Month: June 2025

We knew that humanoid robots would reach factories. Nvidia has already chosen where and when to start, according to Reuters

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When did humanoid robots stop being a spectacle to become a tool? Maybe that’s right there. Sources consulted by Reuters They assure that Nvidia and Foxconn are in conversations to display them in a server manufacturing plant of artificial intelligence in Houston. Nvidia has trusted the Taiwanese giant to lift a new server manufacturing plant in Houston, Texas. The objective: produce the GB300its new AI servers based on architecture Blackwellwithin the ambitious plan for relocate part of its production in US territory. As Reuters has advanced, both companies are in conversations to display humanoid robots in this factory. The intention would be that they begin to operate in the First quarter of 2026. If concrete, it will mark a double milestone: it would be the first time that a NVIDIA product is manufactured with the help of these tools, and also the first use of this technology by Foxconn in a production line of AI servers. Houston is not any factory: something new is prepared here For now, the details are scarce. It is not known how many robots will be used, how will they look or what exact functions they will perform. But there are indications. In an internal presentation of May, Foxconn showed how he was training humanoid robots for tasks such as manipulating objects, inserting cables or making basic assemblies, usual activities in the manufacture of servers. Houston’s choice is not accidental. Being a new plant, spaces are being designed with margin to integrate these technologies From the beginningsomething much more complex to achieve in already operational facilities. According to one of the sources consulted, that design would facilitate the incorporation of humanoid robots in the line. NVIDIA GB300 has a rack scale design That Nvidia bet on humanoid robots in its production chain is not just a logistics movement. It is also a declaration of intentions. Until now, no company product had been manufactured with the help of this type of robots. And Foxconn, the largest manufacturer on the commission of the world, had not used them in a production line dedicated to AI servers. The decision, according to what the sources have told Reuters, would mark the beginning of a new stage for both companies. In the case of Foxconn, it would also serve to show the world the advances in robotics who has been developing with Nvidia, although third -party models such as those of China Ubtech have also been tested. For Nvidia, the movement fits with its broader strategy. The company not only designs chips for AI models training: it also offers A development platform Specific for humanoid robots, with visual, motor and cognitive abilities based on their own architectures. In March, Jensen Huang himself He predicted that The generalized use of humanoid robots in industrial environments would come “in less than five years.” They are not alone: ​​Tesla, Mercedes, BMW, China The idea of ​​incorporating humanoid robots into the assembly lines is no longer a rarity. Although its deployment is still limited and experimental, several manufacturers have been testing this technology for some time in controlled environments or in very specific tasks. Among them BMW stands out, that has made trials in American plants. And it is known that Teslawhich has developed its own humanoid robot called OptimusHe has put at least two units to work in a production line. But interest is not limited to the great western brands. China has converted humanoid robotics into a national strategic priority Within its Made in China 2025 plan. Companies like Ubtech – whose model has also been evaluated by Foxconn – are being driven directly by the government with a view to transforming the country’s industrial fabric. Strategic alliances are part of this mission Like Huawei and Ubtech Specified this year. This possible deployment of humanoid robots in Houston does not occur in a vacuum. Is part of a broader movement, driven by political pressure and the strategic need of Relocate production Technological on American soil. In April, Nvidia announced its intention To manufacture AI infrastructure of up to 500,000 million dollars in the US in the next four years, with partners such as TSMC, Wistron and Foxconn itself. For many companies, automating is a matter of survival. The Houston factory, still under construction, is part of that strategy. But producing locally implies facing at least one new problem: the shortage of labor. And that is where automation would come into play. Perhaps not essentially for these factories, but as a test field for possible future expansions. For many companies, automating is no longer a matter of improvement. It is a matter of survival. Thus, more and more local actors are developing humanoid robots designed specifically for the industry. Tesla, Figure, Apptronik or Agility Robotics They are among the companies that have opted for this new generation of machines. Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, summed up axios The new industrial reality: “This is how it competes today”, so “you have to take advantage of the best available tools.” Humanoid robots lived for years with skepticism: beautiful exhibitions, Little useful in practice. Now, that perception is turning. We are faced with a change that aims to be important, but whose real range we will know only over time. Images | Nvidia | Boliviainteligent In Xataka | The US is willing to do anything for advanced chips not to reach China. And Malaysia is an obstacle

Chrome has been failing to some Windows users at least two weeks. Everything points to a responsible, and it is not Google

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The world’s most used browser has been giving problems to some users of Windows 10 and Windows 11. Chromethat The global market share on computers dominate with more than 60%it is failing unexpectedly: just open it and shows no error messages. For those who suffer it, it is as if it had directly ceased to exist. No warning, without solution. In Google’s official forumsdozens of users have been warning of these sudden closures since the beginning of June. The usual solutions – Reinstall Chrome, restart the system – do not work. The problem persists and, until now, there was no clear explanation. Is Microsoft the culprit? As explained A spokeswoman for Chrome’s support team, the error is already being investigated. And the most striking thing is that the failure does not seem to have its origin in Google, but in a function of Microsoft 365 For Windows. Everything points to Microsoft Family Safety. When this function is activated, Chrome stops working. It is not clear if it is a recent change in the browser or an error in the Microsoft tool itself. Family Safety allows you to establish time limits in front of the screen and filter inappropriate content. It is an especially useful function for parents who want to supervise the use of the computer by their children. A temporary solution. For now, there is no official patch. According to The VergeMicrosoft has not spoken and Google has not given more technical details either. However, there is a way to recover Chrome: disable the filter of inappropriate websites within Family Safety. Of course, doing so implies leaving one of the key barriers to protect minors. Images | Google + Photoshop | Google In Xataka | Microsoft Edge has become the second browser after Chrome. At the expense of an almost intrusive insistence

In Galicia it is already happening

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Make pension systems be sustainable In time while the population pyramid It will be reversed It is one of the main challenges For many countries in the coming decades. Japan, Denmark, Germany or Spain are already taking measures to delay as far as possible The retirement age. The worst possible scenario is that the number of active workers Be lower than the number of pensioners. It is something that It is already happening In some regions of the interior of Galicia. The Galician imbalance. According to the more recent data Of affiliation, Spain exceeded in March for the first time the figure of the 21.6 million affiliates. That is, active people who contribute a percentage of their salaries to social security pensions. For its part, Social Security paid in the same month 10.3 million pensions. However, if we focus on certain regions areas very punished for depopulation and demographic aging such as Galicia, the figure is reversed. According to published he Vigo lighthousein 15 of the 53 regions of Galicia there is a mismatch between the number of affiliates who provide contributions to social security and the number of pensioners. More pensioners than workers. The data of the GALEGO INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS They reveal that in the whole of Galicia there are 1,019,106 of social security affiliates, while The latest data of 2025 gave a total of 685,800 pensioners. That leaves Galicia with a ratio of 1.5 contributors for pensioner, compared to the 2.44 that is recorded on average In the whole of Spain. This ratio already leaves Galicia in a delicate situation. He BBVA Pension Institute He considers that, a ratio below the 2 is already serious risk. According to data published by The voice of Galiciaprovinces like Orense were already in 1.1. The “emptied Galicia”. Those regional figures only show a general photo in which territories with greater economic activity compensate for deficiencies of the most unpopulated areas and eminently rural from the interior of Galicia. This trend is especially observed in the provinces of Ourense and Lugo, where demographic aging and emigration of young people towards the Atlantic aspect with more employment opportunitiesThey have considerably aggravated the situation. According to the published data by him Vigo lighthouseOnly Pontevedra is saved relatively from this problem, while in Ourense and Lugo the situation is especially serious. Regions with a high depopulation rate such as Limia registered 5,943 quotes against 7,071 pensioners; o Verin with 6,674 active affiliates for 8,161 pensioners, which clearly reflects the existing imbalance. The lack of Labor opportunities And population aging in those interior regions has created a vicious circle difficult to break, where there are less and less young people to support a retired population in constant growth. The future is not encouraging. The forecasts for the next few years are not optimistic. According to projections of the GALEGO INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS By 2038 there will be 2% less active population in Galicia, despite the fact that those over 16 will grow 1.9%. In absolute terms, assets will go from just over 1.26 million in 2023 to 1.23 million in 2038, which will aggravate the imbalance between contributors and pensioners Leaving a ratio of 0.858 quotes for each pensioner. Or what is the same, more pensioners than active workers. In Xataka | If your dream is to retire at age 52 with 100% of the pension, Spain offers you a road: a high -risk job Image | Unspash (Carlos Torres), Flickr (Elantir)

The James Webb has just photographed one of the great mysteries of the universe’s galaxies: how they intertwine

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How many galaxies fit in an image? In the instruments of the James Webb space telescope (JWST), at least, many: hundreds. And even thousands. From close to the distant. The image taken by the JWST (with the help of the veteran hubble) and published by the European Space Agency (ESA) It shows us objects in a wide range of distances: from stars located within our own galaxy (easy to distinguish thanks to The characteristics six points of diffraction of this telescope) to distant galaxies in space and in time. The “star” of the image. However, according to Explain the agency itselfthe main protagonist of this capture is none other than a cluster of galaxies that we can see below the center of the image, a distant group of galaxies that shines in a mixture tone of white and gold. This group emerged about 6.5 billion years after the Big Bang, when the universe as and as we know it was somewhat less than the age it is now. The importance of this group lies in the fact that more than half of the galaxies we know can be found in similar groups, so studying it can help us understand more about how these groups that make up the greatest structures linked through the force of gravity are formed, says ESA. Cosmos-Web. The outstanding group is the largest galactic cluster in the region called Cosmos-Web Field. COSMOS (Cosmic Evolution Survey) It is a survey that uses telescopes such as webb, hubble or the XMM-Newton Space Observatory of ESA to explore the spaces and space phenomena that occurred in that celestial region. He Cosmos-Web program It seeks to take advantage of the high abilities of the JWST and instruments such as the Nircam filters on board to explore and map an area of ​​0.54 square degrees of the celestial vault, a little more than twice and a half times the area that occupies the full moon in our sky. This power of the instruments of the orbital telescope should allow us to understand how galactic clusters formed, taking us at a time when the universe was only 1.9 billion years old, 14% of their current age. This is intended to meet three objectives: identify galaxies at the time of reion (when the first stars were “caught”; probe the formation of the most massive galaxies; and understand the relationship between the mass of the stars in a galaxy and The galactic halo that “wraps.” “Galaxies feast ”. In its publication, ESA has given some additional details about the image we see. They explain, this combines nircam images (Near-Infrared Camera) with Hubble observations to present ourselves “a visual feast of galaxies.” In capture They can be seen galaxies of different types and even pairs of galaxies in the process of merging. The European Agency He also explains The interpretation of the colors of the galaxies: the galaxies that tend to the bluish tones are those in which young stars predominate, while the most old are older; either because of the color of the stars inside, either because they are further in space and therefore in time. The latter is the effect of the phenomenon called Redshift or red shift. Galactic evolution. Images like this have to tell us about the evolution of the universe and, above all, of galaxies like ours. The gravitational interaction between galaxies (more or less) close affects what happens within the same galaxies, such is the mass that these groups accumulate. And not only that: collisions and mergers between galaxies in the same group also condition what happens in these. An example can find it when the nearby step of two galaxies of different size allows a huge clouds of matter “start”, or it can Cause a “burst” that quickly consumes the gas of this. In Xataka | The James Webb has found a galaxy when the universe was 330 million years old. Hide an entire enigma Image | Es es/Webb, Nasa & Csa, G. Gozaliasl, A. Koekemoer, M. Franco, and The Cosmos-Web Team

Vitoria has been the greatest city in Spain for years. Now he has turned against him for a gardener strike

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Vitoria-Gasteiz can boast many things. Of gastronomylandscapes or heritageto quote only a few examples. If something has presumed, however, in recent years the Basque capital is from Green areas. Its city council ensures that the city has 42 m2 of landscaped areas by each inhabitant, allowing it to be sneaking often in The Top 10 of the greatest cities in the country and even won the title of European Green Capital. Now its gardeners have strike and that vast vegetation cover has become a problem. The parks have gone from being a reason for pride to a headache. Vitoria, “Green Capital”. With the global warming Converted into the subject of priority (and recurring) discussion, more and more cities They choose to apply a “green” logic when planning their urban planning. It occurs both in Spain and in other countries, but few cities have taken a step as determined as Vitoria. In Your website The Basque City Council presumes to have 42 square meters of green areas for each neighbor, 171 kilometers of bike lanes, 115,000 trees in streets and parks and a green ring of 33 kilometers with hectares Field. The bet has not gone badly and the city It usually sneaks in The highest of the national top 10 of green cities. The effort has been accompanied in addition to some important international recognitions: the European Green Capital 2012, the Green Ciudad Global 2019 and the Biosphere Responsible Tourism certification. So much so that the city presumes being a “Green Capital”. And the strike arrived. For A few months However, the residents of Vitoria look at that vast green area, which include parks and gardens, but also roundabouts, gutters, alcorques and curbs with some concern. And the reason is very simple: professionals who are in charge of their care are on strike. At the end of March, the Envier Company Committee, the hire of the maintenance of the green areas of the municipality, He summoned a strike for Demand improvements labor. “Their working conditions are absolutely precarious, with salaries that barely reach the minimum interprofession He warned In March, the ELA union on the situation of the 85 employees affected by Envise. The first day of strike the tracking has already been around 90%, according to the workers, and the City Council has found that its municipal gardeners template It falls short to assume the management of all parks and gardens. “It is a risk”. Three months later and despite the Mediation attempts Among the parts involved, the gardener strike is still underway in Vitoria to desperate the authorities and neighbors. Its acts of fact were noticed very soon. Without pruning, irrigation or stubble withdrawal, the vegetation of the city has faded … with all its consequences. In May Antena3 He informed Already with grown weeds, plants more than a meter high in the gardens, green on the sidewalks and even the appearance of insects, including ticks and mosquitoes. “The presence of fleas and ticks begins to be common and is a health risk,” Recognize to Basque chronicle Rafa Busto, member of the ELA union. To the weed, the carelessness of the parks and the risk of bites is also added another handicap: a much harder year than usual for the allergic to the pollen. After three months of strike, the City Council has also found that the news has climbed nationally and Furibunda complaints of its citizens. “Threatens lives”. The situation has reached such a point that a few days ago the Basque Government ordered to the gardeners who guarantee minimum care of the green areas. The decree has served to The seasons come back to the parks of Vitoria, but has further walked the spirits. The syndiacts already They have warned that will resort to an order that, they insist, “condition the strike”; and the reports of the transport and firefighters service in which the Executive has been supported to make its decision stands out for its forcefulness, warning of serious risks. “The lack of clearing threatens lives, properties, infrastructure and public health, in addition to overflowing emergency services,” They warn Firefighters in their analysis. In a similar line, the traffic service warned that in some areas of Vitoria the vegetation has been felt so much that it has gained height that prevents traffic or traffic light signals. More vegetation, many more flowers. Not all the effects of the strike are negative or all see them with the same eyes. The rains and the fact that the bushes grow at ease has led certain areas of Vitoria to have seen a floral explosion, to the joy of botanists and biologists. “The flowers that we previously considered very rare, today we found them almost in any split”, Point out Gorka Belamendia, of the Center for Environmental Studies, in the SER. “If plants are allowed to develop, biodiversity is multiplied: insects and invertebrates especially,” coincides in The country Pello Urrutia, president of the Alavés de la Nature Institute (Ian). Irene Zúñiga, doctor in urban architecture, even He went further When assessing the effects of the strike: “All botany schools should be here, taking out inventory.” Images | RDA SUISSE (Flickr), Euskadi.eus and Mariya Prokopyuk (Flickr) In Xataka | The most unknown language in Spain is in danger. The 500 gypsies who speak it just want them to leave them alone

The cheap mobile was seriously injured in Europe. The energy label can advise the coup de grace

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Today, June 20, 2025, it is a before and after for those phones that are sold in Spain. From this date, every manufacturer who wants to distribute their new products in Europe will have to add The energy label in its box. It is an effort at European level to guarantee compliance with Regulation on Ecological Designaffecting mobile phones, wireless landlines and tablets. In addition to forcing manufacturers to introduce this label, changes relating to the support years arrive They will have to give to every new mobile. These changes in the design, software and product life of the product paint well. But the question is who is going to pay the duck. What changes. From now on, manufacturers have to introduce the new energy labeling in every mobile that they want to put on sale. In it, they are collected data related to the energy efficiency of the samereliability in free fall, autonomy measured per cycle, supported battery cycles, Water and dust resistance protocols and repair index. In addition to informing about ecological design, manufacturers will be obliged to make draft changes throughout the chain process: from how they manufacture the phone to What happens to him with the guarantee time. The updates. Smartphones manufacturers will have to guarantee five years of updates (dry updates, not mandatory version jump) for each and every one of their phones. It is something that great manufacturers such as Samsung, Google, Honor, Xiaomi and Motorola They were already doing with some of their most recent mobiles. The key is precisely in that “some.” Each system update, however small, entails: A team of active software engineers dedicated to the project Quality control processes (internal tests, Google certifications to meet the requirements of each update) Operator certifications in the event that the phone is distributed through a third party Keep the ota infrastructure alive Costs that, in the case of low and medium -end devices, disappeared after the two years that used to be updated. Duplication support will entail an additional expense to companies on devices that leave tight margins: a device of less than 100 euros updating for five years does not seem the best business. And this is just a part of the cake. The new manufacturing standard. The EU focuses on the manufacture of the device. Manufacturers will be obliged to be more resistant to falls, scratches, splashes resistance, and batteries that promise a minimum of the 80% of its total capacity after 800 load cycles. Similarly, spare parts must be guaranteed for at least seven years since the product stops selling. Each and every one of the necessary components to repair the phone must be available to surrender within five to ten days. In summary. Consumers are going to win in two pillars. We will have better phones in the market. We will be able to inform ourselves in a single view of the quality in the ecological design of each of them. The problem is precisely what. Manufacturers will have to support five years. Manufacture, distribute and guarantee spare parts for seven. Introduce better batteries. Create phones more resistant to falls and scratches. Ensure compliance with splash resistance protocols Who pays it. In Europe we are buying increasingly expensive mobiles. So much so that there are more users buying phones of more than 800 euros than users buying mobiles of less than 200 euros. In fact, one of the main reasons why shipments in Europe fell into the first quarter of 2025 has to do precisely The fall in the input range mobile demand. The lowest volume in this segment in the last decade. This segment is precisely one of the most affected will be seen by the normative change: mid -range devices (strip between 399 and 799 euros, according to consultants) and superiors already met a good part of the demands of the European Union. The big question is whether manufacturers will try to absorb these additional costs through the margin in more profitable ranges, or if economic ranges will face slight increases to continue fighting for positive yields. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Apple puts the longevity to repairs. And he has justified it with a 24 -page document

that Barbies are small chatgpt terminals

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Thanks to The film starring Margot Robbie (Let’s not forget it, The highest grossing of 2023), Barbie lives a second youth. It never went completely fashionable, but it is undeniable that the film revitalized its message and bathed it in a welcome layer of modernity that now adopts a new face: Mattel embraces the AI ​​to boost this and others of its plastic icons to the same epicenter of the 21st century. Barbia Mattel Inc., creator of Barbie, Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket and other toy franchises of great popularity worldwide, has reached an agreement with OpenAIaccording to Bloomberg accountto help in design and, in some cases, incorporate artificial intelligence into their toys. The collaboration is still in its initial phases. Some examples. Brad Lightcap, Chief of Operations of OpenAI and Josh Silverman, head of Mattel franchises have commented on some possibilities that open before them, and have put some examples: the creation of digital companions based on Mattel characters or the possibility of making “more interactive” games like the one. At the end of this year it is the date they have planned to give more details and that the conversations that the companies have maintained. They have, since the end of last year. AI within reach of children. This collaboration announcement does not arrive exempt from controversy. While AI is beginning to be valued as a Great educational value toolthere has also been the impact of indiscriminate and unrestranted use of artificial intelligences in aspects of our lives such as Social relations wave Mental health. All this in products that are available to children without surveillance: Futurism spoke very recently of a study by Stanford University about the risks of leaving minors in the company of artificial intelligences. Openai wants to entertain. This deal with Mattel is not an isolated case: OpenAi wants break into the entertainment industry as I can. Knows that in the franchises there is money, and they have started A series of meetings with the main producers and studies of Hollywood. The objective is, among other things, sell Sora, its IA -based video generator, which allows you to create hyperrealistic clips from textual descriptions. Sora offers filmmakers the ability to control parameters such as lighting or weather with the consequent cost and time savings. OpenAi needs money. All these deals and movements of OpenAI obey an indisputable fact: the company is needed liquidity. Although he has recently raised a record figure of 40,000 million dollars in The biggest private financing round in historyand despite this capital flow and that its annual income They have doubled in 2025 Up to 10,000 million dollars, the company continues to operate with great significant losses: it has a deficit of 5,000 million dollars in 2024 and very high operating costs. Chatgpt implies infrastructure costs and training of extremely high models: it has been said that it costs up to a thousand dollars per complex consultationand profitability is not planned until 2029. Global competition, especially that of Chinese companies such as Deepseek, Nor is it leaving too much financial oxygen. AI wants to entertain. And Openai is just one of the many companies that are trying to reach agreements in different branches of entertainment. The irruption of this technology in the sector is indisputable, as can be perceived in how streaming platforms such as Netflix, YouTube and Spotify use AI algorithms to analyze user preferences and habits. Or how Ameper Music and Dall-e are already generating content that is consumed at the same levels as the original. Header | Roman vsugon in Unspash In Xataka | Chatgpt is creating something: the first generation of the digital age that does not know how to search on Google

NASA set out to send a woman to the moon before China does. It is getting more and more

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While the possibilities for NASA to step on the moon again in 2027 fades, China advances with a firm and methodical step without changing its goal: sending astronauts to the lunar surface in 2030. Any of the two countries could end putting the first woman on the moonthe symbolic objective that the United States had marked with Artemis III. Another blow to Artemis. NASA depends on Spacex to achieve the first moaning manned since 1972. In the Artemis III mission, scheduled for mid -2027, two astronauts descend to the lunar surface in a starship ship adapted to land and take off on the moon. But Spacex has delay. He could not Demonstrate fuel transfer in orbit With a cistern starship, much less a loan without crew. With the catastrophic explosion of the starship 36 During a motor test, the program trial zone will have to be repaired. It is the fourth consecutive failure for the Spacex ship-cohete, which will undoubtedly add new delays to its commitments to NASA. Move the goal. The rumors of which Artemis III It could be reconfigured as a mission without alunsing They return to the fore. I would leave NASA with less maneuvering margin to arrive before China does it for the first time. Maybe that’s why the narrative has changed under the new administration: now the political objective is to plant a flag on Mars before China does. With the excuse of eliminating the diversity programs of federal agencies, the references to send to the first woman and the first man of color to the moon They have been erased of the NASA website. China follows its roll. For its part, the Crewing Space Agency of China (CMSA) has completed this week a crucial test of the ship that will take its astronauts to the moon. The early morning of June 17, in the Gobi desert, the Mengzhou ship’s escape system furiously turned on its solid fuel engines. The ship without crew was propelled at full speed from the platform, as it would do if there was an emergency with the rocket. At 20 seconds, He separated from the escape system and opened his parachute To perch again on land. It was a perfect abortion test. China did not perform a since 1998, with its current Shenzhou ship, which routinely carries astronauts to the Chinese space station. The second country on the moon. China wants to become the second country to step on the moon, before one of NASA’s partners in the Artemis missions, such as Jaxa or ESA. The calendar is clear And it has remained so far: in 2027, China will first launch the new heavy rocket CZ-10. In 2028, he will make a manned mission around the Moon (in this case, as a third country to do so, because Canada has a seat on the Artemis II mission). The first moonwill is scheduled by the end of 2030. The Mengzhou ship It will take three Chinese astronauts to the lunar orbitwhile the Lanyue ship, designed to be coupled with Mengzhou in orbit, will descend to the surface in the role of Alunizer. The firm steps of CMSA towards this objective reinforce the image of a robust program, well financed and with an immovable political objective, which increasingly contrasts with NASA Artemis. Image | CMSA, Xinhua In Xataka | After three failures, Spacex needed the new Starship to work out well. I was waiting for the worst explosion of all

The US has started evaluating the risks that runs if you attack Iran. What worries you most is a fearsome bomb: yours

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While the United States, in Trump’s figure, leafless the Margarita on a possible intervention American military against Iran, several scenarios open, all uncertain, and a technical, strategic and symbolic obstacle: the difficulty of destroying The ForDow Uranium Enrichment Center, a underground installation excavated deep in a mountain. In fact and, as we will see, Washington’s main concern at this time is a bomb … yours. Weigh the risks. He Financial Times and the Washington Post have published two reports on that moment of Impasse that is lived in the administration. While Trump holds intense meetings in the White House crisis room to decide if the United States joins the Israeli offensive against Iran, US intelligence and defense services draw an exhaustive map of possible reprisals that Tehran could trigger. Among the explicit warnings of the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Jamenei (who has threatened to cause “irreparable damage” if Washington intervenes), and the strategic memory of previous cycles Of climbing, the White House faces a decision that could mark the turning point In the conflict. Iranian response options cover A broad spectrum: Direct attacks against American troops or embassies in the Middle East, cybernetic sabotages, terrorist attacks, undercover actions through allied militias such as Hezbollah or hutis, and, perhaps the most serious from the economic point of view, the Ormuz Strait closurewhere a third of the world’s maritime oil travels. The dilemma of deterrence. The United States currently maintains some 40,000 military troops deployed in the region, with eight permanent bases in countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Catar and Arab Emirates, in addition to operational presence in other eleven key enclaves, including Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Oman. The Udeid Air Base in Catar, headquarters of the American central command, houses 10,000 soldiersand other facilities such as the Bahrain Naval Base or the infrastructure in Kuwait house tens of thousands more. Although all have aerial defenses, their geographical proximity with Iran makes them Vulnerable objectives Before a ballistic or cruise missile attack, drones or even irregular command incursions. Iran has a significant arsenal of unmanned projectiles and aerial vehicles, many of them of their own manufacture or adaptations of Russian and North Korean models, and although their response would not be immediate, the internal debate in Tehran about when and how to answer It could be intensified If Washington actively participates in the campaign. The threat of the Strait. He Ormuz narrowneuralgic point of global hydrocarbons trade, represents a Strategic risk first order. Iran has demonstrated in the past (as in 2019when it managed to temporarily paralyze 50% of Saudi production through a combined missile and drone attack) that can seriously affect the world energy market. If you choose to undermine the strait, use fast boats, submarines or coastal batteries to block the passage, the impact on oil prices It would be immediate and global. It happens that they will also It depends on the Strait For its own crude oil exports, which introduces a structural contradiction: damage ormuz would harm both their enemies and itself. Even so, like They point out analysts From the pentagon, deterrence based on mutual vulnerability does not guarantee containment if the survival of the regime is at stake. The precedent of hutis in the red seawhich have managed to interrupt maritime traffic despite weeks of US bombings, demonstrates the effectiveness of sustained asymmetric tactics even under constant military pressure. The mystery of a bomb. And here we reach the main theme from the perspective of the possible attack of the United States. In the heart of deliberations about this possible military intervention against Iran is the difficulty of destroying the center of Uranium enrichment of Fordow, that underground installation excavated deep in a mountain. He counted exclusive The Guardian that Trump has already been informed that the use of the GBU-57 pump could, in theory, Inspore fordow During a limited period of time, but according to sources close to the conversations, the president is not convinced of his effectiveness and has conditioned any authorization to attack the guarantee that the objective can be eliminated definitively. B-52 launching a MOP during the tests, 2009 Reasonable doubt. Doubts feed not only for the tactical complexity of the operation, but also of the evaluation of the Department of Defense: several experts They have warned Not even a GBU-57 pump battery would be enough to completely destroy Fordow, and that only A tactical nuclear weapon I could achieve it with certainty. In this regard, the British newspaper stressed that the option, however, has not been considered Formally and was ruled out in the meetings held between Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegesh and the head of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine. GBU-57 limitations. It We count this week. It is a 13.6 tons pump capable of penetrate underground structures reinforced, the same one that has been the center of multiple debates in the Pentagon since the beginning of Trump’s mandate. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DRA), responsible for testing and analyzing this kind of weapons, has pointed out that Fordow, about 80 meters underground, is beyond the operational reach of this ammunition without a PREVIOUS PREPARATION OPERATION that includes the destruction of aerial defenses, elimination of GPS interference and a possible saturation attack with conventional weapons to weaken the land. Even so, even under optimal conditions, the impact of a GBU-57 pump It could be limited to collapsing tunnels, sealing accesses and burying machinery under debris, but not to completely dismantle Iran’s nuclear capacity. The bomb, in addition, has never been used Under real conditions against an installation such as Fordow, which adds technical uncertainty to the already high political risk of initiating an open conflict. Absolute success or deterrence. The Guardian explained That for some high controls, the real problem is not the bomb itself, but the expectation of a “One and Done (unique and decisive attack) that does not conform to operational reality. The retired general Randy Manner, former Draw director, He warned that ForDow could be … Read more

The diamond industry promised them happy with the jewels cultivated in the laboratory. Until prices sank

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Few things better symbolize luxury than a good diamond. They shine in the shop windows of the most exclusive miles in Paris, Milan or New York, in Hands of Hollywood actresses and in The watches of the most sought -after soccer players on the planet. However, they do not run good times for precious stones. Not at least if we talk about your price. A perfect storm in which intrinsic factors are mixed and alien to the sector has shame its price until it is left, according to Some analystsin minimums that were not seen so far from the century. The big question is … What can we expect now? Prices, falling. It doesn’t matter which source is consulted. They do not run Good times For diamonds. The maximum expression of luxury, the great symbol of opulence, has been seeing how its value slides through a slope that moves it away from the dimensions that reached between 2021 and 2022, when the sector lived a “Exceptional demand” in the US market thanks to couples who had postponed their commitments or weddings for COVID-19. A few days ago Barcharta financial data platform, shared A graph which reflects the descending curve that precious stones have drawn from 2022 to place in what the signature considers “its lowest level of the century.” He Price index Paul Zimnisky for raw diamonds also show a “puncture” from the pandemic, although without even minimal record. And the panorama is similar in the graphics of Diamondse either Princescopewhich reflect the lowest values ​​from at least 2008 for natural jemas. Click on the image to go to Tweet. What show the figures? That if we talk about quotes, the diamond industry has lived better years. In February Bloomberg calculated that in a matter of two years prices had fallen almost 50% in the case of raw diamonds and 35% in polished stones. More or less for the same dates The Guardian revealed that in stores natural diamonds cost 26% less than two years ago, a considerable fall but that pales compared to the accumulated since 2020 by the created in the laboratory. Citing A Tenoris, a firm that tracks the prices of diamonds in more than 2,000 US stores, the British newspaper I pointed that at the end of last year the average price of a natural diamond of a quilate marked $ 4,997. In May 2022 it exceeded 6,800 pounds. In the case of “artificial” diamonds, $ 3.410 had passed in January from 2020 to 892 at the end of 2024. In their graphics Pricescope and Diamondse They also show falls. A perfect storm. The big question arrived at this point is … why? What motivates that price drop? The reality is that there is no single answer, but a cocktail of them, a mixture of factors that have impacted the market. Analysts point to a Change in demand After the health crisis, when prices rose thanks to the increase in postpandemic sales. Others point out the “puncture” of weddings, especially in the US, which is equivalent to less alliances and commitment rings; or even The effects of the Ukraine War in the sector. Another factor that explains the collapse is the behavior of the Chinese market, crucial for the industry. In February Bloomberg estimated that its demand had been reduced by 50% from the pandemia. And not just that. Citing experts in the sector, the agency said that, on average, the retailers of the Asian giant were returning to the wholesale market of India between 30 and 40 million dollars each month in surpluses of polished diamonds. All this in an economic context challenging For Beijing. Natural vs “artificial”. If something has really influenced the world diamond industry, beyond that we get married more or less, the covid hangover or the fall in demand in China, is the appearance of a new product in the market: the “synthetic” diamondscultivated in the laboratory and that have marked a before and after in the sector. Instead of requiring Millions of years of formation, as is the case with the mined natural jemas, a “synthetic” stone can take shape in a laboratory in a record time: a few weeks or Even hours. “Synthetic” diamonds are not exactly new. Its origins can go back to the 50s. However, in recent times they have broken into the market for several reasons. One of them is that their origins are easier to track than those of the mined jemas, which has gone “More ethical”especially in the eyes of the Millenials. Also influence its appearance and price, which becomes 70% lower to the natural stones. “They are much bigger stones,” Comment a jeweler to The Guardian. “About two or three more times. In laboratory, three carats is normal, even four or five.” Its attractiveness has caught attention Even of jewelry brands and watches specialized in luxury, in some cases with welcome in the market that exceed expectations. Of course, not everyone thinks the same. “They are synthetic, a bulk created product, without history. The price will continue to fall,” Vaticin Another jeweler. Winning weight in the market. In 2023 Five days public A graph (supporting tenoris data and the billing of 1,300 retailers of the sector) that demonstrate the growing weight of the diamonds grown in a key segment of the market: that of the US commitment rings. If at the beginning of 2021 they represented only 3.5%, in the summer of 2023 that percentage was already approaching 18%. In February The Guardian He went further and assured that synthetic diamonds already supposed 45% of the bridal jewelry market. The problem is that this growing weight has come accompanied by another word that analysts also frequently repeat: Overproduction. The analyst Paul Zimnisky was warned in March in An interview with The New York Times: “We are seeing that a small group of very large producers in China and India are increasing production with faster and better processes, and every time they do … Read more

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