flying

The flying experience has changed. Airbus thinks it can take it much further with a double bed, bathroom and bar

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For years, flying has been an experience increasingly split in two. While the economy class has been adjusting space and services, the highest part of the plane has become the terrain where airlines and manufacturers try to mark distances with increasingly exclusive proposals. What we have seen now fits squarely into that logic: Airbus has taken advantage of the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2026 to show how far you think you can stretch that idea in your A350-1000the model with which he wants to take first class to an even more ambitious level. The European manufacturer has set the direction of its cabins for the coming years quite clearly. In the center there is a “Master Suite” for two passengers, located between the two corridors at the front and designed as the most exclusive space of the entire complex. According to Airbus, there would be access to its own bathroom, a changing area, a bar and a double bed. A series of elements and comforts of a much higher level. Of course, it is important not to lose sight of the important nuance: we are not facing an already closed cabin for an airline, but rather a concept whose development has just started. How Airbus wants to remake the A350-1000 first class To make room for this new first class, Airbus has not limited itself to drawing a larger suite within the already existing space. What it proposes is a deeper reorganization of the area located between doors 1 and 2, making the most of that part of the plane to dedicate more surface area for higher category passengers. According to the company, elements that previously took up space in the main cabin, such as sinks or storage areas, would move to a new central module placed just behind door 1, in front of the cockpit door. Access to the crew rest area would also be moved there, with the idea of ​​reducing inconvenience and gaining privacy. That Airbus has chosen this model to develop the idea does not seem coincidental. We are talking about the largest member of the A350 family, a version that, according to the company itself, is seven meters longer than the -900 variant and can accommodate up to 40 more passengers. In its commercial sheet, Airbus presents it as its reference model in the large fuselage market and ensures that it offers 40% more surface area for premium category seats. Added to this is another argument that fits well with this proposal: high ceilings, a spacious cabin and interior proportions with which the manufacturer believes it can further reinforce the feeling of space. Behind all this there is also a fairly clear commercial reading. Airbus maintains that it already there are 10 clients that have chosen first class cabins for their A350s and adds that around five airlines are currently in the customization phase, so they could study incorporating parts of this concept. So everything seems to indicate that the calendar is moving in the long term: Airbus places the possible entry into service of the first elements around 2030. What Airbus wanted to do here goes beyond showing a striking suite or a conceptual fair image. It also lets us see where the company believes the most exclusive part of the cabin can evolve, with more space, more privacy and an even more differentiated service offering. Still, between that vision and a plane operating passengers there is quite a way to go. For now we are dealing with an idea in development, but an idea that helps understand how Airbus wants to strengthen its more premium proposal in the coming years. Images | Airbus In Xataka | Commercial aviation is based on very old aircraft. The Iran war is going to make it even worse

China already has its “flying truck.” The HH-200 has just completed its first test flight

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China has just put into the air one of those machines that, by concept and ambition, do not go unnoticed. It is not a new fighter jet like the J-35Abut rather a commercial unmanned aerial system for transportation, completed its first test flight on April 15. There is still no logistics network deployed, but there is a movement that allows us to understand where the Asian giant wants to move in the pilotless air transport of goods, especially within the framework of its commitment to the so-called low-altitude economy. First flight. After the entire development phase, the program has already left paper behind. CCTV places the inaugural test in Puchengin the province of Shaanxi, and explains that it lasted for 22 minutes, with correct operation of the onboard systems and stable evolution of the device during the journey. To be precise, this is the first real flight evaluation, and it has been completed satisfactorily. The figures of the device. Once the test is confirmed, the next thing is to take a closer look at what kind of aircraft China has in its hands. It is a system with a square section fuselage, high wing, double engine and double boom, with dimensions of 12.2 meters long, 16.8 meters wide and 3.7 meters high. In the operational section, it boasts a maximum load capacity of 1.5 tons and a maximum range of 2,360 kilometers. Furthermore, according to official information, it is capable of reaching a maximum cruising speed of 310 kilometers per hour. The logistics part. Beyond dimensions or scope, one of the keys to the HH-200 is how its operations on the ground and in flight are planned. China News assures that the system has been designed with civil aviation standards and that it can perform the flight intelligently and autonomously from start to finish, with obstacle avoidance functions supported by AI. Added to this is a direct passage fuselage and a rear configuration designed to facilitate loading operations, allowing work with pallets, loading platforms and conventional forklifts, to the point that two operators could complete loading or unloading in five minutes. Where do you want to operate. The device is not only designed to move goods from one point to another under ideal conditions. Instead, it has a strong environmental adaptation capacity and can execute missions on short runways, high-altitude airports, extreme temperatures and adverse weather. China News gives us some interesting concrete examples: cargo routes in coastal and border areas, internal logistics routes between specific points and operations between islands in Southeast Asia, before opening the door to uses such as emergency rescue, remote sensing or agricultural and forestry tasks. From trial to market. After this first milestone, the next step will not be an immediate implementation, but an additional testing phase. It is expected that the vehicle will continue to accumulate flight tests before its eventual entry into service, an important nuance to avoid confusing initial technical success with operational maturity. Even in this scenario, according to China News, the project has 20 order intentions and closer cooperation with several firms. We have to wait to see if we will see the HH-200 beyond the testing scope. Images | CCTV In Xataka | Boeing has surpassed Airbus after years behind. That doesn’t mean I’ve regained control.

The United Kingdom has a laser capable of shooting down drones flying at 650 km/h. And each shot is the same as two beers.

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For some time now, armies have pursued an idea: weapons that fire energy instead of projectiles. Already in the Cold War was experienced with systems capable of concentrating heat at a distance, although technical limitations relegated them to tests and prototypes for years. Today, with advances in electrical generation and beam control, that ambition has begun to emerge from the laboratory, although it still entailed challenges that for a long time seemed impossible to solve. The UK seems to have solved the most important one. From the laboratory to real combat. He DragonFire program marks a turning point in the evolution of directed energy weapons, and it does so by going from technological demonstrator to embedded operating system. The United Kingdom has decided to accelerate its deployment until 2027integrating it into Type 45 destroyers and becoming the first European country from NATO in deploying a functional naval laser. There is no doubt, the movement is not only technological, but also doctrinal, because it implies changing the way in which air defense at sea is conceived, integrating new layers that do not depend on traditional ammunition. Two beers for the price of a shot. The key element of DragonFire is not only its accuracy, but rather its economy. Each shot costs just about 10 pounds (just over 11 euros) in electricity, just a couple of “pints” in a pub compared to the hundreds of thousands that a conventional interceptor missile can cost, which completely alters the balance between attack and defense. we had seen it in Ukraine and now in Iran. In a scenario where cheap drones are launched by the dozens or hundreds, responding with expensive missiles had become unsustainable, while a laser allows the pace to be maintained. without depleting critical resources. This difference makes the laser an especially attractive tool in modern conflicts where saturation is more important than sophistication. Extreme precision and new capabilities. The system has proven capable of hitting targets the size of a coin a kilometer away, maintaining the beam on moving targets until causing structural failure. More: its architecture combines multiple fiber lasers in a single high-quality beam, guided by electro-optical sensors and continuous tracking systems. Furthermore, its sustained firing capability eliminates one of the main limitations of conventional weapons: need to rechargeallowing you to take on multiple threats consecutively in a matter of seconds. The response to swarms. The rise of cheap drones and swarm attacks has put in check to traditional defense systems, designed to intercept more limited and higher value threats. DragonFire positions itself as the direct response to that change, offering an effective solution against small, fast and numerous targets without compromising missile arsenals intended for strategic threats. In this context, the laser does not replace existing systems, but rather complements themreinforcing short-range defense and freeing up resources for more complex scenarios. From sea to air and land. Beyond its naval deployment, the program aims for broader integration in ground and aerial platformswhich infers a structural change in modern weaponry. Let us think that the possibility of standardizing this type of technology in vehicles, ships or even combat fighters opens the door to a new generation of systems where energy progressively replaces to physical ammunition. Analysts recalled by Army Recognition that although there are still limitations (such as the need for line of sight, electrical power and thermal management), the advancement of DragonFire indicates that that concept before fantastic of “infinite ammunition” has ceased to be a theoretical idea and has become an operational reality in development. Image | UK Ministry of Defense In Xataka | Spain has built a laser that shields the backbone of its Navy: the A400M is now ready for combat In Xataka | China has achieved something hard to believe: reducing the production of laser weapons and parts for electric cars to one second

For Finland, protecting its roads in World War II was essential, so flying trees were invented

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In a war it is not only doing and being, but also appearing. We have already seen recently how Iran pretended to have parked fighters so that Israel wastes its missiles, but this trick of playing catch-up is older than gunpowder. In fact, in World War II the United States had until ‘Ghost Army’ who was dedicated to these tasks. Precisely within the framework of the second war on a planetary scale, this curious story of concealment of infrastructurewhich is run by Finland. Finland is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula, the easternmost of the triad made up of Norway, Sweden and Finland. That makes it have a border with Russia, only at that time it was the USSR. Its situation on the map made it fight three wars in three different positions: the Winter War where it was attacked by the Soviets, the Continuation War in which the USSR attacked it, taking advantage of the Nazis’ Operation Barbarossa and the Lapland Warin which he fought against Germany after signing his armistice with the USSR. The photo that illustrates the cover of this piece and that you can see in full immediately after this paragraph was taken by Osvald Hedenström and is preserved in the photographic archive of the Finnish Defense Forces, along with the legend written by the photographer: “The Finns have camouflaged the 10 km from the border on the Raatteen road with country roads, with fir trees that seem to hang in the air, because right on the border there is an observation tower erected by the Russians. Suomussalmi, Kuivajärvi 1941.06.27” Flying trees on the Raatteen road. Sa-Kuva The cheapest camouflage of World War II That is to say, the legend makes three facts clear: that there was camouflage that covered the 10 kilometers of road from the border, which included rural roads and the main highway, and that the threat was a Soviet observation tower right on the muga. As? With fir trees lying. The Finnish army was noticeably inferior to the Soviet one, so they took advantage of the terrain, explains Colonel Petteri Jouko, a military historian at the Finnish National Defense University. for Atlas Obscura: “The Finns did not have the funds to purchase large quantities of artificial camouflage, such as nets, they did use trees, leaves and foliage to confuse the enemy” Because Finland is also a country with exuberant nature: the density of its forests is around 75% of the territory. according to the FAOso discovering critical infrastructure for the movement of troops and supplies such as roads or railways was a piece of cake for the Soviets. Obviously this resource of camouflaged roads was only effective for sky-level observationbut not for reconnaissance aircraft. Trees laid to hide critical infrastructure. Sa-Kuva This camouflage technique was technically simple but arduous. The Finns cut down the pine trees near the roads and then suspended them with steel cables that they had tied to other trees at the ends, although they also used wooden poles. The result, as can be seen just above, in another photograph from the Finnish archive, is that it seemed that the trees were flying over the roads, which from a bird’s eye view appeared to be just another leafy forest. Currently, none of these tree structures have survived; the passage of time and the abandonment of these rural roads has condemned them to their disappearance. In Xataka | Ukraine has found the antidote to Russian kamikaze drones in World War II: an optical illusion worth 500 euros In Xataka | A secret Nazi bunker in Germany hides the most sought-after treasure on the entire planet: hundreds of tons of rare earths Cover and photographs | SA-kuva (Finnish Defense Forces photo archive)

a pig flying on a drone

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The date of the lunar new year in China changes every year, but always falls between January 21 and February 21. And like in any home, whether from the east or the west, the custom is to celebrate it. So a farmer from Sichuan had the idea of bring down some pigs from their mountain farm to sacrifice them. The normal thing would be to use a truck, but this farmer chose a way that on paper seemed more comfortable (for him, of course, but not for the animal): use a drone. Their experiment did not last long: the first pig became trapped in a power line, causing a blackout that left thousands of the village’s inhabitants without electricity. Early in the morning of Saturday, January 24, a villager in Tiefu, Tongjiang County, Bazhong City, Sichuan, had that happy idea. It was so early that there was little visibility, as reported by the South China Morning Postso the rope got tangled in a high tension cable, leaving the drone and the pig suspended in the air and causing a short circuit. And among the risks involved in carrying such a load in the event of possible falls on people and objects, it seems like the least of the problems. It is true that if we talk about drones, China plays in another league as we have already seen in practically any self-respecting celebration and also in war scenarios. Without going any further, have developed models capable of shooting at 100 meters away with surgical precision. And that a farmer has a drone at home capable of lifting a pig and the confidence of being able to bring this adventure to a successful conclusion is another test that would probably occur to few farmers in Spain. “Until pigs fly” does not apply in China Tap to go to the X/Twitter post The villager and those helping him tried to control the situation and carry out a rescue without success, until finally the authorities had to intervene. Up to 12 workers were needed to restore electricity at five in the afternoon, after carrying out emergency repairs with a cost of 10,000 yuan (about 1,200 euros) and 10 hours of blackout. According to the Hong Kong mediathe authorities are investigating the event because it would be an unauthorized flight as it is a no-fly zone. As explains Sinahe Regulation on the Protection of Electrical Installations prohibits people from flying kites, balloons or other floating objects within a radius of 300 meters on either side of overhead power lines. And if you do so, you must have the express authorization of the county energy department and apply relevant security measures. In case of non-compliance, you face civil and even criminal liability charges. Furthermore, although there are agricultural drones that are already used in agricultural facilities, with their loading restrictions and restricted areas, their use to transport live animals It is not allowed either: Of course, carrying a large animal moving does not seem like the safest thing in the world for the stability of a drone. And if we talk about animal ethics, even worse. However, China does not have a comprehensive national animal welfare and protection law: its current regulations It focuses more on health and biosafety than on ethics of well-being. The Asian media does not report on the condition of the unfortunate pig after the air incident, but given its tragic fate, the omens are not good. The drone accidents are the order of the day in China. The Sing Tao echoes the data of the Sichuan Provincial Agricultural Mechanization Association and these events are quite common: in 2024 alone and in that province alone there were more than 40 safety accidents caused by illegal operations that ended with injuries, property damage and electrical failures. In Xataka | China’s new futuristic drone is already flying alongside the J-20 fighters. And Beijing has shown it without saying a word In Xataka | China plays in another league in drone shows: what it is doing in 2026 we have never seen before Cover | Dan Renco and NEXT TV

After months without flying, the DGT’s Pegasus return to the skies. And they are already hunting offenders

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Since entering service in 2013, Pegasus helicopters have become one of the systems with which the DGT monitors the roads. Apart from controlling the speed of traffic, the cameras are so powerful that they allow them to distinguish whether we look at the cell phone while driving either we don’t wear the seatbelt. Due to maintenance and contract issues, the nine Pegasus they stopped flying for almost two months. 51 million euros later, they are back on the roads. AND they are already catching to drivers who circulate as if the highways were circuits. The Pegasus of the DGT return From September 1 to October 25, the nine Pegasus of the General Directorate of Traffic were grounded. They did so due to the expiration of the maintenance contract they had up to that point and, as no company interested in occupying that position for the maintenance of the helicopters had presented itself, the deadlines forced them to leave the service. Failing that, drones with similar capabilities were responsible for monitoring from the air, but a few weeks ago an agreement was reached to renew this maintenance, as well as an improvement in some components, such as recording systems. With everything in order, the DGT has as aim double annual flight hoursgoing from the 2,750 hours registered so far to 5,500. It is already bearing fruit. The video on these lines was caught on November 1, one of the key dates in mobility in Spain, and we can see how a driver without a seat belt reaches a peak of 217 kilometers per hour on a Malaga highway. The ‘prize’ is a 600 euro fine and six license points for going at that speed, as well as another 200 euros for going without a seat belt. He hasn’t been the only one caught doing 200 km/h recently. In total, The investment will be 51 million euros until 2028 for this road control from the air, but it could reach up to 80 million if the contract is extended for another 22 months. And you may be wondering how they work: They are helicopters Eurocopter AS-355 Ecureuil 2 and AS 350 armed with the MX-15 radar that detects speeding at 300 meters high and up to a kilometer away. They have GPS positioning to have exact coordinates. Using a laser rangefinder, they measure distances and record the position of the vehicle every three seconds. They also calculate the average speed of the vehicle. In the case of a violation, recording begins and the fine is sent electronically. Pegasus has shortcomings, such as it cannot record the license plate well in adverse conditions or at night, but The Mossos d’Esquadra have another lookout in the skies: Falcó. It operates in a similar way to the Pegasus, but with the advantage that it allows the license plate to be read both at night and in the rain. Precisely, one of the problems of the Pegasus is that some of its technologies have become outdated, but with the new maintenance and technological update plans, they want to catch up. But hey, in the end, the easiest way to avoid being hunted by these helicopters is to pay attention to both the signs and common sense. Images | DGT Magazine In Xataka | Very effective and practically undetectable: how the DGT’s “invisible radars” work

It is called “Flying Chernobyl” and it has been flying for 14 hours

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Europe and the US decided cross again one of the red lines imposed by Russia since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine. The “English way” had been activated with long range missiles Storm Shadows. Now, the public reappearance of the Russian program Burevestnik The same week in which talks between Moscow and Washington deteriorated cannot be an isolated or technical event, but rather a calculated move: the staging of a nuclear system with virtually unlimited range is a strategic message. A missile to go through everything. Putin and Gerasimov have described a 14,000 kilometer flight for about 15 hours on nuclear propulsion, claiming what in 2018 it was announced in response to two American decisions: the anti-missile armor after the withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and the expansion of NATO. The message is not only technical (“invincible” to present and future defenses due to unpredictable scope and trajectory). but doctrinal: Russia wants to reinstate the idea that no Western access denial architecture can be immune from nuclear risk. The repeated reference to the fact that “no one else has it” since categories and infrastructure for its deployment must already be planned suggests that Moscow wants the West to assume that this system should be treated as a strategic fact and not as a prototype. The nickname. The label “Flying Chernobyl”used by arms control experts, recalls the physical cost of the concept: the precedent of 2019 accident in Nyonoksa, with five scientists dead and radiation released, shows the price of pursuing infinite scope even at the risk of contaminating one’s own environment. Burevestnik as a bargaining chip. The demonstration coincides with a failed diplomatic back-and-forth: Trump went in days from announcing a summit in Budapest to cancel it due to “loss of time”. At the same time, the United States imposed sanctions to the two largest Russian oil companies and authorized Ukraine to carry out in-depth attacks against Russian energy infrastructure, a point in which Putin responded that any deep strike would have “very serious, if not overwhelming” retaliation. Media activation of the Burevestnik serves as a reminder that Russia maintains nuclear escalation letter just when the other (energy) is being eroded by primary and secondary sanctions. The figures illustrate what is at stake: if India or China limit imports of Russian crude oil due to sanctions, the Kremlin could lose between 1,600 and 7,400 million of dollars per month in income, a lever that makes the threat of a system that does not depend on maritime corridors or logistics chains more valuable. Screenshot of the launch of the Burevestnik 9M730 program in 2018 Nuclear signal. And while Russia exhibits nuclear test, Ukraine demonstrates conventional depth with swarms of drones that have forced Moscow airports to close and defenses to be saturated. Russia admitted shooting down 28 drones in one night but rarely detailing damage. The war in the rear It is already bidirectional: Moscow launches hundreds of drones and missiles on Kyiv, destroying homes and forcing Zelensky to claim more Patriotwhile Ukraine hurts the Russian economy by attacking refineries. The presentation of the Burevestnik between conventional bombings and energy sanctions, nuclear deterrence becomes an added layer to the cost game: its mere existence is intended to alter the West’s calculations of persistence more than offering immediate tactical utility on the battlefield. Multiple message. For Trump (who called Russia of “paper tiger” for not defeating Ukraine quickly) the test aims to restore symbolic parity: Even with mediocre conventional performance, Russia remembers that on the nuclear frontier maintains qualitative advantage declared. For the West, the lesson is that Moscow can tie arms control negotiations to concessions in the Ukrainian theater. Within the regime, Putin reframes himself as a leader who delivers “weapons without analogue” even under sanction. The fact that Dmitriev, special envoy, will communicate the details The trial in Washington suggests that the missile is used directly as an instrument of diplomatic signaling as well as as a doctrinal response. Return to deterrence. The affirmation of invulnerability of the Burevestnik coincides with the closing windows of conventional impunity: air defense in Ukraine demonstrated that penetrating A2/AD layers without supremacy is extremely costly and that long-range warfare with drones and smart missiles is reducing the “safe” zones of the Russian rear. Faced with this erosion, Moscow “jumps layers” remembering that can recover margin of coercion with the radiological-nuclear terror: the missile does not lower a meter of mud on the front, but it degrades the Western expectation that a war of attrition can be prolonged without strategic risk. A physical test. If you also want, the essay of the Burevestnik comes as an integrated response to three pressure lines simultaneous: energy sanctions that strain tax revenue, deep attacks Ukrainians who pierce the perception of internal invulnerability and the evaporation of a short way of negotiation with Washington after the cancellation of Budapest. The deliberate choice of the moment, the choreography with uniformsthe propaganda echo of “unparalleled weapon” and the diplomatic leak to the United States indicate that the objective was not to prove physics, or “not only”, but also to induce a belief: to reinstall in the minds of adversaries and allies the possibility of a jump nuclear step if the West persists in prolonging conventional attrition against Russia. Image | YouTube In Xataka | The war in Ukraine was a drone war. Now it is a war of drones that are not actually combat drones In Xataka | In 1970 the USSR secretly developed kryptonite for nuclear warheads: now it sounds like a general rehearsal is imminent

In 2019, Iberia lost a dog before flying. Now the European Justice says that it is worth the same as a suitcase

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After six years of trials, the Court of Justice of the European Union has issued its verdict: a dog is a suitcase. The question that the European court had to resolve is whether the loss of a pet should entail greater compensation than that contemplated for a suitcase. And the response has been blunt. October 22, 2019. That was the day an Argentine family lost their dog Mona. That day, the family was at the Ezeiza airport, next to Buenos Aires, to travel to Barcelona. Given the company’s regulations, Mona had to travel in a carrier in the hold of the plane, but during the loading operation, the dog escaped from the control of the operators and, scared, ran towards the runway. They explained those days in The Vanguard that Grisel, its owner, was completely sure that she had closed the cage properly. However, once they were seated, a flight attendant approached to notify them of what had happened and confirm that the dog had escaped. The mother, who was accompanying Grisel, then claimed to have seen her dog running away and the workers trying to catch her but they were not allowed to get off the plane. Loss. After this first moment of anguish had passed, the family claimed that the Iberia workers confirmed that the dog had been trapped and that they had to give them a telephone number so that a contact could come get the animal at the airport. However, when Christian, the owner’s brother, went to the airport, they told him that the dog had escaped again and that they had not been able to catch her. Since then, the family did everything possible to investigate in the vicinity of the airport if the animal was nearby but with no luck. Iberia’s response. Then, the family was already indicating that they were unhappy with how Iberia had handled the situation. “We do not have any type of response from the airline. Iberia tells us that as happened in Argentina, nothing can be done from Spain,” they explained to the Catalan newspaper at the time. For its part, from Iberia in Argentina, the company assured Clarion that they were very sorry for what happened and that both Iberia and the airport manager kept the search active. According to her version, the animal “broke one of the sides of the cage and escaped. Before shipping any cage with an animal inside, we always seal the opening doors to prevent the animal from opening it and escaping. However, Mona broke the opposite side of the cage and that’s why she got out.” They confirm that the workers managed to recover Mona but she bit the worker’s arms and face, fleeing again. “Non-material damage”. Given the animal was lost, the family decided to report Iberia to claim compensation for what happened. Given the seriousness of the matter, the family requested that the company pay 5,000 euros for “non-material damages”, which Iberia refused, they explain in Guardian. They explain in the English newspaper that Iberia agreed to compensate for the loss of the animal since it had escaped under the responsibility of its workers. However, they were not willing to pay more than would be paid for the loss of any luggage. That is, they would pay but the same amount that they would pay for the loss of a suitcase. Europe agrees… with Iberia. During a process that has lasted six years, since the Madrid game they escalated the debate in 2024 to the Court of Justice of the European Union who, finally, ruled in favor of Iberia. The company will compensate the family as if they had lost a suitcase. That is to say, just under 1,600 euros which is the maximum amount contemplated for these cases. When the issue was brought to the European court, Iberia defended itself, arguing that “It makes no sense to equate animals with people. The owner, the only one who fully understands the animal, is the one who chooses to expose it to the often stressful and challenging experience of traveling by plane.” And he stressed that “it is his responsibility to prepare it for the trip, assume the risk of exposing it to an inhospitable environment and guarantee its veterinary aptitude. But the most important thing is that only he can assess the deep emotional bond with his pet and, therefore, the moral damage he would suffer if something happened to him during transport.” How is a pet valued? According to the Court of Justice of the European Unionvery simply: a special declaration of the value of the pet. This is what, in the opinion of the European court, the family should have signed and the company accepted. When this agreement is reached, the company agrees to pay a higher compensation if something happens but the passenger also pays a surcharge for the transportation of the animal. This is, in the opinion of Carlos Villa Corta, the family’s lawyer, a “missed opportunity to continue raising awareness about the rights of animals and the people who care for them. The Court of Justice of the European Union considers that pets do not deserve special or improved legal protection compared to a simple suitcase,” in words reported by Guardian. What the European court alleges is that the Montreal Convention that regulates these cases speaks of “people and luggage” and that, therefore, the term people would cover the damages to the “passenger” and that everything else must be considered as luggage. And they emphasize: “the fact that the protection of animal welfare is an objective of general interest recognized by the European Union does not prevent animals from being transported as ‘baggage’ and being considered as such for the purposes of liability resulting from the loss of an animal.” Photo | TA-WEI LIN and Miguel Angel Sanz In Xataka | What the law says about breaking a car window when a dog is suffering from heat stroke

Volkswagen presents the ID. Cross concept and the most important thing is not the car, it is the flying in its strategy

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The automotive segment celebrates one of its big weeks. The Munich Motor Show, now renamed IAA Mobility, brings together these days to theThe manufacturers that present their novelties For the coming months, and one of them is a Volkswagen that has taken the appointment as a crucial event to rethink the future of its electric cars. Have already confirmed that They will stop using rare names for their EV And they have taken the opportunity to show their new SUV 100% electric: The ID. Cross concept. It will be ‘Made in Spain’ and a key piece to fight against the avalanche of Chinese cars. In addition, the buttons return. Change of concept. Something worth clarifying is the name. Id. Cross is like the electric version of the Volkswagen T-Cross, but that surname ‘Concept’ can mislead when indicating that it is a prototype. In this case it doesn’t seem like something like What Jaguar did a few months agosince the images that the brand has shared have a more street air than prototype. It is expected that the final version is similar to what they just showed. But the important thing is the name. VW wants to give a fly to some of its recent policies, the choice of the name being a sample that The experiments are over. The new pole will be the pole and this new SUV is an ID. (which identifies your electric family) with the surname ‘Cross’. The numbers are also over They can confuse more than anything else. SUV + EV = Win. About design, as our partners detail Motorpasionwe have a car very similar to the combustion T-Cross. It has 4.16 meters long, 1.83 wide and a height of 1.58 meters. The main trunk will be 450 liters, similar to the combustion version, but add another 25 liters in a small compartment in the front. That it is a SUV, although with a compact size, it is a very interesting strategy in terms of potential autonomy. VW has not given details about its capacity, but it has indicated that it will have 420 km approved WLTP and a 175 km/h tip. It will be based on the MEB platform and will be built in the same money as its cousin, the Skoda Epiq: that of Landaben In Pamplona. “Id. Cross shows that we offer again, finally, the correct name. With this new generation of VE, we now meet our promises” – Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen This combination of Urban SUV Together with EV, he promises to be one of the golden egg chickens for manufacturers, since it is A very demanded format And, in addition, the extra space in front of a compact or utilitarian allows to install a larger battery, reducing the time that passes in the plug and expanding its versatility. It wasn’t so difficult Back to the button. Apart from the outside, VW has shown images of the interior of this ‘concept of preerie’. Very diaphanous, soft colors, different materials and completely folding seats to maximize the load. We will see how this translates into the final model, but there are two elements that are very important. On the one hand, the screens are not missing. We have two: one behind the 11 -inch steering wheel with the digital instruments and another 13 -inch central for the entertainment info system. But something that is obvious and that, curiously, VW does not detail in its release It is the return of the buttons. Companies have launched Tactile controls on screenssomething that has been eating the physical buttons Even in brands that seemed to star in the ‘resistance’ To this trend. The problem of the screens is that they can fail and are less intuitive than a button. VW minimized these physical controls by installing digital buttons that gave several headaches to the brand, and After the alluvion of criticismcomes the flying that the company itself already warned with that “It is not a mobile, it is a car“ In these images, however conceptual they are, we see that there are a lot of buttons both in the steering wheel and under the central screen, as well as a joystick that seems to control for that infotainment screen. Declaration of intentions looking at China. Thus, and as much as it is not a final car (although it will be necessary to see how much the unit of this of Preserie moves, the id. Cross confirms the change of course of a brand like VW: the buttons return, the family names return. And those decisions are consolidated with a model that will be vital for the company for a very simple reason: the competition in this sector will be fierce. In the same Mobility, Stellantis has received with open arms A ship arrived from China up to LEAPMOTOR B10. Although the Chinese brands are consolidating in the West with All types of motorizationsthey continue to have great interest in electricity for those who control the world battery market, and this B10 is the result of the Agreements between Stellantis and Leapmotor To assault the 100% electric compact terrain in which the ID wants to compete. Coss. In fact, the VW model is somewhat more compact with an autonomy similar to that of B10. The last of the concepts. The competition is served with rivals such as the Renault Scénic E-Techhe Byd Atto 3 or the MG ZS EVbut to see this new id. Cross we will have to wait. In its presentation, the brand has confirmed that the ID will first arrive. Polo, then the id. Polo GTI and later, but in 2026, the definitive version of this ID. Cross. On the price they have not said anything, but taking into account the segment in which they want to compete, it is expected to be positioned in the 30,000 euros window. At the moment, the IAA Mobility has served to see a clear response from the German brand to two controversies in … Read more

He was deported to China after co -founding NASA’s JPL. Now China has made one of his ideas come true: flying wind turbines

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In the mid -twentieth century, the United States made a decision that later A high position of the Navy described as “the most stupid thing that this country has ever done.” Qian Xesenan indisputable genius of aeronautical engineering, co -founder of the prestigious JPL laboratory of NASA, and a key figure in the development of American coheteria, was deported to China in 1955 accused of communist sympathies in full witch hunt. Qian, welcomed as a hero in his homeland, became the father of the space program and the development of Balistic missiles in China. Decades later, a new generation of Chinese engineers, heirs of the scientific ecosystem that helped build, has broken a world record with a technology that pursues an old ambition of Qian Xesen: wind turbines that fly like zepelins to harvest the energy of great altitude winds. A Zepelin anchored to ground to generate electricity On October 10, in the heavens of Jingmen, province of Hubei, a 23 -meter long aerostate with a leadable appearance rose to 500 meters high. It was not a transport or surveillance vehicle, but The S500, a floating wind energy system That, at that altitude, began to generate more than 50 kilowatts of power. With this flight, China not only launched an innovative project, but sprayed two world records that until now He held an American MIT research team: The one with the highest flight altitude for such a turbine (the previous one was 297 meters) and the one with the highest power generated (compared to the previous 30). The concept, developed by the Sawes company In collaboration with the University of Tsinghua and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it is as elegant as complex. The system uses A member of helium filling to raise a wind turbine to altitudes where the wind is much stronger and more constant than on the surface. The electricity that generates is transmitted to a station on land through the same high strength cable that anchors the structure. The advantage of this design is clear: the energy that can be extracted from the wind is proportional to the cube of its speed; already hundreds of meters high, Winds are not only faster, but also more stablesignificantly reducing the intermittency that it lills to the terrestrial wind farms. According to developer calculations, wind resources in the stratosphere on a region like Hami, in Xinjiang, are 40 times higher than those of the surface. Of emergency situations to the generation at network scale The S500 and its successor, the S1000 of 100 kW Proven for the first time in Januarywere developed for emergency rescues, urban security and places of difficult topography. In case of earthquake or flood, the system can be deployed rapidly to provide energy and communications in the disaster area. But Sawes’s ambitions go much further. The company He just finished assembly The following model on its road map: the S1500, designed to operate 1,500 meters of altituderepresents a jumping of the capacity in capacity, with a power of generation of 1 megavatio. It is proof that technology not only looks for niches such as emergency response, but aspires to become a renewable energy source at an electricity scale. To achieve this power, the S1500 integrates a complex system of 12 generators that operate simultaneously inside its central duct. The key for such a powerful system to fly is material engineering: generators are manufactured in carbon fiber To minimize the weight, maintaining the complete structure below a ton. Like his little brother, energy becomes electricity in the airship itself and low to land through an anchor -integrated cable. With this design, Sawes has attracted the support of important investment funds and contracts that already exceed 500 million yuan (about 64 million euros). The company has opened an assembly plant In Yueyang. The story of Qian Xesen is one of the greatest anecdotes about the unforeseen consequences of fear policy. As you tell Los Angeles Timesthe man who interrogated Wernher Von Braun and laid the basis of the JPL was separated and returned to a country that, at that time, had a much lower scientific development. He took care of changing that, and now his heirs are materializing some of his ideas in his native country. Images | Sawes In Xataka | How China became a nuclear and spatial power in the most unexpected way: with a student of the mit expelled by the US

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