The Government’s bottleneck slows down its exports to China

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The US Department of Commerce does not give the slightest respite to chip designers to artificial intelligence (AI) Americans. And the largest are NVIDIA and AMD. When these companies receive an order from one of their Chinese clients must apply for an export license to this government entity and indicate which GPU they intend to send to China, their specifications and which client is going to use them, among other relevant information. Once the bureaucracy has been put in place, the Department of Commerce technicians analyze the export requests in the framework established by current regulation and approve or deny the sale of integrated circuits to China. This is the usual procedure, so there is nothing new up to this point. However, as stated BloombergNVIDIA, AMD and other American AI chip designers face a very serious problem: the Commerce Department takes several months to process their export licenses. The US bureaucracy is torpedoing NVIDIA and AMD The staffing of the Department of Commerce has been drastically reduced in recent months, and in the current context this scenario represents a very serious problem. The Industry and Security Office of this entity is not only responsible for processing export licenses linked to AI chips; It is also in charge of carrying out investigations into the tariffs deployed by the Administration led by Donald Trump. And with fewer personnel than in 2024 and 2025 it cannot cope. The Office of Industry and Security has lost 101 employees in recent months According to Bloombergthe Office of Industry and Security has lost 101 employees in recent months, which represents a 19% reduction in staff compared to what it had in 2024. Curiously, the staff who are specifically dedicated to developing regulations linked to the semiconductor industry and reviewing applications for export licenses has decreased by 20%although it has not been revealed at the moment what this personnel flight is due to. Jeffrey Kessler, the Undersecretary of Commerce, wants, according to Tom’s Hardwarepersonally examine all license applications linked to AI chips. Here lies the bottleneck. Many of its office staff are busy with issues arising from the Iran war, and meanwhile NVIDIA has still not been able to send to China not a single H200 GPU. Officially it can do so, but before delivering this chip to its Chinese clients it must receive express approval from Kessler. AMD is in the same situation. It has not yet been able to deliver its MI308 AI GPU to its Chinese customers. However, this problem is not only suffocating exports to China. NVIDIA is still waiting to receive approval from the Department of Commerce to be able to deliver the latest orders it has received from its clients in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. During 2025, the Office of Industry and Security took an average of 76 days to resolve export requests, but this period is increasing in 2026. Very bad news for AMD and NVIDIA. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | Tom’s Hardware | Bloomberg In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

The US already has the first response to its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. A boomerang of unpredictable consequences: China

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During a crisis with Japan in 2019, China constantly sent patrol boats and government vessels to the disputed waters of the senkaku islandsmaintaining an almost daily presence without completely crossing the line of direct confrontation. That strategy, based on sustained pressure without shock frontal, showed how Beijing can protect its interests at sea by playing on an ambiguous terrain where every move counts. The block changes the board. USA has finally activated the naval blockade of Iranian ports in response to the failure of negotiations, deploying ships, special forces and interdiction capabilities to cut off the flow of oil and economically suffocate Tehran. The operation does not seek to completely close the Strait of Hormuz, but to control who enters and who leaves of the Iranian energy system, which involves intercepting, diverting or even boarding ships in transit. This movement, long studied by the Pentagon, marks a qualitative leap in war, since it transfers pressure from the air and land to the sea, where the legal, military and commercial implications are much more diffuse. and potentially explosive. The reality of global trade. The fundamental problem of the blockade is not only in its military execution, but in its fit with the global system of energy transport, where the majority of the ships are not Iranian, but from third countries such as India, Iraq or, especially China. Intercepting or pressuring these ships in international waters introduces an entirely different dimension, one where the line between military action and global economic conflict is blurred.becomes extremely thin. Thus, each attempt to stop this flow not only affects Iran, but also removes more crude oil from the market, raises prices and transfers the political and economic cost to the blocker himself. Iran and the long term. I remembered the weekend the new york times that, far from collapsing, Iran has demonstrated remarkable strategic resilience, relying on alternative routes, land trade with Asia and financial networks that include Asian, especially Chinese, banks and partners. Its economy, although under pressure, continues to function thanks to indirect exports, accumulated income and access to credit, while control of the strait allows it to continue conditioning the global energy market. In this context, the time plays in your favor: The longer the crisis continues, the greater the wear and tear on the United States and its allies, both in economic and political terms. Permanent military friction point. The blockade forces the US navy to operate in a extremely delicate environmentone where any interaction with suspicious vessels can escalate quickly. The need to board oil tankers, manage crews or redirect cargo turns each operation into a possible international incidentespecially if those ships are protected or linked to state actors. Added to this is the latent threat from Iran, which maintains sufficient capacity (missiles, drones, fast boats) to turn any mistake or specific confrontation into a major climb. The boomerang effect: China. The great consequence of the blockade at this time has not been long in coming, and it is China’s reactionthe main buyer of Iranian oil and a key player in the region. Beijing has made it clear through a statement that it will continue to defend its energy and commercial interests, keeping its routes open and warning against any external interference. There is no doubt, this introduces a completely new risk to the conflict: that of a direct or indirect shock between US forces and assets linked to China, whether in the form of tankers, escorts or diplomatic and economic pressure. Furthermore, the Asian giant has response tools that go beyond the military sphere, from the use of its commercial weight to the control of critical resources. Dead end scenario. The result is a situation in which the attempt to strangle Iran It becomes a system of crossed tensions with multiple actors, where each movement generates new frictions. Blocking does not guarantee a quick resolutionbut it does increase the chances of miscalculations, incidents at sea and escalations that are difficult to contain. Precisely in this unstable balance, the United States not only faces Iran, but an environment where the consequences rebound outside the region, with China as the actor who turns a regional operation into a first order global problem. Image | US Navy In Xataka | The problem in Hormuz is not that it is closed: it is that Iran has “lost the keys” and without them the balance is broken In Xataka | The most buoyant market right now is selling streaming and satellite images of US movements to Iran.

We have been searching for a cure for HIV for decades. The tenth cured patient in the world gives us a starting point

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Receiving an HIV diagnosis several decades ago was practically a death sentence for many patients who saw that there was no possible treatment to eradicate this virus and that sooner or later would develop the disease. But little by little, treatments for prophylaxisof attenuation, reaching an undetectable viral load, and now we are seeing the first cases of complete eradication. There are several cases. We are facing a new historical milestone in medicine, and it is no wonder, since an international consortium of researchers has documented the tenth case in the world of a person who has managed to be cured of HIV, or rather, who has managed to eliminate the virus from their body so as not to develop the disease. The latter is known as the ‘Oslo patient’. A 62-year-old man who has not taken antiretroviral treatment for four years and has no trace of the virus, which has led to a published article in Nature where a great research process is recounted, something that has been possible thanks to the work of the international consortium IciStem 2.0, led by the Oslo University Hospital and with a fundamental participation of Spanish science through the center IrsiCaixa. His story. The clinical history of the ‘Oslo patient’ follows a pattern that is increasingly familiar to scientists, similar to that of the famous ‘Berlin patient’ in 2009. Diagnosed with HIV at the age of 44, the patient developed severe hematological cancer in 2020, for which he had to receive a stem cell transplant with the aim of regaining normal blood cell genesis. But here the key to success was that the donor of these stem cells was his own brother, who had a rare and coveted genetic alteration known as the CCR5-delta32 mutation. Because. When we see the term ‘mutation’ we automatically go to the negative meaning and all the diseases that having a mutation in the DNA can cause. But the reality here is that the CCR5-delta32 mutation acts as a cellular “shield” by modifying the receptors of a type of defense cell, T lymphocytes, so that HIV be unable to anchor to them and infect them causing its destruction. In this way, by replacing the patient’s immune system with his brother’s cells, doctors not only treated the cancer, but “rebooted” their defenses, making them immune to the virus. From here, HIV could not access its defensive cells, which is the mechanism it uses to become chronic and become ‘undetectable’ to the immune system. What happened next? As the researchers report, two years after performing the transplant, the medical team decided to withdraw antiretroviral therapy under strict monitoring, since it is a truly critical moment for patients. From here, and several analyzes later, it was seen that there was no sign that the virus was multiplying again. In the end, viral DNA was not detected either in peripheral blood tests or in biopsies of intestinal tissue, which usually acts as a “reservoir” where the virus hides. And this is where the Spanish group, through IrsiCaixa, has had a lot to say, since its research teams are currently monitoring 40 participants in similar conditions. What does it mean? Although it seems that we have achieved the definitive cure, the reality is that this is not the case. Right now we must understand that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a very high-risk and extremely clinically aggressive procedure that initially leaves the patient without any defenses and then they trust that the transplant will work and they will not reject it. All of this makes its mortality rate very high, so it is only ethically and medically justified in patients suffering from a potentially fatal blood cancer, not as a standard therapy for people living with HIV, who today can lead a normal and healthy life thanks to daily antiretroviral treatments. It’s the way. Although it is not the definitive therapy, it does open the way to developing genetic therapies such as CRISPR or cellular treatments such as therapies CAR-T that manage to imitate this immunity in the patient’s own body in a safe, scalable way and without the need to undergo a transplant from an external donor. Although to get here there is still a long way to go for science. Images | National Institute of Allergy In Xataka | The HIV epidemic never left Africa. Now a new treatment wants to make a difference

While half the world wants to distance itself commercially from China, there is a country that is increasingly doing just the opposite: Spain

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Pedro Sanchez Yesterday he took a selfie with the CEO of Xiaomi as part of his official visit to China. In it he has taken advantage of visit also Tsinghua University in BeijingAI talent pool— and of course for meet with the president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. But what this official visit tells us is something important about Spain and Europe: we want to depend less on China, but the data says that we are becoming more dependent. The narrative of decoupling. The discourse that we are seeing in general media or in news programs on television networks is usually the same: The West is reducing its dependence on China. There is talk about how supply chains are diversifying or how geopolitics are reordering global trade. Although the message is coherent and is usually supported by European and North American leaders, the reality is different. The numbers simply do not match. The data that dismantles everything. Between 2014 and 2024, EU imports from China increased by 101.9%, while European exports to China grew by only 47%. The relationship between both economic powers is not cooling, but quite the opposite: it is intensifying and, furthermore, becoming unbalanced. In 2024, the EU exported goods worth 213.3 billion euros to China, and imported 517.8 billion euros with a trade deficit of 304.5 billion euros. China remains by far the largest supplier to the EU and represents 21.3% of all extra-EU imports. Behind her are the US with 13.7% and the United Kingdom with 6.8%. Who “buys” more. The three largest importers of Chinese products within the EU in 2024 were Netherlands (109 billion euros), Germany (96 billion) and Italy (50 billion). The only countries with a trade surplus with China in the EU were Ireland and Luxembourg. The case of Germany is paradoxical, because this country leads this discourse of “reducing strategic dependencies”, but at the same time it is the second largest European buyer of Chinese products. One thing is the political message, and another is the commercial reality. Spain has a deficit, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The case of Spain is also special not because of the figures, but because of how it communicates them. In 2024, Spain imported Chinese goods worth 45,174 million euros, only behind Germany. What is striking is that the trade deficit of this exchange was enormous for Spain: 37,706 million, because Spanish exports to China were 7,467 million euros. That is to say: Spain buys China almost seven times more than what it sells. In 2025, imports grew even more, to 50.25 billion euros, but Spain’s discourse is not that of Germany: it does not seem to have any problem with increasing this commercial dependence. The Bank of Spain warns. The products most imported from China were industrial machinery, telecommunications equipment and motors, that is, goods that feed Spanish production. The Bank of Spain warned in 2024 that China is the great commercial weak point for both Spain and the EU. It is due to the volume of imports as well as their concentration and nature. The problem is that this dependency cannot be resolved with speeches: we would need alternative supply chains that are not being created at the moment, at least on the scale necessary to reduce this strategic dependency. Four visits in four years. Pedro Sánchez has visited China in March 2023, September 2024, April 2025 and April 2026. No other European leader has visited the Asian giant with that frequency in this period. It is true that all the presidents of the Government since Felipe González have traveled to China at least once, but none had done so four years in a row. Zapatero also made four trips, but he made them between 2005 and 2011. What Sánchez has done has no Spanish or European precedents. But Europe also builds ties with China. This movement towards rapprochement with China in 2025 and 2026 is not exclusive to Spain. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have visited China in recent months. All these movements are a clear consequence of the tariffs that Donald Trump activated in 2025 and that have accelerated this European conversation about the need to reduce dependence on Washington. Which difference to Spain from the rest of its European partners is that he has been forging that alliance for years. Many visits, but the deficit grows. Although the relations between China and Spain are notable, the trade deficit has been at historic highs for years and Pedro Sánchez’s visits have not only failed to correct them, but have aggravated them. What grows with each trip are the cooperation agreements or investment statements in renewable energy, but that still does not affect the short-term trade imbalance. Not only that: while Spain sells to China automotive components, chemicals or serrano hamChina sells to us our industrial future. There is an asymmetry not only of volume, but also of structure. To reduce strategic dependence, nothing. The conclusion after analyzing the data is uncomfortable. The rhetoric of decoupling, digital sovereignty and the reduction of strategic dependence collide head-on with that commercial reality in which Europe imports products from China as if there were no tomorrow. The difference between Spain and the rest of Europe is that Spain does not maintain this fiction of distance, and this “honesty” may have strategic value. We will see if that ends up serving to reduce the enormous trade deficit with China. In Xataka | We thought that US tariffs would prohibit Chinese cars from entering. BYD wants to challenge them

features, price and technical sheet

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Dreame comes ready to eat up the small appliance market. The Chinese company has burst into Spain with very premium robotics, cleaning and home care products and has now decided to go one step further. As? With the launch of a new, more popular brand called Mova. And for its premiere, the firm has announced a whole arsenal of robot vacuum cleaners, among which the Mova V70 Ultra Complete stands out. If the most premium robot vacuum cleaners have accustomed us to something, it is to “stick out their paws.” The highest range already has a telescopic arm that stretches to reach and sweep corners and edges. In mops it is less common, but Dreame has already done some interesting things in this field. Mova has taken it, directly, to the next level. Arms forward, arms behind. The Mova V70 Ultra is the brand’s most premium model and it shows. The company has put all its efforts and has implemented everything that could be expected from a device that seeks to be, above all, a display of muscle. The most striking thing is, obviously, the brush and the telescopic mop. Both devices deploy to the sides to better reach the edges, nothing new, except for the enormous reach they have. In the image you can see the extendable arm with the mop | Image: Xataka First, the side brush extends up to 12 centimeters to the side when a narrow edge is detected, allowing you to brush and clean underneath furniture that the robot can’t reach. The same with complicated areas, like the legs of a high chair, for example. The mop does exactly the same thing, but goes even further. The device has two mops, but the right one has a low-profile arm that extends 16 centimeters to the side. That, again, allows you to reach corners, lower areas of furniture and small recesses. Corners, edges and areas under furniture have historically been the weak point of robot vacuum cleaners and, little by little, they are managing to solve it. Bottom of the robot vacuum cleaner | Image: Xataka Armed to the teeth. Otherwise, the device comes with everything expected in a high-end robot vacuum cleaner. It has a motor that rotates at 150,000 RPM, allowing it to achieve a suction power of 40,000 Pa. The powder is stored in the device and then extracted at the charging station in a bagless system with a capacity of up to 100 days. The floating mop rotates at 300 RPM and is also capable of applying 15N of force, tilting 5º and adjusting at a rate of +2 and -1 mm. In other words, it is capable of automatically positioning itself so that contact with the ground is always strong and constant, at least in theory. Last but not least, it should be noted that the navigation system recognizes 300 obstacles, that the sensor located on the top is hidden in the chassis to allow passage through low furniture, and that it is capable of overcoming obstacles of up to nine centimeters. Regarding the battery, 6,400 mAh with fast charging. Mova Rover X10 | Image: Mova Entering Europe with everything. Although this product is the most striking, Mova is clear that, like its sister Dreame, it wants to reach all possible market segments and, to do so, it has brought to Europe an entire catalog of products from all types of segments. For a quick review: Cleaning: in addition to the aforementioned V70 Ultra Complete, the firm has brought the V70 Ultra Roller Complete model (with extendable roller mop), four other robot vacuum cleaners, four electric mops, three vacuum cleaners, a steam floor cleaner and three window cleaning robots. Abroad: following Dreame’s wakeMova has launched six robotic lawnmowers (including the ViAX range, which seems focused on small gardens), two pool cleaners, an irrigation system, two outdoor televisions with up to 2,000 nits of brightness, two barbecues and two solar energy storage systems, the largest capacity with up to 20 kWh. Personal care: The range includes a Dyson-type hair dryer, but with a C shape, a styler, a foldable hair dryer/styler, two toothbrushes (one with irrigator included) and two razors. Pets: Yes, there has also been room for the furry ones, because Mova has brought an automatic litter box for cats, an automatic feeder, a GPS for dogs, an air purifier and a bladeless fan. They have thought of everything, there is no doubt. Small appliances: there are more products, yes, paper and pen. Mova has brought a blender, a slushie maker, an automatic coffee maker with a huge bottom and a brutal look, another more conventional looking coffee maker with a double spout, a portable coffee maker, a curious air fryer with a transparent interior and a waste processor. Smart devices: Finally, the Chinese firm has launched an AI recorder similar to the Plaud Note Pro and, if that were not enough, a 3D printer called Palette 300 Combo that, if it goes well, has the potential to revolutionize multicolor 3D printing as we know it. For now, no prices. Most products are now available in Mova’s official websitealthough there are some that are still waiting. Regarding the Mova V70 Ultra Complete, it will be available from May and its price will be 1,399 euros. Images | Mova In Xataka | Dreame started as a supplier to Xiaomi. Eight years later it wants to be the next Samsung and has paid 10 million to prove it

Booking has been hacked. If you thought phishing was dangerous, wait until you see the follow-up phishing attacks

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Basic-Fit’s hack yesterday It has not been the only relevant event in terms of cybersecurity in recent days. Last weekend several Booking users received emails with less than reassuring content. In these messages, the company reported that a cyber attacker could have had access to the information on its reservations. On Monday Booking confirmed that the security flaw existedbut has not given too many details about the problem. Your name and reservations were leaked, your card details were not. The information accessed by the attacker(s) includes names, email addresses, phone numbers and booking details. However, Booking has highlighted that the users’ financial data have not been part of this unauthorized access and they have not accessed the users’ home addresses either. To try to mitigate possible problems, the company forced reset of backup PINs of all affected reserves, both active and past. Too many unknowns. Although it has confirmed the incident, Booking has not provided clarification on it and it is not clear if its systems were hacked directly or the problem occurred through other means. There are also no details on the number of users affected nor is it a problem of real scope or limited to certain countries or regions. Booking has indicated that it will inform affected users individually without giving figures. According to its own website, Booking manages hundreds of millions of reservations a year and it is estimated which have about 135 million users of their mobile app. Phishing attacks have already started. These types of data thefts are exploited for massive phishing attacks, and it appears that such attacks have already begun. At least one user indicated on Reddit that he had received a suspicious message on WhatsApp with details of his reservation and personal information. That seems to confirm that the attackers were already using the stolen data to deceive customers before the public announcement occurred. But beware of “tracking” phishing. But in this case the risk is somewhat greater because this is the type of platform from which we are not so surprised to see messages that inform us of the follow-up of the reservation (with the style “There is one week left for your trip!”). Precisely these types of smishing messages can now be generated by attackers fraudulently leveraging the reservation data they have extracted to appear legitimate. If you are a Booking customer and have a pending reservation, be especially careful if you receive one of these follow-up messages. It’s not the first time. In 2021, Dutch regulators fined Booking.com with 475,000 euros after a hack exposed the data of more than 4,000 customers, including credit card information in some cases. On that occasion, Booking notified the Dutch authorities of the cyberattack 22 days late, well above the 72-hour limit required by the GDPR, which caused the company to be fined. In June 2024, the platform itself warned that phishing attacks against its clients had increased by 900% thanks to the use of AI. The company has reported the security breach to Dutch authorities, but it remains to be seen if it again took too long and could face further fines. What to do if you are a Booking user. Theoretically nothing if you have not received an email from Booking.com notifying you of the problem. If you receive it, it is important that you distrust any message, call or WhatsApp that mentions details of your reservation even if they seem legitimate. Attackers may have data about your reservations and may be using it to deceive you. You should not provide your financial data through any channel other than the platform’s official website or app. This data can be used for phishing attacks from other services that use your name or email, since this information is usually sold to be reused by other groups that carry out massive phishing attacks. In Xataka | A family paid 1,800 euros for a tourist house in Galicia. Upon arrival there was no house and no response on Booking

These are my 5 favorite models

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Spring means the arrival of heat after winter, but also the appearance of allergies to pollen, grasses and many plants and trees. For this, having good sunglasses can be a before and after, especially if they are enveloping. But… what do you have to take into account when buying one of these glasses? These are the most important points: The design: It is necessary that the frame has a curved shape and not a straight one, since this way it will protect us from the front and the sides of our eyes. The function is to create a physical barrier that prevents the wind from entering through the holes in the glasses. Side protection: Although the curved frame plays a fundamental role, it is also especially interesting to have wide temples. In this way, we will have better protection on the sides. The distance: It is important to keep in mind that this type of wraparound glasses must fit very well to achieve a more airtight effect. As a recommendation, it is interesting that they stay tight to the cheekbones, but without the crystals touching the eyelashes. Polarized lenses: During allergy, one of the symptoms is sensitivity to light. The lenses themselves will protect us from this, but if they are also polarized, much better because they can prevent the eyes from becoming more irritated. UV protection: Some glasses also have a quality UV filter against ultraviolet radiation, a particularly interesting protection when spending a lot of time in the sun. Now, taking this into account, What glasses should I buy? There is a lot to choose from with very varied prices, so we have made a selection for different budgets. Radiant Hawkers by 29.80 euroswith UV protection against ultraviolet radiation. Polaroid 7886 by 33.36 eurosinexpensive glasses with thick temples and polarized lenses. Nautica N2239S by 59 euroswith double protection against ultraviolet radiation and polarized lenses. Nike WindTrack Heat by 89 eurosglasses with a more sporty design that have UV protection. Ray-Ban RB4335 by 137 eurosglasses with very wide temples and UV protection. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Radiant Hawkers If you want to go cheap, the Hawkers Radiance They are sunglasses that, for 29.80 euroshave a wrap-around format in the frame, since it presents a curvature. They have UV protection against ultraviolet radiation and are capable of absorbing, depending on the brand, between 82 and 92% of sunlight. Of course, they are not polarized and the lenses slightly cover the sides of the eyes, but not the temples. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Polaroid 7886 With a similar price, 33.36 euros In this case, we find the Polaroid 7886sunglasses that also have a curvature in the frame as well as wide temples to further protect the sides of the eyes. They are polarized. In addition, Amazon customers often highlight that they are quite comfortable thanks to their flexible design, which allows them to better adapt to each face shape. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Nautica N2239S El Corte Inglés also has the Nautica N2239S for a price of 59 euros. They are especially interesting glasses due to their design, since they have an enveloping curved format as well as thick temples. We must also highlight the double protection of the polarized lenses and their UV filters against ultraviolet radiation. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Nike WindTrack Heat On the other hand, if you prefer something more sporty, El Corte Inglés also has the Nike WindTrack Heatin this case for a price of 89 euros. They are glasses that protect above all thanks to their great curvature in the frame, and not so much because of the temples because they are somewhat thin. They also come with UV protection against ultraviolet radiation, although they are not polarized. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Ray-Ban RB4335 Ray-Ban has a very characteristic style in its glasses and the Ray-Ban RB4335 They are especially interesting for allergies. Because? Because of its format, which not only has an enveloping curvature, but also because of the wide temples that it includes. The lenses are not polarized, but they do have UV protection. Its price in this case is 137 euros. 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 | who nguyen and Michele Pagnani in UnsplashHawkers, Polaroid, Nautic, Nike, Ray-Ban In Xataka | All types of solar panels that you can install at home (and which ones best suit your needs) In Xataka | The four solar power banks with the most capacity to charge your mobile when you are camping

The latest whim of millionaires is to build a luxury superyacht around a living tree

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I will not deny that they die on me even plastic plants, but there are people who have a gift with plants. Others, however, are capable of buying a 73-meter superyacht built around a treely keep him alive as he crosses the seven seas with every luxury imaginable. He Virtuosity It is the second ship of the 74 Steel series from the Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo. Its construction and design took more than four years to materialize. For the first 18 months, the owner and the Sanlorenzo team held weekly calls before design even began. It’s not that there was any doubt: it’s that when someone decides that their new ship will revolve around a living tree, details matter and a lot. The tree that wanted to be a sailor The vegetal protagonist of Virtuosity It is a Ficus Nitida, also known as Indian laurel, planted on the main deck of a luxury superyacht with a modern and elegant design. It is worth noting that the tree in question was not added when the yacht was already built, but was selected before the first structural block of the ship was assembled, and the entire yacht was built around it. So that the plant receives sunlight in its lower parts, two side skylights were installed at ground level and its trunk rises across two decks to let its leaves breathe while looking out over the sea from one of its exterior decks. The tree occupies about 16 square meters in the center of the yacht’s main salon. The tree passes through two covers “With this yacht we decided to rethink the onboard architecture from its very foundations,” explained Tommaso Vincenzi, CEO of Sanlorenzo, to Superyatchtimes. “From the integration of living nature to the transformation of technical volumes into experiential environments, each decision is based on a clear architectural vision,” he added. Details that go beyond luxury As if having a five-meter-high tree on the deck might not be enough, the Virtuosity It also hides one more peculiarity below the waterline: an aquarium so big like the sea On the lower decks we find a 35 m2 wellness area. This room is located right on the waterline of the yacht, allowing guests to observe marine life directly from their seats through a large glass surface of the hull. Without a doubt a quite sophisticated way to see fish without even having to get wet. This wellness area also includes a hammam, sauna and massage room. The master suite of Virtuosity It occupies its own deck with 40 m2 and has a bed facing forward with a dressing room and bathroom while on the main deck there is a second VIP suite and two more cabins for guests. At the owner’s request, a reflecting pool was installed in front of that suite, designed so that the water reflects the sky and sunlight, far from the concept of a conventional pool. A cinema lounge aft and a sensory shower forward complete what the manufacturer describes as a private apartment within the ship itself. By day, the stern of the Virtuosity It functions as a relaxation area with direct access to the water and water toys. At night, and also at the express request of the owner, the beach club is transformed into a nightclub with a permanently installed DJ booth. That someone included a fixed nightclub on their list of requirements for a superyacht says a lot about how this owner understands the vacation at sea. This beach club has been redesigned and is 40% larger than that of the first 74 Steel delivered in 2025. In addition, a glass-bottom pool was installed on this deck that acts as a 28-square-meter skylight to illuminate the lower deck. The triple-height main deck features an exposed wine cellar and a spiral staircase in dark lacquered aluminum, as well as an elevator. A helipad and sports deck are located at the bow of the ship. With 73 meters in length and 13.1 meters in beam (width), the Virtuosity It can accommodate up to 12 guests in 6 cabins and a crew of up to 24 people. Its propulsion system is diesel-electric, with six 700 HP Volvo D13-700 engines and 425 ekW alternators, the same technical package as the first 74 Steel, the Silver Fox. With 180,000 liters of fuel on board, it reaches a range of 6,000 nautical miles at 11 knots and a maximum speed of 15 knots. Power and luxury for the only superyacht where you can boast of having taken a nap under the shade of a tree in the middle of the ocean. In Xataka | The Emir of Dubai bought a 500 million superyacht but discovered that it had a serious problem: there was no mobile coverage inside Image | Sanlorenzo

the funnel is a fatal trap knocking down only two ships

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In 1988, during the call Operation Praying MantisIn a single day, the United States launched the largest naval offensive since World War II in the Persian Gulf, destroying a large part of the Iranian fleet after a mine hit an American frigate. That episode, which seemed to close a chapter, ended up marking the beginning of a completely different form of understand war at sea. A lock to strangle… or expose yourself. The United States has opted for one of the most aggressive tools available: block traffic to and from Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz to suffocate its economy, deploying a combination of aircraft carriers, destroyers, special forces and air support with the ability to intercept, board and detain oil tankers. The operation, however, does not consist of simply turning off a tap, but rather of monitoring and controlling a maritime funnel extremely narrow and saturatedwhere each movement forces high-value assets to move closer to the Iranian coast. This proximity, necessary to make the blockade effective, turns each maneuver into constant exposure to attacks, raising the potential cost of the operation from the first moment. The military paradox. A key point appears here, because, although the United States has devastated the Iranian conventional navy, sinking frigates, corvettes and large units, the true instrument of control of Hormuz still stands: the asymmetric fleet of the Revolutionary Guard. Talk later of more than 60% of their speedboats that remain operational, hidden in underground bases and specifically designed to operate in confined waters, launch lightning attacks, lay mines or harass commercial ships. In fact, this structure has not only survived, but has proven itself effectively. drastically reducing maritime traffic, making it clear that traditional naval power is not the decisive factor in this scenario. The strait turned into a weapon. This morning they counted the TWZ analysts that there is a wave of US minesweepers currently moving from Japan to the Middle East. The move is easy to understand, since Iran has transformed the strait in a hostile environment where any technological superiority loses part of its advantage in the face of saturation and difficulty of detection. Naval mines, explosive drones, ground-launched missiles and small fast vessels create a distributed threat network that does not need to sink large vessels to be effective. It is enough to generate uncertainty and constant risk to paralyze trafficmake insurance more expensive and deter shipping companies, as has already been seen with dozens of attacks and the drop in the number of daily crossings to minimum levels. Strategic funnel: control or get trapped. Because the US plan to “bottle” Iran on both sides of the Strait involves deploying forces in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to cut entrances and exits, but that same geometry makes the operation in a potential trap. As? A priori, the forces must operate within a corridor barely 30 km wide, under direct range of coastal missiles and surrounded by low-cost but high-impact threats. In this context, control of space does not eliminate risk, but it concentrates itforcing ships to remain within an area where the adversary has designed its way of fighting for decades. The critical point. Under that scenario, the logic of the confrontation favors Iran in one key respect, because it does not actually need to defeat the US navy as a whole, only to inflict limited losses, but symbolically devastating. Hence, as the retired admiral of the United States Navy, James Stavridis, explained, to CNNthe sinking or disabling of one or two Washington destroyers, or the damage to a single aircraft carrier, would not change the global military balance, but it would have an impact unprecedented political and strategicquestioning the entire operation in itself. In essence, a simple explanation: in an environment where attacks can come in the form of swarms of drones or relatively cheap missiles, the cost-benefit leans dangerously against whoever deploys the most valuable assets. Time, economy and global pressure. Not only that. While the blockade seeks to cut off Iranian income, its collateral effects are already hitting the global system: rise in oil prices above $100, tensions in fuel supplies, impact on aviation, fertilizers and industrial chains. Iran is precisely playing with this wear and tear, aware that prolonging the crisis increases the pressure on the United States and its allies, both economically and politically. In this scenario, every day that the strait remains altered reinforces the Iranian negotiating position, turning the blockade into a double-edged sword. Decades waiting for the battle. If you will, the latest analysis of the situation in Hormuz is perhaps the most disturbing for Washington’s interests. Far from being a surprise, the scenario fits exactly with the doctrine that Iran developed after the destruction of his fleet in the eighties: avoid conventional combat and dominate critical points through asymmetric warfare. The Strait of Hormuz is not just a strategic passage, but a battlefield custom designedone where the combination of geography, preparation and tools allows Tehran compensate for their inferiority in the face of an extremely superior naval power. Therefore, more than a decisive move, the US blockade opens the door to a confrontation on the ground where Iran it feels more comfortable and where the risk of an unpredictable escalation is maximum if Tehran is able to knock down a couple of “chips.” Image | Iran State Media In Xataka | The problem in Hormuz is not that it is closed: it is that Iran has “lost the keys” and without them the balance is broken In Xataka | The most buoyant market right now is selling streaming and satellite images of US movements to Iran.

“Hell is other people”

by

The history of philosophy is full of round phrases that (in theory) synthesize the way of thinking of their authors. Also from ambiguous interpretations or directly wrong. Perhaps the clearest case is made by Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the icons of existentialism. Often his phrase “Hell is other people” It is understood in its most literal and stark sense, as if it were the misanthropic cry of someone tired of living in society. It’s not like that. Sartre himself was in charge of clarifying it. An unexpected hell. In Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) there was a double quality that does not always accompany the great philosophers. A deep look. And an ability to express complex theories in a clear, even engaging way. Hence, he expressed his way of seeing the world both in essays and in novels, scripts and plays. The phrase in question comes from one of the latter, ‘Huis Clos’from 1944, which is usually translated into Spanish as ‘In camera’. In it, the French philosopher presents us with three characters (one man, two women) trapped in a room. The interesting thing comes when we understand that the room in question is hell and the actors we see on stage represent condemned souls. The three of them expect the kind of torture they have read about and seen in pictures, but as time passes they realize that nothing happens. No devils with tridents or flames. No Dantesque scenes. Nothing remotely resembling ‘The Garden of Delights’ of Bosco. “L’enfer, c’est les autres”. Throughout the play, each of the three characters confesses their story and the sins they committed in life, weaving a frustrating love triangle. Towards the end of the performance, one of them, Garcin, utters what is perhaps the most resounding and certainly the most famous phrase, not only of the work itself, but of Sartre’s entire legacy: “I would never have believed it… Remember? The sulfur, the bonfire, the grill… Ah! What a joke. There is no need for grills, hell is the Others.” To be more precise, what Sartre wrote in the original, in French, was “L’enfer, c’est les autres”so there are those who have believed that the translation “Hell is the Other” better fits the author’s intention. Well, it’s pretty clear, isn’t it? Not so much, actually. If literature (art in general) has something good, it is that it can be discussed, but since practically the 1940s, readers and viewers of ‘Huis Clos’ have tended to interpret Garcin’s phrase in a way that is not entirely correct. Not so much because it is erroneous in itself but because it impoverishes the meaning that its author wanted to give it. We know that Sartre was an atheist, so it is not unreasonable to think that when he presents us with a personal hell, without torture, devils or rivers of lava, what he wants to suggest to us is that in reality our authentic condemnation is “the Other”, the obligation to understand each other with the people with whom we share our time, just like the prisoners of ‘Huis Clos’, right? “The executioner is each one for the other two”, comes to say at one point in the play one of the characters. “It has been misunderstood”. The truth is that the above is a simplistic approach. Of course, that is not the meaning that Satre wanted to give to his words. And we know this not because critics or academics dedicated to studying the work and life of the French author have suggested it. No. It was Sartre himself who, in 1964, years after premiering the work, he complained that his misinterpretation. “‘Hell is other people’ has always been misinterpreted. It has been thought that with that phrase I meant that our relationships with others are always poisoned, that they are invariably hellish relationships. But what I really mean is something totally different,” clarifies the philosopher. “I mean that if relationships with another person are distorted, flawed, then that other person can only be hell. Why? Because… when we think about ourselves, when we try to know ourselves… we use the knowledge that others have about us.” And what does that mean exactly? The fundamental thing is not so much how we deal with others or whether this is easy or complicated for us, but how we build our self-understanding. It is best understood with the metaphor of “mirrors”, a tool that is also very present in Sartre’s play. When we want to know what we are like physically, on the outside, it is easy for us: we resort to the reflection that the glass returns to us. But… How do we form our self-knowledge? “When we try to know ourselves, we use the knowledge that others have about us,” Sartre explains to uswho warns however that the ‘reflection’ we receive in that case is not like that of the crystals. “We are judged with the means that others have and have given us. In everything I say about myself, someone else’s judgment always enters. In everything I feel inside, another’s judgment enters. That does not mean at all that one cannot have relationships with other people. It only highlights the fundamental importance of all other people for each of us,” insist the philosopher Trapped characters. The three characters in ‘Huis Clos’ are trapped, but not (alone) in a closed room. Each one of them is a prisoner of the judgment that the rest have made of him in a complex relationship. That is his true punishment, his hell, not the monsters and flames that we see in Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings. Their penance is that the three characters are condemned to define themselves through the “distorting mirrors” of their companions, people who give them a negative reflection and in turn cause the same effect, adds Kirb Woodward.. Sartre himself poses this concept of the tyranny of “being for others” in another way in ‘Being and nothingness’: “By the mere appearance of the Other I see myself in … Read more

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