supposed

China was supposed to be behind in chip-making equipment. Now its engraving technology is the standard and even TSMC uses it

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Gerald Yin Zhiyao is the president and CEO of AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment China), one of the largest chinese companies specialized in the design and production of the equipment involved in manufacturing integrated circuits. During a roundtable held at the end of July 2024 this veteran executive maintained that Chinese chip manufacturing equipment was at that time between 5 and 10 years behind its most advanced competitors in terms of quality and reliability. Yin Zhiyao is one of China’s leading experts in semiconductor production equipment manufacturing. He has not hesitated on several occasions to publicly adopt a critical stance when assessing the degree of development of the Chinese chip manufacturing machine industry, which is why his statements tend to be interesting to say the least. And the one he did last Sunday on Chinese state television, and which has been picked up by SCMPit was. According to Yin ZhiyaoAMEC’s ​​plasma etching technology has established itself as a standard in the integrated circuit industry and has been adopted by its major international rivals. In fact, according to the founder of AMEC, TSMC, the Taiwanese company that leads the chip manufacturing marketuses some of its machines in its production chain. It may seem like bravado, but it doesn’t have to be. It makes sense for TSMC to use semiconductor processing machines designed and manufactured by AMEC. What China has and what it doesn’t have Much of the sanctions deployed by the US Government seeks to put out of reach of Chinese companies the most advanced chip manufacturing equipment available on the market. In this scenario Yin Zhiyao holds something very reasonable: the US bans have accelerated the development of China’s semiconductor industry. In fact, at the end of 2023 the Xi Jinping Administration handed over to its main companies that are dedicated to the manufacture of semiconductor production equipment no less than 41 billion dollars. Photolithography and etching are two different stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing Despite this effort, China still does not have extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE), which are suitable for manufacturing cutting-edge chips. At least not in large scale production. What it does have, as the head of AMEC states, are the engraving machines (etching) involved in the production of advanced integrated circuits. These devices are responsible for removing material from the exposed areas in order to physically sculpt the circuits on the silicon wafer. In this context, it is important that we keep in mind that photolithography and etching are two different and consecutive stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing. Photolithography aims to transfer the geometric pattern that describes the circuit from a mask or template to the surface of the silicon wafer using extreme ultraviolet light. This is the stage that ASML machines on the edge nodes solve. Immediately after, the engraving process takes place, which can be wet or plasma. This last variant bombards the surface of the silicon wafer with an ionized gas that produces a plasma. This is precisely the process carried out by AMEC machines. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | China has responded to the US with a milestone: it already has an AI model capable of running on GPUs with different architectures

Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT are not supposed to be used in China. It is supposed

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In China there is what is popularly known as the “Great Firewall”a large security wall that prevents its citizens from accessing certain services. At the same time, there are foreign companies that block their services in China, this is what is happening with AI tools like ChatGPTbut the law is made, the trap is made. Gray market. They tell it in South China Morning Postthere is a whole flourishing market of services that promise to provide access to American AI models, such as Claude or Gemini, avoiding the restrictions imposed on both sides of their borders. On online sales platforms such as Taobao or Xianyu, unlimited subscriptions to Claude Code, Gemini and ChatGPT are sold with low latency and without VPN. These platforms have become a solution for Chinese developers who want to access American models to program, debug or use multimedia generation services. How they do it. Access is done through what is known as ‘shadow APIs’ which, in essence, is an intermediary. What they do is set up proxy servers outside of China and divert all user requests there, so that those external servers are the ones that actually call the official APIs of models like Claude or Gemini and then return the “masked” response as if it were a local service, without the need for a VPN or foreign payment methods. It pays for them. According to the developers cited in the South China Morning Post piece, they resort to these ‘shadow APIs’ because they simply consider them to be tools that are clearly superior to the local offering. This translates into more precise code, fewer hallucinations and less time correcting bugs than with Chinese models which, according to what they say, still invent functionalities or fail more often. In addition, these services give them almost complete access to models like Claude Opus or Gemini, with huge context windows (up to a million tokens), without having to fight with VPNs or foreign payment methods. Wiles. All that glitters is not gold and there are also advertisements that do not fulfill what they promise. Some of these services advertise full access to models like Claude, but are actually processing requests with cheaper Chinese models like Qwen or MiniMax. Additionally, there is the risk to privacy as all traffic goes through an anonymous intermediary who could do whatever they wanted with often sensitive data. Frontier Model Forum. Is a coalition formed by several AI companies dedicated to the security and regulation of border models, but in practice it is functioning more as an intellectual property defense mechanism. Recently OpenAI, Anthropic and Google announced that they were working together to curb copying of their models by coordinating the sharing of suspicious usage patterns and distillation attack detection techniques through this common forum. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The center of gravity of mobile photography has moved to China and OPPO is going for the throne with the Find X9 Ultra

In November, Spain is supposed to force stores to charge an amount for each bottle and can sold. It is supposed

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Something ticks inside every yellow recycling bin and the noise perfectly reaches newsrooms across the country. Hence the articles, pieces and reports that They say that “starting in November the stores will charge” for each plastic bottle. The good news is that yes, the law says that. The bad news is that where the ticking does not reach is the power centers of Madrid capital. What’s happening? Indeed, the Waste Law of 2022 obliges Spain to have a Deposit, Return and Return System (SDDR) for plastic bottles, cans and beverage bricks operational as of November 22, 2026. And the reason is simple: the country had to recycle 70% of everything introduced into the market by 2023 and we did not achieve it. Faced with this possibility, the legislator was clear: the current system had to be abandoned and the packaging return system adopted (the one that charges a deposit for each container and returns it later). Portugal found itself in a similar situation and just introduced the European system. So? What is the problem? The truth is that we have no shortage of problems. To begin with, measuring how we really recycle. For years, stakeholders claimed that recycling rates were close to 80%; However, in 2024, the General Subdirectorate of Waste prepared a report relating to the calculation of the separate collection of SUP bottles for beverages that lowered that figure to 41.3% (well below the 70% required). The second problem is regulation. Following the Law, in May 2025, four organizations (Ecoembes, AECOC, Procircular and CorePET) They asked the Community of Madrid that authorized them as Collective Systems of Extended Producer Responsibility in charge of managing the SDDR. The Community is the competent one since the organizations have their headquarters there. And then? Then nothing. Madrid legally had six months to resolve the request; but it granted itself an extension of another six months that would end next month. However, the Ministry of the Environment has already explained that they have no intention of doing anything because of the “legal uncertainty (that it entails), since adequate and sufficient regulations have not been developed at the state level.” MITECO, for its part, responds that there is no insecurity and that they are not going to do anything more. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking. Nobody knows anything. While the CAM runs out of its extension, there are less than seven months left before we begin to break the Law and all scenarios are on the table: from a quick solution to a blockade that delayed everything two or three more years (most likely). What is out of the question is that there is no political will to implement this and nothing suggests that this will change. If you had to bet and taking into account that Spain is the country with the most cases of infractions for not transposing community regulationsit would be surprising if the SDDR started in November of this year. Image | James Lo In Xataka | Europe decided to regulate how garbage should be disposed of. We will pay it with a new mandatory rate in 2025

‘Idiocracy’ was supposed to be a satire of a stupider future. The fear is that it is becoming real

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This week, Flamenca Stone shared a video on Bluesky with the comment “this is literally an ‘Idiocracy’ plot.” It is not the first time it has happened nor will it be the last. The 2006 film that went unnoticed in its day (more than sought after, to avoid lawsuits from the many brands that were satirized) has been generating that same recognizable chill for years, like a kind of perverse version of The Simpsons: You watch a satire and you don’t know if you are watching a documentary ahead of its time. 20 years of predictions. It took Mike Judge three years to get ‘Idiocracy’ released. When it did, it grossed just $495,000 in its first weekend. Fox did not organize press screenings, and did not even invest in trailers for television: it was too acidic and uncomfortable. The director of ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ and ‘Silicon Valley’ had constructed a satire about an America in the year 2505 where idiots had reproduced so much among themselves that the population was essentially composed of brainless people. A perfectly normal young man from the present wakes up at that time (yes, it’s the plot of ‘Futurama’, then recently canceled) and is celebrated as practically a genius. Idiocracy Today. Time has put it in its place and despite going unnoticed at its premiere, its edition in domestic formats first and its passage through streaming later (now you have it on Movistar Plus+) has given it a certain cult status. Let’s review some of the questions that were raised as part of an absolutely exaggerated satire (as shown by the fact that Judge decided to set it in no less than the 26th century) but that seem chillingly close in the current context. EITHER as the director himself said“I am no prophet. I was wrong for 490 years.” The spark of life. Let’s start, without going any further, with the use of soft drinks as irrigation water. In the future, the sports drink Brawndo has replaced water, which has caused crops to not grow for decades. “Brawndo has what plants need. It has electrolytes.” They tell the protagonist when he is surprised by the absence of water. Of course, no one knows what the hell an electrolyte is. Meanwhile, the reality: Trump thinks soda cures cancer because they kill the grass and therefore, possibly also kill the cancer cells. If you ask me, much crazier than ‘Idiocracy’, although the truth is that it is documented that more and more people They opt for sports or energy drinks when before they drank water. All brands. In the movie, the Costco chain has its law school. The country’s only telecommunications operator is called AOL-TimeWarner-Taco Bell-US Government, and the stripes on the flag are logos. Is especially significant (by visionary in pre-streaming times) the scene of the television screen: the program occupies a box in the center of the screen, surrounded by advertising everywhere. YouTube or any video streaming website looks similar. As for the presence of brands in public institutions or sponsorships of public spaces, it stopped being a dystopian issue a long time ago, eh, Madrid residents? Recognizable president. Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, former wrestler and president of the United States in 2505, enters Congress on a motorcycle, with an electric guitar, shooting into the air. His management capacity is zero and his charisma is overwhelming for a country of idiots. Actor Terry Crews He admitted feeling a chill when he started watching Trump rallies in 2016. Co-writer Etan Cohen he wrote on Twitter that same year who couldn’t believe the film had been turned into a documentary. In 2024, Hulk Hogan appeared at the Republican National Convention with a speech straight out of a wrestling promo. The similarities continue to this day, but we are left with Espinof’s reflection about the film: the logic of entertainment has completely colonized the political debate. Stop thinking by convention. The deterioration of language in ‘Idiocracy’ is part of society: words are replaced by pictograms and reasoning processes are diluted. Nobody remembers how to reason without a screen in front of you. In 2025, an MIT study warned that artificial intelligence tools can accelerate cognitive decline by mechanizing routine tasks and leaving only exception handling to the user. McGill University Research they point in the same direction with GPS and spatial memory: the more you use it, the less you remember how to navigate without it. Intelligence dies. In his analysis of an increasingly anti-intellectual society, Jot Down described how this increasingly established current no longer presents itself as ignorance but as overinformation: the illusion that accessing infinite data for short periods of twenty seconds is equivalent to learning. We live it continually: the algorithm rewards short formats, the echo chamber of social networks amplifies what you already believe with slogans. That “No to critical thinking” is the backbone of all of ‘Idiocracy’ and is the true subtext of the film. Nobody is perfect. ‘Idiocracy’ was wrong, of course, in its initial approach: the disaster began when the rich stopped having children and then the lower classes without basic education began to reproduce. An idea with dangerously eugenic overtones that fortunately the rest of the film does not affect and that has been completely overwhelmed by a non-negotiable reality: if the current world has shown us anything, it is that the billionaires around us are not, precisely, the sharpest pencils in the case. In Xataka | If the question is whether AI is already as good as human intelligence, the answer is: solve this puzzle

A Huawei router was not supposed to need a whopping 12,000mAh. It was supposed

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Earlier this month, Huawei held its HarmonyOS Smart Home event in China. An event in which, mainly, it presented to the world some of the home devices that it is preparing to continue advancing as a brand (mainly in China) during 2026. Among the devices presented, one of the most curious (and most covered) was the Huawei WiFi Xa very curious portable router with a gigantic 12,000mAh battery. What is. With its unusual X shape, the Huawei WiFi X is a portable, foldable router with an arrangement of 16 antennas that, according to the company, improves reception by 13% compared to conventional ones. It allows 5G connection and has been developed jointly by Huawei and China Mobile, supporting speeds of up to 5.3 Gbps download and 1 Gb upload. what else. Another of the key points of this router is its 1.8-inch screen, with OLED technology. This shows real-time information related to the battery level, number of connected devices, and is complemented and connected with the Huawei home app to be able to check this data from the phone. The Powerbank. This device has a gigantic 12,000mAh battery with 66W fast charging. Figures that are more reminiscent of a PowerBank than a wireless router. According to Huawei, it can transmit uninterruptedly for 20 hours, and with just 10 minutes of charging, for nine. Why is it important. Beyond the curiosity of the X design and the huge battery, Huawei boasts of being a benchmark in the WiFi 6 router industry. It has a system of four receiving antennas and four sending antennas (4×4 MIMO), low latency, and direct association with China Mobile, key in its native country. It also has interoperability with HarmonyOS. Huawei long ago left its system behind as a mobile-only solution, to create a complete software ecosystem that even powers routers. This is a device, in principle, aimed at China. However, the company has previously brought to Spain quite peculiar routers such as the Mesh X3 Pro system, a WiFi 7 with a theoretical speed of 3,570 Mbps and a 2×2 MIMO system. In Xataka | After six years of silent planning, Huawei is ready with its big move: dethroning NVIDIA

iPhones were supposed to be the most secure cell phones in the world. It was supposed

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Imagine a tool capable of bend the security of a mobile simply browsing a website, without downloading any file or accepting any permission. It’s scary, but if that cell phone is also an iPhonethings get even worse. It is not the argument of a conspiracy theory, it is reality and it has just destroyed Apple’s aura of invulnerability. What has happened? Google security engineers have published a report detailing ‘Coruna’, a sophisticated hacking kit designed specifically to compromise iOS devices. According to the investigation, Coruna uses a chain of ‘zero-day’ vulnerabilities which give almost total access to the device. It’s going to be something similar to Pegasusbut even more sophisticated. The most disturbing thing is that it has been located in the hands of cybercriminals, but its origin appears to be in US government agencies. What Coruna does. As we said, all you have to do is visit a malicious website for it to take action. Coruna’s architecture is based on an extremely complex exploit chain that takes advantage of flaws in the browser’s rendering engine and in the operating system core itself. In this way, it takes control of the iPhone silently, without the user downloading any files or accepting any additional permissions. The good news is that Apple patched one of these vulnerabilities with iOS 17.3, so if your phone is on this version or higher, you have nothing to worry about. However, despite these limitations, it is estimated to have infected tens of thousands of devices. Image: Google Timeline. In early 2025, Google first detected parts of this exploit chain that had been used by a commercial surveillance company. In the middle of the year he reappeared in a campaign against Ukraine attributed to Russian espionage and at the end of the year he made the jump to China, where he was hiding on fake websites about finance and cryptocurrencies. The kit stole cryptocurrencies and other data from victims, such as photos or email accounts. Who has developed this. In statements to Wiredthe head of the security company iVerify, highlights that the code is “extremely sophisticated and its development has cost millions of dollars.” The most striking detail is that Coruna shares modules with the one known as “triangulation operation”another cyberattack targeting iOS discovered by Kaspersky and attributed to the NSA. At the moment it is a suspicion, but according to iVerify, the signs clearly point to it being the work of some US government agency or contractor. How it has ended up in the wrong hands. It is the question that experts ask themselves and at the moment there is no answer, but there is a hypothesis. Zero-day exploits are those that the manufacturer, in this case Apple, has not yet detected and are the most expensive ones sold on the black market. The theory is that it was sold by an exploit broker to some foreign intelligence service and from there it made the jump to cybercrime organizations. iVerify analyzed a version of Coruna and found that the code had been modified to install malware that emptied cryptocurrency wallets. These additions were “poorly written” and contrasted greatly with the underlying code, which fits with the theory that it was conceived by a very well-funded organization and then ended up in the world of cybercrime. Image | Apple, edited with Gemini In Xataka | Anthropic has become the Apple of our era and OpenAI our Microsoft: a story of love and hate

Spain was supposed to raise diesel in 2026. It was supposed

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Almost no one buys diesel cars anymore. But the fact that the Government has a rise in this fuel on its hands is not good news. Firstly because, although almost no one buys it, many still own a diesel car. Second, because the vast majority of freight transportation continues to be diesel. The question now is: will we see the promised rise? What happens? That the deadline is over. Specifically, the one that the European Union gave to Spain to raise the price of diesel. The last one expired at the end of January and began in July of last year 2025. As you can imagine, Spain ignored its obligations and diesel is still subsidized. Consequently, Europe has asked our Government for explanations because they have also realized that the taxes on this fuel remain unchanged. The intention is that 2026 would be the year in which, once and for all, consumers of gasoline and diesel cars would pay the same taxes. 1.1 billion euros. This is not the first time that the European Union has given a serious warning to our country. The last one cost us 1.1 billion euros and opened this extension that expired in January. Then, Spain received 23.9 billion euros corresponding to the fifth tranche of aid provided by the European Union within the framework of the Next Generation funds. But that money would have been more if the country had complied with the obligation to raise the price of fuel (and a second related to employment). Something to which it has committed itself on various occasions to European officials but which it has also systematically failed to comply with. 2018. The issue of raising the cost of diesel for the end customer is not new by any means. In 2018, Teresa Rivera, then Minister of Ecological Transition, already made the Government’s position clear: “diesel’s days are numbered”he said at that time. Since then, a calendar has been opened from which the months have been falling but which always has one more page to discard. Three years laterthe hum picked up strength again. On that occasion it was the blows of the coronavirus crisis and the War in Ukraine that postponed the issue again. In 2024the new attempt came to nothing because the Tax Reform that contemplated the increase in diesel ended up falling. Last year, in the summer, was when the European Union rolled its eyes and gave Spain a new extension. The one that happened last January. How would it be done? The simplest procedure is to eliminate the bonus that diesel currently has in our country in the Special Tax on Hydrocarbons. Therefore, right now we pay the following depending on the fuel refueled on this section: Unleaded gasoline 98: 431.92 euros/1000 liters or 0.432 euros/liter. Unleaded gasoline 95: 400.69 euros/1000 liters or 0.401 euros/liter. Diesel: 307 euros/1000 liters or 0.307 euros/liter. To this section of the tax we must add the regional tax which, since 2019, has been linear at 7.02 cents/liters. This leaves us with a Special Tax on Hydrocarbons of: Unleaded gasoline 98: 0.504 euros/liter. Unleaded gasoline 95: 0.473 euros/liter. Diesel: 0.379 euros/liter. The objective would be to raise this section of taxes and equalize diesel and gasoline 95. That is, an increase of almost 10 cents/liter. The question is whether this increase would be suffered by all drivers of diesel cars, regardless of whether they are professionals or not, or whether the latter would be left out completely or partially. It will affect you. Raising diesel continues to be a very delicate issue in Spain. It is a fuel that has been rising and that has reduced its gap with gasoline in recent times. That, a political environment that has opted to criminalize this fuel and tough emissions regulations that They advise against its use if we repeat short journeyshave ended up sinking their sales. In January, only 4.5% of the market corresponded to diesel sales according to Anfac. The problem is that more than half of the Spanish vehicle fleet is still diesel cars. Added to this is a huge fleet of professionals who will make their products more expensive if they have to pay more for diesel. And it is that much of the inflation During the first months of the Ukrainian War it came hand in hand with rising fuel prices. And to that we must add that in those days the Government had to face a transport strike due to the increase in fuel prices, which ended up being solved with a general bonus to all drivers. Photo | Ministry of the Presidency, Government of Spain on Wikimedia and Raymond Okoro In Xataka | The “best mechanic in Spain” says that low-cost gasoline is of worse quality than premium gasoline. The reality is much more complex

The Ferrari Luce breaks with everything that Ferrari history is supposed to be about. It is the best possible news for Ferrari

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Just unlock your phone, select the icon of your favorite social network and scroll to get an idea that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have already given their opinion about the new Ferrari Luce and those who are about to give their opinion. Because if Ferrari has achieved anything by showing the inside of its first electric car (we will see the exterior in May) is to make it clear that we all have an opinion. For or against. It doesn’t matter almost because 99% of us who give our opinion will not be able to buy an electric one either, which, of course, will not fit into the new one. Auto+ Plan of purchase aid. Yes, you don’t have to think too much to get an idea of ​​who is against it. I myself am not sure if it disgusts me or, outright, horrifies me. And despite everything, it is very clear to me that Ferrari has hit the right buttons. Enzo, this is not a Ferrari They say that Enzo Ferrari took revenge for the criticism of his cars with one of those outings that only an Italian in the category of Il Commendatore You can sign: “I don’t sell cars, I sell engines. I gave the car away, the engine has to be assembled somewhere.” Whether it’s true or notwhich with these quotes you never know, the phrase not only reflects a philosophy for your company, it also captured the essence of an entire era. The Ferrari boss died in 1988, just a year after the launch of the Ferrari F40the supercar that commemorated the four decades of the firm’s history. That Ferrari F40 was the last car supervised by Enzo Ferrari and it was a shock to the table. Gerhard Berger, who drove for the brand in Formula 1, noted that the F40 was “very easy to drive… if you have experience with racing cars.” And he wasn’t lying. Jason Barlow, in Top Gearexplains that the car accelerates wildly, as if it lived inside a chapter of the Looney Tunes. In carwow define its spirit well: “the luxury of this Ferrari was not having any luxury.” Seeking extreme lightness, the car lacked air conditioning, floor mats, sound system or upholstered panels. The result was immediately evident: the F40 was the fastest car at the time with a top speed of 324km/h. Yes, the F40 was a special car, one of those series that those from Il Cavallino they throw every 10 years to honor their own historyto claim every decade to be the most important brand in the world. Whether or not it is true, they have won the speech. I say this because, since then, Ferrari has been slowing down its launches. Until the death of Enzo Ferrari, his cars obeyed the maxim of being, above all, an engine with wheels. You had to have hands to drive a Ferrari. Many concessions had to be made. But the evolution of technology has brought us to where we are today. Cars that do not need to be extremely radical and that can even be relatively comfortable on a daily basis while being a bomb on a track. When we had the opportunity to play the Lamborghini Revuelto I saw it clearly. Today, a luxury supercar brand has to think about its most radical customers, it cannot forget the purists, those who really enjoy the sound of a V12 at full throttle on a track or in a Autobahn. But the luxury supercar is now much more than that. They are also cars to get around the city center, to go to your favorite restaurant. They have to be easy to carry for an audience that is never going to take advantage of the burst of power they keep in their guts. That is where Ferrari has been pointing in recent years. The Italians have achieved the most complicated thing for a luxury brand: to be desired and aspirational despite the fact that Never before have so many Ferraris been sold. They produce more than ever, but demand remains intact. And if that demand is still alive, it is not only for those who seek the thunderous sound of a V12, it is for those who buy a Purosangue and for those who will buy an electric car with the Ferrari emblem on the nose. That’s why I understand that the brand has opted to hand over the keys to the house to Jony Ive and go on vacation for years with the uncomfortable tranquility of someone who knows that when he returns he will find it upside down. And he doesn’t know if that’s good or bad. Ive’s bet has been to create a groundbreaking and different interior for a car that needs to build its own story. Ferrari has the means and knowledge to make the most advanced electric car in the world. Your technical datawith 1,000 HP, four motors and a 122 kWh battery, aims to achieve this. But building the most radical and fastest electric supercar was not going to do them any good. Because the public for that car does not exist. At least for now. What does exist is a gigantic fishing ground of rich people who want a car as a fashion accessoryof those who do not value Ferrari for its history, for making the best-sounding V12s. This car has been created for them, so that they can enjoy it every day on their trips to the luxury shopping center, to the sports club or to pick up the children from the most elite school in the area. If Ferrari had targeted the brand’s biggest fans with its first electric car, they would have failed.either. Because technology is capable of giving us a wild stream of hundreds and hundreds of HP of power for little money. But those customers, who look for the roar of a gigantic engine behind them and a wild … Read more

Mexico was supposed to be giving oil to Cuba out of “humanity.” Now we know that he was charging millions

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On the coast of Veracruz, Mexico’s diplomatic and energy machinery has applied the handbrake. The image of the ship Ocean Marinerdocking in Havana on January 9 with 85,000 barrels of crude oil, seems to be the last postcard of an era that is abruptly closing. As confirmed France 24that was the last successful shipment before geopolitics cut off the flow. His replacement, Swift Galaxywas scheduled to sail in mid-January, but his trip was quietly canceled and he disappeared from the logistical calendar of Mexican Petroleum, how they have advanced in The Country. What happens in Mexican ports is the reflection of a tension that goes beyond commercial matters. After the American intervention in Venezuela on January 3 and the fall of Nicolás Maduro, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, was blunt: “No more money or oil will reach Cuba. Zero.” The threat was accompanied by an executive order that promises tariffs on any nation that supplies crude oil to the island, which Trump has described as a “failed nation.” Caught in this crossfire, Claudia Sheinbaum’s government navigates between two waters. On the one hand, it defends the “sovereignty” of helping a sister nation; On the other hand, in the Washington offices, their own accounting books tell another story: formal businesses and punctual payments that refute the purely humanitarian narrative. Solidarity after the storm From the National Palace, the speech has tried to avoid direct confrontation appealing to history. President Sheinbaum has reiterated that Mexico, faithful to its diplomatic tradition of voting against the blockade from day one, has the sovereign power to decide whether to “sell or give” oil to Cuba. This rhetoric gained strength at the end of 2024. After the collapse of the Cuban electrical system and the devastating passage of Hurricane Rafael in November, the Mexican government started labeling their shipments under the umbrella of “humanitarian aid.” However, here the enigma arises. Although the president assures that there is a humanitarian donation channel other than the commercial one, her administration has not offered specific figures on how many barrels are given away and how many are charged. Everything is opacity in the help, while the business has lights and stenographers, as highlighted The Country. While the political discourse focuses on solidarity, the financial documents are cold and exact. Pemex, which is listed on international markets, cannot afford ambiguities before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the information delivered to this regulatory body, the Mexican oil company maintains a current contract with the Cuban government since July 2023 through its subsidiary Wellbeing Gasoline. Far from being a hidden charity, the figures revealed by the director of Pemex, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, show an active and lucrative commercial relationship. In 2025, Mexico sold oil to Cuba worth 496 million dollars. If we add what has been invoiced since the start of the contract in 2023, the total figure amounts to about 1.4 billion dollars. Rodríguez Padilla was emphatic in denying that Cuba does not pay its debts, a common perception given the island’s crisis. “Of course they pay us! We have a business relationship too. They are very formal in their payments,” the manager assuredclarifying that there are no overdue invoices. To try to minimize the impact of these revelations before the scrutinizing eyes of Washington, Pemex has argued thatAlthough the figures sound high, they are marginal for the company: they represent less than 1% of its crude oil production and just 0.1% of its oil sales. It is an “open” contract that depends on Mexico’s availability, and not an unbreakable commitment. The domino effect: why the tap was turned off The current crisis is not explained only by Mexico’s decisions, but by the collapse of Havana’s historical suppliers. For years, Venezuela was the island’s lifeline, shipping up to 100,000 barrels a day during the time of Hugo Chávez. However, after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the US intervention in Caracas, these shipments ceased completely in January. as detailed BBC. Mexico then became the last lifeline, sending approximately 20,000 barrels a day, a figure that, although far from the island’s total needs, was essential. to maintain minimum services. The pressure escalated when Republican congressmen, such as Carlos Giménez, put the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) on the table. The threat it was clear: If Mexico continues to oxygenate the Cuban regime, the review of the trade agreement in 2026 could become a nightmare for the Mexican economy. Faced with the risk of tariffs that would damage its own economy, Mexico chose to suspend hydrocarbon shipments. The consequences of this supply cut are immediate and alarming. A graph made with data from Kpler and published by the Financial Times illustrates the seriousness of the moment: Cuba’s crude oil imports have plummeted and, according to the estimates displayed in the report, the island only has oil reserves left for between 15 and 20 days. The situation has raised alarm bells at the United Nations. The Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, he warned through his spokesperson that Cuba is at risk of imminent “humanitarian collapse” if its energy needs are not met. Without fuel, not only do the lights go out; The pumping of drinking water, the transportation of food and the operation of hospitals are stopped. Faced with the impossibility of shipping oil without suffering commercial reprisals, the Sheinbaum government has modified its relief strategy. The president confirmed that, while the Foreign Ministry seeks “diplomatic ways” to resolve the oil issue, Mexico will ship this week shipments of food and basic products managed by the Secretary of the Navy. It is a palliative for a crisis that is, above all, energy. In this maximum pressure scenario, an unexpected edge arises. As Trump closes the oil fence, he has also dropped comments that suggest the door is not completely closed. The American president recently stated that “we are negotiating with Cuban leaders right now,” hinting at conversations about immigration issues and the … Read more

Madrid was supposed to have renaturalized the Manzanares for its ecosystem. Now he has turned it into another tourist attraction

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It is not strange that in December talk about lights. In recent years some cities in Spain have launched a crazy race for displaying millions of LEDs along its streets or raising the tallest luminous Christmas tree in the country. What is less common is that people talk about the lights that decorate the bed of a river, which is precisely what has been worrying environmentalists and residents of Madrid for days. To be more precise it worries them the City Council’s initiative to activate 61 projectors in Manzanares. For the City Council, these lights are a success that will “more attractive” the riverbank and will reinforce its security. For neighbors and environmentalists, it is a mistake that will generate something very different: “light pollution.” What has happened? That Manzanares is news. And not because of the “renaturalization” process that began years ago, of which they stick out their chest the Madrid City Council and the neighbors and (among other things) has helped recover its fauna. The key in this case is quite different: the lighting system installed in a 560-meter stretch of the river, around Dam 6, between the districts of Arganzuela and Latina. Although the spotlights were installed there more than a year ago They were not activated until a few days agocoinciding with the on of Christmas lights. The problem is that what for the City Council is a cause for celebration for residents and environmentalists is a problem. Why’s that? Because the opinions regarding the Manzanares lights could not be more different. If you ask the City Council, it is an initiative “sustainable and respectful” with the environment that will benefit the neighbors and attract tourists. “It will make this city environment more attractive for residents and visitors, also offering more security to pedestrians,” claims José Luis Martínez-Almeida’s team in the statement in which he celebrated the commissioning of the lights, last Saturday the 22nd. “The 61 LED projectors will project a blue light to boost the attractiveness of the area and realize the central construction,” abounds the City Council before stating that the lights are part of a “pilot project” and are here to stay. For now, they will continue to operate beyond Christmas, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, adapting their operating hours to sunset. What do the critics say? They talk about “light pollution” and a measure that has been deployed “despite citizen and scientific rejection.” Among those who have spoken out most vigorously against the 61 river projectors are: Ecologists in Action and the Corridor Verde-Imperial Neighborhood Associationgroups that put forward various arguments, such as that the new outbreaks will negatively affect the ecosystem or that they only seek to attract visitors. “It is unnecessary and harmful, it is not justified by any reason of general or public interest and it only responds to the arbitrary whim of the City Council in its desire to continue touristifying the city in general and Madrid Río in particular”, regrets Ecologists. However, the greatest emphasis is placed on the impact that LEDs will have on fauna, something that has already earned them “scientific rejection.” Will it affect the river ecosystem? It depends on who you ask. For the environmental group there are no doubts. “You cannot subject the fauna of Manzanares to an eternal day, not only the birds, but also the insects, which are a crucial part of the ecosystem,” warns in The Confidential Erika González, biologist. “Fauna, like human beings, also need darkness for their life cycle (…) It is difficult for us to understand why the City Council, the same one that decided to successfully renaturalize Manzanares and dedicates a budget for maintenance, now decides to attack the ecosystem.” Things are quite different for the local government, which in the same statement in which he reports on the switching on of the projectors, he emphasizes that the system has been designed applying environmental criteria. “It has been developed using solutions that minimize light pollution. The spotlights are located in a pocket of the river, limiting light emissions to the sky.” Is it the only disagreement? No. Another idea in which the City Council and the neighbors clash is the convenience and necessity of the lights. From the City Hall they argue that the lights will improve “safety” around the river, but residents question whether that is necessary. “There is no insecurity problem and if there were, the logical thing is that lights be installed on the street, not in the river bed,” reasons Susana de la Higuera, from the Pasillo Verde-Imperial Neighborhood Association. The controversy surrounding the Manzanares lights dates back a few months. In fact, the City Council installed them in 2024 with a view to Christmas of that year, but his critics took the issue to the courts and requested precautionary measures. Although the process is not resolved, the judge handling it denied a few months ago the temporary stay that kept the lights disconnected. Ecologists in Action regrets In any case, the City Council has turned them on with the contentious appeal still open. Their discomfort (like that of the neighbors) has already moved to the street with a protest on friday. Images | Madrid City Council In Xataka | Felipe II wanted to build an XXL canal from Madrid to Lisbon. Now the city has recovered it, inspired by Ancient Egypt

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