devastated

Ukraine has opened the missile that devastated kyiv. They have found 100 reasons to be angry, and not exactly with Russia

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In 2014, after the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, international investigators spent months reconstructing fragments metallic weapons scattered among fields and roads to identify the weapon responsible. One of the biggest surprises was not just the missile itself, but the enormous amount of information that they could reveal small pieces seemingly insignificant. Ukraine has been “surprised” for some time by what is inside Russian war technology, but the latest perhaps exceeds anything seen before. The 100 components that should not be there. It we have been counting with numerous intercepted drones and missiles by kyiv, but the latest “unboxing” has set off alarms. The reason? When the Ukrainian teams they began to analyze the remains of the Kh-101 missiles that had hit residential buildings in the capital, they hoped to find Russian technology, perhaps Chinese parts or improvised systems to avoid sanctions. What they found was much more uncomfortable for the West: more than one hundred components manufactured by American and European companies inside each missile. Chips, microelectronics and systems produced years after sanctions began, including from this same 2026continued to appear in some of the most advanced weapons in the Russian arsenal. For Ukraine, the discovery has ended up generating a particularly bitter sensation: the missiles that they devastate the cities Ukrainians continue to partially depend on technology designed and manufactured by the same countries that support kyiv militarily. The Kh-101 is mounted on pylons The great crack of sanctions. He Kh-101 case is revealing one of the biggest problems of modern technological warfare: sanctioning does not necessarily mean cut off the supply real. Russia continue accessing to Western microelectronics through re-exports, intermediaries, opaque distributors and commercial networks that are extremely difficult to control. Some pieces even arrive from china as clones or compatible copies of Western designs. The result is that Moscow has achieved maintain and expand its missile production despite economic isolation. Ukraine maintains that many of the components found were fOpened in 2024 and 2025years after the sanctions packages that were supposed to strangle Russian military capacity. The feeling in kyiv is that there is a huge difference between announcing restrictions and making them actually work. The missile that Russia does not stop perfecting. Yes, because the Kh-101 has become a of the central pieces of the Russian air campaign. Launched from strategic bombers and designed for long-range flights at low altitude, Moscow has multiplied its production since 2022 to levels far above those before the invasion. But also, Russia is continually modifying the missile to make it more difficult to intercept. Ukraine assures that the new versions incorporate anti-interference improvements, more sophisticated navigation systems, double charges reducing fuel and even fragmentation munitions with zirconium elements to increase damage. kyiv continues to intercept a good part of them, but each new development forces spend more resources defenses and demonstrates that Russia maintains sufficient industrial capacity to sustain a prolonged technological war. The Western Paradox. Also it we have been counting. The history of the Kh-101 reflects, one more timean extremely uncomfortable contradiction for Europe and the United States. As the West delivers anti-aircraft systems, intelligence and economic aid to Ukraine, part of the global technology industry it keeps leaking towards the Russian military machine. In practice, some Western companies may end up seeing their own chips end up inside the missiles which then force the use of expensive Patriot or NASAMS interceptors also financed by the West. That paradox explains much of the Ukrainian frustration. For kyiv, the problem is no longer just Russia, but the inability of global trade chains to prevent critical technology from ending up feeding the Kremlin’s military production. The industrial war of the 21st century. He analysis of the remains The attack on kyiv is also leaving a deeper conclusion about how modern wars work. No great power today manufactures advanced weapons completely isolated of the global market. Missiles, drones and guidance systems depend of an international network of microelectronics, software and components extremely difficult to control. Russia has shown that even under massive sanctions can still access much of that global technological infrastructure. And Ukraine has discovered something equally disturbing: that in the wars of the 21st century, open a missile enemy is no longer only useful for studying its military technology. It also serves to discover to what extent the connected world continues feeding indirectly the war he is trying to stop. Image | Office of the President of Ukraine, Russia MoD In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer. In Xataka | The war in Ukraine has entered such a crazy phase that soldiers are shooting at their own drones

In 1993 Microsoft created Encarta to revolutionize knowledge. Twenty years later it would be devastated by a tsunami

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It became so popular that its logo and the sound of their intros They became two brands just as identifiable as those of Nokia or Windows. If – like the person writing this – you had to go to school or high school between the second half of the 90s and the first half of the 2000s, talk about the Encarta It does not require large presentations. If not, don’t worry; It won’t take us much time. Before Wikipedia offered free online knowledge and even the use of the Internet became popular, Microsoft launched a digital encyclopedia that revolutionized the sector and became a phenomenon between more or less 1993 and 2009. Its name: Encarta. Today, ironies of history, “Encarta” is one more entry in the index of other encyclopedias; but there was a time when it transformed our way of accessing knowledge. From having to spend their eyelashes and fingertips scrolling through pages in search of information, students began to search for information with the click of a button. The Encarta offered an agile, comfortable and above all didactic way to satisfy curiosity. With articles, yes; but also with videos, audios and even virtual visits and games. You could read about Nepalese temples in the Salvat. Or open the Encarta and “tour” one. Its “pull” was so great that it put the old paper encyclopedias in trouble. When the Spanish edition was presented in early 1997, those responsible presumed that the Encarta CD-ROM, a format that you could store in a drawer or even a folder, contained information that It was equivalent to 29 volumes and 1.2 meters of shelving. Not only that. The Encarta cost 24,900 pesetas, four times less than an equivalent printed encyclopedia. To make matters worse, his landing in Spain was protected by Santillanaa publishing house with considerable weight in school classrooms. How to compete with that? The product was liked and published in Spanish and other languages. He did well until, with the same ones with which he had become a phenomenon, ended up succumbing to the competition. In a way, his success is due to his good sense of smell in the 90s; its decline, to the inability to adapt in the 2000s. This is your story. Objective: reinvent the old encyclopedias In the mid-1980s Microsoft He began to think about the idea of ​​creating a digital encyclopedia. The idea was ambitious. Those from Redmond wanted, neither more nor less, to rethink the concept and operation of a product apparently as mature and closed as the volumes that publishers’ commercials were dedicated to selling door to door. To make its debut in a big way, the multinational tried to negotiate a license with the creators of what was probably the most respected publication internationally: the Encyclopædia Britannica. It didn’t go well for them. In the 1980s, paper volumes of Britannica were sold and They left huge profits. As Enrique Dans remembershis books cost about $250 to produce and the selling price ranged between $1,500 and $2,200, depending on the quality. Why would the firm want to digitize content on a CD and risk killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? Microsoft did not give up and looked for ways to move the idea forward. He even had a name for the initiative: Project Gandalf. Some time later he closed a contract with Funk & Wagnalls to use your New Encyclopediaof 29 volumes, in a database that was created at the end of that same decade. To complete its contents, years later two other McMillan encyclopedias would be added, the Collier’s and New Merit Scholar. They were not the Britannica; but it would have to do. However, doubts arose in Redmond about whether or not the project was viable and they decided to park it. It was resumed at the turn of the decade, in 1991, when Microsoft decided to go all out. In 1993, the first edition of the Encarta Encyclopedia was launched, which included the 25,000 Funk & Wagnalls articles and extra material, such as images and some animations. The tool was comfortable, much more agile than the kilometric tomes and even fun, but it started with a huge mistake: the shot was centered wrong. At the beginning of the 90s there were still many houses without a PC and the marketing price was exclusive. When it came out, the Encarta cost about $400, which greatly limited its range. The cost deterred customers and was not too far from that of another competitor that was testing the same niche with a recognizable brand, Compton, which also launched your own multimedia version in 1990, with text and supports such as images and sounds. In Redmond they knew how to react and soon they were deploying a more aggressive strategy. They launched promotions that allowed you to get the Encarta for 99 dollarsthey included their CD with the Windows software package and negotiated with manufacturers to incorporate it into their computers, a tactic not unlike that used with Windows and Office. The promotion of Microsoft itself gave the final push. The new encyclopedia gained fame and began to chain editions, translate into different languages and enrich content with multimedia supports. In 1995, abridged versions of some articles were offered for Microsoft Network ISP subscribers, and starting in ’96, standard and deluxe editions began to be released, an enriched version that could be updated month by month. In 1998, its creators went one step further and acquired the rights to several electronic encyclopedias. The product was growing and, above all, it demonstrated that the sector was experiencing a clear paradigm shift. The best example: in 1996 the once powerful company Britannica ended up underselling for their difficulties. “It allows young and old to explore the world by themes and characters,” their promoters boasted in the Spanish market. And so it was, indeed. Through articles, photos, illustrations, graphs, maps, timelines, recordings, videos and even virtual tours, Encarta won over an entire generation of students. … Read more

A bad spell devastated my kitchen. The most useful personal finance tool has saved me

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They say that misfortunes never come alone and, when it comes to appliances, that is a more than likely reality. In the last year, all the appliances in my kitchen have been falling apart one by one. First the washing machine, then the dryer, the coffee maker, a couple of months ago the refrigerator, and now the microwave is starting to beep randomly. He’s asking for the time. Being an adult was this. For an average economycope with replacement of all those appliances In a single year it represents a significant setback. However, we have been able to face this important unforeseen event thanks to a key tool in personal finances: the emergency fund. Concern in Spain about unforeseen events The concern about not being able to face an unexpected expense is very present in Spanish households. a study from the neobank Nickel points out that 64% of the people surveyed are concerned that their savings are not enough to cover an unforeseen event, five percentage points more than what was stated in the same study from the previous year. The same report shows that 28% claim to have planned their savings well, while 8% claim to have not no savings available. Furthermore, the impact is not the same for everyone: 5% of men say they do not have savings, compared to 12% of women, and only 35% of those over 65 consider that they have a cushion large enough to deal with an unforeseen event. Why an emergency fund matters The case of my appliances being damaged is a good example of what it is and the importance of having an emergency fund. Financial institutions define the emergency fund as an amount of money saved only for unforeseen events, different from savings for goals such as trips or renovations. It is used to cover, for example, a car breakdown, a boiler that breaks down or a sudden healthcare expense, without upsetting the entire month’s budget. Having this mattress provides two clear advantages: on the one hand, it reduces stress because it allows face unexpected expenses without making hasty decisions, and on the other hand, it protects you from falling into debt that later becomes difficult. How much money do you need? Ok, it is useful and necessary to create “a little corner” for unforeseen events, but how much money would we be talking about? Factors such as inflation, rising prices from the shopping cart or wage stagnation makes saving a utopia. According to a report Elaborated by Triodos Bank, 19.4% of those surveyed say they are never or almost never able to save, while 36.9% can only do so some months. Only 43.7% claim to be able to save regularly. Therefore, it is understandable that the idea of ​​saving, when you have a month left at the end of your salaryit becomes difficult for you. Don’t panic. Some banking entities match in which the fund should cover between three and six months of monthly fixed expenses, adjusting the figure to the financial situation of each person or family. If you have variable income or self-employment, some experts recommend expand that margin by covering six to twelve months of fixed expenses. The result will be your goal saving for emergency fund. To establish a specific savings figure, you must calculate how much you spend each month on housing, supplies, food, transportation and other basic expenses, and multiply that amount by six or twelve months, depending on each situation. There is even calculators that help you to establish that figure. Tricks to build the emergency fund without stress Once the savings goal has been established, it is time to start the plan to make it possible. It is not necessary to spend a large amount of money monthly for this fund, although it is advisable to establish an affordable monthly fee. They can be 10, 20 or 50 euros. It depends on your economy. The important thing is to start contributing. When it comes to money, the flesh is weak and the temptation to skip the monthly contribution will be very strong, so it is best to establish a savings strategy. Automate monthly savings On the one hand, physically separate that emergency fund from the rest of your savings. For example, in a new account. By separating it from your savings or checking account, it will be much easier for you to know how much money you have saved in it and adjust your savings plan. On the other hand, on a psychological level, seeing how that amount grows will serve as motivation to achieve the goal. In order to avoid temptations, it is best to automate the monthly transfer of the amount you have established as a quota for your emergency fund. That way, as soon as your salary is credited to your account, that fee will be reserved for emergencies without you having to do anything. If you are not obliged to manage that money every month, you will not be tempted not to reserve it. It’s not what you save, it’s what you don’t spend When the savings capacity is limited, it makes a lot of sense to review the so-called “ant expenses“: coffees away from home, impulsive purchases on apps, subscriptions to services you never use or frequent low-cost cravings. Redirect those small expenses Frequent trips to your emergency fund can make a difference over time, transforming money that slips away almost without realizing it into a cushion that protects against fines, repairs or unexpected bills. Another key to making the emergency fund grow without realizing it is to redirect all or a good part of any unexpected incomesuch as tax refunds, extra payments, bonuses, smaller prizes or cash gifts to your fund instead of your checking account. After all, it is a income you didn’t count onso nothing better than dedicating it to an equally unexpected emergency. When to use the emergency fund? It seems like a truism question, but when you have a certain … Read more

For decades rats devastated these Pacific islands. Now we’re finding out what happens when they leave

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Before we get to work I propose a game: open Google Earth, type “Bikar Atoll” either Jemo Island and let the search engine take you to those remote points lost in the middle of the Pacific. What do you see? Beaches with turquoise waters and white sand, leafy trees, nature in its purest form. The typical place that promises paradise on earth and where anyone would want to go for a week’s trip. The problem is that until recently both islands had a problem: they were rat infested that had turned their ecosystem upside down. Until recently. In a remote part of the Pacific… They are found Marshall Islandsan island republic located in the region of Micronesia, Oceania, famous for its paradisiacal images and dreamy sandy beaches. Among its string of islands there are two in particular that in recent months have caught the attention of environmentalists: Bikar Atoll and the Jemo Islandboth included in the Ratak island chain. The reason? After intense conservation work and a campaign that dates back to 2024, the two islands have seen their fauna and vegetation recover little by little. As an example, environmentalists they explain who have found a colony of hundreds of onychoprion fuscatus (sooty terns) with chicks in an area where until not so long ago there was not a single one. Not to mention the thousands of sprouts that have begun to appear on previously bare soil. An annoying (and voracious) stowaway. There is little mystery about this change. It is explained by a campaign launched last year and which focused the focus on the big problem that was devastating the ecosystems of Bikar and Jemo: rats. Although both islands have always stood out for their birds (when Spanish explorers discovered Jemo They nicknamed her ‘The Birds’‘), over time they ended up displaced by another animal with a voracious appetite: rodents that arrived hidden on board ships and fed on eggs and other local species, which drastically impacted the delicate island ecosystem. A date: 7/24. Things began to change in July 2024when Island Conservationtogether with the Marshallese Marine Resources Authority, launched an ambitious campaign to eliminate the invasive rats. With the help of a drone he launched baits throughout the islands, a meticulous task that led him to cover each hectare with around 25 kilos of a product designed especially for rodents without affecting the rest of the native species. Months later the team returned to Bikar and Jemo to assess the scope of the campaign. “As soon as you step onto the island, your senses are activated to the maximum: you look for the rats, you look for birds on the ground, look for any clue that indicates whether we have won or lost,” confesses Paul Jacquesdirector of Island Conservation to CNN. What he obtained during that visit was “a great revelation,” confirmation (confirmed with studies) that the plague had subsided. Change of terrain after the disappearance of the rats. Baby birds found on the island. “Drastic transformation”. The quote is by Paul Jacques, who summarizes what they found on the islands: “A colony of 200 sooty terns where there were none before fed hundreds of chicks.” “We also counted thousands of seedlings of the native tree Pisonia grandis in just 60 supervised 12-meter plots in the forest. In 2024 we had not found any,” relates the person responsible for the project, who remembers that this regeneration is essential for the fauna that inhabits both islands. “Native forests are essential for nesting seabirds and crucial for carbon absorption and the ecological health of the island,” insist. When the rats disappeared, the turtles, crabs and birds were no longer harassed, which was soon reflected in the rest of the ecosystem. More birds translated into more guano, which in turn improved soil fertility, encouraging more native vegetation and reefs. And as a picture always says more than a thousand words, Island Conservation has taken care of document the change with a series of photos that show the before and after of the campaign. Far beyond Bikar and Jemo. Change is important for the islands, but from Island Conservation it is insisted in that the success of your campaign goes further. “This integrated approach offers enormous benefits for biodiversity, demonstrating how land and sea conservation, when strategically linked, can boost resilience and ecological impact.” The organization also recalls that the regeneration of the islands benefits neighboring island communities, such as the one located in Likipe, which have historically come to Jemo in search of natural resources. Without rats, they now find more crabs there and hope to achieve sustainable fishing. Images | Andrew Arch (Flickr)Google Earth and Island Conservation In Xataka | New York rats have become a pest that is impossible to eradicate. They have a secret: their own language

Valencia feared that the housing market sink into the areas devastated by the DANA. The opposite has happened

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The Dana that He hit the province From Valencia in October it was so violent, it caused so many damage and affected so many people, that in the real estate agencies of the area they feared that the market was upside down. “It was thought that it was going to sink into the most devastated areas,” Recognize The sector. Reality has been another. The region has not only maintained The tension Between supply and demand suffered before the Dana, but has added an extra factor: Damage who suffered hundreds of households. The Association of Real Estate of the Valencian Community (ASCival) has published A report It helps to better understand how the market has responded. “We saw that the demand was strong”. Nora García Donet, president of ASCival, acknowledges that the market response after the Dana has even surprised the sector. After the rains they feared a puncture in the market, but reality has been quite different: the demand remained high while the offer (which in many cases was already subject to intense pressure before disaster) It was marked by the loss of households razed by rain and mud. “In the first moments it was thought that the market was going to sink into the areas most devastated by the Dana, but soon we saw that the demand was strong in a context in which many homes had been inoperative, and this trend is the one that has been maintained over time,” Donet points out. That equation has ended up moving to another key element: prices. A percentage: 18%. The report Ascival provides a fundamental fact to understand the drift of the market: the price of housing has increased by 18% in the municipalities hit by the DANA. More specifically 18.8% in the sale market and 18.1% in the lease. Translated to counting and sound money that means that houses for sale in the affected areas cost 171,428 euros while the rentals are around 800. The provinces has deepened Something else and calculates that a floor for sale in the towns razed by the downpours has increased, on average, about 32,000 euros. In the case of homes for rent, the price increase would be at 145 euros per month. All compared to the values ​​of seven months ago. What is the reason? The same that usually causes price increases in normal conditions: the imbalances between supply and demand. In Your study Ascival indicates a growing decoupling between both both in the sale market and in the rental. In the first case, the association calculates that the demand for houses for sale has shot 22% while the offer has fallen by 31.3%. In the second case, that of the Property Market to lease, the demand has shot 27.1% with the offering supply (38%). “Little more than six months after the devastating consequences of the DANA, the real estate situation in the affected municipalities follows the same trend of price and demand and contribution trend and contrition of the housing supply as in the rest of the Valencian territory,” Point out As a conclusion the Asicval report. That reality is verified by the region’s own agencies. More than half (54.3%) ensures that the supply of housing for sale has decreased and almost 90%(87.5%) have noticed price orange blossom. 58% also believe that there is more rental demand, while 96% consider that the supply has been maintained or dropped. The role of the Dana. The report It does not detail to what extent the increase can be related to the effect of the DANA or its influence on supply and demand, although it does slide some interesting data. The main one is that most people interested in buying or renting a house in the affected municipalities are locals. This is perceived at least by the agencies, which also ensure that customers do not seem especially interested in knowing whether or not the properties are in flood areas, but they do prefer apartments in height buildings. The tension in the market is not new, nor has it emerged after the October disaster. In 2024 Idealista published A report in which he already pointed out that the district with the greatest pressure in the demand for housing in Spain was in the Central-Horte de Trenor area, in Torrent. During the last months the house It has become more expensive Also in the whole of the province of Valencia, not only in the areas affected by the DANA. What the torrential rains did was sweep hundreds of homesdamaging them or leaving them temporarily uninhabitable. Image | Manuel Pérez García and Estefania Monerri Mínguez (Wikipedia) In Xataka | An old dream is injured in Barcelona: the idea of ​​”a house for a lifetime” without fear of move

Trump arrived at Los Angeles to travel Pacific Palisades, devastated by forest fires

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The President Donald Trump It came to Los Angeles Friday to see first hand The destruction caused by forest firesaccompanied by the first lady Melania Trump. Trump was received at Los Angeles International Airport for his long -date political nemesis, the governor Gavin Newsom. Both set their hands when the president descended from the Air Force One and spoke privately before heading to a group of journalists. “I appreciate that the governor has come and met with me, and we will talk,” Trump said. “We want to solve it. We want to solve the problem … It is as if a bomb had fallen. It is as if a bomb had fallen. ” Newsom replied: “The most important thing is that I appreciate it here. It means a lot to all of us. Not only for the people of Palisades, but also for the people of Altadena who were devastated. We will need your support. We will need your help. You were there for us during the Covid. I don’t forget it. And I have all the expectations that we can work together to achieve this rapid recovery. ” When asked about his long -standing political disagreements with the Democratic governor, Trump replied that both would work together. Earlier on Friday, Trump suggested in an informative session about the recovery of North Carolina after the hurricane that would sign a “Executive order to begin the process of fundamental reform and revision of FEM, or perhaps get rid of them.” Later he added about the future of the Federal Agency for Emergency Management: “We are going to recommend that Fema disappear.” The fires destroyed thousands of houses in the Los Angeles metropolitan zone.Credit: Damian Dovarganes | AP Trump made the comments to embark on The first trip of his second term to assess the damage caused by natural disasters In North Carolina and California. Trump visited North Carolina parts that were devastated by Hurricane Helene in September, and in California, will travel the areas devastated by forest fires that continue to burning in Los Angeles. Trump and the first lady plan to take a tour of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, devastated by the fire, accompanied by officials of the Los Angeles Fire Department and three owners of housing affected by the fire. Then he will participate in an informative meeting on the fire in Pacific Palisades. It is expected that the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, eight members of the Delegation of the Congress of California, the president of the County Supervisors Board, Kathryn Barger, and Ed Ring, director of Water and Energy Policies, participate in that meeting of the California Policy Center. Newsom was not on the list of assistants planned provided by the White House. Trump is not expected to visit the Eaton fire zone in Altadena. It is planned to leave Lax airport later in the direction of Las Vegas. Trump has previously said that he would condition California to political demands. Continue reading:· Firefighters stop dangerous fire in the city of Los Angeles· More than 31,000 evacuated by Fire Hughes, north of Los Angeles· Newsom signs order to accelerate debris withdrawal by fire (Tagstotranslate) Donald Trump (T) Gavin Newsom (T) Fire in California

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