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TRX Gold’s Earnings Call Transcript Reveals Missed EPS Forecast, Stock Rises in Premarket Trading for Q4 2025

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10 December 2025

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Earnings call transcript: TRX Gold misses EPS forecast, stock up premarket Q4 2025

Judge permits release of Epstein grand jury records from 2019

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10 December 2025

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Judge permits release of Epstein grand jury records from 2019

A federal judge in New York has ruled the US Department of Justice can publicly release grand jury records from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case.

US District Judge Richard Berman’s ruling reverses his previous decision to keep the material sealed. He cited a new law passed by Congress requiring the justice department to release files about Epstein by the end of next week.

Esptein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in a New York prison cell a month later while awaiting trail.

The latest ruling comes a day after another judge made a similar ruling in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating Epstein’s abuse.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.

Check out 24 Winter and 2026 Swim Camps That Could Be Your Next Favorite

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10 December 2025

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Check out 24 Winter and 2026 Swim Camps That Could Be Your Next Favorite

By Gold Medal Mel Stewart on SwimSwam

These swim camps are headed by some of the best coaches in swimming. Stay tuned. More swim camps will be listed soon.

2025 Sergio Lopez Winter Breaststroke Swim Camp – Sign Up Today

Come join 4-time Olympic Coach and 1988 Bronze medalist, Sergio Lopez, as he teaches you the techniques and drills that have helped Olympians and World Ranked Swimmers around the world.

2026 Gator Swim Camp – Sign Up Today

The University of Florida GATOR SWIM CAMPS are developmental camps designed to teach swimmers proper technique and provide quality training to swimmers of ALL abilities between 8 and 18 years old. The camps emphasize technical skills, training habits, and mental preparation as well as the importance of health and fitness in a structured, fun, and enthusiastic Gator environment. Campers will interact with Olympic Gold Medalists, World and NCAA Champions, as well as Olympic and World Championship coaches.

2026 Alabama Swim Camps/Clinics – Sign Up Today

The University of Alabama swimming and diving program has a rich history of success, spanning all the way back to 1960, as the Tide has produced 57 Olympians, 27 National Champions and 301 SEC Champions. Building off that foundation, head coach Margo Geer continues to push the program to new heights in her five years at the helm of the Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide would like to extend an opportunity for athletes to grow and develop their skills at our upcoming clinics/camps. Each session is focused on developing a well-rounded athlete, with focus both in and out of the water, featuring the same tactics used to train collegiate swimmers daily. These include but are not limited to:

2026 Stanford Swim Camps- Sign Up Today

Located between San Francisco and San Jose, in the heart of Silicon Valley, the 2026 Stanford Swim Camps are directed by Dan Schemmel and Marcus Noto Guttmann and are designed to help competitive swimmers from around the world improve their stroke technique.

Campers receive concentrated instruction on all four strokes along with starts and turns at Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center located on the beautiful Stanford University campus. Upon arrival, campers are placed in groups with other swimmers that have similar abilities and goals. Our camp staff does their best to accommodate your needs, keeping in consideration your experience and desire to improve.

2026 Michigan Swim Camps – Sign Up Today

The University of Michigan has a rich history of training Olympic gold medalists, NCAA champions and Big Ten champions, having been represented at 24 of the Olympic Games dating back to 1904. Michigan Swimmers and Divers account for 201 NCAA individual championships, 12 NCAA team championships, over 100 Big Ten individual championships and 64 Big Ten team championships. At Michigan, our mantra is: It’s not every 4 years, its every day! This mentality helps our athletes train at an elite level each and every day and is the cornerstone of our success!

2026 Aggie Swim Camps – Sign Up Today

Thank you for registering for the 2026 season of the Aggie Swim Camp at Texas A&M University! We are looking forward to providing you with an exciting, unforgettable experience where you will improve your technique, make life-long friends and have a great time! Please review the information below. Please reach out to the Camp Director at aggieswimcamp@athletics.tamu.edu with any questions.

2026 Neal Studd Swim Camp @ Florida State University – Sign Up Today

The Neal Studd Swim Camp at Florida State University is a camp that focuses on giving each swimmer aged 7-17 the tools to improve their overall technique. The camp focuses on fitness, stroke technique, starts, turns, nutrition and mental training. Each camper will receive specific instruction on all 4 strokes, turns and starts. There will be classroom sessions on these principles as well as talks on nutrition. We will also have champion swimmers come in to talk to our campers. Our goal each session is to give your camper the tools to improve their swimming as well as give them a renewed love of the sport! We love to hear from our campers each year, that they have a “renewed love of the sport” and/or that they “were so excited to drop time”.

2026 Bulldog Swim Camp – Sign Up Today

Located on Yale’s campus in New Haven, CT, the Bulldog Swim Camp is designed to help competitive swimmers from all over to improve their technique, training, and mindset. Campers have the opportunity to stay overnight in Yale Residential Colleges, eat at Yale Dining Halls, and be coached by members of the Yale coaching staff! Campers receive skill-specific instruction on all four strokes, starts, turns, and underwaters.

2026 Northwestern Summer Swim Camps – Sign Up Today

At Northwestern Swim Camps, we are committed to teaching the skills that young swimmers need to move forward in the sport. These camps will be focused on specific skills, and we will hone those skills until they are learned from the inside out. While teaching specifics, we will also harness technology for immediate feedback for the swimmers. Seeing progress will encourage a continuing learning process. We will be using the GoSwim Swim Better app for performance data evaluation. All camps are designed and led by Northwestern University Director of Women’s and Men’s Swimming and Diving, Rachel Stratton-Mills and US Olympian Glenn Mills.

2026 University of Northern Colorado Swimming Camps – Sign Up Today

UNC Swimming Camps are designed to teach athletes the technical aspects of swimming to help them achieve success at the next level. We keep our swimmer to coach ratio low so that each of our campers can receive an optimal amount of feedback during their time on campus. We group athletes according to skill level and are able to accommodate swimmers of all levels. Our focused instruction and motivational approach make swimming fun and teaches our campers how to get the most out of our sport.

2026 Total Performance Swim Camps at Kenyon College – SAVE THE DATE

DANI KORMAN: “Our mission at TPSC is to encourage swimmers to exceed their expectations! Our staff is committed to every camper learning and growing as a swimmer and as a person. We believe a camp experience is important to youth development. We build upon our 40 plus years of swim camps and continue striving to provide the safest possible learning experience for every participant. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions you have at tpsc@kenyon.edu. We look forward to welcoming you to TPSC in June 2026!

2026 Ohio State Swimming Gold Medal Camps and Clinics – SAVE THE DATE

These clinics will provide each camper with the best opportunity to enhance their skills while focusing on the technical details of each stroke from a Gold Medal producing program and staff. Bill Dorenkott, who has over 30 years of experience as a head coach at the collegiate level, enters his 16th overall season at Ohio State in 2023-24; he enters his seventh season as the Director of Swimming & Diving after spending nine seasons working with the women’s team exclusively. His programs are among the best, if not the best, in the Big Ten Conference.

2026 Bolles Swim Camp – SAVE THE DATE

For over 46 years, the Bolles School Sharks have set the standard for excellence in swimming, both nationally and internationally. At Bolles Swim Camps, athletes immerse themselves in this Tradition of Excellence while mastering elite skills in a supportive and focused environment. With a legacy that includes hundreds of All-Americans, national champions, and Olympians, our camps build on this foundation by offering comprehensive training that covers advanced technique, intentional workouts, goal setting, and college recruiting insights. Whether through our immersive month-long Team Boarding Experience or small-group driven Elite Camps, swimmers are invited to become part of the Bolles legacy and take their performance to the next level.

2026 SPIRE Swim Camps – SAVE THE DATE

A unique, cutting-edge environment for swimmers wanting a competitive advantage. Camps focus on all technical aspects of racing and are designed to specifically develop the four competitive strokes plus starts, turns, transitions and finishes. Stroke technique, efficiency and speed will all improve. SPIRE Performance Training is included and designed to develop core strength, power and flexibility.

2026 Navy Elite Swim Camps – SAVE THE DATE

Navy Sports Camps are offered throughout the year on the iconic campus of the United States Naval Academy located within walking distance of shops, restaurants, and hotels in historic Annapolis, MD. Just like our student-athletes and coaches, Navy Sports Camps are the BEST of the BEST. Every camper will have the opportunity to learn from the coaching staff, develop new relationships, and understand what it takes to be a Navy student-athlete. It is truly a one-of-a-kind camp experience; we look forward to seeing YOU soon!

2026 Navy Swim Camps – SAVE THE DATE

Our most important goal is to provide you the very best in individual instruction and evaluation, camper experience, and safety/supervision. The purpose of our camp is to offer you with a unique and awesome environment to learn as well as develop your competitive strokes including all related starts, turns and finishes. Navy Swimming Camp is a stroke-intensive camp. You will receive individual attention. Additional training sessions are offered for those desiring to improve conditioning while at camp. Video analysis, dry land activities designed to improve individual fitness levels, performance, training, goal-setting and leadership presentations, are all part of a full schedule in 2025.

2026 Penn State Swim Camps – SAVE THE DATES (June 28th Through July 2nd 2026)

Penn State Swim Competitive Training & Technique Camp is designed to focus on the fundamentals of technique, training, and performance. This camp will emphasize the skills, in and out of the water, that will allow swimmers to improve their competitive swimming experience. Each swimmer will receive specific instruction on all facets of a competitive race as well as workout fundamentals and tips. Workouts are structured to improve stroke technique with a combination of drills, skills, and training. Campers will have one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date training camp experiences available in the United States.

2026 Auburn War Eagle Swim Camps – 2026 DATES ARE TBA

Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka will lead the Auburn swim camps, along with Auburn’s coaching staff, special guest Rowdy Gaines, and a qualified staff of coaches, counselors and collegiate swimmers. Coach Wochomurka and his staff will feature the following that have helped the Auburn program win 13 NCAA AND 23 SEC Championships…

2026 Western Colorado University High Altitude Swim Camps – SAVE THE DATE (June 19-23 2026)

Mountaineer High Altitude Training Camps offer the most unique training experience in the country. Each athlete will receive a free camp T-shirt & swim cap. Additionally, meals will be provided & athletes will be lodged in college dorm rooms. All attendees will get to meet with collegiate athletes! Camps will focus on teaching, refining, and reinforcing elite swimming techniques as well as aerobic-based training. Swimmers will walk away with a deeper understanding of their strokes as well as their starts, turns, and finishes.

2026 Nic Askew Swim & Dive Camp – SAVE THE DATE

Thank you for visiting the official website of Nic Askew Swim & Dive Camp. Nic Askew Swim & Dive Camps are led by Nic Askew and the Swim & Dive Camp staff. Special Hotel rate now offered with our Hotel partner, the Cambria Hotel DC, Convention Center. The Cambria is one of DC’s most sought-after hotels during the Summer. Located conveniently near Howard University and all DC attractions, you are guaranteed to be in the right spot for your visit to the Nation’s Capital. Limited rooms are available on a first come first served basis..

Discover the Ultimate Aquatic Experience at ONEflow Aquatics in Somabay, Egypt

Welcome to ONEflow Aquatics, the premier destination for swim camps in the heart of Somabay, Egypt. Our state-of-the-art aquatics center redefines excellence, offering world-class swimming facilities, cutting-edge fitness equipment, and an unmatched atmosphere of tranquility by the stunning Red Sea.

Altitude Training Opportunities at Pikes Peak Athletics Training Center

Pikes Peak Athletics Training Center (PPATC), the premier swim training facility in Colorado Springs, is welcoming college and club swim teams for altitude training trips, with expanded lane availability December 20–27. Located at 6,000 feet elevation, PPATC offers a state-of-the-art pool and training center designed to maximize performance in and out of the water. Visiting teams have access to dedicated lane space, strength/dryland options, and a high-performance environment supported by experienced staff who understand the unique demands of altitude training. Based in the same city as the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center and surrounded by Colorado’s outdoor recreation and competitive swimming culture, PPATC is an ideal destination for teams seeking to combine high-quality training with the benefits of training at elevation.

Looking For A Swim Camp?

Fitter and Faster has the most impactful swim camps for the competitive swimming community. In 2023 Fitter & Faster will produce 450 swim camps for competitive swimmers throughout North America. Each swim camp is created to be a world-class learning experience that meets the needs of prospective participants…and exceeds their expectations. Competitive swimmers of all ages and abilities; their parents and coaches benefit from Fitter & Faster’s exceptional learning experiences in-person and online.

2026 Race Club Swim Camps – Sign Up Today

Our mission is to promote swimming through sport, lifelong enjoyment, and good health benefits. Our objective is for each member of The Race Club to improve his or her swimming performances, health, and self-esteem through our educational programs, services, and creativity.

MORE CAMPS WILL BE LOADED SOON….

All Swim Camps are SwimSwam ad partners. If you wish to appear on the SwimSwam.com Swim Camp Channel, contact us for details.

SwimSwam leverages Swim Camps to social media @SwimSwamNEWS Twitter (with 116,000+ followers), SwimSwam Facebook (with 748,000+ followers) and @SwimSwamNEWS on Instagram (with 450,000 followers). We’ve learned that Swim Camps are important to our audience. They like knowing what Swim Camps are available in our big swimming family.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: See 24 Swim Camps You Might Love This Winter and in 2026

Inflamed Patients Experience Significant Reduction in Depression with Anti-Inflammatories

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10 December 2025

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Inflamed Patients Experience Significant Reduction in Depression with Anti-Inflammatories

There’s a well-established link between depression and chronic low-grade inflammation. Now, a new meta-study shows that treating the inflammation can reduce depression in two ways, offering a potential alternative to antidepressants and their side effects.

Since the 1980s, the link between depression and inflammation has been known, although it has more or less remained a kind of chicken-and-egg situation. Do people suffering from chronic inflammation become depressed because of effects like pain, fatigue, and repeated colds, or do they have depression which then leads the body to become inflamed? And in either case, could treating inflammation also treat depression?

Previous studies have been mixed on the issue, although it is now generally accepted that if a person’s depressive symptoms are brought on exclusively by inflammation, then yes, treating it can help.

Backing up this idea is new research out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Researchers there felt that many previous studies looking at how anti-inflammatory treatments fought depression were flawed because they examined the use of such treatments over a wide range of depressed individuals – not necessarily people who were both depressed and suffering from chronic inflammation.

So they conducted a meta-analysis in which they found 11 different studies where it was confirmed that the study participants had both chronic inflammation and depression and were then treated with anti-inflammatories. That honed their meta-study down to a relatively small group of 321 participants. Still, they found promising results.

“We found that anti-inflammatory medications significantly reduced both depressive symptom severity and anhedonia at the study endpoint,” says study lead Naoise Mac Giollabhui. Anhedonia is a common symptom of depression in which people have a decreased ability to feel pleasure.

In their analysis, the researchers found a Hedges’ g of 0.4 for anhedonia. That’s basically a standardized measure of how much better the treatment group did compared to the placebo group. In practical terms, if you randomly picked someone from each group, the person on the anti-inflammatory treatment would report improved symptoms roughly 60% of the time.

For overall depressive symptoms, the Hedges’ g value came in at 0.35.

While Giollabhui says that his team’s study does, in fact, confirm that anti-inflammatories given to depressed individuals who have “dysregulated immune systems” can improve their symptoms, he feels more research is needed.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to develop immune biomarkers that more accurately identify who will benefit from anti-inflammatory treatment for depression and to develop treatment approaches that selectively target dysfunctional inflammatory physiology,” he concludes. “At the moment, some of the more potent anti-inflammatory medications have serious side-effects that make them sub-optimal for use in a clinical setting.”

The study has been published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Source: Mass General Brigham

The affordability crisis in America’s mobile housing exposes a system in which income dictates vulnerability to climate disasters.

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10 December 2025

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The affordability crisis in America’s mobile housing exposes a system in which income dictates vulnerability to climate disasters.

Option A is a beautiful home in California near good schools and job opportunities. But it goes for nearly a million dollars – the median California home sells for US$906,500 – and you’d be paying a mortgage that’s risen 82% since January 2020.

Option B is a similar home in Texas, where the median home costs less than half as much: just $353,700. The catch? Option B sits in an area with significant hurricane and flood risk.

As a professor of urban planning, I know this isn’t just a hypothetical scenario. It’s the impossible choice millions of Americans face every day as the U.S. housing crisis collides with climate change. And we’re not handling it well.

The numbers tell the story

The migration patterns are stark. Take California, which lost 239,575 residents in 2024 – the largest out-migration of any state. High housing costs are a primary driver: The median home price in California is more than double the national median.

Where are these displaced residents going? Many are heading to southern and western states like Florida and Texas. Texas, which is the top destination for former California residents, saw a net gain of 85,267 people in 2024, much of it from domestic migration. These newcomers are drawn primarily by more affordable housing markets.

This isn’t simply people chasing lower taxes. It’s a housing affordability crisis in motion. The annual household income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a mid-tier California home was about $237,000 in June 2025, a recent analysis found – over twice the state’s median household income.

Over 21 million renter households nationwide spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For them and others struggling to get by, the financial math is simple, even if the risk calculation isn’t.

I find this troubling. In essence, the U.S. is creating a system where your income determines your exposure to climate disasters. When housing becomes unaffordable in safer areas, the only available and affordable property is often in riskier locations – low-lying areas at flood risk in Houston and coastal Texas, or higher-wildfire-risk areas as California cities expand into fire-prone foothills and canyons.

Climate risk becomes part of the equation

The destinations drawing newcomers aren’t exactly safe havens. Research shows that America’s high-fire-risk counties saw 63,365 more people move in than out in 2023, much of that flowing to Texas. Meanwhile, my own research and other studies of post-disaster recovery have shown how the most vulnerable communities – low-income residents, people of color, renters – face the greatest barriers to rebuilding after disasters strike.

Consider the insurance crisis brewing in these destination states. Dozens of insurers in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and beyond have collapsed in recent years, unable to sustain the mounting claims from increasingly frequent and severe disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. Economists Benjamin Keys and Philip Mulder, who study climate change impacts on real estate, describe the insurance markets in some high-risk areas as “broken”. Between 2018 and 2023, insurers canceled nearly 2 million homeowner policies nationwide – four times the historically typical rate.

Yet people keep moving into risky areas. For example, recent research shows that people have been moving toward areas most at risk of wildfires, even holding wealth and other factors constant. The wild beauty of fire-prone areas may be part of the attraction, but so is housing availability and cost.

The policy failures behind the false choice

In my view, this isn’t really about individual choice – it’s about policy failure. The state of California aims to build 2.5 million new homes by 2030, which would require adding more than 350,000 units annually. Yet in 2024, the state only added about 100,000 – falling dramatically short of what’s needed. When local governments restrict housing development through exclusionary zoning, they’re effectively pricing out working families and pushing them toward risk.

My research on disaster recovery has consistently shown how housing policies intersect with climate vulnerability. Communities with limited housing options before disasters become even more constrained afterward. People can’t “choose” resilience if resilient places won’t let them build affordable housing.

The federal government started recognizing this connection – to an extent. For example, in 2023, the Federal Emergency Management Agency encouraged communities to consider “social vulnerability” in disaster planning, in addition to things like geographic risk. Social vulnerability refers to socioeconomic factors like poverty, lack of transportation or language barriers that make it harder for communities to deal with disasters.

However, the agency more recently stepped back from that move – just as the 2025 hurricane season began.

In my view, when a society forces people to choose between paying for housing and staying safe, that society has failed. Housing should be a right, not a risk calculation.

But until decision-makers address the underlying policies that create housing scarcity in safe areas and fail to protect people in vulnerable ones, climate change will continue to reshape who gets to live where – and who gets left behind when the next disaster strikes.

Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Tatjana Haenni appointed as first female CEO in German football at RB Leipzig | Football News

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10 December 2025

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Tatjana Haenni appointed as first female CEO in German football at RB Leipzig | Football News

Former player Tatjana Haenni is named the new chief executive, making her the first female boss in the Bundesliga.

Published On 10 Dec 2025

Former Switzerland international and experienced football administrator, Tatjana Haenni, has become the first female CEO of a Bundesliga club after RB Leipzig appointed her to the post on Wednesday.

Haenni has decades of experience following her playing career, having held various posts in women’s football at the global governing body FIFA for more than a decade.

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She was also in charge of women’s football at the Swiss football association and sports director at the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States, among others, until her departure earlier this year.

“In our discussions, she impressed us and the committees with her expertise, as well as her combination of specialist knowledge, leadership strength and strategic thinking,” said Oliver Mintzlaff, chair of RB Leipzig’s supervisory board, in a club statement.

The 59-year-old will take up her role on January 1, 2026.

Leipzig, owned by energy drinks maker Red Bull, are currently in second place in the Bundesliga, eight points behind leaders Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga will go into a winter break between December 21 and January 9.

“I am very much looking forward to this new role. I am convinced that with strong teamwork and a focus on RB Leipzig’s strengths, we can tap into significant potential,” Haenni said.

“I can’t wait to get started in January and to get to know the club on a deeper level,” Haenni said. “Together, we want to continue on what is already a successful path and achieve our ambitious goals.”

The Hidden Price of “Free” Music

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10 December 2025

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MBW Views is a series of op-eds from eminent music industry people… with something to say. The following MBW op/ed comes from Frederic Schindler, a music supervisor and the founder of the music supervision company Too Young Ltd. and the licensing platform Catalog. He was named the 2025 Music Supervisor of the Year by the Association of Independent Music.

In the world of visual media and beyond, ‘free’ is the most expensive thing there is. And its close cousin,‘ easy’, is a dangerous accomplice.

In simple terms, sync licensing is the process of finding, getting permission, and paying to pair a piece of music with visual media. It’s the song that swells during the final scene of a film, the track that drives a global advertising campaign, and the beat that powers a viral TikTok video or videogame action. It is the soundtrack to our feeds, screens, and culture.

For years, I’ve been vocal about the broken sync system and the urgent need for this sector to be digitized – the gatekeeping, the endless email chains and archaic manual processes, the perfect pairing opportunities that die even before they are born.

It’s a system so inefficient that it has created its billion-dollar solution: the frictionless, instantly gratifying world of stock music, sound-alikes, and bespoke studios that mimic references closely enough to be effective, but just far enough to avoid legal consequences.

On the surface, it’s a triumph of convenience. For a nominal fee, you get a track. No lawyers, no delays, no fuss. It feels free. It feels easy.

But what is the true cost of this convenience?

The first cost is financial, and it is staggering. The stock music industry is now a $1.3 billion behemoth and is expected to grow to a $2.8 billion beast by 2030. To put that in perspective, the entire global record label business generated just $650 million from sync last year.

Yes, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Beyoncé, John Coltrane and all the outstanding past and present history of recorded music combined made less revenue than music opportunistically created for visual media.

A market built on generic, anonymous tracks actually doubles the sync revenue of the artists and labels we love. This is not just a market inefficiency; it is a colossal transfer of wealth away from our musical culture and into the hands of platforms that sell sonic wallpaper.

But the damage runs deeper than lost revenue. The proliferation of subscription-based, “royalty-free” platforms has introduced a pernicious model that preys on artists and producers. It’s the “all-you-can-eat” buffet model, applied to sync.

Just as streaming platforms conditioned a generation to perceive individual songs as having near-zero monetary value, these sync platforms do the same for productions. They turn music into a bulk commodity by offering unlimited “syncs” for a flat monthly fee.

These platforms often operate on a work-for-hire basis, demanding artists alienate their rights for a one-time payment. Consent becomes a transaction, and the artist is reduced from a rights-holder to a gig worker on a sound assembly line, churning out content based on briefs and “sync market trends”.

Every time a production defaults to the ‘easy’ option, it is a vote to entrench this exploitative model and defund the artists we claim to admire.

The second cost is cultural. Sync is, or should be, an engine of discovery. It’s the perfect song in a pivotal scene that sends you down a rabbit hole, introducing you to your next favourite artist or musical scene. The track in an ad defines a moment and captures the zeitgeist.

Think of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill in Stranger Things. This single placement didn’t just define a character’s struggle but resurrected a 37-year-old masterpiece for an entirely new generation, topping charts worldwide.

That is the power we are losing. That’s the opportunity we are missing. But how often does that happen now? Consider the sheer volume of media we consume daily: the background to a 15-second social media ad, the intro to a podcast, the hold music on a customer service line, the teaser of that new series on Netflix.

Each slot could be soundtracked with art, but is overwhelmingly filled with functionality. This cultural real estate is some of the most valuable in the world, yet we are increasingly filling it with the musical equivalent of grey paint.

We are replacing moments of potential discovery with forgettable, algorithmically-optimised soulless sound-alikes. This slow, creeping erosion of quality is creating a blander, less resonant visual media landscape for us all.

Finally, the third and highest cost is the future. As we stand on the precipice of an unregulated generative AI revolution, the path of least resistance becomes even more seductive. Why bother with stock music when AI can generate something passable in seconds?

But this thinking is a trap. It mistakes mimicry for artistry and convenience for value. By accepting ‘ok’ over ‘great’, we are training ourselves, our clients, and our audiences to devalue the very human spark of creativity that makes a piece of music outstanding.

And memorable music touches us, deeply. This becomes personal for me when I think of my two-year-old daughter. I wonder if she will have her anthems of rebellion, love, and belonging – the kind of artist-driven music that defined youth culture for the last century. Or will her generation’s soundtrack be a seamless, functional, but forgettable stream of background audio?

“As we stand on the precipice of an unregulated generative AI revolution, the path of least resistance becomes even more seductive.”

The traditional sync system is broken, but the solution cannot be to abandon the value of artistry altogether.

The solution is to fix the friction. It’s to build systems that make licensing real, culturally vital music as seamless as its generic alternative. It’s about using technology not to replace human talent and curation, but to empower it.

We have a choice. We can continue down the hill of “free and easy” and pay the hidden price in lost revenue, diminished culture, and a devalued creative future.

Or we can build a better system – one that recognises that the right song will never be just a commodity. It’s a story, an identity, and an experience. It’s a talented artist’s creation that resonates intimately with us. And that is something worth paying for and defending.Music Business Worldwide

Congress erupts in chaos during vote on Jair Bolsonaro’s sentence

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10 December 2025

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Congress erupts in chaos during vote on Jair Bolsonaro’s sentence

Brazil’s parliament descended into chaos on Tuesday as conservative lawmakers continued to push a law which would reduce the prison sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

One left-wing lawmaker was forcibly removed by police after trying to disrupt proceedings, while footage showed scuffles breaking out as security tried to restore order.

Bolsonaro began a 27-year jail term in November for attempting to plot a coup following his 2022 election defeat.

His conservative allies in Congress have proposed a law which would reduce sentences for coup-related offences, as well as free dozens of Bolsonaro supporters who stormed government buildings shortly after he left office.

Meanwhile, court documents showed that Bolsonaro’s legal team filed an official request asking a court to grant him permission to leave prison for surgery.

The appeal repeats a plea for the ex-president to be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest on health grounds. Bolsonaro spent time in intensive care earlier this year following intestinal surgery, and was stabbed in the abdomen in 2018 during a rally.

The fate of Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who was narrowly beaten by leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva three years ago, continues to be a divisive issue in Brazil, where his allies have explored several avenues to exonerate him.

The latest attempt to cut the 70-year-old’s sentence has been to propose a law overhauling punishments for people in elected office, including significantly reducing sentences for the offences that Bolsonaro, and those convicted alongside him, were found guilty of.

One of the lawmakers behind the effort told AFP news agency it would see Bolsonaro’s sentence cut to two years and four months in prison.

During Tuesday’s heated debate on the proposal, leftist politician Glauber Braga briefly occupied the Speaker’s chair, which he said was a protest against a “coup offensive”.

The chamber had been due to vote on Braga’s expulsion for his role in a previous altercation in Congress, one of a handful of removals proposed as part of a wider package of disciplinary reforms, including the changes to coup-related offences.

Police forcibly removed Braga amid a skirmish in the chamber. The TV feed was cut and reporters were removed from the chamber, a move condemned as censorship by a group representing journalists.

Braga later said he would not “accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters”, AFP reported.

As of late Tuesday night, the law cutting Bolsonaro’s sentence – which would require ratification by the legislature’s second house – had not passed.

Bolsonaro was given a lengthy prison sentence in September after Supreme Court judges found he had proposed a coup to military leaders, and said that he knew of a plot to assassinate his rival Lula.

While a military coup did not materialise, his supporters launched a violent assault on government buildings in Brasília in January 2023, after which thousands were detained.

Several senior military figures, two former defence ministers and an ex-intelligence chief were also convicted as part of the coup investigation.

Bolsonaro and his supporters have long dubbed the investigation a “witch hunt”.

His Liberal Party remains the largest in Congress, where conservative parties outnumber groupings sympathetic to Lula.

Lawmakers loyal to Bolsonaro previously launched an attempt to secure an amnesty, though that floundered in the face of national protests, with a significant cut to sentences now proposed as a compromise.

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10 December 2025

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Map: Colombia Hit by 5.5-Magnitude Earthquake

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10 December 2025

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Map: Colombia Hit by 5.5-Magnitude Earthquake

Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 4 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “light,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. All times on the map are Colombia time. The New York Times

A moderately strong, 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck in Colombia on Wednesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The temblor happened at 3:27 a.m. Colombia time about 7 miles northeast of Jordán, Colombia, data from the agency shows.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Colombia time. Shake data is as of Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 3:41 a.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 4:13 a.m. Eastern.

Maps: Daylight (urban areas); MapLibre (map rendering); Natural Earth (roads, labels, terrain); Protomaps (map tiles)