china

China has found a giant “tunnel” to introduce its cars into Europe without Europe. And it is facing Spain

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In 2007, when Morocco inaugurated the port from Tangier Med off the Spanish coast, many saw it as an ambitious logistical gamble. Less than two decades later, that port has not only become the largest of the Mediterranean and Africabut has begun to surpass historic European giants like Algeciras in traffic. What seemed like a regional infrastructure ended up becoming one of the main commercial gateways to Europe. A half-open door to Europe. Europe has been trying for years reduce your dependency China’s industrial sector and, more recently, protect its manufacturers against the avalanche of electric vehicles from the Asian giant. The tariffs imposed by Brussels, in fact, respond precisely to that objective. However, I remembered the weekend the financial times that, while attention was focused on Chinese ports and factories in the country’s interior, Beijing began to build a much closer alternative: an industrial network located on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The growing concern in Brussels does not arise because China is exporting more cars from its territory, but because it is transferring part of its production capacity to a country that enjoys privileged access to the European market. Map of the surroundings of Tangier, with Tanger Tech City (to the south), Tanger Automotive City and the port of Tangier Med Morocco as an industrial platform. It explained the means that the transformation is visible around Tangier and Kenitrawhere Chinese investments in tires, brakes, electronic components, battery materials and future gigafactories are multiplying. What is emerging are not simple isolated plants, but a supply chain increasingly complete capable of feeding the European electric car industry. Morocco offers practically everything you are looking for manufacturers: geographical proximity to Europe, competitive labor costs, renewable energy, tax advantages and an extensive network of trade agreements. For many Chinese companies, producing there is more attractive to continue manufacturing in China and then face the growing European trade barriers. The fear of Brussels. European concern does not lie solely in foreign investment. What is worrying is the possibility that Morocco will become in an indirect way so that products backed by Chinese capital, technology and subsidies enter Europe with much more favorable conditions. The European Commission already has detected cases in which components manufactured with Chinese financial support end up benefiting from preferential agreements. The challenge is to distinguish where it ends an authentic Moroccan industrialization and where a strategy designed to circumvent tariffs begins. Put another way, the more complex supply chains become, the more difficult it becomes to answer that question. Beijing’s geographical advantage. If you like, China too. has understood that geography can be as important as technology. Off the Spanish coast is a country connected by trade agreements with Europe and the United States, equipped of modern ports and increasingly integrated into global production chains. From the Chinese perspective, installing factories in Morocco does not mean abandoning Europe, but rather get even closer to her. Instead of shipping finished products from thousands of miles away, companies can manufacture components and vehicles a few hours of the main European markets. The strategy reduces costs, limits commercial risks and makes the application of protectionist measures difficult. A battle for European industry. What happens in Morocco reflects much broader economic competition. Europe tries to protect an industrial base that consider strategicas China looks for new ways to keep its huge manufacturing capacity running despite increasing Western restrictions. The result is that North Africa is becoming a space increasingly disputedwhere the interests of Brussels, Rabat and Beijing intersect. For Morocco, investments mean jobs, infrastructure and growth. For China, they represent a privileged platform next to the gateway to the European market. And for the European Union they constitute a uncomfortable question: If Chinese production can be installed just on the other side of the Mediterranean, to what extent are tariffs really capable of slowing its advance? Image | Adam Cle, The Spanish Monkey In Xataka | China and Europe do not trust each other when it comes to electric cars. And someone is taking advantage of it: Türkiye In Xataka | The Chinese auto industry is moving to colonize Africa and Latin America. Also to be your springboard

That Iran shot down a US F-15 was something unusual. The problem is that they have opened the missile… and everything points to China

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In 1960, when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet UnionWashington initially believed it was facing a military problem. He ended up discovering that the incident had diplomatic consequences much larger and blew up a summit between the two superpowers. Because sometimes a single downed plane reveals a story much bigger than the battle in which it fell. The takedown that changed the conversation. He downing of an F-15E on Iran last month was, in itself, an extraordinary event. It had been decades since a United States fighter had been shot down by enemy fire, and the rescue movie operation later, with one of the crew hiding for two days in the Zagros Mountains, underlined the seriousness of the episode. However, as investigations continue, the incident is shifting from being a story about Iranian military capabilities to something else: a story about China. According to cited sources by NBC News the suspicion that the plane was hit by a portable anti-aircraft missile (MANPADS) of Chinese manufacture has shifted the focus from the battlefield to a much more uncomfortable question for Washington: to what extent Beijing is helping to sustain Tehran’s military capacity. More important than the missile. From a military point of view, a portable anti-aircraft missile is not a revolutionary weapon. Its appeal lies precisely on the contrary: It is relatively cheap, easy to deploy, and capable of threatening even extremely sophisticated platforms if circumstances are favorable. Hence, what has aroused American interest is not so much the type of weapon used as its possible origin. If suspicions are correct, the shootdown would demonstrate that Chinese technology has ended up participatingdirectly or indirectly, in one of the more symbolic hits suffered by American aviation in years. From that perspective, the discussion then stops revolving around how Iran managed to shoot down an F-15 and begins to focus on what role played China to make it possible. The shadow of broader support. Because suspicions are not limited to the missile. US sources also suggest that China may have provided Iran with radar systems capable of detecting stealth aircraft and access to space capabilities that would facilitate the location of targets. So far none of these accusations have been conclusively proven publicly and Beijing categorically rejects them, but together they paint an image that is worrying in Washington: that of a technological support network which, without involving direct military involvement, could significantly increase Iran’s ability to challenge the United States and its allies. In this context, the downed F-15 becomes tangible proof of a broader phenomenon that US officials have been denouncing for some time. The contradiction of American diplomacy. The situation is especially delicate because the United States simultaneously needs to contain Iran and keep channels open with China. Beijing is the main buyer of the iranian oil and one of the few actors with enough influence to put economic pressure on Tehran. During negotiations to reach a ceasefire, the Trump administration sought precisely that collaboration. But every new accusation on Chinese missiles, radars or satellites used by Iran complicates that balance. Washington thus finds itself in an uncomfortable position: it needs China to contribute to stabilizing the region while accusing it of providing tools that strengthen one of its main adversaries in the Middle East. The real message. That’s why the downing of the F-15 It has a relevance that goes far beyond the loss of a plane. What is at stake is not only the effectiveness of Iranian defenses, but the American perception that more and more regional conflicts are connected to global strategic competition. against China. The investigation on the missile seeks to determine how the fighter fell, but also who was behind the technology that made it possible. In a sense, Washington has opened up the missile to examine it piece by piece, and in doing so has discovered that the biggest questions no longer point solely to Tehran. They aim more and more towards Beijingwhere the United States believes is a growing part of the economic, technological and military infrastructure that allows its rivals to challenge its power in different corners of the world. Image | U.S. Force In Xataka | The US has copied its very cheap drone swarms from Iran and Russia. The problem is what Starlink asks for connecting them In Xataka | The war in the East has reached an unexpected agreement: one where the US does not discuss Iran’s missiles, bombs or uranium

Microscopes had been dependent on human operators for almost a century. China wants to change that with AI

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A team of Chinese researchers has presented in Beijing which they claim is the first transmission electron microscopy system in the world capable of operating completely autonomously. Dubbed “Aeye-1”, the device has demonstrated in tests its ability to replace a human operator in all phases of the process thanks to AI. What exactly is it. A transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a tool that has been essential for decades to observe matter at the atomic scale. It is used to develop new materials, energy technologies, industrial chemistry, and has been a key instrument for evolution in science. For almost a century, these devices have always depended on manual handling by a technician, something that in the end ends up giving subjective results and entails certain difficulties in performing quantitative analyses. Why it is important. Aeye-1 makes the leap from “manual operation” to “AI-led autonomous operation”. According to they count its researchers, the system carries out the entire work chain by itself, from transferring the sample to capturing the images and analyzing the data without the intervention of any person. According to Deng Dehuiprofessor at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and leader of the project, the system works “like an ‘intelligent eye’ that visualizes the atomic world.” In detail. The development was carried out by the team of Deng Dehui and Professor Liu Wei, in collaboration with researchers from the Shenyang Institute of Automation. Together they have designed the algorithms that allow the microscope to perceive, analyze and control the process independently. To achieve this, they had to overcome many technical challenges, including the intelligent transfer of samples in high vacuum, the autonomous optical adjustment of the image, the precise localization of objects at the nanometer scale, the capture and analysis of images in real time and the coordination of all subsystems at the same time. The figures. According to Deng, image analysis It is more than 300 times faster than manual. To understand the magnitude, two weeks of Aeye-1 operation are equivalent to one year of work of a conventional microscope. In tests with molecular sieve catalysts, the system analyzed an average of 168 samples per day, captured more than 4,000 images per day and automatically generated professional reports with detailed statistics on particle size, dispersion or crystal structure. Who supports it. The system surpassed last Sunday an evaluation of scientific and technological achievements held in Beijing and organized by the Chinese Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. The evaluation committee unanimously concluded that it is a “highly innovative technology, the first of its kind in the world and an international leader.” And now what. Those responsible for it expect that Aeye-1 will be able to continuously provide large volumes of high-quality structural data in fields such as energy, industrial chemistry, advanced materials and life sciences. The long-term goal is for this new team to drive a paradigm shift in AI-supported scientific research. It really is a process in which automation through AI can be highly beneficial. We will have to wait to find out if it ends up setting a trend in the scientific world. Cover image | China Daily and National Cancer Institute In Xataka | South Korea has just entered the most exclusive club on the planet. And China and North Korea are not exactly calm

China can’t buy the best Nvidia chips. So Alibaba has decided to connect theirs and sell them as if they were one

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Alibaba does not want its infrastructure artificial intelligence (AI) continues to depend on Nvidia technologies. Little by little, the largest technology companies in China are assuming the request that Xi Jinping’s government made them at the beginning of October 2024: as far as possible They had to use chips produced in China. Ten months later this recommendation became a requirement. And the data centers that belong to the State throughout the country had to use at least 50% Chinese integrated circuits on their servers. This scenario especially favors Huawei, Moore Threads and Cambricon Technologies because they are Top AI GPU Manufacturers from China, but it also works great for Alibaba. In fact, Alibaba Cloud, its cloud computing subsidiary, has taken a very important step forward. A few days ago it presented a new chip for AI, the Zhenwu M890, and made official a very ambitious itinerary that describes what solutions it will develop over the next three years. This GPU has been designed by T-Head, the semiconductor division that Alibaba founded in 2018. It incorporates 144 GB of HBM3 memory and achieves an interconnection transfer speed between chips of up to 800 GB/s. As we are about to discover, this last feature is essential in the strategy that Alibaba has developed to compete in the AI ​​hardware market. Alibaba is going to spend $53 billion on its infrastructure According to Alibaba, the performance of its Zhenwu M890 chip is triple that of its predecessor. Additionally, it has been designed to perform well both during training of cutting-edge AI models and during inference. An important note: inference is broadly the computational process carried out by language models with the purpose of generating responses that correspond to the requests they receive. Alibaba wants to compete face to face with Nvidia in the deployment of infrastructure for data centers However, there is another relevant fact that is worth not overlooking: in medium precision operations (FP16) the Zhenwu M890 chip reaches 0.6 petaflops, a performance comparable to that of Nvidia’s A100 GPU and three times higher than that of the H20 chip. On the other hand, the ICN Switch interconnection chip allows link up to 128 GPUs M890 so that they work in unison. Alibaba assures that this architecture makes these GPUs work as a single chip, which, on paper, will allow it to compete head-to-head with Nvidia in the deployment of infrastructure for data centers. Regarding the itinerary that will follow until 2028, this Chinese company has anticipated that it plans to launch the Zhenwu V900 during the third quarter of 2027. According to Alibaba, it will implement its own significantly improved parallel computing architecture, will have three times the performance of the M890 chip, will be supported by 216 GB of memory and will reach an interconnection transfer speed of 1,200 GB/s. The Zhenwu J900 will arrive during the third quarter of 2028 with another major architectural leap. This roadmap It reflects that Alibaba goes all out. In fact, it has also announced that it will support this plan with an investment in 380 billion yuan (about $53 billion) over the next three years. Is the largest engagement of its kind in history of the company. Additionally, T-Head is planning its IPO to fund a more aggressive infrastructure investment program, which would put it in direct competition with Cambricon Technologies and Huawei’s Ascend line in the domestic AI chip market. Image | Alibaba More information | Alibaba | ChinaDaily In Xataka | Nvidia has to deal with the absolute distrust of several US legislators. Your plan in China is in danger In Xataka | The US wants to end Chinese AI chips sold abroad. And China knows how to defend itself

South Korea has just entered the most exclusive club on the planet. And China and North Korea are not exactly calm

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In 2004, South Korea admitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency that years before it had rperformed secret experiments of uranium enrichment without officially declaring them. That caused a small diplomatic crisis and revived a question that has been chasing Seoul for decades: how far it is willing to go to not be left behind in Asia. Now he has taken an unprecedented step. The great leap. South Korea just gave one of the most important strategic steps in its recent military history: entering the small club of countries capable of operating nuclear powered submarines. Until now, this terrain was reserved for powers such as the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom or India. He Jangbogo-N project It completely changes Seoul’s position in Asia because it stops being only an advanced industrial and technological power and also becomes a naval actor with oceanic ambitions and a much more sophisticated deterrence capacity. The decision has an enormous symbolic component, but above all practical: A nuclear submarine can remain submerged for months, travel enormous distances and operate with a freedom impossible for traditional diesel models. For China and North Korea the message is clear. South Korea no longer wants to limit itself to protecting its coasts; It wants to have a permanent presence and response capacity throughout the regional board. Announcement of the project in the South Korean defense ministry Seoul’s great obsession. He official argument revolves around the North Korean threat and especially the growth of Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. North Korea has been developing ballistic missiles launched from submarines and working on their own naval nuclear propulsion programs with possible Russian help. In this context, South Korea considers that its current diesel submarines are no longer sufficient to maintain a credible long-term deterrence capacity. The new nuclear models would allow the waters near the peninsula to be monitored for much longer and guarantee second attack ability much more difficult to neutralize. Even without nuclear weapons on board, the simple possibility that these platforms could disappear under the sea for long periods makes any enemy military calculation much more complex. China in the equation. Although North Korea is the immediate threat, the greater strategic background clearly points towards China. They remembered the TWZ analysts that Beijing has been expanding its submarine fleet and strengthening its naval presence for years throughout Asia-Pacificas South Korea watches the regional competition shift away from focusing solely on the Korean Peninsula. The construction of nuclear submarines reflects precisely this mental change in Seoul: the country is beginning to see itself as a regional maritime power with much broader interests. Hence China has publicly criticized the program and has insisted on the obligations non-proliferation. Beijing understands perfectly what it means this technological leap. A neighbor with its own nuclear submarines implies a presence that is more difficult to track, a much deeper surveillance capacity and a navy capable of operating far from its ports. The most delicate detail. Impossible to pass by, because South Korea insists that does not intend develop nuclear weapons and will use low-enriched uranium under supervision international and coordination with the United States and the IAEA. However, the movement remains extremely sensitive because historically almost all countries with nuclear submarines also ended up developing atomic arsenals. Therein lies a good part of the regional concern. Although Seoul maintains officially your commitment With non-proliferation, the project brings it technologically closer to capabilities that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. Furthermore, the international context has changed. Blind trust in the US military umbrella It’s not so solid anymore. As before, in South Korea the debate has been growing for years about whether the country needs a more autonomous deterrence capacity against Pyongyang and against an increasingly powerful China. A gigantic industrial bet. The program is also a statement of industrial power. South Korea wants to build the submarines within its own territory using its naval, nuclear and technological industries, something that fits perfectly with the country’s obsession with gain strategic autonomy. The government estimates that the project will last more than forty years between construction and operation, it will generate tens of thousands of jobs and strengthen key sectors such as modular reactors, advanced shipbuilding and military engineering. Market reactions have made the expected impact clear: the large South Korean naval companies they shot in the stock market after the announcement. Seoul understands that this project not only redefines its military strength; It may also establish the country as one of the few nations capable of designing and maintaining complex nuclear naval systems on its own. The silent race. The most important thing is that the movement of South Korea can further accelerate the submarine and nuclear race in Asia. Australia now advances with AUKUS To obtain nuclear submarines, North Korea seeks its own with Russian support and China continues to expand one of the largest submarine fleets on the planet. Now Seoul officially joins to that strategic underwater competition. If you also want, the region is entering a stage where the ability to disappear under the ocean for months has become one of the maximum symbols of military power. And South Korea just announced that is going to be part of that exclusive group, even if that means further altering the security balance in East Asia. Image | x In Xataka | Russia has built an imposing nuclear submarine with one mission: to launch one of the most extreme weapons ever devised In Xataka | North Korea has cleared up doubts about its alliance with Russia: it has just announced its first nuclear submarine

China can slow down Earth’s rotation by filling the Three Gorges

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The Three Gorges Dam It is a marvel of modern engineering. Located in central China, it interrupts the passage of the Yangtze River, the longest in Asia, generating more electricity than any other hydroelectric plant on the planet. It is so large that, according to NASA, filling it can slow down the Earth’s rotation. With a minimal impact, but highlighting the human influence on planetary balances; even the most fundamental ones. The Three Gorges Dam. The Yangtze River is the third longest in the world, behind the Amazon and the Nile. Also called the Blue River, it drains a basin of almost two million square kilometers, feeding 40% of Chinese territory with water. In the middle course of the river there are three natural gorges called Qutang, Wu and Xiling: the Three Gorges. In 2012, almost two decades after the start of construction, China inaugurated the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world, built on the Yangtze River in Hubei province to take advantage of the Three Gorges waterfall. How China overshadowed Itaipu. With a power of 22,500 MW, the Three Gorges Dam is the first to generate more energy than the Itaipú hydroelectric plant, shared by Brazil and Paraguay on the Paraná River. In 2020, the Three Gorges Dam broke Itaipú’s 2016 record of 103 TWh after intense monsoon rains. That year, its 32 700 MW turbines produced almost 112 TWh of electricity, more than what entire countries, such as Finland or Chile, consume annually. The megastructure is completed by two smaller 50 MW generators, which provide power to the plant itself, and a boat lift that allows navigation on the river. And it slowed down the Earth’s rotation. With a length of 2,335 meters and a height of 185, this colossal structure is capable of retaining up to 40 cubic kilometers of water, or in other words: 40 billion liters. A gigantic mass that, as NASA warned in 2005 and was evaluated laterif filled, it could have a calculable influence on the rotation of our planet. According to geophysicist Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA’s Goddard Center, filling the Three Gorges Dam would slightly shift the Earth’s axis to slow its rotation, increasing the length of the day by 0.06 microseconds. A slightly longer day. Although it is a small change compared to the melting of the polar caps or large earthquakes, demonstrates the impact that human activities can have on our planet, even on a scale as large as the Earth’s rotation. Take the devastating Indonesian tsunami of 2004. It was caused by an earthquake which, in turn, was due to a compaction of the Earth due to the interaction between the tectonic plates of India and Myanmar. That tsunami had the opposite effect: it moved the North Pole about 2.5 cm to the east, which slightly accelerated the planet’s rotation, reducing the length of a day by 2.68 microseconds. The key: the moment of inertia. The trigger for this effect is a physical magnitude called “moment of inertia” that describes the resistance of a body to changes in its rotation. The moment of inertia is greater or less depending on the amount of mass of the object and how that mass is distributed with respect to its axis of rotation. The classic example is a figure skater who, by crossing his arms close to his body, increases his rotation speed. Similarly, the Earth’s rotation can be modified by changes in its mass distribution. In the example of Indonesia, the movement of tectonic plates caused a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that modified the distribution of masses on the Earth’s surface and, consequently, the planet’s moment of inertia. The Moon has competition. The Earth is not a perfect sphere; Its axis of rotation shifts naturally due to changes in the atmosphere, oceans, and Earth’s crust. Since 1900, this axis has moved about 10 centimeters per year. Traditionally, this displacement was attributed to the retreat of glaciers or the gravitational pull of the Moon. Now we are beginning to understand the hand of man, and the Three Gorges Dam or the melting of the poles, which increases the water level towards the equator, are not the only examples. Another example is wells. Between 1993 and 2010, human geoengineering extracted approximately 2,150 gigatons of groundwater, used for consumption, agriculture, livestock, and industry. This massive extraction raised sea levels by more than six millimeters and, surprisingly, shifted the Earth’s axis of rotation by 80 centimeters east. Question of adjusting the clock? The impact of the wells or the Three Gorges Dam on the Earth’s rotation, although minimal, raises questions about the influence of human activities on our planet. For years, some researchers have advocated introduce a negative leap second in international time if the Earth’s rotation becomes slightly faster. As we saw a few months agothis idea is becoming progressively outdated. A Nature study suggests that the melting of the poles is already offsetting the hypothetical (and tiny) acceleration of the Earth due to human causes. The leap second was going to be introduced in 2026… And for now it has been postponed to 2029. It is possible that it will never be introduced. Short record. The impressive magnitude of the Three Gorges Dam can be put into perspective in two ways. The first is by observing the works that China is undertaking in the future Medog hydroelectric power stationin Tibet, located on the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Its works began in 2025 and, once it is completed, in 2035, it will be the most powerful dam on the planet, three times more than that of the Three Gorges. The second is with a fact: despite its brutal dimensions, the Three Gorges only produce 1% of China’s annual electricity. A testament to the country’s energy voracity. In Xataka | Dujiangyan: the engineers who, more than 2,000 years ago, decided to tame the Min River and, unintentionally, ended up forging China

In China they want humanoid robots to do household chores. The problem is that a house is not a factory

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For years we have seen humanoid robots do somersaults, danceppractice martial arts or move through factories with increasingly striking capabilities. The next step seems almost natural: taking them home to do the laundry, prepare a bed or support elder care. The problem is that this transition is not as direct as it seems. A factory is designed to reduce uncertainty; A home, on the other hand, is full of small exceptions. And for a robot, those exceptions can be exactly the difference between a flashy demo and a useful product. The concept. SCMP account That GigaAI has introduced the SeeLight S1 as the country’s first general-purpose home humanoid robot model, developed in collaboration with the Hubei Humanoid Robot Innovation Center and the Hubei Humanoid Robotics Industry Alliance. In images released by the company, he appears performing very recognizable tasks: cutting vegetables, frying eggs, loading a washing machine, hanging clothes, making a bed or opening curtains. The company also plans to test it for free in homes in Wuhan in the first half of 2027. A house is not an assembly line. That is the fundamental difference. In a factory, the robot can work with known references, pieces always placed in the same way and movements that are repeated thousands of times with very few variations. In a home, on the other hand, nothing guarantees that the shirt is where it was yesterday, that the chair has not moved or that a pet does not cross in front of it just when the robot is trying to complete a task. Much movement, little understanding. Xinhua itself collects an idea that helps cool down the epic of the demonstrations and that does not only affect China, but humanoid robotics in general: humanoids have greatly improved in their “cerebellum”, the part linked to control and coordination, but they still have major problems in their “brain”. In other words, they can execute complex movements, but it is difficult for them to understand what a scene means and what function each object has within it. Home is also a data problem. Now, for these systems to work better in real homes, they need to learn from real homes, but the home is precisely one of the places where it is least easy to collect data. We are not just talking about room maps, but about objects, forces, angles, routines and physical decisions that are difficult to simulate. Advances and challenges. According to NSFCthe country expected to exceed 10,000 humanoid units sold in 2025, with a year-on-year growth of 125%, and there were already pilots in industrial manufacturing, delivery, catering and services. The important nuance is that none of this automatically turns this industrial career into a successful deployment within homes: the sector itself locates the path prudently, first industry, then logistics and commercial uses, and only later the home. A future easy to imagine, difficult to materialize. The difficult part is demonstrating that this can be done usefully, safely, and at reasonable cost outside of a prepared demonstration. There is the real border. China and other countries around the world can accelerate prototypes, pilots and production, but a home does not forgive clumsiness in the same way as a controlled stage. To get home, the robot will not have to understand human life better. Images | GigaAI In Xataka | In China there are already “schools” for robots. Its objective is the same as schools for humans: to teach them to work

There is a city that has scanned the faces of more than 3 million people on the street and it is not in China, but in Europe

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A few days ago a man was walking down the street when, without realizing it, a camera scanned his face. As he continued walking, a sophisticated system compared his face to a police database, sent the alert, and within minutes he was arrested. It happened in London. The city of cameras. London is one of the most surveilled cities in the world; according to some sourcesin its streets there are more than 600,000 cameras controlling everything that happens. For some years now, in addition, they have a real-time facial recognition system to identify dangerous criminals, and it seems that the system is being as effective as it is controversial. In numbers. London’s Metropolitan Police say that since the beginning of 2024 they have made 2,500 arrests, of which 2,100 are related to violent and sexual crimes against women and girls. The system scanned more than 3 million faces in one year and only generated ten false positives. During a pilot in the Croydon district at least 470,000 passers-by were scanned with only one false positive. According to the police, the result of this test was a 10.5% crime reduction. How it works. The facial recognition cameras they have installed are capable of scanning up to 5,000 faces per hour. What they do is send the data to a police operations room where an AI system, signed by the Japanese company NEC, is dedicated to compare them with the police databasewhere there are more than 17,000 registered suspects. When there is a match, an alert is issued to officers in the area so they can make the arrest. Opposition. Organizations like Big Brother Watch has carried out campaigns against this systemarguing that it risks normalizing mass surveillance in public spaces and calling the technology ‘Orwellian’. Furthermore, they strongly question its true operational profitability since, while the police boast of making an arrest every 35 minutes, they warn that these statistics hide the enormous number of hours of the agents and the immense logistical resources that the system requires on the streets, diverting efforts from traditional and more proportionate police work. The debate has intensified after the unprecedented use of the system in a political protest in London. Big Brother Watch took the case to the High Court, but it ruled in favor of the legality of the technology, paving the way for its expansion. In favor. Despite opposition from some organizations, according to Police Director Lindsey Chiswick, the technology is “revolutionary” and completely secure, stressing that the biometric data of those who do not match the list of suspects are immediately destroyed. There are also fears that the algorithm discriminates based on race, but the police hide behind the fact that the tests carried out concluded that the system is accurate and does not present ethnic or gender biases. According to Chiswick, citizen support is around 80% in surveys. Image | Levi Meir ClancyUnsplash In Xataka | Concern over mass video surveillance has created a new product: anti-facial recognition glasses

China has more solid-state battery patents than anyone else and still fears being left behind for one reason: Japan

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What China is leading the energy and mobility transition What we are witnessing does not take anyone by surprise at this point. However, not all fish are sold, and in energy storage we are going to witness a significant evolution with the arrival of solid state batteriesa type of battery that we have been talking about for years. Just like they count From CarNewsChina, the country dominates the volume of research and records on solid-state batteries, but be careful because that leadership on paper does not guarantee winning the commercial race. And it is that a new analysis of the Xinhua agency recognizes that the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea are moving forward with more industrial coordination and better international deployment of patents, just when the technology enters a decisive phase for its commercialization. Why it matters. Solid-state batteries are considered the next big leap from current lithium-ion batteries. These promise more energy density, faster charges, greater security and longer lifespan. They not only affect the electric car, but also humanoid robotseVTOL (vertical take-off aircraft), consumer electronics and stationary storage. Basically, whoever controls the technology and, above all, its manufacturing at scale, will set the pace of mobility and energy in the next decade. Patent war. China accounts for around 35% of the world market for solid-state patents and 39% of those related to electrolytes, the largest global share, according to share from CarNewsChina. Scientific publications have gone from 21 articles in 2015 to 562 in 2023, with institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Tsinghua University leading advances in the engineering of the solid-solid interface, which for years has been one of the great bottlenecks. On the other hand, Japan continues to be the leading technological source with about 37% of global requests, compared to 30% from China. Japan is ahead. The problem in China is not quantity, but the concentration and quality of your strategy. Among the 30 most relevant institutions in the world in solid state and electrolyte patents, 17 are Japanese7 Chinese, 5 South Korean and only 1 European. The top ten positions are entirely Japanese or Korean. Toyota, alone, accumulates around 40% of all intellectual property in the sector. Added to this is a structural weakness, since Chinese companies register many fewer international patents than their Japanese and South Korean rivals, who shield their technology in the United States, Europe, India and Southeast Asia. The companies that move the board. CATL, BYD and SVOLT are leading the latest phase of this technology. And only in 2023 will Chinese companies filed more than 500 patent applications. Gotion High-tech The design of a 2 GWh line for totally solid batteries has already been finalized and another 0.2 GWh pilot line is operating with tests on vehicles. Ganfeng Lithium, backed by Changan, claims to have reached 1,100 cycles in a 400 Wh/kg cell and aims for 500 Wh/kg in production. On the other hand, Chinese researchers have also shown a prototype of 451.5 Wh/kg capable of charging in three minutes. CATL, for its part, is patenting lithium compounds with fluorine and sulfur electrolytes to improve fast charging and thermal stability. Deadlines. own report Xinhua places the start of production in small series around 2027 and broader commercialization around 2030. The industry continues to work in parallel on three electrolyte routes (sulfide, oxide and polymer) without any having won yet. Furthermore, according to the media, there are still challenges to overcome, including the formation of lithium dendrites, ionic transport mechanisms, solid-solid interface engineering or cell failure modes. And now what. China is preparing to industrialize what it currently masters in the laboratory. And its first national standard on solid state batteries (“Terms and Classification”) is under public consultation and proposes to differentiate between liquid, solid-liquid hybrid and totally solid cells. For now, the country dominates in terms of volume of papers and research, but it is clear that real dominance will come from manufacturers who first resolve large-scale production, cost, durability and safety. And let’s be honest, China has an advantage, especially with CATL and BYD controlling much of the world’s battery sharebut in the field of solid-state batteries there is still play. Cover image | Michael Fousert In Xataka | The EU no longer knows what to do to stop its car manufacturers from buying parts from China. So he’s going to force them

The greatest Japanese military taboo after the Second World War has just been blown up. China and North Korea are to blame

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In 1945, Japan emerged from World War II with a new Constitution that, in practice, prevented him have again offensive aircraft carrier. Eight decades later, one of its largest ships is once again preparing to operate fighter jets from the deck alongside the US Marines. Japan leaves its historical limits behind. Japan is entering a military phase that for decades avoided describing openly. He “Kaga”officially classified as a helicopter destroyer, will operate in June F-35B stealth fighters of the US Marine Corps in joint exercises that definitively bring the country closer to a light aircraft carrier capability. The gesture is much more important than it seems because it breaks a deeply rooted political and historical barrier since World War II: the idea that Japan should strictly limit its offensive capabilities. Tokyo continues to avoid the term “aircraft carrier,” but operational reality is beginning to look more and more like classic shipborne aviation. The Kaga and a return. The transformation of the “Kaga” and its twin “Izumo” It has been underway for years, but now it is entering the truly decisive phase: operate fighter aircraft fifth generation from deck in real conditions. The planned exercises with the US F-35B will include “cross-deck” maneuvers, where Marine aircraft take off and land from a Japanese ship. all this requires modifications depth in the deck, thermal resistance to withstand vertical landings and new coordinated procedures between pilots, sailors and technical personnel. Although Japan has placed the F-35Bs under the control of its Air Force and not the Navy, the practice brings the country enormously closer to having fully functional small aircraft carriers. A US Marine Corps F-35B lands aboard Kaga during training exercises in 2024 China and North Korea behind. The great driver of this transformation is the deterioration of the strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific. China multiply your pressure naval around Taiwan and the East China Sea as North Korea maintains a constant capacity of military destabilization. In this context, Tokyo needs to disperse its air capacity and reduce dependence on vulnerable ground bases. There the F-35B enters: a fighter capable of taking off over very short distances or landing vertically from relatively small decks. For Japan, this offers enormous flexibility in an archipelago full of islands and long sea distances. Each converted ship expands the number of platforms from which the country can project air power. USA as accelerator. The direct involvement of the US Marine Corps makes clear the extent to which Washington is acting as an accelerator of Japanese military transformation. The Marines already made the first historic landings on the “Izumo” in 2021 and since then they have accompanied practically all phases of the program. The “Kaga” even traveled to the United States for specific tests with F-35B and has already operated alongside British and American aircraft linked to the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. More than simple maneuvers, these exercises serve to integrate allied doctrines, logistics and procedures in a possible regional crisis scenario. The Indo-Pacific is filling up. The change also reflects a broader trend: the proliferation light aircraft carrier and ships capable of operating F-35Bs throughout the US allied network. United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea and potentially Spain sfollow similar paths to maintain embarked aviation without the need for gigantic nuclear supercarriers. He F-35B It has thus become the centerpiece of a new generation of medium navies capable of projecting air power from relatively compact platforms. Japan fits that model perfectly, especially in a scenario where war in the Pacific could force aircraft, ammunition and fuel to be dispersed across multiple moving points. The real test begins now. Until now, much of the Japanese program had still been experimental or symbolic. The real test begins with regular operations, long deployments and the ability to sustain stealth fighters on deck for weeks. That is where it will be measured if the “Kaga” It definitively ceases to be a “helicopter destroyer” to become, in practice, a a light aircraft carrier fully operational. And there, too, the most profound change is perceived: Japan is gradually leaving behind the defensive military culture to adapt to an increasingly Indo-Pacific more militarizedcompetitive and unpredictable. Image | hunini In Xataka | Japan has just crossed a line unprecedented since World War II: China has responded with supersonic missiles In Xataka | Japan has made a historic decision in the face of US uncertainty: deploy missiles that reach North Korea and China

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