Something totally unexpected is happening in Ukraine. Suddenly, North Korea soldiers have disappeared

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Since November 2023, Ukrainian forces and intelligence in the United States have calculated that up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers have moved In Kursk’s Russian region to stop the Ukrainian offensive. In recent months we have known The strategy that pyongyang troops followedlarticles that lead to the battlefieldand even Ukraine captured soldiers who betrayed the misinformation with which they seemed to have arrived in Europe. However, something has happened in the last two weeks. North Korean paper. CNN had through interviews with Ukrainian troops that many of the northorean soldiers deployed were using extreme combat methods that remember tactics of the cold war. With a formation focused on sacrifice and unwavering loyalty to Kim Jong Un, these soldiers had demonstrated fierce resistance, although they were suffering from mass losses, With about 4,000 dead or injured. His behavior on the battlefield, in fact, had baffled the Ukrainian forces, since instead of surrendering, Many prefer to immolate themselves with grenades or use desperate strategies How to shed your protective team to move faster. In fact, several teams captured to the fallen soldiers revealed that They carry only the minimum to survive: Limited water rations, without shelter clothes and with backpacks full of ammunition. Although they carry modernized versions of the AK-47 rifle and other more or less recent Russian teams, their lack of armor and preparation for current war technology was accelerating its wear on the battlefield. And suddenly, they are no longer. One withdrawal? According to the New York TimesNorth Korean troops sent to Russia to strengthen their offensive against Ukraine They have disappeared from the battlefield for two weeks. It is possible, as analysts explain, who have been removed from the front after suffering those devastating losses we were talking about. Its deployment in November 2023 generated alarm when the measure was interpreted as a significant climb of the conflict. However, in just three months, The number of troops was drastically reduced Due to the lack of coordination. According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian strategy consisted of Send them in waves through mined fields and under intense firewhich resulted in a high number of casualties. Now, the withdrawal is not necessarily definitive, since it is evaluated the possibility that these soldiers return after receiving a resentment or if the Russian controls find more effective ways to use them in combat. Impact of the Ukrainian offensive on Kurk. The Ukrainian incursion in the Russian region of Kursk in August 2024 surprised the Kremlin and altered the dynamics of the conflict. For the first time in more than a decade of confrontations, including the Russian in large scale in 2022, Ukraine seemed to take and maintain territory within Russia. This movement, although criticized by some as an unnecessary wear of resources, is seen by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a key tool to press in future peace negotiations and a strategic barrier against new Russian offensives in the northeast of Ukraine. Although Russian forces have managed to recover about half of the lost territory, the Ukrainian presence in Kursk It is still a challenge for Moscowforcing Putin to balance their military resources without weakening their main operations in eastern Ukraine. The North Korean alliance. It We have counted in the past. The sending of North Korean troops seems to be part of A broader cooperation strategy between Moscow and Pyongyang. Kim Jong Un, by supporting Putin, Search in return assistance in military technology and diplomatic support. In addition to troops, North Korea has supplied Russia millions of artillery and missile projectiles, covering approximately half of the armament that Russia uses daily at the moment. In return, Moscow provides oil, food and improvements in North Korean weapons. In fact, the recent restoration of the Mutual Defense Treaty between the two countries reinforces this relationship, which reminds of the era of the cold war. The North Korean future. Although the withdrawal of North Korean soldiers suggests that their initial deployment did not have the expected impact, Your possible return is not discarded. Russia could reconsider its integration strategy with these troops, perhaps avoiding their use as a simple shock infantry and improving its coordination with local units. Besides, The situation in Kursk continues to evolve, with new Ukrainian offensives facing a growing Russian resistance. Meanwhile and as we said, the alliance between Russia and North Korea continues to consolidate, and along the way increasing tensions with the West. As the war continues, the participation of external actors such as North Korea could become an even more relevant factor in the development of the conflict and in the global geopolitical balance. And Trump is still missing, although it is about to see how he will. Image | Ukraine forces In Xataka | North Korea has officially entered the Ukraine War, although a barrier is being lethal: the language In Xataka | The Ukrainian invention that has allowed to repel the waves of Russian attacks: a 41 km fiber optic cable

30 easy hairstyles with which to hit safely in 2025, according to the hairdresser María Roberts

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Balletcore, Clean look, Brushing, Glass Hair, Sleek Bun… There are so many Anglo -Saxon terms that we use day by day to designate the Beauty styles that are trend, That confusion is logical. The beginning of a new year gives us the opportunity to make blur and new account. Of rescuing the hairstyles that were fashionable and stay and fix the foundations of those who arrive strongly. To do so and have the bets that will succeed this year well illustrated and definedwe have had the Professional Hairdressers María Roberts, founder of Studio25 and Madart Hair. She has told us what are The 30 hairstyles that we will see the most this year. We analyze one by one and contemplate the common link that exists among many of them. Do you accompany us? 130 © Gregoryrussellhair Jennifer Lawrence’s high polished ponytail The pigtails are going to be a trend this season. They will take to the height of the crown to create a effect lifting And, although they will be polished, as in 2024, this 2025 volume will be the protagonist. So they will be frequent Postizos to give density to the collected. 230 © Getty Images Nicole Kidman’s high -year -old sixties Postizos will also help create SESENT SETS like that of Nicole Kidman. These will continue to be seen sporadically but will not win, much less, land to the looks that breathe a more novel aesthetic. 430 © Gregoryrussellhair Nicole Richie’s ‘Messy Bun’ Those unstructured waves We will also see them in collected as is the case of this one by Nicole Richie. 530 © Gregoryrussellhair © Gregoryrussellhair The semi -grooved with Riley Keough curtain bangs The natural waves and the semi -gounted little produced They will be a sound trend this 2025 according to María Roberts. 630 © Gregoryrussellhair © Gregoryrussellhair The ponytail with Anya-Taylor Joy On the other hand, this 2025 we will see that many of the fashions of the 90s return and that is why The tapes and headbands will return. The expert recommends that you do them because, in addition to beautiful and trend, they are practices and help solve any Bad Hair Day. 730 © Chrisappleton1 The loose hair with broken wave and extensions of Drew Barrymore “The casual broken waves They will continue to be a Must From the season, especially for people who have curly hair and we can open it with the brush a little, “says María Roberts watching the wavy hair of Drew Barrymore. 830 © Chrisappleton1 The ‘Bob’ cut with tips inside Kim Kardashian Another favorite of the stylist this 2025 is this Bob tips of Kim Kardashian. The hairdresser calls it “ideal” and sets it as an unquestionable tendency of the year that begins. 930 © Aitanax AITIANA DEVECHAS TRANS The casual and somewhat disheveled braids They will also be a sound fashion. María Roberts says that both braids of three ends and spike braids will be taken. Above all, It will be important that disheveled front tufts remain. 1030 © Saracarbonero The Sara Carbonero hat braid Sara Carbonero has advanced Already to the trend of undone braids. She inspires us to tell you that we do not talk only about two symmetrical braids but also to carry only one with a tendency complement. 1130 © Sofiarichie © Sofiarichie Sofia Richie’s loose braid Depending on how you work the texture of your hair, that braid of Sara Carbonero can become Sofia Richie’s to attend an event. You decide whether to give it a casual air or polish the mane and contribute a more careful and sophisticated aesthetic. 1230 © Getty Images Sleek Hair ‘by Sofia Richie The smooth polished with line in the middle They will remain a trend, as confirmed by the expert. “If we add shine on top, Mirror effect Or that more careful hair feeling will be ideal, “he says. 1330 © Getty Images The semi -recognized with Tupé de Angelina Jolie The semi -grooved with volume will continue in vogue this 2025 but as long as they are very natural and somewhat more casual. 1430 © Getty Images © Getty Images Miley Cyrus’s high sponged bun What we told you in Angelina’s photo, will also happen, according to the stylist, in the case of the high buns. We will not pursue anything marked but collected with unpunished tufts. 1630 © Aitanax © Aitanax Color extensions with hair to Aitana layers The casual waves with blue Aitana extensions They will also be a trend. María Roberts confirms that the bangs are going to take a lot this 2025. especially those who are Open, do not condition hairstyles And there are well both with loose hair and with the hair collected. 1730 © Getty Images The undulating and ultravoluminous hair of Blake Lively The casual waves are a hairstyle that, according to the expert, “will never go out of style.” “Above all They are going to be slightly marked on the front And with a very natural texture, “he tells us. 1830 © Getty Images © Getty Images Lindsay Lohan’s discreet recognition What Lindsay has, according to María Roberts, are some married waves or found in the tips area. “They look very good, they are a very flattering hairstyle but in this case they are not marked from above but from means to tips,” he explains. “If, in addition, we accompany them with a semi -grid, with a clamp or rubber, it is very monkey,” he says. Recommends carding it a little and argues that it is a very trend bet It brings a lot of comfort. 1930 © Getty Images Emma Stone’s ‘pixie’ haircut “The Pixie They are ideal in people with a round face or with a fresh face. It gives a very youthful sensation but you have to know resort to expert advice Before making a precipitous decision. But it confirms, in the same way, that they will continue to be a trend. 2030 © Getty Images Selena Gomez’s Old … Read more

In 536 the sun began to shine less than the moon. The small ice age began then began

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The year 536 is sometimes called “The worst in history”, But this year only marked the beginning of a small ice age. An era of about 15 years in which sunlight was almost unable to reach the surface of the earth. Small ice age. For years it has been discussed what happened in the year 536 that triggered the “small ice age of late antiquity” (Lalia) that lasted until the 550s. The volcanic eruptions of this year and 541 or comet dust had been considered as possible causes, but we had A third hypothesis: An unknown underwater eruption. From historiography to the rings of the trees. From this era of darkness we have record through different sources: some historiographic, such as medieval texts in which there is talk of a sunlight so faint that it barely stood out about that of the moon. Others, more “modern”, such as the analysis of Tree rings. These rings appear as a result of the oscillations in their growth rate, a consequence of the succession of the seasons of the year and factors associated with it, such as the abundance of water. Or the hours of light. The suspects. And the hours of light were not abundant at this time. The cause of this long winter of 15 years would have been in a denser atmosphere full of dust or gas that would have prevented solar radiation from reaching the northern hemisphere. However, we are not sure what our atmosphere overshadowed. Volcanic activity has been the main suspect in the case. We know that the most powerful volcanoes can expel gases in such quantity that they can alter the terrestrial climate, usually for short periods of time. During this decade and a half we had proof of three volcanic eruptions, a “cataclysmic” eruption in 536, caused by a volcano in Iceland; and two others also relevant in 540 and 547. However, there are experts who consider that these three eruptions were not the cause of this small ice age, something else was needed. Submarine volcano. And that “something” could have been an underwater volcano. Is The hypothesis defended by an American team of researchers composed of Dallas Abbott and John Barron. They reached this conclusion when studying Greenland ice samples in which remains of marine microorganisms of tropical waters were found. According to this hypothesis, underwater rashes would have led to the atmosphere not only the gases of these events but also remains of sediments and marine life. An underwater eruption would also have vaporized a large amount of water that would have passed to the atmosphere. Huge consequences. All this would have had severe socio -economic consequences. Historical records speak of years in which cereal crops did not even allow bread, or snowfall in full summer. Towards the year 541 the so -called “Plaga de Justiniano” began in Egypt First epidemic Black plague of the Middle Ages. In the Iberian Peninsula this period of darkness could have unleashed The first of the crises that would end up resulting in the fall of the Visigothic kingdom and the Muslim conquer. Image | NOAA/National Science Foundation In Xataka | We believed that the huge eruption of Hunga Tonga had something to do with global temperature records. We didn’t even get closer In Xataka | Something weird happens in the Teide: although experts do not see signs of eruption, they insist that you have to follow it closely

The objectives received malicious PDF files

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For years, WhatsApp bets on advanced security characteristics. He end -to -end encryption It is one of the most relevant, designed so that only the participants of a conversation can see or listen to what is shared. But we should not confuse: although the application is presented as a strength, Its walls are not unwavering. The most recent example of this reality comes from the goal itself. As the Guardian collectsthe company led by Mark Zuckerberg has said that around 90 users of the popular messaging service, including journalists and civil society members, has been attacked and “probably committed” by a new directed malware campaign. WhatsApp, in the sight of a spy software firm Goal says that has interrupted the malicious operation That, according to its records, it was developed at the end of last year. In this regard, he adds that they have contacted the people who believe have been affected. It is not clear in which part of the world were the objectives or who were behind these attacks, but there are some interesting clues. The giant of social networks points against Paragon, a firm of Israeli origin that develops spy software with similarities to Pegasus de Nso Group. Their hypotheses seem solid, to the point that they have sent a letter of “cessation and withdrawal” to prevent the espionage firm from continuing to threaten the safety of its users. It is also exploring legal options. One of Paragon’s most prominent products is Graphite, who promises to avoid mobile phone safety barriers and, at best, obtain Total access to their dataincluding the ability to access application messages whose contents are encrypted as WhatsApp. Paragon was acquired in December by an American firm. When we talk about directed attacks we are referring to malicious campaigns that point to the number of determined objectives, for example, the network of a company, an entity in particular or certain people. High profile objectives enter the scene. For example, Pegasus was used long ago To spy on Pedro Sánchez’s mobilePresident of the Spanish Government. Paragon or NSO Group customers are usually intelligence agencies, forces of order and others State -related agencies. But its use is not exempt from controversies. Some technology have taken measures beyond the technical. Goal and Apple They sued in the past to NSO Group to demand responsibilities on cases of directed surveillance. The American giant apparently does not know who is the “client” that Paragon software used against its WhatsApp users, but has managed to break down part of the attack methodology. Their researchers believe that the infection vector has been a malicious PDF file, which was sent to the objectives after they were added to a group. Images | H9images | Mika Baumeister In Xataka | The Depseek online version has been publicly exposing users’ chats, according to Wiz. This is what we know

They prefer to work in a hospital than in a great technological

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The labor market has not finished leaving the storm caused by the Generalized Teleworking Implementation and the subsequent movements of the companies to make their employees return to officeswhen you must face a new challenge. A study Made in the United States by the National Society of Hight School Scholars (NSHSS) has revealed the first signs of tired of generation Z with the Labor dynamics of the technological sector. The data suggest that, given a future marked by the arrival of AI, young people prefer to study careers related to the health or welfare scope, leaving aside the computer races or certain engineering. A sector at risk. Prominent voices at the head of large companies, Like Nvidia or aws, They have assured On different occasions that AI will make the engineers unnecessary know how to program. Technological profiles are expected to be the most sensitive to Automation Impact As companies begin to implement AI, which shows a bad expectation for the future for the sector. In addition, the job instabilitywith hundreds of thousands of annual layoffs in large companies, and their high rotation, it remains attractive to a Z generation that seeks economic stability for its future, such and as revealed The consultant’s survey What’s The Big Data. Generation Z prioritizes job stability. According to collected data By Networks Trends about a sample of more than 10,000 US students, 76% of the young Z generation who are graduating in universities prioritize a stable work careerabove the location of the company (75%), its reputation (72%) and even the possibility of obtaining a high salary (71%). 50% of respondents say they are very concerned because, after years of study of a career they like, the incorporation to A toxic work environment take them to suffer burnout or have trouble developing their career. With that fear in mind, many of the students have reduced their interest in great technological ones, which no longer offer the idyllic job environments years ago. Great technology are no longer preference. According to The study From HSHSS, newly graduated students are prioritizing working in companies in the health or welfare sector, instead of in the great technological ones that had been leading the listings of better places to work for years. According to these data, Google has gone from being the fourth company in which students would like to work in 2022, to occupy the seventh place on the list in 2024. Just behind we find Amazon and Apple, which have also fallen several positions. Companies like Spacex have fallen from the ninth place to the twenty -second. The trend also reaches Spain. Although at a slower pace, the change in trend in the election of careers, the branches of the field of health and social services have registered a significant increase between 2018 and 2024, as reflected in The study ‘Employability of young people in Spain of 2024’ prepared by the CYD Foundation. Computer and engineering careers continue to have A very important weight In the election of the students, but the careers of Medicine and Nursing have registered a very prominent rebound, although the report highlights that it is one of the sectors with the greatest temporality. Spain ages: sanitary ones are needed. He demographic aging In Spain it is one of the reasons why this health sector has grown 4% in the last year and faces a generational relief process given that, According to data Randstad, 40% of employees in this sector are over 45 years old. That is, unlike the technological that tends to specialization and automation, the health sector tends to need more personnel and with a low exposure to the impact of AI. In Xataka | Technological talent in Spain grows 4% per year. But you have to go to other countries to work Image | Unspash (Sigmund, Akram Huseyn)

Mistral AI is the French startup that opted for efficiency before Deepseek. His future is uncertain

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Mistral ai is the French technological jewel. The AI ​​startup has become practically the only European representative that competes with large companies and technological startups in the US or China. He also does it with an absolute focus on efficiency, which is just what is now valued as Deepseek. However, its future is complex. A promising European startup. When we talk about her for the first time in 2023, he surprised that without having any product He managed to raise 105 million euros investment Soon, yes, the fruits of such commitment would begin to appear, which also generated that the firm raised More financing rounds. Flag efficiency. One of the defining characteristics of Mistral AI was that his work was always oriented to do more with less. To seek efficiency. The startup, knowing not being able to compete with the Bigt Tech in resources, has always sought to create more compact models but with great performance. He succeeded with Large 2 123b, which was three times smaller that calls 3.1 405b but matched that model and others like Claude 3.5 or GPT-4o in some metrics. They return to the load with Small 3 24b. The startup He has just announced The availability of Small 3 24b, its new “small” model. Actually it is not so much: those with size between 1b and 14. However, it is certainly an interesting llm for one thing: it competes from you to you with flame 3.3 70b – the last of the finish line, almost three sometimes bigger – and also does it with a latency (time it takes to appear every token) much smaller. The performance is fantastic. Latency, if we pay attention to the internal tests of Mistral, fantastic. Answer three times faster than the goal model. Its performance is comparable to GPT-4o Mini, and also exceeds QWEN-2.5 32B latency, which is something better in some benchmarks. This model, yes, has just had successor with QWen2.5-Max. Open Source, and European data. Another advantages of Mistral’s AI is that it is an Open Source AI –“Open Weights”, rather-, as he calls, Deepseek or Qwen. Unlike them, Mistral is a startup that raises data governance in the EU, something that can be inert for government agencies and European companies. It has already been seen how there is suspicion about where the data ends From our chats with Deepseek –Italy is investigating In this regard – and this is an undoubtedly striking option. Interesting uses. Mistral developers explain that their model is perfect for conversational assistants, because in them precisely matters that they respond quickly. They also highlight the ability to customize/polish the model to specialize in certain tasks such as legal council, medical diagnosis or technical support. The model is available on platforms such as Hugging Facebut it can also be executed at home in quantized seeing if you have at least 4090 or for example a MacBook with 32 GB of memory. At the moment it does not seem available In le chatthe web service that has confessed to us to be based on Mistral Large 2.1. Reasoning model in sight. But while their competitors are launched to the race for the reasoning models, Mistral has left something behind in this area. In a message in x They clarify that Small 3 does not use synthetic data “which makes it a great base for anything in reason.” In their official announcement they go further and point out that “among many other things, in the coming weeks, large and small Mistral models are expected with greater reasoning capacity.” Deepseek advancing on the right. The Chinese fashion startup has become the star of the moment with its models, and especially with its reasoning model, Deepseek R1. He has also achieved it using the same weapon as Mistral: efficiency. Deepseek’s success validates Mistral’s strategy, of course, but the question is whether Mistral will continue to compete or be overwhelmed by Chinese and US startups if they also partially or totally adopt that same approach. Mistral’s market share is modest, but is in danger of reducing with the strong competition of US and China companies. Source: FT. Doubts about the future. In media as Financial Times The concern about the future of Mistral and the European startups is discussed. There is no other to work in LLM –The German Aleph Alpha He left that race In September 2024-, and that compromises the future of European efforts to compete and not depend completely on the models of China and the US no matter how they can be. In Spain projects such as Alia are an interesting first step, but for now they are far from the LLMs and models mentioned. Operational limbo. This economic newspaper also indicates that with an assessment of 6,000 million euros Mistral is in a kind of limbo. He has raised too much money to gradually disappear, but not enough to compete with US mega -companies, for example. Acquihire on the horizon? Sean Maher, from the Entext consultancy, believes that Mistral can Follow the steps of inflection aiwhich was acquired by Microsoft – Mustafa Suleyman, current head of Ia in Redmond, was his co -founder. Thus, a potential acquisition of its resources and especially of their talent (which is usually called ‘acquihire’) is not ruled out. Image | Mistral ai

Novo Energy wanted to stand up to Chinese batteries for electric cars. It has ended in the hands of a Chinese company

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Point and apart for the soap opera of the Great European hope In the battery segment for electric cars. In the European assault on electric car industryVolvo and the Northvolt battery manufacturer founded Novo Energy. Both were Swedish and it was a Join Venture with the aim of producing batteries in Europe. It seemed that everything was going to be A ROSA pathbut a few years later and after thousands of layoffsNorthvolt sell His participation in Novo Energy A Volvo. And behind Volvo is Geelyan important Chinese holding. Culebrón. Things stopped going well for Northvolt practically from the beginning. During the first years, the European Investment Bank, BMW, Goldman Sachs or Volkswagen invested sums of hundreds of millions of euros in the company. The Swedish company, founded by two Exegutive of Tesla, became the great European promise to create batteries and be the heart of that European flying towards the electric car. In a market increasingly controlled by ChinaIt seemed like a great idea and everything pointed in good sense. In addition, together with Volvo they founded Novo Energy in 2021 to produce the batteries of both Volvo and Polestar. However, things began to twist in 2023, when it was uncovered that the company had been operating with losses of 1,000 million dollars during the first nine months of the year. And, in 2024, the situation exploded. Last nail in the coffin. Everything happened very fast. After the delays in the delivery dates, BMW canceled its agreement of 2,000 million euros, there were a series of employee deaths in work shifts, fired more than 1,600 workers in September and, shortly after, the bankruptcy arrived. In November 2024, Northvolt requested bankruptcy protectionarguing that they had 30 million in cash and, with them, they could only operate for a week. The hole they had was 5.8 billion dollars. A skinny dog, everything is fleas, and a day later one of the founders resigned, arguing that the company would need 1.2 billion dollars to save itself. After a few days of 2025 in which the company was still looking for financing, something that nobody seemed willing to do, sales arrived. It was even rumored that Catl, the main Chinese rival in battery manufacturing, I could give a hand. Volvo. After getting rid of some services, this January 29 we learned that the Swedish company sold its participation in Novo Energy to its partner in this adventure, Volvo. It is something that does not catch by surprise, since, as with BMW, Volvo saw that Northvolt’s delivery plans were not being fulfilled and in October last year he showed his interest in acquiring participation in Novo. Last week, Novo Energy advertisement which had to reduce its workforce by 30% due to “the changing market conditions and a modified business plan”. Northvolt wants to reduce everything possible and focus on its Swedish plant, but they have also signed an agreement with Volvo to explore joint collaboration paths in the future, so everything is not lost. China looks out to Europe. Therefore, Volvo will now be the one Novo Energy, we will see if alone or with partners, but the interesting thing about this operation is that, although Volvo is a Swedish company that is in the bag of his country, the matrix is ​​Geely, A Chinese holding. They are present in multitude of companies and sectors, with an important participation in Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin or Lotus, as well as co-owners of smart, polestar and with a participation of more than 80% in Volvo. It is curious that Northvolt was born to stand up to the Chinese battery industry and that the Join Adventure That I had with Volvo to produce batteries in Europe, now, is controlled by a Chinese company, in the absence of seeing the resolution of the authorities. And all this, shortly after Tariffs imposed by Europe To the Chinese electric car. In Xataka | Catl’s investment in Spain is not accidental: China is punishing those who supported tariffs on their electric cars

The consumption of amphetamines in Spain is concentrated in an autonomous community. And we know it with a “single” trick

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The surveys are very useful for “taking the pulse” to the population, but they can also lie (or at least fool) in many ways. Not this is not a cooking thing and how its results are interpreted: sometimes the lack of truth comes from the basis, and asking for some issues can be very delicate. And a great example of this is found in illegal substances, such as drugs. OEDA report. He last report prepared by the Spanish Observatory of Drugs and Addictions (OEDA) and the Government Delegation for the National Drug Plan He investigated not only social perceptions about the drug use of Spaniards, but also in their consumption habits. One of the most striking results was the “differential clear” in the pattern of amphetamine consumption: and the report found that the consumption of this substance was concentrated in an autonomous community: Euskadi. Estimates on the consumption of this substance in the Basque Autonomous Community far exceed the state average and records in the regions treated in the report. According to these calculations, the consumption of SPEED (name with which reference is also made to this substance) oscillates, according to areas Between 700 and 2,100 milligrams A day for every 1,000 inhabitants, while in the rest of the areas of study the average estimated consumption was 24 mg/(day 1,000 inhabitants). Not as easy as it seems. Estimating the consumption of this and other substances can be complicated. In the case of illegal drugs, its illicit nature makes the task of investigating its consumption complicated through simple surveys. To this we must add the social perception of drugs as taboo, something that also applies to legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco. So how are scientists save the scientists studying these substances? OEDA reports They consult the population to know their perception of this type of substance (both legal and illegal). However, to know drug use habits follow another strategy: search in waste. Sewage. Specifically, in wastewater. Our body discards these substances or their metabolites (the compounds derived from the medicalization of a compound) through the urine, which implies that the tests end up in our wastewater and from there in the water treatment plants. The equipment responsible for the analysis took water samples in a series of purifying stations sewage (WWTP) distributed in various autonomous communities, 28 in total. The samples were taken over a week (usually in spring) in the years between 2021 and 2023. In some of the stations additional samples were taken in the second half of the year. Different habits. None of the substances analyzed presented a pattern of consumption as centered as the case of amphetamines, although in the case of cannabis, for example, some trends with the Catalan stations and the Canarian station can be interviewed indicating the areas of greatest consumption. On average, a consumption of 13 g/(day 1,000) of THC (tetrahydrocannabidiol) was estimated. The study of wastewater also gives us information about legal substances such as alcohol and nicotine. The median reading of the national WWTP ethanol showed an estimated consumption of 7.6 l/(day 1,000 inhabitants). In the case of nicotine on the other hand, the global median indicated a consumption of 1,641 mg/(day 1,000 inhabitants). Not only Spain. This type of analysis based on wastewater is not exclusive to Spain. At European level we can also find similar studies. Another recent study Performed by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) analyzed consumption patterns in European countries and observed that Spain (as well as the Netherlands) showed a relatively high consumption of substances such as cocaine, MDMA, THC or ketamine. Of course, in this case, the study analyzed less water treatment stations: six located in different parts of the Mediterranean coast and one more in Galicia. The concentration of stations in the Mediterranean and absence of samples in other highly populated areas such as Madrid implies a serious limitation in this study if we want to extrapolate its results to the whole. In Xataka | Drugs, mental health and pre -Hispanic civilizations: the clash between modern medicine and millenary traditions Image | Colin Davis / Abdo Alshreef

Japan had found in ramen a way to raise its economy. They did not have two problems: Denmark and Germany

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In July of last year many regions of Japan They adopted the same formula to lift their economies. The idea did not seem bad: if you get tourists as it is happening to the Japanese nation (monthly absolute record with three million last March), opportunities ariseand the ramen was a “must” for every tourist toile. The problem: that if everyone did the same and in each corner there was a ramen place, the opportunity became a battle. Thus, perhaps what has happened at the beginning of the year: Bankruptcies throughout the country map. To this we must add a problem that nobody saw thousands of kilometers. A cultural symbol. None of this would be news if we did not speak “of the dish” in capital letters of the nation, or one of them. Ramen is one of the most emblematic Japanese gastronomy and occupies a special place in the country’s culinary culture. Traditionally considered a basic and affordable food for students, workers and families with a tight budget, it represents more than a simple dish of noodles: it is a reflection of the accessible spirit of Japanese cuisine. However, this symbol of modesty and practicality faces a growing challenge with the increase in operational costs and psychological barriers in prices, Like that “wall of 1,000 yen”, a symbolic limit that rarely crossed until recently. The perfect storm. Since 2020, the costs of basic ingredients such as algae, noodles and onions have increased significantly, With a 10% rise in just three years. This adds to the increase in energy, The weakness of the Yen against the dollar and supply problems caused by war in Ukraine. All pressures that have led restaurants such as Tetsuya Kaneko and Taisei Hikage to make difficult decisions: increase the prices of their menus or face the possibility of closing. In many cases, price increases, although modest, They are accompanied by public apologiesreflecting the delicate balance between business sustainability and respect for customers. And the other problem: meat. Yes, in addition to the rise of basic ingredients, the other fundamental problem It’s pork. Ramen restaurants in Japan are dealing with growing pressure due to the rise in animal prices, a key ingredient for His iconic chashu. Denmark. The import prices of the European pig, particularly from Denmark, they have risen 6% in the last yearreaching between 810 and 830 yen per kilogram. The reason? The increase here is also due to a combination of factors: as in the basics, the feeding costs raised by the Russian invasion to Ukraine, but also because of the closure of processing plants in Europe, the weakening of the Chinese economy that has reduced The demand and the depreciation of the Yen that we comment, a whole that further imports imports. The effects have been translated, again, in Wholesale prices and finally in the menus Of the restaurants, with many businesses breaking that psychological barrier of the 1,000 yen for a bowl bowl, which could scare away customers. And Germany. It is the second big problem derived from meat. The recent detection of Afitosa fever in Germany has generated a new challenge, because although Japan no matter pork there, Countries like South Korea and the United Kingdom did, and now they are resorting to alternatives In other European suppliers, which increases pressure on global pig prices. Using Brazil. Yes, this cultivation broth has made Japan is resorting to Brazil as a new suppliertripling its imported pork imports from the country to 10,131 tons in November 2024. However, the change does not seem to have mitigated the costs at all, since the price of the pig, along with the rest of the essential ingredients we were talking about at the beginning, such as pork fat, Nori, fresh noodles and green onions, follows up. Onions, for example, have experienced a 29% increase in the last year. Impact and bankruptcy. The crisis not only affects ingredients. Nikkei said this week That labor costs and rentals have also increased, leading many small and medium businesses to the limit. In 2024, 72 Ramen restaurants operators with debts greater than 10 million yen declared bankruptcymarking a record and exceeding the levels reached during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Not only that. About 30% of respondents by the firm Teikoku Databank reported losses, reflecting the difficult situation of the industry. Answer and impact on consumers. In front of this panorama, Chains like Yamaokaya They have opted for increasing prices, but only from some menusincluding Ramen with Chashu, while looking to keep prices under control in collaboration with their suppliers. However, the measures do not seem to have been enough to relieve the financial pressure of many establishments, which struggle to balance quality, affordability and sustainability in a highly competitive market. Ramen, until recently An opportunity to raise economies From the nation, it is taking many businesses to bankruptcy, threatening the road to a whole symbol of Japanese gastronomy. Image | Sodai Gomi In Xataka | Japan is suffering a bankruptcy record from Ramen. And in part it is the result of the “1,000 yen barrier” In Xataka | The cities of Japan have begun a fierce struggle to lift their economy. THE KEY RECIPE: Ramen

China has become the greatest added value of the planet thanks to feedback

by

China wants to stop being the planet’s factory. In fact, you need to stop being. The struggle that holds with the US to get world supremacy It requires that Xi Jinping’s country consolidates as The largest provider of high value services and products. This position would allow him to compete with the country led by Donald Trump on equal terms, something unthinkable just a decade ago. But China is in it. And it’s on the right track. The first stone was placed by the Chinese president in 2015. That year Xi Jinping announced the implementation of a strategy known as Plan “Made in China 2025” whose purpose was to place China as a world leader in 13 strategic technologies. Ten years later he leads in five of them: unmanned aerial vehicles, solar panels, graphene, high -speed trains and electric vehicles/lithium batteries (these last two go hand in hand). And it is competitive in seven others, among which it is worth highlighting semiconductors, Robots either artificial intelligence (AI). This is China’s open secret: industrial and technological overlapping The sanctions that They have deployed USA and its allies During the last three years they have forced China to invest a huge amount of resources with the purpose of becoming their technological industry of foreign countries. Otherwise it would be condemned to stagnation. In this situation it is crucial that we do not overlook that the prohibitions of the US, Netherlands or Japan, among other countries, prevent research institutions and Chinese companies accessing the most advanced lithography equipment and the avant -garde chips. China will take at least five years to have an extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment comparable to those produced by ASML The latter continue to arrive in China Through intermediary companies mostly housed in Malaysia, Singapore or India. However, chips manufacturing machines are another sack. Presumably the country of Xi Jinping It will take at least five years in having a extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment comparable to those currently produced by the Dutch company ASML. However, as we have just seen, if we stick to the Chinese mature integrated circuits it is competitive, but in semiconductors in general it does not lead. The scheme we publish on top of these lines has been prepared by the sociologist and researcher at Princeton University, in New Jersey (USA), Kyle Chan for the highly recommended Newsletter High Capacity. It illustrates very clearly how China has achieved within a relatively brief period of time consolidating itself as a world leader in lithium batteries, electric cars or drones, and being a competitor surpassing in industrial robots, semiconductors or artificial intelligence. The key to the unappealable success of China is, beyond its great economic investment and its human capital, industrial and technological overlapping The key to this unappealable success is, beyond the great economic investment and human capital that this Asian country is investing in these sectors, Industrial and technological overlap. Kyle Chan’s scheme clearly reflects the interdependence that exists between some companies, such as, for example, Xpeng, Nio or Geely electric cars manufacturers, among others, and lithium batteries producers Catl and Byd. This last company also manufactures cars, buses and electric trucks, among other products. As we see in the scheme, China has developed several technological and industrial ecosystems that overlap both if we stick to the companies that are involved in them and the technologies involved. The greatest strength of this country is that it is not strong only in batteries; It is also in electric cars. And on smartphones. And in drones. And in industrial robots. And in many other sectors. Almost all of them are interconnected, well directly, either indirectly. And when one is reinforced by a rupturist innovation all those with whom holds some technological dependence They are also strengthened. Here lies, ultimately, China’s high competitiveness in so many industries of a strategic nature. Image | Alex More information | High Capacity In Xataka | China advances at a dizzying speed in nuclear fusion. It already has something ready that until now only had the Netherlands

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