Israeli social media figure Roi Star was filmed harassing and attacking activists who monitor Israeli settler assaults and activity in the occupied West Bank. Video shows him entering a house and pepper spraying activists during a confrontation.
Still searching for his first win as WBC champion, the 30-year-old comes off back-to-back draws against Abel Ramos and a 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao.
But while Barrios has hardly cemented himself as a world-beater at welterweight, the same could be said for Garcia’s position as a genuine title contender.
This was Garcia’s first outing since his majority decision victory over Devin Haney in April 2024, which was later overturned to a no-contest due to ‘King Ry’ testing positive for banned substance ostarine.
But despite his year-long drugs ban, and indeed an unadventurous display against Romero, the American has nonetheless secured a world title opportunity next month.
The WBC mandatory challenger at 147lbs, meanwhile, is Conor Benn, and it seems that Garcia has already identified Benn as an appealing opponent for later this year, insisting that he would be open to entering their potential contest on away soil.
Speaking with Fight Hub TV in a media scrum, Garcia expressed his interest in travelling to the UK after his showdown with Barrios.
“That’s definitely an opportunity I would love to explore. Conor Benn’s got a pretty good fanbase in the UK – I would love to go international with it.
“We’re focused on what we’re focused on, but I would love that [fight].”
Despite exacting his revenge over Chris Eubank Jr in November, Benn has not fought at welterweight since his fourth-round finish against Chris Algieri in 2021. Regardless, he finds himself in the number one spot and will have a close eye on the action between Barrios and Garcia next month.
US PRO BMIhas appointed Todd Horvath as President and Chief Operating Officer, effective January 26.
In this new role, Horvath will report to BMI CEO Mike O’Neill and oversee the company’s “ongoing efforts to modernize its platforms, identify new sources of revenue and improve the affiliate experience at BMI,” according to an announcement on Thursday (January 22).
Thursday’s press release added that Horvath’s addition to the BMI leadership team will enable O’Neill, who recently extended his contract through 2029, to “continue to focus on the strategic vision of the company”.
Horvath will divide his time between BMI’s Nashville and New York offices.
BMI noted that Horvath has more than 20 years of experience in the international financial services sector, with a “significant focus on integrating transformative technology into organizations, in addition to M&A, innovation and customer service expertise”.
He joins BMI from Equifax, where he served as President of U.S. Information Solutions.
Prior to Equifax, Horvath was the President of Banking Solutions for Fiserv. There, he “successfully led multiple billion-dollar divisions and drove a significant technology transformation, including innovating additional digital banking offerings and creating a more client-centric go-to-market strategy”.
Before that, Horvath spent nearly 15 years at ADP, ultimately overseeing all its international business as President of Multinational Clients.
“Todd’s unique skill set is a perfect complement to our team, and I look forward to his contributions as we continue to drive growth and position BMI for the future.”
Mike O’Neill
“I’m excited to welcome Todd to BMI as we build upon the many efforts we’ve undertaken over the past three years to create long term value for our affiliates,” said O’Neill.
“Todd’s unique skill set is a perfect complement to our team, and I look forward to his contributions as we continue to drive growth and position BMI for the future.”
“I’m honored to join BMI at a time of great change and opportunity in the industry.”
Todd Horvath
Horvath added: “I’m honored to join BMI at a time of great change and opportunity in the industry.
“I’ve spent a good deal of time getting to know Mike over the past few months, and I am excited by his vision for the company and BMI’s mission on behalf of its songwriters, composers and publishers. I look forward to working with the entire team at BMI to unleash additional opportunities that will continue to position BMI as the leading PRO in the business.”
A South African court has dismissed an appeal by the country’s heritage body to stop the sale and export of various artefacts connected to anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.
The 70 personal items include a cell key from Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he was locked up, a pair of Aviator sunglasses and one of his signature floral shirts. They were due to be exported to the US for auction.
The objects belong to his eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela and Christo Brand, a Robben Island warden during Mandela’s incarceration.
In trying to stop their sale, the authorities said they were part of the country’s heritage and were therefore legally protected from export.
The South African Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) first found out about the potential sale in a British newspaper article from late 2021, claiming that the key would go for more than £1m ($1.35m).
The agency then wrote to the US auction house, Guernsey, that was planning the sale to ask it to suspend the auction and return the assets to South Africa.
Other items in the lot were a copy of the 1996 South African Constitution personally signed by Mandela, one of his charcoal drawings, an ID card, a tennis racquet he used on Robben Island and gifts from world leaders, including one from former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Mandela’s daughter wanted to use the proceeds from the sale to build a memorial garden at the late former resident’s grave in Qunu, in Mthatha, Eastern Cape province.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court of Appeal argues that Sahra’s interpretation of what items fell under the National Heritage Resources Act was overly broad.
The ruling also states that whereas Makaziwe and Brand explained in detail why their respective assets were not heritage objects, Sahra made no attempt to explain on what grounds it believed they were.
It is not yet clear whether the authorities will seek other legal avenues to block the sale. The BBC has contacted the sport, arts and culture department for comment.
Makaziwe, Mandela’s only daughter with his first wife, welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgment, blasting the heritage agency for presuming “to know my father’s last wishes better than those who were beside him at the end – his family”.
“Nobody is more invested in ensuring Tata’s [Mandela’s] legacy endures in the way he would want to be remembered than those who carry his name,” she said.
She added that no decision had yet been made on what would happen to the items meant to go on auction.
Some supporters of the government’s position argued that items connected to Mandela should not be sold or exported but instead kept in South Africa for future generations.
Others believe that Mandela’s family should decide what happens to the objects.
Mandela died in 2013 at the age of 95. He led the African National Congress in its struggle against apartheid – a system of legally enforced racism – and was released from prison in 1990.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with then-President FW de Klerk.
Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994.
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How Anger Erupted as Iranians Buried Protest Victims
As families buried those killed in Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests, a Tehran cemetery became a flashpoint for dissent. A witness describes what fueled the anger.
This is the voice of Kiarash, speaking from Germany after visiting his family in Iran. He’s describing what he saw at the largest cemetery in the Iranian capital amid a bloody crackdown on antigovernment protests. What began as anger over economic hardship grew into open defiance of the country’s authoritarian clerical rule. As the unrest spread, the government largely cut Iran off from the rest of the world. But some footage has trickled out, exposing the brutality of the regime’s crackdown. Kiarash has asked to be identified only by his first name to protect his family. On the 10th of January, Kiarash attended the burial of a family friend, who he said was killed by a bullet to the neck during the protests. There, he says he saw trucks unloading bodies into warehouses already stacked with corpses. As more bodies arrived, workers dumped them onto the ground, angering the crowd. There are no images of the mishandling of bodies at the cemetery as described by Kiarash. He said guards prevented him and others from filming with their phones, but The New York Times spoke to another person whose relatives saw similar scenes at that cemetery the next day. Around that time, footage began to emerge from a morgue just a mile away, showing devastated families unzipping rows of body bags to find their relatives. Distressed by what he witnessed, Kiarash said he joined protesters that evening, narrowly escaping death when they were met with gunfire. The 44-year-old said what he saw in Iran convinced him of the need for change.
As families buried those killed in Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests, a Tehran cemetery became a flashpoint for dissent. A witness describes what fueled the anger.
By Monika Cvorak, Jon Hazell and Artemis Moshtaghian
The film draws on real audio from the five-year-old’s call with emergency services as her family came under Israeli fire.
A haunting docudrama about Israel’s killing of five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab during its genocidal war on Gaza has been nominated for an Academy Award.
The Voice of Hind Rajab, by French-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, was shortlisted for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film on Thursday.
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The film tells the true story of Hind, who was killed by Israeli forces in 2024 as she and her family tried to evacuate Gaza City, blending recordings of real emergency calls with dramatic re-enactments.
It draws on harrowing audio from Hind Rajab’s call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, in which rescuers tried to reassure her as she lay trapped in a bullet-ridden car with the bodies of her aunt, uncle and three cousins, who had all been killed by Israeli fire.
The girl was then also killed, as were the two ambulance workers who went to the scene to try to rescue her.
A recording of the phone call was widely shared on social media after her death, causing renewed international outrage over Israel’s attacks on civilians.
At least 71,551 Palestinians have been killed and 171,372 wounded in Israeli attacks since the war began, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, many of them children.
UNICEF, the UN’s agency for children, said earlier this month that more than 100 Palestinian children had been killed in Gaza, even since the start of the ceasefire that began in October last year.
‘Make her voice echo’
Responding to the nomination, filmmaker Ben Hania said her motivation for the film had been to amplify Hind Rajab’s voice around the world, The Associated Press news agency reported.
“When I started making this movie, my main obsession or idea, because the voice of this little girl wasn’t heard when it was needed, was how to make her voice echo all over the world,” she said.
“So the fact that we are nominated today, it’s a spotlight that the voice of Hind Rajab needs.”
She said she was grateful that members of the academy who had voted for her film had recognised “that cinema is not always an escape”.
“It can be confrontational. It can be something about truth, and about what is happening and something that we should not look away from.”
No evidence of exchange of fire
The Israeli government initially claimed that none of its forces were present when the Rajab family was killed, later asserting that the 335 bullet holes found in the family’s car were the result of an exchange of fire between Israeli troops and armed Palestinian fighters.
However, a subsequent investigation of satellite imagery and audio from that day by the London-based research group Forensic Architecture identified only the presence of several Israeli Merkava tanks in the vicinity of the Rajab family’s car and no evidence of any exchange of fire.
The overall commander of the tanks present during the family’s killing was Colonel Beni Aharon of Israel’s 401 Armoured Brigade.
Colonel Aharon is already the subject of a criminal complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation, which uses social media footage captured by Israeli soldiers during operations in Gaza as the basis for war crimes prosecutions.
Third-time nominated
The Oscar nod is not the first industry recognition for Ben Hania or her film.
The director has twice been nominated for Academy Awards, for her 2020 film, The Man Who Sold His Skin and her 2023 documentary, Four Daughters.
The Voice of Hind Rajab won the Grand Jury Prize Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in September, where it received a 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere.
The 98th Academy Awards will take place on March 15 in Los Angeles, hosted by Conan O’Brien.
When Ben Zhou founded Bybit in 2018, he first had to convince his team that Bitcoin wasn’t a scam.
Eight years later, digital assets are now mainstream. Governments and traditional finance institutions are warming to cryptocurrencies, perhaps most dramatically shown by the U.S.’s passage of the GENIUS Act last year.
“The traditional world is embracing crypto,” Zhou, who leads the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, tells Fortune. “If they don’t embrace it, they will be obsolete, especially with crypto wallet adoption growing 20 to 30% each year.”
Currencies like stablecoins are becoming increasingly regulated, and can now be used for things like remittances and payments, Zhou adds. In 2025, over $18 trillion in transactions was settled in stablecoins, eclipsing total transactions on traditional payment platforms like Visa and Mastercard, according to crypto research firm Delphi Digital.
Cryptocurrency transactions are “faster and cheaper” than traditional bank transfers, Zhou argues. “If you rely on the existing infrastructure and transfer via SWIFT, it’s just too slow.”
Investment banks like Goldman Sachs are working to integrate tokenized assets in their trading and advisory operations, while payment providers like Visa and Mastercard are building partnerships with crypto exchanges like Bybit to issue payment cards which enable users to spend crypto holdings as fiat in real-time.
Crypto is going to be the “main driving force” behind traditional financial instruments like stocks and credit-default swaps within the next decade, Zhou argues. “Accessibility, connectivity and unification is really the beauty of this technology.”
Building Bybit
Before entering the crypto industry, Zhou worked as a Forex trader at financial brokerage XM, where he spent seven years as its China general manager. Back then, crypto was still niche. Many investors viewed it as a “pump and dump” scam, he recalls.
Zhou had an early interest in crypto, but found that platforms at the time were often overloaded whenever Bitcoin moved. He started Bybit in Shanghai, recruiting a team of about 15 software engineers from major Chinese tech firms like Tencent and Alibaba.
After China banned crypto mining and trading in 2021, Zhou relocated his team to Singapore; a year later, he moved again to Dubai, drawn by the UAE’s crypto-friendly regulations, including no taxation on crypto income or capital gains, and a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.
Today, Bybit operates globally in over 180 countries, though the platform doesn’t offer services in several others, including the U.S., Canada, China and Singapore.
Yet, safety challenges remain
Despite the finance industry’s overall optimism on cryptocurrency, challenges in ensuring safe transactions remain.
On Feb. 21, 2025, North Korean hackers stole $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum from Bybit in the largest crypto theft in history. The hack spooked Bybit’s customers, leading to “massive withdrawals,” Zhou said at the time.
The exchange launched an industry-first “Recovery Bounty Program,” which called on the global cybersecurity community to help trace and recover the stolen currency, offering 10% of the stolen funds as a reward. Bybit wasn’t able to recover the stolen funds, but it was able to secure financing to effectively restore its reserves.
Zhou says that, since the hack, Bybit has tightened its security measures, including using hardware security modules (HSMs), tamper-resistant physical devices that securely generate, stores, and manages cryptographic keys. “Unless there’s a physical break-in, no one will be able to touch tokens,” Zhou explains.
Still, the Bybit CEO admits that the fast pace of cryptocurrency transactions means that it’s hard to stop scams and thefts from happening. “If you lose money or get scammed, and are a customer of a bank, you can call the bank and they will be able to trace it,” he explains. Tracing stolen funds is still possible in crypto, but “everything moves so fast that by the time you get to it, the money is already gone.”
He remains upbeat, however, about the future of safety in the crypto industry. “Crypto infrastructure and technology are only increasing in abundance, and many more cybersecurity companies are joining the space.”
More countries have laid out regulatory frameworks for crypto companies like Bybit. For example, the EU rolled out the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in late 2024, which allows certified crypto providers to operate legally across the whole continent, instead of forcing companies to seek separate licenses from each individual country.
Zhou believes that enhanced regulation will pave the way for mainstream crypto adoption. He’s focused on European markets this year, as well as developing markets like Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Turkey and India, where demand for crypto is booming due to weak local currencies.
British actor Delroy Lindo says he was half-asleep when he found out he got his first Oscar nomination
Awards pundits were taken by surprise from the first two words spoken at the Oscar nominations on Thursday.
“Elle Fanning, for Sentimental Value,” said hosts Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman, as they kicked off the nominations with the best supporting actress category.
Fanning’s appearance got things off to a spicy start from the earliest possible moment – she had received praise for her performance in the Norwegian family drama but few had predicted a nomination.
The opening category set the tone for a string of snubs and surprises, which started coming thick and fast. Here are eight of the big takeaways.
1. Some hot favourites missed out
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Paul Mescal and Chase Infiniti were two of the day’s biggest acting snubs
Although Hamnet and One Battle After Another did well, both had a slightly softer showing than expected in the acting categories.
Paul Mescal missed out on a supporting actor nod for Hamnet – a surprising omission, although we’re confident it won’t have much impact on his co-star Jessie Buckley’s frontrunner status for best actress.
Meanwhile, four big actors from One Battle After Another were recognised, but its break-out star Chase Infiniti missed best actress despite being a red-hot contender.
It was an admittedly competitive category. But at 25 years old and with rave reviews for her performance in the film, we’re pretty sure we haven’t heard the last of her.
Other actors who had momentum but ended up missing included Jesse Plemons for Bugonia and Joel Edgerton for Train Dreams. But both of those movies made it into best picture – so the Academy clearly liked them overall.
2. F1 is a comfort-food movie
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F1, which stars Brad Pitt as a racing driver brought out of retirement, was the biggest surprise in the best picture category.
It wasn’t exactly an outsider – many awards pundits expected it to pick up several below-the-line nominations for its impressive technical achievements (we recommend watching the film in a cinema or with surround sound if you can).
But the fact that it had enough momentum to propel it into best picture was a real show of strength – especially without other major nominations in best director or the acting categories.
It shows the old guard of the Academy still appreciates traditional, well-made films that can simply be enjoyed with a bucket of popcorn.
3. Sinners were the big winners
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Ryan Coogler was nominated for best director, while Michael B Jordan is up for best actor
Sinners scored a record-breaking 16 nominations, flying way past the previous joint record holders La La Land, Titanic and All About Eve, which got 14 each.
Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror has done particularly well to maintain its momentum with voters, considering it was released last spring.
But it’s exactly the kind of film the Academy would want to recognise. Although vampire movies might not be traditional Oscars bait, Sinners was a real artistic achievement, blending genre horror with 1930s blues music against a backdrop of the Mississippi Delta.
Ariana Grande’s The Girl in the Bubble missed the original song category
The first Wicked film received 10 Oscar nominations and went on to win two. So it’s an extraordinary fall from grace for its sequel to have got zero.
This was largely expected, however. Wicked: For Good was far less well received than its predecessor – something it shares with the original musical.
The second act of the stage show is widely considered weaker than the first, partly because all the big hits appear before the interval.
But it was still thought that Wicked: For Good could get into some categories, with many predicting a best original song nomination for The Girl in the Bubble, a track performed by Ariana Grande that was newly added for the film adaptation.
There was better news for another blockbuster, Avatar: Fire and Ash, which at least managed a couple of technical nominations for visual effects and costume design.
Some of the most mainstream films can instead be found in the animated category. That’s where we find the $1.7bn-grossing Zootopia 2 (known as Zootropolis 2 in the UK) and viral streaming hit KPop Demon Hunters.
5. The Brits showed up
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In a year short on Brits, Sinners stars Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo both scored nominations
Sinners didn’t just score the highest number of nominations, it also delivered the only two Brits to be nominated in the acting categories.
Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo made it into best supporting actress and actor respectively.
While Mosaku’s was broadly expected, Lindo’s was more of a surprise, and his inclusion is perhaps one of the biggest indicators of how much love there clearly is for Sinners across the Academy.
Lindo narrowly missed a best actor nomination a few years ago for Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. The 73-year-old’s first ever Oscar nomination feels long overdue.
6. Several actresses carried their films to a nomination
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Left to right: Kate Hudson, Rose Byrne and Amy Madigan
Three of the actresses nominated on Thursday ended up being the only recognition their film received.
Rose Byrne was the sole representation for motherhood drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, while Kate Hudson made it in on her own for the touching musical love story Song Sung Blue.
Meanwhile, Weapons star Amy Madigan was nominated for her role as an eccentric aunt who shows up in a US town just before the local school children go missing.
Madigan’s nomination is perhaps the most impressive, given that jump-scare horror movies aren’t traditional Oscars fodder.
But the 75-year-old was a passion pick for many pundits and voters, and her fans have been campaigning hard for her to be recognised for her memorable (and slightly terrifying) performance.
7. New category is a mixed bag
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Sentimental Value missed a casting nomination despite four individual acting nods
The newly introduced casting category overlapped with many of the general frontrunners, with nominations for Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Sinners and The Secret Agent.
We can’t help but feel slightly bemused, however, that one other film in particular missed out.
Sentimental Value failed to score a casting nomination despite all four of its lead stars scoring individual nods – Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.
If that quartet was impressive enough to be nominated individually, you might’ve thought there was a good chance of recognition for the casting directors who put them together – Avy Kaufman and Yngvill Kolset Haga.
8. Timothée is even closer to greatness
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At the SAG Awards last year, Timothée Chalamet spoke about his desire to eventually be considered “one of the Hollywood greats”.
He’s a big step closer to that with the likelihood that he will win his first Oscar this year, as the clear frontrunner in best actor for table-tennis drama Marty Supreme.
Although he’s only been nominated twice before, Chalamet is popular with the Academy, having starred in a whopping eight best picture-nominated films.
He is also the youngest actor since Marlon Brando to receive three nominations for best leading actor. Brando was 30, the same age as Chalamet, when he got his third in 1954.
Timothée came close to a win last year for playing Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, but we’re confident that 2026 will be his time to reign supreme.
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