A 13-year-old boy swam over four kilometres to alert rescuers after his family was swept away by rough seas in Western Australia. Austin Appelbee says he tried to think happy thoughts as he swam for hours to reach shore.
The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, has called for collective responsibility in addressing violence against women and vulnerable people.
He said this on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, noting that his community has certain rules to protect women and other vulnerable groups against violence.
“We are using culture to protect not only girls and women, but to protect everybody: the widows, the disabled, the down-and-out, and the unhealthy,” he said on the breakfast show.
“It is about coming together within our community, the way we organize, and taking care of each other. We have our rules, regulations, and guidelines; when people act otherwise, the system calls them to order. It’s working for us.”
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The traditional ruler said the Onitsha community has discarded “certain elements that don’t make sense today” in a bid to curtail domestic violence and other acts inimical to women.
“We have the authority within our traditional council to make those decisions,” he said. “We have a very robust organization active in transforming our community to effectively bring it into the 21st century.”
Igwe Achebe listed enlightenment campaigns and the embracing of dynamism as key ingredients that societies need to be on par with the realities of modern times.
“Culture is the way of life of a people. As has just been said, culture has to be dynamic. People oftentimes misunderstand that dynamism, but it must be there because culture exists to serve the people,” the respected king said.
“From ancient times, our ancestors’ worldview was very limited. The sun rising in the east and setting in the west was a mystery.
England head coach Brendon McCullum has defended Harry Brook, the off-field behaviour of his Ashes squad and his own leadership style, describing some of the criticism they have received in the last few months as a “pile on”.
Speaking after England’s 3-0 T20 series victory over Sri Lanka, McCullum argued the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had handled the fallout from their challenging winter tours “pretty well”.
England white-ball captain Brook has come under significant scrutiny after it was revealed he was punched by a nightclub bouncer on England’s tour of New Zealand that preceded the Ashes.
It was subsequently revealed he had lied about being alone for the encounter and was accompanied by several team-mates – a stance McCullum defended, saying the 25-year-old was trying to “look after his mates”.
The story followed England’s Ashes squad being criticised for a mid-series break in Noosa where several players were reported to be drinking excessively.
In a wide-ranging interview, McCullum, who will lead England in the T20 World Cup which begins in India and Sri Lanka this week, also said:
England beat Sri Lanka by 12 runs on Tuesday, and carry momentum from an undefeated T20 tour that was preceded by a 2-1 ODI series win.
Afterwards, however, New Zealander McCullum, 44, was keen to rally round his captain and players.
He spoke repeatedly of the need to protect cricketers from the unique pressures of a year-round fixture list and believes disciplinary procedures should be kept private – saying Brook was “keen to put his hand up when the information came that it was going to land in the media”.
“It seems like we keep going on and on and on about it,” he said. “I think these guys, they know that they’ve made a mistake and they’ve put their hand up.
“Harry was trying to look after his mates and in the end, people say what they want but our job is to look after him.
“Our job is to make sure we support these guys and I think sometimes the criticism can go too far.
“When we’re made aware of things that haven’t gone right, we discipline them, we have a stern word and deal with things internally.
“I don’t think we need to release those findings every time something arises. We feel like we deal with them and we’ve dealt with the processes of the last little while pretty well.”
Asked whether the ECB could have been more transparent about Brook’s altercation, McCullum reiterated: “I don’t think there was any need to release the details until it was found in the media.
The Daily Telegraph have reported that Brook, Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue could be subject to an investigation from the cricket regulator with regard to the incident in Wellington, which occurred the night before a one-day international which England lost.
The incident, which happened in November, did not come to light in the media until January, and followed a mid-Ashes break in Noosa which also drew criticism for some excessive drinking by players.
“Cricket is 12 months a year, you have to be able to enjoy yourselves. I don’t think the boys went overboard at all,” McCullum said of the Noosa trip.
“A lot of the pile-on for it was completely out of line. Noosa is where people go and retire, there’s a reason why we chose Noosa.
“It’s being made [out] as this big stag do place, it couldn’t be further from that. If we wanted a stag do and we wanted a tear up, we’d have gone to the Gold Coast.”
McCullum’s leadership style has drawn criticism from outsiders, with some feeling the players are given too much freedom on and off the pitch.
However, McCullum bristled at such sentiments and believes his message has been misinterpreted by those outside the dressing room.
“I think you guys [journalists] have got to work me out a little bit better to be honest,” he said.
“If you go back to the day I walked into the job, the first thing I said to these boys is don’t do anything that lands you on the front page of the paper and nothing good happens after midnight, but we’re going to have a good time.
“[I said] we’re going to grow, we’re going to enjoy ourselves, cricket is a tough game, it has its challenges mentally, which we’ve seen with many people that have played cricket in the past, but we’re going to try and play a style of cricket that allows us to succeed.
“I’m not against making sure these boys are controlled in a manner. It’s [about] looking after them to ensure they don’t make mistakes. The curfew is a different interpretation of the words I mentioned three and a half years ago.”
McCullum said he thought there was a “misconception” that he ran a “loose ship” and wanted everyone out drinking, and that he didn’t care about cricket.
“It couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.
“I’m fiercely determined, I’m fiercely competitive and I want the best for these guys, and I want the best for English cricket.”
England start their World Cup campaign against Nepal on Sunday, 8 February (09:30 GMT).
Brook will lead the team in India and Sri Lanka and McCullum says he is impressed by the Yorkshireman’s captaincy so far.
“I think Harry Brook is an outstanding leader on the field,” he added. “His tactical acumen is as good as I’ve seen in a short period of time from a young man.
“He has work to do off the field without a doubt, as do some of the other young lads we have in our side – and that’s what happens when you come in at 20 and you’re growing up on a world stage with spotlight, fame, fortune and the pressure that comes with it.
“He’s a strong leader, he’s a young man but he’s got a very good head on his shoulders. People will say he’s not that clever, I couldn’t disagree with that more, he wears his intelligence lightly and he’s a very strong leader.
US President Donald Trump lashed out at a journalist, calling her the ‘worst reporter’, after she questioned him about survivors of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump’s name appears in the Epstein files. He has not been accused of any crimes by Epstein’s victims and has denied any wrongdoing.
The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has harped on the role of traditional institutions in nation-building and good governance.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Emir Sanusi said he doesn’t need the constitution to advise the president or a state governor on issues affecting the nation.
According to him, he has the authority to provide counsel to the constituted authorities from the people he leads.
Sanusi said, “Do I need to be told to advise the President? Do I need the Constitution to tell me that if I think there is something the country needs, I should go to the President and say, ‘Mr President, I think this is wrong?’
“I don’t need the Constitution. I don’t need the Constitution to tell the governor that I think this is what we should be doing. I get that authority from being a leader of the people.
“I know there are people who think that we need to have something in the Constitution. What is in the constitution that traditional rulers are there to advise us? We respect that you have executive authority of the governor; times have moved.”
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During the show, Sanusi emphasized the importance of inclusive political participation, calling for increased women’s representation in nation-building efforts.
He believes women have crucial roles to enhance more inclusive governance and is calling for more women’s representation in elected positions.
The traditional ruler also condemned domestic violence against women in Nigerian society, saying it is wrong for a man to beat a woman because his culture says so.
He said men take advantage of their power to oppress, noting that women are also humans entitled to protection, regardless of their nature.
“Violence happens in all societies. It’s not about an African culture. It’s about power relations where you have men having power and women are not protected, men will take advantage of that power and oppress them.
“And in our society, the weak and the vulnerable are victims. You have women who are victims of violence. You have young children, you have the poor, you have the disabled. Okay, they’re all victims. If you go to hospital, you find crippled women, blind women, who are victims. You have pediatric sexual abuse.
“So we need to first of all say that as a country, we have citizens and human beings, and they have rights. Those rights are inviolable. You cannot violate them in the name of a culture.
“You cannot beat a woman because your culture says you can beat her. She’s a Nigerian citizen entitled to protection. It doesn’t matter what you think because these are the values that we live by in this time,” Sanusi added.
Watch the video below:
Four years is a long time to wait to right a wrong.
In Beijing in 2022, Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds forfeited a lead in their mixed doubles curling semi-final against Norway. Gold was gone. Silver too.
Even bronze evaded them against an inspired Sweden the following day.
On Wednesday, in the snowy splendour of Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy, the chance will come for the Team GB duo to make amends as they face the Norwegians again in the first of nine round-robin matches at the 2026 Games.
In the first action of this year’s event, the childhood friends from Edinburgh will reprise their rivalry with the husband and wife team of Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien, who took silver four years ago after claiming bronze in 2018.
“That first game that we played at the mixed doubles was the most nervous either of us have ever been in a game,” Mouat said earlier this week.
That experience comes in the shape of an Olympic medal each. Dodds was part of the women’s team that won gold in Beijing, while Mouat’s men claimed silver.
“Our friendship really helps out too,” Dodds added of a relationship that stretches back 24 years. “We’ve got 100% trust and support from one another and that creates a really safe environment for us.”
When they arrived on Tuesday for their first look at the quirky Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium – which was built for the 1956 Games – both excitedly spoke about finally getting on the ice, their selection having been confirmed last June.
They will now only have to wait until 18:00 GMT on Wednesday to do so, in a contest that will be live on the BBC iPlayer as well as the BBC Sport website & app.
Gold is the aim again for the Scottish rink, who are one of four recent mixed doubles world champions competing in Cortina.
Winter Olympics 2026
Milan-Cortina, February 6-22