Few debates in Brussels carry as much emotional charge as critical raw materials. Mention lithium, rare earths, graphite, or nickel and the discussion almost immediately turns alarmist. China dominates the supply chain. Europe is dangerously dependent. The energy transition is at risk. The tone often suggests inevitability, as if this imbalance were a law of physics rather than the result of political and industrial choices. Step back from the panic and a different picture emerges. Europe’s vulnerability in critical materials is not geological.…

Australia's mining giant, BHP Group ( NYSE:BHP), will wait out talks over the proposed merger by the United Kingdom’s Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO) and Switzerland-based commodity trading and mining company Glencore Plc. (OTCPK:GLCNF), people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. With a market cap of $162 billion, BHP was viewed as the most likely spoiler of Rio's bid for Glencore that would create the world's largest mining company. However, the Australian miner says it will not pursue a counterbid because Glencore is not complementary…

12 de enero de 2026.- La paralización de labores se desarrolla en el Hospital Mount Sinai y dos de sus campus satélite, además del NewYork-Presbyterian y el Centro Médico Montefiore en el Bronx, donde se instalaron piquetes. Aproximadamente 15.000 enfermeras están involucradas en la huelga, según in...

The Chinese are nothing if not persistent. In December 2025, Wu Xinbo, Dean, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University and advisor to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, used the pages of Foreign Affairs, to propose a “grand bargain” between China and America. Wu argues that U.S.–China relations have reached a pivotal moment that requires a comprehensive reset to prevent long?term confrontation. He proposes starting with economic cooperation—easing U.S. technology restrictions and increasing Chinese market…

Germany has finalized a deal to buy a stake in the German division of Dutch power grid operator TenneT (TenneT Germany) for around €7.6–€8.9 billion (approx. $8.2–$9.6 billion), locking in some state influence over critical high-voltage infrastructure and unlocking funding capacity for the grid expansion required by the energy transition, Reuters reported on Monday.  The transaction is aimed at easing one of the most persistent constraints in Germany’s energy shift: financing and executing large-scale transmission…

12 de enero de 2026.- El secretario general del Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello Rondón, reafirmó este lunes el apoyo total de la organización política a la presidenta encargada, Delcy Rodríguez. Esta declaración se produce en respuesta al secuestro del presidente const...

The United States is now engaged in what I am calling "smash-and-grab" diplomacy in Venezuela, and it will perhaps soon do the same in Greenland, a territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. In case you have never heard the term, smash-and-grab refers to robberies undertaken by smashing store windows and/or display cases and taking what is readily available without concern about alarms going off or people on the street or in the store seeing what the robbers are doing. The phrase seems more descriptive than the older one of "gunboat diplomacy", in…

12 de ener0 de 2026.- El Gobierno del presidente Rodrigo Paz y las organizaciones sociales, lideradas por la Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), firmaron este domingo (11) un acuerdo en El Alto por el cual se abroga en su totalidad el polémico Decreto Supremo 5503. El pacto, alcanzado tras intensas ...

Lunes,12 de enero de 2026.- Programa "A Pulso", del nieve de enero, conducido por Julio Riobó en Venezolana de Televisión. Con Olga Álvarez, analista experta en derecho electoral y derechos humanos; Jesús Ernesto Parra, fundador de la revista Plátano Verde, creador de Misión Verdad; Víctor Veg...

The dollar sold off and gold rallied on Monday, after Donald Trump ramped up his assault on the Federal Reserve by opening an unprecedented criminal investigation into the central bank and its chair, Jerome Powell. The US dollar fell some 0.36 per cent against a basket of major currencies, while the spot rate of gold climbed as much as 1.9 per cent as traders digested the President’s most dramatic salvo of a long-running feud with the Fed and its chair. Powell revealed that the US Justice Department had served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas…

Indonesia inaugurated on Monday the upgraded Balikpapan refinery, which cost $7.4 billion to redevelop and is another step toward self-sufficiency in fuel supply. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia attended the inauguration ceremony for Pertamina’s refinery, whose processing capacity has been raised to 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 260,000 bpd, making it the country’s largest refinery in terms of capacity. “We must be capable of producing our own food and energy,” Subianto, the…

12 de enero de 2026.- La presidenta encargada, Delcy Rodríguez, anunció que el capitán Juan Escalona es el nuevo Ministro para el Despacho de la Presidencia. «Designo al Capitán Juan Escalona como nuevo Ministro del Poder Popular del Despacho de la Presidencia», escribió Rodríguez en su cuenta pe...

El Gobierno de Argentina aguarda un nuevo desembolso de dinero por parte de China para avanzar con la construcción de una represa hidroeléctrica en la provincia de Santa Cruz. El monto negociado alcanza los 150 millones de dólares. Según información de TN, que cita fuentes cercanas ...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 11 told Cuba that it should forge a deal with the United States now that Washington has pushed Venezuela to cut off its supply of oil and money to the communist-run island. After the U.S. military captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez has redirected oil deliveries to the United States. Cutting off Venezuelan oil supply to Cuba, which has historically relied on support from Caracas, would apply significant pressure to the Caribbean country,…

Cientos de agentes de la

Vitol and Trafigura are offering Venezuelan crude to refiners in China and India for March delivery, trade sources told Reuters on Monday, days after two of the world’s biggest independent oil traders obtained special U.S. licenses to help market Venezuela’s oil.   At the request of the US government, Trafigura and Vitol are providing logistical and marketing services to facilitate the sale of Venezuelan oil, Trafigura said on Friday, following a meeting of oil industry executives with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White…

El ministro de Exteriores de Irán, Abbas Araqchi, dijo este lunes(12.01.2026) que su país está preparado para negociar en un marco de respeto, pero también está listo para ir a la guerra. Esto, luego de que Estados Unidos reiterara sus amenazas de intervenir militarmente si la represión del mo...

12 de enero de 2026.- El ministro para la Agricultura Productiva y Tierras, Julio León Heredia, informó sobre la exitosa jornada electoral en la que fueron elegidos los voceros y voceras municipales de los 15.543 Consejos Campesinos que hacen vida en todo el territorio nacional. Durante una entre...

(Roma / Caracas) – El Gobierno de Italia ha formalizado este lunes un "cambio de rumbo" en sus relaciones con Venezuela. El ministro de Asuntos Exteriores, Antonio Tajani, anunció desde Roma que el país europeo elevará el rango de su representación diplomática en Caracas, pasan...

Following the Iraq Oil Ministry’s recent dispatch of exclusive invitations to several major U.S. energy firms to develop the country’s huge West Qurna 2 oilfield after the forced exit of Russian oil number two Lukoil, American oil giant Chevron has emerged as a leading contender. This should occur after an interim nationalisation of the field intended to keep production going as the Russian firm completes its withdrawal. The company is also expected to move ahead shortly with the development of the Nasiriyah project, which comprises…