Cynthia Erivo to receive Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation at the London Critics’ Circle Awards, Adekunle Gold sets new record for artists ahead of 2025 concert, AFCON to be held every four years from 2028. Stay in the know with our Rave News Digest, which summarizes five of the hottest global news stories you need to catch up on, saving you time and energy. Consider it your daily news fix.
Here is a rundown of five of the hottest news topics…
1. Cynthia Erivo to receive Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation at the London Critics’ Circle Awards
Cynthia Erivo will receive the Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation at the 46th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards.
She becomes the 3rd recipient of the award after Colman Domingo and Zoe Saldaña.
— Film Updates
Cynthia Erivo will be honored with the Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation at the 46th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, set to take place in February 2026. The Wicked star becomes the third recipient of the annual accolade, which is named in memory of renowned film critic Derek Malcolm, who died in July 2023 at the age of 91. Colman Domingo received the inaugural award in 2024, followed by Zoe Saldaña in 2025. In a statement, Erivo said she was “deeply honored” to be recognized by the London Film Critics’ Circle, noting that portraying Elphaba on screen, a character she described as “the embodiment of a trailblazer,” has been one of the great privileges of her career.
The awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, February 1, 2026, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another leading nominations with nine nods, followed closely by Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet with eight. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners earned seven nominations, while Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme secured six, and Sorry, Baby landed five. Announcing Erivo’s honor, London Film Critics’ Circle chair Jane Crowther praised the actor’s boundary-pushing career, saying the organization was “thrilled to give Cynthia this honour in recognition of her innovative work telling stories that illuminate, inspire, and challenge audiences,” adding that Erivo “defies expectations across music, film, and the stage.”
2. Adekunle Gold sets new record for artists ahead of 2025 concert
Adekunle Gold has officially sold out the 3,500-cap New National Theatre (Wole Soyinka Centre)
He will be the first artist to perform there🦈— Afrobeats Head
Adekunle Gold has set a new benchmark for Nigerian artists ahead of his highly anticipated headline concert scheduled for December 26 at the National Theatre in Lagos. The multiple award-winning singer announced that he has become the first and only Nigerian artist to sell out and headline a concert in the main bowl hall of the Wole Soyinka Centre of Culture and Creative Arts, formerly known as the National Theatre. Sharing the milestone on social media, Adekunle Gold described the achievement as a landmark moment, with the upcoming show already being hailed as one of the most distinctive live performances of his career.
The Boxing Day concert is expected to stand out for its scale and artistic ambition, as Adekunle Gold will perform with a full orchestra, a rare feat in Nigerian pop music. The show will reimagine songs from across his discography through orchestral arrangements that blend strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion with influences from Afropop, highlife, soul, and Fuji. By fusing African musical traditions with large-scale classical production, the performance underscores Adekunle Gold’s reputation for innovation and positions the event as a culturally significant alternative to the typical Detty December concert lineup in Lagos.
3. Paraplegic engineer becomes the first wheelchair user to blast into space
German engineer Michaela Benthaus has become the first person with paraplegia to travel to space, ditching her wheelchair for a suborbital trip in Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket.
🚀
— DW News
A paraplegic engineer from Germany has made history by becoming the first wheelchair user to travel to space, blasting off Saturday aboard a Blue Origin rocket from West Texas. Michaela Benthaus, 33, who was severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, joined five other passengers on the brief suborbital flight operated by Jeff Bezos’ space company. The capsule soared more than 65 miles above Earth, allowing Benthaus to experience weightlessness after leaving her wheelchair behind at liftoff. “It was the coolest experience,” she said after landing, adding that she laughed all the way up and even tried to turn upside down in space.
Blue Origin stated that only minor adjustments were required to accommodate Benthaus, including a transfer board to facilitate her movement between the capsule hatch and her seat, underscoring the spacecraft’s accessibility-focused design. She was accompanied by Hans Koenigsmann, a retired SpaceX executive who helped organize and sponsor her trip and was designated her emergency helper. Benthaus, a member of the European Space Agency’s graduate trainee program, said she hopes the milestone opens doors for greater inclusion both in spaceflight and on Earth. “You should never give up on your dreams,” she said, urging greater accessibility for people with disabilities as commercial space travel continues to expand.
4. Tyra Banks faces $2.8M lawsuit over ‘hot ice cream’ shop lease dispute in D.C.
Tyra Banks is facing a $2.8 million lawsuit over a failed flagship D.C. location for her “hot ice cream” shop
— philip lewis
Tyra Banks is facing a $2.8 million lawsuit stemming from a dispute over a planned flagship location for her Smize & Dream “hot ice cream” shop in Washington, D.C. The suit was filed by entrepreneur and landlord Christopher Powell, who alleges breach of contract and related claims against Banks, her company School of Smize LLC, and business associate Louis Martin. According to the complaint, Banks expressed interest in opening a nonprofit-backed Smize & Dream location in the District during a March 2024 meeting, with the D.C. site envisioned as the flagship for a global concept blending dessert retail with youth education initiatives.
Powell claims a 10-year commercial lease for a property in the Eastern Market area was signed in April 2024, but alleges Banks and her team abruptly abandoned the project two months later and failed to pay rent. Banks and Martin, however, contend they withdrew after not receiving access to the full space they believed they had leased and say they provided advance notice, giving Powell time to secure another tenant. They have since filed a motion to dismiss the case. Powell is seeking $2.8 million in damages, along with fees and interest. Meanwhile, the legal dispute unfolds amid Banks’ continued expansion of the Smize & Dream brand, which currently operates a flagship store in Sydney, Australia.
5. AFCON to be held every four years from 2028
AFCON will be held every four years from 2028.
The move aims to ease an already congested calendar and raise AFCON’s prestige by aligning it with global tournament cycles.
— VERSUS
The Africa Cup of Nations will be held every four years starting in 2028, ending more than five decades of the tournament’s traditional two-year cycle, Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe announced. AFCON has been staged biennially since 1968, aside from a one-year gap between the 2012 and 2013 editions, but Motsepe said the shift is aimed at better aligning African football with the global calendar. The change will take effect after the 2027 tournament in East Africa and a follow-up edition in 2028, after which AFCON will be staged in the same years as the European Championships.
The announcement was made following a CAF executive committee meeting in Morocco ahead of the 2025 finals and comes amid long-standing concerns over fixture congestion and clashes with the European club season. Motsepe said the decision was taken in consultation with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström, describing the move as a necessary compromise. To maintain regular high-level international competition, CAF will introduce an African Nations League beginning in 2029, to be held annually, while also increasing AFCON prize money for champions from $7 million to $10 million as part of broader reforms to grow the game across the continent.
Featured image: Don Arnold/WireImage
Our Weekday News Digest brings you a curated selection of the most compelling stories from around the globe. This week, we delve into the latest celebrity headlines, from Hollywood to Nollywood, explore trending global news, and highlight the most exciting sports developments of 2025.
