Month: January 2026

Chinese oil tankers are arriving in Venezuela and coming up empty. Exactly what the US was looking for

by

The map of world power has been redrawn in just one week. What began as a military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro has transformed into an energy earthquake that has left an image for history: the gigantic Chinese supertankers, which for years were the financial lifeline of Caracas, turning around in the middle of the Atlantic. A U-turn in international waters. The ships Xingye and Thousand Sunny —two supertankers (VLCC) with the Chinese flag—have definitively abandoned their course towards Venezuela. As confirmed by the South China Morning Post (SCMP)After weeks of inactivity and uncertainty anchored in the ocean, these colossi return to Asia empty. These ships are not just any oil tankers. According to Reutersare part of a group of three ships dedicated exclusively to the Venezuela-China route to transport the crude oil destined to pay the gigantic Venezuelan external debt. Its withdrawal is the clearest sign that the South American country, now under US control, will not export crude oil directly to its main buyer in the short term. The embargo that Trump does not lift. Although the US president stated last week that China “would not be deprived” of Venezuelan oil, the reality in the ports is different. According to SCMPChina has not received shipments from the state-owned PDVSA since last month, while Washington insists that the oil embargo remains in force. Where does the oil go then? While the Chinese ships return empty, the giants of the trading Global companies such as Vitol and Trafigura are already preparing the first shipments of a $2 billion deal to move 50 million barrels accumulated in inventory. the destiny, as reported by Reutersit will be the United States and other markets like India. China could receive part of this oil, but only if it negotiates with these intermediaries, thus losing its direct and preferential access to the benefit of the discounts it obtained. through its independent refineries or “teapots”. The bill that no one wants to pay. After the euphoria of the military takeover, a financial dilemma of billion-dollar proportions looms. Venezuelan oil has been takenbut it is mortgaged. China financed railways and power plants for decades through more than 600 bilateral agreements. Regarding the debt, the figures estimate around 10,000 million dollars, although other calculations of think tanks they increase the historical debt to more than 60,000 million, much of it structured under the “oil for loans” model. However, the great fear in Beijing is that the new government led by Trump will invoke the doctrine of “hateful debt”. As pointed out expert Cui Shoujunthis legal recourse would allow the new executive to repudiate the loans alleging that the Chinese money did not benefit the people, but rather served to keep the Maduro regime in power. Outrage in Beijing. The response from the Asian giant is firm and has not been long in coming. The official China Daily media has qualified Maduro’s capture and the January 3 military intervention as a “flagrant hegemonic invasion” and an act of “neocolonialism.” In editorials signed by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the US is accused of using “hard force” to trample international norms and send a message of fear to the rest of the Latin American countries that seek an independent path. A treasure in ruins. The capture of Maduro has put the largest crude oil deposit in the world in the hands of Washington, but the trophy comes with a fine print that could break global financial balances. The infrastructure that the US now inherits It is literally in ruins: Loading an oil tanker today takes five days compared to the only day that was enough seven years ago, and the crude oil arrives “dirty” (with excess salt and water). Reconstruction will require $10 billion annually for a decade. The battle in Venezuela is no longer fought with soldiers, but in the offices where it will be decided who pays the Chinese debt and who repairs PDVSA’s rusty pipes. Meanwhile, the ships Xingye and Thousand Sunny They move away from the Caribbean, symbolizing the end of an era. Image | Unsplash Xataka | The “B side” of the United States landing in Venezuela: a subsoil full of hypothetical rare earths

an outlet with discounts of up to 60%

by

If you want to get an iPhone for the first time in 2026 but don’t want to spend a large amount of money, a good place to buy it is the MediaMarkt outlet on eBay. In this store you can find new models and even exhibition models from their physical stores (which are almost brand new) with significant discounts. Below, we show you a selection with some of the best deals on iPhone that we have found. iPhone Air by 899.10 euros: 6.5 inches and 256 GB. iPhone 15 by 549 euros: 6.1 inches and with Dynamic Island. iPhone 16e by 529 euros: 6.1 inches and with Apple Intelligence. iPhone 16 Pro Max by 1,099.99 euros: 6.9 inches and 256 GB. iPhone 13 Pro Max by 499 euros: 6.7 inches and triple rear camera. iPhone Air With an official price of 1,219 euros in the Apple store, you can now get the thinnest iPhone to date, the iPhone Air for alone 899.10 euros at the MediaMarkt outlet on eBay. In addition, you can pay it in three installments of 299.70 euros if it is more convenient for you, through Klarna. This iPhone Air Discounted it comes with an internal storage of 256 GB. It stands out for its thin thickness of 0.56 cm and its screen is 6.5 inches. It is also very light, weighing only 165 grams. It has a new camera system (the 48 MP rear Fusion camera and an 18 MP Center Stage front camera. 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. iPhone 15 Despite being a few years old, the iPhone 15 is still a very good purchase option today. Now, at the MediaMarkt outlet on eBay you can take it reconditioned (and with three years warranty and its original box) by 549 euros. This iPhone 15 It is available in blue and with 128 GB of internal storage. Its screen is type 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED. It mounts the A16 Bionic chip and incorporates the Dynamic Island. It also stands out for having 5G connectivity. Apple – Apple iPhone 15 free mobile. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iPhone 16e He iPhone 16e It has been popularly called the cheap iPhone. Now, at the MediaMarkt outlet you can take it for 529 euros (or in three payments of 176.33 euros via Klarna). It is a exhibition model in store in perfect condition. This iPhone 16e has a screen 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED HDR compatible. It is compatible with Apple Intelligence and mount the A18 Bionic chip. Its main camera is 48 MP and has IP68 certification. Apple iPhone 16e 128GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iPhone 16 Pro Max If what you want is a large-sized iPhone, this iPhone 16 Pro Max is a good option. Its usual price is 1,469 euros, but now you can get it at the MediaMarkt outlet on eBay with a 25% discountby 1,099.99 euros. This is a refurbished model, with a three-year warranty. This iPhone 16 Pro Max It has a 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion 120 Hz. Its brain is the Apple A18 Pro chip, which is accompanied by 256 GB internal storage. Its main camera is 48 MP and has IP68 certification. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iPhone 13 Pro Max And finally, the cheapest iPhone that we have found at the MediaMarkt outlet is this iPhone 13 Pro Max, which has a 60% discount. It is a reconditioned model, which you can buy for 499 euros. He iPhone 13 Pro Max It is a mobile phone that, even today, presents an excellent quality-price ratio. Mount a screen 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR and its brain is the Apple A15 Bionic chip. Its storage capacity is 128 GB and it comes with a triple rear camera. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Images | Webedia and Apple In Xataka | Best “smart” plugs: what they are, how they work, which one to buy and eight recommended models for all types of users In Xataka | Best Bluetooth speakers: which one to buy and nine recommended models

Ukraine’s latest tactic is an explosive turn for the war. It’s called “letting in,” and the Russians are falling into the trap.

by

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the front has been mutating with all kinds of tactics who sought to wear down the enemy. The arrival of drones everything has changedbut the strategies and ingenuity In the use of artillery they have remained a fundamental asset for the advance or defense of the front. For this reason, Ukraine’s latest strategy has disconcerted the Russians. When they reach the bunkers there is no one, and then the surprise comes. Win by letting in. Ukraine is applying a more flexible and lethal defense consisting in “pre-register” their artillery on their own front-line positions, so that when the Russians assault and capture them, they literally enter an already calibrated point to be destroyed: the fort falls, the enemy concentrates, and then comes the massive punishment that turns Russian success into a death trap. After that blow, a Ukrainian assault branch recover the points again devastated, closing a cycle that maximizes ranged damage and reduces the exposure of own infantry, something key in a context of growing shortage of trained soldiers. This logic, denounced even by pro-Russian voices as the strategy of “letting in” is actually a way of imposing the pace: it is not about always preventing them from advancing, but about making each advance expensive, slow and bloody. The “death zone” as doctrine. The tactic works because the battlefield has become in a “kill zone” permanent where the defender attempts to maintain a deadly gap between the leading edge and the rear: artillery is placed further back, out of the usual range of rival drones, and forward positions are fortified to attract attackswaiting for the enemy to enter to destroy them right there with fire and drones. The drone operators They not only strike at the front, they also hunt for supply and reinforcement routes, and any activity near “newly taken” positions becomes visible and attackable. Added to this is the constant mining (including remote) and the use of “ambushers” in the few possible logistical axes, so that the attacker not only pays to capture, but also pays twice as much to try to consolidate. The “let in” tactic after pre-registering a position The decisive blow. The most surprising point about this approach is that the defender does not seek so much to “hold every meter” as to prevent the attacker deploy your second step– When the advancing force attempts to bring in specialized reinforcements (e.g. drone operators to hold the ground), the defender launches fast local offensiveseven if they cost material, to keep the death zone intact and keep the enemy trapped in a space where they cannot settle. Thus, the advance exists on paper or in the drone image, but it becomes tactically sterile: you capture something and, before transforming it into a usable position, it becomes a slaughterhouse, like is described in sectors like Kupiansk. It is a war where “letting in” is not an extra: it is the moment in which the enemy advance stops being progress and becomes a loss. The psychological and moral consequence. These types of dynamics are eroding the offensive will because it forces us to choose between kilometers and livesespecially the “faces” of competent soldiers who know how to move in that death zone: It’s not just that advancement costs, it’s that it costs exactly the most valuable thing. From this arises a dilemma on the front itself: advancing in a big way without preparation means burn trained unitsbut advancing “minimally” or little to be able to report presence saves resources… at the cost of generating absurd situations where you can no longer request fire on positions that officially “they are yours”although in reality they are being crushed or disputed. In this framework, the information war of territorial control is mixed with real survival, and “progress” becomes a very diffuse decision. The technological revolution to the rescue. we have been counting. The bottom line is that Ukraine is at the center of a military transformation: soldiers are the most expensive and difficult resource to replace, while unmanned systems have passed to dominate the combatexpanding on an industrial scale, lowering costs and multiplying impact. The front is increasingly managed from the rear or bunkers with operators controlling the space, and attempts at “classic” breaches become almost suicidal: the key is no longer to launch columns, but to disperse, camouflage and gradually push the death zone back. As the war evolves into swarms, AI coordination and persistent attacks, the advantage is not having the most expensive weapon, but having thousands of cheap weaponsreliable communications networks and the ability to update systems non-stop. The coming war. Thus, the strategic decision moves to logistics and industry: cut off land routes, protect supplies, attack factorieslogistics centers and hidden commands, and do so with reusable media and unmanned is increasingly determining. Victories depend on producing drones en massesecure components, sustain communications Starlink type and dominate the cybernetic layer that can blind, uncoordinate or paralyze an entire front. That is why the strategy to “let in” It does not seem like an isolated trick, but rather a direct consequence of the new battlefield: if the first to enter dies, the one who waits and finishes with precision (with drones, mines, artillery and digital coordination) keeps the initiative even if it seems that is receding. Image | US Army Europe In Xataka | The video of the Russian soldier in Ukraine who ignores the bomb that just exploded on him has only two explanations. And one is science fiction In Xataka | The war in Ukraine has a new level of brutality. Russia calls it a “can opener” and turns recruits into detonators

that AI belongs to everyone

by

China has planted itself in the CES with a single objective: to gain muscle. The humanoid robotics is one of the pillars of Chinese technological development and at the fair held in Las Vegas they made their ambition clear. The other speech with which they have gone to the United States is with that of the open source AI. It is something that clashes with the American approach and there is one name that stands out: Alibaba and, specifically, its Qwen series. The reason is that it is the spark of life for China’s artificial intelligence strategy. In short. Xinhua is the official news agency of the Chinese government and has recently outstanding that the homeland technology companies have attended the international stage to demonstrate how collaboration between industries and, above all, models Open source are the key to the future technological network. The case of Qwen stands out. This is a series of AI models developed by Alibaba (one of the giants of e-commerce, online payment and cloud storage services). Alibaba’s strategy with its model is that it be openand the objective is that whoever wants can base themselves on it to create their variants. This is important because Alibaba has the muscle to create such a model, and other companies that wish to do so can take advantage of it to modify it and adapt it to their needs. Sovereignty (word of the year). The objective is to create a network, an ecosystem with accessible tools and, as Xinhua points out, close the digital divide. Because Qwen has a lot of models depending on what they are needed for. It has Coder for programming, Image Edit for image generation, VL for visual recognition either even older to compete against Claude and GPT. According to According to Chinese media, international developers have already created more than 100,000 variations based on Qwen series models and more than 700 million downloads. And Alibaba’s is not the only one. The R3 from DeepSeek is another that operates under an open license. Both have a final objective: to promote technological sovereignty. Driving physical AI. Developing artificial intelligence models is… expensive. We have seen it thoroughly in recent months, with big technology companies burning money to create huge data centers powered by very expensive graphics cards used in AI training, a RAM that has become prohibitive and astronomical energy needs (soon, literally this “astronomical). Therefore, AI being open source means that large companies can create their model so that others can then bring their technology to life using a modified version of a previously trained model. Thanks to AIs from DeepSeek and Alibaba, Chinese robotics unicorns like Unitree or Agibot are developing their products, which will be the “Physical AI” by being able to interact with the “real world”. Other industries. But it’s not just about robots. Fields in which AI is very beneficial, such as research or medicinecan take advantage of that open-source philosophy. For example, a previously under-resourced medical institution can access highly capable models that would otherwise be limited to major hospitals and research centers. And the others? The summary is that China’s vision is that AI models respond to a strategic, but also global, interest. Open source technology can fuel other projects that require AI, but AI is not the ultimate goal. And here the big question is what is being done outside of China. The model in Silicon Valley has been different. It is evident that this innovation exists and Big Tech is the engine of AI worldwidebut this software is more closed and controlled. Curiously, who had a more open approach was Meta with LLaMAalthough if the plans for 2026 are fulfilled, It will also become a more closed model. Because, in the end, in China this opening is internal policy, while in the US there is pressure from investors who protect those proprietary assets. Now, not all. NVIDIA in the game, of course. Jensen Huang is one of the standout names so far this year. The CEO of NVIDIA has sent a conciliatory message in the trade and technology war between China and the United States and has also appeased the search for a new TSMC. Furthermore, it is clear that the advancement of open models is something that will ensure let no one be left behind. Google with Gemma either OpenAI with GPT-OSS They are already offering semi-open models. An example is the collaboration between Nvidia and Siemens with the aim of creating a kind of “AI-based operating system” for industrial segments. Meanwhile, although in Europe there is reputation for regulating a lot and inventing littlesteps are being taken to promote that open source model that boosts European competitiveness in the sector. MistralFor example, it is the great European reference and has open versions. Beyond the data highlighted by Xinhua, which logically sweeps home those more than 100,000 versions derived from Qwen, what stands out is what seems to be a trend: less protectionism and more collaboration with the idea that, as Huang points out, no one is left behind on the AI ​​train. Images | Nick Wood (edited), Xataka with Mockuuups Studio In Xataka | When Meta bought Manus, a promising Chinese AI start-up, it was missing something: China has raised an eyebrow

The train is eating the plane in Spain for a very simple reason: airports exhaust us

by

Although Renfe has given us some somewhat tortuous months in terms of its service, AVE delaysthe truth is that the train continues to be a very important means of transport in Spain, and there are many who prefer it to the plane. Factors like railway liberalization and the fierce price war Among the different railway operators they have also been especially favorable to this preference. According to Renfe data to which El País has had access82% of travelers choose the train over the plane. And this from an environmental point of view is good, since as the media reminds us, this represents an annual savings in emissions that reaches 512,926 tons of CO₂, equivalent to removing about 250,000 combustion cars from circulation for an entire year. Growth. The seven main routes, which connect Madrid with Barcelona, ​​Seville, Malaga, Valencia, Alicante, Galicia and Asturias, have experienced growth of up to 66% in the number of travelers in the last three years, according to the data provided by the railway operator. Numbers. Between September 2022 and August 2025, the Madrid-Barcelona corridor has gone from 7.5 to 8.9 million travelers. Madrid-Valencia rose from 4.4 to 5.3 million, while Madrid-Málaga jumped from 2.1 to 3.5 million, being the corridor with the most relative growth. According to account In the middle, these figures also include the users of Ouigo and Iryo, the private operators that have entered into competition after the liberalization of the sector. The three hour rule. “As soon as the train offers a competitive travel time of less than three hours, demand shifts massively to the railway instead of the plane,” explains Adrián Fernández, director of Sustainability and Energy Efficiency at Renfe, to El País. Fernández presents the case of Madrid-Barcelona, ​​since when the journey lasted seven hours, only 15% of the passengers chose the train; Now, with a two and a half hour trip, that proportion reaches 83%. Where do new travelers come from?. Just like collect In the middle, the International Union of Railways estimates that 50% of current high-speed users come from the plane, 20% abandon the car, and the remaining 30% correspond to induced trips, referring in the latter to trips that were not made before having the AVE. Savings Breakdown. The middle collect Renfe calculations based on European Commission methodologywhich state that the Madrid-Barcelona route avoids the emission of 185,856 tons of CO₂ per year. According to these data, Madrid-Seville saves 76,874 tons, and Madrid-Málaga reduces emissions by 72,121 tons. Adding the connections with Galicia, Valencia, Alicante and Asturias, the total amounts to 512,944 annual tons of CO₂. The equivalent in cars. To measure this figure, the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) esteem that each car traveler emits 121 grams of CO₂ per kilometer, as points out The Country. Considering that a vehicle travels about 11,200 kilometers per year in Spain with an average occupancy of 1.5 people, the savings are equivalent to removing 252,325 cars circulating throughout the year. Challenges. Although the train is more sustainable, Cristina Arjona, Greenpeace mobility spokesperson, counted to El País that “to encourage its use even more it must also be the most competitive in price, since sometimes it is still more expensive than the plane.” “As high speed reaches new corridors, as soon as times are competitive, people decide to use the train en masse, with quotas of 80% and 90%,” account Fernandez in the middle. Now the challenge for operators is to extend this network to more territories and ensure that the offer of frequencies and prices remains attractive. In Xataka | Aragon finally solves the great bottleneck for its Pyrenean dream: joining Navarra and Catalonia by highway

has the green light to deploy 7,500 additional satellites

by

Rarely has a technological infrastructure grown so quickly and so out of the everyday radar. While for almost everyone the sky remains as usual, thousands of Starlink satellites are already moving in low Earth orbit, building a network designed to bring connection to almost any point on the planet. In just a few years, SpaceX has gone from a first experimental launch to becoming the world’s largest satellite operator, and that buildup of hardware in space presents opportunities, but also annoyances in parts of the scientific sector. The most recent movement comes in a context of criticism from the astronomical community for the impact of these constellations on sky observation. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized SpaceX to deploy another 7,500 Starlink second-generation satellites, bringing the total authorized Gen2 satellites to 15,000. The organization not only gave the green light to this expansion, but also allowed technical improvements and a more flexible use of frequencies and coverage, in a decision that seeks to facilitate advanced mobile services and connections up to 1 gigabit per second. The authorization, in detail. The FCC has given SpaceX room to redesign and squeeze its constellation. The permit includes the update of the second generation Starlink with new form factors and advanced technology, the joint use of the Ku, Ka, V, E and W bands, and the possibility of providing both fixed and mobile services from space. Added to this is the elimination of limits that blocked beam overlap and the creation of new orbital layers between 340 and 485 kilometers, which the FCC itself presents as a way to optimize coverage and performance. In May 2019, Elon Musk announced the launch of the first batch of Starlink satellites The permit, however, does not cover everything SpaceX had requested. The company requested authorization to deploy nearly 30,000 second-generation satellites, but the regulator has decided to stay at half for now. In its resolution, the FCC emphasizes that part of these Starlink Gen2 has not yet been tested in orbit and that there remain doubts about operations at higher altitudes, above 600 kilometers, which explains why the decision on the remaining 14,988 satellites has been postponed, according to Reuters. The clock starts ticking. The FCC approval is not indefinite. SpaceX will have to prove concrete advances in the coming years, with at least half of the authorized constellation operating in their assigned orbits before December 1, 2028 and the rest before December 2031. In addition, the regulator forces the deployment of the first generation to close before November 2027, while the company prepares a reconfiguration for 2026 that will lower thousands of satellites to a lower orbit to reduce risks. Versions of Starlink satellites Expansion is not justified only by more bandwidth. Part of the constellation is intended to enable direct mobile connectivity in regions outside the United States and also strengthen coverage within the country, which would allow mobile services and data in areas without land towers at high speed. It is the same approach that already supports Starlink’s agreements with T-Mobile and with several international operators aimed at converting the satellite into an extension of the cellular network. The cost of filling the orbit. Now massive satellites are not without criticism. Astronomers They have been warning for years that constellations like Starlink generate trails in optical images and “noise” in radio telescopes, to the point that the International Astronomical Union created a specific center to protect the “dark and silent sky.” Added to this is the fear of orbital saturation and the risk of collisions, a debate that has been revived after recent incidents. Images | Mark Handley | SpaceX In Xataka | China has taken a silent step in the new space race: the world’s first system to measure time on the Moon

The US already knows when it wants to return to the Moon to beat China. The problem is how the ship will return

by

There is already an official date. After years of delays and speculations, NASA has confirmed what was rumored in the halls of Washington: Artemis 2 has the green light for launch on February 6, 2026. And what is its destination? Neither more nor less than the Moon itself. Tuning. With this announcement, NASA is already preparing for the transfer of the gigantic SLS rocket (Space Launch System) to platform 39B this very January 17, starting the final countdown for humans to orbit the Moon again. Something that has not happened since 1972 with Apollo 17. However, this is not a celebration without controversy. The mission, which will take the astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen to a 10-day trip around our satellite, has been brought forward under strong political pressure. And it does so with a worrying technical asterisk: the behavior of the Orion ship’s heat shield. A battle of pressures. On the one hand, Donald Trump has historically shown its impatience with the deadlines that NASA was giving to be able to orbit around the Moon. All this with an eye on China, which threatened to be the ‘first’ and overtake the United States in this fact. What has been the solution? put to Jared Isaacman as NASA Administratora billionaire, private pilot and astronaut (known for his missions in Polaris Dawn and its links with SpaceX) to prioritize speed and calculated risk-taking over the complete risk aversion that “old NASA” had. Because. February 6, 2026 has been set as set in stone for several strategic reasons that outweigh engineering doubts about the heat shield. The first of them It’s the race against Chinasince the Asian country has a very advanced lunar program and aims put taikonauts on the Moon before 2030. If Artemis 2 was delayed to redesign the heat shield (which would have taken years), Artemis 3 would have been gone until 2028-2029 or longer, leaving the door open for China to arrive earlier or very close. But they do not stop here, since for this administration the Moon is a springboard to reach Mars, this mission being a simple way to validate the systems they are using. That is why every delay on the Moon is a delay for the mission to Mars, which promises to be the historical legacy they seek. The Avcoat dilemma. The main point of friction between engineers and the agency’s new management lies at the bottom of the Orion capsule. During the Artemis 1 unmanned mission in 2022the heat shield (made from an ablative material called Avcoat) behaved unexpectedly. And instead of being consumed uniformly, it broke off in pieces, creating craters and cracks due to the gases trapped in the material. during re-entry into the atmosphere. The engineering logic faced with this problem would mark make a new design or material change. But since it is something that would delay everything, NASA has opted for a change in angle during reentry to minimize thermal stress in the most affected areas to maintain the same shield. The doubts. NASA assures that the risk is “acceptable”, but this decision has raised blisters in the aerospace security community. Added to this is that the life support system (ECLSS)provided in part by ESA, has never been fully tested in flight with humans, adding an extra layer of uncertainty to the mission. Charles Camarda, veteran astronaut of the STS-114 mission, the return flight after the Columbia disaster, has been blunt in this regard. In statements, Camarda has compared the current situation with the “dysfunctional culture” that led to the Challenger and Columbia tragedies. But for the NASA administrator, Artemis 2 is a non-negotiable step to ensure American leadership and the future cislunar economy. Operating tension. As if the pressure on Artemis were not enough, NASA also faces a parallel crisis in low orbit. The agency and SpaceX have scheduled January 14 undocking of the Crew-11 mission of the International Space Station (ISS) due to urgent medical evacuation. This is an unprecedented event in the history of the ISS: lowering an astronaut for an unspecified medical problem (although he has been confirmed to be stable). Although Isaacman has assured that this operational incident will not affect the schedule of Artemis 2adds a considerable load of stress to mission control teams in Houston, who must now manage a crisis in real time while preparing for the most important launch of the decade. What can we expect? At the moment, the dates we know are January 17, where the SLS rolls towards its platform, and February 6, when the window for its launch will open. In total, a 10-day flight mission is expected, with a lunar flyby and high-speed return. Specifically, 40,000 km/h. NASA has much more at stake than a mission in February. The validation of its security model is at stake in the new space era, where geopolitical competition and commercial rush collide head-on with the immutable laws of physics and thermodynamics. Images | Pedro Lastra POT In Xataka | We have been deceived by the distances of the Solar System: the closest neighbor to Neptune is Mercury

Cloudflare is planted in Italy due to blockades. In Spain, the conflict with LaLiga points to the same underlying problem

by

We are witnessing firsthand how what began as an offensive against unauthorized party broadcasts has transformed into something much broader, a dispute over who can decide which parts of the internet are turned off and how. In Italy and Spain, judicial and administrative resolutions that apply current legislation are endorsing or ordering measures that operate at the network level, measures that, as they are now being applied, may not distinguish between an infringing service and legitimate services that share infrastructure. This scenario has brought to the fore cloudflarea company whose name has been sneaking into the technology conversation for some time. Here we must be clear. What unites the cases of Italy and Spain is not the type of content, but the logic that supports them: to stop the unauthorized dissemination of matches, it has been decided to act where the network becomes vulnerable, in the intermediaries that connect the public with the servers. It is not a button in the hands of a government, but rather a fit between laws, judges or regulators, rights holders and different actors who execute the measure. That strategy allows you to block quickly and with massive range, but it also has collateral damage. Behind every block there is a clear sequence. In Spain, LaLiga takes its requests before a judge and it is the courts that authorize the operators to execute the cuts. In Italy, rights holders enter domains and IPs into Piracy Shield and it is AGCOMthe Italian telecommunications and media regulator, who reviews these signs and converts them into administrative orders that providers must apply. When an authority orders a block, it is not simply saying “close this page”, it is choosing at what point in the journey the connection between the user and the server is interrupted, according to the limits established by current legislation. This can be done by preventing the website name from being translated into a technical address, directly blocking that address, or asking an intermediary to stop serving the data. In this invisible journey there is a particularly sensitive piece, the system that translates website names into technical addresses that computers can understand. Every time we type a URL or tap a link, a DNS resolver responds with the correct IP so the connection can be established. If this translation is interrupted, the page is no longer accessible even if the server continues to function. That is why DNS has become a very attractive lever for blocking, because it allows access to be cut off quickly and without directly touching the content. What is 1.1.1.1 and why is it in the center. Among the many DNS services that exist, there are some open to the public that do not belong to any national operator, and the best known is 1.1.1.1, managed by Cloudflare. It serves as a widely used public DNS resolver that users and applications use to translate domain names into IP addresses. That scale is what makes it especially sensitive in this debate, because any intervention on it is not limited to a country or a specific network, but can have much broader effects. A modem with network cables The company explains For years it has been able to comply with court orders that force it to act on specific clients or on its distribution network, because there it is controlling its own service within a jurisdiction. What it rejects is modifying open tools such as its public DNS by administrative decisions of a single country. In his approach, that would mean that a national authority could change how a basic piece of the internet works for users around the world. Italy, the Piracy Shield system and controversies. The Italian model does not just cut individual pages, but entire pieces of the route along which traffic circulates. Through Piracy Shield domains and IPs are ordered to be blocked and, according to the regulator itselfthe framework also expressly includes public DNS services and VPN providers as obligated parties when they are involved in the accessibility of that content. Cloudflare Global Network Map The problem is not only that the system blocks a lot, but how it does it and with what margin for rectification. Its quick reaction logic prioritizes cutting access while the event is happening, and that increases the risk of affecting third parties when acting on shared parts of the network. AGCOM quotes as balance that since February 2024, more than 65,000 FQDNs, that is, fully qualified domain names and about 14,000 IPs, have been disabled. That clash took concrete form at the end of 2025. In a decision taken on December 29 and recently notifiedAGCOM imposed a penalty of more than 14 million euros on Cloudflare for failing to comply with a previous order issued on February 18, 2025. According to the regulator, the company had to deactivate the DNS resolution of certain domains and the routing of traffic to IP addresses indicated through Piracy Shield, or apply equivalent measures to prevent users from accessing that content. Spain, the judicial path. As we mentioned above, in Spain the system is not based on an administrative regulator, but on a resolution from a commercial court obtained by LaLiga. On December 18, 2024, the Commercial Court No. 6 of Barcelona authorized blocking measures against addresses used to broadcast matches without rights. On March 26, 2025, that same court rejected the challenges and left the order in force. That is what allows access operators to execute these blocks during matches under the direct legal coverage of a judge. The way that order is executed in practice explains many of the complaints that have arisen in Spain. Access providers block entire IP addresses, not just specific domains. This mechanism explains why so many legitimate services end up dragged down by these blocks. Instead of deactivating a specific domain, operators sever an entire IP address, which is often shared by hundreds or thousands of websites. It’s a bit like boarding up the entrance to a building … Read more

Greenland has 1.5 million tons of rare earths. The problem is that there are no roads to get to them.

by

The geopolitics of the 21st century has found a new and icy epicenter. After the capture of Nicolás Maduro In Venezuela earlier this month, Donald Trump’s administration has turned its diplomatic aggressiveness northward. The goal It’s an old longingtake control of Greenland, which the White House defines as an “ingot” of strategic resources. However, the physical reality is inescapable since beneath a complex geology lies an absolute lack of basic infrastructure that turns any extraction plan into a logistical chimera. The 93-mile wall of asphalt. Since the Republican Party introduced the Make Greenland Great Again Act In 2025, pressure on Denmark has escalated to even suggesting the use of force. As explained by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)Washington has elevated Greenland to the category of “national security” need. This position, which some analysts already call the “Donroe Doctrine”, seeks to secure the hemisphere as an exclusive sphere of influence against Russian icebreakers and Chinese expansion. But obsession collides with engineering. According to CSIS dataGreenland—a territory three times the size of Texas—only has 93 miles (150 kilometers) of roads in total. There are no railways and the settlements are isolated from each other by land. Diogo Rosa, researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, warns in Fortune that any mining project must create these accessibilities from scratch. This includes ports capable of handling industrial volumes (Narsaq port barely moves 50,000 tons a year) and local power plants, since the current electrical grid is unable to sustain a large scale mine. The enigma of eudialite. Even if roads were built to reach neodymium and terbium, the mineral itself poses an unprecedented technical challenge. Greenland’s rare earth elements are typically encapsulated in a complex type of rock called eudialite. Unlike carbonatites that are mined elsewhere in the world with proven methods, no one has developed a profitable process to extract them from eudialite, as explained by analysts. For this reason, experts like Javier Blas describe the enthusiasm of the Trump administration as a “Optimistic PowerPoint”. Blas maintains that the island is not a Wonderland of raw materials: if after decades of exploration no large mining company has operated successfully, it is because the processing costs—which would exceed 1 billion dollars—devour any profits. Added to this is that deposits as Kvanefjeld They are co-located with radioactive uranium, which has generated massive social rejection and environmental laws that block the projects. The mirage of mining wealth. Currently, Greenland only has two active mines: an anorthosite mine and the Nalunaq gold mine. The latter, operated by the Canadian Amaroq Minerals, managed to produce 6,600 ounces of gold in 2025, exceeding its own forecasts. But as Scott Dunn, CEO of Noveon Magnetics, points out, in Fortunethe success of gold (a high-value, low-volume mineral) is not scalable to rare earths. While Washington makes long-term plans in the Arctic, companies like Dunn’s are already producing magnets in Texas with materials sourced outside China, demonstrating that the solution to technological supply could be closer to home than the Polar Circle. The China factor: the silent owner. The great strategic obstacle to the “Donroe Doctrine” is not only the ice, but that Beijing is already there. China controls near the 90% of global supply of rare earths and has known how to play its cards in the Greenlandic subsoil through litigation. The company Energy Transition Minerals (ETM), with significant Chinese capital, holds an arbitration international against Greenland, demanding historic compensation of $11.5 billion — four times the island’s GDP — following the ban on uranium mining in 2021. This legal dispute places the island in a geopolitical clamp: Washington wants control to expel Beijing, but the latter is already blocking the richest deposits through business actions and prior exploitation rights. The navigable Arctic: an unexpected ally? Paradoxically, the hoax Climate change is what is accelerating the White House’s plans. Greenland is warming much faster than the rest of the planet, and melting ice is transforming the Arctic into a strategic trade corridor. As the New York Times reportsthe Polar Silk Road is no longer a projection: in October 2025, a Chinese ship reached Great Britain from the north in just 20 days, saving 40% of the time compared to the Suez Canal. This new connectivity turns Greenland into an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in the middle of new sea routes. However, sea ice melting does not solve the problem on land. In the north of the island, extreme weather continues to force any mining machinery to hibernate for six months a year, maintaining profitability like an “optical illusion.” The treasure behind the ice wall. The attempt to take control of Greenland seems to hit a wall of environmental laws, hostile geology and, above all, a total absence of basic infrastructure. The Trump administration has invested hundreds of millions in mining companies, but the results remain buried under layers of permafrost. As Anthony Marchese summarizes in Fortune: “If you go to Greenland for its minerals, you’re talking about billions of dollars and an extremely long time.” While the White House sells the island as the definitive trophy of the new technological Cold War, the technical reality of 2026 dictates a simpler sentence: the island’s greatest treasure remains protected not by weapons or treaties, but by the lack of a road that reaches it. Image | Unsplash Xataka | The US has decided that Europe is its problem in Greenland. Germany wants to convince him that the problem is Russia

Mexico wanted to know who is behind each phone number. And Telcel has spread panic along the way

by

Since January 9, 2026, the Mexican Telecommunications Regulatory Commission requires that all mobile lines in the country are associated with a verified identity. Until now, SIM cards could be contracted completely anonymously, something that changes with the mandatory registration. A logical measure to avoid the telephone SCAM that, in recent hours, has sparked controversy. The alleged gap. Less than 24 hours after the entry into force of the mandatory registration of mobile lines in Mexico, Telcel, one of the largest operators in the country, suffered an alleged security breach which would have exposed personal information of millions of customers. “The official portal of @Telcel presents a critical security vulnerability that exposes the identity, CURP, RFC and email of millions of users. This occurs only 24 hours after the regulations that require all mobile lines in the country to be registered came into force. When entering any Telcel telephone number in the form, the internal system returns – without the need for passwords or verification codes – a complete information package of the line owner. This is extremely dangerous. Any cybercriminal could use one of Telcel’s number bases and automate the massive extraction of information.” Ignacio Gómez Villaseñor, journalist. The reports They pointed to a massive leak of each and every one of their clients, the sources ensuring that for a few hours it was possible to access the data through the official Telcel portal. Telcel’s response. The spread of the alleged breach was such that Telcel did not take long to call for calm. Of course, he did it with a somewhat ambiguous statement in which it neither affirms nor denies that the security failure occurred. “Your data is secure. Each user receives a unique code by SMS to only access their own information and link their line. We have implemented additional security measures to the registration process. The process is secure and your data is protected.” Telcel. Although Telcel assured that, at the time of its publication, the data was safe, the company acknowledges having implemented additional security measures during the registration process. hours later. Renato Flores, deputy director of communications at Telcel, acknowledged hours later on one of the national radio stations that there was a technical vulnerability. “Telcel acted quickly, responsibly and transparently. We detected a vulnerability, we corrected it immediately, we reinforced security and at all times we protected our customers’ data.” Despite admitting the gap, the company’s position remained firm: it ensured that only one’s own information could be accessed as a user, not that of the rest of the company’s clients. It is something that Gómez Villaseñor was quick to deny. through a video published on Xin which he showed how he was able to access user data. The risks. According to the source, the following data was exposed for hours: Owner identity CURP (Unique Population Registry Key) RFC (Federal Taxpayer Registry) Email A relatively similar case to the recent hack of Endesa suffered in Spain, through which the alleged attackers claim to have obtained more than 1TB of information related to account numbers, identities, addresses, telephone numbers and emails. A bumpy process. In the middle of the debate, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT) clarified that, during the first phase of this national registry, there were certain “intermittencies on various platforms” due to the high volume of users, without giving too many details in this regard. The Commission avoided referring to the specific case, and limited itself to pointing out that it remains in contact with the operators to normalize the service. And now what. At the moment, there is no news about possible exploitation of the supposed vulnerability. If this had occurred, the attackers would have access to customers’ personal information, as happens in any other case of mass hacking. In the face of these leaks, the user’s only response may be to be alert: not to respond to or provide sensitive data through SMS, calls, WhatsApp messages or email communications (or any of our means of contact that may have been leaked) without being very clear about who we are referring to. Image | Xataka In Xataka | A single person in Barcelona and 2.5 million SMS per day: the “mobile farms” that operate in Spain to scam you

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.