American

We have a new winner to generate images with AI. And he is not American, but Chinese

by

Tencent has just launched a new model of AI capable of Generate images from a text prompt. Traditionally the proprietary models have dominated this type of creative task, but the Tencent model has given the surprise and according to various benchmarks is able to generate images better than the rest of competitors, including those of Google and Openai. Hunyuan Image 3.0. This is the name of the new Tencent model, which in the LMARENA classification Of more powerful models for the generation of images from text has managed to overcome Gemini 2.5 Flash image preview (popularly known as Nano Banana), in addition to other proprietary models such as GPT-IMAGE-1, FLUX-1-KONTEXT-MAX or QWEN-IMAGE. The Tencent image model has already managed to overcome its competitors according to LM Arena experts. Blind vote. This LM Arena classification works through a blind voting system in which the users choose their favorite images without knowing what model generated them. And according to this vote, this Tencent model surpassed all its opponents, including Google’s popular “Nano Banana”. Of course: the vote also takes into account long -term results, and the short period that has been available Hunyuan Image 3.0 makes the results qualify as “preliminary” and not definitive. How it works. Those responsible for Tencent explain in the description of the model How they have used a new diffusion architecture that makes use of dual encoders (a multimodal llm and another that better understands characters in different languages) and RLHF optimization (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, which refines the previous result) for the creation of higher quality images. The system makes use in addition to a compression system so that the entire process consumes less resources without loss of quality. Open pesos and commercial license. Hunyuan Image 3.0 is a model that shares Your code in github and that offers A license surprisingly permissive. In fact it is possible to use it for commercial and professional purposes. The price is not entirely economic. Although the model can be tested for free in the Project websitein our tests we could only create an image (10 credits). The platform allows you to buy monthly credits: $ 8 per month allow Buy 500 creditswhich a priori would allow us to create 50 images of 10 credits each. Each would go to $ 0.16, when Nano Banana It has a cost of $ 0.039, four times lower. There are other options to try it, such as Hugging Face “Spaces”. It is also possible to get an API key In Tencent Cloud To use the locally. Gemini continues to win as “editor”. Although the Tencent model is interesting and remarkable, Nano Banana continues to win the game if we consider that it has become a unique substitute for the traditional Photoshop. Many users no longer edit photos but carry one in Gemini and then they tell the AI ​​what changes they want to make in that image. Alibaba, more conversational. Although Hunyuan Image 3.0 can allow something like that – in fact There are demos In this regard – the interface is now more aimed at a single prompt to generate images, not to a “conversation” as GEMINI allows. Another of the protagonists of this land is Alibaba, who with Qwen-Image-Editor adopts the same approach as Google with Gemini and Nano-Banana. In that Alibaba model “you speak” with your image to ask for changes, something that at the moment does not seem that the Tencent model does so directly (although it does not seem difficult for him to get it). But be careful. The differential here is that the generation of images, which seemed to be dominated by proprietary models, can be apparently equally good (or even superior) through open models. One more time The Chinese commitment to that philosophy is remarkable and contrasts with the closed approach and owner of most American companies that develop AI models to generate images and text (or, of course, video). Image | Hunyuan In Xataka | In China they do not conform to create advanced robots: a company has developed a head that gestures like a human

There are American and Europeans fed up with the lack of “traditional values” of the West. So they are moving to Russia

by

Surprising data were known last May: more and more Americans sought to leave the country to Live in Europe. The problem: that the old continent seemed to be closing its doors with migratory policies stricter. What very few anticipated is a new migratory current: that of Westerners who, seeking to recover the “traditional values” that have been lost … and end in Russia. The attraction for the Russia of War. I told it last week The Financial Times. In full invasion of Ukraine and under an increasingly repressive regime, a group of Westerners has chosen to move to Russia in search of what they perceive as “traditional values” in front of a west who consider decadent. Among the most notorious cases is Derek Huffman’san Arizona welder and father of six children, who emigrated with his wife and children alleging rejection of “LGBT indoctrination”, immigration and insecurity in the United States. To accelerate the obtaining of Russian citizenship, he decided to enroll in the Army and fight in Ukrainedefending Even on YouTube that he did to gain respect and a future in his new country. His extreme case has received criticism and also media attentionbecoming a symbol of a reduced but very publicized phenomenon. The “visa of shared values”. Moscow launched in 2024 A special visa For disenchanted western, which facilitates permanent residence to about 150 people per month, a measure that reminds of Soviet propaganda that opposed a corrupt West to a supposedly moral Russia. Although in numbers they are just A few hundredtheir stories receive great diffusion in YouTube channels with Professional productionseveral of them linked to Russia Today According to researchwhich suggests a state effort to amplify the narrative of Russia as a refuge for the conservatives of the West. Examples and integration networks. There are many more cases in addition to the Huffman, such as The one of the Feenstraa Canadian family with eight children who settled on a farm in Nizhni Nóvgorod and reached almost 200,000 subscribers On YouTube, or Stephen Shoresan American computer scientist turned to orthodoxy who claims to feel freer in Russia against the “culture of cancellation”, although he lives under the threat of Ukrainian drones. At the institutional level, figures such as Maria Butina (former Russian agent deported in the United States) and businessmen such as The German Jakob Pinneker They help these immigrants to integrate, facilitating their installation and extolling the “family order and values.” Contradictions and realities. While the Kremlin exhibits these cases as proof of its appeal, the reality is that tens of thousands of Russians They have fled since 2022 to avoid mobilization, political repression and international isolation. In the country itself, thousands of people fulfill condemns for protesting against war or publicly disagree with the regime. The paradox It is evident: Those who come from the West Echoes of the Cold War. What we see today has clear historical parallels with the Soviet strategy during the Cold War. At that time, the USSR I tried to attract to intellectuals, artists and western militants who felt marginalized or frustrated with the capitalism and politics of their countries. Many communists and supporters They traveled to Moscow convinced That there they would find equality and social justice, some even acquired Soviet citizenship or were used in propaganda campaigns that showed the “exploitative west” against “socialist paradise.” The most emblematic case was that of The deserters North Americans who, after the Korean or Vietnam War, sought refuge in the USSR or allies like Cuba and North Korea, converted in trophies ideological. Strategic background. The flow of Westerners to Russia is minimal in figures, but useful in the propaganda plane. Under the official narrative, it reinforces the idea that Russia is not isolated and that even citizens of the Western enemy seek refuge under their flag for reasons of values ​​and morals. In the geopolitical plane, it points to an attempt to counteract the story of a country in crisis and project the image of cultural strength against a fragmented West. Of course, social also reveals the existence of disenchanted minorities In Europe and the United States that, not finding lace in their societies, becomes something very similar to useful pieces for Moscow’s speech. Image | RakoonDerek Huffman/YouTube In Xataka | More and more Americans want to live outside the US but they have a problem: Europe is closing its doors In Xataka | Digital nomadic visas: the countries hook to attract the best digital talent without paying the cost to keep them

An American military seemed like a cybercrime genius. He was given his own searches on how to desert Russia

by

Cameron John Wagenius had no criminal record or a dark past. He had a military uniform, 21 years and a career ahead in the United States Army. But in his spare time, from his bedroom in Texas, It connected as “Kiberphant0m” to telegram groups and forums where stolen credentials are purchased and databases for thousands of dollars are sold. I knew how to move, how to enter without being seen and how to extort technological companies from the shadow. According to the Department of Justicefor more than a year he directed a campaign that affected at least ten organizations. It was made with private credentials, accessed protected networks and much more. He did it as he continued charging the army and fulfilled functions as an active soldier. Until everything fell apart, not by a filtration, or by a technical error. For himself. The soldier who moved as a professional cybercrime Wagenius and his accomplices were coordinated through encrypted chats. They shared passwords, discussed vulnerabilities and talked openly about their next objectives. They used Tools like SSH Brutea brute force solution to enter protected systems, and acted quickly to move stolen data in some of the best known cybercrime forums of the moment. Once they got access, they launched threats. Sometimes privately, sometimes publicly. They threatened to publish the stolen information if they did not receive money in return. In some cases, they came to sell the data directly. In others, they used that information to launch attacks from Sim Swapping and supplant identities. The goal was always the same: money. The Department of Justice estimates that they tried to extort at least 1 million dollars to the victims. But while all that happened, Wagenius did something that FBI agents did not expect to find so easily: I left trace. According to judicial documentsin October 2024, in full swing of its operation, it began to search Google how to escape from the country. Literally. These are some of the searches he made from his personal account: • “Where you can desert an US military without being extradited” • “US military personnel deserting Russia” • “Russia Embassy – Washington DC” • How to get a fast passport “ In parallel, I wrote to his contacts with phrases such as: “The fun is that if they ever discover me, They can’t immediately arrest me by military law. That gives me time to disappear. ” The reality was another. Not only did he not escape. All this activity was recovered, documented and used as proof to demonstrate not only its crimes, but its intention to escape. Wagenius was arrested and declared himself guilty of several serious positions: conspiracy to commit electronic fraud, extortion in relation to computer crimes and aggravated identity. He had already admitted before, in another case linked, his involvement in the illicit transfer of confidential telephone records. His conviction, which will be read on October 6, could add up to 27 years in prison. The charges have different weight: electronic fraud can cost up to 20 years; Computer extortion, up to five; and the theft of aggravated identity entails a mandatory penalty of two additional years that cannot be combined with the previous ones. Wagenius had knowledge. I knew how to move around the network and how to hide behind proxies, vpns and Tools that in theory had to protect it. But something in his strategy went wrong. Now he is paying the consequences. Images | Xataka with Gemini Flash 2.5 | Kevin Ku In Xataka | Sam Altman believes that a serious crisis is coming with the AI fraud. The problem is that it has strong interests in the solution

The US already has its first smartphone made in the US. Bad news for the dream of a “100% American iPhone”

by

Purism has called it Liberty Phonebut in addition to that liberating name this phone stands out for something very special: it is assembly In the United States. The good news is that it shows that it is possible to manufacture an iPhone within the US borders. That may make the government of this country happy, but in reality practically everything is bad news. A mobile “made in USA” (more or less). As they explain In The Wall Street Journalthe Liberty Phone motherboard is manufactured in the Purism facilities, the main chip comes from Texas, and the assembly is carried out at the plant that the company has in Carlsbad, California. Other components come from China and other countries in Asia, but in essence we are facing a telephone that meets the demands of the Donald Trump government. Not for those. Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism, explained in WSJ how it has been working for 10 years and has done everything possible to have a 100% mobile component of US components, “but but There are some pieces which simply do not have supply chain. “their intention, however, is to continue working so that in the end they all come from US suppliers. Its scale is tiny. Even with these difficulties, Purism is able to face this manufacturing process because it produces about 10,000 units per month and have sold less than 100,000 in total. In 2024 Apple sold Something more than 230 million mobiles, about 19 million a month. Manufacturing all of them in the US makes clear the amount of resources that would need to transfer the country. Of course: the CEO of Purism clarifies that the production could upload up to 100,000 units per month in six months if you need it. And it is not even a latest generation mobile. The Liberty Phone chip is an I.MX 8m from the Dutch company NXP semiconductor that occurs in an Austin plant, in Texas, and that is not even thought for mobiles, but for cars. Other components such as the screen and battery come from China, while the rear camera comes from South Korea. The operating system is Pure OS, a variant of Debian Linux that is not compatible with Android or iOS and that has a very limited application catalog And it costs 2,000 dollars. Weaver states that manufacturing the Liberty Phone costs $ 650 – the estimated hardware cost on the iPhone 16 Pro is 550 dollars – but Purism sells it for a much higher price. According to him, the $ 1,999 that it costs – and that in its 4 GB version of RAM and 128 GB of storage – reflects its orientation: it is a mobile specially prepared to maintain user privacy. In fact, half of Purism’s clients are US government agencies. The iPhone and tariffs. Liberty Phone is a clear example of how Apple and its users could affect the demand of the Trump government to manufacture the iPhone in the United States. One of the big problems It is the fact that the components that this mobile needs are not manufactured in the US, or do not do it on a large scale. The efforts of companies such as TSMC to create production plants in the North American country It will mitigate the problembut it won’t eliminate it. Specialized labor. But there is another even greater problem: manufacturing millions of iPhone in the United States would force specialized labor. China has become the Great World Factory of technological devices, not only by cheap labor – which was originally – but for its qualification. Before a practically insurmountable situation, Apple has chosen to manufacture in India Most iPhone who end up selling in the US. That will expose some sensitive tariffsbut even so It will be cheaper than manufacturing them in the US or facing the huge tariffs applied to Chinese imports. Mission almost impossible. The example of the iPhone is clear, but there is a especially striking one: The T1 Phone which was announced a week ago told us about a completely assembled mobile in the US, and that would also have specifications Very notable (although it does not indicate which soc will rule it). The surprising thing is that the mobile will theoretically cost $ 499 and will be available in August, but it seems absolutely impossible to do so fulfilling all those promises. Everything points to an obvious solution: that in reality that mobile that presumes to be manufactured in the US is not manufactured in the US, but rather – like almost always – in China. In Xataka | The Ford Factory in Almussafes had been in a permanent strip and loosen for years. Now has another problem: tariffs

The hunt that still resists in Iran more than 40 years after his arrival. It is not Russian or Iranian. It is the American F-14

by

While the missiles cross the air between Israel and Iran, the Israeli Air Force has confirmed A new attack on facilities close to Tehran. According to its version, among the objectives there were at least a couple of fighters F-14 Tomcat. In one of the available videos, the impact on what would be one of the few units that are still in service, almost half a century after having been manufactured. That an American hunt retired in 2006 Keep flying today in one of Washington’s great adversaries is no accident. The explanation is in the convoluted – sometimes contradictory – that history can be. An order, a revolution and a war The History of F-14 in Iran begins in the 70s. The SHA, still strategic ally of the United States, decided to incorporate Dozens of Tomcat fighters to its Air Force, in a military package valued at approximately 2,000 million dollars. To do this, he sent his pilots to train in California. But everything changed in 1979, with the Islamic revolution. The relationship between Iran and the United States deteriorated quickly. Ayatolá Ruhollah Jomeiní ordered the arrest of many of those pilots and left the F-14 on land. But the situation took a new turn in 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran. The authorities decided to free the aviators, and began a career to counterreloj for reactivating a fleet for which there were no longer spare parts. An Iranian pilot next to an F-14 Now, keeping an F-14 in flight is not an easy task. Every flight hour required many more maintenanceand many of its components were impossible to manufacture locally. No access to Western technology, Iran resorted to smugglers, to the black market … And also, in a maneuver as surprising as documented, to the United States. During the 80s, within the framework of the scandal Iran-contextsthe Ronald Reagan administration He secretly authorized The sale of weapons to Tehran in exchange for the release of hostages. Iranian Tomcats equipped with multiple missiles in full flight Today, almost half a century after that SHA request, the F-14 Tomcat It continues to appear In Iran. There are no official figures on how many are or how many are really operational. Some have seen in parades. Others, in blurred videos. And now, according to Israel, at least two would have been destroyed in a recent attack near Tehran. Israeli Air Force announced the impact on Iranian F-14 with this publication That an F-14 is still present in 2025 is not just a technical rarity. It is a string of how convoluted the story can be. A hunt designed for US carriers, designed to face the Soviet Union and retired almost twenty years ago, still appears – in one way or another – in one of the most serious military tensions of the moment. Tomcat was a technological feat. But he is also an unlikely survivor: he went from ally to enemy, he sustained thanks to improvised engineers, to clandestine networks, and the carelessness of those who tried to leave him on the ground forever. Images | Nasim News Agency | Iriaf | Shahram Sharifi | IIAF 2 US Navy (via Wikimedia Commons) In Xataka | If the question is how much the iron dome of Israel can endure, the answer is simple: much more than Iran’s defenses

An American physicist has found a shortcut to get to Mars in 90 days. It is key to surviving radiation

by

The long flight will be One of the many risks that astronauts who travel to Mars in front. SIX TO NINE MONTHS Broken the safe radiation limit that NASA establishes as acceptable: 600 msv. The problem would be forgotten if you could get to Mars in just 90 days. And you can with current technology, according to recent research. Conventional chemistry, record times. The physicist Jack Kingdon, a researcher at the University of California, has published in the magazine Scientific Reports A proposal that breaks with the provisions of trips to Mars. Normally, a flight to the red planet requires between six and nine months, which raises multitude of challenges for exposure to radiation. With Kingdon’s trajectory, 90 days per path would suffice. The most surprising thing is that their calculations are based on the classic method to optimize interplanetary trajectories (Lambert’s problem) and do not depend on futuristic engines, but on a current chemical rocket: the Spacex starship. Two crew and four loading ships. The proposal is a monumental scale. The mission to Mars would require six ships: two crew and four loads that would travel separately. To put them on the route, they would take about 45 Starship pitches within two to three weeks, a rhythm that, although ambitious, fits with Spacex’s plans to massively climb their operations. A gas station in space. The real logistics challenge would occur in the low terrestrial orbit. There, a starship-cistern fleet (ships dedicated exclusively to transport fuel) would perform a complex dancing of reposses: The two manned starship would need about 15 reposses each to load the 1,500 tons of propellant that will allow them to take the rapid trajectory. The four load starship, aimed at carrying the equipment and supplies, would receive only four reposses each and would be sent to Mars in a slower and lower energy consumption trajectory. The shortcut. Once full of methane and liquid oxygen, the two crew ships would turn on their engines to escape the earth’s orbit. They would cover a high -energy Lambert type trajectory required by an ΔV ≈ 4.6 km/s, which translates into a 90 -day flight time. Just before being captured by the severity of Mars, the ships would make a key ignition to stop, reducing their input speed of about 9.7 km/sa about 6.8 km/s. The Martian atmosphere would be in charge of dissipating the rest of the energy by aerocapture, a maneuver in which the ship “brushes” the atmosphere to stop without spending fuel. Finally, a brief ignition of the engines would allow a propulsive landing on the surface. The study demonstrates that this scheme is mathematically possible for the 2035 launch window, but it depends on Spacex dominating two critical technologies: the cryogenic orbital refueling on a large scale and hyperbolic aerocapture. And the return? An even more complex plan. If the idea is to return, the mission becomes much bold. First, a fuel production plant should be established on Mars (As Sabatier reactors) to manufacture methane and oxygen from CO₂ and the ice of the planet. The return plan implies that the manned ship take off from the surface of Mars and entered orbit. There, the load ships, which arrived previously, would also take off to act as cisterns in the Martian orbit, transferring all the necessary fuel to the manned ship for its 90 -day trip back to the earth. Not everyone shares optimism. The study identifies a viable return window in 2037. However, not everyone shares optimism. The own Paper recognizes that his proposal collides with the vision of agencies such as NASA, which has historically shown preference for nuclear propulsion For fast missions to Mars, a technology that, according to the author of the study, still has a low maturity and great regulatory obstacles. All this, of course, whenever the goal is to return. Recall that Elon Musk’s idea is to send robots first and then volunteers to build a self -sufficient city on the red planet. Image | Spacex In Xataka | All the technical challenges that we must solve if we want to achieve the greatest feat of the human being: get to Mars

Xiaomi is not alone in his plan to sweep American technology of his electric cars. Xpeng is stepping on his heels

by

2025 is being a Year of challenges for Chinese companies. The country is accelerating in its effort by reduce American dependenceand the semiconductor industry is the main key to achieve it. Who dominates knowledge in chips will dominate the world. Xiaomi knows it and the design of his own chip, the Xring 01It is proof of this. It is a very different approach to that of Huawei, vetoed of American technology, since He has achieved this milestone with the help of TSMC. The company claimed to be working on its own chips for electric cars, in an exercise to reduce dependence on companies such as Qualcomm or Nvidia. They are not alone in this battle: Xpeng A SUV has just launched in China with a processor signed by the company. The XPEng G7. Before understanding the chip, it is convenient to understand who its bearer is. The company launched the G7 yesterday in Chinaan electric SUV that points directly to Tesla Model Y. Double battery, autonomy of 702 kilometers according to the Chinese homologation cycle and 292 hp of power and … three Turing chips designed by Xpeng. One of the XPEng pillars is in the assisted driving, so far vitaminated by Nvidia chips. The manufacturer remains small compared to Gigantes such as Byd or Geely, but their message is clear: they want to be leaders in autonomous driving technologies. THE THREE TURING CHIPS. In honor of the computer legend, Alan Turing, the three chips that this electric car incorporates their name. According to Xpeng, each of its chips triples the processing capacity of a conventional chip: its three Turing chips are equivalent to Nine Nvidia Drive On chipsone of the most used platforms by manufacturers that are committed to the autonomous vehicle. Platform, by the way, with more than three years of life. Xpeng took five years to develop Turing. “There are so many different chips in a car that, when we decided to make internal chips, we decided to go for the most challenging, and that is the chip of AI,” we also think if we should take over during the trip, since the cost is too high. “ The joint capacity of these chips, according to Xpeng, is more than 2,000 tops (more than 700 tops per chip), a capacity that triples the 250 tops of the Nvidia Drive Orin chips launched in 2022. This capacity makes it a vehicle capable of running autonomous level 3 driving functions of level 3, although they are not active. Why is it important. The XPEng movement settles a clear trend of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers: commitment to national chips to avoid dependence with NVIDIA and other US manufacturers. They have not transcended details about the external function that manufactures the chips for Xpeng, but it is known Both Nvidia and Xpeng have had an engineers in recent years. Xpeng has been working on an own software platformwhich works together on an integrated platform with the most advanced hardware in Some of its vehicles: Lidar sensorshigh resolution cameras, millimeter wave radars. Interior of the XPEng G7. They are not alone. Xiaomi has claimed to be working on his own chips, the Chinese giant Nio announced last year his first internal intelligent driving chip, the SHENJI NX9031built with an architecture of 5 nanometers, and Huawei develops its own chips to nurture brands such as Aito, Luxeed and Maextro. The key is that both Xiaomi and Nio do not seem to close alliances with US partners. The Shenji Nx9031 and its 5NM process chiva that It has not been manufactured by SMIC or within China. This mixed exercise allows, while the United States continues to provide access to its technology, not to depend for the design and implementation of the chip, although for its manufacture. Spain rubs its hands. Xpeng recently brought its XPEng G6, G9 and P7 to Spain, so nothing prevents G7 from landing in our territory. The company is looking for factories in Europe To avoid tariff pressure, and intends to expand by markets beyond your native country. Image | Xpeng In Xataka | Xpeng P7, the new “Chinese Tesla” promises 706 km of autonomy and level 3 of autonomous driving

There are no diesel motorcycles for a very long list of reasons. This American brand doesn’t care about a single of them

by

Motorcycles are not gasoline by whim. They are because diesel engines are unfeasible For the very nature of the behavior of a motorcycle, although there are those who have determined to resurrect a concept that, every time it has tried, has not managed to go beyond the anecdote. Why my motorcycle is gasoline. There is a very long list for motorcycles to bet on gasoline and not by diesel: the first is that they are designed to have a relatively content size and weight that allows them to be driven. Diesel engines are heavier that gasoline engines due to their compression ratio (burn with much more pressure and inevitably need more resistant and heavy materials). They also work in a very low range of revolutions, ideal to minimize consumption, but with much less response for a vehicle born to be agile and sportsto a greater or lesser extent. An industry that seeks to be profitable. They are also more complex to manufacture and maintainan especially important cocktail in an industry that sells much less than that of the car and operates in reduced volumes. In short, the motorcycle industry has focused on gasoline engines Because of its ease to extract power in low displacement, the advantage in weight-power relation, and the finely important performance in a vehicle in which, literally, we have the engine under the legs. Diesel attempts. Attempts to create a diesel motorcycle are over a hundred years old. Already in 1904, Holland created a diesel engine with a single cylinder, 2 hp of power and turned to 700 rpm. It was basically a bicycle with the support of a small engine Since then, there have been multiple attempts to make the diesel motorcycle profitable. The giant Royal Enfield He was one of them, with his 350cc diesel bullet. The conclusion they obtained was clear: “Although the sales of our gasoline motorcycles grow with the market, diesel have not followed the pace. It was a niche product. Now I don’t think we continue with the motorcycle” They are, everything is said. Axiom diesel cycles wants to try again. Matthew Lach, creator of AXIOM DIESEL CYCLEShe continues to believe in the dream of diesel motorcycles, and has materialized his own concept. Your company has been manufacturing custom motorcycles with this type of engines since 2019. Real, for street and perfectly accessible … for anyone who wants to pay them. And it is that the price of one of their custom diesel has a price that is around $ 50,000. There is not a single motorcycle in the generalist market that is around this figure, not even the supercar or The most enviable market trail. What you take. Far from offering a competitive engine in features regarding Its Custom Competitorsthe vision of this company is particular. It offers a three -cylinder engine, a thousand cubic centimeters and … 24cv of power. Exclusivity, an aesthetic achieved and, what noses, a diesel engine, is what this manufacturer offers that, for the moment, only sells in the United States. Image | AXIOM DIESEL CYCLES In Xataka | A hybrid engine that works with diesel and hydrogen. There are those who believe it is the future to clean heavy transportation

The choice of the first American Pope has nothing casual in it

by

Sinodal Church, blessing of gay marriages, sacraments for divorced, celibacy, deacons women … the first hours of the pontificate of Robert Francis Prevost (Now and for eternity, Leo XIV) have been marked by The debate The elucubrations on their ideological coordinates and to what extent it will advance or put the reverse in the measures promoted by Francisco I. Beyond religious issues, the new Pope has before him another cyclopean task of a much more mundane nature: to replace The huge financial mess in which the Vatican is plunged and in which The powerful church The US can play a key role. The task is not less if they are taken into account open wounds With the most conservative sector of the American Church during the Pontificate of Francisco I. In his favor, Leo XIV has an important factor: he knows the country well, its culture and its prelates. After all, he was born in The Bronzeville neighborhoodin Chicago Question of faith (and money). The Vatican is the heart of Catholic Christianity, but also a complex and prone economic challenge with which Francisco I had to deal during his 12 years of pontificate, just as he will have to do it from now on León XIV. Although the Roman Catholic Church handles a lavish portfolio of real estate, art and investments and the Vatican bank manages assets by value of value of value of billions of dollarsthe Holy See Receive income basically from Three sources: Donations, entries to museums and investments and the performance obtained with its property portfolio. The picture is complex, but usually all “Task lists” which must assume Leo XIV include two priorities: to advance in the improvement of the supervision and transparency of finance initiated by Francisco I and face the deficit of the Holy See. In An article entitled “The financial mess of the Vatican that Francisco could not solve”, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) slides two revealing data on an “more and more indebted microstate”: its budget deficit has grown with Bergoglio and Your pension fund supports A millionaire liabilities. Red numbers in Rome. The theme has been very present these weeks in Rome. And it is logical. In September Francisco sent A letter to their cardinals in which they asked them “greater effort” to “that the ‘zero deficit’ is not just a theoretical objective” and advocated the “cost reduction”. In another posterior letter Bergoglio went further and faced another fundamental issue, the delicate health of the Vatican pension box. All this between news of the Salary cut of the prelates or information that have come to place the Holy See “On the verge of bankruptcy”. Last summer the newspaper The repudica revealed That in 2023 the Vatican registered an operational deficit of 83 million euros, five more than the previous year, with a short -term perspective not especially flattering given the evolution of donations. As for the pension system hole, over the last months different data has been published, but they are not usually flattering: The Pilar Calculate that a decade ago its undefined liabilities amounted to almost 1.5 billion euros and Reuters talks about a deficit of 631 million In 2022. In search of donations. In addition to seeking greater transparency and supervision in finance, Francisco proposed Another challenge Before dying: achieve more donations. In fact, days before he entered the hospital, he ordered the creation of a “donation commission for the Holy See.” The movement is understandable. The income received by the Holy See through its museum network suffered a varapalo with the pandemic and in 2024, according to Reutersthe Vatican reported a profits of 45.9 million with their investments. The other crucial leg in the financial architecture of the Holy See are donations, which throughout the last decade have remained on average in the 45 million euros Annual, although some year that figure has come to exceed 70 million. His contribution to the Vatican coffers is fundamental. According to the data provided by the Vatican in 2023 the bottom of the San Pedro Obol It reached an income of 52 million euros, of which 48.4 correspond to offerings and the remaining 3.6 to financial income achieved with the remuneration of goods. Two data: 52 and 109.4. In The statement Shared by Vatican News, the information portal of the Holy See, it is underlined that compared to 2022 donations increased by almost five million euros, but that does not prevent the balance sheet from being bittersweet: the agency itself recognizes that the total expenses were much superior and amounted to 109.4 million euros. The data is interesting for several reasons. The first, because the background is dedicated to meet the needs of the Church and sustain initiatives. The second is because that deficit is not new and is added to the one already registered in previous exercises. In addition, although between 2022 and 2023 there was effectively an increase in donations, the obolus remains below the proceeds Just a decade ago. A crucial country: USA. The statement From the Vatican slides another important fact: most of these funds left diocese (31.2 million), well above the flow of private donors (2.1 million), foundations (13.9) or religious orders (1,2). What countries left the contributions? Because largely from the United States, from afar the greatest benefactor, with a contribution that in 2023 amounted to the 13.6 million euros28.1% of total income. Italy, secondly, contributed 3.1 million, and Brazil was the third with 1.9. Why that weight? Partly because the US is one of the countries with greater Catholic population from the world and its church has a strong financial muscle, which has conferred an influential role in the Church .. in September 2015, when Francisco had just two years of papacy, BBC I slipped now that the US parishes collected through Sunday donations about 8.5 billion euros per year. A good part of that money stays in the communities themselves, but still Jack Ruhl, professor at Western Michigan University, highlights the “important role” played … Read more

It will exempt some American chips from retaliation tariffs

by

On April 11, the Chinese government announced that it would apply some 125% tariffs to the products imported from the US. This measure was the expected response after the government led by Donald Trump gradually increased taxes About Chinese imports until reaching 145%. The commercial war had just entered its cruel phase, but shortly after, on April 14, the US decided to give a provisional respite to The technology industry. And it is that the Trump administration temporarily paralyzed tariffs linked to The import of semiconductorselectronic devices and some strategic components. Just a few hours ago the Xi Jinping government He has responded using the same US tone: exempting tariffs at least eight different categories of integrated circuits manufactured in the country governed by Donald Trump. Interestingly, memory chips are still in force. China has chosen to reduce tension and protect its supply chain The Chinese administration has taken approximately two weeks to approve this exemption from the moment it announced the implementation of the 125% tariffs to the products imported from the US, but has remedied it. Customs authorities have informed Chinese companies that tariffs that have paid between April 10 and 24 for semiconductors who are now exempt from taxes will be returned to them. The longevity of this measure will be linked to the decisions that the US government will make during the next weeks At the moment we do not know how long this measure will last, but in all likelihood its longevity will be linked to The decisions you will make during the next few weeks The US government. In fact, the latter has anticipated that within a period not exceeding two months will announce to which tariffs they will be subjected Imported chips. In any case, this decision has two very beneficial consequences for China. On the one hand it relieves the pressure on their own economy by allowing their companies to import without additional taxes some critical integrated circuits that at the moment do not produce the manufacturers of local semiconductors. In addition, at the current situation this strategy allows China to protect its own supply chain. If all the chips designed or manufactured in the US had a 125% tariff load the tension to which it would be subjected China’s supply chain would be hardly bearable. All probability this would trigger a critical chip shortage that would degrade the competitiveness of Chinese companies. This measure of the Xi Jinping government is clearly a tactical adjustment. It maintains the pressure on some chips from the US, but, at the same time, it avoids shortage in its internal market for essential integrated circuits. More information | SCMP In Xataka | China has a new hydrogen pump. It is so destructive that it seems nuclear

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

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

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

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