For almost 27 years, the Venezuelan military – formally known as the National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) – was a firm ally to presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, as they systematically drifted from seeking an alternative to Western liberal democracy, and towards authoritarianism.

The FANB helped the Venezuelan government dismantle the institutions of the previous political establishment and persecute its most fervent opponents. In exchange, the governments of Chavez and Maduro, respectively, gave more and more power to the military within Venezuelan politics, offering them ministerial positions, governorships, embassies and other leadership roles such as mayoralties or the administration of state-run enterprises.

Now, with the abduction of Maduro by United States special forces last Saturday, the military’s image as a protector of the Venezuelan state has taken a hit: The deposed president was kidnapped from the largest Venezuelan military complex, Fuerte Tiuna, in an operation that exposed the deficiencies in the FANB’s military technology and defence protocols.

The military faces a crucial dilemma – make changes and serve as the guarantor of the deals fronted by the Donald Trump administration in the US and interim president Delcy Rodriguez in Caracas, or risk further US attacks and erosion of its power and status.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/45242833

Russian oil companies significantly reduced their production of crude oil in December due to the impact of US sanctions on export sales, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Last month, the total amount of Russian oil extracted fell by over 100,000 barrels per day, to 9.326 million barrels, a source familiar with the official statistics, which have been classified since 2022, told Bloomberg.

The drop in output is the greatest since mid-2024, when Russia cut production under an agreement with the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Bloomberg continued. Now, however, Russia is at liberty to increase oil production, yet December’s output showed an unexpected fall and is now 250,000 barrels below the daily quota agreed with OPEC and its allies in November.

Russian oil companies are finding it increasingly difficult to sell Russian crude overseas, as although Russian tankers shipped 3.87 million barrels a day of crude in the four weeks to 21 December, Bloomberg said, there were increased delays in offloading cargoes “with a build-up of vessels anchored off the coasts of India and China”, the Kremlin’s two largest customers.

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Web archive link

The study by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) found that 21% of respondents reported thinking about emigration. Among Germans without a migration background, the share was 17%. Those who themselves immigrated to Germany were twice as likely to consider leaving (34%).

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/48759609

Tentative data for the year 2025 from the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) shows the mass exodus of asylum seekers from China continues unabated and is set to either rival last year’s record-breaking number or possibly exceed it. The tentative data, to be adjusted and finalized later in 2026, estimates some 178,725 asylum seekers from China. This is a far cry from the numbers seen during Hu Jintao’s reign, when it would stay between 7,000 and 21,000 annually.

The new data also shows some major swings in where Chinese people seek asylum, with Canada, Italy, and the United States seeing a continued and major surge.

With the new data, China has seen some ~1,330,000 Chinese asylum seekers under Xi Jiping’s years in power, compared with just ~162,000 during his predecessor Hu Jintao’s two mandate periods in power. The table below illustrates the dramatic shift in this regard since Xi took power and shows a continued strong upward movement after the lifting of the last COVID restrictions.

[...]

Italy now accounts for nearly ~2.2% of all Chinese asylum seekers worldwide, while the EU as a whole received 9,219 Chinese asylum seekers 2025, or ~5.2% of global total.

In other Europe-related developments, the number of people choosing Russia, 295 in 2019, has collapsed to only 5 people in 2025, and either at zero or in single-digits the entire COVID restriction period.

Other noteworthy figures show South Africa as the only South/East/West African country that received any Chinese asylum seekers, while in the MENA region, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are the only countries to receive them, though, except for Israel, in very limited numbers.

In the greater Asia-Pacific, Australia remains the only major destination for Chinese asylum seekers, but having seen a significant drop from 17,668 to 10,426, while New Zealand, still rare, grew from 74 to 555. Many, such as Japan, records zero asylum seekers for all the years between 2019 and 2025, South Korea being a very rare exception (2,606 in 2019 and 2,181 in 2025). The few others that have received any at all are all either in single or double digits, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nauro, and Vanuatu. Asia continues to be a very rare destination for Chinese asylum seekers, with no change in sight.

In the Americas, both Canada and the US have seen major growth. In Canada, it grew from 2,873 to 6,425, while in the US it went from 68,794 to 147,909. Other noteworthy developments are a near collapse in asylum seekers choosing Brazil (from 4,616 to 798), while Costa Rica is the only Central American country to receive significant numbers, rising sharply from 152 to 619. Most other countries in the Americas received either no asylum seekers at all, or very small numbers.

[...]

The global semiconductor landscape has reached a historic inflection point as the open-source RISC-V architecture officially secured 25% market penetration this month, signaling the end of the long-standing architectural monopoly held by proprietary giants. This milestone, verified by industry analysts in late December 2025, marks a seismic shift in how the world’s most advanced hardware is designed, licensed, and deployed. Driven by a collective industry push for "architectural sovereignty," RISC-V has evolved from an academic experiment into the cornerstone of the next generation of computing.

Danish Defence Academy military analyst Anders Puck Nielsen discusses the future of NATO with Carlo Masala, political scientist and professor of international politics at the Bundeswehr University Munich.

I just like the ring of these two words. Like civil disobedience against opression... I consider self hosting to be the epitome of these actions, in the context of global corporations "ruining" every "product" (be it: privacy concerns, data brokers, pushing AI into products, etc.) Hence, the concept that arises when these two words come together: Cybernetical Disobedience, is the greatest motivation (imho) to spin up some containers, be it searxng, vaultwarden, syncthing, or arr stack. All comes with some rebellious ideation behind... Do any of you feel like me?

Calls are growing on social media for international soccer fans to boycott the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is being hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Summary: the ICE agent Jonathan Ross was not in danger of getting run over when he killed Renee Good. He came in contact with the car, but could clearly see that the driver was steering away from him. Regardless, he shot 3 times, once after being passed by.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41391186

Donald Trump said Friday his administration will take action on Greenland “whether they like it or not,” further escalating his rhetoric as he pushes to acquire the Danish territory for the U.S.

The comments came during a meeting with oil executives to discuss the prospect of doing business in Venezuela. Less than a week earlier, the U.S. military invaded the oil-rich South American nation and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Denmark and its European allies in NATO – the military alliance co-founded by the U.S. – have pushed back, reiterating that Greenland is not for sale. But the Trump administration nevertheless says it is currently weighing a range of options on Greenland, including utilizing the U.S. military or cutting a deal to purchase it from Denmark.

Once you’ve traded your principles for proximity to power, do you even run your own company?

Archived version: https://archive.is/20260109213037/https://www.theverge.com/policy/859902/apple-google-run-by-cowards

Paywall? https://archive.is/vKyQe

cross-posted from : https://sh.itjust.works/post/53141995

Germany back in 2023 signed a contract with Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for supplying Arrow 3 missile defense systems worth $3.5 billion. Already on December 1, 2026, at an airbase near Annaburg city in Saxony-Anhalt, the system was deployed and reached initial combat readiness.

However, it turned out that two days before official deployment, three unknown drones flew over this system. Moreover, Defense Romania noted that they flew at approximately 100 meters altitude directly over the radar station from Arrow 3 composition.

G27P assault rifles were used for this, equipped with Israeli Smash X4 smart sights, which have recently been actively promoted as a anti-drone solution. However, they failed to shoot down the unmanned aircraft, which then disappeared from the scene.

Later, German counterintelligence and military police classified this incident as an act of deliberate espionage. Defense Express adds that despite all importance of this system which, besides costing over $3.5 billion, is nearly Europe's only defense against russian Oreshnik and intercontinental ballistic missiles Germany couldn't protect it from three drones flying directly over it.

It was a genuine question believe it or not. And “yes” would have been sufficient.

Its basically a radio with a fucked up coil

All the other planets got one.