hole

Europe has found a hole that has been sending sensitive material to Russia for years: a “Mercadona” from Germany

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More than 400 billion packages circulate around the world every year, and the international postal system is designed to move them as quickly as possible. To achieve this, many shipments cross borders with simplified controls and risk-based reviews, not full inspections. That logistical efficiency, designed to speed up commerce and everyday correspondence, sometimes generates unexpected cracks in much larger systems. An unexpected hole. Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European Union has lifted one of the sanctions regimes wider of its history with the aim of economically isolating Russia and hindering access to technology that can feed his military machine. Advanced electronics, sensitive components or certain industrial equipment are theoretically blocked to prevent them from reinforcing the Kremlin’s war economy. However, the practical application of these restrictions faces a constant problem: the more complex the sanctions system, the more ingenious They become the routes to avoid it. And in this case the weak point has appeared in a place so everyday that it is difficult to believe. A clandestine channel in the supermarket. The story was told in a report in Politico. Apparently, in several Russian chain supermarkets throughout Germany, among shelves of sweets or freezers, advertisements have appeared that promote a logistics service specialized in sending packages from Germany directly to Russia. What at first glance seems like a postal service for the Russian diaspora has become an unexpected crack within the European sanctions system. Customers may drop off boxes that supposedly contain clothing, books or small personal items. No one inspects the contents and, for a few euros per kilo, the package begins a journey that ends in Moscow or St. Petersburg. In this apparently innocent flow, even sensitive electronic components whose export is prohibited. The inherited logistics network. The middle counted that behind this circuit is LS Logistics Solution GmbH, a German company created by former employees by RusPostthe subsidiary that the Russian state postal service had established in Germany before sanctions forced it to close. After the invasion of Ukraine, that structure did not completely disappear. It was reorganized under a new namekept part of its staff and continued to operate from Germany with a similar system. The result is a kind of parallel postal network that collects packages throughout Europe and concentrates them in a warehouse near the Berlin airport, from where shipments to Russia are organized. The seal trick. The key to the system is an apparently bureaucratic detail. The packages do not have labels from the Russian Post, but from the state postal service of uzbekistan. Since that country is not subject to European sanctions, the shipment can take advantage of special rules that protect international postal traffic. In practice, this means that packets move with lighter controls than traditional commercial shipments. This administrative difference, designed to facilitate mail between citizens, becomes a back door for sensitive goods to cross borders without raising too many suspicions. A kilometer trip through Europe. The route of the packages illustrates chow it works the system. After being picked up from supermarkets or delivery points, they spend a day or two in Germany before moving to a large logistics warehouse near Berlin airport. From there they are loaded onto trucks that cross Poland on the A2 highway and continue to Belarus. Even though this country is also sanctioned for its support to Moscow, the packages continue to advance thanks to your status international postal mail. After traveling more than 2,000 km, they end up arriving at addresses in Moscow or Saint Petersburg. The problem of sanctions. Plus: the episode also reflects a challenge that those who design economic sanctions are well aware of. Officially blocking trade is relatively simple, but preventing alternative routes appear It is much more complicated, and that is already we have told it in the drone war in Ukraine. Each new restriction forces the creation of more complex control systems, while those who try to circumvent them constantly search new legal cracks or logistics. The result is an endless game of adaptation in which authorities try to close holes just as new ones begin to appear. Always one step behind. They finished the report explaining that European authorities are already reviewing the case and have strengthened the rules to pursue sanctions violations. Be that as it may, the discovery of the network itself demonstrates to what extent the system can make fun. As governments design increasingly strict legal frameworks, makeshift logistics networks continue to find ways to move sensitive goods across of unexpected routes. And in this case, the blind spot that allowed this channel to Russia to be kept open was not in an industrial port or a large cargo terminal, but in something as everyday as the check-in counter. a supermarket. Image | flowcomm, RawPixel In Xataka | In 2022, the war in Ukraine sent supermarket prices soaring. Iran threatens to make it child’s play In Xataka | The EU has a perfect plan to suffocate Russia. The problem is that now it needs its oil to survive

Saudi Arabia’s ace in the hole to break the Iranian blockade in Hormuz

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Iran’s survival strategy in this war is based on a tactic of geopolitical suffocation: strangling the Strait of Hormuz to impose an unbearable economic cost on the West. However, while the financial market blindly speculates with express truces and the price of fuel follows its own dynamics at the pumps, the physical reality on the ground is about to change. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have a logistical “antidote” capable of rescuing up to 7 million of those barrels, radically changing the equation and breaking Iranian blackmail. The “antidote” in the desert. This lifeline was not improvised yesterday. Known as the East-West Pipeline (or Petroline), It began to be built in the 80s for fear that the war between Iran and Iraq will paralyze the Persian Gulf. According to Middle East Eye, It is a pharaonic artery of some 1,200 kilometers that winds through the Arabian desert, connecting the gigantic extraction fields in the east directly with the port terminal of Yanbu, bathed by the waters of the Red Sea. In this way, the crude oil can go out into the world without coming into the range of the Iranian missiles in Hormuz. As confirmed by the CEO of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, in Financial Timesthe company is working around the clock to raise pumping to the pipeline’s maximum capacity: 7 million barrels per day. Before the crisis, only 2.8 million barrels circulated there. Nasser detailed that about 2 million barrels will remain to feed its refineries on the west coast, leaving the not inconsiderable figure of 5 million barrels per day ready for the global market. The machinery in motion. Saudi Arabia has stepped on the accelerator. “We should reach maximum capacity in a couple of days,” said the head of Aramco, according to statements collected by Reuters. If Riyadh manages to consolidate this route, the kingdom will be able to export close to 70% of its usual shipments. The energy analyst Javier Blas underlines in your column for Bloomberg that right now the critical thing is to look at the flow export outside of Hormuz, and not so much in wellhead production. And shipping data supports this frenetic activity: Bloomberg has detailed as an “armada” of at least 25 supertankers (known as VLCCs) have changed course and are sailing towards the port of Yanbu to load this lifesaving crude oil. Adding to this ball of oxygen is the effort of the United Arab Emirates. Through their Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which also bypasses the dangerous strait to exit the Gulf of Oman, they are providing between 1.5 and 2 million additional barrels per day, according to the data of Wall Street Journal. The small print. However, as with any large-scale emergency logistics operation, there is no magic wand. Experts warn of several blind spots in this strategy: The port funnel: According to the agency Argus MediaAlthough the Saudi pipeline manages to transport 5 million barrels for export, the port of Yanbu has its own limits. Its nominal loading capacity is about 4.5 million barrels per day in two terminals, but market sources place the proven effective capacity closer to 4 million. The fuel crisis (distillates): As Arne Lohmann Rasmussen warns, analyst cited by Middle East Eyethe current problem goes beyond crude oil; It is a diesel and aviation fuel crisis. The pipeline East-West It transports crude oil, not refined products. This leaves markets such as Europe, which were highly dependent on Middle Eastern refineries (such as the gigantic Emirati Ruwais plant, recently hit by a drone). The Houthi threat and the collapse of the tanks: Moving the oil outlet to the Red Sea returns the spotlight to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. As Greg Priddy points outships loading in Yanbu bound for Asia will have to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, exposing themselves to drone attacks. Added to this is that, faced with the inability to remove ships through Hormuz, the Gulf countries are filling their storage reserves to the limit, forcing Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq to drastically cut extraction from their wells, as it has progressed Bloomberg. Buying time in the “Battle of the pipelines”. Nobody in the oil industry deceives anyone. Aramco’s own CEO admitted the “catastrophic consequences” What would a prolongation of this scenario have for the world economy? As Blas concludesthese alternative pipelines do not replace the opening of the Strait of Hormuz permanently. Its main mission is another: to buy valuable time. If the Saudi-Emirati duo manages to get this enormous pipeline to spit millions of barrels into the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman, they will stop the panic at the Western pumps and take away Iran’s main negotiating asset. Far from the political and stock market noise, the resolution of this crisis is being fought in the logistical desert. Image | Aramco Xataka | Light and gas have become luxury items. Europe’s plan is to intervene in prices no matter what the cost

Delays and cancellations are putting a hole in Renfe’s accounts. So he’s going to start his own bus company.

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Renfe Viajeros… by bus. That has been one of the usual trends in recent months, with the company plagued by incidents that have prevented it from providing the service normally. The situation has been so complicated that, it is estimated, the impact of alternative services exceeds 10 million euros each year. The solution: create your own bus network. And Renfe is already looking for a partner. Looking for a partner. The information is brought The Countrywhere it is stated that Renfe is looking for a partner to start its own bus company. The idea would be very simple: Renfe would control 49% of the company and 51% would fall on the side of the collaborator. According to the newspaper, the proposal has already passed the board of directors of Renfe and Renfe Viajeros. Now, therefore, it remains to carry out the tender so that those companies that are interested in offering support to Renfe can sign up. The initial idea would be to have dozens of buses (between 50 and 100, according to the newspaper) to provide service in specific contexts. In Xataka We have contacted Renfe but when we wrote these lines we have not received a response. Because? Because Renfe is spending money on offering an alternative on wheels to its customers. When an incident interrupts the service, Renfe has to have a alternative road transport system. Right now, he has to pay an outside company, renting the buses and related expenses, such as staff. Having its own fleet would entail an expense of around 60 million euros, according to the initial accounts that have been raised. However, the newspaper points out that there are savings of between 90 and 130 million after a decade. That is, each year on average you would be saving about 10 million euros or a slightly higher figure. From the media they collect that the model used will be that of “negotiated procedure with advertising”. This means that Renfe will receive proposals but will be able to negotiate the conditions with the companies that have a more solvent offer. It is an exceptional procedure in the public procurement system. Exceptional situation. The premise, therefore, is to have a fixed fleet of buses and drivers, without having to subcontract and pay others to perform exceptional road services. Until now, the company has to search the market for drivers and buses that are available when a line is cut due to an unforeseen event. In recent years, the problem has been especially serious for the company. The DANA of Valenciathe fires in Galicia and León and the recent cutting of the southern corridor as consequence of the Adamuz accident in Córdoba has forced Renfe to maintain active service with buses for weeks. What does Renfe expect? Attract companies that have been seeing their business contract. And since The Country They point out that Renfe believes that there is more than enough business to keep the contracted buses active for at least 10 years. In fact, the contract would be for a decade, extendable to another five years, and they say that demand peaks could multiply current ones by nine. The movement could be interesting for bus companies because, right now, There are route tenders that are half dead and in which work is done with very low demand. Some of these companies would find a new outlet for their vehicles with each Renfe breakdown or incident in the infrastructure. In addition, it must be taken into account that the impact on the accounts may be greater when the incident (such as those described above) is not scheduled because forces Renfe to enter a market with few drivers and with companies that know the urgency of the company. Forced. It must be taken into account that a good part of Renfe’s business continues to be public. Therefore, you have the obligation to provide an alternative service when incidents occur on high speed but also if, for example, there are incidents on Cercanías or Rodalies. Any improvement in facilities that requires the interruption of rail traffic is replaced with buses. Photo | Pablo Nieto Abad and Fabio Romano In Xataka | Spain thought that Spain could manufacture the perfect trains for Spain. The reality: Spain is already looking for trains in Germany

2026 promised to be the great year for US tourism. Now it has found itself with a hole of 11 million visitors

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2026 looked good for US tourism. with the sector recovering of the pandemic on an international scale, the US started the year with three ‘hooks’ capable of attracting thousands of visitors: the world cup of FIFA, the centenary of Route 66 and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Three milestones that under normal conditions would make agencies, airlines and hotels rub their hands. Instead of that voices sound that warn that curves are coming. There are those who warn that the American industry risks losing a fortune and it is even done a question: Are there millions of tourists missing in the country? What has happened? That in a year in which (theoretically) the United States has everything in its favor to reinforce its tourism, in the country voices arise that speak of the complete opposite: loss of tourists foreigners and dark clouds on the horizon that threaten to cost the sector billions and billions of dollars. a few days ago The New York Times public an analysis in which he already slipped several worrying data: in January the flow of foreign travelers fell 4.8%a percentage that is largely explained by the decline in Canadian tourism, 28% lower to that of 2024. It is not only that the data is bad, it is that it maintains the negative trend of 2025, the year in which the US suffered a 6% decline in foreign visitors while the industry grew globally. How does 2026 look? That same question Oxford Economics did it not long ago, especially because according to its records in 2025, international overnight stays were reduced by 5.7% in the US. His answer is interesting: the observatory estimates that in 2026 the influx of foreigners will increase by 3.9%, although this growth is accompanied by some fine print. Getting started Oxford Economics remember that the celebration of the FIA ​​World Cup, which the US hosts jointly with Mexico and Canada, should be enough to boost the arrival of tourists. However, the 3.9% forecast for the US is much lower than the increase in demand expected worldwide, which is around 8%. Its analysts already warn that the US risks “underperforming other international markets again this year.” Is there more data? Yeah. TNYT appointment some analyzes and sources that point to stagnation or even a drop in demand from Europe. The most revealing is a study by Cirium that reflects a year-on-year drop of 14.2% in July reservations made from the old continent. The data must be handled with caution in any case. First because 2026 has just begun. Second, because the analysis is based on external sources and travel agendas, which does not include reservations processed directly with airlines. Can the panorama change? Yes. A month ago World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched a resounding statement in which he warned of the impact they would have the new demands posed by Washington for travelers who want to use the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), including a in depth review of the applicant’s history on social networks. If the measure is finally applied, the organization warns, the sector could suffer a drop in demand with serious consequences. “34% of respondents say they are less likely to visit the US in the next two or three years if the changes are implemented. Only 12% say they would be more likely, which will translate into a significant net decrease in travel intentions,” explains. WTTC estimates point to a loss of 4.7 million international arrivals and $15.7 billion in visitor spending. In terms of employment, some 157,000 positions would be damaged. Are there more factors at play? Yes. The changes to the ESTA would explain the losses calculated by the WTTC for the future, but they do not the ‘prick’ that foreign tourism in the US already suffered in 2025, a year in which the sector grew in most destinations. In fact, the UN itself has highlighted the “weak results” of the US, especially during the third and fourth quarters. What is the reason for this trend? For the WTTC the answer seems clear: in 2025, with Trump in the White House, I already warned that “while other countries welcome (the traveler) the US Government hangs the ‘closed’ sign.” How is the sector doing? It is not the only warning he issues. The WTTC recently recalled that the US inbound tourism market has suffered the loss of 11 million visitors in just four years, between 2019 and 2025. The organization does not go into details or delve into the data. The one who does it is the UN, although for the whole of North America. According to your statisticsIn 2019, the region received 146.6 million foreign visitors. In 2025 there were 135.4. That period has coincided with the pandemic and its subsequent hangover, but in recent months it has been marked by international politics led by Trump, with threats of one kind or another to the EU, Mexico and above all Canada and Greenlandterritories that the Republican wants to annex to the United States. Why is it a problem? “When eleven million international visitors fail to show up, the result is billions of dollars in economic losses for the travel industry,” warns in The New York Times Erik Hansen, director of the United States Travel Association. As the New York media recalls, the Trump administration has not made it easy for travelers, restricting entry from a dozen countries and announcing measures that would make visas more expensive and would force tourists to undergo deep scrutiny to enter the country. With that backdrop, there are those who already has called for a boycott trips to the US, even during the world cupamong other reasons for protest due to the actions of ICE. Images | ANDilis Garvey (Unsplash), Gianandrea Villa (Unsplash) In Xataka | If you want to visit New York, go to the consulate first: the US has added a requirement for visas for Mexican children and elderly

Mining Bitcoin has always been an energetic black hole. Someone wants to turn it into your home heating

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The CES 2026 that has just closed its doors has confirmed an inescapable reality: Artificial Intelligence is everywhere, even where it seems to make no sense. From electronic LEGO bricks and wearables with roll-up screens, to more questionable devices like AI hair clippers that adjust the cut dynamically or digital frames that generate art by voice using GPT Image 1.5. Among this tide of “AI even in the soup”, a proposal has emerged that breaks with that trend and has surprised by its pragmatism: is it possible to get hot by mining Bitcoins? The answer is a resounding yes, and this year technology has shown that what was once a nuisance thermal waste is now a valuable household resource. ANDl income generating water heater. The American startup Superheat captured everyone’s attention with the presentation of its Superheat H1a water heater that uses ASIC (application specific integrated circuits) chips to heat a 190-liter tank while processing Bitcoin transactions. Unlike traditional electric water heaters, the H1 has an approximate price of $2,000, placing it 30-40% above the conventional market. However, as detailed in CNETwill be able to generate about $1,000 annually in passive income, always depending on the value of Bitcoin and the difficulty of the network. The science of “thermal reuse”. To understand this phenomenon, you have to turn to basic physics. The mining process requires intensive computational calculations (proof-of-work) that generate a massive amount of heat. Traditionally, this heat was expelled into the air using fans, but companies like Superheat have turned it around: mining is now the primary function and hot water is the secondary benefit. From the user’s point of view, the experience is seamless. The manual for devices like the Heatbit Trio reveals a control system sophisticated where the user can navigate the panel like a professional: Eco Mode: Heats exclusively by mining, limiting consumption to 400W. Target Mode: Combines the mining plate with a conventional heating element to maintain the desired temperature. Air purification: These devices not only heat, but act as purifiers with HEPA filters and air quality sensors (PM 2.5). Europe at the forefront. In the old continent, the proposal focuses on design and structural integration. From Austria, the company 21energy presents the Ofen 2a minimalist design radiator made of steel and aluminum. Unlike industrial miners that emit 75 decibels, this model is around 32-35 dB, being almost inaudible to the human ear. Furthermore, with a consumption of 1000 watts, it generates up to 40 TH/s of mining power, allowing users to recover part of their electricity bill while heating rooms of up to 50 m². On the other hand, in Switzerland, the company RY3T has marked a historic milestone. The RY3T ONE system has already been installed as the main heat source in a single-family house in the canton of Sankt Gallen. According to the companythis system can be more environmentally friendly than a conventional heat pump, as it reuses a computing power necessary for the global financial network instead of requiring additional electricity exclusively to generate thermal friction. A good idea or a technological chimera? Despite the enthusiasm, a report from Interesting Engineering raises critical questions that the consumer should consider: Obsolescence: What happens when mining hardware becomes obsolete? Will the entire heater or radiator have to be replaced? Network Cost: Even though heat is “free,” electricity for Bitcoin mining is often more expensive than natural gas in many countries. Regulation: If a country decided to ban Bitcoin mining, the user’s heating system could be legally compromised. From mining coins to processing Artificial Intelligence. As this report began, AI is the main protagonist of the moment, and its evolution will continue to be talked about far beyond cryptocurrencies. Julie Xu, COO of Superheat, explained at CES that the ultimate goal is to use this network of appliances for cloud solutions and AI inference. Instead of building gigantic data centers that stress the power grid and require massive cooling, homes could house small distributed computing units. However, this future poses a new dilemma: privacy. Experts from iFixit and Consumer Reports They already warn at this CES that “you don’t want a camera in front of your refrigerator watching you all the time” or a constant internet connection on simple devices, since it makes them more expensive to repair and prone to failure. The challenge will, therefore, be to balance the profitability of heating the home with the security of our private data. Image | freepik and heatbit Xataka | The bitcoin business cools down, but some miners have found a new vein: AI fever

The creative death of Marvel’s MCU left a huge hole. One that in my case is filling WWE on Netflix

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Twice a week I like to live a cathartic experience, and it is something that I strictly adhere to since the beginning of 2025. WWE and Netflix they started a million-dollar collaboration (a decade at a rate of 500 million dollars a year) so that their star shows could be seen around the world. Gone are those weekend mornings in Four with La Bomba Batista, Rey Mysterio or Randy Orton who starred in the childhood of an entire generation, but thanks to the platform of streaming, nostalgia hits harder than ever by allowing us to experience nothing less than the farewell tour of the greatest of all time: John Cena. But beyond the trip to childhood, my religious weekly ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown’ have helped me realize that with a ring and a handful of wrestlers they are scratching the same part of the brain as I expected the MCU to activate during these last years. The interrelation of the character arcsinvincible enemies, unexpected turns of a hero and alliances on the horn is something that Marvel has lost since ‘Avengers Endgame’ and that I find almost every week in wrestling. All that is needed is a suspension of credulity that is generated by the cathartic nature of the slaps (choreographed, not fake) and by how dedicated the public is to an event that also has the added bonus of being held live. Perhaps it sounds ridiculous for those who have not known about this world for 20 years, or for those who have barely entered it, but once you are part of the wheel, it is difficult not to get hooked by multiple aspects: combats measured to the millimeter with a physical preparation from another planet, soap opera stories between the stars where the distance between reality and fiction is separated by a bad fall or a word out of the script, or demonstrations of aura with entrances like those of Penta either Roman Reigns. But everything has its dark side and, as often happens, being a woman places me (even more frequently) in a dilemma. 7 TRICKS to get the MOST out of NETFLIX Triple H is not spared either The eternal “separating work and author” that does not prevent the bitter taste in the mouth produced by wanting to see the new Woody Allen or Roman Polanski movie or refusing to continue reading to JK Rowling. And the WWE is an almost inexhaustible source of controversies that makes it very difficult to draw the line and be able to simply enjoy a high-quality show and wrestlers who give their all in vibrant fights. The WWE has suffered under the previous management of Vince McMahon and their continuous scandalsbut with the arrival in 2022 of Paul Levesque (known as Triple H for wrestling lovers, and also McMahon’s son-in-law) as the new content director, they wanted to sell a new post-Vince era, establishing a gender equality policy on the roster and moving away from wrestlers with whom racial stereotypes were promoted. Since the replacement took place, there is no doubt that the female presence has increased in WWE, and continues to do so year after year; In its annual report we can see that of its superstars a 40% are womenin front of the 35% from previous year. And not only does it increase in number, but in quality; offering us stories and combats that are often infinitely superior to those perpetrated by male stars on the roster. Names like Rhea Ripley either Becky Lynch They are the female reference and those who lead the way for new recruits. The combination of global streaming thanks to Netflix and the growing number of female talentshas been the key factor that has managed to boost the increase of this audience. And, already in the documentary ‘WWE: Unreal’, the creative director that high percentage stood out: “WWE women have become an integral part of what we do. 40% of our audience is female. So, when you start down the road to ‘WrestleMania,’ you try to approach it with them the same way you do with the guys, you approach the narrative in the same way. “However, at the same time, this reality is continually clouded by putting its stars against the ropes beyond the ring itself. And the figure of Triple H is not exempt from controversy either. It is not only that he has visited the oval office alongside Trump this summer to join the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, reminding us once again of the US president’s relationship with the world of WWE and, inevitably, being a reminder of what political side the company joins. Not in vain, when the worst of the pandemic forced bodies to pile up in refrigerated trucks, even in New York, the WWE was one of the first sports practices to resume thanks to an exemption from Republican Florida. But the bulk of the excesses during his mandate are directed at the female public. Wrestlers and female audience against the ropes The WWE, through a agreement with Saudi Arabia which began in 2018 with the celebration of one of its events in the Middle Eastern country, was added to the list of sports that participate in the sportswashing strategic to whiten the image of the regime. This agreement, reprehensible for all that it implies on a political and social level, becomes even more flagrant and uncomfortable if we highlight what it means directly for the women of the company. In those first three events since 2018, the participation of the women’s section was totally prohibitedneither could they compete nor, of course, were female audiences allowed. It seems that, therefore, with that agreement of 100 million dollars annually Triple H easily forgets about that high percentage of female spectators that he brags about. It was not until 2019 when the Saudi authorities, in a display of modernity, allowed female wrestlers to compete, as long as they wore wrestling clothing that completely covered their bodies. … Read more

a supermassive black hole ejected from its galaxy at 3.4 million km/h

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Until now, we thought about supermassive black holes like the immovable anchors of galaxies, being gravitational giants that keep everything in order from the center. But we were quite wrong, since the James Webb Space Telescope us has confirmed that, sometimes, these anchors break and are shot through intergalactic space as if they were real gun bullets. The study. A team led by astronomer Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University has presented the first observational confirmation of a wandering supermassive black hole. It is called RBH-1 and its existence is the result of one of the most violent events that physics allows: being “kicked” out of your home by gravitational waves. A scar. Detecting this is not easy, since black holes They cannot be seen with the naked eye, but the destruction they leave in their wake is analyzed. This is precisely what JWST saw when it detected a massive linear structure about 200,000 light years long (twice the diameter of the Milky Way), which connects a distant galaxy with a bright, fuzzy spot. After trying to analyze this destruction in more detail, the telescope itself has revealed that it is a discontinuity. In layman’s terms: there is something extremely massive moving at an absurd speed of 954 km/s, which is equivalent to 3.4 million kilometers per hour. A speed that would allow us to travel from the Earth to the Moon in less than seven minutes. How do we know? The question in this case seems obligatory: How do we know that it is a black hole and not a simple star formation? The answer lies in everything it leaves in its wake, since by moving at this type of high speed, the black hole It compresses the gas so violently that it generates a trail of hot plasma that can be measured, as well as the formation of new stars. And now science has been able to confirm that this gas is not heated by the light emitted by stars, but by the brutal collision of a target that has at least 10 million times the mass of the Sun. Why is he running away? The theory behind this phenomenon is not new, but has been predicted by general relativity for 50 years. But in order to understand what has happened here, we can see it in three different steps: The first thing that happened was the merger of two galaxies and their respective supermassive black holes that began to orbit each other. After this, a third galaxy arrives to join this party and its black hole interacts with the binary system formed before. Finally, a cosmic “kick” is given. In this case, the interaction of three bodies generates a great asymmetry in the gravitational waves that results in a black hole shooting out of the galaxy at a high speed. It’s not the first. We already knew about wandering “stellar mass” black holes (a few times the mass of the Sun) roaming our own Milky Way, detected by gravitational microlensing effects by Hubble or the Gaia mission. However, finding a supermassive, what is the type of object that usually lives in the heart of galaxies, is a milestone on a different scale. Why this matters. The confirmation of RBH-1 is not a simple curiosity for physicists, but validates models of galactic evolution that suggest that the universe is full of these ‘exiles’. And this shows that if supermassive black holes can be ejected so easily, it means that many galaxies could be “orphaned” of their central core, affecting how they grow and form stars. Images | NASA Hubble Space Telescope In Xataka | China is launching more rockets into space than ever before. And the reason is very simple: not to depend on Starlink

a supermassive black hole older than expected

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Since the James Webb Space Telescope opened its infrared eyes towards the universe, the truth is that everything beyond our atmosphere has gone from being something calm and a stranger to become in a frantic puzzle For all astrophysicists. Their latest discovery points to the oldest supermassive black hole ever detected, something that gives us more data about the origin of the universe. It has arrived to break the mold. This black hole is located in the galaxy GHZ2and its most relevant fact is not that it is really far away, but when it was formed. Approximations place it just 350 million years after the Big Bang. Something that breaks the classic schemes that experts used, since in theory there would not have been enough time for a gravitational monster of that caliber to grow so much. His discovery. As we say, the protagonist of this story is the galaxy GHZ2/GLASS-z12. A discovery that has been made thanks to the observations of JWST and to the ALMA radio observatory in Chilewhich has confirmed its location through different parameters that place it as the most distant and oldest structure that has ever been confirmed. But what has set off alarm bells is not only its distance, but also its composition, since extremely intense ionized carbon emission lines have been detected. To understand the importance of this finding, you have to know that ionizing carbon at these levels requires a large amount of energy. This means that younger and more massive stars have the capacity to do so, but it is not enough to explain the intensity that has been observed in this galaxy. This means that you have to sign up for a Active Galactic Nucleusthat is to say, a supermassive black hole that is gobbling up matter at a frenetic pace. The time problem. The study suggests that this black hole would have an enormous mass compared to its host galaxy. While in the local universe (ours) the ratio between the mass of the black hole and the stellar mass of the galaxy is around 0.1%, in GHZ2 this ratio could shoot up to 5%. This is something that challenges the training theories that are currently are divided into two sides: Light seeds: black holes are born from the death of the first stars and grow little by little. The problem here is that 350 million years is not enough to reach this size. Heavy seeds: huge clouds of primordial gas have collapsed into black holes to form them, but without becoming a star. The finding of GHZ2 points directly to the second option or to “super-Eddington” feeding episodes (eating faster than radiation pressure theoretically allows). Its importance. If this finding is finally confirmed, we would be facing the absolute record for an active supermassive black hole. Until now, this record was in the UHZ1 galaxy about 470 million years after the Big Bang. But now GHZ2 pushes us more than 100 million years back in time, bringing us dangerously close to the very moment it all began in our universe. What really seems clear is that the universe in its beginning was not a boring or slow place. It was a dynamic, violent and rapid time where galaxies and black holes evolved at a great speed that we are now beginning to understand. Images | BoliviaIntelligent In Xataka | Bad news, the Universe has entered its dying phase. Good news, we won’t be here to see it

Spain wants to bet on rent with an option to buy in the face of the housing crisis. First you must solve your black hole

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The Government has decided to expand its arsenal to alleviate the serious housing crisis that Spain is going through, a crisis marked by the decoupling between housing supply and demand, the rise in prices and a market so inaccessible that more and more young people find that the only way to have a home is to wait for their parents donate it. A few weeks ago, during a speech in Congress, Pedro Sánchez advanced that the Executive wants recover aid for rent with option to buy. The measure is part of a broader plan with more legs, but in recent weeks it has generated as much expectation as skepticism. The reason: although there are still unknowns to clear up, everything indicates that the scope of the new aid will be limited. What will the help consist of? What the Government plans is to offer aid up to 30,000 euros for rent with option to buy homes with permanent protection. The initiative is designed for young people from up to 35 years and its objective is that that amount ended up being discounted of the final price of the property, in case the tenant decides to buy it. “The aid will be used to pay the rent, which will allow the young person to save to own their home,” they need from the ministry. When focusing on VPO, the focus is on properties that must conform to a series of requirements, such as respecting a pre-established price and certain guidelines when changing hands. “This means that if in the future you want to sell that home, you will have to do so at an appraised price and to a person who meets the same requirements as the previous owner,” explains the Government. “In this way we protect the homes paid for with state resources.” Click on the image to go to the tweet. Do we know anything else? Yes. There are still details to be outlined, but we know that the measure is included in the State Housing Plan (PEV) for the period 2026-2030where it is combined with other proposals that aspire to “consolidate a public system of access to housing” and revolve around five major goals: creating more and better supply, reducing the rate of financial effort, focusing on stressed markets and lowering the age at which young people become independent. As? To achieve that ultimate goal the PEV contemplates offer rental aid for the purchase of housing in municipalities of emptied Spain (La Moncloa speaks of 10,800 euros for localities “at demographic risk”), youth guarantees and “aid for renting with the option to buy housing with permanent protection of up to 30,000 euros.” Sanchez too has spoken of non-payment of rent insurance for young people. Support for VPO on a rent-to-own basis is not exactly new. It was already contemplated in the state housing plans 2005-2008 and 2009-2012. How has the idea been received? Sánchez launched his announcement to mid octoberduring the interparliamentary meeting of the Socialist Group, but a quick Google search shows that in recent weeks it has generated some skepticism. Not so much because of the fear that it will end up causing an increase in rents (something that the leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, reproached her for) but because of the doubts that exist about the real impact that the aid will have. The reason: in reality in Spain very few VPOs are built for rent with an option to buy. His mark is testimonial. Are there so few? The official data published by Raquel Sánchez’s department speak for themselves. If we talk about protected housing for rent with the option to buy with “definitive qualification” (that is, already completed), the state registry shows only 2,300 over the last decade. There are not many and they are concentrated in just seven autonomous communities. What’s more, there is not a single one between August of last year and June, a period of 11 months during which no home eligible to benefit from the aid announced by the Government was completed. If what we are talking about is “provisional ratings” (still under construction) the balance sheet is not buoyant either (less than 70 in the last 15 months). The data includes both VPOs from state and regional plans. What do the experts say? Not everyone agrees. For Javier Burón, manager of Nasuvinsa, the key lies not so much in what has been built so far but in what is done for the future. That is, the effectiveness of the measure in stimulating supply. “There is an attempt to restart the machine for building protected housing, although focused on rentals, so it makes no sense to look at the past,” he explains in an interview with The Country. In fact 40% of resources of the PEV focus precisely on increasing the supply of protected housing on a permanent basis. For Carolina Roca, president of the Association of Real Estate Developers of Madrid (Asprima), the reading is somewhat different. “The aid announced in the PEV has, once again, a conceptual error: we have a problem of supply of subsidized housing and not demand. The PEV should be aimed at increasing the construction of subsidized housing, so aid should go to supply rather than demand. What sense does it make to provide aid of 30,000 euros for a figure for which only 65 homes are built per year?” Roca asks in statements to the Idealista portal. Images | Ronni Kurtz (Unsplash) In Xataka | The Basque Country wants more homes but does not have much land. Solution: build 2,000 apartments on top of other houses

Data centers for AI are an energy hole. Jeff Bezos’s solution: Build them in space

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In the next two decades we will see data centers at Gigavatio scale orbiting the Earth. Or at least that is the prediction that has launched The founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos. He said it during his speech at the Italian Tech Week in Turin, where he was able to establish conversation with John Elkann, president of Ferrari and Stellantis. Bezos’s proposal. Space data centers would take advantage of solar energy 24 hours a day, cloudless, rain or night cycles that interrupt the supply. According to Bezosthese “giant training clusters” of artificial intelligence would be more efficient and, eventually, more economical than terrestrial facilities. “We can exceed the cost of land data centers in space in the coming decades,” he said. Why now talks about this. The infrastructure demand for AI is becoming a large hole for the planet. Current data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water to cool its servers, a problem that is aggravated with each new artificial intelligence model. Given this pressure, large technology explore alternatives: from Locate them in ships o Nordic countries until sink into the ocean. And of course, if we have capacity problems on Earth, some technological ones already think about taking the letter to send them to space. The technical advantages. In space, temperatures range between -120 ° C under direct sunlight and -270 ° C in shadow, which would greatly simplify equipment cooling. Constant solar energy would eliminate dependence on land electrical networks. Bezos places this development as’Natural evolution‘of a process that has already begun with weather and communications satellites. “The next step will be the data centers and then other types of manufacturing,” he explained. The real challenges. As they point out from Tom’s hardwarebuilding a spatial data center of a Gigavatio would require solar panels that would cover between 2.4 and 3.3 million square meters, with an estimated weight of 9,000 to 11,250 metric tons only in photovoltaic material. Transporting all that equipment to space would cost between $ 13,700 and 25,000 million with current technology, needing more than 150 launches. To this is added the difficulty of maintenance, updates and the inherent risk of space releases. Parallelism with AI. Bezos compared The current moment of artificial intelligence With the bubble Puntocom of the early 2000s. “We should be extremely optimistic about the social and beneficial consequences of AI,” he said, although he warned of the possibility of speculative bubbles. His message: Do not confuse possible excesses of the market with the reality of technological advances, whose benefits consider that “they will spread widely and reach everywhere.” When It will be done reality?. Bezos places the temporary horizon “in more than 10 years, but no more than 20”. Today, the project is commercially unfeasible, but its vision starts from the premise that the launch costs will continue to go down and the technology will mature. It remains to be seen, after two decades, part of our digital infrastructure is in orbit, beyond the existing one. In Xataka | Nvidia has control of the most powerful chips of AI: OpenAi, Broadcom and TSMC want to end their XPUS

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