Live News & Video

Overview

World Monitor aggregates news from 150+ curated RSS feeds across geopolitics, defense, energy, tech, and finance. The system includes intelligent deduplication, AI classification, and real-time video streams.

Variant-Specific Feeds: Each variant loads its own curated feed set - ~25 categories for geopolitical, ~20 for tech, ~18 for finance.

RSS Feed Architecture

Feed Categories

Feeds are organized by topic and geographic region:

Geopolitical (Full Variant)
Tech (Tech Variant)
Finance (Finance Variant)
Regional & Localized

News Sources

BBC World News
Al Jazeera
Reuters
The Guardian
CNN International
NPR

Defense & Intelligence

Defense One
Breaking Defense
War on the Rocks
Bellingcat
The Drive (War Zone)
USNI News

Think Tanks

Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)
Brookings Institution
RUSI
Carnegie Endowment

Government

US State Department
Department of Defense
White House Press Releases
CISA Alerts

Domain-Allowlisted Proxy

All RSS feeds route through a CORS-safe proxy:

// From api/rss-proxy.js and vite.config.ts
const RSS_PROXY_ALLOWED_DOMAINS = new Set([
  'feeds.bbci.co.uk',
  'www.theguardian.com',
  'rss.cnn.com',
  'techcrunch.com',
  // ... 100+ allowed domains
]);

Security:

Only allowlisted domains can be fetched
Prevents SSRF attacks
Hides origin servers from browser

Fallback:

Feeds blocked by Vercel IPs → Railway relay
Desktop app: Local sidecar proxy (no cloud dependency)

Feed Processing Pipeline

1. Circuit Breaker

Per-feed failure tracking:

// From src/services/rss.ts
const FEED_COOLDOWN_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000; // 5 minutes
const MAX_FAILURES = 2;

// After 2 consecutive failures:
// - Feed enters cooldown
// - Skipped for 5 minutes
// - Prevents cascading failures

2. Caching Strategy

Memory Cache
Persistent Cache
Server Cache

In-Memory Map

const feedCache = new Map<string, {
  items: NewsItem[];
  timestamp: number;
}>();
const CACHE_TTL = 20 * 60 * 1000; // 20 minutes

Hot cache for active feeds
Survives navigation
Cleared on refresh

IndexedDB Storage

// Stored per feed + language
const key = `feed:${feedName}::${lang}`;

// Survives:
// - Page refresh
// - Browser restart
// - Network outages

Used when memory cache misses
Enables offline reading
Auto-migrates old format

Proxy-Level Caching

Cache-Control: public, max-age=300

5-minute edge cache
Reduces upstream requests
Shared across users

3. Instant Flat Render

News items appear immediately:

// Phase 1: Instant render (flat list)
renderNewsItems(items);

// Phase 2: Async ML clustering (background)
async () => {
  const clusters = await mlWorker.clusterByTopic(items);
  updateUIWithClusters(clusters);
};

No blank delay - keyword classification is instant, ML refinements arrive progressively.

4. Virtual Scrolling

Panels with 15+ items use virtual rendering:

// From src/services/news/index.ts
// Only visible items + 3-item overscan buffer create DOM elements
// Viewport spacers simulate full-list height
// Uses requestAnimationFrame-batched scroll handling
// DOM elements pooled and recycled

Benefits:

Handles 1000+ items without lag
Constant memory usage
Smooth scrolling

Entity Extraction

Headlines are automatically enriched:

// Auto-links:
// - Countries (click to open country brief)
// - Leaders (click to see related news)
// - Organizations (click to filter)

Example:

Input: “Putin meets Xi in Moscow to discuss Ukraine”
Output: [Russia] [China] [Ukraine] [Putin] [Xi Jinping] links

Custom Keyword Monitors

User-defined keyword alerts:

// Settings → Keyword Monitors
keywords: "AI regulation, sanctions, TSMC"

// Features:
// - Word-boundary matching ("ai" won't match "train")
// - Automatic color-coding (10-color palette)
// - Multi-keyword support (comma-separated)
// - Real-time match counts
// - Searches both title and description

Use keyword monitors to track:

Emerging threats (CVE-2024-*, zero-day)
Specific companies or people
Regional keywords (Gaza, Taiwan, Arctic)
Topics of interest (quantum computing, CRISPR)

Localized Feeds

Region-specific RSS selection based on UI language:

Language	Dedicated Feeds
French (fr)	Le Monde, Jeune Afrique, France24
Arabic (ar)	Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera Arabic
German (de)	Deutsche Welle (German)
Spanish (es)	DW Español, Latin America sources
Turkish (tr)	BBC Türkçe, Hürriyet, DW Turkish
Polish (pl)	TVN24, Polsat News, Rzeczpospolita
Russian (ru)	BBC Russian, Meduza, Novaya Gazeta Europe
Thai (th)	Bangkok Post, Thai PBS
Vietnamese (vi)	VnExpress, Tuoi Tre News

Language bundles are lazy-loaded - only the active language is fetched, keeping initial bundle size minimal.

Live Video Streams

Default Streams (8+)

Bloomberg
Sky News
Al Jazeera English
Euronews
Deutsche Welle
France24
CNBC
Al Arabiya

HLS Native Streaming (10 channels)

Channels stream via native HLS <video> elements instead of YouTube iframes:

// Bypasses:
// - YouTube cookie popups
// - Bot detection
// - WKWebView autoplay restrictions

// Channels:
// - Sky News
// - Euronews
// - DW
// - France24
// - Al Arabiya
// - CBS News
// - TRT World
// - Sky News Arabia
// - Al Hadath
// - RT (banned from YouTube, HLS only)

Fallback:

// HLS failure triggers 5-minute cooldown
// Automatically falls back to YouTube iframe

Live Detection

Automatic live stream discovery:

// Scrapes YouTube channel pages every 5 minutes
// Finds active streams via:
const detailsIdx = html.indexOf('"videoDetails"');
const block = html.substring(detailsIdx, detailsIdx + 5000);
const vidMatch = block.match(/"videoId":"([a-zA-Z0-9_-]{11})"/);
const liveMatch = block.match(/"isLive"\s*:\s*true/);

30+ Additional Channels Available:

Fox News
BBC News
CNN Türk
TRT
Russia Today
CBS News
NBC News
CNN Brasil

Desktop Embed Bridge

YouTube’s IFrame API restricts playback in native webviews (error 153):

// Desktop app solution:
// - Transparently routes through cloud-hosted embed proxy
// - Bidirectional message passing (play/pause/mute/unmute)
// - Detects Tauri environment automatically

Idle-Aware Playback

Video players optimize battery life:

// After 5 minutes of inactivity:
// - Players pause
// - Removed from DOM
// - Resume when user returns

// Tab visibility changes:
// - Hidden tab: Suspend streams
// - Visible tab: Resume streams

Global Quality Control

User-selectable quality applies to all streams:

// Settings: auto, 360p, 480p, 720p
// Preference persists in localStorage
// Propagates via CustomEvent (no reload required)

window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('stream-quality-changed', {
  detail: { quality: '720p' }
}));

Live Webcams (22 feeds)

Real-time YouTube streams from geopolitical hotspots: Regions:

Iran/Attacks (Tehran, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem)
Middle East
Europe
Americas
Asia-Pacific

Features:

Grid view (4 simultaneous feeds)
Single-feed view
Region filtering
Idle-aware playback (pauses after 5 min)
Intersection Observer lazy loading

The Iran/Attacks tab provides a dedicated 2×2 grid for real-time visual monitoring during escalation events.

Telegram Intelligence Feed

27 OSINT and breaking news channels:

Aurora Intel
BNO News
OSINTdefender
DeepState
LiveUAMap
War Monitor
Intel Crab
Conflict News
And more…

Architecture:

// MTProto client on Railway relay
// Messages deduplicated
// Topic-classified: breaking, conflict, alerts, osint, politics
// Served through Vercel edge proxy
// 30-second client caching

Source Tier System

Every RSS feed has an assigned reliability tier:

Tier	Description	Examples
Tier 1	Authoritative government, international orgs	US State Dept, UN, IAEA
Tier 2	Established media, fact-checked	BBC, Reuters, NYT
Tier 3	Specialist publications	Defense News, Jane’s
Tier 4	Regional outlets, think tanks	Local newspapers, CSIS
Tier 5	Blogs, aggregators	Individual analysts

// From src/config/feeds.ts
export const SOURCE_TIERS = {
  'US State Department': 1,
  'BBC News': 2,
  'Defense One': 3,
  'Hacker News': 5,
};

Tier influences:

Credibility scoring
Prominence in UI
CII weight

Propaganda Risk Profiles

Sources tagged with editorial bias assessment:

type SourceRiskProfile = {
  bias: 'low' | 'medium' | 'high';
  type: 'state-funded' | 'independent' | 'corporate';
  transparency: 'high' | 'medium' | 'low';
};

// Examples:
RT: { bias: 'high', type: 'state-funded', transparency: 'low' }
BBC: { bias: 'low', type: 'independent', transparency: 'high' }

Geographic Hub Inference

A 74-hub strategic location database infers geography from headlines:

// From src/services/geo-hub-index.ts
// Hubs span:
// - Capitals
// - Conflict zones
// - Strategic chokepoints (Strait of Hormuz, Suez, Malacca)
// - International organizations

// Confidence boosted for:
// - Critical-tier hubs
// - Active conflict zones

Enables map-driven news placement without requiring explicit location metadata from RSS feeds.

Performance Optimizations

Concurrent Fetching

// Finance variant: 5 concurrent requests
// Other variants: 3 concurrent requests
// ~10-15 second faster cold starts

Deduplication Cache

// Prevents duplicate AI classifications
const AI_CLASSIFY_DEDUP_MS = 30 * 60 * 1000; // 30 minutes
const aiRecentlyQueued = new Map<string, number>();

Rate Limiting

// Max LLM classifications per minute
const AI_CLASSIFY_MAX_PER_WINDOW = 
  SITE_VARIANT === 'finance' ? 40 :
  SITE_VARIANT === 'tech' ? 60 : 80;

// Max per feed
const AI_CLASSIFY_MAX_PER_FEED = 
  SITE_VARIANT === 'finance' ? 2 :
  SITE_VARIANT === 'tech' ? 2 : 3;

Desktop App Local Fetching

The sidecar includes built-in RSS proxy:

// Fetches feeds directly from source domains
// Bypasses cloud RSS proxy entirely
// Same domain allowlist enforced locally
// Enables fully self-contained operation

Desktop app can load all 150+ RSS feeds without any cloud dependency.

Best Practices

Efficient News Monitoring

Set up keyword monitors for priority topics
Use category filters to focus on relevant sections
Enable notifications for high-severity items
Check trending keywords panel for emerging stories
Pin critical feeds to top of panel

Managing Information Overload

Start with 5-10 key feeds
Use AI summaries (World Brief) for overview
Filter by time range (24h recommended)
Disable low-priority categories
Leverage virtual scrolling (no performance hit for long lists)

Troubleshooting

Feeds not loading?

Check internet connection
Verify feed source is online
Clear browser cache
Check console for CORS errors
Desktop: Confirm sidecar is running

Videos not playing?

Disable browser extensions (ad blockers)
Check YouTube isn’t blocked on network
Try HLS channels (don’t require YouTube)
Desktop: YouTube embed bridge handles restrictions

Slow feed updates?

Normal: First load is slow (network fetch)
Subsequent loads instant (cached)
Desktop: Local sidecar bypasses cloud latency

AI Intelligence - AI summarization and classification
Data Layers - News items appear as map markers
Desktop App - Local RSS proxy, no cloud dependency

Get Started

Core Features

Data & Intelligence

Variants

Configuration

Development

Deployment

Overview

RSS Feed Architecture

Feed Categories

Domain-Allowlisted Proxy

Feed Processing Pipeline

1. Circuit Breaker

2. Caching Strategy

3. Instant Flat Render

4. Virtual Scrolling

Entity Extraction

Custom Keyword Monitors

Localized Feeds

Live Video Streams

Default Streams (8+)

HLS Native Streaming (10 channels)

Live Detection

Desktop Embed Bridge

Idle-Aware Playback

Global Quality Control

Live Webcams (22 feeds)

Telegram Intelligence Feed

Source Tier System

Propaganda Risk Profiles

Geographic Hub Inference

Performance Optimizations

Concurrent Fetching

Deduplication Cache

Rate Limiting

Desktop App Local Fetching

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​RSS Feed Architecture

​Feed Categories

​Domain-Allowlisted Proxy

​Feed Processing Pipeline

​1. Circuit Breaker

​2. Caching Strategy

​3. Instant Flat Render

​4. Virtual Scrolling

​Entity Extraction

​Custom Keyword Monitors

​Localized Feeds

​Live Video Streams

​Default Streams (8+)

​HLS Native Streaming (10 channels)

​Live Detection

​Desktop Embed Bridge

​Idle-Aware Playback

​Global Quality Control

​Live Webcams (22 feeds)

​Telegram Intelligence Feed

​Source Tier System

​Propaganda Risk Profiles

​Geographic Hub Inference

​Performance Optimizations

​Concurrent Fetching

​Deduplication Cache

​Rate Limiting

​Desktop App Local Fetching

​Best Practices

​Troubleshooting

​Related Features

Overview

RSS Feed Architecture

Feed Categories

Domain-Allowlisted Proxy

Feed Processing Pipeline

1. Circuit Breaker

2. Caching Strategy

3. Instant Flat Render

4. Virtual Scrolling

Entity Extraction

Custom Keyword Monitors

Localized Feeds

Live Video Streams

Default Streams (8+)

HLS Native Streaming (10 channels)

Live Detection

Desktop Embed Bridge

Idle-Aware Playback

Global Quality Control

Live Webcams (22 feeds)

Telegram Intelligence Feed

Source Tier System

Propaganda Risk Profiles

Geographic Hub Inference

Performance Optimizations

Concurrent Fetching

Deduplication Cache

Rate Limiting

Desktop App Local Fetching

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Related Features