surprise

‘Universalis V’ Europe is the most ambitious strategy game in history. And brings surprise: he was born in Spain

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‘Universalis V’ Europe, the last installment of the legendary Strategy saga of Interactive Paradox, is an ambitious jump in depth, realism and complexity for the Fans of the genre. The series, venerated for two decades and competing face to face with giants as civilization It reinvents itself to offer unprecedented historical simulation. But the most interesting of all is that, after four deliveries developed in Swedenthis fifth part is being developed entirely in Spain by the Paradox red study, based in Barcelona. It goes more. We attended the presentation that Paradox red carried out in the Comic-with Malagajust a few weeks after its launch on November 4, and between Sonia Linares (Director of Operations), Álvaro Sanz (Head of Content Design) and Matías Tiscornia (2D Art Coordinator) made it clear that the title was, above all, “” Ambitious. We have people with 7000 hours played at our games, people who live the saga. ” And it is from a superficial first glance: “The fourth install 500 years of simulation. And so with everything: in ‘EU4’ there were 900, and here, 2,000. In the previous delivery, 16 combinations of land (climate, topography and vegetation), and now we will have 672. in ‘EU4’ there were 367 cultures, and in ‘EU5’, 2,000. And if there were only 27 religions there, we will now have 300. 16,000 kilometers of map and more than 500 years of history, from 1337 (the beginning of the War of the Hundred Years) until 1837 (the dawn of the Victorian era). That is, the players will live the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the absolutism, the revolutions and other key periods structured in six ages (traditions, rebirth, discovery, information, absolutism and revolution). Exhausting but infinitely stimulating. Three pillars. To stand this ambition, the game has been based on “three organic pillars: first, A credible world based on systems, mechanical, etc. simulations; Second, an almost infinite rejugability, that thousands of hours occur for the family’s freedom of action; And third, that the game is really from the community: we have spent the last year and a half of development going to the forum every week to be part of the creation of the game, talk to the community directly, ask what they want, to make fixes and changes instantly, all thanks to the community. “ Maximum detail. All this sets in an obsession with absolutely demential detail: for example, the team presented us with a panoramic view of how the game in 1337 was contract according to variables controlled by the player. ” There are mechanics for exploration and colonization of territories, “with the possibility of sending populations to colonize, create commercial companies and exploit resources.” And of course, possibilities of diplomacy and war. Even music. In total, “more than 100,000 lines of content, more than 60 countries with unique content made by hand, more than 8,000 events, 2,000 decisions, hundreds of forms of government, laws, privileges and situations. More than 1,300 historical characters have also been investigated. And that only in 1337 dynamic that changes according to the player’s actions. And much more. And with this we are only scratching the surface of what the game contributes, since decisions have been made of enormous complexity. For example, “if there is an empire that includes different ethnicities within it, it is tried to reflect the genetic and cultural burden throughout the country.” And all this embodied, as the art coordinator told us, in “Illustrations of events, disasters and dynamic organizations, showing the cultural diversity of the game and how the same event can manifest itself differently in different cultures.” That is, a huge and even effort to the ambition of the project, for an entirely developed game in Spain but has an absolutely international scope. So much, which covers five centuries. In Xataka | This war strategy video game has a very special player: the pentagon

There is a new “technological giant” in the US. The surprise is that it is not from the US, but from Switzerland

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ANDThe Swiss National Bank (SNB), a traditionally conservative institution, has ceased to be. In fact, it has silenced one of the most important technological investors in the world. The firm has accumulated a portfolio of actions of such magnitude that its value is equivalent to almost a fifth of the annual economic production of Switzerland. What happened. According to records From the US stock and values ​​commission (SEC) of the month of June, the SNB has 167,000 million dollars in shares of US companies, distributed in more than 2,300 positions. That makes the entity a first -order investor in Silicon Valley. Love for Big Five. More than 42,000 million of that portfolio are invested in just five technological giants: Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia. SNB has A special focus on Applecompany in which it has invested almost 10,000 million dollars, and in Nvidia, where it has invested more than 11,000 million dollars. A gigantic entity. The Swiss National Bank is not a sovereign fund as such: its main mission is not active investment to make the country’s money grow. However, its asset balance, which amounts to 855,000 million dollars, places it in a league comparable to that of large investment vehicles from countries such as Singapore or Qatar. Experts, yes, They point that SNB is an entity that does not seek to influence these companies, and only uses its portfolio as a management tool for its currency. Banks do not do this. The SNB approach – which is not owned by the national government – is really atypical. The Bank of Japan For example, it makes use of mechanisms such as ETFs for its operation, and usually also buy shares from your own country. In Switzerland there are requests that the SNB manages that portfolio actively (as an investment fund) to make more profitability. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank warns that shares can be overvalued. And our Bank of Spain? The Bank of Spain, on the other hand, buys governments bonds to control inflation and interest rates throughout the eurozone. They all differ in their strategy, and clearly that of the SNB resembles an investment company than a traditional banking entity. SNB positions in US companies. Source: Financial Times with sec data. Switzerland is small to snb. But the Swiss bond market is too small for SNB operations, and that causes the entity to invest the foreign currencies that it acquires (mainly dollars and euros). He does it in bonds and, as we have seen, in abroad actions, a strategy that some analysts They call “Foreign quantitative flexibility” and that has led him to invest in those actions of technology companies in the US. The powerful Swiss Franco. The argument that defends that strategy is that of the Swiss Franco strengthconsidered a global shelter currency. Having a strong currency is fantastic, but it is not good that it is too much Strong because it slows exports and can cause deflation: the extrin products become very cheap for the Swiss and make the Swiss companies very difficult to compete. To counteract all this, SNB does the opposite of what investors do. Sells francs – adding the offer – and buy foreign currencies that he does not want to have stops, so he invests them in companies such as Apple or Nvidia. Passive-agreesive strategy. Although SNB philosophy is basically passive and does not exercise its voting rights in those companies, this entity adjusts its positions. The sec data reveals a great increase in their participation in NVIDIA or the creation of a new position in Berkshire Hathaway, and a reduction of assets in Meta and Netflix in the last two years. That, of course, has its risksbut SNB does not seem to go bad at the moment. In Xataka | All against Nvidia: the strongest Chinese companies in Chips and IA have created a historical alliance

No one would think of leaving ‘Super Mario 64’ on for 14 months. But whoever will find a surprise

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It is tradition that the classic Super Mario Games continue to provide secrets that, despite the time elapsed are there awaiting to be discovered. Sometimes Easter Eggs They are almost private jokes, sometimes programming errors with funny effects: One of the last discovered requires a lot of patience to float. Specifically, you have to wait 14 months. It has been the youtuber Kaze emanuarExpert in bursting (or improve) Classic Nintendo Games who has made a video in which he talks about failures or curious effects that arise when we leave the game without touching during very long spaces of time, such as the seven days he explains in the video about these lines, or even beyond. And there is a technical explanation. In ‘Super Mario 64‘, Several elements are scheduled to act in cycles using internal counters that constantly increase and determine when they must execute an action. Normally, these counters are restarted every time the element ends their task, ensuring that the movements and patterns are repetitive. But there are some secret counters whose figure is not restored after completing their function; Instead, they continue to increase while the game is active. When one of these counters finally exceeds its maximum value, which only happens after many hours (or even years) of uninterrupted play, causes unusual errors or bugs. For example, Emanuar documented that, if it remains in the star selection menu for approximately 2.25 years without turning off the console, the accountant in question reaches its limit of 2,147,483,648. When overflow happens, the player is blocked in the menu and cannot perform any action for another 2.25 years of real time. Similar situations with Accountant overflows can trigger other unexpected effectss, such as the reproduction of usually inaccessible sounds within the game. Are Easter Eggs technicians who are impossible to find in a normal, but fascinating game for the community of Speedrunners and programmers that examine the strangest limits of the game. 14 months and counting A little -known enemy of ‘Super Mario 64’, the shark called Sushi, lives at the level of the great dock. Sushi emits a characteristic sound that is repeated every 16 Framesbut the sound file is longer than this interval. Therefore, under normal conditions, the clip is never heard complete: when it begins to reproduce, it is quickly cut to start again, leaving the final part of the audio hidden. Emanuar discovered, taking advantage of an internal level timer bug, that if the game is left on for about 14 months (the necessary time for this “secret accountant” to exceed its maximum limit of 32 bits), the system stops sending orders to Sushi. For the first and only time, the shark reproduces the entire sound file From beginning to end, allowing listening to the complete sound effect for the first time. After this reproduction, Sushi is silent, since the logic that controlled his loop is disabled. This detail is the product of the operation of internal accountants who manage physics and events within the game. The same phenomenon occurs with other controlled objects with counters, such as the wings of the flying ships on the path of the rainbow, which stop moving for the same reason after thousands of active hours. These events can only occur in extreme circumstances and emulators have to be tricked to simulate excessive play time, but there are, as curiosities for useless data mining. In Xataka | Mario de Punta blank: If you have $ 1500 for a graphics card, you can play ‘Super Mario 64’ with Ray-Tracing

Baidu has just launched a new AI model that competes with the best. The surprise: it is not Open Source

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Baidu has presented Ernie X1.1, a new generative model that represents a promising qualitative leap and that seems to compete from you to you with their rivals. That is not so surprising. What it is is that we are facing a model that goes against the Chinese trend: it is closed. Why is it important. Being “the Chinese Google” worked very well for Baidu for more than two decades, but in recent times this Chinese technological giant is trying to Do not lose commits in the AI ​​race. His last movement goes in that direction: Ernie X1.1 has just presented, the latest version of a reasoning model that earns whole. The model can be easily tested in the Official Chatbot Website (You have to display the option to use the Ernie X1.1 model if you are not selected). The new Ernie X1.1 competes from you to you with Depseek-R1, Gemini-2.5 Pro and even GPT-5 in various benchmarks Promising. The internal tests published by BAIDU reveal that their new reasoning model offers “significant advances” in terms of precision of the answers (34.8% better than Ernie X1), instructions monitoring (12.5% ​​better) and agricultural capacities (9.6% better). Not only that: its performance in Benchmarks exceeds Desepseek R1-0528, the reference AI model for months in China. It is also able to compete in performance with GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro, two of the most advanced models today. But closed. While the trend in China is to offer open models in which at least the weights with which these models have trained, Baidu has decided that at the moment Ernie X1.1 will be closed. The model has been offered to corporate clients already developers through the Baidu cloud platform, called Qianfan (via API), in addition to its aforementioned availability in Ernie.baidu.com. Meanwhile, other models open. What it has done is to open the Ernie-4.5-21B-A3B-Thinking model, a version that is somewhat less capable but that has reasoning capacity and that supports a context window of 128,000 tokens. This model uses a MOE (Mixture of Experts) architecture with 21,000 million total parameters although only 3,000 million of them are active to make it more efficient. The model is for example available Through Hugging Face. An AI that accompanies the elderly. As they point out In SCMPduring the presentation of this wang haifeng model, Cto de Baidu, advertisement The launch of an AI agent destined to accompany the elderly. The objective is to help the more than 310 million Chinese who are over 60 years offering information that for example can help them with their health status and also allows us to discern whether the information they find on the Internet can be harmful to them. Counting Erres. In Xataka we have been able to use Ernie X1.1 for a few hours and the first impressions are very positive. The reasoning model is especially careful when answering, and for example when asking “how many” R “does the phrase ‘the San Roque dog has no tail because Ramón Ramírez has stolen it’?” The model correctly replied that 9, when Ernie 4.5, also available on that website, replied quickly but badly: 8. We also ask you to create a table with the 10 countries that had won the most football, and once again The answer It was perfect, something we had not seen in almost any previous model. In other interactions – for example, when creating and analyzing Python code – the performance was also remarkable. In the absence of trying it in depth, these small tests point to a really remarkable behavior of the model. But rivals squeeze. We are therefore before a striking step by Baidu, both for that promising performance and for the fact that the company has given up not opening it for the moment. In front of Ernie X1.1, yes, the competition is fierce. Both QWen3-Max-Preview (Alibaba) and Kimi-K2-0905 (MoNshot) have achieved enter the list Of the 10 most powerful models on the market According to LMarena. There for those who lead are Gemini-2.5 Pro, Claude Opus 4.1, O3 and GPT-5-High, but the advance of these Chinese models is remarkable. It remains to be seen if Ernie X1.1 will also sneak that list. In Xataka | Deepseek has given the starting gun in the race for a cheaper AI. And China starts with advantage

Ukraine has just opened the tanks used by Russia. The surprise is capital: West has manufactured them

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In the war there are also “unboxing”, but of combat drones. In fact, this is how they have been revealed from hidden messages of the troops of Moscow, until The origin of the vast majority of technology components (with big surprises). It was also revealed to what extent China is part of the war machinery, or even that the power of these unmanned combat planes has Nvidia as an engine major. What we did not know so far is what was inside the Russian tanks. Foreign dependence. Yeah, Revelation of Ukrainian intelligence on the massive use of Western and Asian teams in the production of Russian tanks has revealed to what extent Kremlin’s industrial self -sufficiency It is compromised. He Updated report Del Gur details more than 260 high precision machines employed by uralvagonzavodthe only great manufacturer of combat cars in Russia and responsible for the entire range of T-seriesfrom the V-72 veterans to him T-14 Armata. Made in the West. The majority of these teams, which include American vertical lathes, Italian folding German machining centers and presses, were acquired in the fifteen years prior to 2022during military modernization prior to the invasion of Ukraine. In other words, although they do not constitute violations of the most recent sanctions, their presence in Russian factories raises a continuity problem: Without spare parts or software updates, armored production runs the risk of degrading quickly. The central role of Uralvagonzavod. Based in the urales, Uralvagonzavod It concentrates the heart of the Russian capacity of armor, holding a production that is estimated at 20 to 30 new tanks per month, despite the pressure of the war. In 2024 he opened a equipped engines plant with European CNC machinesevidence of how even in the middle of the war campaign Russia continued to benefit from foreign technology through indirect routes and third countries. The gur warns That these deliveries, although more complicated and expensive due to the sanctions, have not stopped, which keeps alive the assembly line of the Russian armored ones. The paradox is that the Soviet industrial prestige, once a symbol of self -sufficiency, now rests largely on the legacy of foreign machinery. The strategic dimension. The Published list By Ukraine, which also collects 42 types of equipment from Austria, Japan, South Korea and China, points to a broader pattern: Russia uses a total of 1,396 foreign machines in 169 factories linked to the invasion. Each of these teams It is documented through contracts, recordings and files of state acquisitions, which gives the probative weight to the complaint. The Ukrainian message seems clear: when cutting access to spare parts, technical fluids and software licenses, the Russian military industrial base can be strangled. kyiv has proposed Reinforced diligence measures, such as adding GPS trackers to exported machines and demanding in situ inspections, in order to prevent their products from ending up holding the enemy war industry. Vulnerability mirrors. We have counted before. The finding of Western components and Chinese in drones long -range manufactured by Moscow, local versions of the Iranian Shahed, reinforces the thesis that the Russian military industry depends critically on foreign pieces. Kremlin can hide this weakness With propaganda On its technological autonomy, but in practice its war machine is based on gears manufactured in countries that are today part of the Block that sanctions it. Putin himself, aware of the limits of production, He publicly admitted In April that “there are not enough weapons”, reflecting the tensions between the self -sufficiency discourse and the reality of an industry that, without access to the West, runs the risk of being paralyzed. The industrial Achilles heel. If you want, the Ukrainian complaint converts the Russian dependence on a strategic Achilles heel: while its army spends armored in the front at a higher pace, the ability to manufacture new depends on Machines that do not control. If the sanctions manage to isolate Moscow with spare parts and services, the ability to sustain their war effort could deteriorate irreversibly. When exposing these vulnerabilities, kyiv not only seeks to weaken the enemy, but also directly involve To Western manufacturers and governments in the supervision of their export chains, remembering that another battle is fought in the Ural workshops: that of the industrial pulse that can decide war. Image | Вталий кзьин In Xataka | Ukraine has opened the most advanced Drone Kamikaze in Russia. Now they know what the key to their power is: nvidia In Xataka | Ukraine has hunted an “invisible” drone of Russia. The surprise has been capitalized when opening it: it is “made in USA”

A study has investigated how many microplastics we inhale daily when breathing. And has an unpleasant surprise

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From a time to this part, microplastics seem to have sneaked into all areas of our life: From the lettuce that we eat In the salad, even In men’s testicles. This polymer is not only found in the earth where vegetables are grown, in the oceans where the fish are or in The springs where the water we drink comes out. And the idea that all these particles are in the environment that we breathe more and more consolidates. Already in the past ‘Nature’ magazine He published the first evidences that showed that microplastics are found in the air that surrounds us. But now A recent French study Published in the magazine ‘Plos One’ gives us more details about the concentration of these polymers that we are constantly breathing, and how the car is one of the biggest foci we face. The good news is that this gives rise to solutions to reduce your presence. The conclusion of this new study are very direct, but also alarming: we are inhaling a drastically greater microplastics than we believed. The previous estimates have fallen short, very short. The new figure suggests that an average adult inhales about 68,000 microplastic particles every day. One hundred times more than what was calculated so far for the range of more dangerous particles. An invisible enemy that attacks our lungs The problem of measurements that were done so far was a matter of view. The most common methods in this type of detection, such as infrared spectroscopy, are effective to detect particles up to 20 micrometers. However, they are completely ‘blind’ with the smallest particles, which are known as PM_10 (less than 10 micrometers), and that are the ones that can make the lungs the most damage when the different defense mechanisms that the body has. This new study, led by French researcher Nadiia Yakovenko, has used a much more precise technique called Raman spectroscopy, capable of ‘see’ particles of up to a micrometer, eliminating the limitation that the conventional spectrometer had. In this way, we have a new molecular zoom that has revealed that the situation of our environment is much more alarming than was thought. Taking advantage of this new technique, the investigation was conducted in the path of knowing the place where there is a greater concentration of microplastics. In the case of an apartment, the average measure measured was 528 particles per cubic meter. But the problem was when measuring in the car, where the figure shot up to 2,238 particles per cubic meter. Box chart showing the concentration analyzed with microplastics in cars and apartments. Seven apartments and five cars were analyzed. In this way, the simple fact of this in the car makes us exposed to a concentration of microplastics four times higher than that we expose ourselves in our own home. And this is not due to anything other than the amount of synthetic material that we have in a car, such as plastic splashing, carpets or upholstery. All this, added to a very small space and that can be without ventilating for many hours, makes it the ideal breeding ground for the cabin to be filled with microplastics that we breathe at the time of starting to drive. Because the reality is that we do not ventilate the cabin before driving, but that we enter the car, we start and go. The new and alarming daily account: 68,000 particles Here comes the data that changes everything. When combining its findings with those of the history of the bibliography, the team has recalculated the exposure we face on average. In total there are 68,000 particles small size (less than 10 micrometers) to which an adult is faced daily. These are the most worrying particles, since being so small They can reach the alveoli and cross the alveolocapilar barrier formed by pneumocytes and blood capillaries. This means that they can end in our blood. In a lower exposure range are the particles with a larger size ranging from 10 to 300 micrometers. These being larger do not reach the alveolocapillary barrier, but are ‘trapped’ in the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, although they are not harmless, since they crawl to the throat and end up in our stomach. It has important health consequences. This constant exposure to plastic fragments It is not harmless. The authors of the study remember that the inhalation of these particles can be associated with damage to lung tissue, inflammation, increased oxidative stress and also to the appearance of chronic diseases such as COPD. But microplastics do not ‘travel’ lonely. They can transport with them different heavy or polluting metals that adhere to their surface and that once within the body can be released and alter endocrine functions such as endocrine disruptors or increase the risk of other diseases. In this way, this new study demonstrates that there is still much to investigate microplastics and redipline as a complex a public health problem that occurs silently and ‘invisible’. Images | Flyd Brock Wegner In Xataka | More than 50,000 microplastic particles per year: that is what an average citizen ingests according to the first estimate we have

Europe will begin to see robotaxis in its streets in 2026. The surprise is that it will not be Waymo who unfolds them

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Lyft has taken an unexpected step to compete with Uber in the European market of Robotaxis. The US company has just announced A strategic alliance with China Baidu To display autonomous vehicles in the United Kingdom and Germany From 2026. The play comes after Lyft will buy the German Freeow platform For 197 million dollars, marking its first expansion outside North America. Robotaxis to the conquest of Europe. While Waymo It is still the world reference in Robotaxis, Europe is becoming the new battlefield for autonomous driving companies. United Kingdom has accelerated its regulatory schedule and hopes to have commercial services working in spring of 2026. Germany also advances to legislate this technology, creating a window of opportunity that several companies want to take advantage of. Lyft’s strategy. The company had lost ground in front of Uber, which already It has agreements with more than 18 companies of autonomous driving and plans to launch services in Europe the same year. Lyft needed a quick response and has found it in Baidu, whose service Apollo Go It already operates more than 1,000 vehicles in 15 cities and has completed 11 million journeys. The RT6 Baidu, electric vehicles specifically designed to operate without driver, will be integrated into the LYFT application. A division of labor. Lyft will be in charge of the platform, customer service and fleet logistics, while Baidu will contribute vehicles and autonomous driving technology. It is a strategy that allows Lyft to quickly access proven technology without having to develop it internally, something that both Lyft and Uber They left years ago After initially betting on your own programs. Between the lines. The entry of Chinese companies into the European autonomous mobility market marks a turning point. While the United States keeps Baidu and other Chinese companies outside its domestic market for national security reasons, Europe is showing a more open attitude (although It depends on the sector). This could give China an important competitive advantage in the development of these services on a global scale. And now what. That the alliance is successful in our continent will depend on three factors: regulatory approval, the acceptance of the European public towards Chinese autonomous vehicles, and Lyft’s ability to compete with Uber, which will arrive with Waymo and other Western technologies. Everything indicates that, in a few years, Europe will become the hardest battlefield for robotaxis. Cover image | Waymo 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

I thought I had a problem with the ABS of my car, but it caught me in surprise to see that it was something completely unexpected: rats

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The ABS light flashing on the dashboard is never a good sign. Almost none Witter of the dashboard It is, but when the engine witness also adds, you start imagining four -digit figures in the workshop budget. The funny thing is that when I took my car to fix it, I discovered something that I never imagined what would happen: The rats ended up biting several cables Internal of my car. The initial diagnosis. When I arrived at the workshop with the warning lights on, the mechanic, after an inspection of the car, assured me that I could change everything The ABS system. A new one for my Seat Ibiza TDI 1.9 of 2005 can be a rather important expense, one of those expenses that you think if you better pass it, since it is dangerously approaches the price through which I could sell the car today. The price of the second -hand and scrapping ABS system, the thing changes. One can lead normally if the ABS does not work, but it is a risk for security, since it compromises the emergency braking and we do not have that help that the car gives us at critical moments, allowing our brakes to end up blocking. The real problem. After almost a week in the workshop and a more detailed inspection, the mechanic discovered the authentic cause of the failure: the ABS system cables and some that communicate with the engine They had been bitten. It was not a normal wear or component failure, but the rats had been roying the car cables. For a rat, gnawing cables and objects that are in its path is their day to day, since their teeth do not stop growing throughout their lives and need some means to polish their teeth. What a pity they had to run into my car. Unexpected, but in a way, relieved. What seemed like a serious problem with the brake system and the emergency light of the engine was solved with a cable repair. The joke came out for about 120 euros. A considerable relief compared to the complete change of the ABS that initially the mechanic had raised. From the workshop they repaired the damaged cables and the dashboard warning indicators were turned off. The background problem. Now the real challenge is not in the car, but in the garage. It is a private garage under a floors building where several vehicles park. Days before I had already seen a rat that was shot from under my car to a hole that is right next to my parking space. From the workshop they recommended preventive measures such as spraying in the vain motor or placing camphor balls, especially useful when the car remains a long time stopped. Of course, this should be done with the car standing and cold. I bought the spray as a temporary measure until they finished solving the hole in the garage. And now what. The priority is to cover the garage hole where the rats access, since the alternative remedies will be of little if the problem persists right next where I appear. Fortunately, it seems that garage insurance will cover the workshop spending, which good news for that part. In addition, we are already mobilizing the community to solve the problem of rats. I could have changed their garage directly, although things are not currently to make this decision lightly. We will see what everything is left. Cover image | Michael Fusert and Svetozar Cenisev In Xataka | The best -selling cars in 2024 and 2025 in Spain

This summer’s surprise success in Netflix combines superheroes and k-pop

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‘The K-Pop Warriors’ is the undisputed surprise success of the summer: an animated film inspired by the K-Pop music that has been submitted to the top of Netflix’s success lists. One more proof that sometimes it is not necessary to have great names by supporting a production: strangely that it seems, sometimes it is enough to exhibit enough quality and originality. What happens to ‘The K-Pop Warriors’: Also known as ‘KPOP DEMON HUNERS’, the movie’s premise is pure fantasy: a group of idols of K-Pop They lead a secret life as demon jackets, in an absurd and highly stylized mixture of ‘Buffy Hunting’ and ‘Hannah Montana’. In this adventure, facing a band of villains, a group of boys who are also music stars, their responsibilities as Salvadoras of the world and more or less run over their massive success are quoted. Sweeping ‘The K-Pop Warriors’ arrived on the platform on June 20 and quickly reached the post number 1 in Netflix worldwideleading the most watched lists in 26 countries and entering The Top 10 in 93 territories. In its first two weeks, he accumulated more than 33 million views, being placed as the most watched film of the platform in that period. In fact, in the second week, he doubled his initial figures, from 9.2 million views in the first three days to 24.2 million and more than 40 million hours reproduced. That is, a phenomenon of pure mouth mouth. And be careful, that there is also critical and public impact: In Rotten Tomatoesthe film has 95% criticism and 90% of the public, which makes it the best combination of scores for an animated production output of the platform. Impact on multiple aspects. It is not just that the series is reaching unusual success thanks to the quality of its history or its impressive animation, but has transcended its initial success in streaming to become a global phenomenon that also dominates the musical field. Your soundtrack has also achieved a Notable impact: two of their songs entered the 200 Billboard and in their second week the streams In the US, they exceeded 42 million, with a 44% increase in digital downloads, an unusual achievement for an animated film. Who is behind. This success must to the participation of a couple of producers from the K-Pop industry, Teddy Park and Lindgren. The first is one of the most influential producers of the genre, and has written successes for Blackpink2Ne1 and Bigbang. The second is an international producer and composer of international scope, and has worked with artists such as Dua Lipa and BTS. Park took care that the songs sounded to Genuino K-Pop, not a low quality glow for a movie. And Lindgren, on the other hand, is responsible for the cabins to possess enough pop hook to impact the lists of successes. To round the product, in the songs you can hear voices of idols Reales such as Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung from Twice. The fandom can be satisfied. And now what. The overwhelming success of ‘The K-Pop warriors’ can leave an important mark in the industry, or at least advance some future trends. For example, it eliminates from Disney’s hands the monopoly of animated musical productions, introducing other genres and themes that are proven that they are interested in the Fandom: the K-Pop sells, and is a practically virgin material in the world of success animation. We are facing unstoppable force within the tastes of thousands of spectators. Lie groups. And linked to the latter, we must not forget that Hentr/X and Saja Boys, the leading groups of ‘The K-Pop Warriors’ are entirely virtual. Its sales and their achievements (for example, have reached number one of platforms such as Spotify) rival those of authentic groups, which opens the doors to more experiments of this type. The creation of fictitious artists, whose life was modeled by marketing departments, was common note in the K-Pop, but with this confirmation of the success of the idols Virtualthe genre continues to widen borders towards unknown limits. Header | Netflix In Xataka | In South Korea there is a curious phenomenon that keeps economists and fans of the K-Pop in suspense: the return of BTS

The production of Russian drones was so huge that Ukraine has opened them looking for clues. The surprise is China

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The situation It is not new In Ukraine. In the past they have opened Russian Shahed and other intercepted models to find out what was behind the device. Thus they found some paradoxes of the war, such as the fact that Moscow drones carried a wide variety of components of the United States or of kyiv’s allies. However, from a while to this part, Russian production was so immense that suspicions began. Someone else should be behind, and a document has just revealed it. Made in China. First it was Intelligence of Ukraine. Russia is managing to maintain and expand its weapons production despite Western sanctions, and is achieving it thanks to the constant supply of electronic components and materials from Chinaaccording to Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukrainian commissioner for sanctions, in a context of intensification of Russian attacks with missiles and drones. The recent appearance of Manufactured parts In China in Shahed-136/Geran-2 drones recovered in Kyiv, added to previous reports on the involvement of Chinese companies in the Russian military supply chain, it reinforced what Ukraine qualifies as a Alcanza trend In Chinese technological support to Moscow. Vlasiuk warned that Beijing is not only expanding its logistics role, but already replicates US technologies, which increases its ability to support the Russian military complex. The document that certifies it. From the first bars of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has urgently sought forms of strengthen your arsenal of drones, key in the new paradigm of asymmetric war that is fought both in the front and in the sky. An essential part of that answer It has been Aero-Hita little known firm based in Khabarovsk, at the eastern end of Russia, which has emerged as one of the main drone manufacturers of the country thanks to a dense network of covert cooperation with Chinese companies. That is precisely what has been revealed thanks to documents obtained by Bloomberg. The medium counted a few hours ago how, despite Western sanctions, Russia has managed to channel components, technical knowledge and sensitive technologies From China Through intermediary companies, agreements in special customs areas and personal relationships with actors linked to both the industry and the Russian state apparatus. One of the Russian drones pieces shared by Ukrainian intelligence Strategic link. Aero-Hit’s production focuses on The Veles modela low -cost and high precision FPV drone that has already been deployed in military operations in zones Like sweaters. The United States Treasury Department itself sanctioned the company For the use of these drones against Ukrainian objectives, confirming their role in the Russian war machinery. The development of Veles has been reinforced by collaborations with Autel Roboticsa Chinese drone manufacturer that officially denies any link with Russia since 2022, but whose technology is repeatedly mentioned in the internal correspondence of Aero-Hit and in joint investment plans for more than 90 million dollars. A letter. According to a June 2025 letter published By Bloombergboth parties had restored technical contacts and negotiated the localized production of the model AUTEL EVO MAX 4Tan initially civil drone that has demonstrated high efficacy in combat thanks to its resistance to electronic interference. This process would not only imply integration into Russian systems, but also direct transfer Firmware, purification methods and repair capabilities, which reinforces the strategic value of the agreement. Khabarovsk: Moscow-Pekín axis pole. The epicenter of this operation is The city of Khabarovska few 30 kilometers from the Chinese border. There, since 2022, agreements have been woven between the Komax company (Property of the exagent of the KGB and occupation senator in Jersón Konstantin Basyuk) and representatives of the Chinese government, including officials in the Harbin Free Zone and the prestigious Harbin Technology Institute (HIT), a university linked to the Popular Liberation Army and sanctioned by the United States for developing advanced weapons. Between 2022 and 2023 They formalized plans To create an assembly plant with customs tax advantages, including sending 100 drone kits From China and official visits to Factories from Shenzhen, including the headquarters of Autel Robotics. The initiative received high-level political support, with meetings between Russian officials and Chinese executives during the Chinese-Russia Business Forum of 2024, and was cataloged as “priority” By Yury Trutnev, special envoy of the Kremlin for the Far East. Intermediaries and camouflage network. Bloomberg underlined that Aero-Hit, officially registered after these contacts, has undercover its relationship with China through a intermediary networkwhich includes fictitious or camouflaged signatures under other activities (such as air catering companies, seafood distribution or real estate logistics) that serve to manage orders, billing and transport. More: Documents of March and August 2024 show Drones deliveries to units deployed in Jersón and official requests from the Russian Defense Ministry to acquire thousands of Veles units, together with antennas and accessories. Companies such as Renewsio-Invest and Shenzhen Huasheng Industry (both sanctioned by the United States) have been key in the supply of pieces and electronics from China, even after the new commercial restrictions imposed by Beijing in 2023. Although some Chinese firms retired from the project for fear of sanctions, others They occupied their placeguaranteeing the continuity of the supply chain. Ukrainian forces after intercepting a Russian shahed Official ambiguity and mutual benefit. Autel Robotics has insisted on deny any link With Russia or Aero-Hit since February 2022, claiming that it is a civil company without military licenses and with strict compliance policies. However, the Documents obtained They suggest that links could be mediating through individual engineers, subsidiaries or intermediary vendors. Beijing, meanwhile, argues that he has never delivered lethal weapons to no side in war and strictly controls two -use goods exports such as drones, although the real depth of Chinese government knowledge about these transfers continues without clarifying. The persistence of technological flow from China to Russia raises uncomfortable questions about the effectiveness of the sanctions regime global and about the nature of the declared neutrality By the Government of Xi Jinping, at a time when the diplomatic pressure on Beijing intensifies. Prolonged war perspectives. Meanwhile, the Aero-Hit … Read more

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