increasingly

From Europe its “welfare state” was envied. But it is increasingly difficult to pay, and France is the best example

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Europa presumed for decades of having found the perfect formula to combine economic prosperity with social justice: hospitals open to all, affordable universities and worthy retirements after a work life. That pact between generations, envied on the other side of the Atlantic, became the identity mark of the continent. And yet They begin to become visible. And one of its banners wobbles: France. A price too high. I told this week The Washington Post. Europe lives a historical crossroads: the social model that guaranteed universal health, accessible education and decent retirements begins to show cracks that can no longer be hidden. France It is the epicenter of that tension. There, the runaled public debt, political paralysis and succession of Fallen prime ministers In just fifteen months they show deep wear. The State Spend more than any other country rich in social protection, but that expense seems unsustainable in a context of low growth and growing polarization. The recent resignation From Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, unable to agre as inalienable. Model under generational pressure. There are more, since, in France, new generations feel that they inherit a system that they cannot sustain. He Post counted Cases of young people such as Anastasia Blay, who depend on intermittent subsidies to survive, convinced that they should not load with the mistakes of the past or give up a decent life. In front of them, retirees like Christine Boucau-Podorski They defend The pensions achieved after decades of hard work and are willing to limited sacrifices, but not losing acquired rights. This struggle between young and old reflects the intergenerational shock that crosses To all of Europe: Who pays the invoice, what benefits should be preserved and to what extent intergenerational solidarity can continue to be the base of the European social contract. Germany and France Wobm up. Fragility is not limited to France. Germany, the other great Historical support of the European Union, faces industrial recessiondeterioration of infrastructure and a government that admits since “the current system is unassumable.” Political tensions are intense, with the social democratic opposition refusing to accept drastic cuts and the extreme right by capitalizing citizen discomfort. Meanwhile, the Ultras games grow On both sides of the rhine fed by social disenchantment and the feeling of stagnation. The paradox is that Italy or Spainonce considered weak links, they exhibit today greater stability macroeconomic than European locomotives. The center, formerly balancing, has become the area of ​​greatest uncertainty, which weakens the European project at a time of growing external threats. The southern paradox. It is quite striking that countries historically seen as fragile, such as Spain and Italy, today appear (either They seem) as relatively more stable. Italy, after decades of political instability, lives its strongest period with a controversial government that has even achieved An improvement of the credit rating. Spain, meanwhile, has reduced by half unemployment in the last decade and maintains growth above the European average, despite spend less on well -being than France or Germany. This roles investment shows to what extent the clichés of the southern Europe have been exceeded: the Mediterranean nations, previously accused of fiscal laxity, seem to have learned to navigate austerity, while “the rich north” It sinks in its own budgetary rigidity. The perfect storm. The challenge is aggravated by external factors that multiply internal pressures. The Russian Invasion of Ukraine pushes to increase the defense expensejust when public coffers They are already exhausted. China Compete fiercely With European industry, from electric cars to nuclear energy, eroding the international position of German and French manufactures. And the United States, far from offering security, Add uncertainty with a president who changes position in a matter of days and threatens tariffs to his own allies. Europe must decide If prioritize shield Your welfare state, to reorient resources towards military security or find a balance that does not sacrifice either global competitiveness or social cohesion. The great unknown. Experts Like Andreas Eisl They argue that the dilemma is first of all politician: it is not if Europe can maintain its social model, but to what extent it wants to do it and what sacrifices is willing to assume. Attempts to apply cuts, such as 44,000 million euros proposed in the budget that demolished Prime Minister François Bayrou, have caused A massive rejection on the street and fed polarization. However, mathematics is relentless: with a aging populationa Birth in Declive and one Increasing resistance To immigration, the fiscal base narrows while the needs increase. Europe may not be on the verge of a Greek collapse, or it does not seem, but the sustainability of its “way of life” indicates that it has ceased to be An unquestionable dogma. And that is, perhaps, the true battle of the future: if the old continent manages to reinvent his social contract without dynamiting him in the process. Image | Pexels, Martin Greslou In Xataka | Spain has a big problem with the generational relief of the labor market: 3.5 million young workers are missing In Xataka | Birth in Poland is a disaster and hotels have had an idea: money for those who conceive in a stay

Chinese astronauts have spent six hours reinforcing tiangong against an increasingly dangerous enemy: space garbage

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The night in orbit just leaves truce. In low orbit, the Tiangong Space Station It becomes the scene of a constant activity that requires millimeter precision. In the last extravehicular exitChinese astronauts had to face a challenge that does not come from technical failures or scientific experiments, but from a silent enemy that multiplies the risks of each mission: the Space garbage which accumulates in the low terrestrial orbit and threatens to hit the structure of the complex. The schedule of China’s manned flight agency places the start of extravehicular activity on September 25 at 19:45 (Beijing time), with Wang Jie as the first astronaut to leave the Wentian module. It was followed shortly after Chen Zhongrui, in charge of attending the installation of the equipment. Chen Dong, from inside Tiangong, managed communications with the control center and supported his teammates throughout the maneuver. The walk concluded at dawn, at 1:35 of September 26, when the two crew closed the hatch after completing the planned agenda. The maneuver was carried out with support from the robotic arm of the station and the team on land. Sludes against fragments: Tiangong’s strategy to resist in space During the walk, the main objective was to install a protection device against Orbital fragmentsdesigned to reinforce the most exposed areas of the station. The operation also included the review of the state of external equipment and structures, with special attention to the systems that suffer greater wear due to continuous exposure to the spatial environment. According to those responsible for the programthis combination of installation and maintenance seeks to ensure that Tiangong maintains its operational capacity in the middle of an increasingly saturated environment of remains. The increase in spatial garbage in the low orbit is one of the factors that most worries agencies in recent years. Each launch adds fragments that, although small, reach speeds that multiply their damage. For China, reinforcing Tiangong does not respond to a specific incident, but to the need to get ahead of an increasingly complex scenario. China is not the only one that has had to reinforce its station in the face of the threat of orbital fragments. The International Space Station Specific armor systems for years have beenknown as anti-mmod shields, which protect their habitable modules from impacts from Micrometeoritos and space garbage. The difference is in the context: it is an infrastructure with more than two decades of service, which has needed to adapt continuously to an increasingly congested environment. In the ISS, this philosophy materializes in shields in Whipple and Stupfed Whipple layers, with several hundred shields distributed in critical areas. The comparison between Tiangong and the International Space Station helps to understand the scope of its protection systems. The Chinese station completed its construction in 2022 with a T configuration formed by the Tianhe, Wentian and Mengtian modules. The ISS, on the other hand, began to assemble in 1998 and ended its main segment in 2011, with a much broader and more complex structure. This difference in dimensions and seniority explains why its shields follow different logics: ISS combines protections included from its design with reinforcements added over the years, while Tiangong integrates solutions designed from the beginning for a more congested environment. The closure of this extravehicular activity does not imply a break, but the beginning of a new stage for the Shenzhou-20 mission. The three astronauts They will continue with numerous scientific experiments and technological tests, in addition to participating in on -board celebrations linked to the Chinese calendar. The installation of additional shields has a clear objective: to hold over time the crew safety and the integrity of Tiangong, which aspires to consolidate as a stable basis for space research in the midst of a more demanding orbital environment. Images | Xinhua In Xataka | 24 years ago, the earth was symmetrical. Now the northern hemisphere is “unequivocally” darker than the southern hemisphere

Levante’s floods point out that we are not prepared before an increasingly dangerous Atlantic

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Corted roads, trains delays, canceled flights rescue in three provinces. “The neighbors are panic“, said the mayor of Aldaia.” A few weeks after one year after the Dana tragedy, it seems that the phenomenon will be repeated, ” We could read In social networks. Gabrielle has been more than the remains of a hurricane, has been a reminder of all the pain of recent months and a promise: it will not be the last time. But are we prepared? A fact that seems curious, but it is something else. The 2025 hurricanes season has been very quiet, but something that has not happened for 90 years has happened. As Philip Klotzbach explainedwith “Humberto (…) the Atlantic would have a record of 3 of 3 hurricanes that became important in 2025 (Erin and Gabrielle were the others). The last time the first 3 hurricanes of a hurricane season in the Atlantic were important was in 1935”. But, in addition, none has touched earth (Gabrielle has already done it in the form of a postropical storm). That is, are the great Atlantic hurricane factory changing? Martín León has a good summary of the situation. The three cyclones “(1) have been formed from tropical waves of the east coming from Africa, (2) have moved through warm open waters, (3) have quickly intensified over very warm waters in the western Atlantic, (4) have recurred, or resort to the east to experience an extroatropical transition and (5) they will reach or reach the European coasts (transformed into the European coast postropical). It is true that it is early to draw conclusions. Until now (and despite the forecasts that it was going to be much stronger) “the 2025 hurricane station It is still close of the normal. “This was commented on by Martín León is curious, but is far from becoming a trend. And none of that changes the real problem. What problem? The current situation has taught us three things: the first one, a year ago, we were not prepared to support a blow like that of the Dana; The second, during this year, is that our institutional system does not seem capable of preparing quickly; And the third, these days, is that Valencia was not an isolated event, but a systemic risk in dozens of points of the country. Whether or not the change in tendency in the Atlantic, the situation is clear: climate change It exposes us to increasingly extreme meteorological phenomena. And our approach is the same as that of the last decades: nothing. But is this really new? Yes and no. As Emilio Rey explained to us“This type of phenomena has a period of recurrence of a certain time. Some occur every 20 years, another 50 or 100 years. But we know that it will happen again. It has always passed and will continue to happen in the future because our situation on the planet and the circumstances of this time of the year allow it. It will not pass every year but it will happen.” In any case, with climate change the frequency with which the strongest phenomena affects us will be modified. What the infrastructure of Castellón, TarragonaValencia or Saragossa There is much to do. Image | Via Stormyalert In Xataka | Google has demonstrated with its AI that the prediction of storms and hurricanes is outdated. This is how your new model works

The mechanics of Spain are increasingly trusting Asian cars. And maintenance data are right

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“If you want a car that does not fail, buy a Toyota or a Honda.” This phrase is a classic when it touches Buy a carwe want one that passes as little as possible through the workshop and we start asking acquaintances. It has an obvious problem: it is a bias limited affirmation and experience, but there are more and more voices that point that, perhaps, it does not go so disenchanted. Because there are countless brands, each with its reputation, but beyond the film that each company wants to tell us to close the embers to its flame, there are two elements of help when buying a car that does not fail: Reliability surveys and experience of mechanics. The mechanics. “I think the Asian market has eaten the European, when it was the other way around.” This is the opinion that the mechanic Kike Ferrer shared A few months ago, pointing out that “the best cars you can buy are Asians, they are the ones that are least repaired in the workshops” That is an important point because when they are under guarantee, it does not bother to have to visit the workshop, but the problems come when the Reliability outside that guarantee framework It begins to be compromised. There may be minor arrangements, but also many who bite in their pocket. The mechanic Carlos Pérez has also commented Recently that “Honda, Mazda, Toyota … are very reliable cars, well manufactured and that endure many kilometers without giving problems. Nor must we forget Kia and Hyundai, Korean and a quality guarantee.” The statistics. Kike’s is not an isolated opinion, and to check it, you have to go to statistics. This type of surveys and lists They are always controversial Because reliability is measured for both software and mechanics and, above all, because it is segmented to the North American market. Two of the most important are that of Consumer Reports and that of JD Power. Consumer Report Analyze 20 problematic areas of the car (ranging from the brakes to the engine, through broken beautifiers, potential problems outside battery, transmission and problems that affect the electric and hybrids as the battery and load) and compares with the historic since 2000, giving a score from 1 to 100 to each car. JD Power also handles reports sent by thousands of consumers. They are not simple surveys, but a thermometer that the automobile industry takes very seriously (so much that some of its findings They have forced brands to take action (such as the failure in the rotary engines of Mazda in 1973). That said, Asians such as Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Honda, Hyundai or Mazda usually occupy the top positions. OCU table The OCU. Within each brand, obviously, there are better or worse models. For example, within Toyota, the BZ4Xlowered the score of the brand in one of the surveys. Interestingly, it is the basis of Subaru’s single, and also lowers the average of this company. But of course, when we say that it is a biased list, we mean that, although there are models that we share between markets, the European and the American are not the same. There the OCU comes into play and Whatar. Let’s go with the seconds. It is a British media that conducted a survey of almost 30,000 drivers to find the most reliable models of Great Britain. The same as before: the ones that have gone through the workshop. The result is that Lexus and Toyota (same group) led the list with the Lexus NX and the Toyota Aygo X. The following were the Mini Countryman, the Audi Q3 and the Kia Picanto. Regarding the OCU, with other almost 30,000 people surveyed in Europe and information of 276 models, In the 2024 table We see that the Top 10 is occupied by eight Asian brands and the only non -Japanese/South Korean are Cupra and Smart. And the Chinese? In the different surveysthere are names that usually exchange positions, but there are three elements that do not vary. The first thing is that Lexus is usually the first. The second is that the Japanese and South Korean are the ones who take the top positions and the third is that those brands that we see more and more through the streets are missing: the Chinese. In Kike Ferrer’s interview to Adrian.gmartin, the mechanic mentions To the Chinese cars among those reliable Asians, but with an asterisk: the spare parts logistics that, in their opinion, is not yet up to it, sharing an opinion with Pérez. Brands like mg (of the best selling in Spain) or byd are the ones that we begin to see the most in the streets and, although it will have to spend time for official guarantees to be exhausted and we start having data on how much they pass through the workshop, there are already authorized voices that approve Chinese cars. For example, Enroncap, the body responsible for granting security scores in the European territory that is clear that they are even better than others of more settled brands in the region. But of course, in the end, although a very valid opinion has nothing to do with seeing them more or less in the workshop. For that, as we say, we will have to wait a few more years. Images | OCU, Magic Booster In Xataka | The German ITV has analyzed the reliability of the Tesla and has reached a conclusion: Dacia is above

It is increasingly cheap, and we are increasingly paying more than ever to use it

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Every time Chatgpt generates a word, that costs money. But the price of that word generated has not stopped falling since the launch of that model, and the same goes for its rivals. Today we have AI models that are not only more powerful, but also They are cheaper than everand the funny thing is that we are paying more and more to use them. What is happening? Tokens. OpenAI define Tokens as “common character sequences found in a text set.” That “basic unit” of information It is what these models use to understand what we are saying and then process those texts to answer. Every time we use ChatgPT we have on the one hand the request with the text we introduce (input tokens) and on the other the text generated by the chatbot (output tokens). Price per million tokens (dollars) Entrance Exit GPT-5 1.10 10 GPT-4O 2.5 10 O1 15 60 Gemini 2.5 Pro ( 200ktokens) 2.5 15 Claude Opus 4.1 15 75 Claude sonnet 4 ( 200k Tokens) 6 22.5 Price per million tokens. And when we use an AI model, the price of using it is precisely measured how much it costs every million input tokens and every million output tokens. The more powerful a model is, the higher the price of those tokens, and to get an idea these are the prices of some current models. The prices of the output tokens (those generated by the machines) are remarkably higher than those of entry: it costs much more to generate text than “to receive and understand it.” AI models are getting better and getting cheaper. At least, in terms of cost per million tokens. Source: Epoch AI. But prices have not stopped down. Those prices per million input or output tokens, however, have fallen remarkably since ChatgPT (at that time based on GPT-3.5) appeared on the scene. An Epoch AI study March 2025 revealed how the price of inference – generating text, as they do chatgpt, gemini or Claude – has not stopped falling. In some cases the models are smaller and efficient, and also the hardware is also now more profitable, which favors that price drop. And we still pay more and more for using the AI. However, developers who use these AI models to program are realizing that their invoices are increasingly high. These types of professionals have been the ones who have taken advantage of the advantages of this technology, but in doing so they have realized that contradiction. Actually the explanation is simple. Reason spends many tokens. The problem is that reasoning models consume many tokens. This type of technology improves the precision of the answers, but to achieve it the models do not stop “thinking” and generating different theories and then analyzing them and keeping the solution they consider more likely or better. The models that “do not think” and generate text “only once” consume few tokens, but those who “reason” multiply that cost remarkably. The Vibe Coding comes out expensive. The most expensive example of those high costs of AI have it in the “Vibe Coding” platforms. With them it is possible to program almost without knowing how to program, but these tools make an extensive use of the AI ​​models, and there the consumption of tokens (especially those of exit, which are the most expensive) shoot. Several companies in this segment, such as Windsurf or Cursorthey have realized how difficult it is to make money with AIand there are also various users They are warning of those Shot costs In Reddit, for example. And AI agents promise to be very expensive. IA agents are expected to be able to do many things for usbut these systems will be expensive because they will also consume many tokens to understand, “reason” and reach the desired solution. Solution: Use you that do not think so much. Faced with those IAS that “reason” and consume many costs, the alternative is clear: not to resort to the reasoning models and instead opt for models that “do not reason” to reduce costs. These models are much cheaper to use and can be useful for many scenarios. Fortunately, models of efficient and increasingly cheap that reason are also appeared: Deepseek R1 is a good proof of this. The famous router may not be a bad idea. When OpenAI GPT-5 launched He did it with his famous “router” or “router” that analyzed the request and decided on its own what variant of the model (more or less powerful) had to answer the question. As we saw, That router tends to choose to use the “cheap” modelbut that is not a bad idea. Neither for OpenAI (who costs much less processing the answer) nor for users (who also consume less resources and have more free fee for other questions that perhaps need “reasoning”). Image | Levart Photography | IGAL Ness In Xataka | AI agents are promising. But as in Tesla’s FSD, you better not take your hands from the steering wheel

Solar storms are increasingly threatening for the earth. NASA wants to prepare with a “digital twin” of the sun

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The sun, that star that gives us life, also has an unpredictable character and potentially destructive. So much so that A large solar storm It could return to us technologically to the stone age in the blink of an eye. To avoid this, NASA and IBM They have joined forces To create a model that simulates the behavior of the sun. And how could it be otherwise, it has been generated with artificial intelligence. A authentic twin of the sun to understand it better. The union of forces of these two institutions has resulted in the creation of Surya, an artificial intelligence Designed to act as a digital twin of the sun and anticipate their violent outbursts with precision that with the models that are currently used cannot be achieved. Training an AI with the heart of a star. The challenge of predicting the space climate is undoubtedly a great challenge For scientists. To build Surya, the engineers turned to an inexhaustible data source: the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) NASA Hala. For nine years, this probe has State watching the sun without restcapturing images of very high resolution every 12 seconds in different wavelengths and measuring its complex magnetic field. Once you have all this information is where artificial intelligence comes into action to be able to organize and interpret them for experts. That is why the first thing Surya did is standardize all data formats to be able to process them together. Intelligent filtering of all this information. Once the data was unified, the next step was to use a long -range vision transformer, an architecture capable of analyzing gigantic images to identify patterns and relationships between points of solar activity, regardless of how far they are from each other. But he did not stay here, because thanks to a mechanism known as ‘spectral door’, the system was able to filter the ‘noise’ of the data to reduce memory use and improve the quality of the information with which it worked. Therefore, researchers were removed a lot of work to have to label all the images, causing it to adapt rapidly. More precision and twice as much time to react. The results of the initial tests are very promising. Until now, Traditional models barely gave us an hour in advance before a solar eruption. With Surya it has been shown to be able to launch a reliable warning two hours in advance, doubleing the humanity preparation window. But it is not only faster, but also accurate. The IBM and NASA team recorded a 16% improvement in precision when classifying solar rashes compared to the models used right now. Something that is also thanks to the ability to integrate information from other missions such as Parker solar probe or the Soho Observatory. An open tool for the science of the future. Far from saving this powerful tool in a key drawer, IBM and NASA have made it available to the entire scientific community. Surya is now available on platforms such as Hugging Face, GITHUB or even the Terratorch library. Kevin Murphy, NASA scientific data director, is clear: “We facilitate the analysis of the complexity of our star’s behavior with unprecedented speed and precision. This opens the door to a better understanding of the impact of solar activity on the systems on which our daily life depends.” The goal is for the Earth to be prepared. Although we see the central star of our system as harmless, the reality is that at any time this sensation can change. In this way, preparation and anticipation is fundamental and for the moment all hopes are put in this model of where it is possible to learn from the processes behind the evolution of the sun with the aim of having a greater amount of information. Images | Javier Miranda In Xataka | How the Solar System was formed: So that the Earth was born, a star had to die

This is the launch of the most anticipated artificial intelligence of Openai in an increasingly fierce race

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For months, the feeling was clear: OpenAi needed a blow to the table. GPT-4 had raised the bar, and GPT -4 -or reinforced that base with concrete improvements in performance and multimodality. But GPT –4.5 He did not convince: for many, it was a false step, With few real improvements and too many promises without compliance. Today, With GPT -5, the company seeks to recover impulse. The new model is now available and arrives in three versions. Openai has profiled GPT -5 as its most complete model to date. His training puts the focus on three great pillars: understanding more precision instructions, managing longer contexts and working hand in hand with external tools. The ambition is not less: transforming the model into a kind of digital agent that not only responds, but acts, plans and adapts. The clearest difference is how we interact with him. GPT -4 forced to choose: speed, vision or reasoning. GPT -5 breaks with that barrier. Now it is the model who decides in real time if he must respond instantly or stop to think. The result is a more fluid experience, without the need to configure modes or activate specific functions. GPT -5 is already the new default model in the free chatgpt plan. It is the first time that anyone can access an advanced reasoning system without going through a box. In payment plans, the model is deployed with more powerful versions: Chatgpt plus ($ 20 per month): access with extended limits Chatgpt Pro (200 month): unlimited access to GPT -5 Pro, a variant reinforced with more power, better answers and extended functions (voice, search, canvas, deep reasoning) Enterprise, Team and Edu plans will receive it next week as a base model. In development. Images | OpenAI In Xataka | I have tried the new OpenAI models. It has been a small odyssey with prize: I have a chatgpt at home

Steam gift cards have become an unequivocal symptom of something increasingly worrying: love scams

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“I work in a store where we have Steam gift cards. Today an older lady came twice and bought cards worth $ 500. It turns out that $ 1,600 has been spent in recent days. How is it possible for someone to need so much money for Steam? “ The message published it A Reddit user that he showed his concern for the lady, and suspected that he was perhaps being scammed. Most like that it was happening just that. It is a case of book of Scam of love. One that over the years, of course, has adopted several forms and has ended becoming an epidemic. These types of scams usually have the same modus operandi: The scammer creates a false identity to gain the trust and affection of a victim. Many of those victims are older people who feel alone and find a company (and hope of something more) in those conversations. They usually use attractive profiles and create intense emotional relationships. The scammers dodge a personal meeting at all costs. They always live outside, on an oil platform, or work in the armed forces in some country in conflict. Once they earn that trust, they request money under various excuses. For example, medical emergencies, trips or investments. Precisely the way in which these payments require is what varies. One of the methods used by some scammers It is cryptocurrency paymentbut that is usually a complex way for older people and without computer knowledge. In recent years a method has especially imposed on others: Gift cards. These gift cards – for example, of Steam, but also from Google Play or Netflix, among others – are a perfect way to request money because, in the first place, they are irreversible transactions, and secondly, because they allow scammers to hide their footprint since they are anonymous and very difficult to track. A dangerously ideal means for scams These cards are simply codes that are once held by the scammer can be converted into money in different ways: They can resell them in gray resale markets online or in forums such as Telegram. They also usually resell them to attract buyers They can redeem them in false or third -party Steam accounts, and then they can sell those games as gifts to other people. They can even recharge false accounts and then resell them to gamers interested in them. They may also convert the balance of these cards into cryptocurrencies. Not directly, but through intermediaries They do accept gift cards as payment method for cryptoactive. Or use those cards legitimately and buy games or digital content that they then give. That serves to appear that they are generous in later scams in those that use those gifts as bait. In those scams of love, this type of Steam cards therefore become an ideal way to “facilitate” the victim to send money and do so in a very difficult way to monitor. Older people are the favorite victims of scammers –They have seen cases by everywhere, some that go from Notable Simply extraordinary– And that’s why it is important to try to alert them. Here the stores and shopping centers that sell these types of cards should have some type of policy to detect too frequent purchases of these cards and for Notify potential victims of this type of scams. For the rest of the users, a petition: do not buy gift cards through unofficial roads: otherwise, we are likely to contribute to the problem not mitigating. In Xataka | A “fine” on the windshield, a QR and a false website: thus begins the scam that tries to steal money from your card

China increasingly dominates technology on earth. There is a place where they are still far from Occiden

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A recent report The New York Times He has evidenced the Chinese difficulty to compete with Spacex in the deployment of communications satellites. While Musk’s company already accumulates 8,000 Starlink satellitesthe two main Chinese networks just add 120 units in orbit. Why is it important. Low orbit satellites are strategic for autonomous cars, war with drones and military surveillance. China considers Starlink a direct threat and has planned two megaconstellations with 27,000 satellites between them. Qianfan, the constellation of low orbit satellites developed by China, anticipated having 650 operating satellites at the end of the year. Shanghai Spacesail Technologies, the company after the project, has only managed to put 90 in orbit since August. Guowang, an alternative born in 2020, is even worse: 34 satellites of the 13,000 planned for the next decade. The context. The Popular Chinese Liberation Army See Starlink as something “deeply integrated into the US military combat system”. It is not empty paranoia: this network is essential to coordinate drones in Ukraine and Spacex has government contracts for spying and missile monitoring. The background. China has not solved the key problem that Spacex solved years ago: reusable rockets. Chinese companies continue to wear single -use pitchers, which multiplies costs and reduces the frequency of launches. The Falcon 9 can reuse its first stage up to 20 times, greatly reducing the costs. After five hundred missionsit is still the reference. Chinese candidates –Long March 8R, Zhuque-3, Tianlong-3– accumulate failures and delays. Yes, but. China is negotiating Contracts with 30 countries to access Qianfan. He has already signed agreements in Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, taking advantage of certain misgivings towards American technology dependence. The rhythm of Chinese launches accelerates: more than thirty missions in the first half, putting 150 satellites in orbit. But they need to multiply by five or six the rhythm to fulfill their international radio frequency commitments. In addition, there are some counterparts to your proposal: The decisive moment. Chinese megaconstellations must launch half of their satellites in five years after obtaining the frequencies, completing the deployment in seven. Not fulfilling could force them to reduce the size of the networks. Main loser? China dominates manufacturing, batteries, solar panels and traditional (non -advanced) semiconductors. But in sectors that require maximum risk assumption – Biotechnology, the space – the United States maintains a decisive advantage. Getting smaller in some scenarios, but maintains it. The business mentality that rewards rapid and cheap failures against guaranteed successes makes the difference between Spacex and its Chinese rivals. Outstanding image | Spacex In Xataka | What types of satellites exist: guide not to get lost in a gigantic network of which we are increasingly dependent

In an increasingly aging country to become old, it is a condemnation of poverty

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G. Young Soo has done everything reasonably well In life. At least in work. At 23, she began working as a office worker in an insurance company and throughout the last three and a half decades, she has gradually climbing in the organization chart, through the positions of a branch director and team leader in several departments. Now, with 59 years, his future is quite black: his salary has been trimming during the last five years until he stayed in the middle of what he charged at 55 and in a few months, when he reached 60, he will have to leave his post. It is not that Young Soo has angry at its bosses or that has been accommodated after 36 years of loyal service. No. His employment situation is explained simply and plainly by the complex (and controversial) Employment Laws of South Korea based on age. “Alone on a road with curves”. Young Soo is a pseudonym, but its history is real and reflects the situation in which many South Korean workers are about to turn 60. We know it because it is one of the 34 employees in the country Interviewees By Human Rights Watch (HRW) to know the work overview (and vital) they face. All share several characteristics: they are between 42 and 72, they work in Seoul (some in the public sector, others in private companies) and will have to deal with the country’s labor policies. Their stories often go along the same lines as G. Young Soo: after years (or even decades) of work their professional/financial/vital perspectives darken as they approach their sixty birthday. Another similar case is that of Young Sook, 59 too and that has been working as a nurse for almost four decades. At 60 he will have to retire, yes or yes, a perspective that causes authentic unease. “I can’t imagine outside this organization”, confesses The woman during her talk with HRW. “It would be like being alone on a road with curves.” “Punished for aging”. His stories are part of A report of 72 pages in which HRW warns of the serious consequences that Corea’s laws and policies have for the oldest population. The document is so critical that its tone already advances in the same title: “Punished for aging”. It may seem exaggerated, but the analysis indicates that the country’s regulations often end up condemning its elders to a gradual loss of purchasing power, worse quality jobs, low remuneration and undercurred mental health. “The laws and policies of South Korea to protect older workers from age discrimination actually have the opposite effect,” Bridget Sleap warnsHRW researcher. “They deny older workers the opportunity to continue working on their main jobs, they are paid less and force them to accept precarious jobs and with lower salaries, all simply because of their age. The government should stop punishing workers just to age.” In your report there is an idea that slides several times: “Remove Ageism“ A percentage: 38%. The report of HRW not only exposes specific cases. It also slides some figures and percentages that help to better understand the situation that the elders live in the country. According to the data it manages, in 2023 the relative poverty rate among people of 65 or more years was 38%, The worst result of the countries that make up the OECD. In practice, that means that almost four out of ten elders have 50% (or less) of the national average income, which in 2023 stood at approximately $ 28,200. HRW quotes another report that reveals that the average monthly salary of 60 or more years were 29% lower than their younger colleagues. The percentage is not too surprising if we take into account two factors. The first is that in the country there is a system that allows to reduce wages in the years before retirement. The second, that 69% of people over 60 who worked in 2023 did it in precarious jobs. If we talk about the South Korean population as a whole, that data does not reach 40%. A problem with three legs. The big question arriving at this point is … Why are so many older ones attached to that situation? Although there are many factors at stake, there are three keys, three laws or labor policies based on age for HRW. The first is the mandatory retirement age. South Korean legislation is fixed from the age of 60, which means that companies can force a work to retire when they are fulfilled. No need to claim more reasons. They are the companies those that decide whether or not they set a retirement age, but the measure is widespread. Both in the public sector and among private companies. Especially in organizations of more than 300 employees. According to the South Korean Ministry of Labor, they accept that possibility 95% of companies With that last profile, signatures that usually set forced retirement in the 60 years. Among small businesses it is not so normal. In the country I already has opened the debate on the need to rethink (and increase) retirement age. In fact, President Lee Jae Myung has committed to approximately 65 years old, but HRW’s study slides that the key is not when the elderly are withdrawn, but how they do it. The maximum salary rule. The other standard that HRW quotes is the “maximum salary” system, which marks the last years of the elderly in its companies. “It allows employers to reduce workers’ salaries during the three or five years prior to their mandatory retirement,” says the agency, recalling that this practice “causes financial and psychological damage” to those affected, in addition to “based on a discriminatory stereotype.” Without counting on its impact on the quotes, compensation for dismissal or unemployment payments. And why does that system apply? The initial idea was to reduce the cost of hiring major personnel in a salary system based on antiquity and at the same time favor the creation of … Read more

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