Poland has emerged as the largest buyer of drones from Taiwan, positioning itself as a key hub for Europe’s growing demand for non-Chinese defense technology, Bloomberg reported on September 25.

The country now accounts for nearly 60% of Taiwan’s drone exports, which surged to about $32 million through August this year—up from almost nothing in previous years. The United States ranks second, importing around $7 million worth over the same period.

Taiwanese drone manufacturer Ahamani confirmed that Polish demand is so strong it is planning to open a factory in the country, as reported by Bloomberg. The company also revealed that other international firms, including a major South Korean drone producer, have expressed interest in sourcing non-Chinese motors. ) on September 25.

The country now accounts for nearly 60% of Taiwan’s drone exports, which surged to about $32 million through August this year—up from almost nothing in previous years. The United States ranks second, importing around $7 million worth over the same period.

Taiwanese drone manufacturer Ahamani confirmed that Polish demand is so strong it is planning to open a factory in the country, as reported by Bloomberg. The company also revealed that other international firms, including a major South Korean drone producer, have expressed interest in sourcing non-Chinese motors.

[...]

Archived

European diplomats warned the Kremlin this week that NATO is ready to respond to further violations of its airspace with full force, including by shooting down Russian planes, according to officials familiar with the exchange.

At a tense meeting in Moscow, British, French and German envoys addressed their concerns about an incursion by three MiG-31 fighter jets over Estonia last week, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the talks took place behind closed doors. Following the conversation, they concluded that the violation had been a deliberate tactic ordered by Russian commanders.

[...]

NATO’s eastern members have faced a series of violations this month that have posed an unprecedented test of the alliance’s resolve at a moment when Vladimir Putin is stepping up Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and US backing for Kyiv is wavering.

[...]

The account of the meeting in Moscow shows that Putin has been given a more forceful warning about the volley of jets and drones into the skies over eastern Europe and offers an insight into the brinkmanship between the two sides.

[...]

The Russian side took extensive notes during the conversation, the officials said, leading the European team to speculate that they had been instructed to provide a detailed readout of the NATO position up the chain of command.

A German government official confirmed that a meeting took place and that the ambassadors told Moscow that the incursions had to stop. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that he’s coordinating with Paris, London and Warsaw and supports “all measures necessary.”

UK and French spokespeople weren’t immediately able to comment on the meeting. President Emmanuel Macron declined to specify how NATO would respond to further incursions in an interview on France 24 on Wednesday.

[...]

“The intention is to create division and to make us scared,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told reporters Thursday. “The threat from hybrid attacks is here to stay.”

The sudden uptick aligns with the view from some security officials that a belligerent move from Moscow, whose war on Ukraine is well into its fourth year, would likely not come in the form of a conventional attack against the West, but rather a hybrid operation with deliberate ambiguity about its origins and motivations.

“Russia is testing us, testing our preparedness, testing our commitment to retaliate,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said in an interview Monday in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. “I think it’s very important to show the solidarity — and even more important, fast reaction.”

[...]

“If NATO shoots down a Russian plane under the pretext of an alleged violation of its airspace, this will be war,” Russian Ambassador Alexey Meshkov said Thursday during a broadcast on the French radio station RTL.

Other NATO leaders including Italy’s Giorgia Meloni have also urged caution, warning allies in effect not to take the Kremlin’s bait, though Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he would support bringing down a plane.

“The Russians should be aware it could happen if they enter NATO airspace,” Schoof said in an interview Thursday in New York.

[...]

Romanian authorities monitored a Russian drone that had breached the country’s airspace for 50 minutes on Sept. 13. Although tracked by two F-16 fighter jets, a decision not to shoot it down — citing risks of falling debris — was met with criticism.

“When it comes to your own security, there’s no bigger priority than showing those who test you that you are capable of protecting your airspace,” former Romanian President Traian Basescu told broadcaster Digi TV.

[...]

Archived

[...]

According to the data journalism project To Be Exact, almost one quarter of schools in Russia were in need of major structural repairs in 2024. Most of these schools were in the Murmansk (77 percent), Kirov (69 percent), Karelia (65 percent), and Kabardino-Balkaria (64 percent) regions.

Nor did all schools have basic amenities. At a school in the Karelian village of Voloma, the bathroom didn’t have running water for a year, forcing students to use a bucket instead. The school’s principal defended the situation to a local activist, arguing that “the first graders were more used to” a bucket than a toilet.

[...]

More than half the schools in the Tuva Republic and 41 percent of schools in Dagestan and the Sakha Republic were without sewage infrastructure. These same regions also topped the list for the highest percentage of schools without running water, according to To Be Precise.

Additionally, in the Tuva Republic, 68 percent of schools had no central heating. The figures were also high in Kalmykia (35 percent) and Ingushetia (31 percent).

[...]

The school in the Novosibirsk region that collapsed earlier this month was first opened in 1937. In the 1990s, there were plans to build a new facility, but construction was never completed. Authorities finally revisited the idea in 2023, but progress has been slow due to high groundwater levels. After the old building’s collapse, officials promised to complete construction of the new school in time for the 2026–2027 school year.

[...]

Some parents said they had complained to the principal about the building’s condition, but received no response.

[...]

A teacher who served as principal of a different school in the Novosibirsk region until 2018 [said] that school directors who push for building repairs can face serious repercussions. According to him, the commission that conducts building inspections before each academic year often overlooks issues and pressures the principal to sign off on their reports.

The teacher said inspectors typically suggest either conducting a follow-up assessment or postponing the repairs until the next school break, and school administrators often agree to these terms. But if a principal refuses to sign the report and insists on getting repairs done before the school year starts, they’re told: “Just sign it. If you don’t, we’ll find someone else who will.”

So Ohio Trump soy boys are whining that Trump is giving billions to the failing mini-trump Milei after they just took their soy sales to China.

Hey, what do you guys use to share videos and screen share to your friends or colleagues? I'm looking to self host a video/call server that runs on webrtc (maybe?) with a fairly easy client experience. Something like mumble but for videos. Any suggestions?

Archived

In February 2025, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for fugitive Moldovan billionaire Vladimir Plahotniuc. [On 25 September], he was escorted from Athens to Chișinău. Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru stated that Plahotniuc will be immediately placed in a solitary cell in Prison No. 13.

[...]

Plahotniuc was detained on July 22 at Athens airport while attempting to fly to Dubai. Authorities seized 21 passports and identity documents allegedly issued by the governments of Moldova, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Iraq, and Vanuatu. Former Moldovan MP Constantin Țuțu, who was also detained, had five forged documents in his possession.

The Moldovan Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges against Plahotniuc in three cases, including the theft of $1 billion from the country’s banking system in 2014. According to investigators, Plahotniuc received $39 million and €3.5 million of that larger sum through entities connected with fellow fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, who currently resides in Russia.

[...]

In Russia, Plahotniuc is also facing criminal prosecution for forming a criminal group, drug trafficking, and money laundering. However, Moldovan authorities believe that Moscow is using these cases as a tool to protect the Kremlin-aligned oligarch, and that he would not actually be punished if international authorities extradited him to Moscow instead of to Chișinău.

Crossposted from https://midwest.social/post/36018372

Mark my words, they’re going to use this to “legally” eliminate any opposition.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36435262

https://archive.is/4WtAc

There were more than two million robots working in Chinese factories last year, according to a report released Thursday by the International Federation of Robotics, a nonprofit trade group for makers of industrial robots. Factories in China installed nearly 300,000 new robots last year, more than the rest of the world combined, the report found.

More background on the subject can be found on Louis Rossmann's video a couple days before this meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kkAo9faois

Video: You'll see the results next year, but it's not the end of Googly lappies

https://archive.ph/ooQgt