Category: 3. Business

Kapwing’s researchers analyzed trending YouTube channels worldwide and simulated the experience of a brand-new user by scrolling through the first 500 YouTube Shorts on a freshly created account. The results show that 21% of those videos were AI-generated, while 33% fell into the category of so-called “brainrot” — compulsive, repetitive, and often nonsensical content designed to keep viewers watching rather than deliver substance.

Kapwing found that the scale of AI slop varies widely by country. Spain’s trending AI slop channels have the largest combined subscriber base in the world, totaling more than 20 million followers, despite there being relatively few such channels among the country’s top 100. Much of that reach is driven by a handful of highly successful channels producing religious-themed quizzes and comedy-style shorts.

South Korea, however, dominates in total views. AI slop channels trending in the country have amassed an estimated 8.45 billion views, far more than any other market.

The United States ranks third globally by subscriber count, with roughly 14.5 million subscribers across its trending AI slop channels, while Brazil and Pakistan also feature prominently in the rankings.

The report underscores why AI slop continues to proliferate: money. Channels generating massive volumes of short AI videos can earn millions of dollars annually through advertising alone. India’s Bandar Apna Dost, the most-viewed AI slop channel globally with more than 2 billion views, is estimated to earn over $4 million per year.

Researchers warn that the normalization of AI slop and brainrot is not just a cultural issue but a cognitive one. Repeated exposure to simplistic or misleading imagery can exploit well-known psychological effects, making viewers more likely to accept false or distorted narratives over time, even when they know the content is artificial.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported on how algorithms shape the new digital landscape.

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ —

Court-Approved Notice.

If you are eligible, you must file a claim by June 30, 2026.

Who Is Included in the Settlement?

You are included—and may be eligible for a payment—if you are a person or entity who indirectly purchased any of the following beef products for personal consumption between August 1, 2014, and December 31, 2019: 

• Beef (fresh or frozen) made from chuck, loin, rib, or round primal cuts. More details regarding the different beef products included in the Settlements is available at www.OverchargedForBeef.com.
• Purchased in one of the following states/jurisdictions (known as “Repealer Jurisdictions” for this case): Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

“Indirectly purchased” means you did not buy the beef products directly from one of the Defendants. Instead, you bought it at a grocery store or supermarket.

What Beef Products Are NOT Included?

Any beef marketed as: 

• Premium: USDA Prime, organic, 100% grass-fed, Wagyu, “American-Style Kobe Beef.” 
• Specialty: No Antibiotics Ever (“NAE”), antibiotic-free, kosher, halal, certified humane.
• Processed: Ground, marinated, seasoned, flavored, breaded, or cooked beef.

What is This Lawsuit About?

The lawsuit: This is an antitrust class action lawsuit that claims several beef processors—including JBS, Cargill, National Beef, and Tyson Foods—entered into a market allocation agreement and stopped competing against each other for market share. The alleged purpose and effect of this agreement was to increase their margins and increase the price consumers paid for beef. 

Settlements: Two of the defendants, Tyson Foods and Cargill, have agreed to settlements totaling **$87.5 million** ($55 million from Tyson and $32.5 million from Cargill) to resolve the claims against them. They have also agreed to certain non-monetary relief. 

Defendants’ Position: The Court has not ruled that the Defendants did anything wrong, and the companies deny all allegations of wrongdoing. 

Non-Settling Defendants: JBS USA Food Company, Swift Beef Company, JBS Packerland, Inc., and National Beef Packing Company have not settled.

What Do the Settlements Provide?

1.      Cash Payment
If you are included in the Settlement Class, you can file a claim to receive a pro-rata (equal share) cash payment. This payment will be proportional to the amount of included beef you purchased during the class period.

2.      How to Submit a Claim
To receive a payment, you must submit a Claim Form with all required information. Your Claim Form must be postmarked or submitted online by June 30, 2026. To submit a Claim Form online, please visit www.OverchargedForBeef.com.

What Are Your Legal Options?

1.      Get a Cash Payment
You will receive a cash payment, and you give up your right to sue Cargill and Tyson over the legal claims in this lawsuit. Submit a Claim Form by June 30, 2026.

2.      Opt-Out (Exclude Yourself)
You will not get a payment from these settlements, but you keep your right to sue Cargill and Tyson on your own for the legal claims in this lawsuit. Submit a written opt-out request by March 30, 2026.

3.      Object to the Settlements
You will be bound by the Settlements, but you can tell the Court why you think the Settlements are unfair. Submit a written objection by March 30, 2026.

4.      Do Nothing
Take no action. You will not receive a cash payment, and you will be legally bound by the Settlements, giving up your right to sue Cargill and Tyson later.

Fairness Hearing

The Court will hold a hearing on May 12, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. CDT, to decide whether to officially approve the Settlements, the amount of attorneys’ fees, and any service awards. You or your lawyer may attend the hearing, but you are not required to do so.

This notice is a summary. For a detailed explanation of your rights, the full definition of the Settlement Class, and how to opt-out or object, please visit the Settlement Website at www.OverchargedForBeef.com or call the toll-free number at 1-877-283-8711.

URL: www.OverchargedForBeef.com

SOURCE The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota

Imagine going to a work Christmas party and being greeted not by your current workmates and bosses but by everyone you’ve ever worked with. Imagine the mix of dread, nostalgia and excitement that would bring on. That’s how I feel every time I walk into Coles Broadway.

After trying 291 supermarket products for 14 taste tests this year (one more than last year’s haul) I feel as if I know all the characters in there and, despite only having relatively short interactions with many, I have strong opinions about all of them.

I want to tell everyone my opinions but supermarkets aren’t particularly welcoming places for giddy soap-box speakers. I once saw a man looking lost in the instant coffee section and excitedly told him I’d tried every brand, and asked if he needed help. He raised one eyebrow, and simply said no. Another time, in the muesli aisle, I asked a woman if she needed help choosing. She replied: “I don’t need help.”

It was me who needed help. I needed an outlet, a place to blurt everything I’ve kept rumbling in my head all year. This is my outlet. This is what I thought, felt and learned from trying hundreds of Australian supermarket aisle foods this year.

Price is a terrible indicator of deliciousness

Before I started these taste tests, I had a bad habit. Any time I planned to make a new recipe, particularly if I was serving it to guests, I would buy the most expensive version of every ingredient, assuming the most expensive items would deliver the best taste. I am both embarrassed and thrilled to realise there is almost zero correlation between price and deliciousness. This year the most expensive product (by weight) only won once, in the salami taste test. In the olives taste test, the priciest option came last.

I crunched the data on the most expensive product from each taste test I did this year – the median score was just a six out of 10. I did the same with the cheapest option from each taste test – the median score was also a six. Incredible.

I can make two conclusions here: 1. Deliciousness exists at both ends of the price spectrum, and 2. Most products in the supermarket, regardless of price, are average.

So is packaging

Next I investigated the most luxurious-looking brands from each taste test: products with fancy illustrations, organic certifications, aristocratic colour schemes and claims about the provenance of their ingredients. The median score of all those products: five out of 10. Also incredible.

Taste is more objective than I thought

As a Guardian commenter, AdvocadoOnToast, says: “The idea that a group of random people’s personal tastes are relevant to everyone else seems like a waste of time.” I used to think the same but now, mostly influenced by doing this job, I don’t.

We may all have different experiences and genes but the human nose and tongue is designed to do the same thing – warn us of unsafe foods and reward us for eating things that will give us energy and sustain us. That’s why mangoes – high sugar, high acid – are more popular than dragonfruit, and why ragu, packed with umami-producing amino acids, is more delicious than mugwort.

Those same principles apply to deciding which brand of milk is better than another but the process is complicated by our preferences. To give a practical explanation, if every human being on Earth joined in on these blind taste tests, there would still be a lot of disagreement about which olive is a six and which is a seven out of 10. But I think we would still unanimously vote Monini L’Oliva Leccino Pitted last.

Packet instructions are terrible

Packet cooking instructions are rarely designed to get the best out of the product, they’re there to convince you to buy it. They spruik quick cooking times and small serving sizes, telling you this is an easy product that will go a long way. But undercooked meat pies and bad coffee brews prove otherwise. As a fellow taste tester said, you have to “use your eyes, mouth and brain”. If you don’t have the capacity or confidence to do that, just add a little more cooking time or dosage than the packet says.

It’s very enjoyable to eat 15 sorbets in one sitting

Most taste tests are like following your favourite team during a rollercoaster season: the highs and lows are so extreme and chaotic, it can leave you feeling a little unhinged. But the sorbet taste test, and to a lesser degree, the chocolate ice-cream one, were simply pleasant afternoons with friends, chatting over rather pleasant foods.

Eating 19 crackers in a row is an awful and confusing experience

I asked one of my regular fellow taste testers about their thoughts for the year and they said: “Something you thought was completely reasonable and acceptable before, turns out to be absolute inedible trash in the lineup.” This sentiment comes up at least once in almost every taste test but during the cracker taste test, it came up in almost every round. After sampling 19 crackers, one taste tester said: “I felt like a jellyfish that had been beached on the sand and was slowly drying out from the inside out.”

South Australia makes great sorbet

There’s not much more to say about Golden North sorbets other than a thank you to the Guardian readers (Donald5252, MaxyMillions, Brenty56, TheAppilaKid, Gooseygirl and TMoore) who encouraged me, a New South Wales resident, to try harder to get my hands on some South Australian products.

Beware the villains that lurk in the supermarket aisles

At the end of every year my friends and I nominate who our person of the year is, someone who had a big impact, whether it was a stranger you met in a brief encounter or a loved one who’s been particularly present. This year, one of those friends asked me who my villain of the year was.

All I could think about were the villainous flavours I’d ingested: the meat pie I never want to see again, the pickles that taste like soft drink carbonated with fart, Persian fetas salty enough to make a professional cheese judge wince, coffees that smell like ashtrays, protein-boosted chocolate ice-creams with the appeal of cardboard-flavoured granita, and an olive brand that attracted these taste-tester comments, which I compiled into a poem:

Loss for words.
Back to the toxic.
Metallic bitterness.
Old mop bucket.
Reminds me of cigarette.
Not good. Not good.
Why are they being sold as food?
Absolutely fuck this olive.
Ugly Olives.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — MetaVia Inc. (Nasdaq: MTVA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on transforming cardiometabolic diseases, today announced that it will participate in and sponsor the 10^th Annual MASH-TAG 2026 Conference. Members of MetaVia’s business development and clinical teams will attend the conference, which will take place January 8-10 at the Chateaux Deer Valley in Park City, Utah.

About MetaVia
MetaVia Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on transforming cardiometabolic diseases. The company is currently developing DA-1726 for the treatment of obesity, and is developing vanoglipel (DA-1241) for the treatment of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH). DA-1726 is a novel oxyntomodulin (OXM) analogue that functions as a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R) and glucagon receptor (GCGR) dual agonist. OXM is a naturally-occurring gut hormone that activates GLP1R and GCGR, thereby decreasing food intake while increasing energy expenditure, thus potentially resulting in superior body weight loss compared to selective GLP1R agonists. In a Phase 1 multiple ascending dose (MAD) trial in obesity, DA-1726 demonstrated best-in-class potential for weight loss, glucose control, and waist reduction. Vanoglipel is a novel G-protein-coupled receptor 119 (GPR119) agonist that promotes the release of key gut peptides GLP-1, GIP, and PYY. In pre-clinical studies, vanoglipel demonstrated a positive effect on liver inflammation, lipid metabolism, weight loss, and glucose metabolism, reducing hepatic steatosis, hepatic inflammation, and liver fibrosis, while also improving glucose control. In a Phase 2a clinical study, vanoglipel demonstrated direct hepatic action in addition to its glucose lowering effects.

For more information, please visit www.metaviatx.com.

Contacts:

MetaVia
Marshall H. Woodworth
Chief Financial Officer
+1-857-299-1033
[email protected]

Rx Communications Group
Michael Miller
+1-917-633-6086
[email protected]

SOURCE MetaVia Inc.

Copper, the metal that underpins the fast-growing renewable energy industry, is on course for its biggest annual price rise in more than 15 years as traders react to fears of global shortages.

As one of the main beneficiaries of the “electrification of everything”, copper has soared by more than 35% in value this year, spurred by US tariff uncertainty and concerns about mining disasters that could restrict supply.

Analysts said copper had also joined silver and gold as a safe haven asset for investors wanting to hedge against the falling value of the dollar.

Silver reached a record high on Monday, pushing the value of the Mexican mining company Fresnillo, which is listed on the London stock market, to a record high this month. The price of gold has jumped above $4,400 (£3,263) an ounce, up more than 70% since the beginning of January.

Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at the investment company Capital.com, said the rise of copper, gold and silver “demonstrates a world marked by greater scarcity and investors desire to get their hands on things with relatively limited supply”.

The copper price rose to more than $12,000 a tonne in December after the biggest rise since the global recovery in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

There was a rush to buy copper by US companies earlier this year after Donald Trump threatened to slap extra tariffs on imports of the metal. The tariffs were suspended, but the hoarding effect has limited supplies in other parts of the world and helped drive global prices higher.

Copper is often viewed as a barometer for the global economy. It plays a central role in power grids, construction and industrial machinery.

China, which is the largest manufacturer of copper products, has made securing supplies a priority, adding to the rise in prices.

On Christmas Day, the state-owned miner Jiangxi Copper said it had acquired all shares of the London-listed miner SolGold for $1.2bn, allowing it to take control of the Cascabel gold and silver mining operation run by SolGold in Ecuador.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs said earlier this month that the copper price was likely to stabilise in response to figures showing there was more than enough copper in circulation to meet global demand.

However, concerns have grown that short-term hoarding in the US and China and the rising demand for copper over the next two decades will mean that supply fails to keep pace, especially as nations seek to switch from oil and gas to renewable sources of energy, driven by electricity from wind and solar farms.

However, several mines have recently been forced to shut down after accidents.

The US miner Freeport-McMoRan said in September that it would be unable to fulfil contracts to customers after a fatal mudslide at its sprawling Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia.

Press Release:
14:00 CET • 29 Dec 2025

News release from Vestas Northen and Central Europe
Hamburg, 29 December 2025

Vestas is proud to announce the following orders as part of our Q4 order intake:

Country	Region	Customer	Project name	MW	Turbine variant	Service agreement	Delivery & commissioning
Ireland	EMEA	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	99	22 x V136-4.5 MW	20-year AOM 5000 Service Agreement	Delivery planned to begin in Q1 2027; commissioning scheduled to begin in Q3 2027
Ireland	EMEA	Undisclosed	Undisclosed	47	11 x V117-4.3 MW	Undisclosed	Undisclosed
Ireland	EMEA	Invis Energy	Knocknamork	42	7 x V150-6.0 MW	20-year AOM 5000 Service Agreement	Delivery planned to begin in Q3 2026; commissioning scheduled to begin in Q2 2027

For more information, please contact:
Yannick Kramm
External Communications Specialist, Vestas Northern & Central Europe 
Mail: yankr@vestas.com
Tel: +44 (0)77 9528 4694
Yannick Kramm

About Vestas
Vestas is the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions. We design, manufacture, install, and service onshore and offshore wind turbines across the globe, and with more than 197 GW of wind turbines in 88 countries, we have installed more wind power than anyone else. Through our industry-leading smart data capabilities and unparalleled more than 159 GW of wind turbines under service, we use data to interpret, forecast, and exploit wind resources and deliver best-in-class wind power solutions. Together with our customers, Vestas’ more than 37,000 employees are bringing the world sustainable energy solutions to power a bright future.

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