"It's been five years already since the vote to transition to systemd in Debian over Upstart," reports Phoronix, noting that the Debian developer community has now begun a 20-day ranked-choice vote on eight different proposals for "'init system diversity' and just how much Debian developers care (or not) in supporting alternatives to systemd." The eight options they're voting on: Choice 1: F: Focus on systemd Choice 2: B: Systemd but we support exploring alternatives Choice 3: A: Support for multiple init systems is Important Choice 4: D: Support non-systemd systems, without blocking progress Choice 5: H: Support portability, without blocking progress Choice 6: E: Support for multiple init systems is Required Choice 7: G: Support portability and multiple implementations Choice 8: Further Discussion There's detailed descriptions of each option on the Debian developers mailing list. "This is a non-secret vote," the post explains. "After the voting period is over the details on who voted what will be published."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

US authorities confirm suspect was a member of the Royal Saudi Air Force who attended a US Navy training programme.

Bahrain win maiden Arabian Gulf Cup after losing their previous four finals in the competition.

Protesters outside parliament quick to denounce Hariri's possible return as a contender for prime minister job.

"Linux users can now stream shows and movies from the Disney+ streaming service after Disney lowered the level of their DRM requirements," reports Bleeping Computer: When Disney+ was first launched, Linux users who attempted to watch shows and movies were shown an error stating "Something went wrong. Please try again. If the problem persists, visit the Disney+ Help Center (Error Code 83)." As explained by Hans de Goede, this error was being caused by the Disney+ service using the highest level of security for the Widevine Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. As some Linux and Android devices did not support this higher DRM security level, they were unable to stream Disney+ shows in their browsers... Yesterday, Twitter users discovered that Disney+ had suddenly started working on Linux browsers after the streaming service tweaked their DRM security levels... Even with Disney+ lowering the DRM requirements, users must first make sure DRM is enabled in the browser. For example, Disney+ will not work with Firefox unless you enable the "Play DRM-controlled content" setting in the browser.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Two survivors found after a six-storey building collapsed in the Kenyan capital on Friday, authorities say.

Qatar's emir crowns Bahrain after their maiden victory in the final of regional football tournament hosted by Doha.

The ministry of municipalities and rural affairs announces that the rule will no longer be mandatory.

"At least 20 web hosting providers have hastily notified customers today, Saturday, December 7, that they plan to shut down on Monday, giving their clients two days to download data from their accounts before servers are shut down and wiped clean," reports ZDNet. And no refunds are being provided: All the services offer cheap low-end virtual private servers [and] all the websites feature a similar page structure, share large chunks of text, use the same CAPTCHA technology, and have notified customers using the same email template. All clues point to the fact that all 20 websites are part of an affiliate scheme or a multi-brand business ran by the same entity... As several users have pointed out, the VPS providers don't list physical addresses, don't list proper business registration information, and have no references to their ownership... A source in the web hosting industry who wanted to remain anonymous told ZDNet that what happened this weekend is often referred to as "deadpooling" -- namely, the practice of setting up a small web hosting company, providing ultra-cheap VPS servers for a few dollars a month, and then shutting down a few months later, without refunding customers. "This is a systemic issue within the low-end market, we call it deadpooling," the source told us. "It doesn't happen often at this scale, however." ZDNet provided this alphabetical list of the 20 companies: ArkaHosting, Bigfoot Servers, DCNHost, HostBRZ, HostedSimply, Hosting73, KudoHosting, LQHosting, MegaZoneHosting, n3Servers, ServerStrong, SnowVPS, SparkVPS, StrongHosting, SuperbVPS, SupremeVPS, TCNHosting, UMaxHosting, WelcomeHosting, X4Servers. However, "A user who was impacted by his VPS provider's shutdown also told ZDNet that the number of VPS providers going down is most likely higher than 20, as not all customers might have shared the email notification online, with others."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Volunteers at the activist media platform say their goal is to push boundaries of acceptable discourse in Lebanon.

Why some indigenous Alaskans are fleeing their ancestral land as it crumbles beneath them.

Anger over Carrie Lam's refusal to address protesters' demands, including an inquiry into alleged police brutality.

From London to Beirut to Santiago and New Delhi, protesters need to build solidarity networks.

Renewed negotiations expected to pave the way for direct talks between Taliban and Kabul to end 18 years of war.

Mohamed Al Romaihi scored for the Pearl Divers in the second half of the match held at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium.