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Deadline for Class Members to Object to ISL vs. FINA Lawsuit Extended to December 30th
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
A third-party settlement administrator for the Shields, et al. v. Federation Internationale de Natation lawsuit has begun collecting objections from members of the class settlement in the lawsuit against the global swimming governing body.
Members of the class are entitled to a share of a $4.6 million settlement reached between World Aquatics (formerly FINA) and the athletes who participated in the International Swimming League.
Of that, $1,127.084 will be used to resolve the claims of 2018 Damages Settlement Class, athletes who were supposed to participate in the one-off ISL precursor event that year that was eventually cancelled under pressure from FINA; the remaining $3.5 million resolves the claims of the 2019 Damages Settlement Class who participated in the 2019 ISL season.
The suit was led by named plaintiffs Tom Shields and Katinka Hosszu, though it was the league’s ownership and management who drove and funded most of the legal action.
Verita Global has been ascribed to manage the settlement, and athletes have until December 30, 2025.
“This lawsuit dates back to the previous management of FINA, and, regrettably, it has dragged on for so many years,” said World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam said at the time of announcing the settlement. “However, I am pleased that we are finally able to step in and provide this significant sum of money for the swimmers, many of whom were badly let down. I do not believe that it would have been fair for our athletes to continue to suffer financially, and this settlement ensures that the swimmers are fully compensated and reflects World Aquatics’ continuing commitment to the development of the sport of swimming and support for swimming athletes around the world.”
A separate lawsuit between the International Swimming League (ISL) and World Aquatics will move forward, with a jury trial scheduled to run for eight days from January 12-27, 2026 (though the trial has been rescheduled several times).
The ISL is reportedly hoping that the outcome of that trial will help pay its bills after recently announcing its intention to return to active competition in 2026 or 2027. The league still owes money to several athletes who competed in its last season in 2021.
The ISL in August voluntarily dismissed its $7.2 million suit against its attorney Neil Goteiner after that case was stayed pending the settlement of the two suits against FINA (World Aquatics). That case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning that it could be brought again in the future.
Both antitrust cases were initially filed in 2018, with the athletes accusing World Aquatics (then FINA) of restricting them from competing in outside competitions and the ISL alleging that by threatening sanctions to the swimmers, World Aquatics hurt its ability to attract top swimmers and thrive as competition in the market.
The suit alleges that the 2018 Energy for Swim meet in Turin, Italy, was canceled due to the restrictions put in place by World Aquatics. The swimmers claim they were denied at least $3.3 million in appearance fees and prize money for both the 2018 Energy for Swim competition and subsequent events the ISL could have held if World Aquatics hadn’t gotten in the way.
The ISL ran for three seasons, beginning with a seven-meet schedule in 2019 before hosting expanded 13- and 18-event schedules in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, the league canceled its fourth season following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and never resumed operations. Many athletes say they still have not received their full promised payouts from the league.
In the long-running lawsuit led by Shields and Hosszu, a lower court ruled in favor of World Aquatics in January 2023, but the ISL and Shields, Hosszu, and co. filed a joint appeal that June to reverse the ruling.
In September 2024, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 3-0 ruling that the groups provided sufficient allegations to let their antitrust cases move forward against World Aquatics.
In December, the ISL sued the law firm Farella Braun + Martel in San Francisco Superior Court, accusing the firm of professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of implied contract, and unfair business practices in its antitrust case against World Aquatics.
Who Benefits?
While the details of the distribution of settlement funds were not released, and there is no full roster of the canceled 2018 event, we do know the identity of athletes who competed in the 2019 season – which includes most of the known names committed to the canceled 2018 event.
In total, 251 swimmers scored at least 1 point in the 2019 season.
A simple equal-share distribution among those athletes would amount to about $14,000 per athlete, though Shields and Hosszu, at a minimum, would likely receive a bigger share as the named plaintiffs.
A court-approved distribution method includes an analysis by “Plaintiffs’ economic expert’s damages calculations and class membership.”
World Aquatics in its release about the lawsuit boasted $7.1 million in prize money paid to swimmers in 2024, with athletes collectively earning $11.1 million at AQUA events that year. Both are the highest in the organization’s 116-year history.
Additional Settlement Injunction
Per attorneys Winston & Strawn, which represents the plaintiffs in the case:
As a term of the settlement, World Aquatics will ensure that its rules are not used to restrict or penalize a swimmer’s participation in any World Aquatics-sanctioned or unsanctioned professional swimming events, or to restrict the organization of swimming events independent from World Aquatics.
An additional term of the settlement requires World Aquatics to recognize results achieved by swimmers at unsanctioned professional swimming events that are independent from World Aquatics, and such results will be part of World Aquatics’ official results so long as the unsanctioned event complies with the eligibility, doping, facility requirements, and any other competition regulations (including World Aquatics Competition Regulations) set forth by World Aquatics that World Aquatics applies to its own events. Notwithstanding participation in any unsanctioned professional swimming event, a swimmer must still satisfy World Aquatics’ qualification criteria and rules for participation in World Aquatics’ World Championship and Olympic Games events. The settlement will ensure that swimmers have full access to professional competitive swimming events in the future. The full terms of the injunctive relief are available on the settlement website at SwimmerSettlement.com and will be posted on World Aquatics’s website www.worldaquatics.com as a condition of settlement.
“This settlement is a win for professional swimmers and the sport. We are pleased with this settlement and the groundbreaking relief for swimmers,” said Jeffrey Kessler, class counsel for the swimmers and the class representatives. “Thanks to the perseverance of Thomas Shields and Katinka Hosszu, and the new leadership of World Aquatics, swimmers will now have the ability to compete in future events without fear of penalty and hundreds of swimmers who contracted with ISL in 2018 and 2019 are eligible to receive compensation.”
Athletes can review their estimated payment amount now.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: ISL vs. FINA Lawsuit Class Members Have Until December 30 to Object
Discoveries of Dinosaurs in 2025 Transform Our Understanding of Prehistoric Life
Dinosaurs may be long extinct, but 2025 made it abundantly clear that they’re anything but settled science. Over the past year, new fossils, reanalyses of famous specimens and the use of increasingly sophisticated tools have continued to upend what we thought we knew about how these animals lived, moved, fed and evolved.
Some discoveries filled in long-missing gaps in the fossil record, while others forced researchers to confront the uncomfortable reality that a few long-held assumptions were simply wrong.
From reinterpretations of iconic predators to ancient trackways that capture fleeting moments of Jurassic life, this year’s research showed how much information is still locked inside bones, teeth and footprints that have been studied for decades. From rewriting evolutionary timelines to challenging how fast dinosaurs really were, the year reminded us that paleontology is not about dusting off the past, but opening new windows for us to peer into it.
British social media campaigner’s detention blocked by US judge
A US judge has temporarily blocked the detention of British social media campaigner Imran Ahmed, who took legal action against the US government over having his visa removed.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate founder was among five people denied US visas after the Trump administration accused them of seeking to “coerce” tech platforms into censoring free speech.
The move brought a backlash from European leaders defending the work of organisations monitoring online content.
Mr Ahmed, a US permanent resident, had warned that being detained and possibly deported would tear him away from his American wife and child. Praising the judge’s decision, he told BBC News he would not be “bullied”.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said online that the individuals were blocked over concerns that they had organised efforts to pressure US platforms to censor and “punish American viewpoints they oppose“.
Mr Ahmed filed a legal complaint on Wednesday against officials including Rubio and US Attorney General Pamela Bondi over the decision to have him sanctioned.
In court documents seen by the BBC, US District Judge Vernon S Broderick said on Thursday he had granted Mr Ahmed’s request for a temporary restraining order.
The judge also temporarily blocked the officials from detaining Mr Ahmed without the chance for his case to be heard.
The BBC has contacted the state department and White House for comment.
When approached by AFP news agency, a state department spokesperson was quoted as saying: “The Supreme Court and Congress have repeatedly made clear: the United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country or reside here.”
Mr Ahmed said: “I will not be bullied away from my life’s work of fighting to keep children safe from social media’s harm and stopping antisemitism online.”
His lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said the speed of the judge’s decision was telling.
“The federal government can’t deport a green card holder like Imran Ahmed, with a wife and young child who are American, simply because it doesn’t like what he has to say,” she said.
In 2023, Mr Ahmed’s centre was sued by Elon Musk’s social media company after it reported on a rise in hate speech on the platform since the billionaire’s takeover of the firm, now called X.
The case was dismissed but an appeal is pending.
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Polish fighter jets intercept Russian spy plane near airspace boundaries | NATO News
Poland’s defence minister said Russian aircraft was ‘escorted’ from area and did not pose immediate security threat.
Published On 26 Dec 2025
Poland said its air force intercepted a “Russian reconnaissance aircraft” flying near the border of its airspace just hours after tracking suspected smuggling balloons coming from the direction of neighbouring Belarus.
“This morning, over the international waters of the Baltic Sea, Polish fighter jets intercepted, visually identified, and escorted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying near the border of Polish airspace from their area of responsibility,” the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said in a post on X on Thursday.
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Polish forces also tracked unknown “objects” flying in the direction of Poland from Belarus during the previous night, prompting Warsaw to temporarily close civilian airspace in the northeast of the country.
“After detailed analysis, it was determined that these were most likely smuggling balloons, moving in the direction and at the speed of the wind. Their flight was continuously monitored by our radar systems,” Operational Command said.
The post did not disclose any further details about the number or size of the balloons.
Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on X that the incidents did not pose an immediate threat to Poland’s security, and he thanked the “nearly 20,000 of our soldiers who, during the Holidays, watch over our safety”.
“All provocations over the Baltic Sea and near the border with Belarus were under the full control of the Polish Army,” he said.
Translation: Another busy night for the operational services of the Polish Army. All provocations, both over the Baltic Sea and over the border with Belarus, were under full control. I thank nearly 20,000 of our soldiers who, during the Holidays, watch over our safety – and as can be seen – do so extremely effectively.
The Belarusian and Russian embassies in Warsaw did not immediately respond to the Reuters news agency’s requests for comment.
Smuggler balloons from Belarus have repeatedly disrupted air traffic in neighbouring Lithuania, forcing airport closures. Lithuania says the balloons are sent by smugglers transporting cigarettes and constitute a “hybrid attack” by Belarus, a close ally of Russia. Belarus has denied responsibility for the balloons.
The latest air alerts in Poland came three months after Poland and NATO forces shot down more than a dozen Russian drones as they flew over Polish airspace between September 9 and 10.
The event was the largest incursion of its kind on Polish airspace since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Following the incident, NATO-member Poland called an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the “blatant violation of the UN Charter principles and the customary law”.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said at the time that Russia was testing how quickly NATO countries could respond to threats.
The top blockchain taxi app in the world is targeting New York City.
In June 2026, the world’s leading Web3 taxi app will be launched in the Big Apple.
This ride-hailing app—called TADA—uses blockchain technology to connect drivers and riders via smart contracts. Its use of decentralized tech enables greater transparency, fairer earnings for drivers, and cost savings for riders, co-founder Kay Woo told Fortune in a Dec. 24 interview.
“We don’t work as an intermediary. We are becoming the software for both [drivers and riders] and while they’re using our network, they just need to simply pay a small fee,” Woo says.
TADA was founded in Singapore in 2018 by two South Korean tech entrepreneurs: Kay Woo and Jay Han. The ride-hailing app is best known for its “zero commission model”, which charges drivers a flat software fee (of around 78 to 92 cents) rather than a cut of their earnings.
The platform has a significant and growing share in Singapore’s crowded ride-hailing market, constituting 11.1% of market share in 2022, according to data platform Measurable AI. As of October 2024, TADA brought in a record $19.8 million in revenue, up from $15.7 million in 2023.
Since its launch, TADA has expanded to various markets in Asia, including Cambodia and Vietnam in 2019, and Thailand and Hong Kong in 2024. Within the U.S., the company is currently trialing its tech in Denver, and plans to launch officially in NYC in June.
The origin story
TADA’s entry to NYC marks a full-circle moment for Woo, who had first begun his entrepreneurship journey in the city.
In 2012, alongside a friend, Woo created a social gathering application with the goal of bringing people together—but the app flopped.
“I couldn’t sell the product. I come from an engineering and finance background, and my co-founder was an engineer. We were just a bunch of nerds,” Woo says.
After a few failures, they decided to create a product that would generate revenue from the get-go, and a ride-hailing app came to mind.
In 2014, Woo and Han moved back to Asia, and set out to digitalise the cross-border mobility services between the bustling cities of Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
According to Woo, although Uber and DiDi were popular in the region, ride-hailing apps didn’t yet offer cross-border transport services. Instead, car rental companies and drivers managed reservations with pen and paper—and Woo saw a gap in the market.
After a successful test run in Hong Kong and mainland China, TADA’s founders officially launched their ride-hailing business in Singapore, choosing the city-state as it is densely populated and has “superb infrastructure support.”
“Among Southeast Asian countries, Singapore is super important to showcase all other neighboring countries in Southeast Asia,” Woo says. “We got lucky in picking the right place, but also the right time.”
Aside from revenue from its platform fees, TADA has several other revenue streams.
Besides generating a profit from the broader Web3 platform by its parent company, MVL, TADA sells anonymized vehicle and driving data—with consent—to ecosystem partners, and offers MVL tokens to be traded on external cryptocurrency exchanges.
Journey to the west
After growing the business in Asia, Woo now has his sights set on the U.S., where he is ready to take on industry giants like Uber and Lyft.
“Whenever I go to New York, I interview the old drivers, and everybody says the same thing: current ride-hailing services take too much commission, but they don’t have any choice,” quips Woo. “We need to give them a choice—TADA is going to be a painkiller for them.”
Woo is a big proponent of disruption, believing it to be an essential tenet of progress.
He alludes to ‘legacy’ ride-hailing apps like Uber and Grab as part of the “first wave”, which disrupted the traditional taxi market. But these platforms were built with capitalistic goals, he says, leading to skyrocketing platform fees and prices.
“And now it’s their time to be disrupted with a new type of model,” Woo adds.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Zelensky praises ‘innovative peace proposals’ following discussion with US diplomats
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has given a positive assessment of a conversation he had with US envoys on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Zelensky said Thursday’s call with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, which lasted nearly an hour, had yielded “new ideas in terms of formats, meetings, and… timing on how to bring a real peace closer”.
He spoke a day after giving details of an updated 20-point peace plan, agreed by US and Ukrainian envoys in Florida.
Zelensky said he had asked Witkoff and Kushner to pass along Christmas greetings to US President Donald Trump “and the entire Trump family”.
The Kremlin said it was analysing proposals brought back from the US by a Russian envoy.
Trump and his envoys have been holding talks with both Ukraine and Russia in an effort to reach a deal to end the war which was started by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
There appears to have been some progress in recent days with Ukraine’s president praising the “good ideas” put forward by Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Kushner.
Zelensky said it had been an “active day” for his country’s diplomacy, as he went into details with the US envoys.
He conceded that there was still “work to be done on sensitive issues” but added that “together with the American team, we understand how to put all of this in place”.
Zelensky added that Ukraine’s top negotiator Rustem Umerov, the country’s top security official, “will continue discussions with the American team”.
The 20-point peace plan agreed by the US and Ukraine is seen as an update to the initial draft prepared by Witkoff several weeks ago.
That draft was widely seen as heavily geared towards Russia’s maximalist pre-invasion demands, which Kyiv and its European said meant the de facto capitulation of Ukraine.
Describing the updated proposal on Wednesday, Zelensky had said it offered Russia the potential withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east and the creation of a demilitarised zone in their place.
He said the plan now included security guarantees from the US, Nato and Europeans for a co-ordinated military response if Russia invaded Ukraine again.
On the key question of Ukraine’s industrial eastern Donetsk region, Zelensky said a “free economic zone” was a potential option. Any area that Ukrainian troops pulled out of would have to be policed by Ukraine, he stressed.
Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. They are collectively known as Donbas.
Zelensky has been under heavy pressure from Trump to cede all of Donbas to Russia during ongoing Washington-led peace negotiations.
The Ukrainian leader has so far rejected any territorial concessions, and instead demanded iron-clad security guarantees for Ukraine in any potential settlement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that Ukrainian troops must leave Donbas or Russia will seize it.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was studying the proposals brought back from the US by the Russian envoy, Kirill Dmitriev.
“We are examining this material, and depending on the decisions made by the head of state, we will continue our communication with the Americans,” he said.
While diplomatic efforts to end the conflict inch forward, fighting continues on the ground.
The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that it had struck one of Russia’s key oil refineries in the southern region of Rostov with cruise missiles.
The Novoshakhtinsk refinery near the Ukrainian border is critical for supplying fuel for Russian military operations in occupied eastern Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry said its forces had taken control of the settlement of Sviato-Pokrovske in the Donetsk region.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian troops withdrew from the embattled eastern town of Siversk.
The capture of the town brings Russia closer to the last remaining “fortress belt” cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk still in Ukrainian hands in the Donetsk region.
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Trump announces US military strike against ISIL in northwest Nigeria | Latest updates on Donald Trump
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
US president says ‘deadly strike’ in Nigeria targeted ISIL fighters who had killed ‘primarily, innocent Christians’.
The United States has carried out an air strike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria, US President Donald Trump said.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday evening.
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Trump said ISIL fighters had “targeted and viciously” killed “primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” Trump said.
The US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is responsible for operations in Africa, said in a post on X that the air strike was carried out “at the request of Nigerian authorities” and had killed “multiple ISIS terrorists”.
“Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media, warning also of “more to come”, without providing details.
In a statement, AFRICOM said the strike occurred in “Soboto state,” an apparent reference to Nigeria’s Sokoto State.
The US military action comes weeks after Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria following claims of Christian persecution in the country.
Nigeria’s government had dismissed Trump’s assertions, saying armed groups target both Muslim and Christian communities in the country, and US claims that Christians face persecution do not represent a complex security situation and ignore efforts by Nigerian authorities to safeguard religious freedom.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement shortly after Trump announced the US strike, confirming early on Friday that Nigerian authorities were “engaged in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism”.
“This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West,” the ministry said.
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Lagos in Nigeria, said pictures are circulating on social media of missile fragments following a strike outside a village in Sokoto State that did not cause casualties.
“To look at the issue of alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria, Sokoto State is probably the last place many Nigerians would think it’s happening,” Idris said, explaining that the vast majority of the state’s population is Muslim and there had been few if any attacks on Christians in the region that he could recall.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi said the threat of US military action in Nigeria had been “percolating for some time”, and Donald Trump had accused Nigeria of not doing enough to protect its Christian community in his first term as president.
“But in the last two months or so, with congressional pressure and the State Department, they declared Nigeria a particular country of concern when it came to the rights of Christians, and we had heard that the US had begun overflight surveillance of Nigeria from an airbase in Accra, in Ghana, over the last several weeks. And now we have this,” Rattansi said.
“On Christmas Day, the Trump administration acts. This will go down very well with Trump’s Christian evangelical base, I am sure,” he said.
Trump issued his attack statement on Christmas Day while he was at his Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago Club, where he has been spending the holiday.