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Whether we can call vegetable burgers “burgers” (and they look like they will last for years)

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Can a food that is does not contain meat? Is a tofu sausage really a “sausage”? When a manufacturer keeps those old terms in its new products, is it misleading consumers or is it making it easier for itself? The debate comes from afar (from very far away), but seems to be clear for the current European Chamber, exit from the polls in 2024: Plant-based food is one thing and the terms associated with meat are another, so it’s best to separate them. What is not so clear is that it can settle the discussion. Words (and something else). Europe’s food industry has been involved in a debate that has little to do with the raising of livestock, the regulation of agriculture, the competition of other markets or the health of consumers. His main obsession is words. Literally. If an oat drink can be called “milk”, tofu “sausages” must be presented as such or a vegan “burger” is not more of a “vegetable disc”. It may seem like a bureaucratic issue, but there is something more at stake than language: the right to label new products with old labels that are also clearly recognizable by consumers. And that’s gold when it comes to competing in supermarkets. Hence the debate on denominations (far from ceasing) has just written a new and important chapter in Strasbourg. 355 vs 247. What the European Parliament has done is to support with 355 votes in favor (against 247 against and 30 abstentions) an initiative that proposes prohibiting terms such as “hamburger”, “schnitzel”, “steak” or “sausage” from being used on foods that do not contain any meat. In other words, those words (well recognized by customers after decades of use) remain out of the reach of new companies dedicated to marketing food. plant based. “A steak, a schnitzel or a sausage are products of our livestock, not laboratory art or plant products. We need transparency and clarity for the consumer, as well as recognition of the work of our farmers,” claim the MEP Celine Imartauthor of the amendment to community legislation. Imart represents France, the country that clearer is insisting on change, and is also part of the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP). If the proposal has achieved the endorsement of Strasbourg, it is precisely because of the support it has received from the right after the pressure exerted by the livestock and agricultural sectors. In front he met the rejection of the left and the Greens. And now what? That the initiative has received the endorsement of the European Parliament does not mean that the packages advertising hamburgers based on tofu and seitan will disappear, nuggets vegetables or tofu sausages. For this, it is necessary for the proposal to obtain the endorsement of the European Commission and the governments of the 27 countries of the community club. It will now be up to the Commission and the Council to negotiate the measure and (if applicable) approve the initiative and translate it into law. It won’t be easy. And not only because of the rejection of other political formations. The European People’s Party itself does not have a firm position on the matter, as its leader in the European Parliament, the German, has made clear. Manfred Weberwho before the vote acknowledged that he does not believe it is a priority issue. “Consumers are not stupid when they go to the supermarket to buy,” he stressed. The fact that new plant-based foods have to do without terms like “burger” or “steak” has also raised the opposition from large companies in the sector, such as Aldi and Lidl. In September a group of companies including both German chains, Burger King, Green Force and the sausage producer Rügenwalder Múhle (among others) launched an open letter in which they warn that the legislative change “goes against the objective of achieving a resilient and diversified food supply”, “weakens” the rights of customers and “harms companies”. “The proposal results in making it more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions. Familiar terms are practical aids that allow them to make conscious purchasing decisions,” concludes the letter. Click on the image to go to the tweet. (Much) more than a vote. That does not mean that the European Parliament’s vote is a dead letter. At the very least, it reveals that the debate is still very much alive in the European institutions, where it has already accumulated a long legislative history with frustrated attempts, extensive discussions and measures that have come to fruition. Among the last ones is the decision adopted by the Court of Justice of the EU in 2017 on the use of dairy terms for plant-based products, such as soy or oat drinks. The agency concluded that only products of animal origin could use terms such as “milk,” “butter” or “yogurt.” Better “vegetable discs”? Since then the debate around the use of terms associated with meat has continued to rage over the EU. Five years ago the European Parliament already discussed a similar initiative within the framework of the CAP reform, which led the sector to fear that vegetable sausages or hamburgers would have to be renamed “vegetable tubes or discs“. The change of denominations it didn’t go ahead in the House, but its defenders have never thrown in the towel. In 2024 European justice had to speak out against France’s decision to ban words like “steak” on plant foods, and this spring the issue arose during a review of the regulation. Common Organization of Markets. What will happen from now on? For now, Imart and his supporters have achieved a significant victory in Strasbourg, largely driven by the endorsement of a European Parliament. more heeled to the right than five years ago. Curiously, the measure seems to generate more concern in institutional offices and companies than on the street, where the use of the terms does not keep people up at night. This is revealed by a survey carried out five years ago by the European … Read more

Microsoft believed that the purchase of Activision was a round business. A year later I lost 300 million for ‘Call of Duty’

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The clients of Game Pass They are still trying to recover from the impressive 50% rise of the Ultimate mode rate in the service. A spectacular climb that moves Microsoft’s proposal away from that buffet Economic games of all kinds That once it was, and that he has his clients since then circling a single question: why? And although Microsoft has not yet made anything clear, there are some issues that already have an answer. 300 million. Game Pass had rare He arrived at the service on day onesomething only possible thanks to the purchase of activation by Microsoft. However, it was still extraordinary: ‘Call of Duty’ was, thanks to that acquisition, The most valuable property that Xbox had in its portfolio. And now it was available for all Game Pass users without additional cost. According to Bloombergthe experiment cost Microsoft 300 million dollars. Internal affairs. This movement is the last and most striking of this type that Xbox has given, determined to drown its rivals with strategies that meant a high cost in sales. Bloomberg states That, as seven anonymous informants have told the environment, getting as powerful as powerful as’Forza Horizon 5‘ either ‘Halo infinite‘Internal fractures already supposed due to the important sales that were lost by placing these games available to all Game Pass subscribers. According to The Vergethe discussion about ‘Black Ops 6’ was even greater, and it was not for less. In An interview with Windows CentralBobby Kotick, an Activision Ex-Cecement, already claimed that due to having spent his career in Los Angeles, he had seen with disgust how “large media companies had transferred their contents to these subscription streaming services, which had negatively affected business results.” The story was repeated. It was clear. Ign counted at the time That the movement triggered the subscriptions to Game Pass, as expected, and the ‘Cod’ itself went up: 23% more than the previous delivery, ‘Modern Warfare 3’. But there is an important nuance: 82% of those sales were in PlayStation, in opposition to Xbox and PC. Yes, subscriptions had risen, as expected, but not enough: just 16%. According to The calculations that Kotaku doesto compensate for the 300 million copies of the game that Activision (and therefore, Microsoft) did not sell, it would have needed an impossible: 15 million new monthly subscribers to Game Pass (or 1.25 per year). Drink for pain. Again, according to Kotaku calculations, the remarkable price increase in the Ultimate rate relieves these numbers for Microsoft: it would need 10 million new subscribers to compensate for those losses. Something that, without a doubt, is far from the possibilities of the service, but we get an idea of ​​to what extent the climb was an urgent need for Microsoft. Bloomberg states that Microsoft Amy Hood’s CFO has asked the division of games to find more ways to raise benefits, so new increases are not ruled out at all, inclusion of advertising or limitations in the characteristics of the Tiers cheaper to encourage subscribers to pass to Ultimate. A purchase at all. Everything summarizes well in the statements of the specialized analyst Joost Van Dreunen: “Game Pass has not provided the explosive growth that Microsoft anticipated in the post-Compra of Activision era, and they have realized that their structural costs do not align with their pricing model.” That is, Microsoft foresaw a notable impulse of subscriptions thanks to blows to the table such as the arrival of ‘Black Ops 6’, and it has not been so. Crisis policy is approaching in Microsoft (which, by the way, states that He does not leave his plans to continue in the hardware business) and, without a doubt, it will have an impact on our pocket. In Xataka | The portable Xbox is finally a reality. The only unimportant detail is that it is not exactly an xbox

Call of Duty announces a film, with which he will make a leap to the void, going beyond the children’s audience of other adaptations

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It was clear: after the successes of ‘A Minecraft movie‘ either ‘Super Mario Bros.: The movie‘We were going to see new video game adaptations. AND ‘Call of Duty‘It was one of the undisputed franchises to receive a version on the big screen. Although his announcement also involves a distancing from other projects: a more adult series, with more serious themes, and that opens new ways for what could be the next great Hollywood reef. Paramount points. The renewed Paramount, now under Skydance’s wings, is the one that will be responsible for producing this adaptation of the Activision saga, which will appear in the movie’s credits as an advisor to everything that comes out on the screen. It is a turn that is not surprising coming from the producer: one of her last great hits in cinema was’Top Gun: Maverick‘, so it has all the meaning that wants to continue exploiting the war aesthetics with a franchise settled in the past. It is not the first time that Paramount tries, however: in 2018 he already tried to put an adaptation of ‘Call of Duty’ standing with the director of ‘Sicario 2’, Stefano Sollina, on board. A lifelong fan. On this adaptation, David Ellison, CEO of Paramount, said in statements that Deadline collects “As a fan of ‘Call of Duty’ of a lifetime, this is a dream come true. From the first allied campaigns in the original ‘Call of Duty’, going through ‘Modern Warfare’ and ‘Black Ops’, I have spent countless hours playing this franchise.” And makes the inevitable comparison: “We are addressing this film with the same discipline and the same unwavering commitment to excellence that guided our work in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, making sure that it meets the exceptionally high standards that this franchise and its fans deserve.” Good new times. Today the times in which adapting a video game were almost synonymous with guaranteed failure (at least artistic) seem. The huge software sales promoted adaptations, but gave rise to fiascos such as ‘Super Mario Bros.’ or ‘Street Fighter’ (today claimed as cult films, and both with new versions that – at least in the case of Mario – have cleaned the image of the franchises). Recall that for a while, the one who was considered a nefarious director, Uwe Boll, insisted on adapting a video game after another. Not everything is terrible. Despite the bad reputation of adaptations, we have had good films from the beginning: the first ‘Mortal Kombat’ is a great version and The ‘Resident Evil’ sagawith its ups and downs, it is full of humor, imagination and springs (and The despised 2021 adaptation It was great). ‘Silent Hill’ is remembered for its powerful macabra imagery and Lara Croft’s versions … well, they have not aged at all well but they are esteemed adventure films, and the 2018 version was very defensible. But none of that prepared us for the dump at the box office that would hit films such as those mentioned, to which successes such as ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’, ‘Uncharted’ or Pokémon movies, which we forget about them and although there is an anime through them are added, video games are part of their DNA. Adult cinema. All of them, however, have something in common: they are films oriented to children or, at most, to the family member. ‘Call of Duty’ is, therefore, a risk to which the sequelae of ‘Sonic’ are alien, for example. Paradoxically, franchise players are young and even There is an important group that is between 11 and 20. Paramount, however, may not want to escape the possibility of attracting spectators in a broader range of ages, with a more serious and violent film. If you get even more the arch of the spectators, you can have a real triumph on your hands. Header | Activision In Xataka | An urbanization was deserted in Valencia after the real estate bubble. Some geniuses have made it ‘Call of Duty’

The most complex nuclear reactor in the world is underway in the United Kingdom. His critics directly call him “a monster”

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Two figures are enough to understand the scope of the British challenge: 38,000 million investment pounds and six million homes fed with nuclear electricity for sixty years. This presents Sizewell C, the center that Downing Street describes as a clean energy and employment engine. His detractors, on the other hand, see it as a financial well and the last attempt to give life to a nuclear design so complex that in France it already call it “the monster.” The crown jewel. The objective of the British government is to double the nuclear capacity of the country by 2050 and guarantee a stable supply of low carbon energy. Sizewell C, With two EPR type reactors (European pressurized reactor), is the key piece of that strategy. According to the BBCthe project is the successor of Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, which accumulates a decade of delays and a runaway cost: more than 18,000 million pounds planned in 2010 to about 46,000 million today. Minister Rachel Reeves declared The Guardian that investment is “a powerful support to the United Kingdom as the best place to do business and as a global center of nuclear energy.” Instead, Henri Proglio, former director of the French electric EDF – developmentator of the project -, assured the Financial Times that the reactor design is “scary” and “almost impossible to build.” Faced opinions. The detractors have it clear. Proglio describes it as “a machine with more reinforcement rods than concrete.” Another engineer, Also cited in the FThe spoke of a “colossal error.” And Greenpeace warned the BBC That this time will be taxpayers, not EDF, who pay the inevitable cost overruns. But there are also moderate voices. Tony Roulstone, Professor of Cambridge and exejecutive of Rolls-Royce, declared to FT That Sizewell could be ready “one or two years before Hinkley” and cost 20 % less. Thanks to the fact that much of the design is already tested since the supply chain was consolidated in Somerset. There are already works in Suffolk. The project is not just paper. In Suffolk, 1,700 operators are already working in preliminary works, According to the Financial Times. The first one: a perimeter wall 55 meters deep and 3 kilometers long to drain the marsh before placing the foundations. In addition, Hinkley errors will be avoided. This time the concrete structures will be pregnant in workshops and not in the work, which should accelerate the deadlines. Even so, the official calendar – entered into operation in the middle or end of the 2030s – raises doubts. Flamanville, in France, and Hinkley have shown that deadlines in projects of this type are usually wet paper, As Critica Nils Pratley in his column for The Guardian. It is very complex. It is more complex than it seems to the naked eye. EPR are nuclear reactors of generation III+, the result of Franco-German collaboration between EDF and Siemens. According to World Nuclear Associationare designed to offer a net electrical power of between 1,600 and 1,650 MW, although they can reach 1,770 MW. In addition, they incorporate advanced security measures: double containment, four independent cooling systems, a Core Catcher to catch the nucleus in case of merger, and structural capacity to resist impacts and earthquakes, in addition to diesel generators and backup batteries that guarantee operability to multiple failures. They also stand out for greater energy efficiencyconsuming up to 17% less fuel than old reactors and producing up to 14% more energy. All this with a projected life of 60 years. This technical complexity is, at the same time, a strength in terms of safety and efficiency, and a challenge for the delays and costs that it has shown in its construction. The invoice reaches the British pocket. The cost of the central already exceeds twice the first estimates, According to BBC. The majority (36.6 billion) will be covered with public debt through the National Fund of Wealth. While the financing is distributed among the State (the largest shareholder with 44.9%), followed by the Canadian Caisse (20%), Centrica (15%), EDF (12.5%) and Amber Infrastructure (7.6%). The great novelty is the “Regulated Assets Base” model (Rab) in which households will begin to pay £ 1 per month in their electrical invoices for at least a decade, Julia Pyke explained to the BBC. This scheme mainly protects investors, As Nils Pratley recalled in The GuardianCentrica ensures returns of more than 10% even if the costs reach 47.7 billion pounds; Any excess will be assumed by taxpayers. France already tried. Although with problems. The first French EPR reactor, Flamanville 3, in Normandy, connected to the network In December 2024 after 12 years of delays and with a final cost of € 13.2 billion, four times budgeted. As explained in Financial Timesthe French experience forced to redesign the concept, so EDF no longer prioritizes the EPR, but the EPR2, a simplified and cheaper version that hopes to build in six units here to 2038. Meanwhile, in China they have shown that its Taishan center that has operated for years with an EPR of 1.75 GW, is one of the most powerful reactors in the world. A continent that turns nuclear. The British bet arrives in a contradictory European context. Germany He closed his last central in 2023 and Spain plans to close them in 2027. France, on the contrary, Maintain nuclear as a pillar (70 % of its electricity) and accelerates new EPR2 projects. The board moves: under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Germany has stopped blocking France and accepts that the nuclear receives the same treatment as renewables in EU legislation. The agreement includes giving “green” status to pink hydrogen and opens the door to European financing, although Austria continues against and countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands reevaluate their policies. In the midst of this continental debate, the United Kingdom, outside the EU, advances alone with Sizewell C: an EPR that even EDF has relegated in favor of the EPR2, while in Europe the SMR and nuclear fusion gain space. … Read more

A century of herbivores at ease was ending with Yellowstone. Salvation was logical: call the wolf

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‘Jurassic Park‘He has memorable moments, but perhaps a phrase is the one that fell me the most in his day: “Life makes its way”The problem is that the hand of man exercises Too much influence on natureand the Yellowstone park It is an excellent example of how an ecosystem that was regulated perfectly was twisting due to a decision made 100 years ago: eradicate the wolves. Consequence? May the park run out of trees. And to turn to the tortilla, the researchers had an idea: return to repopble Yellowstone with wolves. Yellowstone in short. The arrival of European settlers to the North American west caused the expansion of the agriculture and, above all, livestock (With grazing and the Basques carrying the reins). The enemy of cattle was the wolf, since it was a direct threat and, due to its vital role for the local economy, extermination campaigns began to be carried out. The result was that, by 1930, the wolves (as well as other predators such as pumas, coyotes and bears) practically disappeared from some areas such as Yellowstone. Even the army is implied. If the predators disappear, those that were their prey have free field to reproduce without control, and that caused that alces and deer proliferate, creating a huge imbalance in the population of herbivores and, therefore, in the flora of the park. In the end, overparation and a overpopulation of wild herbivores caused the trees to disappear from Yellowstone. Lobos, to curra. The trees that worried were the scenes and it is not a matter of the alces to stay without food. How can we read in Oregon State UniversityThey are vital elements for birds that nest in them and for beavers, among other species. Thus, in 1995 the decision of V was madeOlver to incorporate those predators to the ecosystem. Lobos, Bears and Pumas, another predator practically removed from the area, returned to the place they should never abandon, and the results have not taken to appear. Results. Luke Painter, professor of ecology and conservation at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Oregon, comments that “The reintroduction of great carnivores has started a recovery process that had been paralyzed for decades. ” studyThey detail that the “price” is the sustained decrease in population of the Cervus canadensisallowing the quarrels to experience exceptional growth. This “trophic waterfall” examined 87 rhods of poplars in northern Yellowstone, finding that 43% of them presented a new population of small trees between five and ten centimeters in diameter, being the first positive count since the 1940s. They comment that the density of grazing remains the dominant factor for the regeneration of poplar, but that that Introduction of predators has relieved the load that herbivores exert in the ecosystem. In addition, the study rules out changes in the climate as the main cause of that recovery, once again influencing the importance of the reintroduction of the wolf as the element that has caused “changes in the distribution of the ALCE, giving rise to recovery”. The Wolf as a lever. Not everyone is on that ship. A previous study On the part of researchers at Utah State University and the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point put on the table that, although the role of the wolf had been important for the recovery of poplar, its role was exaggerated due to the way in which previous measurements were made. But what has happened in Yellowstone is not an isolated story. That persecution of the wolf has been lived in other areas and, in Europe, due to its impact on livestock, they are also promulgated laws for extermination. The ecological consequences are similar to the views in Yellowstone and, in Scotland, there is an overpopulation of red deer that are ending local forests. At a time when we need trees so that They catch co₂it is already being raised release more than 150 wolves in the ‘Highlands’ Scottish to control deer and save forests. While some release them… But as we are condemned to repeat the story, at the end of 2024, the Permanent Committee of the Bern agreement voted in favor of reduce wolf protection status. This makes it “strictly protected” to “protected”, which opens the door to A desire on the part of certain parliamentariansfarmers and hunters: that can bother the wolf. And not with paint ballsas in Netherlands. In Xataka | Russia has found a frozen wolf 44,000 years ago “in perfect condition.” First decision: open it

No one knew what happened for 12 years in a Volkswagen ranch in the Brazilian jungle. Until a priest made a call

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During the darkest years of the Brazilian military dictatorshipwhen the regime promoted at all costs the colonization of the Amazon under the flag of development, one of the largest multinationals on the planet expanded its automobile empire in Latin America. At the same time, he directed an ambitious livestock project deep in the jungle. That multinational was Volkswagen, and in 2019 a priest He revealed a tragedy. Awakening from a forgotten memory. The story was told this week The Washington Post In an extensive report. When in 2019 the priest and academic Ricardo Rezende Figueira read that Volkswagen Brazil was willing to Recognize and repair His complicity with the Brazilian military dictatorship for the political persecution of workers in factories, felt something missing. There was no mention of Vale do rio crystallinethe huge livestock farm of the company in the Amazonian jungle. That land of more than 140,000 hectares, where hundreds of workers were recruited under deceptionisolated, indebted, mistreated, tortured and forced to work in degrading conditions for more than a decade, it seemed to have been History erased. There are evidence. But Rezende, who in the 80s documented those abuses as part of his work with the Pastoral Commission of the Earthstill It kept the evidence: More than a thousand pages of testimonies, notarial statements, police reports and press clippings accumulated in your personal archive. After reading the news, the priest telephone to prosecutor Rafael Garciaspecialist in slave work at the Ministry of Labor. That call would resurrect one of the darker chapters of corporate advance in the Amazon. A jungle turned into hell. The documents that he rebounded delivered to the authorities offered a devastating radiography. Between 1974 and 1986, in full military dictatorship, Volkswagen Brazil (then the largest automotive in Latin America) promoted a Titanic livestock project With regime support: disassemble the jungle in Pará To raise 100,000 cattle, as part of a corporate ideal that the world not only needed cars, but also meat. To do this hired a subsidiaryVale do rio crystalline SA, whose leaders included the president of Volkswagen Brazil himself, Wolfgang Sauer. The company turned to the sadly famous cats (Informal recruiters) who promised good salaries to poor peasants, advanced money and transferred them in trucks to the jungle’s heart. Images of the Brazilian parliamentary delegation during his visit to the farm in 1983 A prison. Once there, the workers were locked in camps remote, forced to work under threat of armswithout medical attention, drinking contaminated water, exposed to malaria, living under plastics and indebted by food and medicines. Not just that. His movements were constantly monitored by armed inspectors. Thus, trying to escape was to face punishment, the disappearance or death. The file that challenged oblivion. For years, Rezende collected Men’s testimonies They escaped from that hell. The records talked about beatings, broken teeth, bare men in the jungle, bodies thrown in cavernseven workers Burned alive. A young man, Valdeci Alves Fumeiro, story Having spent seven years caught in the hacienda, sewn without anesthesia after a fall and forced to continue working. Volkswagen’s announcement in 1977 in Brazil urged other companies to become “neighbors” of their farm in the Amazon Silence. But despite multiple complaints, intelligence reports and official statements that recognized the existence of slave work on the property, never presented A single position penal. I remembered the post that the structure of complicity between companies, state and repressive force guaranteed impunity for decades. Rezee, however, persisted in his conviction: the file had to survive time, because one day he would return to light. And so it was. The prosecutor Garcia, when reviewing the documents, recognized in them the basis for an unprecedented judicial action. A rebuilt truth. The Prosecutor’s Office initiated a national search to locate the workers mentioned by Rezende. The effort fell to the young researcher Matheus Faustinowho toured remote communities for months until he found 14 of the 69 identified. Some, such as Francisco Rezende de Souza, had been devastated by experience: alcoholism, isolation, inability to reintegrate into life. Others, such as the Batista de Souza brothers, were separated and sold by cats even after Volkswagen will leave the project. One of them, Juldemar, was silent for life. Testimonies When in 2023 The trial began in a Federal Labor Court in Redenção, several of these men testified for the first time. “They sold us”, One said. “We slept under plastics,” I commented another. “Everyone was armed, we had to work.” Rezende also went up to the podium. He recalled the complaints since 1977, Volkswagen’s complicity for omission, and the systematic inaction of the State. What does the company say. For its part, Volkswagen Brazil He has flatly denied The accusations. He alleges that his role was merely the shareholder of a company that subcontracted others, and that at the time It did not detect irregularities. In his judicial writings, he argues that it is the government who must hold recruiters and not hold the company. But prosecutors argue that Volkswagen’s subsidiary It was an integral part of the parent company, and that the abuses were systematic and known. Internal documents They show that Volkswagen even organized visits to deny the complaints, while avoiding allowing inspections in the camps. According to the postthe most cynical statement came from the Swiss director of the ranch, Friedrich Brüggerwho in one Interview in 2017 He blamed the workers of his debt and justified the violence of cats as necessary to maintain order: “The Brazilian is a bad person,” declared. The company in Germany has kept silence. Fight for memory. Today, The judicial casewhich requires compensation for 30 million dollarsmarks the first time that the Brazilian State tries to legally hold A multinational by slavery Modern in the Amazon. But for Rezende, which exceeds 70 years and coordinates a Chair of Human Rights in Rio de Janeiro, it is not just a remuneration justice. It is a battle against oblivion. He underlined In the newspaper That each folder in his office … Read more

WhatsApp will allow companies to call you directly. The question is whether it will become another spam nest

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WhatsApp has announced An important update for its business platform that will allow large companies to make direct voice calls to users. The novelty also includes video calls and business voice messages, all enhanced by artificial intelligence in order to automate commercial interactions. What includes the update. Companies that use the WhatsApp Business platform can both receive customer calls and perform them directly in the future. This function adds to video calling capabilities, useful for telesalud consultations, and to send voice messages. Meta is also expanding its business functions, which include personalized recommendations of products and automated customer monitoring through Chat. Why is it relevant. WhatsApp Business already has more than 200 million monthly users and has become an important source of goal income. The company generates money through its click ads to WhatsApp and charges merchants for messaging functions. This expansion towards direct calls seeks to make WhatsApp a more complete business communication channel, especially in markets such as Brazil and India where it is already very popular for customer service. However, it also raises doubts in terms of safety and privacy for the user. We must also bear in mind that, over the last years, WhatsApp has become A very attractive focus on cybercriminals in order to cheat their victims with increasingly sophisticated techniques of Phishing. Of course, it is convenient to be cautious in a context in which the scams proliferate more than ever through the messaging app and in Spain, with traditional calls, where The Robinson list Try to limit unplayed commercial calls, it offers disparate results. Although goal seems to have everything under control over this new function. What does goal say about it. The company ensures that companies can only call users who have previously requested to be contacted and will work with certified partners for the deployment of these functionalities. Meta is also integrating WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram marketing tools on a single platform, which will allow companies to manage their campaigns centrally and optimize their advertising budgets. And now what. Although the function seeks to facilitate customer service and automate the answers Through the (Something that does not usually like the user), the success of this functionality will depend largely on how target implements the controls to avoid abuse. If the verification of companies is rigorous and the complaint mechanisms work correctly as the company indicates, it could become a useful tool for customer service. However, it does not hurt to stay alert to possible unplayed calls and be cautious with any request for personal or financial data that they receive through this route. Cover image | Goal In Xataka | Finally WhatsApp will use AI in something that will make many happy: to end the chaos of the messages without reading

The calls spam from numbers 600 and 700 will be prohibited from tomorrow. The question is where you will call you now

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Saturday, June 7. It is the date on which the normative reform through which the realization of commercial calls from numbers assigned to mobile lines comes into force It is prohibited. The Minister for Digital and Public Transformation advanced in mid -May two amendments to achieve it. From that date, the operators cannot call you from a 6xx number, they will have to do it from an 800 or 900. The question now is what number we can call. The change. Until now, companies had free way to Call you from phone numbers with prefix 6 or 7the same ones that have any individual on your mobile phone. It was a tactic that prevented the user from recognizing a first glance whether or not they were calling him from an advertising department, and one with which the Government will end immediately. From June 7, any call for commercial purposes must be made from a number with prefix 800 or 900. It will be the way we will have the Spaniards to recognize when they are calling us for advertising purposes. Additional to this measure, companies They can’t call you from foreign numbersnor formalize the closure of a contract by phone. The reactions. Digi, one of the operators that grows the most in Spain and aspires to occupy the national top 3 in the short term, It has been the first to move file. Until now, the company could contact the number 642 642 642 and 1200. With the new change, the new customer service is 919 120 120. All calls received from customer service will be from that 900, a practice that the rest of the operators will have to follow immediately to comply with the new regulation. At the moment, giants like Vodafone Where will you have to call you. As a consumer, when calling, change will affect you in cases where the company completely eliminates the number 600 for customer service. The law forces them to call you from 900, but does not prohibit that you call a 600. It will be necessary to inform themselves on the website of each of the companies to know how the changes have applied. Companies are obliged to replace this prefix for a 900 or 800 for their outgoing calls, but Digi has shown that “The easy number” (1200, 1004, 1444) which we always call will remain alive. It is a logical movement, since the legislation does not modify the numbers to those we call Consumers only affect numbers From those who call us. The problem. Although the government wants to reduce the impact of the so -called spam in Spain, the underlying problem remains alive: The consent. Even if you are in the Robinson list, you may receive calls from companies that you think you have not given permission. Sometimes, we have been able to give consent without even knowing it (having formalized a contract, giving a “yes” during a call, etc.). The foundations of “Legitimate interest” They are also diffuse. If the company calls to improve our service and offer discounts, It can be considered as a desired communication. Image | Digi In Xataka | I’m still receiving commercial calls: Why can you and what can you do to avoid telephone spam

An urbanization was deserted in Valencia after the real estate bubble. Some geniuses have made it ‘Call of Duty’

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The real estate bubble It has had, at least, a positive effect: abandoned residential areas are born to be born a sudden and sporadic new life when they are assaulted by groups of Airsoft fans, a kind of ‘Call of Duty’ in real life that could not aspire to more colorful and appropriate scenarios than those of site as seven waters. What is Airsoft? An activity that Simulates tactical fighting using reprisons of firearms that trigger small plastic balines. These weapons are Real -scale replicas but they do not entail danger (they cannot even be manipulated to become real weapons). The objective is to meet missions or eliminate the opposite team, and over time this hobby has diversified in different styles, ranging from the Recreation of historical battles to modern war clashes that remind it of ‘Call of Duty’. The unusual clash between the Airsoft and the real estate bubble. Airsoft is played in closed environments, which can range from areas specially designed to it to more open but security controls. For example, abandoned industrial areas or empty peoples are used. On many occasions the associations that organize Airsoft games run into legal requirements that require the delimitation of the pitch so that the balls do not exceed their limits or the express permit of the land owner and the corresponding licenses. Therefore, an area like seven waters is especially appreciated by fans. What is seven waters? Seven waters is A municipality in the province of Valencia54 kilometers from the capital and surrounded by a mountain natural environment. It has 1279 inhabitants and a remarkable story with vestiges of the Muslim era, but the most interesting for Airsoft practitioners is an unfinished urbanization where only the streets and about 50 homes were built. The constructions (whose future plans included 684 villas, a shopping center, a hotel and a golf course, all with US financing) They were paralyzed in 2007 for the outbreak of the real estate bubble, and although it is not the only area around seven waters that are abandoned (there are An empty village very close, the reatillo), is the only one that has been recycled for Airsoft practice. Legal Airsoft. The treatment that has reached the Airsoft Plairsoft association and the owner of the urbanizations It is simple and benefits all those involved: the area is rented as a space for sports use, which prevents cases of occupation and vandalism; The owner puts the basic elements of security and surveillance, and the nearby seven waters receive a thrust in its economy and dynamization of other activities (in the area It is practiced mountaineering, riding, Mountain Bikeparagliding and hiking), which take advantage of the natural environment. Zombi attraction park. In 3Dguegosour partner Rubén Márquez compared the reuse of this space to what a few years ago He could see in Detroit: a city with neighborhoods so abandoned that in its day the possibility of recycling them was raised as Zombi theme attraction park. That did not set to curdle, but it is inevitable to think of projects like that when we see men disguised as soldiers with plastic guns, in environments that could have been very close to habitability, with villas that on the outside seem almost functional. A zombie amusement park, but where the guns do not kill. Header | Plairsoft In Xataka | A new movement has emerged in the US: Current people with AR-15 rifles preparing for a social collapse

A call was enough

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While in Spain we tried to heat the food obtaining heat with shapes Alternatives to electricitythe bosom of the Oval Office between Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos were more than warm, as they counted in Fox News. The filtration of an internal Amazon report in which the possibility that the giant of the Jeff Bezos online trade Draw the impact of tariffs on the price of each product. White House reactions soon arrived and the own Trump off the phone To talk to Bezos. An internal Amazon report. The political fire began after the Publication of an internal report by the American environment PunchBowl News. In this internal Amazon document, the possibility of detailing in the final price of the products was considered the additional cost derived from tariffs, as is done with taxes or with the shipping cost. With this movement, the company founded by Jeff Bezos approached the strategy of rivals as Shein and Temuwhich are planned to increase the prices of products that are sent to the US as a result of tariffs to China and break up your cost. The White House draws the artillery. Such and As you collect the BBCthe White House response soon arrived. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt found Trump’s discomfort in a press conference for the content of the report and described the intentions of the Jeff Bezos company as “a hostile and political act by Amazon.” White House spokeswoman added: “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration raised inflation at its highest level in 40 years? This is another reason why Americans should buy American products.” Leavitt went a little further in the valuations of the Amazon report, flying A publication of 2021 Reuters in which Amazon was accused of aligning with “the Chinese propaganda arm” to censor the reviews of the users of a book with the speeches of Chinese president Xi Jinping. In An interview With the CNBC, Howard Lutnick, US Secretary of Commerce, described Amazon’s decision as “absurd”. “A 10% tariff will not change virtually any price,” said the universal tariff percentage for all countries. “The only price that would change would be that of a product that we did not produce here, such as the mango,” the person in charge of trade slid that, According to data Statista, 71% of the products that Amazon sells They are manufactured in China and support tariffs up to 145%. Trump picks up the phone. The alarms for the measure planned to apply Amazon reached the oval office, where Trump He picked up the phone To speak personally with Jeff Bezos and make him give up his intention, despite the fact that the millionaire is no longer the official CEO of the company. According to subsequent statements by Donald Trump, Bezos would have agreed not to move on with that average. “Jeff Bezos was very friendly. He was fantastic. He solved the problem very fast. He did the right thing. He is a good person,” the US president praised, as he collected he Washington Post. The rapid rectification of Jeff Bezos does not surprise anyone, especially taking into account the Millionaire’s efforts to entertain Trump, with millionaire donations For your investiture and dictating the your newspaper editorial line. Amazon reculates. Just after that call between Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos, Amazon defended himself From your social networks ensuring that the information published were only ideas and considerations of a working document of the team that manages the Amazon Haul store in which they are sold low -cost products manufactured in China. That makes your products especially tariff susceptible. However, the company emphasizes that “this was never considered for the main page of Amazon and nothing has been implemented in any of its properties.” Subsequently to the call, the White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, reduced the intensity of her words to Jeff Bezos and Amazon, stating that “I will not talk about the president’s relationships with Jeff Bezos.” Relationships that, on the other hand, have been maintained with a certain degree of tension since Trump’s first mandate for the Amazon postal rates. Amazon actions down. After the government’s reaction before the Amazon report, the response of investors It was dropping In 2.3% the shares of the company due to the fear of reprisals against the company by the Trump administration. Once the spirits were calmed, the company’s actions regained confidence returning to its previous market price to continue normally. In Xataka | Luxury brands hoped to land in the US after their fall in China: tariffs have cut their wings before taking off Image | Flickr (IAFASTRO, Gage Skidmore)

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