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A quarter of Sydney to Hobart fleet retire amid ‘nasty’ seas as new leader emerges

  • Scallywag passes Lock Comanche and LawConnect to take lead on Sunday morning

  • Of the starting fleet, 33 had pulled out, leaving 95 still racing

Tough seas have forced further retirements in a gruelling Sydney to Hobart, with crews reporting broken ribs, lost life rafts and yacht damage.

Four leading yachts – LawConnect, Master Lock Comanche, the Hong Kong-owned SHK Scallywag and Lucky – were within sight of each other off the coast of Tasmania on Sunday morning.

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© Photograph: Andy Cheung/Getty Images

© Photograph: Andy Cheung/Getty Images

© Photograph: Andy Cheung/Getty Images

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Kennedy Center president demands $1m from musician who canceled Christmas Eve show

Drummer Chuck Redd decided to cancel his yearly Jazz Jam after Donald Trump added his name to the venue

The president of the Kennedy Center has demanded $1m in damages and fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment – explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure – is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with the Associated Press.

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© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

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Comanche and LawConnect locked in tight tussle for Sydney to Hobart line honours

  • Master Lock Comanche holds narrow lead over reigning champion

  • Wild Thing 100 forced to retire from 80th running of race

Sydney to Hobart leader Master Lock Comanche is keeping a “close eye” on major rival LawConnect as the two supermaxi yachts fight out a tight tussle for line honours.

Comanche held a narrow advantage of four nautical miles over LawConnect, which is aiming for a third straight first-past-the-post win, in Bass Strait at 5.30pm on Saturday.

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© Photograph: Kevin Manning/Action Plus/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kevin Manning/Action Plus/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kevin Manning/Action Plus/Shutterstock

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Russian opposition leader sentenced to six years in prison

Sergei Udaltsov, Putin critic affiliated with the Communist party, convicted of justifying terrorism

A court in Russia on Thursday convicted a pro-war activist and critic of Vladimir Putin of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison.

Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of the Left Front movement that opposes Putin and is affiliated with the Communist party, was arrested last year.

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© Photograph: Pavel Bednyakov/AP

© Photograph: Pavel Bednyakov/AP

© Photograph: Pavel Bednyakov/AP

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Arkansas Powerball lottery player wins $1.817bn jackpot on Christmas Eve

It was the second-largest lottery windfall in US history, with a lump-sum cash payment option of $834.9m

A Powerball player in Arkansas won a $1.817bn jackpot in Wednesday’s Christmas Eve drawing, ending the lottery game’s three-month stretch without a top-prize winner.

Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than previously expected, making it the second-largest in US history and the largest Powerball prize of 2025, according to www.powerball.com. The jackpot had a lump sum cash payment option of $834.9m.

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© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

© Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters

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Southern California braces as powerful winter storms threaten up to 8in of rain

Governor declared emergency in several counties, with near white-out snow conditions in parts of the Sierra Nevada

A powerful winter storm swept across California on Wednesday, with heavy rain and gusty winds leading to evacuation warnings for mudslides in parts of the southern part of the state, bringing near white-out snow conditions in the mountains and hazardous travel for millions of holiday drivers.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency in several counties, including Los Angeles.

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© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

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Trump approves deployment of 350 national guard members to New Orleans

Critics say deployment is unwarranted and could cause fear in the city, which has seen a decrease in violent crime rates

The Trump administration is deploying 350 national guard troops to New Orleans ahead of the new year, launching another federal deployment in the city at the same time that an immigration crackdown led by border patrol is under way.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Tuesday that guard members, as they have in other deployments in large cities, will be tasked with supporting federal law enforcement partners, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. Parnell added that the national guard troops will be deployed through February.

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© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

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