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Bravery Unveiled: The Incredible Acts Amid Horror
Tiffanie Turnbulland
Tabby Wilson,Sydney
When bullets began flying at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, strangers Wayne and Jessica found themselves in the same nightmare scenario. They couldn’t find their three-year-olds.
In the chaos, separately, they desperately scanned the green. People who’d gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah screamed and ducked. Others ran. Some didn’t make it far.
The 10-odd minutes that followed were the longest of their lives.
Wayne’s body was acting as a human shield for his eldest daughter, but his mind was elsewhere: with his missing daughter Gigi.
“We had to wait all that time for the gunshots to stop. It felt like eternity,” he tells the BBC.
Unbeknown to him, Jessica’s gaze had caught on a little girl in a rainbow skirt, confused, scared and alone – calling out for her mummy and daddy.
In that moment, the pregnant mother couldn’t protect her own child, so she’d protect this one, she decided. She smothered Gigi’s body with her own, and uttered “I’ve got you”, over and over again. They could feel the moment a woman about a metre away was shot and killed.
By the time the air finally fell silent, Wayne had become all but convinced Gigi was dead.
“I was looking amongst the blood and the bodies,” he says, growing emotional.
“What I saw – no human should ever see that.”
Eventually, he caught a glimpse of a familiar colourful skirt and found his daughter, stained in red – but okay, still shrouded under Jessica. Her son too would soon be found, unharmed.
“She said she’s just a mother and she acted with mother instincts,” Wayne says.
“[But] she’s a superhero. We’ll be indebted to her for the rest of our lives.”
It is one of the incredible accounts of selflessness and courage that have emerged from one of Australia’s darkest days.
Declared a terror attack by police, it is the deadliest in Australian history. Dozens were injured and 15 people – including a 10-year-old girl – were killed by the two gunmen, who police say were inspired by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
More people undoubtedly would have been harmed if it weren’t for Ahmed al Ahmed.
A Syrian-Australian shop owner, he’d been having coffee nearby when the shooting began. His father told BBC Arabic Ahmed “saw the victims, the blood, women and children lying on the street, and then acted”.
Footage of the moment he sprung out from behind a car and wrestled a gun off one of the attackers immediately went viral. He was shot multiple times, and may lose his arm.
Another man, Reuven Morrison, was also seen on the video hurling objects at the same attacker in the moments after Ahmed disarmed him.
Sheina Gutnik easily recognised her dad in the footage.
“He is not one to lie down. He is one to run towards danger,” Ms Gutnick told BBC partner CBS News.
He had jumped up the second the shooting started, she said, and was throwing bricks at one of the gunmen before he was fatally shot.
“He went down fighting, protecting the people he loved most.”
The first two victims of the assault, Boris and Sofia Gurman, were also captured on dashcam footage grappling with one of the men for his weapon. When they succeeded, he got another gun from the car he’d just climbed out of and killed them.
“Even in the final moments of their lives, they showed the depth of who they were by facing those moments with courage, selflessness and love,” read a message from their proud son Alex, which was read out at the couple’s funeral on Friday.
“In doing so, they reminded us that they were not only devoted parents, but, in every sense of the word, heroes.”
The list goes on.
Chaya, only 14 years old, was shot in the leg while shielding two young children from gunfire.
Jack Hibbert – a beat cop just four months into the job – was hit in both the head and the shoulder but continued to help festival attendees until he physically couldn’t, his family said. The 22-year-old will survive, but with life-changing injuries.
Lifeguard Jackson Doolan was photographed sprinting over from a neighbouring beach during the attack, armed with critical medical supplies. He didn’t even pause to put on shoes.
Alexandra Ching/InstagramOthers at Bondi rushed from the beach into the fire, their red-and-yellow lifesaving boards working overtime as stretchers. One lifeguard even dived back into the surf to save swimmers who’d been sent into a panic by the shooting.
Student Levi Xu, 31, told the BBC he felt he could not shout for help, as he didn’t want to draw attention to himself or risk any potential saviours being targeted.
But lifeguard Rory Davey saw him and his friend struggling, and dragged them back to shore.
“We stood up and wanted to thank him, but he had already gone back into the sea to rescue other people,” says Mr Xu.
Thousands of Australians flocked to donate blood, dwarfing the previous record.
Authorities say many off-duty first responders travelled to Bondi on Sunday – from as far as two hours away – simply because they knew there was a need. Likewise, healthcare workers rushed to hospitals when they heard of the attack, shift or no shift, confronting unspeakable trauma to save lives.
“[They were] just coming into the station and saying ‘I’m ready to go’. Coming to the scene and saying ‘I’m ready… put me in’,” New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park told the BBC.
“Normally on a Sunday night, there is staff available to run one operating theatre [at St Vincent’s Hospital]. There were eight operating at once,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
State premier Chris Minns, too, has been quick to praise the heroics of ordinary, everyday Australians.
“This is a terrible, wanton act of destructive violence. But there are still amazing people that we have in Australia, and they showed their true colours last night,” he said, the day after the attack.
Wayne says he shudders to think what would have happened without people like Jessica and Ahmed.
When he speaks to the BBC, he’s just attended a funeral for the gunmen’s youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda.
“I was sitting at this funeral and I was just thinking, tears pouring out of my eyes… I could have been in the front… It could have been my little girl.”
“There could have been so much more devastation without the bravery of [these] people… someone who could run just comes in. Someone who could worry about their own child looks after another child.
“That’s what the world needs more of.”
Additional reporting by Fan Wang.
Manny Pacquiao Predicts Outcome of Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul Fight
Tomorrow night, Jake Paul attempts to shock the world as he faces two-time heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua. Now, eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao has made his prediction for the controversial contest.
Paul has fought as a professional boxer on 13 occasions, winning all but one of those outings, with a split-decision defeat to Tommy Fury back in 2023 representing the sole blemish on his record.
However, as a heavyweight, ‘The Problem Child’ has appeared only once, when he was tasked with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson last year, in a bout that was fought over eight two-minute rounds and 14oz gloves, against a fighter who had undergone almost two decades of inactivity prior.
In Joshua, Paul faces a genuine heavyweight that challenged for the coveted heavyweight world title only last year and has twice ruled supreme in the division. Understandably, he does so as an almighty underdog.
In an interview with Seconds Out, the legendary Pacquiao agreed with the assessment of the masses and predicted a victory for Joshua.
“Joshua [will win]. He [Jake Paul] needs to train hard.”
With an expected victory over Paul, Joshua looks set to shift his focus to a 2026 showdown with long-term rival Tyson Fury, with the pair expected to have interim bouts at the start of the year before then facing each other in September.
As for Pacquiao, the Filipino icon appears poised to challenge WBA welterweight champion Rolly Romero, following on from his sensational return to the sport earlier this year when he drew with WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
Country-rap sensation Jelly Roll, discovered music in prison, granted pardon by Tennessee governor in festive Christmas Tree ceremony
Tennessee’s governor pardoned country star Jelly Roll on Thursday for his criminal past in the state, acknowledging the Nashville native’s long road back from drugs and prison through soul-searching, songwriting and advocacy for second chances.
The rapper-turned-singer whose legal name is Jason Deford has spoken for years about his redemption arc before diverse audiences, from people serving time in correctional centers to concert crowds and even in testimony before Congress.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee issued the pardon after friends and civic leaders of the Grammy-nominated musician joined in an outpouring of support.
Jelly Roll’s convictions include robbery and drug felonies. He has said a pardon would make it easier for him to travel internationally for concert tours and to perform Christian missionary work without filling out burdensome paperwork.
He was one of 33 people to receive pardons Thursday from Lee, who for years has issued clemency decisions around the Christmas season. Lee said Jelly Roll’s application underwent the same monthslong thorough review as other applicants. The state parole board gave a nonbinding, unanimous recommendation for Jelly Roll’s pardon in April.
“His story is remarkable, and it’s a redemptive, powerful story, which is what you look for and what you hope for,” Lee told reporters.
Jelly Roll and Lee meet at the governor’s mansion
Lee said he never met Jelly Roll until Thursday, when the musician visited the governor’s mansion over the pardon news. The two hugged in front of a lit Christmas tree and a fireplace decorated with holiday garlands.
Unlike recent high-profile federal pardons, which let people off the hook for prison, a Tennessee pardon serves as a statement of forgiveness for someone who has already completed a prison sentence. Pardons offer a path to restoring certain civil rights such as the right to vote, although there are some legal limitations, and the governor can specify the terms.
Jelly Roll broke into country music with the 2023 album “Whitsitt Chapel” and crossover songs like “Need a Favor.” He has won multiple CMT Awards, a CMA Award and also picked up seven career Grammy nominations.
Much of his music deals with overcoming adversity, like the song “Winning Streak” about someone’s first day sober. Or the direct-and-to-the-point, “I Am Not Okay.”
“When I first started doing this, I was just telling my story of my broken self,” he told The Associated Press in an interview. “By the time I got through it, I realized that my story was the story of many. So now I’m not telling my story anymore. I’m getting to pull it right from the crevices of the people whose story’s never been told.”
Jelly Roll: ‘‘I was a part of the problem’
Before the parole board, Jelly Roll said he first fell in love with songwriting while in custody, calling music a therapeutic passion project that “would end up changing my life in ways that I never dreamed imaginable.”
Outside of sold-out shows, he’s testified before the U.S. Senate about the dangers of fentanyl, describing his drug-dealing younger self as “the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about.”
“I was a part of the problem,” he told lawmakers at the time. “I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution.”
Jelly Roll’s most serious convictions include a robbery at 17 and drug charges at 23. In the first case, a female acquaintance helped Jelly Roll and two armed accomplices steal $350 from people in a home in 2002. Because the victims knew the female acquaintance, she and Jelly Roll were quickly arrested. Jelly Roll was unarmed, and was sentenced to one year in prison plus probation.
In another run-in 2008, police found marijuana and crack cocaine in his car, leading to eight years of court-ordered supervision.
Sheriff whose jail held Jelly Roll urged a pardon
Friends and civic leaders cited his transformation in backing a pardon.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who runs Nashville’s jail, wrote that Jelly Roll had an awakening in one of the jails he managed. Live Nation Entertainment CEO and President Michael Rapino cited Jelly Roll’s donations from his performances to charities for at-risk youth.
“I think he has a chance and is in the process of rehabilitating a generation, and that’s not just words,” Hall said in a phone interview Thursday. “I’m talking about what I see we need in our country, is people who accept responsibility, accept the fact that they make mistakes and accept the fact that they need help.”
The parole board began considering Jelly Roll’s pardon application in October 2024, which marks the state’s five-year timeline for eligibility after his sentence expired. Prominent Nashville attorney David Raybin represented Jelly Roll in the pardon case.
Lee’s office said no one was pardoned Thursday who had a homicide or a sex-related conviction, or for any crime committed as an adult against a minor.
Recent study unveils increase in confidence
If you’re after a free, simple boost for pushing through challenges, try swearing your way to your goals. A new study has uncovered the surprising psychological effect that cursing in the heat of the moment has – for the swearer, at least.
Eight years ago we covered the last swearing study from Keele University, also led by senior lecturer Richard Stephens, who has become the world’s leading curse-word researcher. It established that swearing provided some kind of strength boost, but the mechanism behind this wasn’t well understood.
In this new study, Stephens and team demonstrated that swearing does indeed boost physical performance and self-confidence – by blocking the urge to overthink and enabling one to perform better. At the heart of this was the hypothesis of psychological “state disinhibition” – the idea that swearing can temporarily lower internal restraints, allowing people to push themselves harder than they normally would.
“In many situations we hold ourselves back and in doing so, limit our opportunities for success,” said Stephens from Keele’s School of Psychology. “We see this if someone has a fear of public speaking, that can prevent individuals from expressing ideas or seizing personal and professional opportunities, or when athletes return from injury and frequently demonstrate hesitation and reduced self-confidence.
“This new research shows how swearing gives us a boost by putting us in a more disinhibited state that helps individuals feel more focused, confident, and overcome internal constraints,” he added. “It verifies our theory that swearing can act as a simple, low-cost psychological tool that helps people not hold back and go for it a little more. In short, swearing helps us to stop overthinking and start doing.”
In the study, the team conducted two experiments – with 88 and 94 participants, respectively – replicating a previous one involving 118 participants. It involved volunteers performing a physically demanding but simple task – lifting their body weight off a chair and holding it for as long as possible, with their arms on the armrests. During the task, they repeated either a self-chosen swear word or a neutral word every two seconds. Each participant completed both conditions, allowing the researchers to directly compare performance within the same individual. As expected – and something that was replicated across all experiments – people consistently held the position longer when they were repeating their chosen swear word.
“These effects could have valuable applications in sport, rehabilitation, and any situation that calls for courage or assertiveness,” Stephens said. “In this way, swearing could serve as an accessible way to unlock our full potential when peak performance is needed.”
The more complex part of the study was focused on what was happening in the participants’ heads during those chair-lift moments of effort. Participants completed detailed questionnaires measuring confidence, focus, distraction, emotional state and whether they felt less inhibited or self-conscious. In individual experiments, results were inconsistent, but when the researchers combined the three datasets, a clear pattern emerged.
Swearing reliably increased feelings of mental “flow,” boosted self-confidence and distracted participants from discomfort and negative thoughts. Overall, these factors explained a significant portion of the performance boost. What’s more, humor – which has been assumed to help in the process – did not play a meaningful role.
So while swearing didn’t inject the participants’ muscles with sudden strength, it appeared to boost the “mind over matter” state that can see people hold back from pushing themselves in challenging situations. It’s worth nothing that the effect is modest and limited to short, high-effort tasks, but it’s now one of the more consistently replicated findings in exercise psychology. Essentially, swearing works by helping people get out of their own way – at least for a few seconds.
“Our next step is testing whether this boost from swearing works in any context where success requires overcoming hesitancy,” said Nick Washmuth, a PhD student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, who contributed to the study.
The study was published in the journal American Psychologist.
Source: Keele University
The youngest victim of the Bondi Beach shooting is laid to rest
new video loaded: Youngest Victim of Bondi Beach Shooting Laid to Rest
transcript
transcript
Youngest Victim of Bondi Beach Shooting Laid to Rest
A funeral was held on Thursday for Matilda, 10, the youngest victim of Sunday’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach.
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“I think a lot of people come, not just community. A lot of people and support from people around it coming and help people. It’s beautiful. Hopefully there will be changes and people will stop with the hate and discrimination.” “We feel very sad that so many of our people passed away, especially this young girl, Matilda. And my heart breaks for them all. I don’t care whether they were Jewish or Christian or anybody, but this is not the way for people to die.”
A funeral was held on Thursday for Matilda, 10, the youngest victim of Sunday’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach.
By Monika Cvorak
December 18, 2025
Create Music Group purchases UK dance label Cr2
Los Angeles-based Create Music Group (CMG), which was valued at $1 billion last year following a $165 million investment round, has acquired again.
The company revealed today ( December 18) that it has snapped up Cr2 Holdings Group, adding the UK dance music label and its subsidiaries to its portfolio.
The deal brings Cr2 Records, MBMB Publishing, and music education platform Sample Tools by Cr2 under CMG’s ownership.
CEO Mark Brown, who founded Cr2 in 2004, will stay on as President. CMG Co-founder Jonathan Strauss and Senior Vice President Eric Nguyen will join the company’s board.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Create said in a press release that it “will back Cr2 and Mark with capital, technology and a global infrastructure to drive the label’s growth strategy with further investments into independent dance artists, catalogs, labels and publishers”.
Los Angeles-headquartered CMG has been on an acquisitive streak in recent months. In February, it announced a strategic catalog acquisition and joint venture with Pack Records of New York and New Orleans.
In March, CMG acquired the catalog of electronic music producer and DJ Deadmau5, along with that of his label Mau5trap. Create said the deal is valued at “over $55 million” and includes the “master recordings and copyrights” of more than 4,000 songs. The deal also includes the formation of a joint venture, under which Deadmau5 and Mau5trap will release new music via CMG.
It also acquired Berlin-headquartered indie music company !K7 this year.
Elsewhere, it formed joint ventures with Ty Dolla $ign and Shawn Barron’s EZMNY Records and Star Trak Entertainment (launched in 2001 by Rob Walker and producer duo Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes).
Last month, CMG invested $500 million in a new fund by Circuit Group, which owns management firms Ayita and Seven20. The fund is focused on the acquisition of music assets and other cultural IP.
CMG, which distributes music generating over 150 billion streams monthly across digital platforms, will provide capital, technology infrastructure and global distribution capabilities to support Cr2’s expansion plans, it said.
The acquisition further expands CMG’s roster of electronic music. Cr2 has spent two decades releasing tracks from DJs and producers including David Guetta, Avicii, Eric Prydz, Camelphat, Fedde Le Grand and Steve Angello. The label has charted multiple dance hits in the UK, US, and Australia.
“We’re huge believers in Cr2 and Mark’s ability to identify, nurture and develop talent and entrepreneurs in the dance music space. We look forward to getting him the tools to fuel the company’s future growth.”
Jonathan Strauss, Create Music Group
Commenting on the deal, CMG Co-founder Jonathan Strauss said: “Mark has established one of the most exciting labels in the UK, consistently delivering hit after hit.”
“We’re huge believers in Cr2 and Mark’s ability to identify, nurture and develop talent and entrepreneurs in the dance music space. We look forward to getting him the tools to fuel the company’s future growth.”
Cr2 Founder and CEO Mark Brown added: “Jonathan, Eric Nguyen, Kyle Bartelman and the entire Create team are building an operating platform for label entrepreneurs that will help position Cr2 for significant investments into artists and labels and help us deliver global hits.
“Create’s ethos of backing the founder’s vision, along with their significant investments into data and technology, together with potent capital resources, make them the perfect partners for Cr2’s next phase of growth.”
“Create’s ethos of backing the founder’s vision, along with their significant investments into data and technology, together with potent capital resources, make them the perfect partners for Cr2’s next phase of growth.”
Mark Brown, Cr2 Holdings Group
Eric Nguyen, Create Music Group’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and M&A, said: “Cr2 represents the type of entrepreneurial and culturally influential label we seek to invest in.
“This deal with Mark is yet another important step in our effort to build a premier global platform for dance artists and label teams, and I look forward to working with Mark to expand our footprint.”
Music Business Worldwide
Farmers protest causes delay in EU trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc | International Trade News
EU delays Mercosur trade deal until January amid farmer protests and opposition from France and Italy.
The European Union has delayed a massive free-trade deal with South American countries amid protests by EU farmers and as last-minute opposition by France and Italy threatened to derail the agreement.
European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed on Thursday that the signing of the trade pact between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur will be postponed until January, further delaying a deal that had taken some 25 years to negotiate.
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Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was expected to travel to Brazil on Saturday to sign the deal, but needed the backing of a broad majority of EU members to do so.
The Associated Press news agency reported that an agreement to delay was reached between von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – who spoke at an EU summit on Thursday – on the condition that Italy would vote in favour of the agreement in January.
French President Emmanuel Macron had also pushed back against the deal as he arrived for Thursday’s summit in Brussels, calling for further concessions and more discussions in January.
Macron said he has been in discussions with Italian, Polish, Belgian, Austrian and Irish colleagues, among others, about delaying the signing.
“Farmers already face an enormous amount of challenges,″ the French leader said.
The trade pact with Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay would be the EU’s largest in terms of tariff cuts.
But critics of the deal, notably France and Italy, fear an influx of cheap commodities that could hurt European farmers, while Germany, Spain and Nordic countries say it will boost exports hit by United States tariffs and reduce reliance on China by securing access to key minerals.
Brazil’s President Lula says Italy’s PM Meloni asked for ‘patience’
The EU-Mercosur agreement would create the world’s biggest free-trade area and help the 27-nation European bloc to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America at a time of global trade tensions.
Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said Germany, Spain and the Nordic countries were “all lobbying hard in favour of this deal”. But ranged against them were the French and Italian governments because of concerns in their powerful farming sectors.
“Their worry being that their products, such as poultry and beef, could be undercut by far cheaper imports from the Mercosur countries,” Kane said.
“So no signing in December. The suggestion being maybe there will be a signing in mid-January,” he added.
“But there must now be a question about what might happen between now and mid-January, given the powerful forces ranged against each other in this debate,” he added.
Mercosur nations were notified of the move, a European Commission spokeswoman said, and while initially reacting with a now-or-never ultimatum to its EU partners, Brazil opened the door on Thursday to delaying the deal’s signature to allow time to win over the holdouts.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Italy’s Meloni had asked him for “patience” and had indicated that Italy would eventually be ready for the agreement.
The decision to delay also came hours after farmers in tractors blocked roads and set off fireworks in Brussels to protest the deal, prompting police to respond with tear gas and water cannon.
Protesting farmers – some travelling to the Belgian capital from as far away as Spain and Poland – brought potatoes and eggs to throw and waged a furious back-and-forth with police while demonstrators burned tyres and a faux wooden coffin bearing the word “agriculture”.
The European Parliament evacuated some staff due to damage caused by protesters.
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Owner of TikTok agrees to sell US operations
TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance has signed binding agreements with US and global investors to sell the majority of its business in America, TikTok’s boss told employees on Thursday.
Half of the joint venture will be owned by a group of investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX, according to a memo sent by chief executive Shou Zi Chew.
The deal, which is set to close on 22 January, would end years of efforts by Washington to force ByteDance to sell its US operations over national security concerns.
The deal is line with one unveiled in September, when US President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a law that would ban the app unless it was sold.
In the memo, TikTok said the deal will enable “over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities as part of a vital global community”.
Under the agreement, ByteDance will retain 19.9% of the business, while Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will hold 15% each.
Another 30.1% will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, according to the memo.
The White House previously said that Oracle, which was co-founded by Trump supporter Larry Ellison, will licence TikTok’s recommendation algorithm as part of the deal.
The deal comes after a long delay.
In April 2024, during President Joe Biden’s administration, the US Congress passed a law to ban the app over national security concerns, unless it was sold.
The law was set to go into effect on 20 January 2025 but was pushed back multiple times by Trump, while his administration worked out a deal to transfer ownership.
Trump said in September that he had spoken on the phone to China’s President Xi Jinping, who he said had given the deal the go ahead.
The White House referred the BBC to TikTok when contacted for comment.
Oracle declined to comment.