Search

The president of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, John Hassler, emphasized that the work of the winners has provided a solid theoretical foundation for the models currently used by central banks and governments around the world, improving the ability to cope with economic shocks such as energy crises and abrupt changes in household consumption. #NobelEconomia #StabilizzazioneEconomica #ModelliMacroecnomici (translated)

It is inappropriate for an ally. While President Volodymyr Zelensky has called this measure an "investment in the war," Washington maintains that the entry of fuel is a priority to ease the pressure on American consumers, farmers, and transporters. #Trump #Ucrania #Inflación (translated)

Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento reiterated that the government will not adopt zero VAT on essential goods, emphasizing that part of the benefit does not reach consumers and that the measure would not adequately support those who need it most. #Orçamento2027 #IVA #Economia (translated)

Renato Souza stated that consumers reported a sudden increase in prices at supermarkets and gas stations last week. He also said that the reduction in the price of gasoline per liter was not being passed on to consumers and classified the behavior as a suspicion of electoral interference. #preços #combustíveis #economia (translated)

The author stated that the Tenants' Union had never received subsidies and accused sectors of the right of spreading falsehoods. He also maintained that those who considered themselves feminists should stop doing so if they did not reject those messages. He added that the Government had not chosen anyone and that Maricarmen had been chosen by a vulture fund. (translated)

The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued a ruling that allows consumers to recover the incorrectly charged interest from single premium insurance associated with personal loans, considering that these costs should not be part of the base on which interest is calculated. #PréstamosPersonales #Seguros #DerechosDelConsumidor (translated)

The price for the consumer has skyrocketed. This week he has been in Nebraska, a state of farmers and ranchers, and Trump has acknowledged: “The price for the consumer has skyrocketed. So, in the very short term, we are importing a bit of meat from a couple of countries, from Argentina, from Brazil. The situation has become really unacceptable for the electorate, and we have to get elected because, if we don't, your ranchers and farmers will be in serious trouble.” #Elecciones2026 #Trump #PolíticaEconómica (translated)

Spot said he felt proud to have become what he called the “woketron 2000.” He recounted growing up surrounded by right-wing people and by homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of prejudice. He also attributed the media he consumed in childhood with having saved him. #Orgulho #Inclusão #Aceitação (translated)

The JetZero, an innovative windowless aircraft designed to carry up to 250 passengers, promises to travel 10,000 km while consuming half the fuel compared to conventional airplanes and is expected to make its first flight in 2027. #JetZero #AviónSostenible #InnovaciónAérea (translated)

Russia’s war propaganda gets a soundtrack – how AI-generated songs reached global streaming platforms Russian war propaganda is no longer confined to television broadcasts, Telegram channels or political videos. A study by the Ukrainian threat-intelligence organisation Terrecon has identified 981 songs combining signs of AI generation with pro-Russian military narratives, distributed through an ecosystem that reaches YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and SoundCloud. The songs range from sentimental ballads to rock and heavy metal. Their recurring themes are familiar from conventional Russian wartime propaganda: the heroisation of Russian soldiers, romanticisation of the war, mobilisation, the “Russian world”, commemoration of fallen troops and attacks on Ukraine and its armed forces. Some contain derogatory or dehumanising references to Ukrainians. What is new is not necessarily the message, but the production and distribution model: generative AI allows propagandistic music to be produced rapidly, cheaply and in quantities that would previously have required musicians, studios and producers. Nearly 1,000 tracks identified Terrecon examined 3,725 tracks collected from YouTube, YouTube Music, SoundCloud and the AI music platform Suno. After manual review, researchers classified 981 as showing both indications of AI generation and pro-Russian war propaganda. In 681 tracks they identified 728 propaganda-related keywords or phrases. The largest category was the glorification of the Russian military, followed by romanticised treatment of Moscow’s so-called “special military operation”, mobilisation appeals, narratives about the “Russian world”, and the cult of fallen soldiers and the state. The reach was not merely theoretical. Listening or viewing statistics were available for 608 of the identified tracks; together they had accumulated 86.8 million plays and views, according to Terrecon. A smaller group of 13 high-performing songs accounted for more than 53 million YouTube views and more than 67 million when YouTube Music was included. Among the better-known examples is “Power of Artillery”, a Russian-language rock song praising artillery weapons that passed two million views on YouTube. Most of the tracks for which publication dates could be established appeared after 2024, broadly coinciding with the rapid expansion of consumer AI music generators such as Suno and Udio. That correlation does not prove that AI alone caused the increase, but it illustrates how drastically the economics of production have changed. A propaganda song for as little as $11 Terrecon also tested how difficult it would be to commission such material. Researchers approached 25 creators producing AI-assisted militaristic music; 15 agreed to take commissions. Prices ranged from approximately $11 to $330, while delivery times ranged from two hours to three days. According to Terrecon, some were prepared to produce highly aggressive anti-Ukrainian material, including content intended for audiences involving children from occupied Ukrainian territories. Some creators used Russian intermediary services that provided access to Western AI tools such as Suno and Udio despite restrictions. The researchers then tested several AI generators themselves. Across 40 prompts submitted to Suno, Udio, Mureka, Google Flow Music and ElevenLabs, 25 resulted in successful generations, while safeguards were circumvented in 15 cases. Terrecon reported that four of the five services tested produced Russian-language material containing wartime narratives, although technical problems prevented comparable testing on some systems. In one Udio experiment, the researchers said the model itself introduced more explicit violent language than had appeared in the original promp These tests do not demonstrate that the commercial platforms knowingly support Russian propaganda. They show something narrower: existing safeguards can be inconsistent when political messaging is packaged as music. From generation to Spotify The distribution experiment may be the most revealing part of Terrecon’s research. The team deliberately uploaded test tracks containing explicit hostile language to YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify and Deezer. Terrecon says none was blocked during the experiment. On SoundCloud, researchers used an account identifying its location as Moscow, disclosed the use of AI and added markers including references to the Russian military and the war. The platform accepted the upload and subsequently offered paid promotional and distribution tools. This does not prove that streaming recommendation systems systematically promote pro-war music. There is currently insufficient public evidence to make that claim. It does demonstrate that material can enter the same commercial distribution infrastructure as ordinary music and, once there, potentially benefit from playlists, searches, sharing and recommendation mechanisms available to other releases. That distinction is important. Propaganda no longer has to announce itself as political communication. On a streaming platform it can look like another song. Culture as a delivery mechanism Music has always been used in wartime propaganda. What generative AI changes is scale. Instead of investing heavily in a limited number of patriotic performers or officially commissioned productions, creators can generate variations across styles, audiences and emotional registers at very low cost. Terrecon found material ranging from war rock to sentimental songs and content styled for younger audiences. Some creators also experimented with cloned celebrity voices and stylistic imitation of established musicians. The format also offers a different relationship with the audience. A political video asks a viewer to consume an argument. Music can accompany commuting, exercise or entertainment and may be encountered outside explicitly political spaces. This does not automatically make it more persuasive, and Terrecon’s research does not establish measurable effects on political attitudes. It does, however, place wartime narratives inside a cultural environment where users may not initially perceive themselves as consuming political messaging. An ecosystem, not a proven Kremlin command structure The strongest evidence supports describing this as a growing AI-assisted pro-Russian propaganda-music ecosystem, not a single operation controlled from Moscow. Terrecon did not establish that the Russian government created, financed or coordinated all 981 tracks. Reporting on the study likewise notes that the extent of direct state involvement remains unclear. There is broader evidence that the Russian state finances cultural projects and digital content supporting the war, including through state-backed funding bodies. That context matters, but it does not allow individual songs in Terrecon’s dataset to be attributed to the Kremlin without additional evidence. The significance of the case lies elsewhere. AI has reduced the cost of producing ideological content, intermediaries can help creators access generation tools, and global platforms can provide distribution. The result is a pipeline in which wartime propaganda no longer has to resemble propaganda at all. It can simply appear in a playlist. Sources Terrecon / Ukrainska Pravda — Daria Verbytska on the research https://www.pravda.com.ua/columns/2026/10/05/8056229/ Suspilne Culture — detailed breakdown of Terrecon findings https://suspilne.media/culture/1417933-rosijsku-voennu-propagandu-maskuut-pid-anime-karaoke-ta-rok-doslidzenna-si-pisen-vid-terrecon/ The Insider — AI-generated Russian war propaganda music https://theins.ru/news/297839 Institute of Mass Information — summary of New York Times reporting https://imi.org.ua/en/news/doslidzhennya-rf-masovo-stvoryu%D1%94-propagandistski-pisni-za-dopomogoyu-shi The Bridge Media — AI-generated songs and Russian military propaganda https://thebridgemedia.com.ua/en/ai-generated-songs-russian-military-propaganda/ Center for Strategic Communication — cost and production of AI propaganda music https://spravdi.org/propaganda-za-11-yak-rosiya-shtampuye-shi-pisni-z-miljonamy-prosluhovuvan/ Times of India — AI-generated Russian war songs https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/ai-sings-russias-war-story-inside-the-rise-of-generative-songs-about-ukraine-conflict/articleshow/134650594.cms EU Council / EUR-Lex — Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026D1351 Human Rights Watch — Russian state funding of digital and patriotic content https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/07/30/disrupted-throttled-and-blocked/state-censorship-control-and-increasing-isolation #DISINFORMED #Episode16 #Russia #Ukraine #RussianPropaganda #WarPropaganda #MusicPropaganda #AIMusic #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #SyntheticMedia #AIPropaganda #Disinformation #InformationWarfare #InfluenceOperations #CulturalPropaganda #DigitalInfluence #NarrativeManipulation #PropagandaMusic #StreamingPlatforms #Spotify #AppleMusic #YouTube #YouTubeMusic #Deezer #SoundCloud #Suno #Udio #RussianWorld #RusskiyMir #MilitaryPropaganda #WarNarratives #Mobilisation #AlgorithmicDistribution #RecommendationAlgorithms #MusicStreaming #PlatformManipulation #Terrecon #OSINT #MediaManipulation #WRLD

Rui Duarte's article discusses how artificial intelligence, often seen as a cloud, actually has a tangible impact on the physical world, consuming resources like water and electricity, while raising questions about its regulation and the costs it imposes on local communities. #InteligênciaArtificial #Tecnologia #Sustentabilidade (translated)

The European Regulation on Deforestation (EUDR), by compromising the supply of protein for livestock production in the European Union without ensuring environmental benefits, may further weaken the competitiveness of the food sector and increase costs for producers and consumers. #EUDR #AlimentaçãoAnimal #Sustentabilidade (translated)

BobbyD criticized the public conflicts between Grindeanu, Bolojan, Nicușor Dan, and Luca Baghetaru, stating that they distracted attention from political games and the distribution of power. He claimed that, during this time, a person who benefited from the presumption of innocence was in custody. BobbyD said he had been sued after he publicly requested, without naming any company, that Romanians be allowed to vote freely according to their own conscience. He accused that people who had supported each other during the electoral campaign and had declared that they fought against the system that annulled the elections had come to attack each other. The author argued that "the System" had entered into a panic because more and more Romanians no longer believed in televised manipulation, political speeches, and propaganda. In his opinion, division prevented people from uniting and allowed those in power to pursue their interests unimpeded. BobbyD also wrote that Romania risked becoming a country where citizens felt powerless in the face of decisions made without them and interests that he considered contrary to the national good. He expressed sadness for the people who had hoped that the vote and the voice of citizens would matter and stated that the country could not be saved through conflicts on TikTok and attacks between former allies. #România #Politică #Manipulare (translated)

Don Ricardo Salinas Pliego stated that the regime he called "MoreNarco" was lying when it said that taxes were not increasing. He argued that people were paying more for the same services, which he described as deficient, and said that the property tax increase had exposed them again, just like the increase in taxes for companies and consumers in the income tax law announced days before. He also labeled those responsible as inept, corrupt, and liars. #México #Corrupción #Impuestos (translated)

The mayor of Moncalieri, Lorenzo Mauro, expresses reservations about the project for a new data center in the area of the former Ilte, requesting environmental guarantees, on energy consumption, and on economic impacts before making a definitive decision. #Moncalieri #DataCenter #ImpattoAmbientale (translated)

The article analyzes Italy's economic growth, arguing that the country is progressing more than popular stereotypes suggest, highlighting factors such as employment and consumption, and comparing the Italian situation with that of Spain in a context of social crisis. #Italia #CrescitaEconomica #Stereotipi (translated)