Major Oak, RSPB Sherwood Forest Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire, May 2026 (Ben Andrew/RSPB)
(LONDON) — A giant, ancient oak tree located in the the Sherwood Forest — the iconic setting of the “Robin Hood” legend — has died, one of the U.K.’s top bird and wildlife conservation charities said.
Famous for its enormous trunk — about 36 feet in circumference — and gnarled branches, the Major Oak was believed to be about 1,200 years old, according to the RSPB Bird & Wildlife Conservation Charity.
The tree had been in “visible decline” for several years, the charity said and failed to produce any leaves this spring.
“Whilst the tree’s failure to produce leaves this year is heart-breaking for everyone — from the many people over the years who have looked after this magnificent tree to the millions who have travelled here to see it — we know the Major Oak will have a lasting legacy, first and foremost because it is so inextricably linked to Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest,” Hollie Drake, senior site manager at RSPB Sherwood Forest, said in a statement.
The organization said it couldn’t determine the exact cause of the tree’s demise.
Among the factors cited were poor soil and a weakened root system as well as “well-intentioned efforts to preserve the tree’s impressive shape” over the years, including metal bracing and coverings that prevented the tree from aging naturally, the organization said.
The group also cited the effects of climate change and recent heat waves and drought.
While the tree has died, the organization said the oak will remain standing in its place in the park, “continuing as an emblem in the landscape and providing valuable decaying wood habitat.”
In addition, acorns and cuttings from the tree have already been grown into saplings.
“There are Major Oak saplings planted in locations right around the world, so we are planning work to ensure that its offspring will grow and generate their own acorns — and legends — for centuries to come,” the organization said.
Blake Shelton’s just one of the many country superstars you’ll see Thursday night on ABC’s annual CMA Fest special.
The “Let Him In Anyway” hitmaker traces his first CMA Fest appearance to 2001, and he has a significant CMA Fest memory he associates with one of his signature songs.
“I remember standing on the stage here at Nissan Stadium and performing ‘Ol’ Red’ for the first time, you know, after the song came out as a single,” he said backstage. “I just felt like this reaction from the audience, you could hear it, and it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I think this song is gonna be a hit.'”
“It had been out, you know, for maybe two or three months, but you know it was still kinda new at radio,” he explains. “And so that was the first time I thought, ‘Man, we may have something here,’ you know.”
“And the audience was right,” he adds. “You know, these are the hardcore fans. If they react to it, you’ve got something.”
Stay tuned to see what Blake performs on Thursday, as Riley Green and GMA‘s Lara Spencer host the three-hour CMA Fest special starting at 8 p.m. ET.
‘THANK GOD IT’S ALMOST MONDAY’ album artwork. (Hollywood Records)
Almost monday has announced a new album called THANK GOD IT’S ALMOST MONDAY.
The sophomore full-length effort from the “can’t slow down” outfit is due out Sept. 9. It’s the follow-up to their 2024 debut, DIVE.
“We made this during the best and worst year of our lives,” almost monday says of the upcoming record. “It’s the result of an honest life lived; the highs, the lows, the pain, and the joys are all there on this record.”
THANK GOD IT’S ALMOST MONDAY includes the previously released songs “enjoy the ride,” “skinny dip,” “no more regrets” and “leaving is easy.”
Almost monday is currently on tour with Young the Giant and Cold War Kids.
Wes Borland and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit perform at Madison Square Garden on May 13, 2022 in New York City. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Limp Bizkit put out a new single in 2025 called “Making Love to Morgan Wallen,” marking the band’s first fresh material in four years. Guitarist Wes Borland tells ABC Audio that Limp Bizkit plans to work on more new music in 2026 as they continue to grieve the 2025 death of bassist and founding member Sam Rivers.
“We had a death in the band, and that sort of has rocked us a little bit,” Borland says. “We’re kind of moving through that, recovering from that. It’s been an interesting process.”
Borland says that the plan is to get back in the studio in between Limp Bizkit’s upcoming live dates, which include headlining sets at the Rock Fest, Inkcarceration, Louder than Life and Aftershock festivals.
“We are looking to go back into the studio and book studio time this year whenever we can in between travel to try to start working on a new record,” Borland says.
Since returning to the road after Rivers’ passing, Limp Bizkit has been touring with new bassist Richie Buxton, who also plays with the artist Ecca Vandal.
“We’re very stoked with our new bass player,” Borland says. “Hopefully we can keep him for as long as we can.”
Borland, meanwhile, recently teamed up with Jackson to launch a new signature guitar.
: Eric Clapton performs onstage during Day 2 of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival at Crypto.com Arena on September 24, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Crossroads Guitar Festival
Eric Clapton will once again be hosting his Crossroads Guitar Festival, this time in Austin, Texas, and now he’s giving you a chance to enjoy a VIP experience to the shows.
The three-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has announced a new sweepstakes where two premium tickets “on Eric Clapton’s guest list” are up for grabs, along with round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations. The package also comes with a Clapton-signed Fender Stratocaster guitar and a merch package.
The sweepstakes is being hosted by the platform Fandiem. Fans can enter by making a donation that goes to Clapton’s Crossroads Centre in Antigua, which helps those recovering from alcohol and drug addiction. The sweepstakes is open until Sept. 4 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
The 2026 Crossroads Festival will be held Sept. 26-27 at the Moody Center in Austin. Clapton is set to perform both nights, with the lineup featuring the first-ever Crossroads Guitar Festival appearance from The Who’s Pete Townshend.
Others performing this year include: ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons, John Mayer, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Joe Bonamassa, Gary Clark Jr., Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan, Marcus King, Phish’s Trey Anastasio, Tommy Emmanuel and Julian Lage.
Outwit, outlast, outplay … outperform at the box office? That’s surely what Survivor host Jeff Probst hopes will happen with the upcoming animated movie based on the reality competition series. The film, which is in the works at Paramount Animation, will be set in the animal kingdom and feature animals competing for the chance to be crowned the sole survivor. Probst announced the upcoming comedy in a video shared to Instagram, where he said the movie will have “everything we love about Survivor: big personalities, funny characters, surprising alliances, competition, chaos, and of course, a lot of heart. But this time, the players aren’t humans.” …
We now know when Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s upcoming comedy series Brothers will premiere. The show will debut to Apple TV on Sept. 23. Its first two episodes will be available at that time, followed by one new episode every Wednesday through Nov. 4. McConaughey and Harrelson play fictionalized versions of themselves in the show, which follows what happens when they find out they may actually be brothers instead of simply just friends …
Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller are set to announce the nominations for the 78th Emmy Awards. The Emmy winners will present this year’s nominations during a ceremony on July 8 at 11:30 am ET …
Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) in ‘Toy Story 5.’ (Pixar)
Toy Story 5 rides like the wind into theaters on Friday. Joan Cusack once again stars as the voice of Jessie in the film.
Cusack told ABC News that now, after all this time, she hopes she’s more like Jessie than she is like Joan.
“I strive to be more like Jessie,” Cusack said. “She’s fearless and hopeful and relentless and loving and all the good things. She’s like the ideal parent, I think, which is so sweet that they captured that in a toy.”
The fifth installment in the Toy Story franchise introduces a new character in Greta Lee’s Lilypad. The smart tablet represents how technology threatens to take over playtime. Lee said while she grew up with some tech in her childhood, she was “on the cusp of all of it.”
“I’m so thankful that I had a childhood that was completely free of all this. So I know what that’s like, as opposed to my own kids who actually don’t have that at all,” Lee said. “It’s so different now. And the kids are — I’m worried that they’re losing the ability to go back to basics, basically, and form real connections, human connections, without the assistance of these screens.”
Toy Story 5 is an emotional watch, Lee said. She watched the film for the first time with Cusack, and said she cried six times.
“I was so moved by it. I really was, and I laughed so much, too. I’m so genuinely proud of the movie,” Lee said, noting that while making the Pixar animated film they had only watched clips featuring their respective characters ahead of time.
“We saw it for the first time as fans, basically. And they did such an amazing job.”
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Pixar.
Syd Barrett, founding singer, songwriter and guitarist of Pink Floyd, in 1967. (Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage)
The late Pink Floyd guitarist and songwriter Syd Barrett would have turned 80 in January, and the milestone is being celebrated with a special concert in the English city where the rocker grew up.
The concert will be held Oct. 10 at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in Cambridge, England, which is the last place Barrett performed live in 1972.
The event, happening on World Mental Health Day, will feature performances by such artists as Kula Shaker, Soft Machine, Men on the Border, Diana Silveira & The Psychedelic Circus, Rhadika and Pünk Flöyd.
“Eighty years after his birth, Syd Barrett’s influence remains as powerful as ever,” Neil Jones, the co-organizer of the concert, told BBC News. “His music, creativity and unique vision continue to inspire artists and audiences across generations.”
Tickets go on sale Friday. Proceeds will be donated to mental health charities.
And that’s not the only way Barrett’s milestone birthday will be marked. According to a post on Instagram, a charity tribute album is also on the way, as well as a Barrett exhibition.
Barrett was a founding member of Pink Floyd but parted ways with the group in 1968. Some claim it was due to mental illness, while others suggest it was drug related.
Vice President J.D. Vance takes a question from a reporter during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 18, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance on Thursday directly contradicted what is in the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, touting it as a “win-win” and insisting Iran will only reap financial benefits if they “change their behavior.”
“They don’t get anything unless they change their behavior,” Vance said during a briefing at the White House Thursday morning.
That conflicts with what U.S. officials had said was in the MOU, which states that “immediately upon signing,” the Treasury Department will allow the export of Iranian crude through waivers — a financial windfall for Iran, which has faced sanctions for years. Vance digitally signed the MOU with Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf before President Donald Trump physically signed it Wednesday.
ABC News pushed Vance on the financial rewards that Iran is already receiving simply for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. As part of the agreement, the U.S. is removing its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and Iran will allow commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed after the war started, to be restored to pre-war levels. ABC News asked how Iran is allowed to sell their oil freely without making any new concrete nuclear commitments.
“They’ve made very concrete nuclear commitments. They have committed to the destruction of the highly enriched [uranium] stockpile that they have in their possession,” Vance said, adding that lifting the Strait of Hormuz blockade has promoted “the free flow of energy … across the world.”
However, Vance’s comments conflict with what the deal says. There is no firm commitment from Iran to get rid of their nuclear stockpile — just a commitment to negotiate “the disposition” of it over the next 60 days.
Also, allowing Iran to freely sell oil on the global market now is an economic windfall for Iran, which could generate more than $60 billion a year in revenue, experts told the Wall Street Journal.
Furthermore, Vance defended the oil waivers by arguing the U.S. will gain insight into Iran’s economy.
“So by lifting the blockade, that’s the significant thing that has changed. And by lifting the sanctions, we’re actually going to be able to see a little bit where their financial system actually sends money and receives money. That’s a real benefit to the American people. And that’s really the only thing that has changed by the change in sanctions,” Vance said.
He also repeatedly stressed that U.S. taxpayer money will not flow directly to Iran — “not a single penny, by the way, from the United States of America under any circumstance.” But a final deal could still allow Iran to reap huge financial benefits, including the unfreezing of assets and a $300 billion reconstruction account for Iran — the details of which will be sorted in the 60-day period.
Pressed on whether Iran can be trusted to change its behavior, Vance asked “isn’t it worth trying?”
Democrats — and some Republicans — have expressed concerns about the MOU. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, said Iran “took Trump to the cleaners” in negotiations over the MOU in remarks on the Senate floor Thursday. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said of the MOU on Thursday: “Iran’s left stronger, we’re left weaker.”
“You know, I’ve seen skeptics of the deal. People say ‘the Iranians will never change their behavior.’ Well, maybe that’s true. And if so, they don’t get any of the benefits of the bargain. But isn’t it worth trying? Isn’t it worth seeing whether this incredibly weakened position that the president of the United States has put the Iranians under, whether that motivates them to change their behavior, not just vis a vis the West, but vis a vis the Middle East,” he said.
Iranian Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that Iranian officials entered the agreement from a position of strength, portraying the U.S. president as having pushed aggressively for the deal out of desperation.
