Por John Liu, CNN

Hace cuatro meses, una docena de académicos e investigadores de las principales empresas productoras de petróleo y gas de China lanzaron una advertencia, oculta en una revista académica: la búsqueda de la autosuficiencia por parte del país tenía un punto débil crítico.

La amenaza que identificaron fue el helio, un gas incoloro e inodoro con una amplia gama de usos, desde la regulación de temperaturas durante la fabricación de semiconductores hasta la refrigeración de dispositivos de escaneo médico, la detección de fugas en tuberías y la presurización de los tanques de combustible de los cohetes espaciales.

El problema era que más del 83 % del suministro del país provenía de fuera de China.

“Debido a que estas fuentes de suministro son altamente vulnerables a los cambios geopolíticos, la seguridad de la cadena de suministro del país se enfrenta ahora a un grave desafío”, escribieron el pasado mes de diciembre.

Si avanzamos hasta el presente, esos temores se han materializado con una velocidad vertiginosa, a medida que una histórica crisis del petróleo y el gas, desencadenada por la guerra de Estados Unidos e Israel con Irán, azota al mundo.

China se enfrenta ahora a lo que algunos analistas han descrito como la peor crisis del helio en décadas, con precios que se duplican y suministros que disminuyen.

Los analistas advirtieron que una interrupción prolongada podría provocar el cierre de fábricas de chips y retrasos en las pruebas de diagnóstico por imagen que salvan vidas, desencadenando efectos en cascada en toda la economía que depende de los semiconductores, desde la electrónica hasta los vehículos.

La escasez de suministro de helio en China representa una vulnerabilidad poco común en lo que, por lo demás, ha sido un impulso en gran medida exitoso hacia la autosuficiencia energética, que ha protegido al país de la peor crisis petrolera de la historia.

El fracaso de las conversaciones de paz entre Estados Unidos e Irán durante el fin de semana y el anuncio de Trump de un bloqueo naval estadounidense del vital estrecho de Ormuz han frustrado aún más las esperanzas de que la escasez de materiales pueda resolverse pronto.

Con la paralización de la producción de helio en Qatar, que abastece un tercio de la demanda mundial y el 54 % de la de China, y los daños colaterales a las instalaciones energéticas relacionadas, la cadena de suministro podría tardar años en recuperarse. Mientras tanto, la presión sobre el abastecimiento nacional va en aumento.

“Con el problema de Qatar, básicamente se ha paralizado tanto la actividad a nivel mundial que no hay visibilidad sobre cómo podemos conseguir un suministro fiable en el futuro”, declaró Cameron Johnson, socio sénior de la consultora de cadena de suministro Tidalwave Solutions, con sede en Shanghái.

“Muchos proveedores básicamente dicen: ‘No tenemos ningún producto que vender. Da igual que nos den un millón de dólares, no tenemos nada’”, apuntó.

En toda Asia, las economías que necesitan helio se enfrentan a una posible escasez.

La Asociación de la Industria de Semiconductores de Taiwán ha pedido al Gobierno que comience a almacenar helio, mientras que los medios japoneses informaron que las empresas productoras de helio han comenzado a limitar las ventas.

El riesgo de una interrupción importante ha llevado a Gobiernos como los de Corea del Sur y Taiwán —sede de los principales fabricantes de chips del mundo y altamente dependientes de la industria— a evaluar las posibles consecuencias.

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EE.UU. levanta sanciones a bancos estatales de Venezuela. Sheinbaum sube el tono contra detenciones de ICE. Celia Cruz, ahora en el Salón de la Fama del Rock & Roll. Esto es lo que debes saber para comenzar el día. Primero la verdad.

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El bloqueo estadounidense de los puertos iraníes se ha “implementado por completo” y ha paralizado la mayor parte de la actividad económica de Teherán en tan solo un día y medio, declaró el miércoles el jefe del Comando Central de Estados Unidos. La decisión del Gobierno de Trump muestra que por ahora no tiene intención de ceder, lo que conlleva un riesgo sustancial, y no solo para la economía. Mientras tanto, los aliados de Estados Unidos que se opusieron al conflicto ven cómo se está convirtiendo en su pesadilla política y económica. Análisis.

• Un periodista fue detenido en Kuwait tras publicar un video sobre la guerra de Irán, denuncian activistas

El Gobierno de Estados Unidos levantó parcialmente las sanciones que mantenía desde 2017 contra bancos de Venezuela, una medida que se suma a la distensión de las relaciones entre ambos países desde que el presidente Nicolás Maduro fuera capturado en un operativo militar estadounidense y Delcy Rodríguez asumiera como presidenta encargada.

El conteo de votos en Perú avanza con más lentitud que en las dos elecciones previas y sin un plazo concreto para tener resultados oficiales, con un reñido escenario entre los candidatos que aspiran a acompañar a Keiko Fujimori a segunda vuelta. El conteo de votos ha sido el más complicado de la historia del país, con cinco elecciones simultáneas y una boleta gigante que incluye a decenas de partidos políticos para los 27 millones de electores habilitados.

La presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum, subió este martes el tono de su reclamo por las detenciones que realiza el Servicio de Inmigració

By Sebastian Shukla, CNN

Berlin (CNN) — As one European nationalist party saw its grip on power end abruptly in Hungary over the weekend, another was riding a wave of popularity that is strengthening its hold on German politics.

The Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) chapter in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt held its party congress over the weekend, ahead of state elections in September that could deliver the party – once a political outcast – its first absolute majority in its 13-year history.

In a passionate speech to around 250 delegates, the far-right party’s telegenic lead candidate in the region, Ulrich Siegmund, gave a clear sense of what AfD rule might look like in the state.

“We say yes to consistent deportations,” the highly popular social media star told the congress on Saturday in the state capital Magdeburg. Later, the party members adopted a150-page manifesto for the state that many are calling “radical.”

In a draft of the manifesto, which CNN has seen, the AfD calls for major change in migration, education, welfare and energy policies. It advocates “a complete 180-degree turn” in migration policy to include deportation and what it terms “remigration” – a word with Nazi connotations. Ukrainian refugees who fled the war would be among those targeted.

Even if the party wins an outright majority in September’s state election, the AfD will not be able to implement such changes, which are a matter for the federal government in Berlin. But the manifesto provides a clear insight into the thinking of a party that was once considered fringe, but now poses a threat to the political establishment.

Some of that shift can be attributed to immigration. In 2015, Germany opened its doors to almost a million refugees, most of them from Syria, taking in almost 3 million in the decade between then and 2024.

Germany is still wrestling with that legacy. In recent years a wave of anti-immigration sentiment has helped to fuel the rise of the AfD across the country, particularly since a spate of attacks carried out by migrants in 2024 and 2025, including one at a Christmas market in Magdeburg.

In his address to party members in that city, Siegmund said Europe was watching what he called “this historic election.”

If his party wins, Saxony-Anhalt would be the second former East German state to elect the AfD as their largest party after neighboring Thuringia. Recent polls put the AfD’s popularity hovering around 40%, more than 10 –points ahead of rival parties.

The party is already well established in the former East Germany, where its popularity is often attributed to economic disparities with the west of the country that stem from the region’s communist past. Many voters resent what they see as economic disparities between the east and west of the country.

This year, however, there are signs the AfD is also on the rise in the west of the country, a worrying trend for Germany’s legacy parties, like the CDU, the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and the SPD, which forms part of the ruling coalition.

In March, the AfD performed strongly in two state elections, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. In both instances they saw huge swings in voters, 9% and 11% respectively from the previous elections in 2021.

The results were not enough to win in either state, but they are an indication of the wider trend – the politics and policies of the AfD are

By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — Researchers studying a 250-million-year-old fossil have found the first ever proof that mammal ancestors laid eggs, with the discovery also shedding light on a remarkable survival story.

The fossil, found in South Africa, belongs to a tightly curled embryo of a Lystrosaurus, a mammal ancestor famous for surviving an extinction event 252 million years ago known as the “Great Dying,” according to a study published in the journal PLOS One on Thursday.

A team of researchers scanned the fossil using high-resolution computer tomography and a synchrotron, which produces X-rays that are brighter than the sun, and found that the Lystrosaurus embryo’s jaws were not completely fused.

This trait, which is only found in the embryos of modern birds and turtles, proves that the Lystrosaurus embryo had been inside an egg when it died, study lead author Julien Benoit, an associate professor at the Evolutionary Studies Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, told CNN.

“This is the first time we can say, with confidence, that mammal ancestors like Lystrosaurus laid eggs, making it a true milestone in the field,” said Benoit.

Benoit said that these eggs would have had a soft, leathery outer shell, as hard-shelled eggs didn’t evolve for at least another 50 million years.

The fossil also provides a potential explanation for the longstanding mystery of why Lystrosaurus survived the “Great Dying,” – the mass extinction that ended the Permian geological period in which 90% of all living things on Earth died as the planet became much hotter and drier, he added.

“Lystrosaurus lived in a very dry, desert-like, environment,” said Benoit, who added that it would have foraged in dry river beds and searched for soft, muddy ground in which to burrow and survive prolonged periods of drought.

As a result, the fact that Lystrosaurus would have laid comparatively large eggs for an animal of its size gave it an important survival advantage.

“Lystrosaurus eggs would lose less water through their leathery shell than those of other species of that time,” said Benoit.

Large eggs also imply that baby Lystrosaurus would have already been quite developed when they hatched, which constitutes another advantage.

The findings have important implications for our understanding of the origin of lactation among mammals, he added, allowing researchers to conclude the ability to secrete milk to feed young would likely have evolved between the early and late Triassic period (252 million–201 million years ago) after the mass extinction.

“Lystrosaurus hatchlings were big enough to feed by themselves and run away from predators, and would reach maturity faster so they could reproduce early,” said Benoit.

In addition, the study “provides strong support” for the hypothesis that lactation may have initially evolved not as a way to nourish offspring but to keep the leathery eggs laid by mammal ancestors moist and therefore better protected, said Benoit.

Next, he is planning further research on the evolution of lactation and viviparity, or the development of an embryo inside the mother’s body.

“These are some of the most important defining traits of our family and we still don’t know exactly when and how they evolved,” said Benoit. “Unraveling these would go a long way to help understanding the mammalian success story.”

Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who was not involved in the study, told CNN that the Lyrstrosaurus embryo is “a neat fossil.”<

By David Wright, Fredreka Schouten, CNN

Bridgewater, Virginia (CNN) — Tara Bowman lives on a farm in Woodstock, Virginia, a town of some 6,000 people nestled along the banks of the Shenandoah River’s North Fork.

But under a redistricting plan Virginia voters may enact next week, Bowman’s community would be in the same congressional district as wealthy Washington suburbs such as Fairfax and McLean some 90 miles away.

It’s part of a sweeping Democratic effort to dilute Republican votes across Virginia to help Democrats win 10 of the state’s 11 US House seats in November’s midterm elections – the latest and one of the last remaining fights in the coast-to-coast redistricting battle that President Donald Trump set off last year in Texas.

Currently, Virginia Republicans – including Bowman’s congressman, Rep. Ben Cline – hold five House seats and Democrats six.

“We’re 100% rural. We have lots of farming, small business,” an incredulous Bowman said at a weekend rally organized by redistricting opponents. “I can’t believe they’re gonna give me a congressman from Fairfax.”

Saturday’s event, which drew hundreds to a hangar in an aviation park deep in the Shenandoah Valley, marked an intensifying campaign by groups opposed to the map to mobilize rural voters in the final sprint to Tuesday’s election.

A Democratic-controlled House “would turn all the committees of Congress into investigative bodies” and impeach President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson told the audience, assembled in a county that supported Trump by a 40-point margin less than two years ago.

“You have the power to protect fair maps in Virginia and to protect, truly, the entire House Republican majority in the Congress,” Johnson said. “That’s in your hands right now.”

At the same event, Glenn Youngkin, the state’s Republican former governor, called the map a “monstrosity” that would “overwhelm and overcome the voice of the people.”

Opponents are heartened by a recent Washington Post poll that shows 52% of likely voters support the redistricting effort, despite heavy spending by Democratic-aligned groups and the state’s increasingly blue tint in national elections.

Despite the sky-high stakes for Trump and Republicans, however, Democrats have swamped Republicans in spending throughout the monthslong, multimillion-dollar redistricting campaign. Early on, the Republicans’ strategy focused heavily on trying to block the referendum in court. (A case over the redraw is still pending before the state Supreme Court, which opted to let next week’s vote proceed before deciding the merits of a lawsuit brought by opponents.)

As of Monday, Democratic groups had spent more than $48.2 million on the airwaves, urging a “yes” vote on the referendum, according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. Republicans have dramatically increased their advertising activity in recent days, but still lag in the ad wars, spending about $17 million.

A Johnson fundraiser held a few hours after the rally brought in $500,000 for the anti-redistricting effort, according to his team.

But some rural voters told CNN they were alarmed both by the map and the Democrats’ lopsided spending advantage.

“Other than a couple of shows like this with a few people, giving speeches, showing up, there has not been a significant push to offset what the Democrats are doing,” said Michael Clancy, a resident of Harrisonburg, who attended the Johnson rally.

“It seems like they want to lose the midterms,” Clancy said of Republican leaders.

How the new map would work

Misshapen district boundaries are not unique to Virginia mapmakers nor to one political party. Lawmakers in heavily Democratic Illinois and deep-red Tennessee have each drawn maps that carve up Chicago and Nashville, respectively, for partisan advantage.