This raises fundamental questions. “If they are going to designate traffickers as narco-terrorists, will they also include the Americans who are part of these networks? Because we are not just talking about the famous drug cartels, but also trafficking networks, money laundering, arms smuggling and other structures, many of which are incorporated in the United States. There is an enormous complexity in defining where a cartel begins and where it ends. There is a dispersion of actors, organizations and relationships on both sides of the border involved in drug trafficking. Therefore, to speak of narcoterrorism is to speak of something vague and imprecise. This term is not supported by concrete evidence; rather, its use is eminently political,” argues Zavala.

According to Zavala, the narrative allows figures like President Trump to use the concept of narcoterrorism as a tool of intimidation, threat and extortion towards the Mexican government. “Rather than describing realities, narcoterrorism is based on spectral notions, on political phantoms that are used to force Mexico to align with Washington’s interests,” he says.

An Executive Order to Intervene Militarily in Mexico

Intervening militarily in Mexican territory with selective incursions aimed at damaging the cartels is something that has been on the US radar screen for some time now. But analysts argue that it would be a shot in the foot for the Trump administration.

“By using the concept of narcoterrorism, the US government empowers itself to intervene militarily in Mexico. That is something very complicated, because intervening in that way would seriously damage the binational relationship, which is very delicate. It is almost inconceivable [the idea of military aggression],” Zavala explains. “I believe that in addition to the bravado, the Mexican government has generally been aligned because in the end our security policy has always been subordinated and violated; even subalternized by the United States.”

This Wednesday, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said that the secretary of foreign affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, had a telephone conversation with US secretary of state Marco Rubio. She did not provide details of the conversation, but said it was “a very cordial conversation” and they discussed “migration and security issues.” Rubio has said that he would prefer that any action, any decision taken from Washington have the consent, the collaboration of the Mexican government.

“Cartels Do Not Exist”

Oswaldo Zavala (Ciudad Juarez, 1975) has specialized in Mexican narrative, and has an alternative vision of the narco phenomenon in Mexico. He believes that the image of the power of the cartels is exaggerated and sponsored by the State. The author of The Imaginary U.S.—Mexico Drug Wars: State Power, Organized Crime, and the Political History of Narconarratives (1975–2012), explains to WIRED that the war against drug trafficking is generally built on fantastical, contradictory and often absurd concepts, which gradually form an imaginary that presents drug trafficking in an alarmist manner.

“The US government has managed with great skill to create a long list of concepts, monsters and criminal actors that not only dominate the public debate in the United States, but also in Mexico. Thus, when Americans want it, one organization or another becomes the center of discussion. In the 1980s, for example, it was the Guadalajara Cartel, with figures such as Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo. In the 1990s, the central figure was El Chapo Guzman, and later, Amado Carrillo. Today, the conversation revolves around fentanyl and, above all, the Sinaloa Cartel,” Zavala explains.

Zavala argues that the narratives used by the US government are ways of simplifying a complex problem, giving a common sense to the debate that would otherwise be much more complicated. “If we take into account that a large part of drug consumption occurs in the United States, that there are organizations within that country that facilitate trafficking, launder money and, in many cases, are as or more dangerous than the Mexican ones, the discussion becomes much more complex for the Mexican panorama. What these narratives do, then, is to simplify the situation, presenting Mexico as the primary enemy of US security. In doing so, the US government can intervene not only mediatically but also politically, diplomatically, and even militarily in Mexico,” he says.

“As citizens we must be very careful with the narratives that are generated from Washington,” he warns. “It is essential to learn to analyze them critically and to distance ourselves from what we are being told. This process is neither easy nor quick, since, unfortunately, not only the Mexican government repeats these narratives, but the media also replicates them, and sometimes institutions and other actors push them. And, to complicate things even more, a popular culture is created that feeds these ideas: today there are already corridos about fentanyl, about the ‘Chapitos’ and about the supposed criminal empires of the cartels. It is very difficult to escape from all this.”

A War That Has Left More Than 100,000 People Missing

More than 100,000 people have been missing in Mexico since 1964, when the count began. The National Registry of Disappeared and Unaccounted for Persons has for months now exceeded this figure, which is evidence of the grave situation in the country. Most of these people were registered as missing since 2006, when the administration of Felipe Calderón, who took the army to the streets to combat the violence of organized crime, began.

“Many of the most serious effects of the anti-drug policy we have been suffering in Mexico for decades. More than half a million murders since the militarization began with President Calderon, more than 100,000 forced disappearances. We know that all that violence is unloaded, above all, against poor, racialized, brown young people, who live in the most disadvantaged areas of the country,” says Zavala, who is surprised when people are alarmed by what Trump says. “As if we weren’t already living, for years now, a really serious wave of violence in the country.”

According to the researcher, military violence is often expressed as a form of social control, as a management of violence. “You’re not going to see militarization in areas like the Condesa or Roma, but in the margins of Mexico City, in the most impoverished areas. The violence is happening in the peripheries, in the poorest neighborhoods, where there is not even adequate monitoring by the media or human rights institutions,” Zavala says.

What should surprise us, Zavala says, are the very high rates of violence we are experiencing, as a background of what is already happening, not of something that is yet to come. “I think we still don’t fully understand that this violence has a clear class dimension. It is not generalized violence, but systematized and directed against the most vulnerable sectors of society,” he says.

The Solution: Demilitarizing the Country

The decision taken by Calderón 16 years ago to entrust the Army with the responsibility of public security in several areas of the country has shown us its fatal consequences. Both Enrique Peña Nieto and Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged, during their respective electoral campaigns, to return peace, security, and civility to us. However, once in power, both presented proposals to consolidate, through legislation and even constitutional reforms, the militarized public security model. The situation does not seem to change with Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration.

In this way, Mexico’s recent presidents have maintained a “peace and security” policy based on a militarized strategy, justifying it on the supposed operational incapacity of police corporations to confront organized crime.

“I agree with the view that drugs need to be decriminalized, addictions treated, all that. But in my opinion, most of the violence in Mexico is not necessarily linked to drug trafficking, but to the experience of militarization itself. And I think there is solid empirical data to support this idea. We know that there is a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ militarization in Mexico,” Zavala explains. “Before the deployment of the army, our homicide rates were declining throughout the country, and there is a direct correlation between military occupation, the presence of the armed forces, and the increase in homicides and forced disappearances.”

Apple first announced the “next generation of CarPlay” back in 2022, but updates about its arrival have been sporadic. Porsche and Aston Martin haven’t provided any launch dates despite saying their cars would be the first to get the new CarPlay. Some automakers like Ford and Mercedes were slow to confirm support, while others like General Motors and Rivian have snubbed CarPlay entirely in favor of having more control over their vehicles.

Despite not posting a revised date, there are indications that Apple will launch it eventually. There are references to next-generation ‌CarPlay‌ in the iOS 18.3 beta released last month, for example, and Apple has recently filed new images of it in an EU database. Apple also told 9to5Mac that it’s working closely with several automakers that will implement the new CarPlay experience.

“Each car brand will share more details as they near the announcements of their models that will support the next generation of CarPlay,” Apple told the outlet.

After releasing two developer beta versions last year, Google introduced the first public beta for Android 16 on Thursday. New features include live updates on the lock screen (like Live Activities on iOS), Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec for high-quality video recording, and a framework for developers to make their apps adaptable for different screen sizes and aspect ratios.

For consumers, support for live updates will be the most visible change. Apple introduced Live Activities to show ever-changing updates such as delivery status, workouts, or sports scores with iOS 16 in 2022. Android is now adopting that format to let developers push real-time updates natively with Android 16.

Google is also adding frameworks and tools to make apps more responsive when it comes to design. The company is phasing out size restriction controls for developers, so their apps can look and work better on large screens such as tablets and foldable devices.

Android 16 also gets a new Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec for high-quality video recording and post-processing. The company said that this codec will help creators with faster editing capabilities and features like multi-view video and auxiliary video. This is possibly a direct answer to Apple’s ProRes and ProRes Raw formats.

With APV, the company says that users can expect a “perceptually” lossless quality, which is closer to raw footage. Plus, the codec will support a high bitrate range of footage for up to a few gigabits per second for 2K, 4K, and 8K.

Google is also adding a way for apps to know if the camera within their app should switch to night mode for better-quality low-light pictures. The company worked with Instagram to bring this feature to users of select devices last year.

Android 16 will also bring improvements on the accessibility front, with a new required field indicator in the APIs. Thanks to this new feature, apps can tell the user that a specific field is mandatory. Google said this could also be useful for situations where users need to check the terms and conditions box.

Google took a different approach with Android 16 by releasing the first developer preview in November instead of Q1 2025. The company wanted to accelerate the update cycle of the Android release by shipping the final version in Q2 rather than Q3 and shipping a minor update later in the year. This is Google’s effort to ensure that device makers have enough time to issue updates and reduce the fragmentation of software versions across different devices.

• Filming of the DCU movie Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is officially underway
• DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has revealed the first image from the film’s set
• The Milly Alcock-starring superhero flick will be released in July 2026

Principal photography has officially begun on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow – and, to celebrate the occasion, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has released a new behind-the-scenes image from the movie’s UK-based set.

Taking to Instagram yesterday (January 23), Gunn confirmed that filming was finally underway on the hotly-anticipated DC Universe (DCU) movie. With the cameras rolling on the Milly Alcock-fronted comic book movie, Gunn shared an image from the film’s set that’ll look very familiar to DC devotees.

It’s been three long years since Sony launched its flagship WH-1000XM5 headphones, our pick for the best wireless headphones for most people, so we’re due a follow-up — and a regulatory filing indicates that the XM6 cans might nearly be ready to launch. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing hints at a slight redesign, including a new hinge and what appear to be detachable earpads.

The Walkman Blog first spotted the filing, which includes a product diagram showing off some of the details of the right earcup. Most interestingly, the diagram shows the earpad lifting off to reveal the location of the “user-visible name plate” containing the model and serial numbers. Since the FCC requires this name plate be accessible to users, it seems likely that the pad is attached without screws, though we don’t know if that’s with clips, magnets, or something else. The XM5s hid their FCC details under the inner edge of the pads instead, which were not removable.

Otherwise there’s not too much to glean from the filing. The headphones’ hinge looks slightly different from the previous generation’s, though there’s no reason yet to believe that means a return to the folding design of the XM4s. The Bluetooth version is reported to be 5.3, and there are some details on the antenna and power specs, but nothing to suggest how the headphones will look or sound.

The FCC filing doesn’t name these as the XM6 headphones, but the model numbers seem to give it away. These headphones have the model number YY2984, remarkably similar to the XM5s’ YY2954 designation. The only note of caution is that the tested model is marked as a prototype, rather than a pre-production or mass production unit, so some details may change before release.

The FCC filing includes a “short-term confidentiality” request dated to end on July 22nd 2025, which certainly suggests that we’ll get an official reveal before that date. The XM5s launched in May 2022, so we may be due another spring release.

We may now know roughly how much money SoftBank and OpenAI are contributing toward Stargate, the massive infrastructure project to build data centers for OpenAI across the U.S.

SoftBank and OpenAI each plan to commit $19 billion of capital to Stargate, according to The Information. The two companies would then both own 40% of the joint venture.

Stargate, which also has buy-in from Middle East AI fund MGX, plans to funnel upward of $500 billion into data centers to support OpenAI’s AI workloads. Partners in Stargate have initially pledged $100 billion, some of which is being put toward a facility in Abilene, Texas.

Elon Musk, who owns an AI company that competes with OpenAI, xAI, claimed this week on social media that Stargate “[doesn’t] actually have the money.” Altman responded in a post of his own, characterizing Musk’s assertion as “wrong.”

Recent advances in generative AI and machine learning have evolved technological communication to levels beyond what was previously comprehensible. The recent and rapid rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) which are now analysing and generating huge volumes of text outputs, prompts us to consider our progress so far and what this means for the future of human communication alongside the new agentic AI layer.

The third wave of AI will bring us to a pivotal moment in the evolution of work, where the emergence of autonomous agents promises to transform how humans and machines collaborate. For us, agentic AI represents the next frontier in this progression; a limitless digital workforce built on AI agents that can reason, take action, and integrate deeply within enterprise workflows. This innovation not only builds on the foundation of LLMs, but introduces a new agentic layer, enabling machines to move from generating insights to orchestrating and executing actions.

U.S. authorities have indicted five people over their alleged involvement in a multi-year scheme that saw them obtain remote IT employment with dozens of American companies.

The Department of Justice on Thursday announced the indictment of North Korean citizens Jin Sung-Il and Pak Jin-Song; Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes of Mexico, and U.S. nationals Erick Ntekereze Prince and Emanuel Ashtor.

The DOJ said the FBI arrested Ntekereze and Ashtor, and a search of Ashtor’s home in North Carolina found evidence of a “laptop farm” that hosted company-provided laptops to deceive organizations into thinking they had hired workers based in the U.S.

Alonso was also arrested in the Netherlands after a U.S. warrant was issued.

According to the indictment, Ntekereze and Ashtor allegedly installed remote access software, including Anydesk and TeamViewer, on the company-provided devices, allowing the North Koreans to conceal their locations. The two Americans also provided Jin and Pak with forged identity documents, including U.S. passports and U.S. bank accounts.

The indictment alleges that the defendants gained employment from at least 64 American organizations over the course of the multi-year scheme, which ran from April 2018 through August 2024. These included a U.S. financial institution, a San Francisco-based technology company, and a Palo Alto-headquartered IT organization.

According to the Justice Department, payments from ten of those companies generated at least $866,255 in revenue, most of which was laundered through a Chinese bank account. 

“The Department of Justice remains committed to disrupting North Korea’s cyber-enabled sanctions-evading schemes, which seek to trick U.S. companies into funding the North Korean regime’s priorities, including its weapons programs,” Devin DeBacker, supervisory official with the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement. 

Alongside Thursday’s indictments, which come just days after the Treasury Department sanctioned two individuals and four entities for allegedly engaging in similar behavior, the FBI released an advisory warning that North Korean IT workers are increasingly engaging in malicious activity, including data extortion.

The agency said it has observed North Korean IT workers leveraging unlawful access to company networks to “exfiltrate proprietary and sensitive data, facilitate cyber-criminal activities, and conduct revenue-generating activity on behalf of the regime.”

Tata Electronics has acquired a 60% controlling stake in the Indian arm of Apple assembly partner, Pegatron, as the conglomerate expands its iPhone manufacturing capacity in the country.

Taiwan-based Pegatron operates an iPhone production plant near Chennai in India’s sourthern state of Tamil Nadu. The deal comes less than a year after Tata Electronics acquired smartphone assembly company Wistron’s Indian business.

Pegatron and Tata did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but Tata said the acquisition fits into its strategy of growing its manufacturing footprint in the country.

“We look forward to a new era of AI, digital and technology-led manufacturing as we bring up these new facilities and expand our operations in India,” Randhir Thakur, CEO & MD of Tata Electronics, said in a statement.

Tata, which began assembling iPhones in India just last year, is quickly emerging as one of Apple’s most important partners in Asia as the tech giant works to expand its manufacturing base outside of China.

More to follow.

According to recent data from the International Energy Agency, industrial sectors, such as chemical manufacturing and mining, currently contribute 25% of all global CO2 emissions and 37% of all global energy consumption.

Industries face increasing pressure to develop net-zero roadmaps. As sustainability rises on the corporate agenda, digitalization contributes to a clear, strategic path to achieving commercial, operational, and sustainability goals for today’s industrial enterprises.

Industry 4.0: Accelerating Sustainability in Industrial Enterprises