If you download ‘Torrente Presidente’, Santiago Segura has the same message for you as if you downloaded ‘Torrente 3’

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Whoever tries to download ‘Torrente, president‘ Through unofficial channels you will find, instead of the film, a video message from Santiago Segura asking you to go to the cinema. It is not the first time: the Madrid director has been using this same tactic and this same video since 2005, with ‘Torrente 3’. Torrente deceives you. The sixth installment of the highest-grossing saga of Spanish cinema has been in theaters for eleven days and already accumulates more than 16 million euros in collection. It is the most viewed film in Spain so far this year, and yet, whoever downloads the film via torrent will find a clip in which Santiago Segura asks the viewerwith his usual casual tone, to go to the movies. The video is titled ‘Torrente, president… or not?’ It weighs only 22 MB and lasts one and a half minutes. It’s impossible to confuse it with a full movie, but the file name does its job perfectly: appearing in search results where a user would expect to find the actual movie. It’s not the first time. The video has not been filmed now: already in 2005, with the release of ‘Torrente 3: El Protector’, Santiago Segura distributed this same video, playing the first minutes of the film before cutting to the warning message. These were the times of widespread unauthorized downloads and the popularization of what was then known as Top Manta, and Segura was not the only one undertaking this type of initiative. For example, around the same time, the copy seen on the internet of the French film ‘Blueberry’ started normally until, after ten minutes, the protagonist broke the fourth wall and addressed the viewer. The group Estopa did something similar with one of their albums, adding voice interruptions to some copies that were circulating on the internet. Unique strategies. This video adds to the fame of Santiago Segura as one of the filmmakers who best knows how to attract the public’s attention, even if it is with messages that apparently stand in favor of the industry and against the user who is not aware of torrents. The promotional strategy for ‘Torrente Presidente’ has been equally unusual: no prior press screenings, no official trailer until the Monday after the premiere, with no advances of any kind regarding cameos or plot. This contributed to the public rushing to see it en masse from day one, before the social conversation gutted the content. This message about unauthorized torrents obeys the same logic: control of content until the box office has been squeezed. In Xataka | There are many people who hate Santiago Segura’s films. The problem is that they “save” Spanish cinema every year

Movistar Plus+ activates its Free Plan with complete programs and a lot of content, regardless of which operator you are

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Even though Movistar Plus+ is available for non-customers of the company, we have a new twist in the script. The platform announced today the arrival of Free Planan access mode that is completely free and that will allow us to see a lot of content, both on our mobile phone, on TV or on any other device. The best? To register you only need an email and a password. Movistar Plus+ Free Plan The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The free Movistar Plus+ modality has a lot to see This new Free Plan is a very interesting way to see what the platform offers without having to pay anything. Also, as we say, to register no need to enter a card or other payment method. All you need is a very simple registration with email and password that will only take a couple of minutes. Of course, this free modality does not give us access to the entire Movistar Plus+ catalog. Despite this, there is no lack of content at all. For example, Free Plan allows you to enjoy the first chapter of the platform’s original serieseven the premiere ones. That’s where ‘For a hundred million’ comes in, as well as the first episodes of the true crime by Carles Porta or series such as ‘Poquita Fe’, ‘La Mesías’ or ‘Querer’, among others. We will also have available some of the most notable programs that Movistar Plus+ has, such as ‘Ilustres Ignorantes’ or ‘El consulta de Berto’, as well as ‘The Day After’. Additionally, this Free Plan will also issue the pre- and post-match of the Champions League matches and the Europa League. For 9.99 euros per month you have complete series, movies and football If you try the platform and want more, you have the option to subscribe by 9.99 euros per month (or 99.90 euros per year). In exchange, the entire platform catalog will be opened to us, which includes the entire series and a lot of quality movies with movies like ‘Sirat‘, ‘Sundays‘, ‘Maspalomas‘, ‘Dinner’ or ‘Fury’. Monthly subscription to Movistar Plus+ The price could vary. We earn commission from these links In addition, along with other live sporting events, we will have several very interesting soccer matches. The most notable are the Champions quarterfinals with the great games Real Madrid-Bayern Munich (April 7) and Atlético de Madrid-Barcelona FC (April 14), although there is more. All taking into account that it is a platform that we can share with a friend or family member without any problem. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Movistar Plus+ In Xataka | Mega-guide to set up a home theater: projector, screen, sound system and more In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs

that tourists stop coming

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For a couple of years, almost day in and day out, Japan has been in the news for its avalanche of tourists and the problems that this massification is leaving in the country. It doesn’t just happen there. In Italy, South Korea, Nepal, Hawaii either Netherlands They are not alien to the effects of the tourismjust as Spain is not, where they have already organized several demonstrations by the pressure that vacation rentals are having on the real estate market. Not everyone encounters that problem. In Peru it is actually worrying quite the opposite: the tourists who do not arrive. “Warning signs”. We mentioned it before. Accustomed to news about countries saturated by tourism or even look for ways to repel visitors, it is surprising to read cases like that of Peru. Over there Apoturthe Association of Incoming and Domestic Tourism Operators, has just launched a message that breaks in a certain way with the speech optimistic that the Government maintains. The association recently published a study with several “warning signs”. Specifically, two. The first is that, despite the gradual recovery of visitors, Peruvian tourism still not going back to their pre-pandemic levels. The second, that foreign travelers seem less and less interested in spending their vacations in the Andean country, which is benefiting other destinations. “Loss of competitiveness”. The study de Apotur does not leave much room for interpretation. After analyzing the searches of millions of people from several countries, including Spain, its authors warn that the interest that Peru arouses as a vacation destination experienced a year-on-year decline of 14% in 2025. The result, insists the employers’ association of Peruvian tour operators, is “a loss of competitiveness” that favors other nations in the region. “The study detects a shift in demand towards regional destinations that today compete directly with Peru. When travelers discard the country, 26.1% opt for Colombia, 25.4% for Costa Rica, 20% for Ecuador and 19.8% for Mexico, markets that are capitalizing on cultural and natural tourism that was previously directed to Peruvian territory,” stand out from Apotur. In case there were any doubts, its president, Claudia Medina, insist in that it is not that international tourism is declining, but rather that it is looking towards other horizons. But… Why? Peru has an enviable landscape, cultural and heritage wealth and has one of the main tourist attractions in America, the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchuconsidered one of “the seven wonders of the modern world” along with other treasures such as Chichén Itzá, the Taj Mahal or the Great Wall of China. So…why is it “falling interest” of foreign tourists, as Apotur itself warns? What is the distancing due to? The key would be more in travel management than in what the country offers. “Sector studies show that there is a high interest in visiting the country. However, more than 70% of potential travelers change their decision (postpone or cancel) due to uncertainty about their trip. Factors such as blockades, lack of predictability, informality and operational limitations at the entrances to Machu Picchu directly affect confidence in the destination,” regrets the head of Apotur in statements collected by the newspaper Management. Seeking security. The key would be precisely that, the perception of “security”a value that does not refer so much to the crime rate as to the reliability that the country offers at the tourist level. When traveling, people want everything to go as planned, without surprises. And that is where Peru loses strength. “Among the reasons that most worry travelers are informality in tourist services (31.2%), citizen insecurity (30.9%) and social instability (29.1%), as well as infrastructure problems and logistical disorder in some destinations,” remember from the association. “The study warns that these elements do not affect the attractiveness of the country, but rather the perception of risk.” The example of Machu Picchu. The message from the tour operators comes after Peru’s great heritage treasure, Machu Picchu, has been involved in controversy over its management. Last year New7Wornders warned Lima that the citadel risked losing its place on the list of the “New Seven Wonders of the World” if it did not solve the problems that threatened it. Which is it? The organization specifically pointed out its saturation, the lack of sustainable management and “irregular practices” related to inputs. The Peruvian General Comptroller’s Office itself has shown its concern about the “tourist overload” that both the citadel and the Inca Road Network suffer. The Government of Peru already has made a move and made an effort to strengthen security and entry control, but what it has not managed to avoid is that the controversy spread beyond its borders. And it hasn’t been the only one. The country wants to create an airport in the region that could shoot 200% tourism. One figure: 3.4 million. That does not mean that Peru’s tourism industry is doing poorly. Recently the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism confirmed that in 2025 the country will receive 3.4 million of international tourists and its objective is that this year this mark will be far exceeded, reaching four million. When announcing the data, the central Executive also showed its intention to diversify the offer, also betting on religious, nature, adventure and meeting tourism, distributing the flow of visitors throughout the country. The problem for Apotur is that, even if the set objective is reached and four million tourists are reached in 2026, the figure would be “insufficient”. Competition earrings. “We are growing, but we are still not competing at the level that Peru can,” claims Medina before remembering that in 2019, before COVID turned the sector upside down worldwide, Peru registered around 4.4 million international tourists. It is not just that the country has not yet reconnected with the demand that the coronavirus once destroyed. The group also insists that Peru is losing ground in favor of neighboring countries that “have already exceeded their pre-pandemic levels.” In the background: the cost that this has for the country’s economy, which Apotur estimates … Read more

The United Kingdom has just detained a Russian oil tanker in Gibraltar. The problem is the possibility that they are armed

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Spain controls one of the busiest maritime passages on the planet: for the Strait of Gibraltar More than 100,000 ships cross each year, including thousands of oil tankers. Just a few kilometers from its coasts, a good part of the crude oil that feeds Europe circulates, and any alteration in that flow has a direct impact on the Spanish economy, from the price of energy to maritime security. From sanctions to interceptions. What for months was a silent economic war you have just crossed a new visible line. The Royal Navy no longer limits itself to observing Russian maritime traffic, it now follows it, identifies it and makes it easier to approach. The case of the MV Deyna oil tanker in Gibraltar mark that change. It is not an isolated incident, it is the symptom of a strategy that is beginning to materialize at sea. And in this turn there is a key detail: for the first time, the pressure on the shadow fleet stops being just legal or financial and becomes operational. The fleet in the shadows. Russia has built a network of hundreds of opaque tankers to continue selling crude oil despite the sanctions. This includes everything from old ships to constant flag changes or business structures that are difficult to trace. All designed for keep the flow of income that fuels its war economy. This network has been for years difficult to attack because it operates on the margins of international law. But now that margin is narrowing, and every interception at key points like Gibraltar points directly to a critical vulnerability of the Russian system. HMS Cutlass stopped the tanker Gibraltar and the bottleneck. The strait, furthermore, is not just any place. As we said at the beginning, it is one of the most guarded maritime crossings on the planet. and convert it at pressure point against Russian oil has a clear logic: controlling traffic is controlling business. HMS Cutlass operations near France show that NATO is willing to use intelligencesurveillance and naval presence to stop this flow. If you will, each intervention sends a message that goes beyond the specific ship, one that announces that it is no longer safe to operate in the shadows near Europe. The problem. It turns out that this is where the story really changes. Because Russia not only wants to protect its fleet, it is considering doing so with military means. Armed patrols, fire equipment on board and even the possibility of militarizing the tankers themselves. What until now were civil ships with economic functions could be transformed into platforms with defensive capacity. And that turns any approach or follow-up into an operation with a real risk of escalation, where an inspection can turn into an armed incident. From drones to oil tankers. Ukrainian naval drone attacks against Russian ships have been the trigger of this change. They have shown that even large maritime assets are vulnerable, and Russia has responded hardening his stance and preparing an active defense. This connects directly with the current global scenario, where energy transportation has become in strategic objective. The sea, which for decades was a relatively stable highway, is beginning to look more and more like a diffuse war front. The domino effect. The paradox is quite evident. While the West try to cut Russia’s revenues, the war in the Middle East has put Moscow’s crude oil back to the center of the market global, with India and China absorbing shipments that previously found no buyer and prices rising higher and higher. And meanwhile the shadow fleet returns to be indispensable. That makes any try to stop it have global consequences, turning each interception into more than just a naval operation: a piece in a much larger battle for control of the global energy flow. A new red line. If you like, the final scenario is the most uncomfortable and dangerous. A Russian tanker detained in Gibraltar It is no longer just a sanctioned ship, it may be the first link in a chain of tensions that escalate rapidly. Because if those ships start to go armedeach interaction at sea stops being administrative and becomes potentially military. And at that point, the question stops being whether the shadow fleet can continue operating, and becomes what will happen the day someone shoots first. Image | kees torn In Xataka | The Canary Islands and Galicia have set off the Navy’s alarm bells. Russia’s ghost fleet has arrived in Spain with warships In Xataka | A ghost fleet has mapped the entire underwater structure of the EU. The question is what Moscow is going to do with that information.

They are committed to colonizing it before 2030

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The Artemis program has been a source of news for a long time because of the many delays that have been accumulating their space missions. But now it has suffered the biggest turnaround in its recent history when the cancellation of the construction of the Gateway space station in its current form, as NASA’s own administrator has confirmed. Now the goal is to build a permanent base. The initial plan. What until recently was the cornerstone of humanity’s return to the Moon has today been discarded. As reported by ABC, NASA has decided that building a toll station in lunar orbit is no longer a priority for them, or it is not a priority for Donald Trump’s plans. This move represents a radical restructuring of the Artemis program, which shifts all attention to Artemis IVscheduled for 2028, which would lead to flights between the Moon and Earth being made every six months to have a permanent presence on our satellite. The reason. The decision to destroy the Gateway was not born from a whim, but from the pure need to optimize the resources and time available. As noted, maintaining the development of a station that orbits the Moon was posing an internal barrier to the main objective they had set: establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon with regular flights. But there is also politics involved, since Donald Trump himself put duties on NASA: we must accelerate the return of humans to the Moon, establish a permanent base and reinforce the country’s leadership in space. And it is something that has an expiration date, since Trump wants to see this accomplished before his term ends before 2029, to say that he was the president who achieved this achievement again. The problem is that China is after this same objective. The private sector. You cannot understand this paradigm shift without them. The restructuring that Isaacman has announced seeks to make NASA much more agile in the face of fierce competition from giants like SpaceX and Blue Origin, which do not leave the federal agency in a good position. These companies are developing vehicles, such as the Starship from SpaceX or the Blue Moon from Blue Origin, whose charging capabilities make the need for an intermediate station like the Gateway, from a logistical point of view, increasingly redundant. Isaacman seems to have understood that to maintain the agency’s relevance and speed, it must adapt to the new monsters in the aerospace sector that have created a large field of competition. The existing hardware. Without a doubt, this is going to cause a lot of headaches for aerospace engineers. As space exploration experts had already been analyzing, the adjustments for missions like Artemis IV were going to require a large intermediate process. Now, Gateway’s cancellation raises immediate challenges about what to do with hardware and contracts that were already underway or in advanced stages of development. Adapting the lunar landing systems and Orion spacecraft for direct missions to the surface without the support of the orbital station will require a deep technical review in the coming months. And the problem is that the calendar does not stop putting pressure on us to have ever earlier results. News on Mars. In addition to this big change to Artemis, NASA has announced the launch of the Space Reactor-1 Freedom, the first interplanetary spacecraft powered by nuclear energy, whose objective will be Mars and will be launched before the end of 2028. This project wants to make the United States stand out before the rest of the planet with the use that can be given to nuclear energy. And it is no wonder, since this technology promises to offer power to reach distant regions such as, for example, Jupiter, where traditional solar panels lose effectiveness. But also, upon reaching the red planet this rocket will deploy ‘Skyfall’, a fleet of Ingenuity-class helicopters to continue exploration beyond. Images | NASA (2) In Xataka | In 2018, Elon Musk put his own car into orbit. Eight years later it is still circling the Earth

Terence Tao is the best mathematician in the world. He has recognized that he is using AI to solve one of the Millennium Problems

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Stating outright which person is the best in the world at something is risky. If we stick to cutting-edge research in the field of mathematics the German Peter Scholze, the British James Maynard or the Chinese-American Yitang Zhang, among other researchers, are usually considered the most capable living mathematicians. However, in the scientific community there is an almost unanimous consensus that Terence Tao, who has dual Australian and American nationality, is the authentic “Mozart of mathematics.” His prestige has been earned hard. He won the Fields Medal, which is often considered the Nobel Prize in mathematicsin 2006, when he was 31 years old. And he was awarded it for his contributions in three fundamental areas: number theory, partial differential equations and harmonic analysis. However, the Fields Medal committee especially highlighted his ability to connect areas that most mathematicians considered isolated. In any case, this is not all. Tao is often admired for his versatility. Many elite mathematicians specialize in a specific field, but this scientist has produced cutting-edge work in combinatorics and compressed detection, in addition to the three areas for which he received the Fields Medal. And, furthermore, he has earned a reputation as a generous researcher who works very well in a team and is always willing to adopt new technologies to address the greatest mathematical challenges. AI is an essential tool in mathematics for Terence Tao Dwarkesh Patel, an Indian-American content creator specializing in technology and artificial intelligence (IA) who has established himself as one of the most influential voices in Silicon Valley thanks to his interviews with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella, Ilya Sutskever and Demis Hassabis, published just a few days ago a very interesting conversation with Terence Tao. And AI has been the absolute protagonist of a dialogue in which this mathematician has enthusiastically defended the role that this technology already has as a “trusted co-author” in research in the area of ​​mathematics. Terence Tao is currently one of the biggest promoters of Lean within the scientific community In October 2024 Meta AIMeta’s AI, managed to generalize the Lyapunov function. Russian mathematician Aleksander Lyapunov proposed the concept of the function that bears his name in 1892. His work is a very important tool in the study of dynamical systems, but mathematicians have struggled since then to find a general method that would allow them to identify Lyapunov functions. And they were not successful. However, Meta AI has had it. This is just one example that clearly illustrates the capacity that AI already has when it comes to facing some mathematical challenges. Terence Tao does not believe that AI will end up replacing researchers; argues that it is actually a very valuable tool that allows mathematicians to leave behind individual research and collaborate on much larger and more ambitious projects. And he leads by example. In fact, you have introduced Lean into your daily workflow. This tool is a proof assistant and programming language designed to verify mathematical reasoning and verify that it is completely correct. Tao is currently one of the biggest proponents of Lean within the scientific community. “I hope that the AI ​​of 2026, when used correctly, will be a trusted co-author in research in mathematics. And in many other fields as well,” defends Terence Tao. He is currently using this technology to confront some of the biggest math challenges there aresuch as the Collatz conjecture or the Navier-Stokes equations. The latter give shape to one of the Millennium Problems and they seek, broadly speaking, to understand how fluids behave. Interestingly, these equations are constantly used to predict the weather or design airplanes, among many other applications, but we still don’t understand precisely how they work. Terence Tao and AI are one of our best assets when it comes to definitively solving this enigma. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | Dwarkesh Patel In Xataka | These two problems have baffled mathematicians for decades. A genius has solved them with a stroke of the pen

Canada now allows Chinese cars to be sold and the US believes they have opened the door to the wolf

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Canada is about to become the gateway of chinese manufacturers of electric cars to North America. BYD, Geely and Chery They have been preparing their landing for months in the country, and from Washington they are watching with great suspicion. What has happened? In January, Mark Carney’s Government closed a trade agreement with China that reduced tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 100% to 6.1%, in exchange for Beijing lowering tariffs on Canadian agricultural products such as rapeseed or lobsters. The agreement allows the entry of up to 49,000 Chinese electric cars per year, with the possibility of scaling up to 70,000 in five years. March 1, Ottawa opened the application process of import permits. Tensions. This decision comes amid trade tensions with the United States under the Trump administration, which has imposed tariffs on both Canada and China. “We take the world as it is, not as we would like it to be,” counted at that time Carney, with the intention of diversifying its alliances. Who arrives and how. According to the DSMA advisory firm, which is mediating between Chinese manufacturers and Canadian dealers, three brands lead the race: BYD, Geely and Chery. The three are working in parallel on the approval of vehicles, the construction of distribution networks and agreements with local financial partners. Jason Zhao, director of Asian market development at DSMA, estimates that the first cars could arrive at the end of 2026. It would look like this: BYD wants to open 20 dealerships in a year, starting in the Toronto area and then expanding to Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary, according to explained to The Globe and Mail Farid Ahmad, CEO of Dealer Solutions Mergers & Acquisitions. The brand is also studying the possibility of building its own production plant in the country, although, according to declared to Bloomberg a few weeks ago its executive vice president Stella Li, “no decision has been made yet.” Geely expects to soon receive certification from Canadian authorities for its vehicles, according to confirmed to Bloomberg Andy An, CEO of Zhejiang Geely Holding. The company already has some presence in North America through Volvo and Polestar, but Zeekr would be its first Chinese brand to reach the Canadian market. Cherry is hiring in Canada and has already registered several of its brands, including Omoda, Jaecoo and Exeed. In statements collected According to Automotive News Canada, the company stated that it is “evaluating avenues for future development, including alliances with local players,” although without confirming dates. The problem of times. Just because there is a trade agreement does not mean that the cars will arrive tomorrow. Stephen Beatty, industry consultant and former executive at Toyota Canada, counted to Automotive News Canada that, if starting from scratch, the homologation process can take “a year or more.” And the brands best positioned to be the first through the door are Tesla (which had already prepared its Shanghai factory to export to Canada in 2023) and Volvo and Polestar, which already operate in the Canadian market under a Chinese umbrella. Washington’s reaction. Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative, qualified the agreement “problematic” and warned that Canada might regret it. The issue raises concern in Washington, since if Chinese manufacturers manage to establish themselves in Canada, the US market (the great long-term objective) will be much closer. “The obvious end goal is all of North America,” counted Tu Le, managing director of Sino Auto Insights, in the middle. Between the lines. The United States maintains very high tariffs on Chinese cars and a ban on connectivity technology for Chinese-made vehicles, which has blocked any mass entry into its market. Canada, by opening its door, not only irritates Washington because of the direct commercial impact (about 49,000 cars are barely 3% of the Canadian market), but for what it represents: a precedent and a bridgehead. BYD, in fact, has already publicly ruled out trying to enter the US in the short term. Stella Li, speaking to Bloomberg, described the American market as a “complicated environment” and said that the brand is focused on other markets where it can replicate its successful model in Brazil. And now what. According to DSMA, large dealer groups in Canada they are divided: Half are actively looking to close an agreement with a Chinese brand, the other half are waiting to see how the situation evolves. The medium and small ones, on the other hand, are “all” interested, according to Zhao. Longer term, both DSMA and Sino Auto Insights estimate that between 15 and 20 Chinese manufacturers will end up operating in Canada. Cover image | Tom Carnegie and BYD In Xataka | What happens if you are in a self-driving taxi and someone wants to get into the car and attack you? Waymo’s response is not encouraging

a walk to the heart of the Michelin plant in Vitoria

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“Here we all know someone who works at Michelin. Most stay but others go to Valladolid for a few years, others to Lasarte… others even come and go to Lasarte, although less so.” Five minutes of chatting with colleagues from the local press is enough to confirm the impact of Michelin in Vitoria, a company that directly employs 3,500 people. The province is the most industrialized in Spain. The city seems chiseled by the idealists of sustainable mobility. The facilities of Michelin and the city center are separated by 15 minutes by bus, “it would have taken eight minutes by tram,” another of the colleagues who attended the presentation points out. It almost sounds like a joke, a city where a good part of the direct and indirect jobs are created by Mercedes and Michelin has experienced a reconversion that is the envy of Spain and an example in Europe. Before, Michelin tires that they manufactured themselves passed through their urban area. Now too, but bicycles ride them and not cars. Those same cars that will soon be able to wear the Michelin Primacy 5 Energy and the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 Energy, the two premium compounds that the French company will soon launch. The first are already beginning to be manufactured in Vitoria. The seconds have not yet been awarded but the Basque plant is one of the best positioned. Tires with a chip and million-dollar figures 60 years have passed since Michelin opened the doors of its factory in Vitoria. So, on the outskirts of the city. Today, the avenue that leads to its facilities is a continuous flow of cyclists who ride calmly between well-designed bike lanes. Vitoria does not have much to envy of Amsterdam. In fact, to live there, nothing to envy if we take into account the tourist explosion of the dutch city. “How are you able to live in a nice city?” I joke with the locals longing for a fraction of the photograph I have in front of my eyes for Madrid. That’s where we are when we cross the doors and Bibendum greets us next to a gigantic tire. It is by no means the largest manufactured there. The latter weighs 5.7 tons. The one in front of us will only weigh a couple of them. But this time we have not come to learn about heavy transport tires. This time we are here to learn about Michelin’s new premium compounds. The Primacy 5 Energy are already manufactured in Vitoria and if everything goes as it should, 200,000 tires will be manufactured before the end of 2026. The Michelin Pilot Sport 5 Energy, at the moment, are being finalized but in a few months they will begin to be manufactured here or in any other plant that the company has throughout Europe. In both cases they are summer tires but with clearly different approaches. The latter are designed for sports cars and more aggressive driving. As an example, the performance of its prototype version during the test that Mercedes carried out with its Mercedes Concept AMG GT XX in Italy: a week at more than 300 km/h without rest. With extraordinary results, it must be said. 25 world records broken in one fell swoop. Those that are manufactured are the Primacy 5 Energya tire that replaces the e-Primacy, which was a range designed to improve consumption without sacrificing performance. According to the company, these tires are now quieter, improving braking by 8% both new and with used rubber. And, they defend, they offer 30% better grip than their main rival. Of course, it was not revealed who they consider to be the main competitor. What is irrefutable is that the tire has earned a triple A on the efficiency label used by the European Union to determine the performance of rubber. That is, it has obtained the best grade in the wet grip, consumption and noise tests. To reach our cars, the manufacturing of these tires begins within the Vitoria plant. There, the company shapes the rubber as if it were kneading industrial bread. The materials are crushed and heated until they are malleable enough to cover the first layers of the tire. A structure that also uses textile fibers to give rigidity to the final product. The process progresses between robots and operators who are mere spectators at best. Its function is to control that the highly mechanized process works correctly and that the type of compound that a central unit requires is manufactured at all times, anticipating a possible stock out. Between robots and conveyor belts, the rubber bands advance and are structured. Step by step they reach the coating with the outer rubber, the layer that treads on the ground. A very high temperature firing process reveals the final design. It is time to let it cool and check with machines that apply thousands of light flashes if the quality is correct. The last workers check with their hands and eyes that everything has gone as it should. It is the most artisanal part of the production. The most digital one occurs in between. The company is already including small chips in its wheels in RFID format. At the moment they only have detailed information on the type of compound and its dimensions. Manufacturers only need one reading device to store the rubber bands correctly in the shortest possible time. This novelty is not a whim of the company. We must remember that Europe’s intention is to get serious about wheel contamination so it could be used to control the traceability of the product. In the absence of defining the latter, what is certain, they explain to us, is that in 2029 all tires sold must have this system. Vitoria aspires to become the first factory in the world to implement these chips in all manufactured tires this year. If this happens, eight million tires will leave their doors with this control system. And this is the … Read more

destroy the radars that collect the most

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Madrid has a problem with some of its most profitable radars: there are those who destroy them. The situation has become so worrying that the Civil Guard itself is asking for specific surveillance to control the acts of vandalism that, for more than a year, have been repeated in the community. The problem. Cabin radars at key points such as the M-607 or the M-505 are being vandalized more frequently than usual. From using white paint to “blind” them to destroying them with stones or even inserting objects inside them after breaking the glass to cover their cameras. The figures. Some of these radars, such as the fixed one on the M-607 that limits a section of the highway to 80km/h, have been repaired only to be vandalized again the next day. In the case of one of the radars located on the M-505, between Galapagar and El Escorial, it suffered damage before even being fined. A year and a half after its assembly, it has not been able to start fining. “They repaired it and the next day they destroyed it again by putting a traffic signal pole inside.” “AUGC (Unified Association of the Civil Guard)”. Repair the damage of a fixed speedometer ascends about 70,000 euros (67,000 for a fixed radar and 66,000 for a section radar). The very high cost, according to the DGT, is due to the amount of technology they incorporate: character recognition system, synchronization with GPS satellites, laser illumination cameras, etc. The consequences. According to articles 263 to 267 of the Penal Code, those who cause damage to public property can face prison sentences of one to three years. There are already those who have been arrested for breaking a radar and have had to end up asking for donations on Facebook to meet the damages claimed. nothing new. there are those He destroyed three radars in Malagaat the beginning of the year the DGT investigated the vandalization of seven othersand newly installed radars such as the one on the Granada ring road lasted just three months without sabotage. Although the DGT assures that radars are an active safety measure for drivers, at the end of 2025 the collection record was broken, with nearly 540 million euros in penalties for fixed, section, mobile, velolaser and radars captured by Pegasus helicopters, among others. The performance. Given the drama of the destroyed radars, the Civil Guard requests additional surveillance. In this type of situation, the DGT reinforces the number of agents from the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard and those from Citizen Security for surveillance in the most conflictive points. The less formal nuance: it is not so easy to prosecute this type of crime without constant surveillance, and even more so considering that there are nearly 4,000 speed radars installed in Spain. In Xataka | How to know all the official locations of the DGT radars

The problem is that there are already gas stations that have absorbed them

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The liter of diesel reached 1.96 euros on average last Saturday, its highest since the conflict broke out in Iran, and gasoline was dangerously close to two euros. However, that same weekend, it came into effect the government’s tax reduction. Prices have dropped, but now the question is how long it will last. Why has fuel increased? The conflict in the Persian Gulf has increased diesel prices by 44.8 euro cents per liter, and gasoline by 28.2 euro cents, according to a study published by the OCU. The trigger is the war in Iran, which has strained the crude oil markets through the Strait of Hormuzan artery through which nearly 20% of the world’s oil transits. In just three weeks since the start of the conflict, prices at the pumps ended up skyrocketing to levels not seen since the Ukraine crisis. What has the Government done? The Executive approved on Friday, March 21 a shock package which includes, among its most important measures, lowering the VAT on fuel from 21% to 10% and temporarily eliminating the special tax on hydrocarbons. The estimated savings were around 30 cents per liter, which represents around 20 euros of savings per tank, according to the estimates of the Government itself. The measure published in the BOE on Saturday it came into force immediately, although it will have to be validated in Congress this Thursday. The Government has set the validity of this temporary reduction until June 30, at which time it will review the impact of the measure depending on how the energy markets evolve. How much have prices really dropped? This Monday, March 23, the average price of 95 gasoline in Spain was located at 1,595 euros per liter and diesel at 1,786 euros. The drop is real and significant. And in fact, if you go to almost any gas station, you will see that the prices have nothing to do with those of a few days ago. However, it is worth putting it in perspective. And the average price of a liter of diesel on March 19 was 1,917 euros, and the VAT reduction reduces it by about 17.4 cents. That is still well below the average increase of 45 cents that we were able to verify between March 2 and 19. Likewise, the tax decrease does not fully compensate for what fuel prices have increased in recent weeks. ANDl rocket and feather effect. The fact that VAT drops on paper does not guarantee that the price at the pump will drop just as quickly or completely. Economists call this the rocket and feather effect: When the price of oil rises, fuels immediately reflect that increase, while the declines are much slower. Part of this slowness also has an explanation: the cut in the hydrocarbon tax has not yet been applied to all gas stations because many are depleting the stock they had bought with the previous tax. ANDthe first day of the descent. In about 42% of service stations the VAT reduction from 21% to 10% did not fully materialize the first day, and the situation was even worse in agricultural and transport cooperatives, which in most cases had not yet passed on the discount. Some have attributed this to the lack of time to adapt the computer systems (the announcement came on Friday, the publication in the BOE on Saturday and the reduction was to be effective on Sunday) since many stations had purchased fuel at higher prices just the day before. The director of the Spanish Confederation of Service Station Employers (CEEES), Nacho Rabadán, has indicated that in many cases there have been service station managers who the day before purchased fuel with a price increase greater than the impact of the VAT cut. And a quarter of gas stations took the opportunity to go up. The most striking thing comes from FACUA. And it is that according to the data According to the consumer organization, 1,837 gas stations that communicated new prices to the Ministry on Sunday took advantage of the VAT reduction to apply a new increase. Of them, 177 completely absorbed the tax reduction by maintaining their prices without adjustment, and another 40 even increased it compared to the previous price. In the specific case of diesel, FACUA calculates that, if the tax reduction had been fully transferred, the decrease would have reached 17.8 cents, placing the average price at 1.785 euros; However, the real price was somewhat higher. FACUA concludes that lowering taxes without setting price ceilings is “exactly the measure that speculators have been demanding.” 2022 is not that far away. We have the most recent precedent in the bonus of 20 cents per liter that the Government applied during the Ukraine crisis. This cost us around 4.25 billion euros, according to a study of the economists Juan Luis Jiménez, Jordi Perdiguero and José Manuel Cazorla-Artiles. The effectiveness of the bonus was, to say the least, questionable. And in addition to the study, other independent reports from Esade and Funcas They also concluded that a significant portion of that aid did not reach consumers. The CNMC began an investigation that concluded last February with a fine of 20.5 million euros to Repsol group companies for abusing their dominant position. This history is precisely the reason why the Government has opted this time for a direct tax reduction that acts on taxes instead of repeating the universal bonus. From the CEEES, Rabadán had already qualified the 2022 bonus as “well-intentioned, but poorly designed and worse executed.” What a difference the measurement makes this time. Unlike the 2022 bonus, the VAT reduction acts directly on the tax included in the final price, which theoretically makes it more difficult for gas stations to appropriate the benefit. However, given FACUA’s complaint after the events of the first day of the sale, we see that the fact that it is more difficult for the price to be absorbed does not mean that it is not impossible. Given the … Read more

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