July 16 (UPI) — Mobile security company Lookout has found a new system that police departments in China use to extract data from confiscated phones.
The software is called Massistant, created by Chinese company Xiamen Meiya Pico, and it specializes in extracting different types of data, including private communications, multimedia files, geographical tracking records, voice recordings and contact databases. It can even extract messages on Signal.
“It’s a big concern,” said Kristina Balaam, the researcher for Lookout who performed the malware analysis. “I think anybody who’s traveling in the region needs to be aware that the device that they bring into the country could very well be confiscated and anything that’s on it could be collected.”
She found several posts on local Chinese forums in which people said they found the malware installed on their devices after interacting with the police.
“It seems to be pretty broadly used, especially from what I’ve seen in the rumblings on these Chinese forums,” Balaam said.
The malware must get installed on an unlocked device and works with a hardware tower connected to a desktop computer, according to a description and pictures of the system on Xiamen Meiya Pico’s website.
Chinese law on cell phone confiscation has expanded. Since 2024, Chinese security staff can examine electronic devices without a warrant or active criminal case. This is especially the case with border crossings.
“If somebody is moving through a border checkpoint and their device is confiscated, they have to grant access to it,” Balaam said.
Massistant leaves traces of its installation on the seized devices, so users can potentially detect and remove it by finding it on their devices or using Android Debug Bridge to remove the software. But Balaam warned that by the time Massistant is installed, it’s already too late and authorities have access to the user’s data.
She said that Massistant is just one of many spyware/malware created by Chinese surveillance tech companies, something she called “a big ecosystem.”
Syria’s defence ministry headquarters in central Damascus was hit by Israeli strikes
Israel’s military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus and government forces in southern Syria on Wednesday, as deadly sectarian fighting in the mostly Druze province of Suweida continued for a fourth day.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its forces were “working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime’s gangs”. The Syrian foreign ministry accused Israel of “treacherous aggression”.
More than 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, when clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was “very worried” about the violence in the south but believed it would end within hours.
“We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight,” he wrote on X on Wednesday evening.
Syria’s foreign ministry said the country “welcomes the efforts made by the US and Arabian sides” to “resolve the current crisis” peacefully.
Israel has not yet commented on the ceasefire bid.
Syrian troops have started to withdraw from Suweida, according to Syria’s state news agency Sana.
It says the military is leaving the city as part of an agreement between the Syrian government and the Suweida’s religious leaders, following the “completion of the army’s pursuit of outlaw groups”.
The Israeli military began striking Syrian security forces and their weapons on Monday, after they were deployed to the city of Suweida for the first time since Sunni Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Minority groups including the Druze – whose religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs – are suspicious of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government, despite his pledges to protect them.
Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past eight months, including one in May in which dozens of people were reportedly killed in clashes between Druze, security forces, and allied Islamist fighters in Damascus and Suweida.
In the wake of that fighting, the government reached an agreement with Druze militias to hire local security forces in Suweida province from their ranks.
Netanyahu has said he is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria because of their deep ties to those living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon that “the warnings in Damascus” had ended and that the Israeli military would “continue to operate vigorously in Suweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely”.
He later posted that “the painful blows have begun”, above a video clip showing a TV presenter diving under a desk live on camera as an Israeli air strike hit the nearby entrance to the Syrian defence ministry in Umayyad Square, in central Damascus.
Fadi Al Halabi, a London-based Syrian filmmaker who is visiting Damascus, said he was nearby when he heard the Israeli fighter jets approach.
“People’s faces were so afraid. Everyone started running [in] the street. No-one knew where to go. Suddenly the air strike[s] began, targeting some of the most crowded areas, including the ministry of defence,” he told the BBC.
The Israeli military said it also struck a “military target in the area” of the presidential palace in the capital, as well as armoured vehicles loaded with heavy machine guns and weapons on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.
Syria’s foreign ministry said the strikes targeted government institutions and civilian facilities in Damascus and Suweida and killed “several innocent civilians”.
“This flagrant assault, which forms part of a deliberate policy pursued by the Israeli entity to inflame tensions, spread chaos, and undermine security and stability in Syria, constitutes a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law,” it added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, meanwhile reported that the humanitarian situation in Suweida city had rapidly deteriorated.
It cited sources as saying there were clashes in several area of the city and that tanks had attacked the national hospital, causing panic among the scores of casualties from the fighting being treated there. They also said there were acute shortages of water and medical supplies.
Later, the Syrian health ministry said government forces had entered the hospital and found “dozens of bodies” after “outlaw groups withdrew”, according to the official Sana news agency.
A man named Hosam told the BBC he was in the centre of Suweida city and had witnessed civilians coming under fire from artillery and snipers.
“I lost my neighbour today on the street. One of the snipers shot him. We tried to [get an] ambulance [to take] him to hospital, but we couldn’t,” he said.
The SOHR says more than 300 people have been killed since Sunday in Suweida province.
They include 69 Druze fighters and 40 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.
At least 165 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, while 10 members of government forces have been killed in Israeli strikes, it says.
The BBC is not able to verify the SOHR’s casualty figures.
Reuters
The Syrian interior ministry said a ceasefire had been agreed on Wednesday night to end the fighting in Suweida city
The fighting between Bedouin tribes and Druze militias in Suweida is said to have been sparked by the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus last Friday.
On Sunday, armed Druze fighters reportedly encircled and later seized a neighbourhood of Suweida city that is inhabited by Bedouin. The clashes soon spread into other parts of Suweida province, with tribesmen reportedly launching attacks on nearby Druze towns and villages.
Syria’s interior ministry later announced that its forces and those of the defence ministry would intervene and impose order, saying the “dangerous escalation comes in light of the absence of relevant official institutions”.
Earlier this year, Israel’s prime minister demanded the complete demilitarisation of Suweida and two other southern provinces. He said Israel saw President Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a threat. HTS is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN and UK, but no longer by the US.
The Israeli military has already carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria to destroy the country’s military assets since the fall of the Assad regime.
And it has sent troops into the UN-monitored demilitarised buffer zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as well as several adjoining areas and the summit of Mount Hermon.
Land records are typically maintained by a combination of local, state and federal government agencies. Most deeds, mortgages, encroachments and other interests affecting the title to real property are recorded at the local level. Some counties still rely on fragmented and outdated systems that are paper-based or poorly digitized. Other jurisdictions offer online access to records to allow officials and the public to search property information, plats and transaction histories. Technology innovations, such as digitization, geographic information systems (GIS) and online search tools, are improving the accessibility, reliability and management of land records. Digitization of land records will be required to tokenize residential, commercial, or mixed-use properties and portfolios. Blockchain platforms and smart contracts will need to be developed and deployed to automate token issuance, transfers, distributions and governance.
Blockchain platforms are digital infrastructures that provide the tools and frameworks for building and managing applications that are decentralized, secure and transparent. They record data and transactions across a network of computers and employ protocols to validate transactions across the network. Once information is recorded, it cannot be altered retroactively. Most platforms support smart contracts or self-executing digital agreements that encode deal terms directly into computer code. These agreements automate processes and reduce the need for intermediaries, including attorneys, title companies, notaries and government officials. No single party controls the smart contract or its execution. Smart contracts should be secure, transparent and auditable to prevent manipulation and fraud. Once deployed, they can release funds, transfer digital assets or trigger notifications when specified conditions are met.
The tokenization of real estate involves a number of steps: (1) a property or portfolio is professionally appraised to determine its market value; (2) a special-purpose-legal entity (SPV) is formed to hold the title to the property or portfolio and comply with applicable laws; (3) tokens for the property are issued on a blockchain platform, typically representing fractional ownership or income rights; (4) smart contracts are encoded onto the blockchain platform to automate token issuance and transfers; (5) investor eligibility requirements are defined, and tokens are traded on compliant blockchain platforms to enable secondary-market trading; and (6) transparent record-keeping and governance is handled on the blockchain platform, with regular reporting to investors. Benefits of tokenization include cost efficiencies due to the elimination of intermediaries and trustworthiness due to a blockchain record that cannot be easily tampered with.
Teton County, Wyoming was the first county to implement a blockchain-based system for recording land titles and property records with Medici Land Governance, a subsidiary of Overstock.com (MLG) in 2019. The system is accessible through the clerk’s office and online GIS-ownership maps. It does not currently support property transfers or other transactions. Baltimore, Maryland’s blockchain land records pilot was launched in December 2023 and is focused on recording the city’s inventory of around 13,000 vacant properties. The pilot aims to streamline transactions, reduce title fraud and accelerate the rehabilitation of vacant homes. It was also developed in partnership with MLG, which is deploying similar systems globally, including in Tulum (Mexico), Liberia and Guyana.
RealIT acquires properties in the United States and globally and places each into an SPV. Ownership of the SPV is divided into digital tokens, each representing a fractional interest. Investors purchase these tokens to gain rights to a proportional share of rental income and equity in the property. These tokens are issued on the Ethereum-blockchain platform to ensure transparency, security and ease of transfer. All transactions are recorded on the blockchain to provide confidence to investors. Token holders have voting rights with respect to certain property-management decisions. RealIT partners with local management firms to attract tenants, collect rent and maintain the properties. Since ReaIT commenced its business activities in 2019, over 700 properties have been tokenized in the United States and three other countries.
Manifest uses blockchain technology to create new financial products (DeFi), especially in real estate. It has launched $USH, a tokenized-real-estate asset backed by investments in residential properties in the United States. This platform has expanded access to international investors, including in India. The growing list of companies offering platforms to enable fractional ownership of real estate in 2025 include Propy and AssetBlock in the United States, Polymath in Canada, SolidBlock in Israel, Brickblock in Germany and Antier Solutions in India.
Bergen County, New Jersey, recently announced the largest blockchain-based-land-record-management project in the United States. It entered into a five-year agreement with Balcony, a blockchain-technology firm, in early June. Over 370,000 deeds, representing around $240 billion in real-property value, will be digitized and migrated onto the Avalanche-blockchain platform supporting decentralized applications, smart contracts and a wide range of use cases, including the tokenization of real-world assets. The project will cover all of the municipalities in the county and serve nearly one million residents. The county anticipates that the project will dramatically reduce deed processing times and streamline real estate transactions. The new system will also be designed to improve municipal revenue collection and enhance public trust in official land records.
The Dubai Land Department (DLD) announced a multibillion-dollar-tokenization project to enable fractional ownership of real property in March of this year. This initiative was publicly launched on May 25 and is designed to transform property ownership by 2033, with tokenized assets projected to be valued at around $16 billion. DLD will collaborate with the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the Dubai Future Foundation and the UAE Central Bank. DLD’s platform (Prypco Mint) will be integrated with its traditional land-registry systems. As a result of this project, fractional ownership of real estate will be available to UAE residents and investments will start at around $540. International investors will have access in the future.
As noted above, jurisdictions tend to focus first on digitizing existing land records rather than a complete overhaul of legacy systems with blockchain technology. Bureaucratic resistance to change and opposition from potentially displaced intermediaries slows adoption. Integrating blockchain with legacy systems requires the development of standardized protocols to address risks, such as fraud and data fragmentation. Any transition to blockchain platforms requires substantial investments in infrastructure, training and public support, especially when communities distrust automated systems or government officials. Moreover, blockchain technology has limitations related to data storage, data integrity (if the historical data migrated over is not accurate), coding complexity, privacy features and processing speeds, and public and private networks can be hacked when access controls fail. Another significant concern is the evolving and currently insufficient regulatory framework surrounding the use of blockchain technology and smart contracts.
Notwithstanding these obstacles, the adoption of blockchain platforms to tokenize real estate appears to be gaining traction. Regulatory-compliant solutions should be favored by large and small investors. Tokenization will expand beyond residential and commercial buildings to include data centers and other infrastructure. Citi Ventures has noted that tokenized real estate could serve as an alternative to REITs because it is more transparent, has lower fees and improved liquidity, with a broader reach to medium-income investors.
There’s a common refrain in the autism community: “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Dozens of behaviors and characteristics are linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and no two people experience it the same way.
Now, a new study published in Nature Genetics expands the contours of the autism spectrum by identifying four clinically and biologically distinct subtypes of the condition.
“The research highlights that there are indeed different types of autism that carry different clinical, genetic, and biological profiles,” says the study’s coauthor Jennifer Foss-Feig, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
“When someone with autism or their caregiver wonders how two people with autism can be quite so different — in development, in symptoms, or in support needs — this research suggests that it’s because they are different,” explains Dr. Foss-Feig, who serves as the vice president and senior scientific officer at the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI).
4 New Autism Subtypes
Autism is characterized by a range of characteristics related to difficulties with social communication and interaction, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors, activities, and interests. These characteristics can vary in intensity and presentation from person to person.
“They may have different subtypes of what we currently lump together as autism spectrum disorder,” Foss-Feig says.
The new research analyzed data from more than 5,000 autistic children ages 4 to 18 in SPARK, a nationwide cohort study collecting and tracking genetic and clinical presentations via questionnaires filled out by their parents.
Using a person-centered analysis, researchers considered more than 230 traits, including social interactions, repetitive behaviors, and developmental milestones. Then they used a computational model to group individuals based on trait clusters.
The analysis identified four subtypes — each with distinct developmental, medical, behavioral, and psychiatric traits, as well as genetic and biological patterns, says study coauthor Olga Troyanskaya, PhD, director of Princeton Precision Health and a professor at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University in New Jersey.
The study is an important step in understanding autism’s genetic relationships and the potential for personalized treatments, Dr. Troyanskaya says. “This is a major advance,” she adds, showing how biological differences could relate to someone’s individual autism presentation.
“This is important research because it’s another brick in the wall of building the foundation of answering important questions” about autism, says Raymond Romanczyk, PhD, a psychology professor and co-director of the Institute for Child Development at Binghamton University in New York, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
Here’s an overview of the subtypes:
Social and Behavioral Challenges
This group made up 37 percent of study participants. Children in this group had social challenges and repetitive behaviors, but generally reached developmental milestones similarly to children without autism. They also typically had co-occurring conditions like ADHD, anxiety, depression, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Mixed ASD With Developmental Delay
This group represented about 19 percent of participants. These children usually reached developmental milestones like walking and talking later than children without autism. However, they didn’t exhibit signs of anxiety, depression, or disruptive behaviors. Some experienced repetitive behaviors and social challenges.
Moderate Challenges
Representing about 34 percent of study participants, this group showed core autism behaviors, but not as strongly as other groups. They also usually reached developmental milestones on a similar timeline to children without autism and didn’t have co-occurring psychiatric conditions.
Broadly Affected
This group accounted for 10 percent of study participants. These individuals experienced more severe and wide-ranging challenges, such as developmental delays, social and communication difficulties, repetitive behaviors, and co-occurring psychiatric conditions, including anxiety, depression, and mood dysregulation.
Each Autism Subtype Had Distinct Genetic Features
There is no single known cause of autism. While there are likely many causes, scientists know that genetics play a role. Currently, though, genetic causes can only be identified in about 20 percent of cases.
The new study linked the four subtypes to distinct types of genetic mutations and biological pathways.
“If we know what types of genes are affected and when and where they’re expressed, then we learn more about the biology underlying different types of autism,” Foss-Feig says. “This is key to the goal of precision medicine, where treatments can be tailored — or foregone — based on knowing more about the individual’s genetics, development, and clinical profile.”
For example, children in the Broadly Affected group had the most non-inherited genetic variation in autism-related genes, Foss-Feig says, whereas kids in the Mixed ASD with Developmental Delay group had the most inherited rare variants associated with autism. In other words, children in these two groups shared some symptomatic traits — but, their genetic differences suggest the biological mechanisms behind their autism traits aren’t the same.
This is significant, Dr. Romanczyk says, because it highlights that there is “not just one thing” that potentially causes autism. He hopes that the study will help further dispel misinformation about autism causes, such as the incorrect assertion that it’s linked to childhood vaccines.
The Study Does Have Limitations
The current study included autistic children ages 4 to 18, with an average age of 8.5. Troyanskaya says a “follow-up investigating these stubtypes in adults would be very interesting.”
While the study could set a foundation for how autism is diagnosed and treated in a more personalized way in the future, Roth says more research is needed.
“As with any early-stage research, the findings from this study will need to be replicated in large-scale and more diverse populations — as well as supplemented with objective, clinician-reported data, not just parental reports,” she adds.
There Could Be More Autism Types
While the study defined four subtypes of autism, researchers say it doesn’t mean there are only four groups, Foss-Feig says.
“As more data become available, especially with more detailed clinical information about individuals’ development, growth, and challenges over time, I expect these subtypes will become more refined and additional subtypes will emerge,” she explains.
This research provides a framework for identifying additional subtypes, Foss-Feig says.
“These subtypes align with a view of autism as a complex, multidimensional condition rather than a simple line of severity,” Troyanskaya says. “The subtypes each represent unique sets of traits, with the biology of autism that the field has previously identified ‘dividing’ into parts among these subtypes.”
The research is a “step forward” in how autism is understood, including how underlying genetic variations could account for the “diversity across the spectrum,” says Kristyn Roth, chief marketing officer of the nonprofit advocacy group Autism Society of America.
“Autism is not one singular experience, but a highly variable spectrum with different presentations, strengths, challenges, and support needs,” she says.
Knowing more about autism subtypes will help clinicians make more accurate diagnoses that better account for an individual’s unique development and symptoms, Foss-Feig says. And, if clinicians have information about a patient’s genetics, it could offer clues into the most appropriate diagnosis and symptoms to pay attention to.
“Down the road, the hope is that more precise diagnoses will map to more precise treatment and support plans,” she explains.
A&O Shearman advised Igneo Infrastructure Partners (Igneo) on its acquisition of Infinity Aviation Group, a leading fixed base operator (FBO) platform which operates a portfolio of on-airport assets at Boire Field (KASH), a public-use general aviation airport located in New Hampshire. The acquired assets include hangarage, line services, and fueling operations, supporting a broad range of aviation, business, and air cargo customers across the U.S.
Igneo is a global infrastructure investment manager with USD20.5 billion in assets under management, recognized for its investment in high quality, mature, mid-market infrastructure companies and its commitment to building platform businesses. This transaction marks Igneo’s first investment in the North American aviation sector, its sixth platform investment in North America, and its eighth global investment in transportation and logistics.
The multi-disciplinary aspect of the transaction—led by the Energy and Infrastructure team with key support from the Employment, Environment Health and Safety, and Tax teams— demonstrates A&O Shearman’s ability to service a wide range of issues within one firm.
“This deal showcases our depth and breadth of advising on complex infrastructure transactions in strategic sectors,” said Jillian Ashley, A&O Shearman Energy & Infrastructure partner. “Our team’s sector expertise and commercial insight enabled us to provide tailored legal counsel to Igneo as they expand their North American portfolio and invest in the future of aviation infrastructure.”
Supporting the transaction were Energy and Infrastructure associates Nisim (Niso) Matari and Aigul Gaisin, and law clerk Claire Hill. Specialist advice was provided by partner Ken Rivlin and associates Jake Ely and Olivia Kreft on environmental and sanctions matters; partner Brian Jebb and associates Hayde Faria and Alexandra Sentner on employment and compensation aspects; partner Caroline Lapidus, counsel Kara Altman, and associate Amirah Loury on tax; and partner Adam Sofen on real estate.
PHILADELPHIA, July 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC) announced today that its board of directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of 58 cents per share, payable on October 16, 2025, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 30, 2025.
About FMC
FMC Corporation is a global agricultural sciences company dedicated to helping growers produce food, feed, fiber and fuel for an expanding world population while adapting to a changing environment. FMC’s innovative crop protection solutions – including biologicals, crop nutrition, digital and precision agriculture – enable growers and crop advisers to address their toughest challenges economically while protecting the environment. FMC is committed to discovering new herbicide, insecticide and fungicide active ingredients, product formulations and pioneering technologies that are consistently better for the planet. Visit fmc.com to learn more and follow us on LinkedIn®.
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We specifically decline to undertake any obligation, and specifically disclaims any duty, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements that have been made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping will welcome several new and already famous faces into the fold of the world based on the books by Suzanne Collins.
The film, based on Collins’ newest prequel novel, will tell Haymitch Abernathy’s story. Haymitch competed in the second annual Quarter Quell, the 50th Hunger Games, and each of those anniversary competitions come with an added wrinkle to the Reaping. For Haymitch and his fellow tributes, there were twice the amount of children selected to compete in the arena.
RELATED: Everything We Know About The ‘Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping’ Movie So Far
Haymitch’s story will bridge that of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Collins’ original trilogy, introducing younger versions of many already beloved characters as well as some never seen before. Find the full cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping and their counterparts from previous films below:
Joseph Zada As Haymitch Abernathy
Image Credit: Everett/Hugh Stewart
Joseph Zada won the role of a younger Haymitch Abernathy, whose Hunger Games are the subject of Suzanne Collins’ latest prequel novel. Zada is no stranger to book adaptations, as he recently starred as Johnny Sinclair in Prime Video’s YA hit show We Were Liars, based on the book by E. Lockhart, as well as in Invisible Boys based on Holden Sheppard’s novel.
Harrelson is known for playing Detective Marty Hart in True Detective, Mickey in Natural Born Killers (1994), Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Willoughbey in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird
Image Credit: Kate Whyte
Whitney Peak will play Lenore Dove Baird, Haymitch’s love interest and a descendant of the covey, possibly even Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird.
Peak is known for playing Judith in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Stella in Molly’s Game (2017), Gillian in Campfire Kiss (2017) and Alpha Jessica in Home Before Dark. She also played Zoya Lott in HBO’s reboot of Gossip Girl as well as Becca in Hocus Pocus 2 (2022).
McKenna Grace as Maysilee Donner
Image Credit: Gus Black
McKenna Grace will portray Maysilee Donner, a fellow District 12 tribute in the doubled up number of the 50th Quarter Quell games with Haymitch. In the book, Maysilee does have a twin, Merrilee Donner.
Grace is known for playing Mary in Gifted (2016), Esther Keyes in The Handmaid’s Tale, Phoebe Spengler in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) and Tonya from 8 to 12 years old in I, Tonya (2017).
Ralph Fiennes as President Snow
Ralph Fiennes, who is no stranger to villains, will portray President Coriolanus Snow, who was played in the original first four films by the late Donald Sutherland and later in a more recent prequel film centering his origin story based on Collins’ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Tom Blyth.
Fiennes is most well-known for playing Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film franchise. He is also known for portraying Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List (1993), Justin Quayle in The Constant Gardner, M. Gustave in The Grand Budapeste Hotel (2014) and Caius Martius Coriolanus in Coriolanus (2011). He was recently Oscar-nominated for his starring role of Lawrence in Conclave (2024), and he appeared as Dr. Kelson in 28 Years Later (2025). He frequently works with Wes Anderson.
Sutherland, who passed away in June 2024, was known for playing John Klute in Klute (1971) and Mr. Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005) among many more roles.
And Tom Blyth has appeared in HBO’s The Gilded Age as well as Billy the Kid. He will soon star as Alex Nilsen in Netflix’s film adaptation of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation coming to the streamer in January.
Kelvin Harrison Jr. As Beetee Latier
Image Credit: Everett/Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Kelvin Harrison Jr. will portray a younger version of Beetee Latier, who first appeared in Catching Fire played by Jeffrey Wright. Beetee is an engineer and very smart.
Harrison Jr. recently voiced Taka aka Scar in Disney’s live-action The Lion King prequel Mufasa: The Lion King (2024). He also played B.B. King in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (2022), Tyler in Waves (2019) and Travis in It Comes At Night (2017).
Wright recently appeared as Isaac Dixon in The Last of Us Season 2. He is also known for starring as Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison in American Fiction (2023), as Roebuck Wright in The French Dispatch (2021), as Winston in Broken Flowers (2005) and as Lt. James Gordon in The Batman (2022).
Jesse Plemons as Plutarch
Image Credit: Everett/Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Jesse Plemons will play Plutarch Heavensbee, portrayed in three of the four first films by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Plemons recently starred as Robert in what’s his Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness (2024). He also appeared as a Soldier in Alex Garland’s Civil War (2024). More recent appearances include Zero Day, in which he played Roger Carlson, and Black Mirror in which he played Robert Daly.
Hoffman is known for playing Truman Capote in Capote (2005), Phil Parma in Magnolia (1999) and Andy in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007). Hoffman and Plemons worked together on Paul Thomas Anderson’s film The Master (2012) with Plemons playing Val Dodd, son of Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd.
Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket
Image Credit: Everett/Kristy Sparow/Getty Images
Elle Fanning will take on the bubbly Effie Trinket, portrayed by Elizabeth Banks in the four films. Effie coordinated the etiquette training in a way for District 12 in the first four films.
Elle Fanning, sister of actress Dakota Fanning, is known for playing Alice Dainard in Super 8 (2011), Jesse in The Neon Demon (2016), Aurora in Maleficent (2014) and Cleo in Somewhere (2010). She also recently starred as Sylvie Russo in A Complete Unknown (2024), and she is known for playing Catherine in Hulu’s The Great. She will also soon appear in Apple TV+’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles.
Banks just recently starred in The Better Sister on Prime Video alongside Jessica Biehl. She is also known for playing Melinda Ledbetter in Love & Mercy (2018) and for voicing Wyldstyle in The Lego Movie (2014).
Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman
Image Credit: Getty Images / Everett Collection
Kieran Culkin will take on the role of Caesar Flickerman, who was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in The Hunger Games films.
Culkin is known for his Emmy-winning performance as Roman Roy in HBO’s Succession, and he won an Oscar for his role as Benji Kaplan in A Real Pain (2024). He is the brother of Macauley Culkin, and he appeared in Home Alone and Home Alone 2 as Fuller.
Tucci is known for his roles in films like The Lovely Bones (2009), The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Julie and Julia (2009). He will return to reprise his role of Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada 2. He also recently appeared as Bellini alongside Ralph Fiennes in Conclave (2024).
Lili Taylor will portray a younger version of Mags, played by Lynn Cohen in 2013’s Catching Fire. Mags is from District 4.
Taylor is known for playing Anne Blaine in American Crime and Carolyn Perron in The Conjuring. She also recently appeared in the final two episodes of Poker Face Season 2 as SAC Darville.
Cohen is known for playing Lillian House in Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Golda Meir in Munich (2005), Mrs. Wierzbowski in Eagle Eye (2008) and Sarah Simkin in The Cobbler (2014).
Maya Hawke as Wiress
Image Credit: Everett/Getty Images
Maya Hawke will portray a younger version of Wiress, who was portrayed by Amanda Plummer in Catching Fire.
Hawke, the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, is known for playing Robin Buckley in Stranger Things, Heather in Fear Street: Part One – 1994 (2021) and for playing Eleanor in Netflix’s Do Revenge (2022). She also more recently voiced Anxiety in Inside Out 2 (2024).
Plummer is known for playing Lydia Sinclair in The Fisher King (1991), Honey Bunny in Pulp Fiction (1994) alongside Hawke’s mother Thurman, and for playing Abigail Harm in Abigail Harm (2012). She also more recently appeared as Vadic in Star Trek: Picard.
21st Annual Unforgettable Gala
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 16: Ben Wang attends the 21st Annual Unforgettable Gala at The Beverly Hilton on December 16, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
Glenn Close will portray Drusilla Sickle, the escort to the District 12 tributes before Effie assumed the role. She is married to Billy Porter’s Magno Stift.
Close is known for playing Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987), Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Nova Prime in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Joan Castleman in The Wife (2017).
2025 BAFTA Television Awards With P&O Cruises – Special Access Arrivals
Image Credit: Jeff Spicer/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA
Billy Porter will portray Magno Stift, estranged husband to Drusilla Sickle and uninspired fashion designer.
Porter is known for playing Pray Tell in Pose, the Fabulous Godmother in Cinderella (2021) and Taylor in The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000).
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 is just around the corner, and the warm-up matches are set to begin on September 25 across four venues in Bengaluru and Colombo. A total of nine practice games will be played over four days, featuring all eight qualified teams.
The warm-up schedule, running from September 25 to 28, will see teams fine-tuning their strategies ahead of the main tournament, which starts on September 30 and concludes on November 2 in India. Each team will play at least two warm up matches, except Australia, who have only one fixture scheduled against England on September 27.
The matches will be held at
The action begins on September 25 with a clash between 2017 finalists India and England in Bengaluru, while South Africa takes on New Zealand at the same time. Over in Colombo, Sri Lanka faces Pakistan, and Bangladesh meets Sri Lanka ‘A’.
On September 27, Australia’s sole warm-up game against England headlines the day, alongside India vs. New Zealand and Sri Lanka vs. Bangladesh. The final round of warm-ups on September 28 will feature South Africa against India ‘A’ and Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka ‘A’.
A Sneak peek into the Tournament’s Legacy
The Women’s ODI World Cup has a rich history, dating back to 1973, two years before the men’s tournament began. The inaugural event, held in England, was a groundbreaking moment for women’s cricket, thanks to pioneers like Rachael Heyhoe Flint and Sir Jack Hayward.
England claimed the first title by defeating Australia in a decisive match at Edgbaston, with Enid Bakewell emerging as the tournament’s top scorer.
Over the decades, the competition has grown significantly, overcoming early challenges like limited participation and funding.
Australia and England have dominated, with seven and four titles respectively, while New Zealand joined the winners’ circle in 2000. The 2022 edition saw Australia triumph over England, continuing their recent dominance.
Why Warm up Matches Matters
The warm up matches are more than just practice , they offer teams a chance to adapt to conditions and test combinations before the main event. For newer squads like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, these games are crucial for gaining experience against top-tier opponents.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of India ‘A’ and Sri Lanka ‘A’ provides additional competitive opportunities, reflecting the ICC’s push for deeper talent development.
Games Workshop’s ongoing, fraught relationship with conservative elements of its Warhammer fanbase has led to increasing flashpoints whenever the miniatures maker has attempted to diversify the worldbuilding of its beloved tabletop game. But one lingering back-and-forth among fans simmering long before Games Workshop found itself in the crossfires of the culture war has been brought into light again thanks to the latest edition of one of its games: whether or not a female Space Marine could exist.
Last week Games Workshop opened pre-orders for the third edition of Horus Heresy, a Warhammer spinoff tabletop game set during the titular civil war, 10,000 years before the ongoing events of Warhammer 40K. Inspired by the beloved book series of the same name, Horus Heresy lets players live out the conflict between the loyal forces of the Imperium of Man and the Traitor Legions that fell to the corruption of Chaos under the sway of Horus Lupercal, the primarch of the Luna Wolves Space Marines who turned against the Emperor.
But as reviews and access to the new rulebooks for the latest edition have gotten into players hands, so too have they discovered that Games Workshop has rolled back specific mentions of gender when it comes to the process of creating a Space Marine as described in the lore within the new rulebook. As Wargamer reports, a sidebar section of the new rule book describing the Space Marine creation process titled “Process of Initiation” no longer explicitly acknowledges the necessity of gender for potential recruits
Although, of course, vague—the new rulebook does not go so far as to mention the possibility of female Marines but simply removes any discussion of gender from the process entirely—it stands in stark contrast to the rulebook for the game’s second edition released in 2022, which was criticized by progressives at the time for its specific notation that the creation of a Space Marine requires the “hormonal and biological make-up of the human male,” for its parallels to transphobic language around trans identities.
Putting aside the fact that this is a heavily fictionalized process, the creation of a Space Marine has always been a transhumanist idea regardless of any particular gender binary, even if Warhammer‘s world has, up to this point, kept Space Marines as masculine identities in both the fiction around 40K and the miniatures it offers.
The process of elevating a human into a Space Marine relies on chemical, hormonal, and surgical transformation, adding extra organs and increasing the physical density and strength of their bodies to become a superhuman ideal. Even though the science behind it is fiction, there is nothing inherently gendered about it despite what the previous edition stated. If anything, it’s easy to see why fans have expressed interest in seeing female Marines or reading allegories of trans identity into them.
The question of whether or not female-presenting Space Marines could be possible in Warhammer 40K‘s setting, then, has been the topic of debate for fans for a long time, well before Horus Heresy‘s rulebooks clumsily waded in and out of that debate in the last few years. Games Workshop has, outside of that 2022 rulebook, had a hands-off approach to that debate themselves, largely leaving the Space Marines, 40K‘s most popular faction (and the face of the company, for better or worse), out of its attempts to diversify its storytelling and model offerings. Instead, it’s simply been left open to players themselves to come up with their own custom miniatures and headcanons to incorporate female forces into their own imaginings of the Adeptus Astartes.
The closest Games Workshop itself arguably came to advancing the matter in an official capacity came last year when it introduced a female member of the Emperor’s personal guard, the Adeptus Custodes (a faction that is distinct from, but adjacent to, the Space Marines), for the first time in Warhammer fiction. The addition—alongside a statement from Games Workshop declaring that female Custodes had always existed despite a lack of representation in either the fiction or in physical tabletop product in an official capacity—centered the company as a target of right-wing cultural commentators eager to present the choice as a capitulation to “wokeness.”
It was the latest in a series of recent examples that strained Games Workshop’s reconciliation of its own progressive values and ideas as a company with segments of its audience that do not see Warhammer 40K‘s grim, dark future as the satire of conservative and authoritarian politics that the company has long struggled to communicate the intent of. But the decision to explicitly remove the gendered language from the latest edition of Horus Heresy at least indicates the company’s desire to continue making steps to reflect the broader diversity of Warhammer‘s player base in spite of these struggles with its complicated legacy in the culture war.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Image by Ashling Wahner & MJH Life Sciences Using AI
Domvanalimab in combination with zimberelimab and FOLFOX (leucovorin, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin) was active with no new safety signals in patients with untreated locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric, gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), or esophageal adenocarcinoma, according to findings from the phase 2 EDGE-Gastric trial (NCT05329766).1 In light of these findings, investigators initiated the phase 3 STAR-221 trial (NCT05568095), which is comparing domvanalimab plus zimberelimab and chemotherapy with nivolumab (Opdivo) plus chemotherapy in the same patient population.2
“Domvanalimab is an [anti]-TIGIT monoclonal antibody,” Zev A. Wainberg, MD, a professor of medicine at UCLA and the codirector of the UCLA GI Oncology Program in Los Angeles, California, explained in an interview with OncLive®. “TIGIT is a checkpoint that is primarily on immune cells and blocking it leads to enhanced immune activation [and] also engages tumor-associated macrophages. The idea behind blocking TIGIT is that it works in concert with a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor [such as] zimberelimab.”
EDGE-Gastric Provides Proof of Concept for Domvanalimab Combination
Arm A1 of EDGE-Gastric enrolled treatment-naive patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric, GEJ, or esophageal adenocarcinoma.1 Eligible patients also needed to have measurable disease per RECIST 1.1 criteria, and an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1. Patients with HER2-positive tumors were excluded. Enrollment was permitted irrespective of PD-L1 levels.
All patients received domvanalimab at 1600 mg and zimberelimab at 480 mg; both agents were administered every 4 weeks. FOLFOX was given every 2 weeks. Treatment continued until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
The coprimary end points of EDGE-Gastric were overall response rate (ORR) and safety. Secondary end points included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), disease control rate, and duration of response (DOR); these end points were evaluated in PD-L1 expression subgroups. Pharmacokinetic and biomarker data were also collected as secondary end points.
At the March 12, 2024, data cutoff, findings from EDGE-Gastric presented during the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting demonstrated that the confirmed ORR among all patients who received the combination (n = 41) was 59% (95% CI, 42%-74%), including a complete response (CR) rate of 7%. The median DOR was 12.4 months (95% CI, 9.9-not evaluable [NE]).
Patients with a PD-L1 tumor area positivity (TAP) score of at least 5% (n = 16) achieved a confirmed ORR of 69% (95% CI, 41%-89%) with a CR rate of 6%. These respective rates were 50% (95% CI, 29%-71%) and 4% among patients with a PD-L1 TAP of less than 5% (n = 24). The median DORs among patients with a TAP of at least 5% and less than 5% were NE (95% CI, 11.5-NE) and 10.2 months (95% CI, 4.0-12.4), respectively.
The median PFS in the overall population was 12.9 months (95% CI, 9.8-13.8) and the 12-month PFS rate was 58% (95% CI, 42%-74%). The median PFS values in the patient subgroups with TAP scores of at least 5% and less than 5% were 13.8 months (95% CI, 11.3-NE) and 11.3 months (95% CI, 5.5-13.8), respectively. The respective 12-month PFS rates were 69% (95% CI, 46%-92%) and 47% (95% CI, 25%-69%).
“EDGE-Gastric is the largest dataset [of] FOLFOX plus domvanalimab and zimberelimab in [this patient population],” Wainberg said. “[Data from] the study showed a very high response rate of 59% in the overall population, [which included] patients with a PD-L1 TAP of less than 5%. The median PFS [in the overall cohort] was 12.9 months. I believe these [efficacy] signals warrant further investigation.”
In terms of safety, any-grade treatment-emergent adverse effects (TEAEs) and TEAEs related to any study drug occurred at rates of 100% and 98%, respectively. Grade 3 or higher TEAEs were reported at a rate of 73%, including 15% that were related to domvanalimab/zimberelimab and 59% that were related to FOLFOX. Notably, no serious TEAEs related to domvanalimab/zimberelimab occurred; overall, serious TEAEs were reported in 37% of patients. TEAEs resulting in study drug discontinuation, dose modifications or interruptions, or death occurred in 66%, 85%, and 2% of patients, respectively.
The most common grade 1 or 2 TEAEs included nausea (59%), fatigue (27%), diarrhea (27%), and thrombocytopenia (27%). Common grade 3 or higher TEAEs included neutropenia (51%), anemia (12%), and thrombocytopenia (7%).
In May 2025, Arcus Biosciences announced that OS data from EDGE-Gastric will be presented at a medical meeting in the fall of 2025.3
“There have been preceding data that [showed] some activity, both with FOLFOX plus domvanalimab and zimberelimab, as well as with other TIGIT antibodies in [patients with] esophageal cancers. We have seen some preliminary activity that justifies the need for a phase 3 trial,” Sam Klempner, MD, a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in an interview with OncLive®.
STAR-221 Aims to Confirm Benefit of Domvanalimab Plus Zimberelimab and Chemotherapy
STAR-221 is an open-label, multicenter study that is examining domvanalimab and zimberelimab plus chemotherapy in approximately 1040 adult patients with treatment-naive locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric, GEJ, or esophageal adenocarcinoma (Figure).2,4 Eligible patients must also have an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1 and at least 1 measurable lesion per RECIST 1.1 criteria. Those with HER2-positive disease, clinically significant cardiovascular disease, untreated, symptomatic, or actively progressing central nervous system metastases, or disease progression within 6 months of completion of neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy are excluded from the study.
Patients will be randomly assigned 1:1 to the investigational or active comparator arm. In the investigational arm, patients will receive domvanalimab at 1600 mg and zimberelimab at 480 mg once every 4 weeks in combination with FOLFOX every 2 weeks or domvanalimab at 1200 mg and zimberelimab at 360 mg plus CAPOX (capecitabine and oxaliplatin) every 3 weeks. In the active comparator arm, patients will receive nivolumab at 240 mg and FOLFOX every 2 weeks or nivolumab at 360 mg and CAPOX every 3 weeks.
“The comparator arm is an active combination, and it’s probably our best standard for this patient population,” Klempner commented. “I don’t believe there is a more active control arm that could have been [selected], so that was not a barrier to accrual. The trial is fully accrued, and we’re awaiting the readout.”
The primary end point is OS. Secondary end points include PFS, ORR, DOR, safety, and time to first symptom deterioration according to the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Gastric subscale.
The estimated primary completion date is December 2026. In May 2025, Arcus Biosciences announced that the first data readout from STAR-221 is expected in 2026.3
“If [STAR-221] meets its primary end point and shows a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in OS, I believe [this regimen] would become the de facto standard of care in patients with newly diagnosed disease,” Wainberg said. “However, there will be some nuance in [terms of] which patients [are best suited for this regimen]. We acknowledge that checkpoint inhibitors should be used primarily in patients with a PD-L1 expression of greater than one. It will be important for us not just to prove that the study met its primary end point in the intent-to-treat [population], but also in the cohorts in which checkpoint inhibitors are the standard [of care].”
References
Janjigian YY, Oh DY, Pelster M, et al. EDGE-Gastric arm A1: phase 2 study of domvanalimab, zimberelimab, and FOLFOX in first-line (1L) advanced gastroesophageal cancer. Presented at: 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting; May 31 to June 4, 2024; Chicago, Illinois. Abstract 433248.
A clinical trial of a new combination treatment, domvanalimab and zimberelimab, plus chemotherapy, for people with an upper gastrointestinal tract cancer that cannot be removed with surgery that has spread to other parts of the body (STAR-221). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated June 26, 2025. Accessed July 15, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05568095
Arcus Biosciences reports first-quarter 2025 financial results and provides a pipeline update. News release. Arcus Biosciences. May 6, 2025. Accessed July 15, 2025. https://investors.arcusbio.com/investors-and-media/press-releases/press-release-details/2025/Arcus-Biosciences-Reports-First-Quarter-2025-Financial-Results-and-Provides-a-Pipeline-Update/default.aspx
Klempner SJ, Shitara K, Sison A, et al. STAR-221: a randomized, open-label, multicenter, phase 3 trial of domvanalimab, zimberelimab, and chemotherapy versus nivolumab and chemotherapy in previously untreated, locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic gastric, gastroesophageal junction, and esophageal adenocarcinoma. J Clin Oncol. 2023;41(suppl 16):TPS4206. doi:10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.TPS4206
