Poland said it scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to intercept a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying near its airspace over the Baltic Sea, and reported that dozens of objects crossed into the country from Belarus overnight, with some officials saying these are intentional provocations timed during a holiday period.

The Polish military said that jets intercepted, visually identified and escorted the Russian surveillance plane away from their area of responsibility while it was flying over international waters close to Poland’s airspace.

Image: AFP

It said in reference to both the aircraft activity and large balloon incursions from Belarus, “the mass nature of the violation of Polish airspace, its occurrence during the special holiday season, the assessment of the Russian aircraft’s activity in the ‌Baltic Sea, and the fact that similar incidents have recently occurred in Lithuania, may indicate that this was a provocation disguised as ​a smuggling operation.”

NATO countries along the alliance’s eastern flank remain on heightened alert after a series of provocative airspace incidents, including an episode in September when three Russian military aircraft entered Estonian airspace for over ten, shortly after more than 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland.

For another example, Lithuania has previously alleged that smuggler balloons originating from Belarus have repeatedly disrupted air traffic, at times forcing the closure of Vilnius airport.

Lithuanian officials claim that the balloons, which are used to transport cigarettes or other non-taxed contraband, amount to a form of “hybrid attack” by Belarus, a close ally and ‘Union State’ with Russia. However, the Lukashenko government has firmly denied any involvement.

The Polish military has said that as a result of the latest incidents, airspace over parts of the Podlaskie region in northeastern Poland, which borders Belarus, was temporarily closed to civilian flights as a security precaution.

These Eastern European and Baltic countries are trying to coordinate their responses and present a united NATO front. According to Fox, “Polish authorities said the response included support from NATO allies, with Spanish aircraft assisting in air policing and Dutch forces providing air defense systems support.”

Some reports have tallied that Russian aircraft or drones have breached eastern European airspace well over a dozen times at this point, since the Ukraine war began.

According to Business Insider, the company Atreyd has sent a “drone wall” to Ukraine for testing, designed to intercept Shaheds and KABs. Thanks to AI, a single operator can control a hundred drones simultaneously. Production is already established in France and Ukraine, and the… pic.twitter.com/jyo9PXQpXT

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) November 12, 2025

NATO and the European Union have lately said they are working on plans for a ‘drone wall’ for collective defense along the eastern flank, with an eye on the ‘Russian threat’ facing European skies.

Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge granted a temporary injunction on Dec. 25 to block the Trump administration from detaining and deporting Imran Ahmed, an activist among those recently subjected to visa restrictions by the State Department for alleged censorship.

Ahmed, CEO of U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), is a British citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the visa bans on Dec. 23 while condemning the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), naming several former EU officials, as well as prominent activists who had a part in formulating the DSA.

The announcement followed the EU opening formal proceedings against X under the DSA, alleging “dissemination of illegal content.” U.S. officials decried the move as censorship.

Ahmed sued on Dec. 24 in a bid to stop deportation proceedings, naming Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons, acting Field Office Director of the New York ICE office Judith Almodovar, and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers in the complaint.

Rogers had accused Ahmed of collaborating “with the Biden Administration’s effort to weaponize the government against U.S. citizens” in a social media post on Dec. 23, writing that his organization published the “infamous ‘disinformation dozen’ report” that spurred a campaign to de-platform those questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Leaked documents from CCDH show the organization listed ‘kill Musk’s Twitter,’ and ’trigger EU and UK regulatory action’ as priorities,” Rogers wrote.

“The organization supports the UK’s Online Safety Act and EU’s Digital Services Act to expand censorship in Europe and around the world.”

Ahmed argued in his complaint that the sanctions were political retaliation and violated the First Amendment.

“Immigration enforcement—here, immigration detention and threatened deportation—may not be used as a tool to punish noncitizen speakers who express views disfavored by the current administration,” the complaint said.

“Mr. Ahmed’s effort to protect children from social media dangers and harmful hate speech does not present ’serious foreign policy consequences’—any more than do the actions of the United Kingdom and European Union legislators who voted to pass the laws that Secretary Rubio apparently does not like,” the plaintiff argued in a separate court filing.

Ahmed is also arguing a violation of his due process rights under the Fifth Amendment, a violation of immigration laws by tying his speech and views to a cause for deportation, and that the executive branch has exceeded its jurisdiction. The complaint reaffirmed CCDH’s support for the DSA.

U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick has set a hearing in the case for Dec. 29.

“The Supreme Court and Congress have repeatedly made clear: the United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country or reside here,” a State Department spokesperson said.

A new study finds Facebook hosts the vast majority of social media scams, and critics argue it is because Meta prioritizes profit over protecting users, according to the New York Post.

Internal documents obtained by Reuters show Meta projected $16 billion — about 10% of revenue — from scam ads last year. Experts say the company only bans advertisers when its systems detect a 95% probability of fraud, while charging higher ad fees to suspicious buyers, a system critics describe as “pay to play.”

Former California prosecutor Erin West says the documents prove fraud is a “major moneymaker” for Meta. “To know that Facebook is aware of this and they tolerate it — and in fact, they even command additional fees from the worst offenders — is egregious… the practice itself is outrageous, jaw-dropping, unacceptable.”

Data from fraud-reporting firm SafelyHQ shows Facebook is cited in 85% of scam reports that identify a platform, with more than 50,000 verified complaints collected so far. CEO Patrick Quade says the problem is far larger: “For 50,000 people to find us and independently document their losses implies a victim count in the tens of millions… This isn’t ‘cherry-picking’ — it is the overflow of a systemic failure that Meta’s own documents confirm.”

One victim, Brian Kuhn, lost $70 buying records from a fake Facebook sale. “It felt a little creepy that they seemed to know my taste so well… I somehow blame myself equally, but that doesn’t excuse Facebook from allowing the thieves to prey on people.”

The Post writes that lawmakers Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have demanded a federal investigation, writing: “Perversely, Meta reportedly charges higher rates for ads that it suspects might be fraudulent — in effect, imposing a scam tax…”

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denies the claims, saying: “We aggressively fight fraud and scams… Scammers are persistent criminals…”

Yet internal Meta reports from 2025 found the company was involved in one-third of successful U.S. scams and that it was “easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.”

Another victim, Betty, who bought counterfeit cosmetics from a Facebook ad, described the platform’s targeting: “You like one thing or look at something or you make a comment about one thing and then these ads appear… Some are really good — they’re fake, but you really can’t tell at first.”

Quade warns that “the ‘fox’ isn’t even guarding the henhouse — it’s charging a toll for other foxes to walk right in… Meta’s system is algorithmically trapping regular citizens in e-commerce scams…”

Consumer Reports and policy experts argue Meta’s protection under Section 230 must be narrowed, especially for paid ads. As Quade concludes, “You can’t let the company profiting from the crime be the one in charge of stopping it.”

Authored by Ciaran Lyons via CoinTelegraph.com,

Bitcoin’s market fundamentals have stayed strong in 2025, despite the asset’s price and sentiment declining toward the end of the year, says Strategy CEO Phong Le.

“The fundamentals of the market this year for Bitcoin couldn’t be better,” Le told the “Coin Stories” podcast on Tuesday, emphasizing that he doesn’t care too much about its short-term performance. 

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $125,100 on Oct. 5, but has since declined nearly 30%, trading at $87,687 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.

Meanwhile, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which measures overall market sentiment, has shown “Extreme Fear” since Dec. 12.

Le acknowledged that Bitcoin’s price “does what it does” and isn’t always easy to explain. 

“When you’re an investor, you think about the long term of the asset class,” he said. 

Bitcoiners should be “fairly methodical” about short-term price

Le stressed that short-term price action is often unpredictable and Bitcoiners should be “fairly methodical and mathematical about it.” 

“Which is why we focus on things like mNAV, why we built out the Bitcoin treasury and why we built out the US dollar treasury,” he said.

Strategy CEO Phong Le spoke to Natalie Brunell on the Coin Stories podcast. Source: Coin Stories

Alongside Bitcoin’s price decline, Strategy’s (MSTR) mNAV, the company’s market value compared to the value of its Bitcoin holdings, has fallen below 1, trading at 0.93, according to Saylor Tracker. The company holds 671,268 Bitcoin worth around $58.63 billion.

Looking at the long-term fundamentals, he pointed to the US government being “fully supportive of Bitcoin like it’s never been before.” 

TradFi is trying to “figure out” how to catch up

Le said that he and Strategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, have been meeting with traditional banks across the US and UAE, where institutions are trying to figure out how to catch up.

“If you think about what’s happening with traditional powers of the world. The US government, the US banking system, they are all getting on board with Bitcoin,” Le said.

“That’s extremely bullish for this year and 2026,” Le added. While US President Trump signed the executive order officially establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and US Digital Asset Stockpile in March, a formalized strategic plan has not been confirmed yet. 

Some analysts had forecasted it coming to fruition this year.

Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research, Alex Thorn, said in September that “there’s a strong chance the US government will announce this year that it has formed the strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

Copper surged to record highs in Shanghai and moved higher in New York. Futures on the London Metal Exchange are closed for the holidays and will reopen next week.

The moves higher in overseas copper futures markets are likely driven by thin year-end liquidity, which has amplified a broad melt-up across commodities.

Gold, silver and platinum jumped to all-time highs to extend a historic end-of-year rally for precious metals, with support from escalating geopolitical tensions and US dollar weakness.

via Bloomberg… 

Spot gold rose as much as 1.2% to a peak above $4,530 an ounce.

Frictions in Venezuela, where the US has blockaded oil tankers and ramped up pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro, have added to the precious metal’s haven appeal. Washington also launched a military strike against Islamic State in Nigeria in collaboration with the African nation’s government.

Spot silver for immediate delivery advanced for a fifth session, climbing as much as 5% to cross $75 an ounce. The white metal’s recent advance has been buoyed by speculative inflows and lingering supply dislocations across major trading hubs following a historic short squeeze in October.

Silver’s rally has been even more spectacular than gold’s as Bloomberg reports that vaults in London have drawn sizable inflows since the October squeeze, though much of the world’s readily available silver remains in New York as traders await the outcome of a US Commerce Department probe into whether imports of critical minerals pose a national security risk. The review could pave the way for tariffs or other trade curbs on the metal.

“You have a lot of trades or positions on paper: now you need to cover those with physical volume — and there’s not much supply to cover that demand,” said Manav Modi, commodity analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

“You need to power the paper silver with the actual silver,” he said.

On the ground at our Bullion Centre in Singapore as Gold and Silver reach record highs 🔥

This is what real demand looks like – Queue out the door, customers stacking, metal moving. pic.twitter.com/gsW1xG7u1a

— BullionStar (@BullionStar) December 26, 2025

Partly for the same reason, platinum has been on a tear in recent weeks – this month alone, it has risen by more than 40%. The metal traded above $2,400 an ounce for the first time since Bloomberg began compiling data in 1987.

In addition to strong physical demand, global supply of the metal used in the automotive and jewelry sectors is on course for a third annual deficit this year, due largely to disruptions in major producer South Africa.

Meanwhile at The Mint…

When government inefficiency is profitable: platinum selling below spot on US Mint website right now pic.twitter.com/TXd3X7YWJ3

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 26, 2025

UBS analyst Nana Antiedu commented on the rally in precious metals this morning:

Strategist Joni Teves highlights a rally in precious metals, with gold, silver, and platinum reaching record highs ahead of the holiday season. Platinum surged 40%, driven by ETF inflows and strong trading volumes, while palladium gained 34%. A weaker dollar and broader risk appetite across equities and commodities supported the move, alongside tight conditions in silver and platinum group metals.

However, Joni notes the rally appears exaggerated, amplified by thin year-end liquidity, and lacks clear fundamental drivers. While she remains bullish on precious metals into 2026, short-term caution is advised as profit-taking risks rise amid record prices. The recent rally, though surprising in magnitude, reinforces upside risks to forecasts, but she prefers to stay on the sidelines for now, awaiting clearer market signals.

Back to copper: Goldman’s commodity specialist, James McGeoch, recently warned of a “circular melt-up.” This prompted analyst Eoin Dinsmore to recently raise her 2026 price forecast for the LME from $10,650 per ton to $11,400.

LME copper’s largest annual gain since 2009.

Everything you need to know about why copper prices are exploding higher:

LME Copper Hits Another Record; Goldman Trader Pinpoints Driver Behind Move

Copper Hits Record High; Goldman Warns A “Circular Melt-Up” Is Now Driving Global Market

Goldman Upgrades Copper Price Forecast Weeks After Warning About “Circular Melt-Up”

Meanwhile, some speculative fever from our friends in China is starting to crack. As Eric Yeung (@KingKong9888) explains in a post on X, UBS SDIC Silver Futures LOF – the only pure silver play you can get in China’s A-share market – is limit down (10%) for the second day in a row…

This is literally the only public fund in mainland China that focuses purely on silver, tracking the Shanghai Futures Exchange silver futures contracts. It’s a Listed Open-Ended Fund (LOF), so you can trade it on the exchange like a stock, but the subscription/redemption mechanics are a bit different from a true ETF – more like a traditional fund with field (场外) net value buying.

Now, with global silver smashing all-time highs (spot silver hit over $72 recently, best year since 1979), this fund has gone absolutely nuts. It’s up nearly 220% YTD on the secondary market, way outperforming the actual silver futures (around 128% gain). But here’s the big warning flag: extreme premium.

The trading price has been trading at massive premiums to NAV – peaking over 60%, even hitting 68% at one point. That’s insane! The fund manager (UBS SDIC) has been issuing risk warnings left and right – over 14 times this month alone – and they’ve slammed restrictions: daily purchase limits down to as low as 100-500 RMB for certain classes, temporary trading halts, etc., all to protect investors and cool things down.

We saw consecutive limit-ups (10% daily caps), then bam – a sharp limit-down to -10% recently as the frenzy turned. Classic volatility in a hyped-up commodity play.

Bottom line: If you want direct silver exposure in China’s domestic market, this is your only option right now – no other pure silver LOF or ETF here (overseas ones like SLV or PSLV don’t count). But right now? Super high risk with that crazy premium and wild swings. Be very careful – high premiums can evaporate fast, leading to big losses even if silver keeps rising.

If you’re chasing this, make sure you understand the LOF vs. ETF differences and the arbitrage risks. Stay safe out there…

Quite a catch-down…

Must read on the epic silver run:

Intensifying Shortage: This Is What A Run On The London Silver Market Looks Like

And, as we detail here, China is desperately trying to quell rumors that it is causing the squeeze…

What an insane year for metals.