At the end of 2024, BBVA launched the Analytics Transformation unit, which houses the functions of advanced analytics and business analytics to accelerate the bank’s transformation to a data-driven organization. This unit includes the more than 1,000 data scientists responsible for designing and executing the AI models and algorithms the bank uses in both its internal operations and in products and services for clients. The more than 2,500 data specialists who help enhance the value of data and AI from the business areas are also part of this unit.
With the aim of making the most of these professionals’ technical knowledge, BBVA is offering them a professional development model that allows them to continue advancing in their careers from the early stages of their careers. They can choose a traditional management role leading teams (manager) or a path of advanced specialization as an expert or individual contributor (IC), which allows them to continue developing advanced AI solutions.
“Many of our professionals stand out for their command of emerging technologies and technical knowledge, which are of great value to the bank’s technological projects. However, traditional career advancement usually leads to management roles, which means that this valuable technical contribution gets lost along the way,” explained Cayetano Gea-Carrasco, Head of Analytics Transformation at BBVA. “With our professional development model for these profiles, we want to recognize and empower technical leadership as a career path parallel to management.”
Within the IC itinerary, BBVA has established three levels of specialization:
Data Scientist Expert: internal professionals who are leaders using advanced algorithms to solve complex business challenges.
Data Scientist Senior Expert: experts with a focus on areas like natural language processing, graphs or recommendation systems, actively participating in publications and training programs.
Data Scientist Master Expert: highly specialized profiles with a key role in innovation, global technical standards and research initiatives.
These experts also belong to a community of practice that encourages knowledge sharing and continuous learning through mentoring, intensive technological training programs (bootcamps) and informal meetings (meetups). Each IC profile also has a personalized development plan, which includes advanced training and participation in strategic projects.
With this model, BBVA is creating an environment where technical knowledge is not only valued – it is also a real path to leadership and professional development.
US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy has announced the US wants to be the first nation to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon after an internal directive showed he ordered the space agency NASA to fast-track the plan.
“We’re going to bring nuclear fission to the lunar surface to power our base,” Mr Duffy wrote on social media X on Thursday, local time.
“If you lead in space, you lead on Earth.“
A directive written by Mr Duffy — first reported by Politico and seen by Agence France Presse (AFP) — demands that NASA build a nuclear reactor that could be used to generate power on the Moon within five years.
It is the first major policy change by Mr Duffy since President Donald Trump appointed him as acting head of the space agency, and it comes just three months after China and Russia announced they were considering a joint effort to also put a nuclear power station on the Moon.
But what would a nuclear reactor help achieve? And what is driving this new space race? Here’s what to know.
What is a nuclear reactor?
Nuclear reactors are the heart of a nuclear power plant. They create electricity by producing a carefully controlled nuclear chain reaction.
Over the years, NASA has funded multiple nuclear reactor research projects. (Four Corners: Ryan Sheridan)
According to the New York Times, Mr Duffy’s directive calls for the agency to solicit proposals from commercial companies for a reactor that could generate 100 kilowatts of power and would be ready for launch in late 2029.
That’s enough electricity to power between 50 and 100 Australian households at once.
As extraordinary as it sounds, this idea to use nuclear energy in space is not new.
Since 2000, NASA has been investing in nuclear reactor research, including in 2022, when it awarded three US$5 million contracts to develop initial designs for the Moon.
But those designs were smaller, producing 40 kilowatts, and were for demonstration purposes to show nuclear power “is a safe, clean, reliable option,” NASA said at the time.
Why put one on the Moon?
A nuclear reactor would be useful for long-term stays on the Moon, as the Trump administration looks to revitalise space exploration.
One lunar day lasts four weeks on Earth, with two weeks of continual sunshine followed by two weeks of cold darkness.
This cycle makes it difficult for a spacecraft or a Moon base to survive with just solar panels and batteries.
Having a source of power independent of the Sun would be key to a sustained human presence on the lunar surface for at least 10 years, NASA has previously said.
A 2022 concept illustration of NASA’s Fission Surface Power Project on the Moon. (Supplied: NASA)
In the internal directive, Mr Duffy also cites China and Russia’s plans to put a reactor on the moon by the mid-2030s.
“The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first,” he writes, according to AFP.
Artemis is a reference to NASA’s Moon exploration program, which aims to send four astronauts to the lunar surface in 2026 to establish a lasting presence near the south pole.
Further, Mr Duffy notes it would pave the way for Mars exploration efforts.
“To properly advance this critical technology to be able to support a future lunar economy, high-power energy generation on Mars, and to strengthen our national security in space, it is imperative the agency move quickly,” he reportedly says.
Amid renewed competition for space dominance — more than 50 years after the Cold War spurred the first man to walk on the Moon — it is worth noting that a 1967 UN agreement says no nation can own the Moon.
Mr Duffy’s comments about the potential for another country to declare a “keep-out zone” on its surface appear to be referring to an agreement called the Artemis Accords.
In 2020, seven nations initially signed the agreement to establish principles on how countries should cooperate on the Moon. Since then, 49 more have done so, including Australia, but China is noticeably absent from the list.
These principles include so-called “safety zones” to be established around operations and assets that countries build on the Moon to prevent interference.
So, what is behind this lunar race?
The race to the Moon is driven by scientific knowledge and technological advances, as well as the prospect of accessing valuable resources.
In a 2015 article published on its website, NASA explains why it plans to mine the Moon and how the “lunar gold rush” could work.
Citing data from geological surveys, the space agency says the Moon contains three crucial elements: water, helium and rare earth metals.
The water reserves frozen inside shadowed craters could be used for drinking, and could even be converted into rocket fuel to support future missions to Mars, according to NASA.
The agency says helium would support developments in the energy sector, like nuclear fusion.
As for rare earth metals, it says they would boost the supplies needed for emerging technologies, like smartphones, computers and medical equipment.
China has also tapped the Moon’s potential and made giant leaps in space exploration and technology in recent years.
It has built a space station that is manned by taikonauts, landed a rover on Mars, and became the first nation to touch down on the far side of the Moon.
China, too, wants to set up a lunar base and send people to Mars, adding a layer of political rivalry to the race.
Microsoft and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a “high-severity vulnerability” alert on Wednesday evening about a flaw affecting on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange that coincided with a talk delivered at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference with the security researcher that discovered and presented it in detail.
The vulnerability allows hackers to deploy a series of techniques that enable compromise of on-premises versions of Active Directory, the Microsoft tool suite that centralizes the management of users, computers and other resources across an organization’s network.
The flaw also exposes Entra ID, Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service that helps identify and authenticate network users, according to a detailed blog issued by the company.
Parts of the federal enterprise are susceptible to the vulnerability, and CISA plans to issue an emergency patching directive to the federal enterprise on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Microsoft in its blog says it plans to speed up its customers’ adoption of the most up-to-date version of Microsoft Exchange hybrid environments, a term used to describe setups where an organization uses both cloud and local infrastructure to support their networks.
The company “will begin temporarily blocking Exchange Web Services (EWS) traffic using the Exchange Online shared service principal” to make customer environments more secure, it said. The rollouts will take place over the coming months.
In a related explainer, Microsoft said it initially issued security changes to Exchange Server hybrid deployment in April. But in doing so, the company found that these new configuration steps actually fixed a real security flaw, though many organizations did not update their systems to employ the fix.
At Black Hat in Las Vegas, Nevada, Outsider Security researcher Dirk-jan Mollema presented a long-form demo exploiting the flaw, where he said he was able to modify user passwords, convert cloud users to hybrid users and impersonate hybrid users.
Through the exploit, hackers could also modify executive permissions, known as service principals, where they could escalate network access privileges or establish persistent access between on-premises Exchange and Microsoft 365 by tampering with the identities and permissions set up on a network.
“These tokens, they’re basically valid for 24 hours. You cannot revoke them. So if somebody has this token, there’s absolutely nothing you can do from a defensive point of view,” Mollema said.
He was referring to special access tokens used when Exchange servers talk to Microsoft 365, which can’t be canceled once stolen — giving attackers up to 24 hours of unchecked access. That access, combined with special top-level permissions, could let hackers steal email data or move deeper into an organization’s cloud environment undetected.
Microsoft said that “there is no observed exploitation” of the vulnerability as of the time of the alert issued.
Multiple federal agencies were impacted in a separate on-premises Microsoft SharePoint vulnerability disclosed last month, including the Department of Homeland Security, which was first reported by Nextgov/FCW. That vulnerability was exploited worldwide by several China-linked hacking groups.
The federal government, as well as thousands of state and local governments, rely heavily on Microsoft products. For the federal enterprise, Microsoft is predominantly used across civilian and defense agencies for routine tasks like file sharing, internal messaging, records management and remote collaboration.
BRUSSELS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — The world saw its third-warmest July on record in 2025 with a slight respite from the unprecedented heat of the previous two years, which still reflects the ongoing trend of global warming, said the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) on Thursday.
The global average surface air temperature in July 2025 was 16.68 degrees Celsius. It was 0.27 degrees Celsius cooler than July 2023 — the hottest July on record — and 0.23 degrees Celsius cooler than July 2024, the second-warmest. Still, it remained 1.25 degrees Celsius above the estimated pre-industrial level of 1850-1900.
The heat extended across continents. In Europe, the average land temperature reached 21.12 degrees Celsius last month, making it the fourth-warmest July on record for the continent.
Northern Europe saw the most intense anomalies, according to the C3S. The Fennoscandia region experienced Europe’s most pronounced above-average air temperatures, with heatwave conditions especially affecting Sweden and Finland, while southeastern European countries endured heatwaves and wildfires.
Beyond Europe, below-average temperatures were recorded in parts of North America, South America, India, most of Australia and some regions in Africa and Antarctica, the C3S report said.
The climate change service also said that the sea ice coverage remained well below average at both poles. Arctic sea ice extent was 10 percent below normal, making it the joint second-lowest for July in the 47-year satellite record, while Antarctic sea ice extent was 8 percent below average, the third-lowest for the month.
“Two years after the hottest July on record, the recent streak of global temperature records is over for now. But this doesn’t mean climate change has stopped,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the C3S.
Buontempo noted that the world continued to witness the effects of a warming climate in July, including extreme heat and catastrophic floods. He called for greater preparedness, warning that without the rapid stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, new temperature records and worsening climate impacts should be expected. ■
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) raised Rs589.49 billion through latest auctions of Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) and Market Treasury Bills (MTBs) on Wednesday, reflecting continued investor confidence in government securities despite evolving macroeconomic conditions.
The auctions attracted robust participation across both short- and long-term instruments. Of the total amount raised, Rs203.35 billion was mobilised through 10-year floating-rate PIBs, while Rs386.14 billion came from various tenors of MTBs ranging from one month to 12 months.
In the PIB auction, the SBP received bids totalling Rs539.2 billion (face value). It accepted Rs199.2 billion in competitive bids at a cut-off price of Rs94.8526, translating into a realised amount of Rs189.15 billion, along with accrued interest of Rs1.65 billion. Additionally, non-competitive bids worth Rs4.15 billion were accepted at a slightly higher price of Rs94.9541, bringing the total PIB acceptance to Rs203.35 billion.
The MTBs auction was equally well-received, with demand spread across four tenors. In competitive bidding, the SBP accepted Rs33.36 billion for one-month bills at a cut-off yield of 10.8999%, Rs50.16 billion for three-month bills at 10.8502%, Rs33.06 billion for six-month bills at 10.8739% and Rs65.18 billion for 12-month bills at 10.9999%. Weighted average yields across all tenors were slightly lower than the respective cut-off yields, indicating some price competitiveness.
The central bank also accepted Rs204.35 billion in non-competitive bids for MTBs, boosting total acceptance to Rs59.28 billion for one-month, Rs182.32 billion for three-month, Rs54.11 billion for six-month and Rs90.42 billion for 12-month tenors.
Moreover, after 10 straight sessions of gains, the Pakistani rupee slipped against the US dollar on Wednesday, recording a marginal depreciation of 0.04% in the inter-bank market. By the end of trading, the rupee stood at 282.67, down by 10 paisa from Tuesday’s close at 282.57.
Meanwhile, gold prices in Pakistan increased, defying the global trend where the precious metal saw a mild retreat as investors booked profits after a recent rally. In the local market, the price of gold per tola rose by Rs1,300, settling at Rs359,300, according to the All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association. Similarly, the price of 10-gram gold climbed by Rs1,114 to Rs308,041.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Interactive Commodities Director Adnan Agar said the local market remained tilted towards the upside. “Gold was on an upward trend. The day’s high was $3,385 and the low was $3,344, with the market later standing at $3,378,” he said.
Agar noted that if the market closed above the $3,375-3,380 range, there was a strong possibility that gold could test $3,440-3,450 levels in the near term.
Globally, spot gold fell 0.1% to $3,378.12 per ounce by 1202 pm ET (1602 GMT). However, US gold futures were up 0.1% at $3,436.90.
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Flash floods are causing havoc across swaths of Asia even as scientists said the global temperature rise in the past three months had eased from record levels.
The global temperature increase remained more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels over a 12-month period even though July was the third month where the temperature rise was below that level, the European earth observation agency Copernicus said.
Scientists cautioned this did not mean “climate change has stopped”. Last month was still the third-warmest July on record at about 1.25C above the pre-industrial average.
“Two years after the hottest July on record, the recent streak of global temperature records is over — at least for now,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus. “But that doesn’t mean climate change has stopped. We continue to witness the effects of a warming world in events such as extreme heat and catastrophic floods.”
Torrential rain forced businesses and schools to shut and disrupted travel in Hong Kong this week, as it experienced its highest daily rainfall for August since 1884, local weather authorities said.
At the same time, a rescue mission was under way for dozens of missing people in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand following flash floods.
The floods come after the earth experienced its hottest year on the books in 2024, breaking a record that was set only a year earlier. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, making intense rainfall more likely.
The 12 months between August 2024 and July this year was 1.53C above the pre-industrial average, Copernicus said. A short-term temperature rise of more than 1.5C is not a breach of the long-term goals of the Paris agreement, which is measured over a period of two decades.
Scandinavia, China and Japan were particularly hot this July, Copernicus said.
Akshay Deoras, research scientist at the University of Reading, said that even if the recent streak of temperature records “eases temporarily, it does not mean extreme weather events are slowing down”.
While parts of Asia, including India, often experience intense monsoon rains between June and September, Deoras warned these “storms are now happening in a much warmer atmosphere — one that holds more moisture, builds more energy and releases it violently”.
He pointed to Uttarakhand, which had received up to five times its normal rainfall between August 5 and 6.
A so-called cloudburst, or extreme sudden downpour, was blamed for the flooding in Dharali in Uttarakhand, with videos showing a wave of water knocking down buildings in its path.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “relief and rescue teams were engaged in every possible effort” to find and help victims.
Southern China was also hit with deadly flash floods last weekend, while an intense monsoon season has left hundreds of people dead in Pakistan.
A rapid analysis by the World Weather Attribution global research group released this week found that the recent floods in Pakistan were made about 15 per cent more intense by human-caused climate change.
Rain in the monsoon months had become more intense, it found. “Every tenth of a degree of warming will lead to heavier monsoon rainfall, highlighting why a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is so urgent,” said Mariam Zachariah, researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London.
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BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) — The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 64 pips to 7.1345 against the U.S. dollar Thursday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. ■
United Airlines on Wednesday said it had suspended flights due to a widespread tech issue, and anticipates additional flight delays in the evening.
“Due to a technology issue, we are holding United mainline flights at their departure airports,” United said in a statement. “We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue. Safety is our top priority, and we’ll work with our customers to get them to their destinations.”
According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s website, ground stops had been issued for United Airlines flights at several US airports including its hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark and San Francisco.
The ground stop does not affect United Express flights, and any flight already in the air will continue to its destination, the airline said.
As of Wednesday evening, tracking site FlightAware reported that United had delayed 28%, or 876, of that day’s flights.
As frustrated passengers took to social media, United apologized for the disruption and assured people their teams were “working to resolve the widespread system error as quickly as possible”.
United Airlines has halted flights at major airports across the US over a “technology issue”, according to the company.
A ground stop was issued for the company’s mainline flights from departure airports, causing issues at airports including Chicago, Denver, Houston, San Francisco and New Jersey, the US Federal Aviation Administration’s website shows.
“We expect additional flight delays this evening as we work through this issue,” United told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
“Safety is our top priority, and we’ll work with our customers to get them to their destinations,” the company said.
The BBC has contacted United Airlines for comment.
Flights that are already in the air will continue to their destination, the company told CBS News. It added that regional flights were not impacted but could be delayed because of traffic jams from the ground stops.
Over 700 United flights had been delayed as of 21:00 EDT (2:00 BST), according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
