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Chile approved a direct submarine cable to China. The decision unleashed a diplomatic scandal with the US in the middle of everything

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

For decades, Chile has tried to reduce its digital dependence on North America. The arrival of China Mobile as an alternative seemed like a solution to all their problems with the laying of a submarine cable from Valparaíso to Hong Kong. However, the issue has led to a tremendous geopolitical mess that is difficult to deal with. All because the United States had not liked the move one bit. Dependent independence. Almost all of the submarine cable infrastructure that connects Chile with the rest of the world passes through US territory or is in the hands of North American technology companies such as Google, Meta or Amazon. When Chile sought a direct route to Asia, it found that the only viable option passed through China. And of course, that set off all the alarms in Washington. What was being negotiated. China Mobile, a Chinese state telecommunications company, presented a $500 million proposal to lay an underwater cable of about 20,000 kilometers between the Chilean city of Concón and Hong Kong. The project, called Chile-China Express, would have been the first transpacific data connection from Latin America to Asia without passing through North America. The Chilean Ministry of Telecommunications approved the proposal last January. Washington’s response. Just like share Rest of World, two days after Chile signed the concession decree, the ministry annulled it, alleging “a technical error.” According to the mediumChilean officials had been urgently summoned to the US embassy in Santiago. And on February 20, the State Department revoked the visas of the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, along with two other senior officials in the sector. The official notification was that their actions had “compromised critical telecommunications infrastructure and undermined regional security.” Munoz explained to Rest of World that the sanction prevented him from visiting a key country for his work and that it had damaged his reputation. What Chile defended. From Chile’s perspective, the evaluation of the project was an ordinary procedure. Jorge Heine, former Chilean diplomat, pointed out to the environment that diversifying digital communication sources is essential to avoid outages caused by geopolitical tensions. “The State Department entered uncharted territory,” he said, by sanctioning officials for doing their jobs legally. The new president inherits the problem. The change of government on March 11 complicated the scenario even more. The previous president, Gabriel Boric, acknowledged having ordered the withdrawal of approval after threats from the United States about long-term consequences. His successor, the right-wing José Antonio Kast, came to power with the poisoned task of maintaining relations with China, his main trading partner, without raising blisters to the United States (which is his main foreign investor). Complicated. The US ambassador to Chile made it clear shortly after the inauguration that the Chinese cable was “ruled out.” The official position has become more nuanced. The Kast government initially counted on Google’s Humboldt cable, that will connect Chile with Australia in 2027made the China project unnecessary. But more recently, executive sources have acknowledged that the China Mobile project “continues to be evaluated.” Pedro Huichalaf, cybersecurity researcher and former secretary of telecommunications, explained to Rest of World that for Chile “it still makes sense to create redundancy” with a main and a secondary route to Asia. The geopolitical trap. The Google cable does not completely solve the problem. And according to point Heine, intelligence agreements between the United States and Australia mean that South American data trafficking to the Asia-Pacific will continue under American supervision. And there is already precedent for this, since after Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s global surveillance programs, Brazil and the European Union accelerated the deployment of the EllaLink cable to connect directly and avoid passing through North America. How the board looks. China has been expanding its digital presence in Latin America. And the country operates 5G networks and data centers in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina through companies such as China Telecom, Huawei, ZTE and Alibaba Cloud. Brazil, for its part, is promoting its own 35,000-kilometer cable that would connect with China, India, Russia and South Africa. Washington views each of these moves as a threat to its influence in the hemisphere. In fact, just as stands out In the middle, the so-called Donroe Doctrine of the Trump administration formalizes that position by not allowing “foreign adversaries” to use trade as a lever to control critical infrastructure in the region. And in the long term. Just like point Rest of World, the most solid solution for Chile is not to choose between Washington and Beijing, but to reduce dependence on both. Aisén Etcheverry, former Minister of Science and Technology in the Boric government and a technology consultant, told the media that “Latin America has built lasting relationships with a wide variety of partners. Although this provides resilience, it is not enough. Developing its own capabilities must be a priority.” Cover image | aboodi vesakaran and AI generation with Gemini In Xataka | An unexpected salvation for the end user emerges from the memory market debacle: Chinese chips

If the question is whether your neighbors can prohibit you from having a dog, the answer is not in the Animal Welfare Law: it is in Vigo

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Can the community of owners of your building prohibit you from having a pet? The answer, as is usual when it comes to legislation and clash of rights, is a huge ‘it depends’. The Horizontal Property Law (LHP) says little about it and the animal welfare standard It even remembers that owners are obliged to keep their dogs, cats and other animals “integrated into the family nucleus.” Now, a sentence dictated in Galicia reminds us that the subject is much more complex and has chiaroscuros. There, in fact, a man has lost the legal battle to live with his poodle. Legal pulse in Galicia. Coexistence in neighborhood communities is not always easy. even less when a dog, cat or any other pet that can cause noise or dirty common areas is added to the equation. In a building in Nigrán (province of Pontevedra) these frictions have led to a legal pulse between the owner of a flat and the rest of his neighbors that has had an unexpected outcome: justice has endorsed that the latter (the board of owners) have the right to prohibit the former from living with their dog. It matters when and how. The sentence Galician, yes, responds to a case with very specific particularities. To understand it, we have to go back to 2010, when the residents of the property unanimously approved, in an ordinary general meeting, to prohibit the presence of any animal on the floors and common areas of the building. They only left one exception: guide dogs. In 2011, that decision was ratified as an internal rule that was incorporated into the community’s statutes, where it remains today. In theory, the pet ban didn’t cause any more problems until a few years ago, when one of the families in the building acquired a poodle. This led to the rest of the neighbors holding an extraordinary general meeting at the end of 2023 to revalidate the 2010 rule and reiterate the veto on pets. The dog’s owner did not like the decision, who went to court in March 2024 for what he considered an “abusive” rule and contrary to the Animal Welfare Law. Crossover of arguments. The Nigrán lawsuit is interesting because it demonstrates the legal intricacies that these types of disputes can have, but it is equally important to understand that the ruling responds to a very specific case. To begin with, there is a key fact that is responsible for highlighting the magistrate herself in her order: the neighbor in disagreement knew “the existence, content and purpose” of the community rule long before acquiring the poodle. What’s more, if the pet ban was approved in 2010, it was partly at the request of his father, who already lived in the property. In short: the affected party was informed of the ban. What did he then claim before the judge? That, in his opinion, the legal context of 2010 is not the same as that of 2024, when he presented his complaint. And it is not, he insists, because in September 2023 The Animal Welfare Law (LBA) came into force, a rule that recognizes pets as “sentient” beings. Did you convince the magistrate? No. Perhaps the legislation on pets is different today than in 2010, but the Vigo judge in charge of the lawsuit has seen it clearly: The LBA does not overthrow the board’s agreement. “It does not establish an absolute and unlimited right to own pets nor does it automatically repeal any community provision that regulates or limits said tendency.” “It does not eliminate the possibility of establishing legitimate limitations when they respond to reasons of coexistence, health or general interest,” he emphasizes. What exactly does the LBA say? The rule, which came into force three years ago, points out that owners of pets must “keep them integrated into the family nucleus, whenever possible due to their species, in good health and hygiene”, although it also specifies that when this is not feasible (due to their size or species) their caregivers must find them “appropriate accommodation”. He same article of the LBA makes it clear in any case that pet owners are obliged to adopt “the necessary measures” so that they do not cause “annoyance, danger, threats or damage” to other people, animals or property, which includes, among other things, preventing them from soiling public spaces. And the Horizontal Property Law? When it comes to coexistence and blocks of neighbors, the reference Bible is another norm, something older: the Horizontal Property Law (LPH). It does not address the issue of pets directly, but it does provide a series of important guidelines. The main one appears in article 7.2, which reminds that neither the owner of an apartment nor its tenants, if any, can carry out “activities prohibited in the statutes, harmful to the property or that contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illicit activities.” In cases like this it can end in trial. The value of the statutes. The ruling of the Vigo court recalls the weight of the decisions adopted in neighborhood associations, the statutes and the importance of the rules of coexistence being duly registered in the Property Registry. Also the nuance of whether the veto on pets is before or after a neighbor gets one and whether or not he knows this in advance. In any case the Galician magistrate slide An important fact: the LBA “does not establish an unrestricted right to the presence of animals anywhere.” Images | Charles Puaud (Unsplash) and Zhen Yao (Unsplash) In Xataka | Your cat asks you to cuddle and then bites you. It’s not evil, it’s that you don’t understand its signs

The world has been searching for the formula against the housing crisis for decades. There are those who believe that the answer is in Vancouver

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

When you think about the residential market, price escalation and affordability of housing, more and more cities are looking up. The idea is very simple: build taller buildings and make more use of limited land, especially in the most sought-after neighborhoods. That philosophy is catching on, for example in Basque Countrywhere new apartments are proposed on buildings that already exist, or in Madrid, which aspire too to expedite procedures. In Vancouver (Canada) they have decided to go one step further and create a kind of ‘XL laboratory’ to answer a key question: Would the residential crisis be alleviated if we reduced bureaucracy and were more flexible with buildability? An impossible market. Living in Vancouver is not easy. Not at least if you don’t have a generous salary and you aspire to stay in a (more or less) well-located and (more or less) comfortable home. a study disclosed by Frontier Center shows that the British Columbia city deals with one of the least affordable markets on the planet. Canadian families who want to purchase a property need, on average, to invest the equivalent of 10.8 full years of gross income. And that for a ‘normal’ cost house. Globally, it is only surpassed by Hong Kong, Sydney, San Jose and Adelaide. The situation in Vancouver is actually worse than in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York or any other large conurbation in North America. The rental market does not offer much comfort either. According to Zillow Rentalsthe average income is close to 2,900 dollars and last year it was above 3,000. Against this backdrop, the authorities have set the goal of injecting into the market 83,000 new homes in the coming years. You will find more infographics at Statista And what is the reason? Beyond the imbalance between supply and demand or the arrival of immigrants with an investment mentality, a few days ago, in a column published in The New York TimesBinyamin Appelbaum mentioned another key factor: excessive bureaucratic rigidity and regulatory blockage, a problem that is not exclusive to Canada. “Cities have largely lost the power to approve projects. To prevent officials from acting against the public interest, we have taken away the power to act in its favor,” regrets Appelbaumveteran reporter The New York Times and specialist in economics and business. “We are so committed to justice that we have lost sight of the injustice of inaction.” “Restore affordability”. In his analysis, the expert recalls the construction limitations imposed in coastal cities like Vancouver in the 1960s, the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, the structural housing deficit (in 2023 it was estimated that Canada needed 3.5 million of extra homes by 2031 to “restore affordability”) and tension in the rental market. In the specific case of Vancouver, the geographical limitations of the city are added, constrained between mountains to the north, the ocean to the west and the border with the United States to the south. Also the characteristics of its urban planning, with a large weight of small properties. Houses, gardens… and skyrocketing prices. “The biggest problem is that Vancouver is a city of single-family homes. It has an imposing skyline in the center, but, if we see it from the air, the vast majority of the land is occupied by houses surrounded by grass,” comment Appelbaum. He is not the only one who highlights this peculiarity of the Canadian metropolis. In his chronicle he cites another expert, Alex Hemingway, senior economist at BC Policy Solutions, who questions this use of land in a city with residential m2 skyrocketing and rents through the roof. Appelbaum even cites specific cases in which apartment towers have given way to mansions, which further reduces the housing stock. A laboratory called Senakw. Despite this context, for a few years Vancouver has hosted a special project: in the heart of the city, near English Baythere is a wide strip of land 10.48 acres (just over four hectares) in which large apartment towers are being built. What’s more, the objective is to build one of the residential neighborhoods there with greater density from all over Canada: around 6,000 homes spread across 11 towers. His name is Sen̓áḵw and it is much more than theory or a plan drawn up on paper. The first building of the initial phase (which will encompass 1,049 homes spread over three towers of 27, 32 and 40 floors) is almost ready and the idea was for its first tenants to move in at the end of May. The Realist precise that the promoters want to finish the second block in the summer and the third before 2027. How is it possible? Very easy. Because Senakw is not just another real estate development. In fact (and this is the key) the 4.4 hectares it covers enjoy a special status that free it from the regulatory straitjacket that limits construction in other neighborhoods in Canada. The reason: that land does not depend on the Vancouver authorities, but on the Squamishan indigenous people who occupied the land long before the first Western settlers arrived. The land, located on the south bank of False Creek, was home to one of the 23 ancestral populations of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Stélmexw, but in 1913 the natives residing there were evicted “by force”. Although the British initially recognized the area as a native reserve, the value of the land led the provincial government to pressure their families to leave in the early 20th century. Their offer was very simple: either accept the payments offered or risk be left with nothing. Then the Government burned their homes. That episode gave rise to a decades-long lawsuit that ended in 2003when justice returned 4.4 hectares to the Squamish Nation. “More than buildings”. A decade and a half after that historic ruling, in 2019, the Squamish Nation voted in favor of developing a residential project on the land and thus creating “a legacy” for the next generations of natives. The result is Senakw, an ambitious project of 6,000 homes spread … Read more

Previously, at the G7 meetings, the focus was on world leaders. Now the protagonists are Amodei, Altman and Hassabis

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

This week the edition was held number 52 of the G7 summit. Representatives of the seven largest world powers debated Ukraine, the Middle East, or rare earths, as expected. What was not so expected is that the true protagonists of the event were not those world leaders, but the directors of Anthropic, OpenAI, Google or Mistral who participated in the other great debate of our time: the future of AI. Power changes hands (a little). Jessica Brandt, of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)—an American think tank— defined the situation with a powerful phrase: “We are seeing a change in who gets a seat at the table, and a sign of where power lies.” Exceptional guests. This expert commented on how today states need to have AI companies as allies. What has happened with Anthropic and the Pentagon first and with Claude Fable 5 They then demonstrate how AI has become a weapon for country governments. One that no one wants to do without, so the leaders of the main Western AI companies have been invited to contribute to a debate that has become crucial for the future. The courtship of Amodei, Altman and Hassabis. Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI), Dario Amodei (CEO of Anthropic) and Demis Hassabis (CEO of Google DeepMind) were the three great highlights of a group of technology executives that also included Arthur Mensch, CEO of the French startup Mistral or Alexandr Wang, head of AI at Meta. World leaders courted these managers: Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, met with Mensch, for example, and Amodei did it with Macronand Hassabis, Altman and the aforementioned Amodei were part of a working lunch in which Donald Trump or Emmanuel Macron were among others. Technological dependence. The situation reflects a palpable reality: the G7 leaders meet to close all types of geopolitical agreements, but they depend completely on the private infrastructure and the hardware and software of big technology. The top leaders are clear that we must get along with these companies, but the balance of power is certainly delicate: the recent US veto of Fable 5 is a demonstration. Can countries appropriate their companies’ technology and control it? AI as a weapon. Recent announcements of AI models with advanced cybersecurity capabilities such as Claude Mythos Preview and Mythos 5 or GPT-5.5 Cyber have made companies and governments noticeably concerned. Europe, for example, already complained having been set aside when Anthropic allowed some companies to use Mythos Preview. The US goes to its own. Emerson Brooking, a partner at the Atlantic Council, explained on CNBC how export controls on Anthropic models “have changed everything.” And he added that “Several G7 countries have previously alluded to the need for sovereign investments in AI, but it has always been assumed that these would take place in conjunction with access to the US technological stack. Now the US has indicated its willingness to cut off access to its AI technology both to the G7 and even to its treaties with allied powers.” Companies above governments? Advanced AI models are becoming in their own right one of the most desired and desired resources by not only companies, but also governments that are realizing what is at stake. He world geopolitical panorama already faced a similar situation with the development of nuclear weapons: only some countries can manufacture and deploy them. Digital divide on the horizon. AI is more diffuse, because models (especially open ones) are filtered, copied, and derived versions emerge from them. But one thing is certain: the data centers on which these models run are mostly under the control of companies from the US and China. Nuclear power offered deterrence, but AI can create a huge digital divide between those who control it and those who can only hope to use it. In Xataka | Claude Fable 5 has made it very clear what the big problem facing Europe is: AI is a weapon and it has none

Alcampo is selling this Xiaomi QLED TV with Google TV for less than 300 euros

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

If you are looking to renew the TV in your living room or equip your second home with a model with good quality-price ratio, this weekend you have a deal in Alcampo that may interest you. Now, the supermarket chain is liquidating this TV Xiaomi TV A Pro 55 (2026)which you can buy for 295 euros. Furthermore, if you do not want to pay it all at once, you can pay it in 12 interest-free installments of 24.58 euros. XIAOMI – QLED TV 138 cm (55′) Xiaomi A Pro 2026 UHD 4K with Google TV, HDR10+, Dolby Audio DTS-X. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links This TV comes with Google TV operating system, but if you want a model from the Chinese manufacturer with a different operating system, this Xiaomi TV F Pro 55 inches It is perfect for you, since it comes with Fire OS8 and Alexa integrated, in addition to being compatible with Apple AirPlay. Its price is the same as the one sold by Alcampo: 295 euros now that it’s discounted. XIAOMI TV F Pro 55, 55 Inch (140 cm), 4K UHD QLED The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A new generation Xiaomi TV at an unbeatable price This TV from the Chinese manufacturer mounts a panel QLED 55-inch that offers more vivid, pure colors and good saturation in 4K resolution. In addition, it has a premium metallic design and with hardly any frames that gives a feeling of total immersion. In the software section it comes with Google TVa fast, intuitive operating system that gives you access to an extensive catalog of apps. As far as sound is concerned, its speakers offer an RMS power of 20 W and are compatible with technologies Dolby Audio and DTS Virtual:Xwhich guarantee very decent surround audio for its price range. Internally, this TV Xiaomi TV A Pro It has a quad-core processor accompanied by a Mali-G52 graphics card, a combo that, together with its 2GB RAMensures that navigation through menus and opening apps is fluid and jerk-free. As far as connectivity is concerned, it comes with three HDMI ports, two USB ports, Ethernet input, dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 to connect your wireless headphones or a sound bar. In addition, its remote control includes a microphone so you can control the TV or your smart home devices using Google Assistant. ⚡ IN BRIEF: offer for smart tv xiaomi tv a55 pro (2026) today ✅ THE BEST QLED display at basic LED price: Getting Xiaomi’s quantum dot technology in 55 inches for less than 300 euros is a milestone in value for money. Much more vivid colors than in a traditional panel. Native Google TV experience: the operating system flies. It is clean, ultra compatible with any streaming platform, has Chromecast integrated and is not layered like the customization layers of other brands. ❌ THE WORST Fair brightness in very bright rooms… It is more than enough to watch television with indirect light or at night, but if you have a large window where the afternoon sun hits directly, you will suffer from reflections. Without real HDMI 2.1… Its ports are HDMI 2.0. Although it has technologies to improve latency in games, the panel’s refresh rate remains at the standard 60 Hz. 💡 BUY IT IF… You want a large screen (55″) with good color technology, investing strictly less than 300 euros. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You are looking to play at real native 120 Hz to get 100% out of a PS5 or Xbox Series X. Other 55-inch TVs that might interest you TCL 55Q6C Television 55 Inch QD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Hisense 55A6S – UHD 4K Smart TV 55 Inch 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 | Webedia, Xiaomi and Laura López (Xataka) In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended models from 99 euros In Xataka | Best home theater projectors. Which one to buy and five recommended models from 299 to 18,000 euros

The head of CATL explains why it will still take us a while to see them in cars

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

We have been hearing the industry buzz for years about solid state batteries. These promise more autonomy, faster charging and greater safety than the current liquid electrolyte ones. However, everything indicates that we still have a long way to go until we see them in commercial vehicles. And the president of CATL, Robin Zeng, has spoken in an interview with the Chinese magazine Caijing, suggesting that they are unviable before 2030, and that when they arrive, they will not be for the average buyer. They are not ready. Zeng explained in the interview that, for the production of these batteries to make industrial sense, the industry needs to manufacture at least one million vehicles with them, and that volume does not seem to be achievable before 2030. In addition, the manager suggests that, if ready, they would first target the premium vehicle segment. Technical problems. According to share At CarNewsChina, CATL’s solid-state technology is currently at level four on a nine-point technology maturity scale. That means it remains confined to laboratories and prototyping phases. As the media reports, the main bottleneck is at the solid-solid interface, since to join the components, hot isostatic pressing is applied at 6,000 atmospheres of pressure. The problem is that materials with different densities misalign under that pressure, creating internal resistance and accelerating cell degradation. Other chemicals. With solid batteries still in the lab, CATL continues to accelerate with conventional liquid electrolyte chemistry. In May, the company reached an installed capacity of 33.08 GWhup from 29.06 GWh in April, according to data from China EV DataTracker. The bulk of this volume is supported by lithium-ferrophosphate (LFP) batteries, which in May represented 23.12 GWh, while ternary lithium batteries added 9.96 GWh. For now, these batteries are what keep the industry going. Cost, another barrier. In previous statements, the company recognized that solid-state sulfur cells cost three to five times more than conventional lithium-ion cells. The development of sulfur electrolyte technology alone requires a cumulative investment estimated at 10 billion yuan (about 1.27 billion euros). There are alternatives that don’t wait. Although pure solid state is far away, some Chinese manufacturers are betting on intermediate architectures. From CarNewsChina stands out the alternative from Dongfeng Motor, which plans to integrate into production during the second half of 2026 an oxide-polymer composition battery with an energy density of 350 Wh/kg and ranges of more than 1,000 kilometers. This hybrid approach reduces the total weight of the battery pack by 30% compared to conventional liquid solutions and improves cold performance by more than 10%, according to the company’s testing at -30 ° C in Mohe, where prototypes maintained more than 74% of their nominal capacity. The aerospace sector already uses them. Outside of the automobile, technology advances faster in niches where cost is not a limiting factor. And just as share CarNewsChina drone manufacturer Ehang completed an unmanned flight across the Qiongzhou Strait using a 480 Wh/kg solid-state lithium-metal battery manufactured by Shenzhen Neox. The Chinese industry does not act alone. In parallel, since January 2024 there has been the China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform (CASIP), an alliance promoted by the Chinese government which brings together battery manufacturers such as CATL, BYD, CALB, Gotion or SVOLT, along with both state and private car manufacturers. The stated goal is to develop and produce competitive solid batteries with an established supply chain before 2030. According to counted Nikkei at the time, the State also participates with public funds, which makes clear Beijing’s desire not to lose leadership in this sector. Cover image | Andrew Roberts In Xataka | Spain will have to maintain 1,000 more km of roads in 2027. Problem: a hole of 13,000 million euros without solving

The US did not turn off Claude Mythos for fear of a jailbreak, it did so because it suspected someone was watching. That someone is China

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Last Saturday, the White House ordered Anthropic to remove access to Fable 5 and Mythos to any foreign person, regardless of whether they were inside or outside the United States. This order supposedly came after a tip that there was a way to jailbreak the model and bypass safeguards, but according to Wired it came at a time when Washington was already uneasy for another reason. South Korea. They tell it in Wired. According to sources close to the government, the notice of the possible jailbreak came at a time when the US government had already raised its eyebrows over another issue. It turns out that one of the large companies that had access to Mythosthe original model without the safeguards, was SK Telecom, the largest telephone operator in South Korea. The concern, according to these sources, arises from the alleged ties of this operator with China. The logic would have been something like: if SK Telecom has access, China has access. Furthermore, they have told us that there are vulnerabilities. Let them turn it off now. Why is it important. Until now it was believed that the reason behind the decision was the warning about a possible jailbreak in Fable, which was the “trimmed” version of Mythos that was released to the public. It was Amazon’s own CEO, Andy Jassy, who called the treasury secretary to warn him that they had found vulnerabilities in Fable. In this version of the story, the government’s concern was that anyone would bypass Fable’s safeguards and use it for evil. However, with this new information things change: it is no longer just any person, but China, its great enemy in the technological war, which could be looking into the guts of Mythos. They already had them in their sights. As we said, SK Telecom was one of the 150 companies chosen to test Mythos within the framework of what is known as Project Glasswing. According to internal sources consulted by Wired, the US government requested that Anthropic revoke their access earlier this month, to which Anthropic agreed. It seemed like the thing was going to stay there, but when Fable was released to the public and learned that it had a vulnerability, the White House reacted. SK Telecom, Anthropic and China. The relationship between Anthropic and SK Telecom dates back to 2023, when They invested 100 million dollars in the AI startup for the development of AI models focused on telecommunications. Currently, SK Telecom barely has a presence in China (They only have seven employees and their billing is testimonial), but in the past they had a very close relationship with China Unicom, creating a joint venture and investing up to $1 billion in the Chinese operator. Although already They sold their shares in 2009SK Telecom is part of the SK Group conglomerate, which has other businesses beyond telecommunications, such as semiconductors and energy, these with alliances in China. SK Telecom has denied maintaining ties with China. Previous tensions. All this happens at a time when the relationship between the US government and Anthropic is not going through its best moment. In March of this year they starred in a whole soap opera Anthropic’s refusal to allow military use of its models without safeguards. They ended up on what is known as the black list.Anthropic took the US to court and now we have a new season of the soap opera with the whole Mythos thing. Image | Xataka with Magnific In Xataka | China has two ideas to win the AI race: invest a fortune and leave NVIDIA with almost no margin

“be prepared to slow down”

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

In the 1904 Olympic Gamesthe organizers wanted to demonstrate that drinking little water improved performance. What they did was design a marathon with just one official hydration point under 32 degrees. The experiment ended with runners collapsing, hallucinations and one of the winners crossing the finish line practically supported. More than a century later, the heat continues to remind us of the same lesson: sweating is not strength, it is survival. The great myth of summer. Every summer comes back the same image: Soaked runners, tight t-shirts, and the feeling that the more you sweat, the more you’re getting out of your workout. It turns out that physiology says otherwise. Sweating a lot is not a medal or an exact measure of effort. In the New York Times the physiologist Mindy Millard-Stafford it summarize clearly: “You can’t compare one person’s sweat rate to another’s and say that person worked harder.” The amount of sweat has more to do with genetics, environment and adaptation than with pure performance. The bad news for the summer myth is simple: ending up dripping does not mean training better. Sweat is survival, not performance. The first thing to understand is what sweat actually does. The sports doctor Michael Fredericson He recalled that “it is the body’s way of keeping the temperature under control.” It is not extra energy leaving the body or a sign of increased calorie burning. It is a mechanism thermal emergency. When the heat is on or the exercise increases in intensity, the brain activates the sweat glands to cool the machine. What appears to be a power signal is actually a regulation signal. Not everyone sweats the same. Here is one of the keys that dismantles many comparisons. Two people can do the exact same workout and end up in radically different states. In this regard, Fredericson I insisted on the middle: “Even among serious athletes, no two people sweat the same.” Humidity, wind, sun, clothing and even salt concentration completely change the equation. You can sweat more in a closed, humid class than in a tough outdoor outing, and that doesn’t mean the effort was greater. It means that the environment is demanding more cooling. Adaptation also changes the body. The body learns. Those who train constantly in the heat begin to sweat earlier, more distributed and more efficiently. The physiologist W. Larry Kenney explains that with acclimatization the glands produce a more diluted sweat and that it evaporates better. Put another way, that means that an adapted athlete may appear to be sweating more, but they are actually functioning better. Sweat, therefore, not only does not measure intensity: sometimes measures biological experience. The point where the body begins to pay. The problem begins when that cooling costs too much. With intense heat you can lose more than one liter of liquid per hour and, in long sessions, between 2% and 6% of body weight. That 2% is an important threshold, because there both physical performance and cognitive ability. It’s no longer just tiredness; It is worse decision making, less coordination and more cardiovascular risk. Sweat stops being an ally and begins to become a bill. The metric that really matters. If sweat is not useful for measuring intensity, you have to look at something else: heart rate. The sports cardiologist Sean Swearingen Remember that it is a much more reliable indicator and that, with heat, it triggers sooner. The recommendation is simple but clearly uncomfortable: maintain regular heartbeats, even if this forces you to slow down or reduce distance. In fact, that’s when the phrase comes that condenses everything. Millard-Stafford He tells it bluntly: “Leave your ego at the door and be prepared to start slower.” That may be the real lesson of the summer: training better often means accepting that there are days when going slower is exactly the right thing to do. Image | Wikimedia, NARA In Xataka | Longevity experts are clear: “120 minutes of strength per week is associated with lower mortality” In Xataka | The trainers agree: “Neither jogging nor walking fast, just take a grandpa walk five days a week to burn 78,000 calories a year”

Raquel González, director of Airbus Space in Spain, on the challenge of Spain as a space power: “We lack people”

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

It is not usual to cross the doors of Airbus Space in Getafe and tour a facility where the space industry stops being a succession of proper names and becomes something physical. During the visit organized by the 60 years of Airbus Espacio in Spainthe tour revealed production areas, clean areas, parts linked to launchers and satellite technologies and components that will end up operating outside of Earth. The first impression was not of a corporate celebration, but of an industrial chain much broader than its separate programs suggest. Rachel Gonzalezdirector of Airbus Space in Spain, summed it up with a very direct phrase during the presentation: “Spain is a space power.” He did not present it as a pending aspiration, but as a reality that, in his opinion, is explained by the accumulation of capabilities developed in the country. Satellites appeared on the table like PEACE, PEACE-2, Wit, CHEOPS either LSTMsecure communications programs such as Spainsat NGparticipation in European launchers such as Ariane 6 and even antennas made in Spain to communicate with the rovers Curiosity and Perseverance on Mars. The statement had weight because it did not rest on a single project, but on a sustained presence in various layers of the space sector. The Spanish space muscle and its challenges With that statement on the table, the next question was almost obligatory: if Spain has reached that position, How do you maintain yourself in an industry as competitive as the space industry?. The pressure does not come only from access to space, although launching more frequently and at a lower cost has become one of the great battles in the sector. Also important is the ability to design, manufacture and prepare increasingly complex systems, to respond to strategic needs and to do so on a board where pace has accelerated. SpaceX is the most visible symbol of this change, but not the only one: the US maintains a very active commercial ecosystem, China accelerates its commercial and state capabilities, India opens more space for private participationand Europe tries to strengthen its autonomy. Structure manufacturing area for Ariane 6 at Airbus Espacio España, within the Getafe facilities That was the question I asked González: what challenges now appear to remain in that position and what the next step should be. The director of Airbus Space in Spain opened the focus to the entire European space industry, but the response immediately landed on the terrain she knows first-hand. “There’s a talent challenge now. Budgets are increasing, programs keep coming up. There’s a lot of ambition.” “Now there is a talent challenge. Budgets are increasing, programs continue to emerge. There is a lot of ambition” The idea became even clearer when he condensed it into two words: “people are missing” González then turned the diagnosis into a call to those who are still deciding their educational path. His message was aimed at university students, but also at younger students who are beginning to choose where to direct their studies: space needs scientific, technological and engineering profiles, but not only that. Professional training trajectories and profiles linked to production are also needed, because an industry like this is not sustained solely by design on paper. Between an approved mission and a technology ready to leave Earth there are years of specialized work, and that quarry does not appear from one day to the next. Raquel González, director of Airbus Space in Spain, during the meeting with the press at the Getafe facilities The dimension of the problem is better understood by looking at the figures that Airbus put on the table. According to the company, Airbus Espacio in Spain closed 2025 with 295 million euros in turnover and 530 direct employees, but its impact does not end with its own workforce. Around 30% of this turnover goes to subcontractors, a fact that helps measure the extent to which space activity is distributed across a broader ecosystem. That is why the lack of talent does not only affect a specific company: when programs grow, pressure also increases on suppliers, specialized technicians and teams capable of supporting high-value-added work. This activity is better understood when you go down from the figure to the type of work behind it. Airbus maintains that its space division in Spain is the only company in the country capable of designing, building, integrating and delivering complex satellites into orbit, a statement that places the focus on high-level industrial responsibilities. González took it to the field of accumulated capacity during the presentation: “Everything that is satellite construction, that is where we are as a leader in Espacio España.” PAZ appears as one of the examples already in service within that trajectory, while PAZ-2 and LSTM show where that capability is now moving. Another part of the journey led to a less visible, but equally important layer: the technology that allows a mission to observe, measure or transmit useful information from space. Airbus spoke of radars, microwave radiometers and active antennas as areas in which its Spanish division has been accumulating knowledge. They are not elements designed to attract attention outside the sector, but they can make the difference between a space platform and a mission with real service capacity. Airbus Espacio España personnel work in the Getafe clean room, where the company assembles highly complex space systems The map was completed with another sensitive piece for Europe: access to space. Airbus recalled during the presentation that its activity in Spain has been linked to the family for decades. Ariane already Vegawith structures and subsystems that are part of the European launchers. In the case of Ariane 6, the company also noted that it is increasing production to supply 27 complete setsknown as shipsetsincluding large lightweight carbon fiber structures for Ariane 6 in the coming years. It is not necessary to go into the detail of each component to understand the relevance of this line of work: without reliable launchers and with sufficient cadence, a good part of European … Read more

We have been trying to understand how heat kills us for years. Some Spanish researchers have found their ‘right hand’: pollution

June 19, 2026 by usatoday24

In August 2003 there was a heat wave. It wasn’t just any heat wave. It was one of the worst in memory. Researchers do not agree, but it is estimated that in Spain there were about 6,600 deaths due to excess mortality only in the first fortnight of the month. Almost 13,000 at the end of the month. However, from heat stroke (the picture we imagine when we think of dying “from heat”) only 141 died. The rest died because the heat aggravated pathologies they already had. In recent years and in the hope of finding ways to fight against “the (natural) phenomenon that kills the most in Europe”, many researchers have tried to understand how heat enhances these diseases. And all roads lead to the same place: pollution. That pollution kills is not news. It is something that, in fact, It is very documented. What is new is being able to see how the disease does its dirty work in the middle of a heat wave. An ISCIII team estimated these days that, on average, 18.7% of excess mortality What today we attribute to temperature corresponds to pollution. That is, one in five. If we add the haze, the percentage would amount to 22.5%. And how does this happen? It is something that is closely related to the atmospheric functioning of a heat wave. In general terms, this type of phenomena occurs in two ways: by an anticyclonic block and the other is by a Saharan advection. In the first case, stability and sunshine prevent pollutants are dispersed and tropospheric ozone is triggered. In the second, the air mass comes with suspended dust. That is, although they work differently. The two major mechanisms destroy air quality and pose a public health threat. Why is this important? Because in Spain Many people die in this ‘perfect storm’ heat and pollution. What’s more, even if they do not die, the loss of quality of life associated with hospital admissions and acute outbreaks is tremendous. And what do we do? The background proposal of the researchers is simpler than it seems: go from an alert and threshold system based only on temperature to one that combines temperature and pollution. This would allow us to adapt better. For example, during a heat wave, we could encourage teleworking, traffic limitations and redirect public activities to areas with less pollution. This does not replace the usual measures, but they allow us to improve the way we think about that silent killer that is heat. Image | János Venczák In Xataka | The heat already kills more than the cold in Spain (despite the fact that we have more protocols to avoid it)

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