IF YOU’RE eager to experience the benefits of strength training this year but aren’t sure where to begin, personal trainer Sam Quinn is here to help. Here are his top tips to help make 2026 the year you start strength training — and maintain consistency and progress along the way. “So, it’s important to structure your training appropriately and to factor in appropriate rest days, so you let yourself recover properly.”Keep your training fun and varied: “It’s important to have variety within your training,” says Quinn. “If you haven’t been able to stay consistent with training ask yourself, am I enjoying this training? Seeing progress can help give you a bit of a confidence boost to keep going.”Think about the mental benefits: “Strength training is a massive confidence builder,” says Quinn.

EVERY year at about this time, exhausted from a surfeit of Christmas cheer, many of us get ambitious with our self-improvement resolutions. What if we decided to ditch the self-denial and worked on embracing more sustainable food goals that will broaden our minds, our palates, and the nutritional content of the food that we eat? The best kind of resolutions let us explore the world around us, one delicious, nutritious bite at a time. Choose a better breakfastAccording to the Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute, people who eat breakfast are more likely to have a balanced diet. Eat more plantsAlmost 20 years ago, American journalist Michael Pollan coined a famous phrase: “Eat food.

With just 24 hours in a day, it can feel near impossible to fit everything in. Doing life in small, bite-sized chunks may, in fact, be the key to fitting more into your day without overhauling your whole routine. My exercise looks different each day; one day it could be a 10-minute skipping session, and other days it’s following a 20-minute pilates routine on YouTube. Reading: I got myself out of a recent reading slump by taking the pressure off reading. Nutrition: If I’m being honest with myself, it’s unlikely I get my five a day every day.

We need to find a way to anchor it in the present, and mindfulness practice is all about becoming more aware of our mind’s activity.”Mindful workplaceCarmel Farnan is the founder and course director of the Irish Mindfulness Academy and the British Mindfulness Academy. “It showed that most people are mentally absent for 47% of their working day due to their mind wandering,” she says. So, we’re missing almost 50% of our working lives, and we don’t even feel better for it.”Other research has uncovered other potential workplace benefits to mindfulness. "And remember, there is no such thing as good or bad meditation or mindfulness practice. “A mindfulness exercise can be quickly and discreetly done, and it can make all the difference to our working day.”

One 2020 study by researchers at North Sichuan Medical University in China found that playing mahjong for 12 weeks improved the cognitive function of 65 elderly people with mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to dementia. Her mahjong brand, Oh My Mahjong, offers travel-friendly sets weighing under three pounds and they feature colorful tiles, with intricate artwork. Trottier told this website that studies have shown that people can benefit from mahjong from playing it around two to three times a week. Meghan Markle, 44, (left) shared in her Netflix series that she and her friends have recently started playing the game together. Meanwhile, Julia Roberts stated in a 2018 interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that playing mahjong with her friends helped her relax and calm down.

The video was among the topics discussed here this week by An Coimisiún Toghcháin chief executive Art O’Leary in a wide-ranging interview with Sean Murray. As Mr O’Leary pointed out, in the case of the Connolly video, the authorities were able to act swiftly. MTV has shut many of its music channels around the world, with five stations — MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live — going dark. The station first started broadcasting music videos back in 1981, and it would be difficult to overstate its cultural impact. Instead of simply recording songs, they had to create visual accompaniments — videos — which could be shown on MTV.

The Camino Portugués, St Olav’s Way in Norway, or St Cuthbert's Way in Northumbria are contemporary quests in which people intentionally challenge themselves to reach a specific place. Moreover, an aspect of the journey is sharing with strangers, allowing different motivations to intermix and add to the vibrancy of pilgrimage. These elements blend to make pilgrimage a different form of trekking, a different type of journey. Regardless, thousands of Irish people will undertake pilgrimages in 2026 adding new meanings to old routes. Dr Richard Scriven is a geographer in UCC who researches pilgrimage, heritage, and human rights.

In the absence of meaningful dialogue or international leadership, Sudan is falling into the abyss. Humanitarian responseDespite these horrors, the humanitarian response plan for Sudan is only 25% funded. We ask for respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law. For the people of Sudan, there is one message that matters right now: The guns must fall silent. Nothing will echo louder now for the people of Sudan than the silencing of the guns.

By Rebecca Black, Press AssociationConcern has been voiced about the number of road deaths recorded in Ireland in 2025. Gardaí recorded 179 fatal collisions across the year, resulting in 190 fatalities on Irish public roads and in public places, which include car parks and non-public roads. The number of cyclists killed in 2025 was the highest since 2017, while the number of motorcyclist fatalities was the highest recorded since 2007. February and June saw the fewest number of fatalities (11 in each month), while November and December saw the highest number of fatalities, with 21 fatalities and 24 fatalities, respectively. “It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the tragic loss of life on Ireland’s roads in 2025,” he said.

Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are already in place for parts of the UK, ahead of amber snow warnings for northern Scotland which begin at midday on Friday. Travel disruption is expected as wintry weather moves southeastwards over parts of England and Wales on January 2. A yellow weather warning for snow and ice is in place throughout Friday morning for an area covering London, Greater Manchester and Cardiff. The amber weather warnings for snow are in place until noon on Saturday, covering areas within a wider yellow weather warning. Describing the amber warning, the Met Office said: “Heavy snow showers will become more frequent and may merge to give longer spells of snow at times.

The Second Woman was a 24-hour play hailed as the highlight of Cork Midsummer Festival. In which country was the famed artist born? Which Swaziland-born star of Withnail And I was at West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry to discuss his memoir A Pocketful of Happiness? Which Irish author believes she could be arrested if she travels to Britain, because of her support for banned protest group Palestine Action? Cork artist Dorothy Cross

Photograph: Chris MaddaloniFunding of €100 million will be provided to 10 NGO partners for development and humanitarian work overseas, the Government has said. Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee and Minister of State for International Development Neale Richmond announced the grants, which are to be provided by Irish Aid, on Thursday. The funding will help deliver development, humanitarian and climate projects in 45 countries across Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Asia and Oceania. The NGOs to receive funding are: Concern Worldwide, Trócaire, Goal, Christian Aid Ireland, Self Help Africa, Oxfam Ireland, World Vision Ireland, Plan International Ireland, Sightsavers Ireland and Action Aid Ireland. The funding is being provided through Ireland’s Civil Society Partnership for A Better World (2023-2027), Irish Aid’s major funding scheme for trusted Irish international NGOs.

Wales back Louis Rees-Zammit has signed a new long-term deal with Bristol. This is the perfect club for me and I'm excited to see what we can achieve here," Rees-Zammit said. Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said on Wednesday that Rees-Zammit has returned from his time at the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars a better player. Lam said: "Louis is a world-class talent and someone who embodies the way we want to play at Bristol. "Since coming back from the NFL, he's shown incredible professionalism and hunger to keep improving.

New York City ushered in the New Year with a new mayor, as Zohran Mamdani took the oath of office at midnight on January 1st. Video: ReutersZohran Mamdani vowed to “reinvent” New York City in a speech on his first day as mayor, promising “a new era” for America’s largest city and an ambitious start to his term of office. “I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist. Mr Mamdani also faces scepticism from some Jewish New Yorkers alarmed by his criticisms of Israel’s government and failure to emphatically distance himself from the phrase “from the river to the sea”, though Mr Mamdani has said he will no longer use it. Last month, Mr Adams warned Mr Mamdani that the mansion is haunted.

By Rebecca Black, Press AssociationScores of people have taken part in sea swims across the island of Ireland to start off 2026. Despite temperatures dropping for a chilly New Year’s Day, around the Irish coastline from Co Antrim to Co Cork dozens of events took place ranging from larger scale charity fundraisers to smaller social groups. In Bray, Co Wicklow, the “Grinch” led hardy crowds into the chilly Irish Sea waters to raise money for local causes. Swimmers take part in the New Year’s Day Dip at Benone Beach in Limavady (Liam McBurney/PA)There were also a number of dips around Northern Ireland’s coastline, although some were cancelled on the morning because of concern over conditions. However, a number went ahead including the traditional jumping into the harbour at Carnlough, Co Antrim, as well as a gathering at Benone Beach for a dip which raised money for the Community Rescue Service.