, a seafood banquet of whatever has been caught that day.

I was served Carlingford oysters and crab and butter-coated razor clams to start, followed by a main course of black sole with wilted sea beech foraged just outside the restaurant’s patio doors, served alongside a creamy sea radish mash.

Try to book for late afternoon, as from 5.30pm to 6.30pm each day a live band plays traditional music.

It’s the perfect ending to any Irish adventure.