ENGLAND head coach Brendon McCullum said the team will head into the Ashes series against Australia without fear of defeat and he sees no reason to rein in their high-risk, high-reward 'Bazball' approach that has proven so successful over the last year.
England were thrashed 4-0 in Australia in the previous edition of the Ashes but have won 10 of their last 12 tests since McCullum took charge and Ben Stokes was appointed captain.
"Who knows if we are going to win this summer but we're going to go into it with the right attitude, the right environment, and the right team which believes it's got a chance," McCullum told British media.
"We're a team that knows how we want to play now, and we're not afraid to lose, which is quite a remarkable trait, and that's led by the skipper and some of the senior players as well.
"If we do play how we want to play, we give ourselves the best opportunity and we've got the talent to put world-class teams under pressure."
England are due to play Ireland in a one-off match beginning on Thursday before the first Ashes test at Edgbaston on June 16.
McCullum said fast bowlers James Anderson (groin) and Ollie Robinson (ankle) would miss the Ireland test due to injury but will be fit for the Ashes opener.
All-rounder Stokes, who had an injury-hit stint with Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, could play a role with the ball during the Ashes, he added.
"Stokesy is progressing well too. He looks really fit as well, looks in great order ... I think he'll bowl at some stage throughout the summer, no doubt.
"He is a world-class all-rounder and if he is able to bowl, fantastic. If not, we'll find a way."
BIRMINGHAM City Council will become the first in England to recognise Sikh and Jewish identities in its data collection.
A motion tabled by the Birmingham Labour group was passed at a full council meeting. It will change how information is collected from residents in the future. Current council questionnaires do not include the categories, despite the presence of over 30,000 Sikhs and around 2,000 Jewish residents in the city.
The Labour group said the change would help the council better understand its communities and tackle discrimination. It added that Sikhs and Jews have been legally recognised as ethnic groups for more than 40 years, but public bodies have not routinely collected data on them.
The motion was brought by councillor Jamie Tennant and seconded by councillor Rinkal Shergill.
Tennant said he would encourage other councils to follow Birmingham’s lead.
Shergill said the move was important for communities not recognised in NHS data despite being disproportionately affected by certain diseases and during the pandemic.
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THE NHS said on Thursday (19) it will not offer two new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, citing high costs and "too small" benefits.
Donanemab and Lecanemab have been hailed as breakthrough treatments for slowing down the symptoms of early-stage Alzheimer's, the most common type of dementia.
They are active substances used to treat adults with mild memory and cognitive problems. They target a cause of the disease by binding to amyloid, a protein which builds up in the brains of people living with Alzheimer's, rather than just treating the symptoms.
According to NHS spending watchdog NICE, the medicines have been effective in delaying the progression from mild to moderate Alzheimer's by four to six months.
But, the benefits were "too small to justify the additional cost to the NHS".
Last year, NHS England suggested in a briefing that the cost of bringing the drugs to the service could be £500 million to £1 billion per year.
Donanemab is sold as Kisunla by American pharma giant Eli Lilly and Lecanemab as Leqembi by Japan-based Eisai. Both labs have said they will appeal the decision.
Chris Stokes, Eli Lilly UK and Europe president said: "If the system can't deliver scientific firsts to NHS patients, it is broken."
Both treatments were approved last year by the UK's medicines regulator for treating early stages of Alzheimer's.
Donanemab is advertised as costing between £60,000 and £80,000 per year, according to Alzheimer's Research UK.
In April, Leqembi became the first such medicine approved for sale in the EU based on its health watchdog's endorsement following initial misgivings.
"Naturally, there is disappointment that the first breakthrough treatments won't be available on the NHS," said Siddharthan Chandran, director of UK Dementia Research Institute.
However, he said the drugs paved the path for "more affordable and effective treatments and diagnostics".
"NICE is simply doing its job," said Atticus Hainsworth, professor of Cerebrovascular Disease at the University of London.
He added however that the new drugs had shown that "the needle can be moved in dementia" treatment.
TWO survivors of grooming gangs have called for politicians to step back and let women shape the new national inquiry into child sexual exploitation.
Holly Archer and Scarlett Jones, who helped run a local inquiry in Telford, said the political fighting over vulnerable women must stop before the investigation begins, the Guardian reported.
"We have to put politics aside when it comes to child sexual exploitation, we have to stop this tug of war with vulnerable women," said Archer, who wrote a book about her experiences called I Never Gave My Consent: A Schoolgirl's Life Inside the Telford Sex Ring.
"There are so many voices that need to be heard. There's some voices, though, that need to step away. We can do it, let us do it – we don't need you to speak on our behalf," she was quoted as saying.
Jones, who works with Archer at the Holly Project support service, said people were taking advantage of survivors. "There are so many people out there at this moment exploiting the exploited – it's happening all the time," she explained.
Both women use false names to protect themselves and their families. Archer said she no longer uses social media after receiving threats. "I've been called a paedophile myself, a paedophile enabler, a grooming gang supporter. They said they hope my daughter gets raped. It's just constant," she said.
She also described how the far-right Britain First group gave her leaflets in Telford after her book came out in 2016. "They handed me leaflets that had quotes from my own book in them. They didn't know it was me, and they were telling me I was very pro what they were doing. It was insane," she said.
The government announced this week that police will collect ethnicity data for all child sexual abuse cases. This follows a report by Louise Casey that found evidence of "overrepresentation" of men of Asian and Pakistani heritage among suspects in some areas.
However, Casey also said police data from one region showed that the races of child abuse suspects matched the local population. She urged the public to "keep calm" over the ethnicities of offenders.
Archer said collecting ethnicity data was important but people should not rely on stereotypes. While she was abused from age 14 by men of Pakistani origin, most of the men who "bought" and raped her as a child were Chinese. Jones said she was first abused within her own white family before being drawn into a child sexual abuse racket.
"Nobody wants to know about that because that doesn't meet their narrative," Archer said. "You're told that you're just not relevant, that it didn't really happen to you anyway. You're a liar. You're a fake person."
The new inquiry will coordinate five existing local investigations through an independent commission with full legal powers. The National Crime Agency will lead efforts to reopen historical group-based child sexual abuse cases, with more than 800 cases set for review.
Both women welcomed the plans but criticised the previous independent inquiry into child sexual abuse led by Prof Alexis Jay.
"Years later, nothing has been done, none of the recommendations have been implemented," Jones said. "The worry is that that is what will happen again."
The government will also change the law so that all sexual acts with children under 16 are charged as rape, and will quash criminal convictions of victims who were prosecuted for offences while being exploited.
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Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and India's prime minister Narendra Modi shake hands before posing for a photo during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, in Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Photo: Reuters)
INDIA is involved in foreign interference in Canada, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
The report was released shortly after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney held talks during the G7 summit in Alberta.
Modi and Carney agreed to restore the top diplomats both countries had withdrawn in 2023. Both governments described the meeting as productive.
Carney's decision to invite Modi to the G7 drew criticism from some members of Canada’s Sikh community. Tensions between the two countries have remained since September 2023, when then-prime minister Justin Trudeau accused India’s government of playing a role in the June 18, 2023, killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.
India has denied involvement in Nijjar’s killing and has accused Canada of sheltering Sikh separatists.
The CSIS report said transnational repression is “a central role in India’s activity in Canada,” but added that China is the biggest counter-intelligence threat. It also named Russia, Iran, and Pakistan.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in October they had communicated more than a dozen threats to Sikhs advocating for an independent homeland carved out of India.
“Indian officials, including their Canada-based proxy agents, engage in a range of activities that seek to influence Canadian communities and politicians,” the CSIS report said. “These activities attempt to steer Canada’s positions into alignment with India’s interests on key issues, particularly with respect to how the Indian government perceives Canada-based supporters of an independent homeland that they call Khalistan.”
The Indian High Commission and the Chinese embassy in Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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The footage of the removal quickly circulated on social media
Rockstar Games has taken swift action against a GTA Online player who streamed unreleased content from the upcoming Money Fronts update using a jailbroken PlayStation 5. The player was removed from an online session in real-time by a Rockstar administrator, reinforcing the studio’s zero-tolerance stance on leaks and unauthorised access.
Player ejected during livestream
During the livestream, the user was showcasing content from the Money Fronts downloadable content (DLC), which is officially due for release on 17 June 2025. Midway through the broadcast, the stream was interrupted with an on-screen message that read:
"You have been kicked from this session by a Rockstar Games administrator."
The footage of the removal quickly circulated on social media, drawing attention from both fans and modders. Viewers noted that the player was accessing the content through a modified PS5 system, exploiting preloaded update files made available ahead of the launch.
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Jailbroken console used to access preloaded files
As part of standard procedure, Rockstar Games preloaded the Money Fronts update on servers in advance of the public launch to manage server strain. However, some users with jailbroken consoles were able to bypass restrictions and unlock parts of the content prematurely.
This particular streamer not only accessed the content but also chose to broadcast it publicly, which likely triggered the quick intervention by Rockstar staff monitoring such activity. Jailbreaking a PS5 is a breach of Sony’s terms of service, and combining that with unauthorised access to unreleased game data raises significant legal and ethical concerns.
Rockstar’s enforcement stance
Rockstar Games has long maintained a strict policy against hacking, cheating, and leaking within its community. Following high-profile leaks of GTA VI in 2022 and previous GTA Online updates, the company has intensified efforts to prevent similar incidents.
The publisher views such violations seriously and often takes disciplinary action ranging from game bans to legal notices. Parent company Take-Two Interactive has also actively pursued legal action against modders and leakers in the past.
Warning to the community
This latest incident serves as a reminder to players ahead of the official Money Fronts DLC launch. Rockstar is actively monitoring its online platforms and is prepared to act against those who access or distribute content ahead of schedule via unofficial means.
With anticipation building for the new expansion, the developer has made it clear: unauthorised early access will not be tolerated.