Month: October 2025

a plague of flies that no one can stop

by

Not the Gaza massacre, not the increase in salaries, not the improvement of public health or the fight against corruption. A few days ago the residents of Tomiño, a town in the south of Galicia, took to the streets to protest something very different and that is not common to find in 21st century Spain: the fly pests. Tired of encountering annoying insects even in the soup (and no, it is not a figure of speech) some 300 people They gathered in the town to demand that the institutions solve a problem that they have been for years dragging “It’s horrible, really terrible,” they cry out. What has happened? That Galicia has just experienced what may have been the most peculiar manifestation so far this year. Not so much for the form as for the substance. What has brought people to the streets in Tomiño, a town in the south of the province of Pontevedra, is a plague of flies. Thousands and thousands of dipterans that sneak into businesses and homes, complicating the lives of part of the town. The rally was organized last Sunday in the center of Carregal, the most affected parish of Tomiño, and brought together around 300 residents, according to Tele Mariñas specifies. The mobilization not only served to demand solutions from the administrations. It has also helped to better understand how the plague affects the inhabitants of the area, who claim to be living a true hell. “This plague doesn’t let me eat, sleep, or anything,” he lamented a 77-year-old neighbor who has lived in the neighborhood for more than a decade. “It’s horrible, terrible.” Is it that serious? The testimonies of the inhabitants of one of the most affected areas, Amorín, in Carregal, show that the invasion of flies is much more than a simple nuisance. “It’s terrible. You kill one and three come to the funeral,” counted a few days ago The Voice of Galicia Avelina, a neighbor. People talk about flytraps that fill up shortly after hanging them, businesses “desperate” and even people who are considering throwing in the towel and selling their homes if the problem is not solved. A few months ago in Forcadela, another parish in Tomiño, the owner of a bar confessed that the plague forced her to work reduced hours and do without the terrace so as not to lose customers. “When you moved there were so many that you could grab them with your hand, you even stepped on them,” recounted the hotelier, Ana Belén, The Voice of Galicia. “The ceiling of my establishment is white and it was black.” At Sunday’s rally, the residents of Carregal took to the streets a poster which, pulling back, emphasized the same complaint: “Menu of the day: 1st, broth with flies; 2nd, chickpeas with flies, coffee with flies. Enough already.” Their discomfort is not only due to the dipteran invasion itself. It also bothers them that the problem is repeated year after year without the administrations finding a solution. “We want solutions now.” What areas does it affect? The weekend protest was organized in Carregal, Tomiño, but a few months ago They complained about the same problem in Forcadela, another neighborhood in the town. In reality, it will have caught few by surprise. In 2024 in the village they were already complaining of the same problem and there are neighbors who report that flies have been a challenge for about five years. In reality, Tomiño is not the only Galician town that has had to do with the invasion of dipterans. Almost 175 kilometers from there, in Narón (province of A Coruña) there is another parish, O Val, which has been with a challenge to simulate. “It makes you desperate,” confessed In June one of his neighbors The Confidential. In his case he has even tried to combat flies with bleach. Without much success. What is the reason? In Tomiño the problem is serious enough that some time ago the City Council commissioned a study to clarify its causes, a task that fell to a group specialized in environmental biology from the University of Vigo. Salustiano Mato, professor of Zoology, he resisted last year to talk about a “plague” of flies as such, but admits that there are “disproportionate population booms” of insects in some parts of the municipality. Its protagonist is the common fly, an insect with a fleeting life cycle, between seven and 30 daysbut which is capable of depositing about a thousand eggs during that brief period. The affected neighbors they explain that “strong pests” are suffered between spring and well into autumn, although the problem is not completely solved during the cold months. “We continue with flies because there is no more frost.” Regarding the possible causes of its uncontrolled presence in Tomiño, Mato explains that “a perfect storm” seems to have occurred, an opinion shared by Galicia Ambiental. “The combination of climatic factors, temperature and humidity could be behind everything. There is a set of environmental circumstances that favor hatching, irruption or mass reproduction,” they sentence. And how to solve it? The problem is more complex than it seems. When it comes to pointing out the causes, more factors have been pointed out, such as the use of fertilizer in crop fields, humidity (the area is near the Miño), the destruction of native forest, with the consequent loss of trees and birds that feed on insects, or the expansion of crops. A few months ago, in fact, the Tomiño City Council related the Forcadela plague with a poorly fertilized farm, in which manure supposedly accumulated on unplowed land. Things don’t seem to be clear in the offices either. Last year the local government I remembered that there is a royal decree of 2022 that establishes that the powers over the inspection and control in the care of farmland falls on the Xunta, but the municipal opposition insist in which the law obliges the City Council to “act” and remembers that it is the … Read more

If you are a student, you have Gemini Pro free for a year: this is how you can get it

by

If you are a student, Google has just launched a promotion with which you can enjoy Google AI Pro for one year totally free. In addition to being able to use the model Gemini 2.5 Pro whenever you want, with the subscription you can enjoy 2 TB of storage. Its value without promotion is 21.99 euros per month, which is more than 260 euros per year. If you use Gemini in the free version, the model you can use is Gemini 2.5 Flash, faster but also more limited in terms of reasoning capacity. With Gemini 2.5 Pro You can take advantage of the Deep Research mode for more in-depth investigations or make audio summaries, as well as use the imaging with Nano Banana and create videos with I see 3. There’s more, the promotion also comes with 2 TB of storage and more credits to use experimental tools like Whisk and flow to generate images and videos. Requirements to obtain the offer In order to enjoy the Google Gemini promotion, you will have to meet several conditions that we detail below: You must be over 18 years old. Be a university student and your institution offers the Google AI Pro trial. Have a personal Google account. That your Google account has a valid payment method registered. Register before November 3, 2025. How to get the Gemini Pro offer for students If you meet all the requirements, you can register to enjoy the promotion. We tell you how to do it step by step. The first thing you should do is enter the following link https://gemini.google/es/students/ and click on the Get Offer button. If you are not logged in to your Google account, the next step will ask you to do so. Then you will have to fill out the form where you must enter the name of your educational center and your information (in the email do not use the address of your university, use the Google account on which you want to apply the offer). If everything is correct, you will proceed to verification using SheerID. Basically you will have to log in to your university’s platform with the email and username that you have configured on it. You may be asked for proof of registration. You will have to upload the document and click Send. Finally, select “Subscribe to Google AI Pro” and “Student Offer”. When you redeem the offer you will not be charged anything, but we have already seen that in order to subscribe you need to have a valid payment method. If you do not want the subscription to renew and be charged You have two options, wait until the date approaches and cancel it or do it now from this link https://play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions. If you choose the second, you can continue using it until the renewal date. In Xataka | Gemini Image Editor: 16 Ways and Tricks to Squeeze Nano-banana with Google’s AI

radishes confirm the entry of nanoplastics into the food chain

by

Living with microplastics It seems like the new normal in our diet. We already see them in things as everyday as bottled water either tapbut also within our body as in breast milk or their own testicles. Now the researchers, who remain very focused on the food chain, have wanted analyze its presence in crops and it has made it clear that the problem is more serious than we thought. The study. Published in the magazine Environmental Researchresearchers have used a technique of radiolabeling to demonstrate, for the first time quantitatively, that nanoplastics are not only absorbed by plants, but travel through them until they accumulate in the parts we eat. And the results, obtained with radishes, are a wake-up call to a very important food safety problem. The marking. The main challenge of studying nanoplastics in biological tissues is to distinguish them from the organic material that surrounds them. To overcome this obstacle, a team of scientists from the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom synthesized polystyrene nanoplastics and “marked” them with a radioactive isotope: lime. famous carbon-14. In this way, it was possible to accurately monitor the movement of the plastic inside the plant. And precisely the material is more common in agricultural soils. Design. The experiment was meticulously designed to avoid any type of surface contamination. For this, radishes were used due to their rapid growth and their large fleshy root (the edible part), which were introduced into a hydroponic system with a liquid nutrient solution instead of being in their normal habitat, which is soil. This is where the key is: only the fine, non-fleshy roots were in contact with the water containing the nanoplastics. In this way, the edible part and the sprouts were never in contact with the contaminated medium. From here, the radishes were left for five days to absorb the solution and subsequently analyzed to check if the nanoplastics (which emit radiation) had been absorbed and what path they would follow. Results. After the passage of these five days, radioactivity was detected in all parts of the silver that had been exposed, demonstrating the absorption and transport of the nanoplastics. In total, the radishes managed to retain almost 5% of the nanoplastics that were in the water and of these, 65% remained in the non-fleshy roots (the entry point). But the alarming thing comes when in the part that is edible, a concentration of 25.5% of the nanoplastics that the plant had absorbed and transported to this area was found. Even the buds and leaves, the furthest part, accumulated almost 10% of the total absorbed. What does it mean. This finding demonstrates that polystyrene nanoplastics are capable of crossing the Caspary bandan impermeable layer of cells that functions as a protective barrier in the root of the plant, designed precisely to prevent the passage of unwanted substances into the vascular system. Once this barrier is overcome, the nanoplastics have free rein to distribute throughout the rest of the plant. Why it is important. These results open a direct and quantifiable pathway for human exposure to nanoplastics through diet. Unlike animals, which have rapid excretion mechanisms (such as feces or urine) to eliminate part of the contaminants, plants lack these systems. This makes them potential “sinks” for nanoplastics, accumulating them throughout their lives. And for humans, the fact that these particles are so small means that they can diffuse our biological barriers and enter the body to circulate through the bloodstream. Although the effects that these microplastics have on our body still remain to be known, something that is currently still being studied to know exactly their distribution throughout the body. Future research should explore whether other types of plastics behave the same, how soil type affects absorption, and what happens in longer growing cycles. But the door has already been opened: smaller plastics are no longer just pollute our oceans and air, but they have found a way to silently sneak into our food, from the roots. Images | Teslariu Mihai Marc Pell In Xataka | They clean your blood of microplastics for 11,500 euros: the startup that capitalizes on our fear of an invisible enemy

1.2 million fewer places, with Asturias as the most affected

by

The airline has announced a new cut of 1.2 million seats in Spanish regional airports for the 2026 summer season. This It is already the third reduction consecutive in a year and leaves Asturias without any Ryanair operations. The hardest blow. Asturias is left without any Ryanair flights, becoming the airport most affected by this decision. Although the airline has not detailed the specific impact on other regional airports, this cut is in addition to the 800,000 seats eliminated last summer and the million eliminated in the current winter season. In total, three million fewer places in just twelve months. The battle of rates. Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, holds Aena directly responsible and the Spanish Government to make regional airports “uncompetitive” by raising rates of 7%. According to O’Learythe airport manager charges similar prices at small and large aerodromes, which penalizes destinations with less traffic. The company denounces that these airports operate with a capacity of 10% or 20% and demands reductions of at least 50% in rates to stimulate traffic. Aena’s response. Its executive vice president, Javier Marín, rejects the accusations. He assures that the increase represents only about 30 cents per passenger and denies that the rates are the same at all airports. According to Marín, a small airport can charge two euros per passenger in the growth phase, compared to 14 euros for Madrid-Barajas. Marín describes the situation as “blackmail” and points out that other airlines are occupying the routes that Ryanair abandons. Where does the capacity go?. The airline will move part of the seats eliminated to Spanish airports with the highest traffic such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Palma and Malaga, where their offer will increase by 600,000 seats. The rest will be reallocated to countries that Ryanair says offer more favorable conditions: Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Sweden and Hungary, where governments have eliminated environmental taxes or reduced airport charges. And now what. Ryanair keeps the door open to reversing the cuts if Aena cancels the planned rate increase and substantially lowers prices at regional airports. Meanwhile, competitors like Volotea have already announced that They will take advantage of the gaps left by the Irishwith an increase of 16.4% in its national offer, especially in destinations such as Asturias. Cover image | Gabor Koszegi In Xataka | CAF decided to do business in Israel: it was the beginning of a domino effect that has left it without the Barcelona metro

This TV is now at an outlet price on Amazon

by

More and more users want large televisions to be able to enjoy audiovisual content in the purest cinematographic style. If you are looking for a large TV, El Corte Inglés now has this one on sale smart tv Haier H75M80FUX. Now, you can take it 999 euros. Haier QD MiniLED 4K UHD H75M80FUX – 75″ The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A huge TV and now with a good discount This television from Haier has a QD-MiniLED panel with a diagonal of 75 inches. It offers 4K UHD resolution (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) and features a refresh rate of 60 hours. Works under the operating system Google TVso it comes with Google Assistant and Chromecast integrated. As for their speakers, they offer a 50W RMS power and offer sound in Dolby Atmos quality. It is also perfect for gaming, since it comes with four inputs HDMI 2.1ALLM and response rate of 6.5 ms. Finally, its connectivity section can be highlighted, since it comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, two USB 2.0 ports, ethernet and headphone output. Some accessories that may interest you for this TV LG DS40TR – Sound Bar, Bluetooth, 400W The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K (Latest generation) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Haier In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price (2025). Which one to buy and seven recommended models from 140 euros

There are no places, no planes, no planet for so many tourists.

by

Before airports became small cities and low cost will multiply filling the sky of Europe, fly it was a privilege reserved for a few. Today, however, the global and mass tourism grows without brakes, pushes airlines to multiply routes and planes, and threatens to overflow not only the most iconic destinations, but also the capacity itself of the planet to sustain it. An infinite curve. commercial aviation directly reflects the evolution of the world economy. Every time global GDP increases, so does the number of passengers that fly and, with it, the demand for new aircraft to replace old ones or expand fleets. Crises (from the technology bubble to the 2008 recession, through the 9/11 attacks, the COVID pandemic or the war in Ukraine) have only managed to temporarily stop air traffic. After each stoppage, the curve has resumed its growth trend, which is around at 4% annually. The so-called Revenue Passenger Miles they have already recovered at pre-pandemic levelsconsolidating the idea that flying is one of the most resilient industries of globalization. The “bleirure”. Although the vast majority of air kilometers correspond to tourists (it is estimated that 85% of the total) are business passengers, barely 12-15% of the volume, who generate up to three quarters of the benefits. These clients they pay premium seatsmake last minute changes and purchase additional services. However, the pandemic introduced a new pattern: the “bleisure”trips that combine work and leisure thanks to the flexibility of teleworking. Airlines have reacted by multiplying cabin categories and seeking to capture the traveler who is no longer satisfied with the traditional binomial between low-cost tourist and first-class executive. The proliferation of intermediate classes reflects a market in which the boundaries between work and pleasure are increasingly blurred. The hordes and the cities. They remembered in Forbes that the reopening after the pandemic caused the phenomenon from “revenge travel”: Millions of travelers took out their lists of dream places and set out to visit the most iconic destinations. France, which has led world tourism for three decades, exceeded 100 million of annual visitors, Spain, Italy, Türkiye and the United States complete the top five. The problem? That this avalanche has had a cost: the Coliseumthe Eiffel Tower or the Louvre They are experiencing days of extreme saturation, while other emblematic places have had to impose restrictions. Notre Dame requires tickets with schedule, the Parthenon limits accessMachu Picchu temporarily closed and Mount Fuji has established quotas and fees. The list of “A” destinations does not grow at the pace of demand, and the pressure on the same spaces threatens to make them uninhabitable. Saturation. The concept of “overtourism”or also “tourism”, has become the biggest nightmare of the most popular destinations. Cities like Venice, Barcelona either Florence They have had to impose limits on tourist accommodation, prohibitions on rental apartments or access fees to try to regain the lost balance. The phenomenon not only erodes the quality of life of residents, but also puts one’s own health at risk. cultural and natural attraction that attracts visitors. Summer saturation, furthermore, already does not concentrate alone in July and August: travelers, pushed by extreme heat waves like those in Europe in 2025, move towards fall or springspreading the pressure throughout the year. What was considered a temporary relief has become another twist. Climate impact. Aerial growth not only puts stress on cities and monuments, it also puts stress on the planet against the ropes. Recent studies estimate that tourism is responsible for 8.8% of global emissions, and aviation accounts for up to three quarters of that footprint if indirect effects such as contrails are included. The problem is that technological efficiency advances too slowly: barely 0.3% annually compared to 3.8% increase in traffic. Sustainable fuels, hydrogen or electrification still They are incipient projectsunable to cover long-haul flights. Thus, each new aircraft delivered guarantees growth in emissionsdespite the fact that the planet’s carbon budgets are already practically exhausted. A planet on the limit. The expansion of air tourism generates a triple limit: physical, social and climatic. Physical, because airports, airplanes and cities cannot absorb unlimited volumes of travelers. Social, because local communities cthey start to rebel against massive tourism that makes housing more expensive and degrades common spaces. and climatebecause the sector’s carbon footprint threatens to neutralize any progress towards global sustainability goals. The paradox is that, while the aeronautical industry accumulates an order book of more than seven years and defends that there is still room to grow, experts in sustainability and governance insist that only with limits (quotas, environmental taxes, diversification of destinations) an irreversible collapse can be avoided. The dilemma of tourism. Thus, mass tourism, as we have known it, faces a historical crossroads. The industry accelerates towards expansion and consumers maintain the desire to travel further and more often, but the reality is that there is not enough physical space, nor cities capable of absorbing so many visitors, no climatic margin to sustain a sector of infinite growth. The question, therefore, is no longer just how we will travel in the future, but whether the planet can afford that we all do it, at all hours and all the time. If you also want, the myth of unchecked global tourism seems to be breaking down: because there is no place, there are no planes, and there is no planet that can withstand so much tourism. Image | RawPixel, PXHere In Xataka | Something strange is happening in Las Vegas: while tourism crowds half the world, the city loses visitors In Xataka | An “invasion” is slowly heading towards the treasures of Spain. There are millions, they like paella and they come from the US

the town’s latest big event has crossed borders

by

The Vigo City Council has been fighting a battle against Uber for months that is not going exactly well. Of course, the response of the council in recent days has been to complicate things at the service of VTC. The Conxemar fair, one of the most important business events in Galicia, has been the chosen scenario to prove it. Conflict. Since Uber landed in Vigo in Junetaxi drivers have denounced that VTCs operate illegally on urban routes. Galician regulations stipulate that these vehicles can make intercity trips, but not those of an urban nature, such as going from the center to the Ifevi fairgrounds. However, the application continued to offer services in the city with hardly any consequences. At the end of August, the City Council reported that 60% of Uber vehicles in Vigo had been proposed for sanction. The data has its merits, since all these vehicles belong to companies based in Madrid that domiciled their cars in Galicia this same year. The complaints ended up recurring all the time while the activity continued. The pressure of taxi drivers. Conxemar was the first big event in the city since the arrival of Uber, and taxi drivers feared that the VTCs would keep part of the business generated by the fair. Faced with the situation, nearly 300 professionals created a pressure group outside the taxi employers’ associations. “If the local Police or the Civil Guard do not act on the first day of Conxemar, we may collapse the fair,” said Ángel, one of the group’s taxi drivers, to the media. The Voice of Galicia. The pressure took effect. The Local Police deployed controls at the accesses to the Ifevi with an application from the Ministry of Transport that allows knowing in real time the origin and destination of each trip, in addition to the complete history of VTC movements. Sanctions and controversy. During the first day of Conxemar, the Local Police reported four vehicles and immobilized two others with a tow truck included on Airport Avenue. Daniel Matías, president of the Elite Taxi Vigo association, acknowledged with satisfaction that the authorities “have done their job today,” just as shared the middle. The taxi drivers, who deployed some 400 vehicles in large shifts, celebrated the performance. However, Uber continued to offer trips in the morning with prices higher than 25 euros due to “high demand”, and some drivers They managed to jump the police fence to access Ifevi and the airport during the afternoon. A legal loophole. The Unauto employers’ association already has announced that he will appeal all sanctions. José Manuel Gallo, its director of legal services, commented to the media Faro de Vigo that “Let us not forget that VTC vehicles are covered by a totally legal transport authorization.” The employers’ association regrets that they are being “turned away” when “it is a reality that the VTC wants to make its way in Vigo”, after having unsuccessfully requested meetings with the Council and the Xunta. Uber takes advantage of the gaps in the system, since some vehicles come in the morning from Pontevedra and perform services on the limits of Vigo, a gray area that makes police action difficult. An open pulse. Penalties can reach up to 6,000 euros per vehicle, but all those imposed so far have been appealed in court. Meanwhile, in Vigo up to 40 VTCs operate without a municipal license, protected by what the employers consider a “legal loophole” and which the taxi sector directly classifies as illegal activity. Matias explains to the media that they now hope that “the situation remains the same”, aware that the complicated thing is “being behind” these vehicles when there are no events that facilitate the controls. Cover image | Paula Pereira and Tingey Injury Law Firm In Xataka | In case the electric car was not enough, Europe is missing another train: that of autonomous cars

is teaching you how to use it in a very specific way

by

In July the Russian formula to multiply its drones was known: it was called “refrigeration units” and it came straight from Beijing. The surprise was not capital considering that Ukraine had already opened drones from Moscow and had confirmed the chinese contribution to the contest. It was sensed that the rapprochement between both nations was extensive. Now, a handful of leaked documents have shown that Russia not only sells weapons to China, it also teaches it how to use them. A new axis. The publication of hundreds of documents leaked by the hacktivist group Black Moon has clearly revealed a scenario that was intuited until recently, but for which there was no such concrete evidence: Russia and China have woven a much deeper military cooperation than their joint maneuvers or their public speeches show. The files, analyzed by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London and also reviewed by media as Associated Press and Washington Postshow signed agreements, material lists, delivery schedules and training programs that point to a central objective: preparing the Chinese airborne forces for an eventual invasion of Taiwan. Sale of Russian systems. According to the documentsMoscow promised to sell Beijing a complete batch of equipment for an airborne battalion: 37 amphibious assault vehicles BMD-4M11 self-propelled anti-tank guns Sprut-SDM111 armored personnel carriers BTR-MDM and several command and observation vehicles. The contract, valued at more than 500 million of dollars, also includes special parachute systems capable of launching loads of up to 190 kilos from altitudes of 8,000 meters, with a glide radius of up to 80 kilometers. This material, adapted to integrate Chinese software and communication systems, would allow special forces to penetrate enemy territory without having to directly enter their airspace. Chinese technological leap. Beyond hardware, the agreements contemplate trainings given by Russian specialists both in Russia and China, in which tactics, procedures and command and control systems tested in real war scenarios are transferred. For Beijing, this component is even more valuable than the armored vehicles themselves: Russia has decades of experience in airborne operations that China has not yet been able to accumulate. While the People’s Liberation Army modernize in a hurry its arsenal with the goal of equaling or surpassing the United States before 2050, turns to Moscow to fill a critical gap in doctrine and experience. An island on the horizon. The analysts match in which the reinforcement of Chinese airborne capacity point directly to Taiwan. The island invasion plans require not only an amphibious landing massive in its few beaches suitable for this, but also the rapid seizure of strategic infrastructure in the interior: airports, ports and logistics centers that allow sustaining the initial effort in the face of a possible US intervention. To achieve this, Chinese military planners consider it essential to small unit deployment elite, well equipped and capable of infiltration by air. The russian experience In operations of this type it is especially valuable. Although Moscow failed in February 2022 while attempting to seize Hostomel Airport and open an airlift to kyiv, their tactics, even failed, offer concrete lessons on what should be avoided and what could be improved. China, which has never used its airborne forces in actual combat, may incorporate that learning without paying the cost in lives that it meant for Russia. Taiwan Marine Corps Battalion Exchange of interests. The alliance is not explained only by Chinese will. Russia also gets crucial benefits. Burdened by sanctions and with a military-industrial complex stretched to the limit by the war in Ukraine, Moscow desperately needs financing and markets. Becoming a supplier of equipment and know-how to Beijing ensures income while drawing China into a conflict that, if it broke out, would force the United States to divide its attention between Europe and the Indo-Pacific. For the Kremlin, distract Washington It is as valuable as selling an armored vehicle. The “enemy” friend. If you like, the agreement also illustrates the asymmetry of the relationship: while China receives technology, doctrine and practical experience that it can absorb and replicate quickly (as it has already done with transport planes Il-76transformed into their own Y-20), Russia obtain liquidity and geopolitical relevance. The risk for Moscow is that, in a few years, its partner will also surpass it in this area and it will be left without a card to play. Impact on the region. There is no doubt, for Taiwan, the news it’s alarming. The transfer of airborne capabilities reinforces fears that a Chinese attack will combine precision bombing raids against air defenses with paratroop operations and rapid landings by armored vehicles at key points in the interior. The own military exercises this year’s taiwanese included drills to repel an air attack against the Taoyuan international airport, aware that Beijing could try to replicate a “D-Day” there with Asian characteristics. And for Washington. The dimension of cooperation also worries the United States. The Pentagon’s efforts to redirect resources towards the Indo-Pacificwithout abandoning the European front, become more complicated given the evidence that Russia and China already act as an almost indivisible bloc. Jack Watling of RUSI sums it up: “The Russians have become enablers for the Chinese, and that makes their security challenges almost impossible to separate.” A puzzle. If you like, what emerges from these leaks It is not a simple arms contract, but the skeleton of an interoperability that can alter the military balance in Asia-Pacific. China gets a crash course in airborne warfare from a Russian manual, and Russia earn financing and the hope of forcing the United States to fight on two fronts. In that equation, Taiwan appears increasingly vulnerableand the horizon of 2027 As the date set for its possible invasion, it stops seeming like a hypothetical scenario and becomes an accelerating calendar. Image | Eric Kanalstein / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), Picryl, 總統府 In Xataka | Ukraine’s largest attack on Russian soil revealed a new drone threat. China has just accidentally multiplied it In Xataka | Ukraine has opened Russia’s last drone and … Read more

insurers have started to turn their backs on them

by

Since the end of 2022 we have witnessed, live, the artificial intelligence revolution. The launch of ChatGPT opened a stage of investment and expectations that has elevated actors like NVIDIA and has placed OpenAI among the most influential startups. But every revolution has a reverse. As AI advances, so does the list of demands and the question that no one can avoid: who bears the risk when something goes wrong. In the United States, every technological advance comes accompanied by an avalanche of lawsuits. It’s not just a habit: it’s part of the system. If a company does something that generates profits but can also cause harm, sooner or later someone will take it to court. And that’s why insurance exists, to convert a future risk into a present cost. The model has worked for decades, but artificial intelligence is starting to test it like no other sector before. Cases that are pressing now. OpenAI and Anthropic have been the first to see how far the risk bill can go. The first faces lawsuits for the use of protected works to train models and for a civil liability case after the suicide of a teenager. In both cases, the costs are not only in the millions: they set the tone for a litigation that threatens to spread throughout the sector. What policies cover today. For now, the AI ​​majors are operating with conventional policies, similar to those of any technology company. According to the Financial TimesOpenAI has hired Aon to design coverage that would be around $300 million, although not everyone involved confirms that figure. It is a significant amount, but insignificant compared to possible claims of billions. In practice, insurers recognize that the sector does not yet have “sufficient capacity” to protect providers of large-scale models. Why do they back down? The aforementioned newspaper points out that Aon did not want to comment on specific companies, although its head of cybersecurity, Kevin Kalinich, admitted that they do not have sufficient capacity to cover model providers. He further explained that what insurers fear is that a failure by an AI company will become a “systemic, correlated and aggregate risk.” Plan B: Self-insure. With insurers folding, AI companies are seeking refuge in themselves. OpenAI is apparently considering setting aside funds from investors or even creating a captive —a kind of own insurer that serves to cover internal risks when the market does not want to do so. Anthropic has already done it: it allocated part of its capital to a $1.5 billion deal with writers. They are solutions that buy time, but do not guarantee stability if the next court ruling triggers compensation. What changes for the rest of the sector. The impact goes beyond OpenAI or Anthropic. Startups and smaller providers are already noticing how premiums are rising, coverage is reduced, and launch times are lengthening due to legal requirements. Legal uncertainty has become another fixed cost. In the absence of a clear formula to measure AI risks, insurers treat them as potentially catastrophic. And that makes each experiment, each new model and each line of code more expensive. What to watch from now on. The coming months will be decisive to see if the insurance sector manages to adapt. Financial Times points to new formulas that cover chatbot errors and AI-generated content, although for now they are limited trials. Companies, meanwhile, are preparing their next defense: diversifying funds and protecting internal structures. The artificial intelligence industry has not stopped nor does it seem like it will. But its expansion is beginning to touch the limits of a system that does not yet know how to measure these risks. Insurers tread carefully, regulators watch from the sidelines, and companies are forced to improvise in certain cases. Images | vecstock (Freepik) | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 In Xataka | “These are things that a university student would get in trouble for”: Deloitte delivered a report made with AI to Australia

ended up revealing a network that smuggled thousands of cell phones

by

Mobile phone theft in London It has become a widespread problem. In most cases, trying to locate them is only useful when they have been lost, not when they have been stolen. Criminals often turn them off instantly and the signal disappears without a trace. But this time something different happened: tracking a stolen iPhone ended up opening an investigation that revealed a network that sent thousands of devices from the United Kingdom to Asia, according to data published by the Metropolitan Police and British media. Official figures help to understand why mobile theft occupies so much space on London’s security agenda. In 2024, nearly 80,000 complaints were registered in the capital alone, with a rebound in the most tourist and commercial areas. The phenomenon is not limited to isolated thefts: many of the thefts end up fueling a black market that moves thousands of devices out of the country. This background explains the interest of the forces in going beyond petty robberies and focusing on the networks that organize them. How a tracking attempt ended up uncovering an international network The case began after the tracking of a stolen iPhone led the police to a warehouse located near Heathrow airport. There they discovered a shipment with around a thousand phones that were going to be transported to Hong Kong. Based on that discovery, the Metropolitan Police opened the Operation Echosteepa large-scale investigation into a possible international network dedicated to the smuggling of stolen cell phones in London. Once the operation began, the investigation grew rapidly. The Metropolitan Police added expert units in smuggling and organized robberies to track the shipments. Each seized package provided new clues: forensic analysis of the packaging, matches on labels and patterns on sealing materials. These tests took investigators to various points in the capital and allowed them to identify the first suspects related to the handling and transportation of the stolen phones. In September the investigation took a decisive leap. The Metropolitan Police arrested two men in northeast London for their alleged involvement in the network and found in their properties around 2,000 phones. Shortly after, another operation in Islington ended with the seizure of around 40,000 pounds – about 46,800 euros – and several devices. During those weeks, more than thirty searches were carried out in homes and premises in the capital, with a total of 46 arrests related to the trafficking of stolen cell phones. The final figures measure the magnitude of the network. In one year, the network would have managed to send up to 40,000 stolen mobile phones to Hong Kong, equivalent to 40% of the thefts reported in London. According to the Metropolitan Policethe group mainly targeted Apple products due to their high value in the international market. Middlemen paid thieves up to £300 per phone and, once in Hong Kong, some were resold for more than $5,000. For its part, The Times points out because the case originated after the tracking of an iPhone through the application Find My. There is no official confirmation from the Metropolitan Police about which tool was used, although everything indicates that it was that one. It makes sense: Find My is Apple’s built-in system to locate devicesand allows you to track not only phones, but also computers, tablets or accessories. It would be strange if an alternative had been used, given that there is such a useful and widespread native tool. The case demonstrates that a tracking tool can be more than just a resource for recovering a lost phone. On this occasion, it served, according to investigations, to connect an everyday robbery with an international smuggling network. It does not solve the problem of the stolen cell phone market, but it leaves evidence that is difficult to ignore: when technology is applied rigorously, even a location signal can open a line of investigation that previously seemed impossible. Images | Metropolitan Police (1, 2) In Xataka | Amazon and Google have buried their voice assistants at the same time

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.