Author: The Guardian

Competitors in this year’s Sydney to Hobart rowing race need to be prepared for bad weather as thunderstorms and strong winds are expected in Australia’s largest rowing race.The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast severe weather for the match, including heavy rainfall, lightning, poor visibility and possible hail.The bureau has issued a marine wind warning for New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, as well as a severe thunderstorm warning for areas surrounding the race.BoM senior meteorologist Gabrielle Woodhouse said the thunderstorm activity that has hit the east coast will move offshore on Boxing Day, when the competition kicks off.”We are currently…

The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been located in a remote prison colony above the Arctic Circle after going missing for nearly three weeks, his aides have said.Navalny was tracked down to the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets region, about 1,200 miles north-east of Moscow, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on Monday. “We have found Alexei Navalny,” she wrote on Twitter/X.Navalny, who has been sentenced to nearly three decades in jail after building a nationwide political opposition to Vladimir Putin, disappeared from a prison in the Vladimir region near Moscow on 6 December, raising fears…

FFrom his retirement farm in rural Pennsylvania, Roger Williams has been keeping up with the latest news about his favorite presidential candidate, Donald Trump, including his remarks about “one day becoming a dictator.” .Asked about the remark, Williams, 67, responded: “One day, don’t get it twisted.” The remarks heightened concerns about what Trump would do if he successfully returns to the White House in next year’s election. Measures to dismantle American democracy.”He wanted to stand firm and decide something needed to be done. That’s what he meant,” Williams said, sitting at a Fourth Street bar in West Hazleton, a town…

That woman in black, Susan Hill, gave me Silver. Susan lived on a nearby farm back then. I wasn’t looking for another cat – I had three already – but I went to tea one day and there in a box was a small scrumble of tarnished silver fur with bright blue eyes. A breeder of prize persians had discovered that her best queen had been out on the tiles with a farmyard tomcat. Only two kittens were born and one had died. This one was five weeks old – too young to leave her mother, but breeding is a…

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar expressed shock at the fatal shooting at a popular Dublin restaurant on Christmas Eve.A man in his 20s died after being injured at Browne’s Steakhouse restaurant on Main Street in Blanchardstown just after 8pm on Sunday. Families with children also dine in the restaurant.A man in his 40s was treated in a serious condition at Connolly Hospital with a gunshot wound.It is understood that police are investigating whether the deceased was involved in the initial attack and was captured afterwards.Varadkar said he was shocked to hear about the shooting at “a well-known family restaurant I’ve been to…

The best family Christmas I ever had was with another family. I mean, my family were there too – some of them. But they weren’t the highlight.The highlight was watching my 93-year-old, home counties, tweed skirt, dry-sherry-and-the-Daily-Express grandmother get passively stoned while talking to a semi-professional gambler by the name of Lamb Chop.What did these two unlikely tablemates have in common? Well, Lamb Chop had made his living almost entirely from betting on horses, while my grandfather had been a horse vet and owner. And so, under the strings of Christmas cards, beside a roaring fire, with the strains of…

AAnthony Joshua was supposed to fight Deontay Wilder six years ago this month. Joshua captured the IBF and WBA versions of the world heavyweight title in December 2017, taking his record to 19-0 after defeating Wladimir Klitschko eight months earlier. A perfect negative record. He was 27 years old at the time and at the peak of his career. With a 38-0 record (37 wins via stoppage), Wilder became the WBC heavyweight champion and the most imposing knockout merchant on the planet.A unification fight would carry considerable risks for both men, but with both men in their physical and mental…