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Baba Yaga was an old woman who devoured skulls at night. So Ukraine just turned Russia’s worst nightmare into a drone

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In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga She is an ancient figure associated with nocturnal fear, a witch who devours skulls and flies in the dark, punishing the reckless and inhabiting a territory where normal rules no longer apply. It is not a spectacular monster or the usual one, but a persistent presencedisturbing, impossible to ignore. Ukraine remembered it… and transformed it into a drone. The nightmare in war. This symbolic load explains why the name was not born in Ukrainian propaganda, but in the Russian channels themselves: when the soldiers began to describe night attacks that fell almost silently from the sky, the collective imagination did the rest. Today, “Baba Yaga” does not designate a fairy tale creature, but a family heavy bomber drones Ukrainians who have transformed the night of the front into a permanent hostile space for Russian forces. What really is a Baba Yaga. Under that name is grouped an entire class of heavy multicopters, many of them derived of agricultural platforms and others already designed for military purposes, capable of transporting from 15 kilos in their most common versions to several dozen in larger configurations. Unlike the kamikaze FPVs, the Baba Yaga They are reusable systemsconceived as aerial bombers themselves. They can launch mortar mines, fragmentation charges, adapted munitions or even converted anti-tank mines with remarkable accuracy from several hundreds of meters high. Its distinctive feature is not only the load, but the combination of thermal and optical sensors which allows them to operate at night, in fog, rain or wind, and remain effective where light drones begin to fail. This capacity has made them go from being a tactical complement to becoming a structural piece of the Ukrainian device. A Baba Yaga captured by Russian forces The night stops being a refuge. For months, trenches, concrete shelters or fortified buildings offered Russian infantry a relative sense of security from artillery and light drones. The Baba Yaga break that logic. If a point appears marked on a thermal image or reconnaissance map, no cover guarantees survival. A single drone can perform cascade attacksreleasing ammunition successively and dismantling a position section by section. The effect is cumulative: it not only destroys material, but forces units to disperseto rotate more frequently, to invest time and resources in camouflage and fortification, and to avoid concentrations of troops or vehicles. In a war of attrition, that behavioral change is as important as direct destruction. From tactical weapon to major system. Although they were born as a short-range solution, the Baba Yaga have been integrated into operations increasingly complex. They do not act in isolation, but as part of a drone ecosystem that includes FPV, long-range UAVs and, in some cases, naval platforms unmanned. In Crimea, for example, we have seen how maritime drones are used as advanced shuttles to allow heavy multicopters to reach radars and air defense systems like the Nebo-Mattacking antennas, technical installations and command posts. This logic is revealing: first the target is blinded or disorganized by other means, and then the Baba Yaga finish the job where it was previously considered too risky or inaccessible. Thus, these drones have ceased to be “flying artillery” and have become tools that connect the immediate front with the operational rear. Technical evolution. The development of these drones has not stopped. Ukrainian volunteer engineers and teams they have been improving engines, propellers, structures and suspension systems for ammunition of different calibers, while communications are reinforced with redundant channels, separate antennas and, in some cases, satellite links that expand the radius of action at the expense of payload. Russian electronic warfare has forced experimentation with system duplication control and backup plans to prevent the loss of a link from dragging down the entire set. This adaptation race explains why, even when Russia manages to shoot down some of these drones, the problem does not disappear: The threat materializes again the following night. Psychological impact. Beyond the technique, the Baba Yaga hits morale. Its low, recognizable hum does not announce an immediate explosion, but rather a tense wait– Someone, somewhere, is peering through a thermal scope and choosing the next target. Unlike artillery, there is no clearly safe haven or predictable pattern. Combined with FPV attacks and indirect fire, these drones create a sensation continuous pressure from above, from the front and from the rear. Military analysts match in which this constant stress accelerates organizational wear and tear, makes coordination difficult and forces commanders to focus on maintaining basic cohesion instead of planning offensive maneuvers. Lessons for the future of war. For Western observers and for NATO itself, the Baba Yaga are a practical demonstration of how future conflicts will be fought with swarms of relatively cheap, reusable and rapidly adapted platforms. It is not a miracle weapon, but a component within a system that combines intelligence, communications, flexible production and accelerated training. Ukraine has managed to assemble that system under extreme conditions, relying on industry, the State and voluntary networks. For Russia, the result is clear: the “witch” of folklore has returnednot as a myth, but as a technological presence that redefines the battlefield and makes it impossible to return to a war according to the standards of the 20th century. Image | Telegram, ArmіяІнформ In Xataka | Ukraine has asked Russia if they stop for Christmas like in the First World War. The answer could not have been more Russian In Xataka | Europe wanted to expropriate Russian funds on the continent to finance Ukraine. Until Belgium took the lead

Rome turned North Africa into its great oil fountain. And we have found the mega-oil mills of the Empire

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He Roman empire He founded the foundations of Western civilization both socially and in the most functional part: the infrastructure. Its roads are famousbut wherever they passed, They also founded industry. And an international group of archaeologists has found one of the most significant discoveries related to the roman industry. The second largest oil pressing complex in the entire Empire. Mega-oil mill. In the Tunisian region of Kasserine is the archaeological site identified as ‘Henchir el Begar’. Specifically, there are two settlements found to the north and west of Kasserine (the ancient Roman Cillium), and archaeologists are clear that they are part of the same industry dedicated to oil. They estimate that both were operational between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, demonstrating that they were incredibly valuable to the Empire, and the data reflects the productive ambition of the area: The settlement has 33 hectares with two main sectors: Hr Begar 1 and Hr Begar 2. Hr Begar 1 has twelve beam presses, being the largest mill in Tunisia and the second largest in the entire Roman world. We are talking about beams and counterweights capable of exerting tons of pressure. It has cisterns and a water collection basin. HR Begar 2 has another eight presses of the same type, as well as another water collection basin and cisterns. Context. In addition to the two “oil mills”, georadar has identified a network of settling tanks for oil, warehouses, a dense fabric of housing for workers and the site’s population, and road tracks for the ‘trucks’ of the erato, trains that transported the amphoraethey will reach the coast and places of distribution. Apart from making it clear that the site was an oil megafactory, they have also found stone mills. They estimate that production was mixed: oil and also cereals, which points to the strategic importance of this region around Kasserine. Strategic good. In it releasearchaeologists highlight that the territory is characterized by high steppes and a continental climate with modest rainfall that would have been collected in wells, all of this favoring ideal conditions for the cultivation of olive trees. This border area of ​​Africa would have been a point of exchange between cultures, but a discovery of these dimensions shows that this Proconsular province of Africa would have been the great supplier of oil to the Roman Empire both for consumption (the highest quality oil) and for fuel and other consumables (oil for lighting, bases for medical ointments and cosmetics). Perspectives. That powerful Henchir el Begar oil industry is not the only thing the team has found. They have also found pieces such as a bracelet decorated in copper or brass, a stone projectile and some architectural elements that had later been reused in a Byzantine wall. The mission in Kasserine began in 2023 as a project co-led by the Ca’Foscari University of Venice, the University of La Manouba in Tunisia and the Complutense University of Madrid and, according to Professor Luigi Sperti, one of the project coordinators, it allows “an unprecedented perspective on the agrarian and socioeconomic organization of the border regions of Roman Africa.” We will see what they find in future prospecting, but the investigations of this third campaign have borne fruit in understanding the importance of the region in issues such as the production, marketing and transportation of oil on a scale not seen until now in that area. Images | UCM, Unive In Xataka | Modern tunnel boring machines are real monsters compared to those of 1950. The paradox is that they are just as slow

They found a cube-shaped skull in Tamaulipas and thought it was a migrant. Science has turned history upside down

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Modern archeology has just thrown us one of those pieces of the puzzle that forces us to rewrite, in part, what we knew about different ancient cultures of northern Mesoamerica. Something obligatory, since a team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History has identified a find in Tamaulipas that is as unusual as it is fascinating: a skull with an intentional deformation in the shape of a “cube”. “Parallelepiped” deformation. The discovery took place in the archaeological zone of Balcón de Montezuma, in the Sierra Madre Oriental. As detailed in the official INAH bulletinthe remains belong to an adult man over forty years old who lived during the Classic period between 400 and 900 AD Although the most surprising thing may seem given the curious deformation of the skull, for anthropologists the real news was in a modification of the “erect tabular” type. in its “parallelepiped” variant. How did it come to this? To have a skull with this peculiar shape, it is suggested that the ancient settlers of that area had to use wood compression devices such as slats. These would be applied to the back of the head (the occipital bone) and the forehead to restrict the natural growth of bones from childhood. Because it is precisely when they are malleable to adjust them to what you were looking for. Who was it? This is where hypotheses begin to emerge. Anthropologists point out that this type of deformation is more typical of the Mesoamerican southeast. But these bones have been found in the northern area. So the question was clear: Was this man a foreigner who came to the north? The answer, thanks to the analyzes of strontium isotopesit’s a resounding no. The conclusion that has been reached is that the bones belonged to a local man who was born and raised in the Sierra Madre Occidental area. And this is something that changes the narrative completely: we are not facing a migrant, but rather evidence of cultural adoption. Because. The fact that a local inhabitant decided (or his parents decided for him when they were very young) that the skull had to be modified with a technique that involved two splints makes sense. The hypotheses initially point to the membership in a local eliteand this modification could be a distinctive sign to indicate that they were in a higher stratum than the rest of the inhabitants. But it is also something that can suggest a cultural connection, since there was a great flow of ideas and aesthetic fashions that was much more fluid than previously thought between different cities in the area. That is why it may be that having a skull like this was an indication of beauty or it was simply ‘viral’ at that time. Its importance. Until now, archeology had recorded cranial deformations in the area, but they were generally more inclined backwards. The appearance of this more elongated upward shape is something that had not been recorded before in this area. This is something that a priori will help discard the old idea that the northern areas were culturally isolated. On the contrary, this “cubic skull” is physical proof that the northern border of Mesoamerica was fully integrated into the ritual and aesthetic dynamics of the rest of the subcontinent. Images | Chelms Varthoumlien In Xataka | If Spain believes it has a problem with droughts, it is because it does not know what led the Mayans to collapse: 150 extreme years

The United States has turned Trinidad and Tobago into the war container it was missing. Venezuela has responded like Russia: an invisible fleet

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The conflict between the United States and Venezuela has entered a phase in which the silent accumulation media outweighs official statements. If you will, the Caribbean once again functions as a strategic belt from which Washington projects pressure without the need to declare an open war. Under the formal argument of the fight against drug trafficking, the White House has been weaving a support network logistics, radars, airstrips, ports and resupply spaces in an arc at a time bigger of “allies”. The Venezuela’s response We already saw it in Russia. The map of countries. That “arc” of allies Washington runs from the Dominican Republic to Trinidad and Tobago, passing through Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Grenada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The deployment includes destroyers, nuclear submarines, amphibious ships, aircraft carriers, state-of-the-art fighters, drones and thousands of troops, not enough for a land invasion, but enough to control air and maritime space, monitor critical routes and sustain missile attacks if it is decided to escalate. It is a prepositioning strategy classic: being everywhere without publicly assuming that something else is in the works. Trinidad and Tobago, the most sensitive link. Within that architecture, Trinidad and Tobago emerges as the most delicate piece of the board. Its extreme proximity to the Venezuelan coast turns any gesture into a political and military message. The new government has authorized the use of its airports by US military aircraft, has received warships and marine units, has allowed joint exercises and has accepted the installation of an AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR radar capable of detecting aircraft, drones and missiles. Everything is presented as logistical and defensive cooperationbut it fits almost literally with the US National Security Strategy of 2025, which calls for a toughened version of the Monroe Doctrine to reaffirm the preeminence of the United States in the Western Hemisphere and prevent external actors from controlling strategic assets. Trinidad and Tobago insist in that it will not be a platform for offensive attacks except direct aggression, but its role as node of surveillance, resupply and intelligence places it at the center of any scenario of sustained pressure on Caracas. A blockage that is not. The announced threat by Trump of a “total and complete” interdiction of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela fits into that model of gradual pressure. It is not about closing ports with a formal declaration of war, but about taking advantage of naval and air superiority, supported by friendly infrastructure, to intercept, seize or deter the ships that support the main source of income for the Nicolás Maduro regime. The recent seizure of an oil tanker loaded with nearly two million barrels and the warning that further action could follow shows the extent to which Washington is willing to take pressure beyond the symbolic, taking the risk of controlled incidents in international waters. The Venezuelan response. Faced with this siege, Caracas has reacted by raising the profile of its challenge. The order to escort ships that transport oil products and derivatives to Asia is a calculated move: it seeks to demonstrate that the Venezuelan State does not renounce its right to free navigation and that it is willing to involve to his Navy to keep exports open. It is also a response that increases the risk of confrontationbut that sends an internal and external message of resistance. Oil continues to be the financial pillar of the regime, and losing it would be equivalent to accepting total economic asphyxiation. The ghost fleets. Beyond the visible escort, the true backbone of the Venezuelan strategy is the ghost fleeta tactic practically copied from the used by Russia after Western sanctions. Old oil tankers, many with more than twenty or thirty years of service, change name and flagsteal the identities of already dismantled ships, sail under flags of convenience, turn off or manipulate their identification systems and carry out crude oil transfers on the high seas to hide the origin of the cargo. The result is an opaque trade that allows you to sell oil with large discounts to buyers willing to take risks, while the traceability required by sanctions is diluted. It is not a marginal phenomenon: a significant part of the world’s oil tanker fleet already operates in this gray ecosystem, transporting Venezuelan, Russian or Iranian crude. Sanctions that do not suffocate, they deform. The BBC reported that the data show that, although far from the historical levels of the end of the 20th century, Venezuelan exports have recovered notably compared to the collapse of 2019. This indicates that the sanctions have not paralyzed the flow, but rather have displaced it towards more opaque and risky circuits. As in the Russian caseeconomic punishment does not eliminate trade, it makes it more expensive, makes it less transparent and reinforces dependence on informal networks and actors willing to move illegally. The Caribbean as a conflict. With US aircraft carriers patrolling the Caribbean, radars deployed in islands near Venezuela and escorted or invisible tankers sailing to Asiathe conflict is located in a dangerous intermediate zone between economic pressure and military confrontation. The United States bets on the ccontrol of space and logistics regional via of discreet allieswhile Venezuela responds with the same manual that has allowed other sanctioned countries to survive: ghost fleets, aggressive discounts and specific shows of force. The Caribbean, for decades associated with tourism and trade, is thus once again a scene of high geopolitical tension where each radar installed and each oil tanker intercepted brings the risk of a clash that no one admits they want, but for which both sides seem to prepare, a little closer. Image: US Navy In Xataka | The situation between the US and Venezuela only needs one incident to escalate into something more: that incident is already here In Xataka | In full tension with the US, Venezuela has presented its drone simulator: it is equal to a three-euro Steam game

Wall Street has turned on the spigot of infinite money for AI. They have forgotten a small detail: the electrical network

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In that equation that the world is trying to solve with AI, there is a half that not many people have noticed: debt. Behind every AI-generated chat and video is a gigantic network of data centers, and those data centers are being financed with a mountain of borrowed money. And therein lies the problem. In what is borrowed. Debt and more debt. According to recent datathe issuance of secured debt linked to data centers in the United States is estimated to be $25.4 billion by 2025. It is 112% more than the previous year. If we add up all the complex financial instruments (known as asset-backed securities (ABS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBSS)), the snowball is already huge: there are almost $49 billion tied to these securities. Bonuses for everyone. Here there are not only startups asking for loans, no. The technology giants that are setting up these infrastructures – the so-called hyperscalers – are also taking advantage of this mechanism. Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Oracle or Meta have rediscovered the bond market as a source of financing. Better to spend what is not mine. They all have huge amounts of money, but instead of spending their own cash, They have raised 100,000 million dollars in debt issues so far this year. The goal: buy thousands of GPUs and build data centers before the competition. What are you doing, Oracle? If there is a company that embodies the vertigo of this excessive bet, it is Oracle. The company created by Larry Ellison has committed to meeting a Pharaonic $300 billion deal with OpenAI. That has forced it to become the largest issuer of corporate debt (outside the financial sector). The numbers are scary: your total debt has grown to 111.6 billion dollarswhile its cash has dropped by 10,000 million. Citi estimates they’ll need to borrow another $20 billion to $30 billion every year (every year!) for the next three years just to keep building. excessive ambition. There are also examples of startups that are exploiting this facet. One of the clearest is the one from CoreWeavea company famous for renting computing capacity for AI. The company has secured credit lines of $2.5 billion backed by leading investment banks such as JPMorgan. The market message seems clear: “if you’re going to build for AI, here’s the money.” How to get a 30-year mortgage. Analysts of all kinds have been keeping the fly behind their ears for some time, and one of the latest Moody’s reports is a good example. Concrete buildings are usually financed with terms of 20 or 30 years, but the technology inside (such as AI chips) changes radically every 3 or 4 years. Does it make sense to go into debt three decades from now for a technology that evolves so quickly? cheap money. Investors are also agreeing to charge minimal interest, just 1% above what the safe US public debt pays, when they assume that risk. It’s a worrying classic sign of euphoria. There is so much money wanting to enter the sector that those who lend it have lowered their guard and demand very little return for their risk. They firmly believe in the promises of AI while increasingly more analysts warnhorrified, that we are facing an “irrational exuberance.” Having money is no longer enough. All this is already scary, but the real bottleneck for expansion is not even capital or chips, but the electrical grid. As Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, pointed out, there is no power for so many chips. The situation is so worrying that a Deloitte study indicated in a study that there are a seven-year waiting line to connect some data center projects to the electrical grid. And if companies want to obtain financing, they need have guaranteed electricity supply for your data centers. If there is no plug, there is no loan. Big Tech looks for electrons. At OpenAI they already warned of the problem months ago when talking about the “electron gap” describing electrons (energy) as the new oil. Almost all the major companies in the industry are making a move. Google has signed an agreement with TotalEnergies to be delivered 1.5 TWh of electricity over the next 15 years, and Meta did something similar with Treaty Oak Clean Energy to get 385 MW of its solar plants in Louisiana. The bubble before the big question. All of this further increases the fear that the AI ​​bubble will end up bursting in a big way. Meanwhile, the big unknown is whether the demand for artificial intelligence will be capable of paying the immense electrical and financial bill that it is signing today in 5 or 10 years. The credit party continues. In Xataka | While Silicon Valley seeks electricity, China subsidizes it: this is how it wants to win the AI ​​war

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

The police and firefighters have turned it into a 60 billion company

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It is true that in reality The iPhone did not completely kill Motorola, but it left it very touched. In 2007 their cell phones were selling like hotcakes. Their previous foldables, the RAZR, were part of popular culture thanks to the promotional agreements that made Paris Hilton, Eva Longoria Abril Lavigne or David Beckham They will pose proudly with them non-stop. But then the iPhone arrived and things began to change for many traditional manufacturers. Nokia and Blackberry were never the same again, and something similar—although not as severe—happened to Motorola, which, faced with declining sales, decided to split into two different companies in 2008. The “Motorola” of before is now Lenovo The first of them, Motorola Mobilityit ended up being bought by Google in May 2012 and then to be repurchased by Lenovo in 2014. This manufacturer has kept the brand and has managed to revive that part of the business with a remarkable mobile catalogbut the original company went down a completely different path. In fact, the firm has reinforced its proposal with the new Razrthe “mid-range” folding ones that present a certainly interesting option, especially for small cell phone lovers. The popularity of these devices is not the same as in the past, but this year we experienced a nice nod: Paris Hilton, who was already the star of a limited edition with the original Razr 20 years ago, has returned again. At the beginning of the year we knew the Motorola Razr Plus Paris Hilton Editionvery pink, very “exclusive” and not cheap at all. The real Motorola is now Motorola Solutions Inc. But what is truly striking is that Motorola Solutions Inc.the “boring” part of the company that was split up in 2008, has emerged strongly from the situation. It has done so by focusing on what it already did well then: critical communications. Source: Bloomberg. Their products have become a success among security forces and bodies, who use them massively in the United States, but also in countries such as Bulgaria, Brazil or the United Kingdom. In fact, Bloomberg highlights that since they separated from Motorola Mobility the return for investors has grown by 1,000%more than double what the S&P 500 index has achieved, for example, and much more than what other companies such as Ericsson or Nokia have achieved, to which the iPhone did much more damage. Source: Motorola Solutions Inc. Motorola Solutions’ products are very varied, and range from body cameras for police forces to communication equipment for emergencies in health or fire departments and, lately (of course) drones. Greg Brown, the company’s CEO, has achieved turn it into a 60 billion dollar giant. It has achieved this with a strategy in which acquisitions have been a fundamental part and have accelerated traditional organic growth, often much slower. Brown’s path has not been easy, although the hardest part was that division at a time when the company was suffering a real financial hemorrhage: “we froze pensions, we laid off 15,000 people, we announced that we were getting out of the mobile phone business… which were the true identity of the company.” He ended up surviving that and managed to revive the company precisely by returning to what it had become famous for: Motorola was already providing communication equipment to the police shortly after its founding in 1928, although we met it much later. First, when he developed the famous Motorola 68000 processor which was part of legendary computers from Apple, Commodore or Atari. Then, in 1983, when it began its particular mobile revolution with the legendary DynaTAC 8000X. The future of Motorola Solutions seems promising, although it is not without challenges. The company, which will turn 100 years old in 2028is now starting to integrate AI into its products. The SVX body camera integrates AI functions and is the clear exponent of where the current Motorola (Solutions) is heading. This year they launched a body camera for law enforcement that uses AI to create automatically audio transcripts, provides directions to remote operators, and examines surveillance footage. It is the demonstration that that original Motorola – not the current mobile phone, which is now Lenovo – is still alive and well. In Xataka | What happened to NeXT, the company that Steve Jobs founded when he left Apple and that ended up being his salvation

The “godfather of AI” believes that AI LLMs are a dead end. Meta has turned him into a vase scientist

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Yann LeCun has been warning for years that Generative AI is stupid. The current models, he claimed a year ago, are no more intelligent than a domestic cat. This speech has become especially uncomfortable especially because LeCun, considered one of the godfathers of AI, was until now one of the most responsible for this segment in Meta. Now everything seems to point to an imminent departure that will see LeCun found his own startup. Why is it important. While AI companies strive to train AI models by collecting more data and spending billions of dollars on computing power, LeCun is clear that this strategy is a dead end. It is something we have been talking about for a long time and that other experts like Andrej Karpathy have also have warned: This scaling of resources previously allowed notable leaps in performance. Not now. He knows what he’s talking about. In 2003 LeCun joined New York University and later founded the institution’s Data Science Center. In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg recruited him to lead his new AI division at Facebook called FAIR (Fundamental AI Research). In 2018, LeCun, along with Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, won the Turing Awardthe highest honor in computer science, for his contribution to the study of neural networks. LLMs must give way to “world models”. LeCun has prophesied that within three to five years no one in their right mind will be using today’s LLMs. Instead of them, the architecture that will triumph will be that of the so-called “world models”which learn from the environment through visual information, similar to how a baby does, in contrast to LLMs, which are predictive models based on vast text databases. Internal tension. That vision of LeCun has ended up being a problem in Meta. Mark Zuckerberg does not seem to have the same opinion, and in recent months he has made it clear. with a bet multimillionaire in which ended up signing talent and creating its new superintelligence division that precisely reinforced the role of the LLM that LeCun sees as useless. An uncomfortable situation. These signings have caused the FAIR Group that LeCun led to lose prestige, resources and weight in the organization compared to that new AI research organization led by the new rising star, Alexandr Wang. Exit in sight. Last week the first rumors appeared that LeCun is planning his departure from Meta to create his own startup. Precisely this new company would explore the creation of those models of the world that this scientist and researcher wants to develop in depth. If he executed that step, it is very likely that the investment world would support that vision and offer him sufficient funds to work on it. It has happened with startups Ilya Sutskever and Mira Muratithat without having visible product They have achieved multi-million dollar financing rounds. LeCun seems to be right. The evolution of LLMs seems to confirm LeCun’s theory that they are not the valid way to achieve truly notable advances in the field of AI. What current models do is not so much solve problems as locate past instances of solved problems to use probability and apply answers. Don’t even think about pursuing LLMs.. In recent months, LeCun’s work in Meta has become more blurred and he has been seen participating in several conferences. In one of them gave a message clear to those aspiring to get into this field: “if you are a PhD student in AI, you should never work with LLMs.” Image | Goal In Xataka | The only advantage Apple could have in AI was its private cloud. It has been copied by the person we least expected

The world keeps asking for more F-35 fighters, but China has turned off the tap to build them

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He F-35 Lightning IIthe fighter more expensive and complex never built, is going through a critical point in its history. In September 2025, a report of the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that all deliveries in 2024 arrived late, accumulating an average of 238 days late. Now, a leak has revealed that delays can multiply, and China plays a fundamental role. The problem of the largest military program. They remembered a few months ago on Insider that the 2024 delays had one main cause: the stagnation of the Technology Refresh 3 technology package (TR-3), an essential hardware and software update on which the block 4 modernizationalready with an extra cost of 6,000 million dollars and five years behind schedule. The paradox was that, despite maintenance failures, deficiencies in availability and costs that already exceed 2 trillion dollars Throughout its service life, the F-35 remains the cornerstone of American and allied air defense. More than 2,500 units remain in the Pentagon’s planning, while the current fleet is barely “operational” half of the time. More money. Lockheed Martin, its prime contractor, continues to receive incentives even for late deliveriesin a program that no longer only faces technical delays, but a much more structural threat: global dependence on its supply chain. A global network. The F-35 is, by definition, a multinational aircraft. Of the more than 1,200 devices manufactured to date, about 42% of its components are produced outside the United States, in an industrial network that involves more than twenty countries. The United Kingdom, the only Tier 1 partner, manufactures in Lancashire the rear fuselages of all the F-35s in the world, as well as their tails, ejection seats and part of the electronic warfare system code. Italy and the Netherlands assemble structures and optical systems, while Australia, Canada, Norway or Denmark provide fuselage sections, wings or specialized electronics. Germany, Japan and Israel also contribute critical parts: from fuel tanks to helmet-mounted visors. This ecosystem, which combines thousands of suppliers under a single oversight, has made the F-35 the largest industrial cooperation project of defense of the planet. The small print. But, despite the geographical dispersion, total control The United States preserves it: the Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin jealously guard it the source codemaintenance keys, stealth algorithms and the ALIS logistics system, without which no country can operate the aircraft independently. Each export includes clauses that maneuvers are prohibited joint with Russian or Chinese systems and allow Washington to supervise every flight, every review and every software update. You hunt like hotcakes. By 2025, Lockheed Martin has opted to reverse the narrative of delays with a figure that reflects both ambition and vulnerability: manufacturing 200 fighters in a single yearone for each working day. In its third quarter earnings call, CEO Jim Taiclet announced that 143 units had already been delivered, with an order book valued at 179 billion dollars, the largest in the company’s history. The boom responds to the global increase in defense spending, with European countries accelerating its rearmament and new buyers (such as Finland or Japan) incorporating the F-35 as the central axis of their fleets. The plane has become a tool deterrence and cohesion between allies, a symbol of interoperability under the umbrella of Washington. But industrial success hides a strategic fragility: the complex network of components of the F-35 depends, directly or indirectly, on materials that almost entirely come from Chinafrom rare earth magnets to elements for critical sensors, servomotors and actuators. Beijing’s silent weapon. Through a Wall Street Journal exclusive We have learned that, while Lockheed Martin celebrated its best year for deliveries, China moved its own parts with surgical precision. Beijing announced the creation of a system of “validated end users” (VEU) to regulate the export of magnets and rare earth metals: essential materials for both F-35 fighters and submarines, drones or electric vehicles. The plan, presented as a measure of trade opening after the tariff truce between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, in reality aims to exclude any company from the flow of exports. linked to the military complex United States. In other words, the companies that supply the F-35 (from engine manufacturers to aerospace subcontractors) will be blocked, while supplies to civilian industries are prioritized. Strategic deterrence. With this system, Beijing can formally fulfill its promise of liberalize tradewhile suffocating the critical chains of the North American defense sector. The VEU architecture, inspired by the United States’ own export control mechanisms, turns industrial policy into a deterrent instrument strategic. The bottleneck. Chinese control over rare earths (70% of the extraction and more than 90% of the world’s processing) places Washington before a structural dilemma: Your most advanced hunting depends on a monopolized resource by its main geopolitical rival. Although the White House seeks to diversify sources through agreements with countries such as Kazakhstan, Greenland or Ukraine, replacing Chinese capacity will take years. In recent months, Chinese magnet exports to the United States fell 29%which has already begun to affect engine and guidance system manufacturers. If Beijing strictly implements its new system, it would not only slow down F-35 production, but could temporarily interrupt the logistics chain for maintaining fleets already deployed. In that scenario, the program that symbolizes Western technological supremacy would be conditioned by dependence on a strategic enemy. The paradox of a fighter. The F-35 was born as an emblem of interoperability and technological masterybut its evolution shows that military superiority is no longer measured only in radars or missiles, but also in access to mineralschips and advanced materials. As the world’s most expensive plane is assembled from parts manufactured on three continents and with magnets processed in China, its story becomes a metaphor for the 21st century: a war of interdependencies where each fighter that takes off carries within it a dose of global vulnerability. Thus, while Lockheed Martin tries to maintain its record pace of production and the Pentagon reinforces its leadership narrative, the real battlefield is being fought in the mines, laboratories … Read more

A tiny Spanish town with 13 houses can’t take it anymore. A murder has turned it into the capital of crime tourism

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High in the Catalan Pyrenees, among clouds, forests and cows grazing in the rain, Tor risesa village of just thirteen houses where three decades ago a crime occurred that forever marked its inhabitants. In 1995 appeared the body of Josep Montanéknown as Sansa, with an electric cable around his neck and the corpse dragged to his kitchen. It was the third murder in fifteen years in a place too small for so many deaths. Today it seems the decoration of the mythical “A crime has been written”. National myth. History recovered this weekend the new york times as an example of a type of tourism which has been added in parallel to that of sun and beach. What seemed like a rural reckoning became, over time, a a national story about greed, secrets and institutional abandonment. the mountain, shared since 1896 by the town’s families under an ancestral agreement, had become the object of dispute between those who dreamed of a lucrative ski resort and those who wanted to preserve their peasant life. The conflict, fueled by smuggling interests and disputes over ownership, culminated in the judicial grant of the mountain to Sansa and, five months later, in her death. Then came the cultural phenomenon. From tragedy to true crime. The Catalan journalist Carles Porta, then a young reporter, was the one who turned the Tor crime into a media obsession. It started with a television report In 1997, he continued with a book in 2005, a podcast very successful in 2018 and a documentary series in 2023 that transformed the small town into the epicenter of Spanish “true crime.” Porta, fascinated by Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, found his own Holcomb in that Pyrenean valley and turned the story in an industry. Over the years, the public’s fascination with unsolved crimes attracted visitors from all over the country: curious people, mystery fans and hikers who wanted walk the stage of the murder, staying at Sansa’s old house or posing in the places where the police found evidence. Some even recreated the crime scene. with cables around the necka morbid parody that the neighbors watch with a mixture of bewilderment and resignation. Tor Municipality Crime tourism. The Times remembered that media notoriety brought money, but also disfigured life in Tor. In summer, the streets are filled of cars, the houses become scenery and the neighbors become involuntary characters in a story that never ends. In the Alins family hostel, at the foot of the mountain, phrases by Porta and bottles of liquor with quotes from his book hang, while the visitors ask relentlessly “who killed Sansa.” Merce Turallols, who was a girl when the body appeared, admits that fame has benefited the family business, but he confesses that the residents can no longer stand the circus: in the busiest months, you can’t even park and eccentric tourists tour the town disguised as victims. And more. “One arrived with a rope around his neck,” they remembered in the report. Porta himself, now producer of documentaries for Disney Regarding other cases, he recognizes that Tor’s has become his personal legacy, a phenomenon without end. The man assures have new clues (a possible hitman who lives in Miami) and the intention to close the case with a fiction series, but the people, who never saw justice or rest, feel that the journalist has exploded its tragedy to the limit. Town turned into a stage. Thus, going through Tor today is like going through a museum of rural crime: the local guide point out the places where the body was dragged, the house where a hippie committed suicide, the abandoned car of some smugglers, the meadows where neighbors charged tolls to those who crossed with goods from Andorra. Everything has become anecdote for visitors who seek excitement, while local people demand something as simple as mobile coverage or tranquility. Pilar Tomàs, who lives across the street from Sansa’s old house and was the one who found him dead, serves homemade food in her restaurant full of strangers. He appreciates the increase in clients, but would like a life without cameras nor curious. He joked in the media that if Porta has benefited so much from the case, he could donate at least enough for a telephone antenna. The rise of crime tourism. The call “dark tourism”sordid or thanatotourism has ceased to be a rarity and has consolidated itself as a global trend that turns tragedy into destiny. From the streets of Barcelona’s Raval, where the crimes of Enriqueta Martí either of the “Arropiero”even the towns devastated by the civil war like Belchitethe tourism industry has been able to capitalize on human fascination with death and evil, an interest as old as the shows of the Roman circus. According to the criminologist Vicente Garridothis attraction responds to the mixture of fear and curiosity in the face of the unknown, but today it takes the form of guided routes, theatrical visits and immersive experiences where the visitor seeks to understand (or feel) the echo of horror. New narratives to enhance it. Series and podcasts true crime have reinforced this phenomenon, generating a media aesthetic that romanticizes murder and transforms the victims and executioners into cultural characters. In Spain, theplaces like Torwith their story of unresolved deaths, symbolize that dilemma between memory and commodification: what for some is an economic opportunity and visibility, for others is the trivialization of a tragedy that is still alive. He crime tourism It grows, and with it the ethical question that accompanies it: how much knowledge and how much morbidity there is in looking head-on at the scenes of horror. Image | jqmj (Queralt) In Xataka | Sordid tourism: 17 places for those who travel looking for horror In Xataka | Italy’s tourism has a challenge worse than massification: mafia souvenirs. has started to ban them

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