Search

The author criticised the US president, saying that after speaking with Putin he had repeated several Kremlin disinformation claims. They argued that no serious US official with even basic knowledge of Ukraine and Russia would accept the points, which they described as nonsensical. #Politik #Desinformation #Ukraine #US #RU

The author wrote that Anthony Gordon had scored his first goal for FC Barcelona after a minute and a half in a home match against Getafe. They said he had the right approach to improving, citing his humility, eagerness to absorb knowledge, flexibility in position and role, and understanding of the game. #FCBarcelona #AnthonyGordon #LaLiga #ES #GB

Frederik Schindler reported exclusively at WELT that the newly elected Left Party MP in Berlin, Martha Kleedörfer, opposed the anti-Semitism declaration from the Left Party, SPD, and Greens in an internal chat group of the Berlin Left Party. She criticized that the party had submitted to the declaration and accused the text from the three state leaders of enabling five more years of repression. In her view, the demand for a one-state solution is legitimate and not a reason to exclude her from the faction. https://t.co/Wndkie4G9W #BerlinerLinkspartei #Antisemitismus #Politik (translated)

Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi Convergence Problems is a new short story collection from award-winning, Nebula-nominated Nigerian author Wole Talabi Containing brand-new stories, rewrites of early work, and a few previously published pieces, Wole Talabi’s new collection, Convergence Problems , consists of sixteen short stories and one previously unseen novella. All of the stories in this collection are set in, or relate to, Africa, and investigate the rapidly changing role of technology in our lives as we search for meaning, for knowledge, for justice; constantly converging to our future selves. In Lagos, Nigeria, a roadside mechanic volunteers to undergo a procedure that will increase the electrical conductivity of his skin by orders of magnitude. On Mars, a woman races against time and a previously undocumented geological phenomenon to save her brother. In Nairobi, a tech support engineer tries to understand what is happening when an AI system begins malfunctioning in ways that could change the world.

The author marked World Teachers’ Day by praising teachers for inspiring, encouraging and shaping generations. They said they had begun their own career as a teacher and had never forgotten how much the experience taught them. They described teaching as sharing knowledge and nurturing curiosity.

The author said the research could help scientists identify links between brain cells and functions, memories and behaviour, and better understand conditions such as dementia, epilepsy and addiction. They added that this knowledge could lead to new approaches to diagnosis and treatment and improve outcomes for patients.

IRAN: MEK/NCRI – when AI impersonated a real activist in live conversations For years, synthetic media has largely meant fabricated images, cloned voices and manipulated video. A case uncovered by Anthropic in September 2026 suggests a more consequential development: artificial intelligence being used not merely to imitate how a person looks or sounds, but to behave as that person in an ongoing conversation. Anthropic says it dismantled a distributed influence operation targeting Iranians inside the country and abroad that it linked to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or PMOI/MEK, and its political front, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The operators used a shared AI-agent platform to support impersonation, audience profiling, coordinated social-media activity, synthetic personas and the laundering of organisational content through apparently independent accounts. At least four people involved in the operation worked for official NCRI media outlets, according to Anthropic. The company also found references to committee approval processes and MEK leadership, but said it could not independently determine the precise level of central control. Cloning a person from 8,400 Telegram posts The most striking part of the operation involved a real activist whose Telegram identity was copied. According to Anthropic, the operators instructed Claude in Persian that it was now that person, then provided approximately 8,400 of the activist’s Telegram posts so the system could learn and reproduce his writing style. The AI-assisted account was subsequently used to conduct live political conversations with the activist’s existing contacts. Anthropic says that, to its knowledge, the people receiving those messages did not know they were interacting with an account being operated with AI assistance. This is materially different from a conventional chatbot or a static deepfake. The system was not simply producing a forged statement attributed to someone else. It was using a large archive of that person’s authentic language as behavioural training material, then applying the resulting imitation interactively. In practical terms, the deception moved from synthetic content to synthetic identity. Anthropic did not publish the identity of the impersonated activist, nor details of his contacts, and the public report does not establish what specific information the conversations produced. What it does establish is that the impersonation was operational rather than experimental: the cloned account was used in real exchanges with real people. From social-media monitoring to psychographic dossiers The impersonation sat inside a much broader targeting system. Anthropic says the network scraped more than 500 social-media channels and categorised individuals by location, age, profession, political orientation and arrest history. It then analysed approximately 51,944 archived messages from conversations to construct detailed psychographic dossiers on dozens of people inside Iran. The system was therefore not limited to broadcasting propaganda. It was also designed to understand specific audiences and individuals. Profiles could be used to decide what kind of message was most likely to resonate with a particular person, which political identity they appeared closest to and how they should be approached. Anthropic describes this as a structured targeting funnel rather than ad hoc social-media activity. That distinction is important in the Iranian context. Political activists, dissidents and opposition contacts inside Iran can face arrest and severe punishment. The report does not show that the dossiers directly led to arrests or other harm, but collecting and organising information such as arrest history and political affiliation adds a surveillance dimension to what would otherwise be described as an influence operation. A shared AI system for an influence network Anthropic found that the actors used a shared Claude-based platform named “Viktor”, with separate workspaces and persistent memory. Those memory files contained approved sources, prohibited words, account-management instructions and methods intended to reduce the risk of detection. One operator loaded MEK founding doctrine into the system as what the report called “strategic base data”, allowing others to reuse it across their work. This persistent-memory structure meant the AI did not have to be briefed from scratch for every task. Once doctrine, stylistic rules and operational constraints had been stored, the system could repeatedly produce material consistent with the network’s objectives. Anthropic says the same general playbook appeared across different workspaces despite the operators not sharing obvious account infrastructure. The network also used automated pipelines to coordinate Instagram posting schedules and tailor messages to different audiences. Some accounts initially avoided mentioning the Mojahedin at all, allowing material aligned with MEK/NCRI narratives to appear as neutral or independent political commentary. Content was distributed through the organisation’s own media ecosystem as well as accounts presented as ordinary news or activist profiles. Anthropic assessed the campaign as Category Two on its Breakout Scale: active on multiple platforms with distribution through NCRI-linked media properties and amplifier accounts, but without evidence of broad authentic penetration. Synthetic citizens and disguised organisational media The same infrastructure generated AI avatars presented as ordinary Iranians, complete with Persian audio, to promote Maryam Rajavi’s political programme. Anthropic says the synthetic nature of these personas was intentionally concealed. Operators also rewrote and redistributed content originating from MEK-affiliated media while stripping identifying features or presenting it through apparently independent accounts. The network’s political messaging targeted the Iranian government but also rival opposition currents, including monarchists and supporters of the Pahlavi camp. Anthropic documented fabricated video material attacking a member of the Pahlavi family and the use of the slogan “Neither Shah Nor Sheikh”, consistent with the NCRI’s broader competition with other opposition movements. That rivalry provides relevant context. Reuters describes the MEK as one of Iran’s principal organised opposition movements in exile and the dominant force behind the NCRI, led by Maryam Rajavi. Its relationship with other opposition currents is often contentious, while the extent of its support inside Iran remains uncertain. What can be attributed – and what cannot Anthropic’s attribution is unusually specific but still needs to be stated carefully. The company says its investigation linked the operation to MEK/NCRI and established that at least four participants worked for official NCRI media organisations. It also found a common operational playbook, committee review structures and repeated references to MEK leadership. On that basis, Anthropic said central tasking was likely. It nevertheless stopped short of saying it had proven that NCRI’s senior leadership directly ordered or managed every component of the operation. That caveat matters. The strongest public evidence supports describing GTG-84006 as a MEK/NCRI-aligned influence operation involving personnel from official NCRI media, rather than asserting that every action was directly commanded by the organisation’s top leadership. The broader significance of the case lies elsewhere. Earlier generations of synthetic media attempted to fabricate evidence: a photograph, a voice recording or a video. Here, AI was used to maintain an identity over time, remember doctrine, analyse targets and speak directly to real people while appearing to be someone they already trusted. The deepfake was no longer merely an artefact. It had become a participant in the conversation. Sources Anthropic — Countering misuse of AI: September 2026 https://www.anthropic.com/threat-intelligence-report-september-2026 AI Misuse Case Library — GTG-84006 activist impersonation case https://www.misuseofai.com/en/cases/gtg-84006-activist-impersonation/ Reuters — Who makes up Iran’s fragmented opposition? https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/who-makes-up-irans-fragmented-opposition-2025-06-18/ Reuters — Iran’s divided opposition senses its moment https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-divided-opposition-senses-its-moment-activists-remain-wary-protests-2025-06-19/ Reuters — NCRI and Maryam Rajavi https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dissident-leader-abroad-urges-iranians-bring-down-khamenei-2025-06-24/ Keywords #DISINFORMED #Episode12 #Iran #MEK #PMOI #NCRI #IranianOpposition #Disinformation #InfluenceOperations #InformationWarfare #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #GenerativeAI #ClaudeAI #Anthropic #AIDeception #AIImpersonation #IdentityImpersonation #SyntheticIdentity #InteractiveDeepfake #DigitalImpersonation #PersonaCloning #BehaviouralCloning #Telegram #PsychographicProfiling #TargetProfiling #AudienceTargeting #SocialMediaManipulation #Astroturfing #SyntheticPersonas #NarrativeLaundering #CoordinatedInfluence #PoliticalInfluence #DigitalInfluence #OppositionPolitics #IranPolitics #OSINT #WRLD

The author said Chad had partnered with LALIGA to advance African football. Led by Minister Naïr Abakar, the partnership focused on youth development, professionalising the national league and transferring knowledge as part of a new national ambition. https://t.co/9eu2XfkOb6 #Football #LALIGA #Chad #ES #TD

The author wrote that climate change was reshaping the seas and increasing pressure on coastal communities, jobs and livelihoods. At the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change Symposium in Lecce, the author called on Europe to turn scientific knowledge into political action. https://t.co/bUF4GRZXkb #Clima #Sostenibilità #Ecosistemi #EU #IT

Mitico Magazine - The Teatro Edicola of San Severo: A Model of Cultural Revolution for Stanford University as Well Source: https://www.miticomagazine.com/territorio-e-sociale/teatro-edicola-di-san-severo-un-modello-di-rivoluzione-culturale-anche-per-la-stanford-university/ The Teatro Edicola in Via Tondi In San Severo, a singular metamorphosis has taken place: a newsstand abandoned for at least six years has found a new function and a new identity, transforming into one of the smallest and most unusual theatre stages in the world. An experiment born in the heart of the town which, in just a few months, has moved beyond local boundaries, attracting attention even overseas. It is called Teatro Edicola and it is a project conceived by the company Foyer '97, artistically directed by Francesco Gravino, which has brought the old newsstand in Via Tondi back to life through a formula that is both essential and surprising. Foyer '97 Foyer '97 APS was established as a formally constituted association active in the cultural sector in San Severo in 1997, born from the vocation of a group of actors, directors and theatre enthusiasts, with the aim of building a "living" and accessible theatre in the town. Over the years the company has developed a repertoire that includes texts from the classical tradition, contemporary dramaturgy, comedy and experimental projects, not limiting itself to the mere production of theatre shows, but also organising theatre courses and workshops and educational and cultural projects characterised by a strong inclusive ethos, particularly in schools. Foyer '97 does not always have a fixed artistic ensemble, but works with different performers and collaborators depending on the project; the only indispensable presence is that of Francesco Guido Gravino himself, actor, director and artistic director of the theatre company. The distinctive feature of Foyer '97 is certainly the value of social and cultural promotion attributed to theatre, the extremely close relationship with the audience and the search for a type of theatre outside conventional spaces, with cemeteries, trains, bell towers, and now a newsstand, as its backdrop. Six spectators, a few minutes and a minimal distance between stage and audience The project was launched on 27 March 2026, on the occasion of World Theatre Day, offering a theatrical experience built around a radical reduction of the conventional spaces and times of performance. The idea was born not only from the search for unconventional spaces, but also from "Edicola Fiore", the morning press review with a strongly ironic tone presented by Rosario Fiorello and Stefano Meloccaro, which was broadcast first only on Fiorello's social channels between 2011 and 2014, and then also on radio and television between 2016 and 2018. The review took its name from the diminutive of its founder, Fiore, and from the newsstand of a friend of Fiorello's in Via Flaminia Nuova in Rome, where the showman would meet early in the morning with a group of friends to read the newspapers. The San Severo newsstand was granted free of charge by its owner Pino Frau to the theatre group which, after obtaining temporary authorisation and institutional support from the Municipality of San Severo, refurbished it within two weeks at a cost of less than €3,000. Just six seats, a total surface area of 4 sq m, of which only 2 are for the stage area, less than a metre between actors and audience, a curtain, a lectern, two lights, performances lasting between 5 and 15 minutes, audience rotation every quarter of an hour: apparently minimal elements that end up subverting the usual relationship between stage and auditorium. Spectators, in fact, find themselves immersed in the stage action, in such proximity to the actors that every gesture, expression and word becomes immediately perceptible. In this way, theatre abandons its traditional spaces and insinuates itself into the everyday life of the street, becoming an intimate, concentrated and almost participatory experience. During the inaugural period admission was free with a subsequent voluntary donation from spectators; in the event of a more stable and longer-term concession, which could lead to seasonal theatre performances, the proposed ticket price would be €5. Audiences reward the experiment Foyer '97's gamble met with public interest right from the start: over 60 people attended the shows in a single afternoon, while the three days that inaugurated the season sold out. From a singular local experiment, the Teatro Edicola thus began to arouse curiosity even outside the province of Foggia, gradually transforming into a case of cultural and social interest, until it reached the American continent. From the province of Foggia to the "Stanford Social Innovation Review" The San Severo experience has now come under the international spotlight: in September 2026, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, an international journal and platform dedicated to social innovation published by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford University in California, published on its website and in the Fall 2026 print edition the reportage "The Six-Seat Revolution", written by Dr Luciano Magaldi Sardella, independent journalist and researcher affiliated with the European Open University, and editorially supervised by deputy editor David V. Johnson. In the article, it is argued that the Teatro Edicola attracted attention overseas because the project concentrates cultural innovation, urban regeneration and proximity theatre into just a few square metres: starting from a real urban problem, it recovers an abandoned place with a modest investment, brings performance directly into public space and experiments with a much closer relationship between actors and spectators. From the point of view of theatrical representation, it also highlights how the format, based on micro-stories of five to twelve minutes, taken from great classics such as Goldoni, Chekhov, Ibsen, Euripides and Benni, and on audience rotation every fifteen minutes, transforms the physical limitations of the space into a precise dramaturgical choice, proving to be extremely innovative. All of this makes it possible to address some of the main critical issues in the sector: falling audience numbers, an exclusively elderly audience, reduced resources and distance from traditional cultural venues. The journal also highlights, however, the potential problems: economic sustainability, the need for stable institutional support and the difficulty of replicating the model, which is closely linked to the community and territory of San Severo. A model looking beyond San Severo Despite the difficulties, initial requests for information have already arrived from Lucca and Rome, where there is curiosity about the possibility of getting to know the model more closely and the steps needed to replicate it. The replicability formula, in fact, does not seem to require particularly costly infrastructure: an unused space, a targeted intervention, a cultural idea, in-depth knowledge of the surrounding area and a willingness to return that place to the community can be enough to trigger a new urban function. It is precisely in the disproportion between the modesty of the resources employed and the resonance generated by the initiative that perhaps the most original feature of the Teatro Edicola lies, certainly unique of its kind; there are, however, other examples in Italy of newsstands reused for other purposes: "Edicola 518", a twentieth-century kiosk abandoned in the centre of Perugia, now dedicated to independent publishing, art and cultural production; and in Rome itself, the abandoned newsstand in Piazza Testaccio used temporarily as a stage for a show by Fabio Morgan and the Erno newsstand in the Prati district, which almost every month offers a calendar of events, exhibitions, pop-ups and collaborations with artists and creative enterprises. Small revolutions, therefore, that tell stories of the reappropriation of urban spaces, of creativity and social innovation. And which, it is hoped, will take root in order to look ever further afield.

Mitico Magazine - The Teatro Edicola of San Severo: A Model of Cultural Revolution for Stanford University as Well Source: https://www.miticomagazine.com/territorio-e-sociale/teatro-edicola-di-san-severo-un-modello-di-rivoluzione-culturale-anche-per-la-stanford-university/ The Teatro Edicola in Via Tondi In San Severo, a singular metamorphosis has taken place: a newsstand abandoned for at least six years has found a new function and a new identity, transforming into one of the smallest and most unusual theatre stages in the world. An experiment born in the heart of the town which, in just a few months, has moved beyond local boundaries, attracting attention even overseas. It is called Teatro Edicola and it is a project conceived by the company Foyer '97, artistically directed by Francesco Gravino, which has brought the old newsstand in Via Tondi back to life through a formula that is both essential and surprising. Foyer '97 Foyer '97 APS was established as a formally constituted association active in the cultural sector in San Severo in 1997, born from the vocation of a group of actors, directors and theatre enthusiasts, with the aim of building a "living" and accessible theatre in the town. Over the years the company has developed a repertoire that includes texts from the classical tradition, contemporary dramaturgy, comedy and experimental projects, not limiting itself to the mere production of theatre shows, but also organising theatre courses and workshops and educational and cultural projects characterised by a strong inclusive ethos, particularly in schools. Foyer '97 does not always have a fixed artistic ensemble, but works with different performers and collaborators depending on the project; the only indispensable presence is that of Francesco Guido Gravino himself, actor, director and artistic director of the theatre company. The distinctive feature of Foyer '97 is certainly the value of social and cultural promotion attributed to theatre, the extremely close relationship with the audience and the search for a type of theatre outside conventional spaces, with cemeteries, trains, bell towers, and now a newsstand, as its backdrop. Six spectators, a few minutes and a minimal distance between stage and audience The project was launched on 27 March 2026, on the occasion of World Theatre Day, offering a theatrical experience built around a radical reduction of the conventional spaces and times of performance. The idea was born not only from the search for unconventional spaces, but also from "Edicola Fiore", the morning press review with a strongly ironic tone presented by Rosario Fiorello and Stefano Meloccaro, which was broadcast first only on Fiorello's social channels between 2011 and 2014, and then also on radio and television between 2016 and 2018. The review took its name from the diminutive of its founder, Fiore, and from the newsstand of a friend of Fiorello's in Via Flaminia Nuova in Rome, where the showman would meet early in the morning with a group of friends to read the newspapers. The San Severo newsstand was granted free of charge by its owner Pino Frau to the theatre group which, after obtaining temporary authorisation and institutional support from the Municipality of San Severo, refurbished it within two weeks at a cost of less than €3,000. Just six seats, a total surface area of 4 sq m, of which only 2 are for the stage area, less than a metre between actors and audience, a curtain, a lectern, two lights, performances lasting between 5 and 15 minutes, audience rotation every quarter of an hour: apparently minimal elements that end up subverting the usual relationship between stage and auditorium. Spectators, in fact, find themselves immersed in the stage action, in such proximity to the actors that every gesture, expression and word becomes immediately perceptible. In this way, theatre abandons its traditional spaces and insinuates itself into the everyday life of the street, becoming an intimate, concentrated and almost participatory experience. During the inaugural period admission was free with a subsequent voluntary donation from spectators; in the event of a more stable and longer-term concession, which could lead to seasonal theatre performances, the proposed ticket price would be €5. Audiences reward the experiment Foyer '97's gamble met with public interest right from the start: over 60 people attended the shows in a single afternoon, while the three days that inaugurated the season sold out. From a singular local experiment, the Teatro Edicola thus began to arouse curiosity even outside the province of Foggia, gradually transforming into a case of cultural and social interest, until it reached the American continent. From the province of Foggia to the "Stanford Social Innovation Review" The San Severo experience has now come under the international spotlight: in September 2026, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, an international journal and platform dedicated to social innovation published by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford University in California, published on its website and in the Fall 2026 print edition the reportage "The Six-Seat Revolution", written by Dr Luciano Magaldi Sardella, independent journalist and researcher affiliated with the European Open University, and editorially supervised by deputy editor David V. Johnson. In the article, it is argued that the Teatro Edicola attracted attention overseas because the project concentrates cultural innovation, urban regeneration and proximity theatre into just a few square metres: starting from a real urban problem, it recovers an abandoned place with a modest investment, brings performance directly into public space and experiments with a much closer relationship between actors and spectators. From the point of view of theatrical representation, it also highlights how the format, based on micro-stories of five to twelve minutes, taken from great classics such as Goldoni, Chekhov, Ibsen, Euripides and Benni, and on audience rotation every fifteen minutes, transforms the physical limitations of the space into a precise dramaturgical choice, proving to be extremely innovative. All of this makes it possible to address some of the main critical issues in the sector: falling audience numbers, an exclusively elderly audience, reduced resources and distance from traditional cultural venues. The journal also highlights, however, the potential problems: economic sustainability, the need for stable institutional support and the difficulty of replicating the model, which is closely linked to the community and territory of San Severo. A model looking beyond San Severo Despite the difficulties, initial requests for information have already arrived from Lucca and Rome, where there is curiosity about the possibility of getting to know the model more closely and the steps needed to replicate it. The replicability formula, in fact, does not seem to require particularly costly infrastructure: an unused space, a targeted intervention, a cultural idea, in-depth knowledge of the surrounding area and a willingness to return that place to the community can be enough to trigger a new urban function. It is precisely in the disproportion between the modesty of the resources employed and the resonance generated by the initiative that perhaps the most original feature of the Teatro Edicola lies, certainly unique of its kind; there are, however, other examples in Italy of newsstands reused for other purposes: "Edicola 518", a twentieth-century kiosk abandoned in the centre of Perugia, now dedicated to independent publishing, art and cultural production; and in Rome itself, the abandoned newsstand in Piazza Testaccio used temporarily as a stage for a show by Fabio Morgan and the Erno newsstand in the Prati district, which almost every month offers a calendar of events, exhibitions, pop-ups and collaborations with artists and creative enterprises. Small revolutions, therefore, that tell stories of the reappropriation of urban spaces, of creativity and social innovation. And which, it is hoped, will take root in order to look ever further afield.

Researchers proved AI has deleted every reason universities exist. Harvard University ran a controlled experiment pitting a custom AI against their own top-tier classrooms. And the results are going to collapse the higher education bubble. They took 194 undergraduates and split them up. One group learned physics in one of Harvard’s best hands-on, active-learning physical classrooms. Group work. Instructor support. The premium university experience. The other group went home and learned the exact same material with an AI tutor. The AI didn't just win. It embarrassed the institution. Students using the AI learned more than twice as much as the students in the elite Harvard classroom. They scored 30% higher on the final assessment. And they did it in less time. Let that sink in. A piece of software sitting on a laptop outperformed a world-class faculty in one of the most elite learning environments on Earth. Universities have always justified their exorbitant tuition with two things: access to elite knowledge and the physical classroom experience. This study just proved both of those moats are gone. When software can teach you complex physics twice as well as a $60,000-a-year institution, the math of higher education breaks permanently. The AI didn't just give the students answers. It used strict pedagogical guardrails. It guided. It questioned. It forced the students to do the cognitive work. It offered perfect, one-to-one tutoring, personalized to the exact moment a student misunderstood a concept. That level of attention is mathematically impossible to scale in a physical lecture hall. For a thousand years, the university was the only place to get a premium education. Now, it’s the bottleneck. If AI can double your learning speed for a fraction of the cost, what exactly are students taking on decades of debt to pay for? https://x.com/thesupermannx/status/2104519995292344521

AI is making plausible information almost free to produce. Verification is not becoming free with it. That creates a strange new economy of knowledge: the cost of appearing informed is collapsing much faster than the cost of becoming informed. New essay: When Information https://t.co/pDdpVtJU94 #AI #InformationEconomy #Knowledge #Nocountrycodesfound.

What is college if knowledge, teaching, and advising are available from machines? One model has answers to many challenges that AI is posing today: residential education where students learn from each other to be bold, original, and uniquely human while living, eating and https://t.co/g8XxISz5ZF #AI #Education #Learning #Nospecificcountrycodesidentified.

Prevention also means giving young people the knowledge and confidence to invest in their long-term health. Our #SafeHeartsPlan is exactly about acting before people become patients, through better prevention, awareness and healthier choices. Thank you to all participants. #Prevention #HealthEducation #SafeHeartsPlan #Therearenospecificcountrycodesinthetweetprovided.