challenge

The bridge with the largest steel span has completed its most difficult challenge. And it’s in China, of course.

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There is not a month that does not release one mega constructionand in that area, China leads with an iron fist. Both due to the magnitude of his works, the technique used or the land they save with the structurethe Asian giant has become an example of perseverance when it comes to creating, above all, infrastructure that connects all its regions. After the highest bridge in the world, in the province of Chongqing, they are involved with another record-breaking bridge. One with the largest steel span in the world. Fenglai Daxi River Grand Bridge. As is often the case with these works, something that stands out as much as its magnitude is the construction time. In just three years, they have up a bridge in an extremely complex area. It clears two cliffs and the causeway will be 310 meters above the water surface. But more than because of the terrain, if it is news for something, it is because of the opening, that space between two columns. The total length of the bridge will be 1,136 meters when it is finished and the span is almost half of it: 580 meters that are suspended leaning on an arch-shaped structure made of steel. The height The arch in its central part is 116 meters and both the photos and videos show the complex lattice-type structure. Precision. More than a whim, it is necessary if you want to bridge that distance while looking for a bridge that can withstand both the weight and the possible tremors that are frequent in the region. To build the structure, engineers turned to BIM methodology (either Building Information Modeling) that simulates by computer all the processes of both the construction of the structure and its future maintenance. This is common, but essential in this lattice structure where many embedded components require an accuracy of less than a millimeter of deviation. On November 28, the team complete the union of each of the pieces weighing more than 300 tons that form that great puzzle of the lattice span, and now it remains to create the road that will consolidate the union between regions. Necessary. Because the Fenglai Daxi River Grand Bridge is not simply a feat of engineering: it is a catalyst for something China is aggressively pursuing. The country wants to carry out an economic and social transformation of the most challenging regions of its geography, and the Chongqing region falls into those plans as it has a large number of mountain ranges that have traditionally challenged communication with large centers. When completed, the bridge will be part of the Wu-Liang Expressway that will link the urban center of Chongqing with the Wulong district in approximately one hour, when with the current detour it takes approximately three hours, having to do a mountain route. And it is just one piece of a much more ambitious plan, which includes 52 construction projects, more than 1,200 kilometers of highways and a total investment of 155 billion yuan, about 19 billion euros. Megathings = tourism. Thus, the bridge will seek to become an element that will facilitate the flow of goods between the regions, but also of people with the objective of promoting tourism. Currently, in Wulong About 350,000 people live there and it has traditionally been a poor area due to the soil not being the best for farming and its natural isolation. However, since 1994, tourism has transformed it, especially since the Karst Geology National Park out including on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2007. Now, Wulong aspire to become a global tourist destination, and this improvement in infrastructure seems key to achieving that goal. Furthermore, it is no longer just that China’s megaconstructions facilitate mobility: The buildings themselves are designed with the aspiration that they become points of interest. An example is Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridgean immense construction 625 meters above the level of the river that is used to cross from one side to the other, but It has a cafeteria and some adventure activities. Another is the Three Gorges Damwhich can not only move the axis of rotation of the Earthbut it also has a museum that documents the construction, an example of how the dam itself works and multiple observation points. Images | Xinhua Sci-Tech In Xataka | Young tourists from China have begun to visit random places en masse. There is an explanation: Xiaohongshu

India will require pre-installing an indelible app on all mobile phones. And that poses a serious challenge for Apple

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In today’s technological debate, few issues generate as much attention as privacy. India has implemented a significant change: incorporate a state applicationthat will remain on iOS and Android phones without the possibility of deleting it. The measure coincides with a stage in which Apple emphasizes its security model more than ever. That crossroads, between the Indian regulatory commitment and the Cupertino company’s approach, may have a key point in this story. The movement began to take shape with an instruction from the Indian Department of Telecommunications sent privately to the main manufacturers. The document, dated November 28, establishes a period of 90 days for the application Sanchar Saathi appears on all new mobile phones and comes accompanied by another obligation: distribute it through updates to devices that are already in circulation. Telecommunications Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia He announced in an interview with CNBC-TV18 that the public order will be issued “in the coming days.” A tool against theft and fraud. According to information from the Indian Governmentthe application allows you to block and track lost or stolen mobile phones on all networks in the country, generate traceability if someone tries to activate them and verify the authenticity of the terminal using the IMEI number. It also offers a channel to report international calls that present themselves as national, a practice linked to fraud, among other functions. The Executive defends that these functions facilitate the response to theft and fraud in telecommunications. From utility to potential control. The rollout of Sanchar Saathi does not come alone. India is also pushing other guidelines that expand the ability to identify users, such as requiring that encrypted services like WhatsApp be associated with the SIM card’s IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity). Combined with a pre-installed and non-uninstallable application, this environment transforms the mobile phone into a device with much greater traceability and represents a significant change in the relationship between citizens and telecommunications networks. For its part, the iPhone incorporates its own mechanisms designed to make access to data difficult and limit the value of a stolen device. The default encryption, together with the isolation of the Secure Enclavekeeps critical information safe, and the combination of Find My with v aims to prevent the reactivation of the terminal without the owner’s account. Apple complements this model with measures such as Advanced Data Protection, Face IDamong others. Between the Indian regulatory framework and its global strategy: India’s growing importance to Apple, both as a manufacturing hub and an expanding market, comes with a more interventionist regulatory environment. The China precedent shows that the company has had to adapt services and functions when local regulations required it, including the iCloud data transfer to infrastructures controlled by a state partner and the removal of VPN apps. The scenario presented by India confronts two different models of understanding digital security: one based on a mandatory integrated state application and another based on internal functions of the device that depend on the user’s control. Apple has not yet expressed how it will respond to this demand, but its growing industrial presence in India, a country where it manufactures more and more iPhones, it will possibly make any decision not go unnoticed. Images | Apple In Xataka | Apple had its ecosystem under lock and key. Chinese brands are blowing it up

The enormous Mayrit tunnel boring machine on Metro L11 is already in Madrid. Now comes the real challenge: putting it together piece by piece

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In Madrid there are already the pieces of one of the largest machines that will work in the city’s underground in the coming years. It is about Mayritthe EPB tunnel boring machine 98 meters long and 1,500 tons in weight whose transport started in Germany, continued along the Rhine to Rotterdam and continued by boat to the port of Santander. After that journey, a special convoy has completed more than 450 kilometers by road to take its modules to the future Comillas station, where it will prepare to excavate the new section of Line 11 between Plaza Elíptica and Conde de Casal. The work on which Mayrit will work is part of a broader intervention that the Community of Madrid describes in 2025 as the largest expansion of the Metro network in the last decade. Official data published in November put progress at 34% and maintain a budget of 518 million euros to complete the new section and the planned stations. The regional government maintains the year 2027 as a reference to close this phase of the project. Mayrit is already in Madrid: one hour left to convert its parts into a single operational machine When dealing with a machine of this size and complexity, each phase of the process requires precision that goes far beyond conventional engineering. Mayrit’s journey towards Spain began long before it appeared on the road: it started in Schwanau, the German town where Herrenknecht completed its manufacturing after about 20 months of work. There, more than a thousand kilometers from Madrid, the tunnel boring machine It was assembled for the first time in June 2025 to carry out initial verifications. This assembly showed the magnitude of the next step: converting the machine into a set of parts capable of traveling around Europe without risks. Disassembling it was not a quick procedure. For the next two months, Herrenknecht teams dedicated themselves to separating each module following a sequence calculated to the millimeter. The result was a set of sections ready to begin an international tour. The disembarkation in the port of Santander marked the beginning of the last stage of Mayrit’s journey, a phase that requires coordination very different from that of river and maritime transport. The pieces arrived distributed in separate shipments and were transferred to prepared platforms, a process that is carried out with specialized equipment to avoid any unexpected displacement. The organization of the road transfer incorporated common protocols in special transport, with large-tonnage vehicles escorted by technical teams in charge of checking clearances, turning radii and urban accesses. The authorities confirmed that the advance was carried out mainly at night to reduce interruptions and facilitate maneuvers in the most delicate sections of the route. The arrival in the Comillas area required a final deployment of personnel and machinery to accommodate each piece in the work area, where the assembly phase that will transform this set of modules into a single operational tunnel boring machine is already awaiting. The arrival of the pieces also marks the beginning of a phase that, according to forecasts distributed between June and November 2025, can extend until March 2026. Assembling a TBM requires joining modules in a strict order, connecting hydraulic and electrical systems, and performing tests that are concentrated between late January and February. It is a sequential process that is not resolved in a few days and that determines the date on which the machine will be able to start digging at the beginning of March. The official documentation describes Mayrit as an EPB machine adapted to the geotechnical characteristics of the layout. Its operation is based on maintaining a balance of pressures that prevents unwanted movements on the surface, especially relevant in urban environments. To sustain this process, shifts of specialists are involved who manage the control and evacuation systems of the excavated material. The expected performanceclose to 15 meters per day, will be decisive in setting the pace of mechanized advance. Comillas will be the point from which Mayrit will begin the mechanized sectionaccording to the forecasts that the Community of Madrid has been detailing since June 2025. From there it will advance to Conde de Casalwhile in parallel the manual excavation of about 700 meters towards Plaza Elíptica progresses, started in September with a performance of close to 50 meters per month. The beginning of the excavation will mark the jump between the preparatory work and the actual progress of the tunnel that will transform this section of Line 11. With each meter excavated, the planned layout will get closer to its final shape and will allow the progress of the project to be measured more clearly. It is a significant element within regional planning to reinforce mobility in one of the areas with the most demand on the network. Images | Community of Madrid In Xataka | Malaga has become a magnet for the most luxurious yachts in the world: the latest, that of the co-founder of Google

Aragón has just activated its second major data center project. The bet goes through a challenge that is difficult to ignore

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Aragón is going through a unique moment: in just a few years it has gone from competing to attract data centers to announce three mega facilities new ones promoted by Forestalia that aim to strengthen their position on the European cloud map. The announcement by the regional government comes in the midst of a race to attract technological investment, but also in a territory where the electrical network works to the limit and every great project depends on decisions that have not yet been made. The result is a scenario as ambitious as it is full of unknowns, which will determine the real impact of this expansion. How these digital complexes work. A data center is, in essence, a technological heart that stores and processes information for millions of users and companies. Every series that is streamed or every operation carried out in the cloud passes through servers that require stable power and constant cooling. That is why the choice of location is so relevant: electrical capacity and operational security are needed. Aragón has been gaining ground on that map and today is seen as a strategic option for new facilities. The project. The Government of Aragon has detailed that the Búfalo Project includes three data centers in Magallón, Botorrita and Alfamén, backed by an investment of 12,048 million euros. The deployment includes DCM Data, DCM Dédalo and DCM Blue, whose works would begin between 2028 and 2029 and will extend for approximately eight years. According to official estimates, the construction will generate about 30,000 temporary jobs. In the operational phase, each facility will add hundreds of workers, with a total that clearly exceeds a thousand stable positions. Aragón on the international board. The accumulated investments in data centers exceed 70,000 million euros and place the community in the same conversation as consolidated European hubs. According to the President of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, the computing capacity that is being configured rivals that of Dublin and Paris and aspires to approach that of Frankfurt. The regional Executive also states that the data that will be managed will have a European scope, from Germany or France to Italy and the United Kingdom, reinforcing the international dimension of the project. Distributed renewable self-consumption. The Government of Aragon presents self-consumption as a distinctive element of the Búfalo Project, since approximately half of the energy consumption will be associated with wind and photovoltaic parks powered by Forestalia. This volume of generation allows for a renewable supply, although it does not eliminate dependence on the general network, which will provide the rest of the energy. The underlying idea is to combine own generation with existing infrastructure to sustain large-scale facilities. Press to see the message in X The word “self-consumption” may lead one to think that data centers and renewable plants share the same physical space, but this is not the case. Forestalia is setting up parks in various regions of Zaragoza and Teruel, located where the natural resource is most favorable. The data centers, as we say, will be in Magallón, Botorrita and Alfamén, and the connection between both worlds is made entirely through the Red Eléctrica network. It is a distributed scheme that coordinates generation and consumption without a single energy campus. A network to the limit. Aragon produces more electricity than it consumes and exports about 54% of its generation, but that abundance contrasts with a distribution network that functions practically at maximum. A report published in September 2025 sets its occupancy level at 94.3%, well above the national average of 84.3%. This saturation leaves little room to incorporate large consumers such as data centers. The result is a paradox: available energy, but an infrastructure incapable of delivering it to all projects. Projects that have already reached their peak. The bottleneck is not a future hypothesis, but a reality that already affects several operators. According to Heraldothe data centers in the pipeline have requested more than 6,000 MW and only a part has firm access, with cases such as Vantage, which has 90 MW authorized despite aiming for 300. Microsoft also depends on tenders in saturated nodes. The Government itself recognizes that everything will be linked to Red Eléctrica’s planning and the decisions of the central Executive. Water, a debate that is still open? The cooling of data centers has generated concern in Aragon since Amazon asked for late 2024 48% more water for the complexes that already operate in the region. Ecologistas en Acción and the Tu Nube Seca Mi Río platform then warned of the water impact of these facilities in the midst of a structural drought. Azcón maintains that future Forestalia centers will use a closed circuit with “practically imperceptible” consumption and affirms that the debate “is over.” In any case, everything indicates that this matter remains under public scrutiny. To facilitate the path of the Buffalo Project, The Government of Aragon has declared the initiative as of Autonomous General Interest, a figure that allows procedures to be simplified and the different administrations involved better coordinated. This declaration speeds up procedures, but does not resolve the main point of friction: the available electrical capacity. Hence, the regional Executive insists on its willingness to work with the central Government and Red Eléctrica, the only actors that can modify the network planning. Real progress will depend on those decisions. The announcement of the three new data centers, together with the rest of the initiatives in the pipeline, places Aragón at a decisive moment to consolidate its presence on the European cloud map. The investment is notable and so is the promised employment, but much of the result will depend on decisions that are not entirely in the hands of the community. The region has shown intention and movement, although it remains to be seen what the real scope of this bet will be. Images | İsmail Enes Ayhan | Jorge Azcón (X) In Xataka | The European Commission’s pendulum with AI is real: it will sacrifice privacy to … Read more

is the DGT’s response to the challenge of the new Bus-VAO lane

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First quarter of 2026. That is the date on which the new Bus-HOV lane on the A-2 highway should come into operation at its entrance and exit to Madrid. An alternative to prioritize the use of public transport and promote the use of shared vehicles that comes with an important novelty: the road is not segregated. And that represents a challenge for the DGT and new ways for drivers to behave. A band-aid for bleeding. The entrance to Madrid on the A-2 highway is clogged every morning. And, therefore, its output is just as congested in the afternoons. After years of searching for solutions and promising a Bus-HOV lane that seemed to never arrive, the DGT has confirmed that we will see it in the first quarter of 2026. According to their calculations, the new lane will allow around 15,000 people to access or leave the capital in a more staggered manner, saving an average of 25% of time on their journey and adding a total of 500,000 fewer hours of traffic jams. Users of public transport, passenger cars with more than one person inside and motorcyclists will benefit. When its implementation is completely completed, it will have a route of 19.2 kilometers between Madrid and Alcalá de Henares. Until then, the first phase will be between Madrid and Torrejón de Ardoz. A new HOV Bus. The great novelty of this new Bus-VAO is that It is a lane without physical separation and will be activated punctually, both daily during the busiest hours of entry and exit from the capital and during special operations or during the weekend. That is, the driver will find the three usual lanes but when he starts moving, the left one becomes Bus-HOV. To signal whether the lane is active or not, beacons on the ground and gantries have been installed along the road. When the beacons are off, the Bus-HOV lane is inactive and it is when they turn green or yellow that the system becomes active and only allows access to motorcycles, buses, cars with more than one person inside or emergency vehicles. And I come in whenever I want? This lane, however, will have to be accessed through delimited areas. This is what the DGT calls “embarkation and disembarkation” zones. If we skip the light line created by the beacons we will be breaking the regulations and the driver may be penalized as if they skipped a continuous line. To monitor it, the DGT will have cameras to do this work. Therefore, we will not be able to leave and enter the lane as desired and it is important where these areas are located. The DGT has confirmed that they will be at the following points when the Bus-VAO starts operating: In the direction of entering Madrid, the first boarding will be located at Torrejón de Ardoz (pk 18+600), the second in Rejas (pk 13+600) and the last in Canillejas (pk 7+700) to disembark all at Avenida de América. In the outbound direction, boardings are at Arturo Soria/Josefa Valcárcel (pk 5+850) and the Eisenhower junction (pk 11+400) and disembarkations at Canillejas (pk 9+100) and Rejas (pk 15+200) where this lane ends. Occupancy radars? In its communications, the DGT says that “the lane will be monitored with license plate reading and occupancy detection equipment, so there will be sanctions for all those who travel along it alone or enter and exit through places that are not permitted.” That definition has popularized the term “occupancy radars.” We have contacted the DGT and they have confirmed that the system on this lane of the A-2 uses infrared and heat cameras to detect the passengers of a vehicle and that the system cannot be deceived with a dummy, as has sometimes happened on the A-6 highway where the other Bus-HOV lane in the capital is located. However, at the moment it is not active and they will provide more details later, when the HOV lane opens to traffic. This type of systems have been put into operation in Francewhere Bus-HOV lanes with these same characteristics are implemented. And the fine? The fine for using the Bus-HOV lane improperly is 200 euros. It is the same one that applies in case of skipping a continuous line, so if a driver enters the lane improperly (outside the boarding places) and without complying with the requirements, he or she is exposed to a penalty of up to 400 euros, adding both violations. Anyone who does not comply with the boarding areas will be fined 200 euros. a challenge. The new Bus-HOV lane is a litmus test for mobility in our country. The solution is relatively cheap since in this case 13.9 million euros have been spent, which have been assumed equally by the General Directorate of Traffic (Ministry of the Interior), the General Directorate of Roads (Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility), the Madrid Regional Transport Consortium (Community of Madrid) and the Madrid City Council. The system avoids having to carry out works to create a new infrastructure but it also represents a challenge when it comes to managing traffic since a breakdown during rush hour will force the Bus-HOV lane to be deactivated so that this lane also absorbs the vehicles stuck on its right. Likewise, constant monitoring of the dividing line must be guaranteed for almost 20 kilometers to avoid false access. Photo | DGT In Xataka | The “made in China” business of the DGT’s V-16 beacons: homologating the same product 24 times and selling it under different brands

The Fujian is officially China’s largest power catapult. Beijing already has a button to challenge the US Navy

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It has been almost two years since China ended its long-awaited Fujian aircraft carrierits largest warship with cutting-edge technology for the nation. From then until now it has been going through different scenarios of tests and tests that will confirm reliability of what should be the spearhead for Beijing to compete in the same league as the United States. That day has already arrived. The naval power of the 21st century. China has made official the entry into service of Fujian, its first aircraft carrier with electromagnetic catapultsa milestone that marks a qualitative leap in the country’s naval ambition and in their direct rivalry with the United States. In a ceremony held in the port of Sanya, on the island of Hainan, President Xi Jinping performed the symbolic gesture of pressing the launch button from the ship’s control bubble, in an act that state propaganda presented as the beginning of a new era for the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Projection and vulnerability. With 80,000 tons displacement, 300 meters in length and capacity to operate nearly 60 aircraft, the Fujian becomes the jewel of the Chinese fleet, the third in service after from Liaoning and the Shandong. Its distinctive feature is the electromagnetic catapultsan aircraft launch system similar to the American EMALS that only equips one other ship in the world: the USS Gerald R. Ford. China has thus jumped directly from aircraft carriers with a “ski jump” ramp to a generation of electromagnetic propulsion directed personally, according to Beijing, by Xi. This technical advance has clear strategic implications: improves the rate of departures, reduces wear and tear on aircraft and allows the operation of drones or lighter devices, opening the door to a more flexible and modern on-board aviation. Fujian The jump and the dimension. The Fujian represents more than just a technical improvement: it is the first completely designed and built in Chinafree of the Soviet legacy that conditioned the previous ones. The Liaoning was originally a ukrainian helmet unfinished work of the eighties and the Shandong su national derivativeboth with STOBAR systems short takeoff. With Fujian, China abandons that past and exhibits its technological maturity, especially in a context of industrial rivalry with the United States, whose own EMALS program has faced years of failures and cost overruns. In contrast to the Gerald R. Ford problemsXi’s speech and the staging of the ceremony convey a message of effectiveness and national pride: that of a power capable of manufacturing its own cutting-edge ships while the adversary hesitates. The choice of the port of Hainan was also not accidental. from there, China control access to the South Sea and projects its influence towards the western Pacific and the Taiwan Strait. On that board, the Fujian is not just a ship, but a political statement about Beijing’s ability to contest global maritime dominance. Fujian Target of the future. However, the relevance of these steel colossi coexists with a paradox. While the great powers continue to invest billions in building them, the conflict in Ukraine has shown that he size no longer guarantees invulnerability. With low-cost naval drones, Ukraine has managed to disable much of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, inflicting a “functional defeat” without possessing a single aircraft carrier. The contrast is eloquent: asymmetric warfare reduces the effectiveness of the most expensive conventional weapons, but not their strategic value. In the case of China and the United States, aircraft carriers maintain their role as projection and deterrence instrumentsuseful for both combat operations and coercive diplomacy. Make fear. Washington continues to use them as pressure tool geopolitics: Donald Trump himself ordered the deployment of the Gerald R. Ford against Venezuela as a symbolic warning to the Nicolás Maduro regime. The scene, with an aircraft carrier escorted by four destroyers and armed with 70 aircraft, illustrates the extent to which these ships continue to be armed ambassadors of the superpowers, beyond their debatable military profitability. Global deterrence. Modern navies are aware that aircraft carriers are both a symbol like a target. During the Cold War, it was estimated that twelve conventional missiles to sink a super aircraft carrier. In 2005, the experimental sinking of the USS America required four weeks of sustained attacks, confirming its structural resilience, but also its exposure. In a scenario saturated with hypersonic missiles, swarms of drones and long-range anti-ship systems, its survival in real combat is increasingly uncertain. However, no other platform offers the combination of mobility, air capacity and logistical autonomy that an aircraft carrier provides. That is why China, despite investing in missiles to repel a US fleet off its coast, considers these ships essential for its own global ambitions. As pointed out analyst Nick Childsfrom the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Beijing understands them as an indispensable tool to project influence and support an eventual operation on Taiwan. Geopolitics of steel. we have been counting: the rise of Fujian is part of a broader strategy of naval expansion that has turned Chinese shipyards into the most productive on the planet. The country’s surface and submarine fleet is growing at a pace the United States can no longer match, and each new vessel reinforces the narrative of industrial self-sufficiency that Xi Jinping presents as an emblem. of the “national renaissance”. Facing eleven US aircraft carriers (ten nuclear and one conventionally powered), China has threebut with plans to build at least a nuclear one, the future Type 004which could directly rival the Fords of the US Navy. Unlike Russia, whose only aircraft carrier, the aging Admiral Kuznetsovhas been out of service for years and is headed for scrapping, China and the United States are today the only powers capable to sustain fleets with great oceanic projection. Europe, for its part, maintains a symbolic presence: the United Kingdom uses its aircraft carriers Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales on diplomatic or training missions, while France prepares its new future-generation nuclear aircraft carrier. Century of the seas and fragility. If you like, Fujian also symbolizes the meeting point … Read more

In full birth crisis, Japan faces an extra challenge in 2026: a superstition

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Japan is a country with several calendars. The Western, or Gregorian, is common in the Asian country, which also has its own calendar, based on the “Eras”, the reign periods of its emperors. But in the culture of the country there is still the embers of another calendar, the one based on the traditional Chinese calendar. In 2026 we can verify to what extent this embers is still alive in the Japanese archipelago. To understand why we have to go a complete cycle behind, the year 1966. That year Japan experienced A significant phenomenon: a Fall marked in birthan abrupt contrast with the historical series. If in 1965 around 1.82 million children were born, in 1966 the figure was 1.36 million, 25% less, according to Explain Japan Times. The births were immediately recovered: in 1967 they rolled 1.94 million. The collapse in birth can also be seen in the Japanese health ministry data. As explained by the international agency, the fertility rate went from 2.14 in 1965 to 1.58 in 1966, to “bounce” up to 2.23 the following year. The data was not the result of a statistical anomaly or a disaster, neither natural nor created by the human being. We can see this reflected in an increase in induced abortions in the country, which was recorded A study Posted in 1974 in the magazine Annals of Human Biology. It was the fault of a superstition. The year 1966 corresponded (approximately) to the year of the horse of fire in the cycle on which the traditional Chinese calendar is based. The calendar based on the sexagesimal cycle used in some Asian countries relates each of the 60 years of its cycle with one of Twelve animals (which includes the rat, the tiger, the dragon and also the horse), and one of five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). And what is special for the year Hinoeuma? According to Japanese superstition, women born during the Fire horse year They will kill their husbands or, according to translations, will be at least the cause of the death of their spouses. This would have taken many couples of childbearing age to avoid pregnancy (or even interrupt), at a time when, as Emi Suzuki and Haruna Kashiwase explain in An article For him Data Blog of the World Bank, there was no possibility of a selective abortion depending on sex. Another important detail mentioned in its article is that the phenomenon occurred more marked in rural Japan and not so much in the urban context, which reflects the greatest follow -up that this type of superstitions used to have in the rural world. 60 years of change 60 years is a long time and Japanese society is no longer the one. Will something be repeated again similar in 2026? There are two reasons why it can be suspected that, if the fall in birth rate occurs, this will be of a minor magnitude of experienced in 66. The first reason is in the slightest weight that today has the superstitious in society. Japan lived an abrupt transition series between the end of the EDO era and the present. One of the most vertiginous progress is the one that led a country ravaged by war to become a worldwide technological innovation pole. 1966 It can be seen as a year of transition in this context, 2026 not so much. In any case, the peculiar relationship between Japanese tradition and modernity is often difficult to understand from the western point of view, so it is not convenient to venture into this direction. However, there is another fact that takes us away from that year 1966: 1.15. We said at the beginning that between 1965 and 1966 the Japanese fertility rate went from 2.1 to 1.6. The fall associated with the year Hinoeuma It was punctual and was reversed the following year, but if we looked at the set of the Historical data we see that it is a small detour in a curve with A marked trend: Japan He runs out of birth progressively. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Health cited by Suzuki and Kashiwasethe Japanese fertility rate was descending throughout the second half of the twentieth century, first quickly and then slower. In 1989 the birth rate would be located again in 1.58 and has not been recovered or expected to do so. It was known as he “shock of 1.57 “ When the rate fell below the year Hinoeuma. Today the rate It is already 1.15. A few years before, in 1987, Japan celebrated a kind of “Fiesta de Quintos”, a celebration in honor of the generation that had turned 20 in the previous months, those born in Hinoeuma. The newspaper The New York Times It echoed of that celebration and superstition that had diminished the generation held that year. Then it seemed clear that the “fifths” of 86 would be the smallest promotion in history, but they would only be for a short time. In Xataka | While the population of Japan sinks irremediably, Tokyo grows. There is an explanation: Ikkyoku Shūchū Image | Evgeny Tchebotarev

The 1,000 kW chargers of Byd will be a reality in Europe in 2026. Their challenge is to show us their true utility

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It is expected for the second quarter of 2026 with “200-300 stations”, in Byd words. The Chinese company has taken advantage of the Münich IAA Mobility to confirm that next year its expansion of 1 MW chargers (or 1,000 kW) in Europe will begin. Is there any reason for it? 400 kilometers in five minutes. It is the great promise of byd: get a recharge for an electric car to be so or faster than filling the deposit of a combustion vehicle. Those who use their 1 MW chargers and those who do so in Europe from the second quarter of 2026 can be done in China. Because Stella Li, vice president of the company, has taken advantage of her presentation in the last Münich Motor Show To confirm that next year the deployment of what they call will begin Flash charge with a first landing between 200 and 300 recharge points. Denza. This initiative will be focused on the arrival of Devza, one of Byd’s luxury firms. The company already presented us a few months ago Denza z9gtthe first car with which they will arrive in Europe (in our case we tested the plug -in hybrid). A commitment to maximum luxury without giving up sportsmanship. In their presentation, in Byd they did not get wet with the volume they expect to attract nor confirmed the price that could easily exceed the border of the 100,000 euros. In that price range, a new and China company has it really complicated, so the denza launch is understood within a strategy in which it is committed to demonstrating the latest innovations of the brand. Flexibility. Right now, in Europe there is no car capable of loading the famous power of 1,000 kW. And, in fact, Byd herself has barely two models in China that are capable of admitting those 400 kilometers of autonomy in five minutes. The proposal we see there is based on the use of two 500 kW plugs, allowing the loads to be more flexible. With 1,000 kW you can load an advanced electric car but also an electric truck or two cars that, again, have the last market technology. Dead? The big doubt is whether these chargers are born or not dead. In Europe there is no car that can assume these load powers. However, the latest releases of the Mercedes GLC and the BMW IX3 They have shown that manufacturers and public are especially interested in shortening waiting times. The Mercedes can recharge its batteries at 330 kW and the BMW will leave to 400 kW. He Mercedes Cla He also appeared with the incentive of being able to recharge to 320 kW. The most advanced cars are starting to leave behind the border of the 300 kW … but for now there are not many plugs that offer this possibility. In Spain, companies such as Zunder or Repsol already offer 400 kW load points. And Ionity has announced that it begins to display 600 kW loaders. They are powers that, as we see, almost no car can use but its goal is to take advantage in what is to come. Reference. Putting chargers of 1 MW of power that, in addition, become two 500 kW plugs, byd intends to position themselves as a reference firm. At the moment, it is an investment that should not generate a great economic revenue, because they will be oversized for European cars, but it does position the company among the best. In addition, having the cars that can recharge to this power exclusively will serve to make visible the brand. Probably, he will not turn his models into supervants (within the segment, of course) but will add to make himself known among the less interested public in the car market. One more challenge. With everything and although we think of the ultra -grape loaders of ByD as in a long -term investment, the company has the need to attract the public. And that will be achieved only in two ways. The first thing is becoming visible in applications of the mobile phones of the users of the electric car and, second, in the Google browsers for the cars that work with them or that of the rival companies. And, for this, you will have to have a price according to the market. With a completely oversized load power, Byd cannot press above since the client whose cars are left in 300 kW or less will be underutilizing the station. There are more and more chargers of this type that fit more to the real performance of the car and break the market above will not help its deployment. On the contrary, proposing a payment system similar to that of Tesla or opening the hand with their own customers, knowing that the denza cars will not be large supervants, will allow the company to create brand image and generate interest on it. Photos | Byd and Xataka In Xataka | Byd wants to challenge European hybrids with Seal 6 DM-I: promises 105 km electric and up to 1,505 km of total autonomy

The Church faces the challenge of a future without priests. At the moment he already knows how to allow women to give “Mass”

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Almudena Suárez Treviño is a woman of Mass. Although not in the conventional sense of expression. She not only goes to the church of her people to listen to the priest on duty, give peace to the rest of parishioners and commune in the Eucharist. No. In addition to all that Almudena officiates religious celebrations in Catholic temples. Almost (almost) as if it were a parish priest. So much so that the bishopric of Tui-Vigo He just ratified it officially in its functions. Your case, enough less exceptional of what it seems, it is actually the finding of a much greater phenomenon: the Vocations crisis. What happened? That the bishop of Tui-Vigo has just published a APPOINTMENT LIST Officers, a kind of internal adjustment in the diocese to “alleviate the current deficiencies of attention “that causes the shortage of priests. Until there nothing weird. Nor does anything that can arouse interest beyond the affected villages. The striking, which has aroused the interest of the parishioners and means of the rest of the community and Spain (including the Galician television), is that this list of priests closes with the name of a woman: Almudena Suárez. And not just that. He Official document Proclamation for those who want to read it that this woman is authorized to direct “the celebration of the word” in seven parishes of the arciprest of Louriña (Pontevedra) as long as its presbyter is not. Actually the announcement of the bishop of Tui-Vigo is a ratification because Almudena has been having an out of the common role in his parishes. So much, in fact, that three years ago Vigo lighthouse He already dedicated him A report. Click on the image to go to Tweet. A cure woman? No. Almudena is not a priest. It is really Biologist and theologianhas a title of religious sciences, a master’s degree and at least until a few years ago she exercised as a religion teacher in an Institute in Pontevedra. That is your professional curriculum, your presentation sheet. 21 years ago, however, one of his theology professors proposed to embark on “An innovative project”an adventure that in practice would lead him to be more than a simple parishioner. What Almudena did was get involved in the Diocesan assemblies in the absence of presbyters in the Galician rural. With the approval of who then act as a bishop in the diocese of Tui-Vigo (a decision that his successors have maintained) assumed a responsibility that basically allows the parishes in the area to become more bearable the shortage of priests and the lack of vocations. But Masses officiate? No. Sundays Almudena go to a series of churches, it is located before the rest of parishioners, read, preach and fulfill in some way the role that a pastor should play, but does not officiate a liturgy. What it does has another name: word celebration. “We arrived, we meet and the first part of the celebration, which is called the word liturgy, is exactly the same as in a mass. We ask for forgiveness, the reading is done, I proclaim the gospel and preach,” Explain to The voice. “We profess faith, pray the creed and do the requests.” That does not mean that it is a kind of priestess or that it takes care of the same rites as a priest. “I want to make it clear that I don’t trade masses”, insists The woman before clarifying that when it comes to communing she is only responsible for distributing the hosts that a pastor has previously consecrated, a task that the Church does not allow her to assume. By providing that service Almudena facilitates life to the priest in charge of the seven villages, serving as support. The two alternate on Sundays in the churches, so that a week the parishioners have Mass and the following, celebration. How do she carry it? Initially he confesses that it was difficult to take pass through his family’s misgivings to “how people would respond.” After spinning, however, he decided to accept the offer and assume a new role in the diocese. “I thought it was a good opportunity, since we are always complaining about women that they do not give us power in the church. I thought it could be good for all of us,” confesses. “In the end I threw myself into the pool and it was as if I touched the lottery.” It makes that more than 20 years, a period during which it has gone through different places where assures having encountered the acceptance and “affection” of the parishioners. “I was the first and I am the only one with appointment (from the bishopric of Tui-Vigo). I have it since 2004. What happens is that this time it has been more evident because, for the first time, breaking glass roofs, the appointment was published on the Bishopric website,” he celebrates. Is it a unique case? No. The role of Almudena may not be common in southern Galicia, but if we expand the focus to the rest of Spain we verify that there are more lay people who exert the same function as her. Including women too. In 2018 The voice revealed Also that to the north of the community, in Outes, there was a group of neighbors who were responsible for ceremonies before the shortage of priests. “It is not the Mass of women, as they say, they are women who make the Sunday celebration for the entire community,” I clarified The parish priest. There are also examples in Burgos, Tarragona either Lionamong other points of The emptied Spain. “The priests in charge, generally, of a good number of rural parishes, cannot go every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist in all of them, so they sometimes have a lay or religious who, on Sundays in which the pastor is absent, goes to direct ‘the celebration of the word’”, They explain from the archdiocese of Oviedo. The Catholic Church in fact offers Formations for laity. A … Read more

Huawei says that it has resolved a technological challenge that will trigger China’s competitiveness in the United States

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In the field of hardware development for artificial intelligence (AI) China is advancing with the hand brake. The impossibility of accessing equipment extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) that designs and manufactures the Dutch company ASML prevents Chinese chip manufacturers Produce GPU for comparable to the most advanced that manufacture NVIDIA, AMD or brains, among other western alignment companies. In addition, for the moment the Chinese chips manufacturers They are not producing solutions capable of competing with the most advanced memories manufactured by South Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix, or the American Micron Technology. GPUs for Ia work side by side with HBM memory chips (High Bandwidth Memory). In fact, its performance is largely conditioned by these memories. As the editors of SEMIANALYSISthe total bandwidth of the HBM3 memory chips that live with some of THE GPU FOR THE MOST ADVANCED Nvidia or AMD exceeds 819 GB/s, while DDR5 and GDDR6X memories reach much more modest 70.4 GB/Sy 96 GB/s. HBM3E memories and future HBM4 are even better. Chinese manufacturers of this type of chips do not yet produce this kind of memoirs, but a filtration ensures that Huawei will change this scenario today. Huawei plans to give China the impulse it needs in the memoirs According to SCMPthe Chinese state medium Securities Times has revealed that Huawei is about to present a technological advance that seeks to reduce China dependence on HBM memory chips from abroad. According to this source Huawei will officially announce its technological milestone within a few hours, during the celebration in Shanghai (China) of the Application Forum and Development of Reasoning of Financial 2025. In a HBM3E stack the XPU and the HBM memory are linked through more than 1,000 drivers At the moment we do not know anything else, but it is reasonable to anticipate that what Huawei will produce your HBM3 and 3E memories. And it is that manufacturing these integrated circuits is complex because they require stacking several DRAM chips and implementing an interface between the XPU (Extended Processing Unit) or extended processing unit and extraordinarily dense HBM chips. As a button shows: in a HBM3E stack the XPU and the HBM memory are linked through more than 1,000 drivers. SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron are manufacturing on a large scale, although with different success12 -layer HBM3E memories. The two South Korean firms will produce large -scale HBM4 chips during the second semester of 2025, and Micron will do so in 2026. However, CXMT (Changxin Memory Technologies), one of the Chinese companies specialized in the production of memoirs, will launch Your first HBM3E chips in 2027. SK Hynix leads the HBM memories market with a shocking authority. Your market share Broken 70%so that the remaining 30% are distributed by Samsung and Micron Technology. Behind them they step stronger and louder the Chinese chips manufacturers of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) and CXMT, who have chosen to compete in this attractive market deploying a very aggressive price policy. CXMT in particular has increased its production capacity of DRAM chips almost five times during the last four years, which has allowed it to increase its global market share Until a very worthy 9%. More information | SCMP In Xataka | Chinese memory chips manufacturers are a nightmare for the US and South Korea. There is a lot at play

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