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The only thing that Europe’s AI Law has achieved is to leave us lame. The question is whether turning back will do any good.

November 20, 2025 by usatoday24

December 8 was a fateful day for the European Union, but not many realized it. And it was because that day the AI Act was passedthe European regulation on artificial intelligence. Thierry Breton, European commissioner, he was pleased with a tweet that automatically became a meme. I was bragging about how Europe had tripped itself up. The responses to that tweet They made it clear that the reception of the regulations was very different from what the EU would have expected. The criticism was forceful and very clear: with these regulations the only thing the EU was achieving was to slow down innovation and make it even more difficult to compete in a segment that was defining the world. While the US and China joined the party without asking permission and without asking for forgiveness, Europe stayed at home happily crocheting. That regulation, which came into force in August 2024instantly caused the AI segment out at two speeds: that of Europe, almost at a standstill, and that of the rest of the world, which stepped on the accelerator (without looking too closely at the consequences). We have seen the consequences of that in the last two years. Europe has been relegated to the second (or third) plane, and with honorable exceptions like the Spanish Freepik or the French Mistral, we have very little to talk about in this area. Meanwhile, the US dominates the commercial plane and China is a steamroller both at a training level as in your open model development. Europe wants to turn back: the question is whether it is too late Yesterday the European Commission presented a project for simplify various digital regulationsand the most important modifications actually affect the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPRor GRPD for its acronym in English). The changes proposed by the Commission will make it easier for companies to share sets of anonymised and pseudo-anonymised personal data. That will have a direct impact on the capacity of AI companies, which They will be able to legally use personal data to train their data models as long as that process meets the rest of the GDPR requirements. The proposal also softens one of the key elements of the AI Act, which, as we say, came into force in August 2024 but included several elements that would come into force some time later. Thus, now the “grace period” for the regulations that regulate the high risk AI systems —those that pose a “serious risk” to health, safety or fundamental rights—is widespread. It was supposed to be activated in summer 2016, but now that regulation will only apply when it is confirmed that “the necessary standards and supporting tools are available” for AI companies… whatever those standards and tools are, yet to be defined. Other amendments in that new Digital Omnibus include simplified requirements for the documentation required of SMEsin addition to a unified interface so that companies can report cybersecurity incidents. Henna Virkkunen, vice president of technological sovereignty at the European Commission, explained that: “In the EU we have all the ingredients to be successful. However, our businesses, especially startups and small businesses, are often held back by a set of rigid rules. By reducing bureaucracy, simplifying EU legislation, opening access to data and introducing a common European business portfolio, we are creating space for innovation to be produced and commercialized in Europe. This is being done the European way: by ensuring that users’ fundamental rights remain fully protected.” These amendments to current digital regulations will now have to be approved by the European Parliament and the 27 member states of the European Union — which will need a qualified majority— to approve it. That process could last months, and during it the proposals themselves could see notable changes before being applied. As indicated in The Guardianthis “massive setback” of this regulation has caused concern among groups fighting to continue protecting privacy of European citizens. The European Digital Rights (EDRi), a pan-European network of NGOs, Indian that if the changes to the regulation are accepted, it will become easier for technology companies to collect and use personal data to train AI models without asking for consent. The European agenda seemed to change when former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi warned last fall of how Europe had fallen worryingly behind in the technology race. That speech was a breath of fresh air for Europeand European business groups have welcomed the proposal with optimism, but believe that they still fall short. A representative of the Computer and Communications Industry Association of which Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta are members indicated that “efforts to simplify digital and technology regulations should not stop there.” One click for cookies This simplification of regulation that affects all types of digital scenarios can have a positive effect. Accepting or rejecting cookies has become a daily torture for millions of Europeansbut the user experience may improve significantly in the coming months. And it may get better because the EU has proposed a modernization of policies related to cookies. To try to improve the browsing experience, it will limit the number of times cookie warning banners appear, but also will make it possible for us to accept or reject cookies with a single click. In fact, the future may be even more promising, because what is intended is that said consent (or denial) of cookies is integrated into our browser so that once we configure it, the websites are not constantly asking us if we accept cookies or not: the browser will know what we want and will answer for us at all times. In that “digital package” it is specified that once we accept or reject cookies with that “single-click“, websites must respect that choice of citizens for six months. Image | Christian Lue In Xataka | For the EU, our privacy has always been more important than AI. Until he understood that he was left behind

The main problem of Europe’s rearmament is a number. If Russia attacks its borders, it has 45 days to roam freely

November 18, 2025 by usatoday24

The scene took place a decade ago at a Polish station, when several American Bradleys lost their turrets when passing under a platform that was too low, symbolizing a problem that Europe never solved: the structural vulnerability of your military logistics network. on a continent that is rearmed at a vunknown speed since the Cold War, the shortcomings are not only found in the absence of more tanks, ammunition or entire brigades, but in the physical inability to move them in time. The hidden fragility. In the month of July already we count the first indication. Then Europe realized that rearmament I had to start on the roads under a very simple premise: a Russian invasion would unleash fatal congestion. In fact, the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is already exposed that reality. France could not transfer his Leclercs to Romania via the shortest land route through Germany and was forced to send them by sea, a deviation that evidenced what military planners have been pointing out with frustration for years: Europe is not prepared to move a modern army from its western ports to the eastern border in a credible time frame for deterrence. Now, in addition, he is certain of a number: deterrence takes about 45 daysand in a real scenario it would be equivalent to losing a war before appearing on the front, so it is imperative to reduce. How much? The plan is to reduce it five or even three daysaccording to the objectives that Brussels is finalizing. That is the heart of problem that obsesses to German General Alexander Sollfrank: that everything, from documentation to the resistance of a tunnel and the availability of a train driver, will work “like a Swiss clock” when Moscow tests NATO’s reaction capacity. The political challenge. They remembered in the Financial Times that even before the first armored train crosses Europe, the critical obstacle is political. The experience of 2022 showed that, although US intelligence accurately warned of the imminent Russian attack, some European leaders did not believe that Putin would give the order. Military mobilization can only begin once governments accept that the threat is real, and that delay (hours or days) is gold for the aggressor. General Ben Hodges, former commander of US forces in Europe, formulated it to put it bluntly: the key is not just how to move troops, but how to speed up decision-making, open ammunition depots, activate convoys and do it before Russia launch your offensive. And more. Added to this is the strategic unknown of Donald Trump, whose record of oscillations against Russia keeps Europe in constant tension: even if Washington claims to remain committed with Article 5clarity, synchronicity and speed could be conditioned by your posture. Only when that political decision is made will the massive movement to the east begin, a flow whose magnitude (200,000 soldiers and thousands of armored vehicles from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom) demands a continental precision no priors. Geography as an enemy. That said, almost all analysts agree: the real bottleneck of European defense is on your physical map. Europe, despite being a densely developed continent, is not designed to move heavy divisions from one end to the other. The tunnels are too low, the clearances too narrow, the Baltic roads incompatible with those of the rest of the continent, the bridges (such as the collapsed Carola in Dresden in 2024) too old to support the weight of a modern tank. Even the inclination of the railway track can become at a risk When a train transports armored vehicles: the cargo could overturn. The realization of this reality led Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to launch the Rail Baltica projecta €24 billion investment explicitly designed to support oversized military trains and eliminate the dangerous process of transferring vehicles between networks with different gauges. And on the Peninsula. In Spain and Portugal, the situation is similarmaking any urgent transfer from the peninsula difficult. Germany, which should act as Europe’s great military highway, is perhaps the most worrying example: exhausted roads, bridges in critical condition and a railway network that years ago was no longer suitable for high-intensity operations. The logistical dimension. Moving an army in Europe is not just a matter of infrastructure: it is also a administrative nightmare. Since most of the countries crossed would not be formally at war, their labor and customs laws would remain in force even in full military mobilization. A convoy crossing three borders could clash to three different regulations on mandatory breaks for truck drivers, incompatible customs procedures or transit permits that must be issued on paper, since NATO avoids digital documents for fear of cyberattacks. Germany, Poland and the Netherlands have tried to break this labyrinth by creating a “military Schengen” embryonic, but regulation remains fragmented, slow and vulnerable. Brussels has identified 2,800 critical points of infrastructure that need urgent modernization, although only 500 have been prioritized, and the fulfillment of the plans depends on governments whose political priorities change every year. Added to this complexity is the vehicle multiplication and calibers in service, which makes it almost impossible to standardize the logistics chain. As Sollfrank warnsyou cannot plan every “screw”, but you can plan the scenarios, and today Europe is just beginning to understand the real scale of the problem. The industry as a decisive link. Plus: the modernization of military mobility requires not only adapting bridges and roads, but also rebuilding industrial capacity to transport a contemporary army. A light division may require up to 200 trains, each with more than 40 cars, which represents more than 8,000 logistics platforms for a single operational movement. European railway companies, from Deutsche Bahn to Baltic operators, are signing agreements to reserve military capabilities, while Rheinmetall begins to offer complete services for convoys crossing Germany, from mobile dormitories to emergency workshops. But Europe does not produce enough high-capacity railcars or specialized vehicles, and the industry requires joint tenders and unified specifications to be able to produce … Read more

Europe is eager for cheap electric cars. Europe’s solution: copy Japan

November 8, 2025 by usatoday24

The European Union needs electric cars to be purchased. At least if you want your emissions plans to be met. So ambitious that they have forced ban combustion engines from 2035 in a decision that countries like Germany and Italy want to reverse because, in their opinion, their industries are at stake. The truth is that more electric cars are bought every day and the number of followers goes growing. Especially in countries with greater purchasing power, with a better charging network or that are simply doing things better like Portugal where aid is given at the time of purchase and frictions have been eliminated when loading the car. There are a multitude of factors but the truth is that manufacturers feel that, despite growing, the embrace of the customer is not enough to get the industry off the ground. There are fewer and fewer brands that maintain their marketing plans. jump to “all electric” before 2035 because they feel that the sales of this technology is not driving amortizations that they have to do when designing new vehicles, readapting their assembly lines or creating a new network of suppliers around them. The big promise is that “cheap” electric cars will drive these sales. But as we have talked about on other occasions, these vehicles have a fundamental problem: their autonomy. The average European citizen, according to ACEAtravels 34 kilometers by car every day and only once or twice a year he faces long trips (he makes just over 12,000 kilometers annually) where a car with a battery less than 60 kWh of capacity would have to stop on more than one occasion, extending the trip beyond what was desired. However, at the same price, it is logical that you opt for the combustion version because you will have a car that does not cause headaches on those trips (for just a few days a year) and you will also be able to face an unforeseen event with solvency if necessary. The maintenance cost takes a backseat. Right now, the European industry is at a difficult inflection point. It is difficult to make electric cars cheaper because the battery remains the main obstacle when it comes to saving costs. The new Renault Twingo promises to sell for less than 20,000 euros but its 27.8 kWh battery barely anticipates just over 150 kilometers off-road, which makes it practically useless outside the city. Nor does what is to come offer much better guarantees and 25,000 euro cars face combustion options that, as we said, do not cause headaches on weekend excursions or long trips despite the fact that they later lose out in the general maintenance of the vehicle. And small cars have become much more expensive in recent years. As a solution, the European Union is trying to carry out a new regulation for small carswith a contained size and price in line with that of a purely urban vehicle. For this they want to base themselves on the kei car Japanese, a type of car located below the passenger car that offers certain tax advantages… but whose success can only be explained by Japanese particularities. A new category with everything to prove In search of solutions to lower the prices of electric cars and make these urban mobility options more attractive, we know that the European Union is working to create a new category of cars. The idea is to frame it between current passenger cars and light quadricycles. A new category with a contained size and whose main incentives were lower maintenance costs with tax advantages and facilities for manufacturers to reduce car prices. Taking into account these premises, François Provost, CEO of Renault, has confirmed that if the European regulations go ahead they could convert their Renault 5, 4 and Twingo into this type of new vehicles. In statements collected by Coachhas dropped that they could be cars that were below 4.1 meters, with entirely European production and whose emissions in the production process were less than 15 tons of CO2. The words are relevant because the Renault Group has been pushing in this regard for some time. Luca de Meo, its previous CEO and former president of the ACEA employers’ association, He was also in favor of this new category. The French have recently presented the Dacia Hipster, which aims directly at this market. Stellantis has also been betting for some time and has launched up to three heavy electric quadricycles, which is the closest thing to the category at the moment. and in Xataka We learned two years ago that the European Union is working on specifying such a category. Inspiration is kei car japanese. These miniaturized cars develop a maximum of 660 cc and have some very strict length and width measurements. Curiously, they do not have them high up so most of them, to maximize space, have very square shapes in the minivan style. All in all, it is a category with a very particular development that even has sports versions such as the legendary Daihatsu Copen. In Europe, legislators seem willing to copy the philosophy of these cars. As? It is what remains to be defined. In The Coches.net podcast They gave some alternatives to lower prices and one of them is very clear: eliminate obligations regarding safety and driving aids. The mandatory systems that the European Union has introduced such as the lane departure or fatigue warning seat have special relevance outside the city but very little inside it, just where these cars should stay. These are systems that have made urban vehicles more expensive and would be a push to lower their costs again. Furthermore, having a contained size is an incentive for some cities where there is less and less space available. The biggest problem for Europe is that the formula of kei car Japanese triumphs because it is an extraordinarily particular market. In fact, except BYD that has shown its first car For Japan with these premises in … Read more

A Russian submarine has appeared off the coast of France. And Europe’s reaction has been surprising: have a laugh

October 16, 2025 by usatoday24

August 2025. After learning through satellite images that the Russian nuclear submarine base had been was damaged After an earthquake, Ukraine leaked all the secrets of Moscow’s most advanced submarine, including its failures. Now, two months later, one of them has appeared off the coast of France. And, instead of fear, Europe has been amused. The silence broken. For days, NATO radars followed the strange figure of a Russian submarine that, instead of slipping secretly under the sea, clumsily advanced on the surface. Was Novorossiyska Kilo-class diesel-electric of the Black Sea Fleet, one of the few assets that still maintained Moscow’s flag in the Mediterranean. His march was slow and visible, accompanied by French, British and Dutch ships that escorted him with the same mix of caution and curiosity with which an injured animal is observed. For the Atlantic Alliance, that voyage was more than just a naval anomaly: it was a exhaustion signa reflection of what remains of Russian maritime power after three and a half years of war, sanctions and irreparable losses. Adrift. The official Moscow version It was immediate. According to the Black Sea Fleet, the Novorossiysk was sailing on the surface simply to comply with international standards when crossing the English Channel. But allied intelligence reports and leaks on Russian security channels painted a different picture: a damaged submarine, with a possible fuel leak, forced to surface repeatedly and, according to some reportseven to empty flooded compartments. The presence of a tugboat, he Yakov Grebelskiyreinforced that suspicion. For NATO commanders, the image of an attack ship “limping” toward its base was not only a metaphor for a technical breakdown, but the demonstration how Russian naval machinery is rusting in the eyes of the world. From Tartus to the Mediterranean. Until a few years ago, Russia maintained a permanent force in the Mediterranean, anchored in the Syrian base of Tartusits strategic bastion in the region. From there it projected power towards the Middle East and North Africa, protecting energy routes and monitoring Western transit. But the fall of the regime of Bashar al Assad in 2024 erased that balance in one fell swoop. With the new Syrian government, Moscow lost its last platform safe outside the Black Sea. Today, how he ironized NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, “there is hardly any Russian presence left in the Mediterranean: just a lonely, broken submarine returning from patrol.” The decline is not measured in the number of sunken ships, but in the disappearance of an entire naval projection doctrine. The laughs. In his speech at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Slovenia, Rutte was so precise as biting. “What a change from Tom Clancy’s novel The Hunt for Red October, he said. Today, more like the hunt for the nearest mechanic.” The phrase, celebrated among the attendees, synthesized the new allied narrative: humor and joke as a language of power. Making fun of your opponent, taking away the mystique of their strength, is also a way of undermining their influence. Behind the irony, however, there was a geopolitical calculation. Rutte remembered the multiple Russian provocations in the last few months (drones over Europe, sabotage of underwater cables, failed plots, cyber attacks and instability in Finland and Poland), and warned that Moscow retains the capacity to inconvenience, although its military muscle has been reduced to symbolic gestures and worn-out threats. The invisible collapse. The Novorossiysk debacle It is not an isolated case. Since 2022, Ukraine has managed to destroy or disable more than thirty of Russian vessels with anti-ship missiles and marine drones. The losses have forced the Kremlin to withdraw a large part of its fleet from Sevastopol and move it to Novorossiysk, on the eastern coast of the sea, to avoid new attacks. That strategic refuge, paradoxically, bears the same name as the damaged submarine that is now trying to reach it. What was a symbol of supremacy in the Soviet era has become a floating cemetery of incomplete projects and demoralized crews. Mirror of war. If you like, the episode from Novorossiysk transcends the anecdotal. It represents the convergence of all fronts where Russia is wasting away: the military, the economic, the technological and the symbolic. Its fleet, once the second in the world, now depends on units that they age without spare partsas Ukraine innovates with drones that cost a fraction of its missiles. And NATO, aware of this, has learned to transform its silent victories in public stories that erode the perception of Russian invulnerability. The image of Novorossiysk advancing in the sight of everyone, towed and watched, it is the perfect image if you want to degrade an empire that can no longer hide its weaknesses. From shadow to emptiness. In the years of the Cold War, Soviet submarines were the silent terror of the Atlantic. Today, his most visible heir is a damaged ship that sails with the flag raised so as not to sink. This passage from shadow to void explains better than any report the real state of the Russian navy. What was previously feared, is now observed even with sarcasm, and what previously inspired respect, now provokes a mocking headline. In this transit we measure, according to Europe, the decline of a power and the rise of a Western communication strategy that no longer needs to confront directly to win. It is enough to unintentionally let the enemy show his shipwreck. And have a few laughs. Image | BORN In Xataka | Russia’s most advanced nuclear submarine was a secret. Until Ukraine has revealed everything, including its failures In Xataka | A ghost fleet has mapped the entire underwater structure of the EU. The question is what Moscow is going to do with that information.

Spain and France warned of a failure in Europe’s drone wall. Now the plan includes lasers and civilians with rifles

October 15, 2025 by usatoday24

The drone raids Russians on the european airspace have turned the sky of the continent into a new frontier of hybrid warfare. In a few weeks, these devices have forced the closure of airports, putting the air forces on alert from NATO and reopened a debate that Europe thought distant: how to defend yourself of a cheap, difficult to track and increasingly sophisticated enemy. Then we heard the idea for the first time of the “drone wall”and now it’s starting to take an unexpected shape. The invisible threat. The incidents in PolandDenmark and Germany, where drones of unknown origin flew over military bases and civilian areas before disappearing, have accelerated the creation of an unprecedented defense device. Allies seek to protect the population and its critical infrastructure while balance the answer immediate with the development of a long-term architecture. This is how the idea of raising an antidrone walla technological network that combines sensors, radars, jammers and low-cost weapons to detect, intercept and neutralize threats in a matter of seconds. The birth of the wall. The concept emerged many months ago, inspired by the lessons of Ukraine and the evidence that European armies They lacked adequate systems to counter the proliferation of drones. The Baltic countries, together with Poland and Finland, presented the initial proposal to the European Commission: a technological wall on NATO’s eastern flank, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, financed with border security funds and intended to monitor the skies against possible Russian incursions. But the wave of drones that crossed Polish airspace last September changed the scale of the project. Ursula von der Leyen proclaimed the need for a “wall” to protect all of Europe. What began as a regional idea became the embryo of a continental air defense network against unmanned systems, the so-called European Drone Defense Initiativeincluded in the new military readiness roadmap that the Commission will present this fall. Europe accelerates. Thus, while politics was debated over budgets and powers, the armies acted. Denmark installed Doppler radars in Copenhagen and at its base in Skrydstruphome of its F-16 and F-35, to detect suspicious movements. Sweden announced a investment of 370 million of dollars in interceptors, jammers and frequency sensors. Germany passed a law which allows police to shoot down drones that pose an imminent threat, and the United Kingdom deployed spy planes on twelve-hour missions over the Russian border. Defense manufacturers quickly joined the effort: Saab presented its Nimbrix missiledesigned specifically to take down swarms of drones, and the loke systema modular radar, machine gun and electronic warfare set created in just three months to respond quickly to the threat. And in an unexpected turn of events, the Danes have gone further than anyone else: they even accelerated the instructor training military with shotguns to shoot down drones at close range, an unusual measure that reflects the urgency with which Europe is trying to close a critical technological gap. You have to expand. The initial enthusiasm for the anti-drone wall soon found a political problem: Western and southern Europe felt excluded from an initiative that concentrated resources in the East. Countries like Spain, France or Italy they detected a problem and they warned that the threats are not limited to the Russian front, since drones can operate from any point in the territory. The Commission took note and proposed expand the plantransforming the “wall” into a pan-European network of sensors, jammers and weapons integrated under the same coordination framework. Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius admitted that the EU’s current capabilities are “very limited” and that it will be necessary to resort to Ukrainian experience, accumulated after almost four years of daily fighting against Russian swarms. The remakerenamed the European Drone Defense Initiative, seeks total coverage and proposes a double challenge: demonstrate that the Union can assume a real operational role in defense (traditionally the responsibility of States and NATO) and achieve consensus among twenty-seven countries with very different military priorities. Obstacles of a wall. But there are more obstacles. I told it in an extensive report this morning Reuters. The project faces a complex internal battle over who should lead it. Small and Eastern nations prefer that the Commission centralize coordination, while France and Germany (accustomed to directly managing their arms programs) they refuse to give in leadership. Berlin and Paris also fear that the Commission will end up assuming powers that traditionally belong to national sovereignty. At the same time, experts warn that the idea of a wall can generate a false sense of security: No network, no matter how advanced, can guarantee the downing of all drones. The technical difficulties they are huge: Connecting radars, acoustic sensors, optical systems, interceptors and artificial intelligence software from different countries into a single mesh will require years of testing and billion-dollar investments. The challenge is to achieve a defense staggered and adaptable to a type of threat in constant mutation, where each enemy innovation requires an immediate response. Lessons from Ukraine. It we have counted other times. The war in Ukraine has taught Europeans a costly lesson: you cannot shoot down a 10,000 euro drone with a missile that costs a million. The sustainability of the combat depends on intermediate solutionsfrom interceptor drones that collide with enemies to automatic cannons and low-power laser systems. Rheinmetall, the German giant, defends the use of artillery as a more profitable option and has already received orders from Denmark, Hungary and Austria for its Skyranger mobile system. Emerging companies from the Baltic and Germany, such as Marduk Technologies or Alpine Eagle, have presented your own schemes multi-layer defensewhile Ukraine continues to serve as a testing ground: its operators adjust the speed and maneuverability of the interceptors almost in real time to face increasingly faster Russian versions. This constant evolution turns anti-drone defense into a living disciplineof countermeasure and countermeasure, where human experience and AI must coexist. The utopia of safe heaven. If you will, the future of the alleged European anti-drone wall depends now on three factors: … Read more

Europe’s boycott to the United States is real and is being noticed in one of its most profitable sectors: tourism

April 14, 2025 by usatoday24

David Pereira is 53 years old, Reside in France And like others thousands Millions of Europeans have been raised under the influence of the US culture. The songs he listened to, the series he saw as a child, the films they threw in the cinema of his city or the cars he dreamed of driving: all ‘made in use’. Hence, when Pereira saw enough money, he decided to make his bags and meet the country in person. And he has done it conscientiously. He has been there almost a dozen times. Two years ago the national parks of the west coast was toured. His idea was to return this summer with his family to Yellowstone. But after two months of Trump administration, Pereira has changed plans. A few days ago I recognized To the CNN that has decided, in conscience, to cancel the trip. Your case connects with A trend which begins to be received in the powerful US tourism industry. A percentage: 17%. That the change of harmony between the US and Europe is taking its toll on American tourism is not a novelty. Weeks ago than the sector emits signals In that direction. And from both banks of the Atlantic. In Europe there are agencies that They find a loss of interest In the US. And on the other side of the ocean there are organisms that They start talking of a puncture in the demand. The clearest track of what is happening, especially in the flow of Europe-Use tourists, it gave it however Financial Times (Ft) a few days ago in An article with A holder that leaves little margin to interpretations: “European tourists cancel their trips to the US for Trump’s policies.” What are they based on? Basically in A percentage: according to international trade administration data (Itafor its acronym in English) visitors from Western Europe who spent at least one night in the US over March 17% collapsed with respect to 2024. It is a considerable fact. Especially if the relevance of the tourism industry is taken into account as an economic engine: represents about 2.5% of the country’s GDP. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Are there more indicators? Yes. Trump does not have not been at the head of the White House for three months, so there is still a perspective, but throughout the last weeks they have been published figures and testimonies that suggest that something is changing in US tourism. And not for good. FT He has prepared graphics They show that the flow of travelers with destiny has collapsed from Austria, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Norway or Spain, sometimes with setbacks that exceed 20%. There is also a puncture on the flights of different regions. “Something is happening”. In general Ita has found that in March they traveled to the US 12% less of foreign visitors who during the same month of 2024. And that the percentage excludes the arrivals from the residents of Canada and Mexico, two markets that do not seem to look with too much enthusiasm American tourist destinations. You have to go back to 2021, when the sector still suffered the pandemic hangover, to find a more dire March. Probably in that percentage has influenced the fact that last year Holy Week fell in March and in 2025 it will do so in April, but the sector acknowledges that there is a background trend that goes much further. “It is clear that something is happening … and it is a reaction to Trump”, Recognize Tourism Economics. Fall of reservations. They are not the only ones to point in that direction. In early April the French hotel group Accor SA, behind several brands and highlighted accommodations in the USA, confessed to Bloomberg TV that European reserves to visit this summer the country of bars and stars have collapsed 25%. Simply, tourists seem to opt for Canada, South America or Egypt. In Spain the Confederation of Travel Agencies (CEAV) also recognized A few days ago that perceives a loss of attractiveness of the US for tourists. With those data as a backdrop, Tourism Economics He has rethink down its forecasts this year for the US sector. If in February it foresee a fall of around 5%, that percentage has worsened until 9.4%already around. The French Voyageurs Du Monde has also recognized the CNN chain that since Trump’s investiture the reserves to the US have fallen by 20%. But … why? “It is probably anxious to enter an unknown territory,” He reflected the executive director of Accor when talking about the trend with Bloomberg. The truth is that the change in tendency in the sector coincides with a complex geopolitical framework: the distancing Between Washington and Brussels after Trump’s return to the White House, the escalation in the Commercial Warthe recession drumsthe speech about the European rear and, in Paul English opinionKayak co -founder, a change in the reputational image of the US. Throughout the last months several European countries They have updated Their recommendations for travelers who move to the US or have shown concern about changes in migratory and border control policies, including guidelines that affect trans people. Denmark ha issued an alert and in Spain exterior has updated Its guidelines. In the US attraction they also influence The news about arrests at the borders. Beyond Europe. The phenomenon goes beyond Europe. China He has issued Warnings on the “deterioration of economic and commercial relations” with the US and warns its citizens: “completely evaluate the risks of traveling to the US and travel with caution.” In Canada the Statistics Office registered in February A 23% drop on car trips to the US. In air traffic the descent was somewhat lower, but also stood at 13%. Those percentages and those of Ita coincide with another phenomenon that has been found for months, especially in Europe and Canada: The boycott of USA products in favor of domestic goods and services or other countries. In fact there … Read more

Europe’s access depends on the United States. ESA has presented a strategic plan to become independent

March 22, 2025 by usatoday24

Guarantee the technological autonomy of Europe in space will be key in the rearma of the European Union. He ESE Strategic Plan For the next 15 years it has just made it clear. The document, entitled “Strategy 2040: raising the future of Europe”, establishes as one of the priorities of the space agency to strengthen autonomous access to orbit and independent from NASA. At what point is that. With an annual budget of 7.7 billion euros, the European Space Agency has a powerful scientific exploration program: it has just presented The first Euclid space telescope data set, He is on his way to Jupiter’s icy moons with Juice and Has Hera traveling to the Dimorfo asteroid as a spatial defense mission. ESA also develops the Galileo navigation system of the European Commission, which is more precise than the American GPSis behind one of the most advanced land observation programs that exist: the constellation of Sentinel satellites, which is part of the European Copernicus program. Also together with the European Commission, ESA just closed An agreement of 10,000 million euros (between public and private funds) to build the constellation of Iris2 satellites. The objective: reduce the strategic disadvantage of Europe in front of the Starlink constellation and the incipient Chinese constellations. Europe also has a wide network of observatories and the ability to communicate with deep space with antennas in Madrid, Argentina and Australia. In fact, one of the NASA deep space network stations (DSN) has A station operated by INTA in Robledo de ChavelaMadrid, from where he communicates with his Martian rovers and other probes. What depends on NASA. ESA does not have its own spacecraft to transport astronauts. From the veto to Russia and its Soyuz capsules, it depends exclusively on the Crew Dragon ships of Spacex to access the International Space Station, either in NASA long -term missions or in commercial missions of short duration of the AXIOM company. The same thing happens with the Artemis missions to the moon. ESA is one of NASA’s most important partners in its lunar program. Plans to carry up to 1,500 kg of load With each flight of the Argonaut lunar moduleand has contributed a key component of the manned ship Orion: the service module. However, NASA has prioritized the presence of a Canadian astronaut in the Artemis II mission and A Japanese astronaut In the future of the launning. The giant’s rear. While that collaborates closely with NASA in many important missions, such as the detection of objects close to Earth, James Webb space telescope or the mission of recovery of land samples mars mars sample return (Now in pause), Much of its infrastructure follows the rear of the American space agency. Especially in launching capacity. In addition to the best funded space agency (25.4 billion dollars of annual budget), the United States has the most buoyant and advanced private space industry in the world. Spacex puts 80% of the mass that is launched globally a year, and is the only company, along with Rocket Lab, which usually reuses its pitchers. In recent years, Europe has had to launch some of its most important missions (including Galileo strategic satellites) in Falcon 9 rockets of Spacex for an internal crisis of pitchers. The European plan. For all the above, added to the political context, one of the central objectives of the EES in its Strategy 2040 is to reduce the dependence of the United States in spatial matters. A good part of their future public contracts will be oriented to boost the growth and competitiveness of the European private space industry. The goal is to generate more than 250,000 jobs related to space in Europe. At the same time, ESA will take advantage of its research facet to collaborate more closely with European universities in the development of new generation technologies. For this they need to attract talent to the careers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, so it starts from the work will be inspired by young people with space missions and the communication work of their astronauts, Among them Pablo Álvarez and Sara García. Reusable rockets. European releases have been stagnant in an inefficient duopoly: heavy satellites are thrown with French Ariane rockets and light satellites do it aboard Italian rockets Vega. Ariane 6 and Vega C are barely beginning to operate normally after erratic years, but its disposable nature puts Europe in a vulnerable situation against Spacex and the US New Space. Things are going to start changing. The German company Isar Aerospace could become this March 24 In the first European company that launches a commercial rocket, the Spectrum, to the land orbit. The Spanish PLD Space hopes to do it at the end of the year with the Miura 5ura rocket. There are only two examples of the effervescent panorama of European microlanzores, but all have in common the support of the ESA and ambitious plans to turn their rockets into reusable. Pld ha announced even a manned ship called lynx. At the forefront. Recovering the lost terrain with its own reusable rocket ecosystem and manned ships is only part of the plan. ESA also plans to expand its satellite constellations, lead the world in the elimination of space garbage, participate in future orbital stations and lunar bases, and develop high thrust engines such as Spacex or Blue Origin, for which you have granted A contract to the Spanish company PANGEA AEROSPACE. He does not expect to have everything ready suddenly, but the strategic plan projects an increase in launches from 2030 and an increasing capacity to launch heavier loads at more distant orbits, without depending on foreign pitchers and without neglecting the development of other technologies, such as advanced communications systems and autonomous capabilities for asteroid surveillance. In short, give the 23 member states that finance ES an autonomous access to space. A matter of money. In return, the European Space Agency asks Europe for something very concrete: more money. Its budget is less … Read more

Europe’s anger with Elon Musk grows like foam. Tesla pays the consequences with sales falls of up to 75%

February 8, 2025 by usatoday24

Tesla has made its presentation of sales results And the news has not been what they expected: the sales of their electric cars They have plummeted during the last quarter, especially in Europe. Some investors have not been able to associate this fall to the political activism of the CEO of Tesla, and see in this fall the reaction of the markets to the Elon Musk support to the ultra -right parties of Germany and the United Kingdom. The Batacazo of Germany. According to data From the Federal Carriage Transport Authority of Germany (KBA), during the month of January 2025, Tesla only enrolled 1,277 electric cars in the largest car market in Europe. That represents a 59.5% drop with respect to sales of the previous year. The fall in sales of Tesla in Germany contrasts with the number of enrollments of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in that country, which amounted to 34,498 units enrolled, increasing the figure by 53.5% compared to the previous year. That is, the Germans They have bought more electric carsbut these cars were not from Tesla. The decrease in sales in the withdrawal of incentives for the purchase of electric cars can be attributed, but this theory would be ruled out because that would impact all electric cars. However, the Chinese manufacturer Byd has been the great beneficiary of the Tesla stumbling, increasing its sales by 69.1% during the same period. It is not an isolated case. Such a pronounced fall in a single market can be attributed to certain economic factors. However, when the situation is replicated with generalized falls in the main European markets, the diagnosis also changes. According to published data By Electrek, Tesla’s sales fell 75.4% in Spain, a 63.4% in France46% in Sweden, 42.5% in the Netherlands, 40.9% in Denmark or 40.2% in Norway, a market in which the 90% of cars that are sold They are electric. In general terms, Tesla’s total sales fell 47.7% in Europe and a 7.78% in the United Kingdom. It is striking that, in California, a state where Tesla usually got good sales figures, Model 3 sales have also fallen 3. Everything points to a person in charge: politics. One of the reasons that different responsible for the European car industry have argued as an explanation for the decrease in sales of the brand is the political role of Elon Musk in the US government and Your explicit support to extreme right formations in Germany and the United Kingdom. The French medium France24 collected the statements Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Automotive Research Center in Germany, ensuring that the behavior of the Tesla CEO was being “extremely harmful” for the manufacturer in that country. “Nobody wants to be associated with this. Tesla and Musk are almost inextricably linked.” Tesla pays Musk’s invoices. The electric car manufacturer has become the objective of protests of different types in different countries in Europe. Behind him controversial greeting the public After Trump’s investiture, some activists projected The word “Heil” on the main facade of Tesla’s gigafactoría in Berlin. The Everyone Hates Elon Group has been marking the London Tesla with adhesives in which it reads: “Don’s Buy to Swasticar“(Do not buy a car-esvastic) and disseminating it In your social networks. Investors begin to worry. During the last quarter, the manufacturer has registered a decrease in its revenues of operations with 1.6 billion dollars, compared to the 2.1 billion dollars declared in the same quarter of 2023. Before this fall, investors were worried about the political facet by Elon Musk and its negative effect on the brand, as well as the time that your Doge in front paper. After all, Tesla pays Musk’s salary, not the US government. CNBC collected Some of those investor questions: “How long does Elon Musk do to grow Tesla, solve products and generate value for shareholders compared to their public commitments with Trump, Doge and political activities?” Asked one of the Retail investors present. Other investors asked if Tesla had “lost sales due to Elon’s political activities” and wondered how the company was going to “respond to Musk’s Nazi infamous greeting and how the negative impacts of Elon Musk’s public opinions and public activities are being addressed ” None of them received a response from the directive. In Xataka | A government “Extremely Hardcore”: Elon Musk is applying to the US the same recipe that has applied to all its companies Image | Unspash (Andreas Rasmussen), Dvidshub (Joshua Armstrong)

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