usatoday24

the one who makes Mercadona’s torrija bread

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

I firmly believe that we must deseasonalize desserts. Saint’s bones, bread of the dead and roscón de reyes all year round, please. And also torrijasof course. And something cyclical every Easter week In many homes it is the discussion about torrijas bread. Some of us prefer it from a bakery, but another resource is that they can sell it in a chain, being Mercadona. the undisputed queen in Spain. And if you are one of those who wonders who makes the products of FarmerIn the case of Mercadona’s torrija bread, there is a very simple answer. A company from Alcalá de Henares. Mercadona bread. The Panificadora de Alcalá website is simple. In it, we read that they have been making bread since 1955, but also a key fact: since 2006, they have been suppliers to Mercadona. Sometimes it is not easy to know who does what for the Valencian chain, but other times, the companies that create products under the umbrella of ‘ Hacendado’ do not hide. Take a walk around the catalog of products from the bakery is to look into the bread section of the supermarket. And one of the products they sell is Mercadona’s torrija bread. For the Xataka jury, Mercadona’s is not the best torrija bread (there is the one from El Corte Inglés), but whether we like it more or less does not mean that the Madrid company feels comfortable playing in the league of white label stars. Rent. According to the data of the ranking of elEconomista companies, Panificadora de Alcalá occupies fourth place nationally, only behind Bimbo Donuts, Monbake and another Bimbo spin-off. According to the financial newspaper, being a Mercadona customer is going well for him. Turnover of 53.2 million euros in 2021, 72.1 million in 2022 and 81.7 million in 2023. In 2024, Digital Economy point which created 90 new jobs and are investing 25 million euros in a new factory. of gold. Panificadora de Alcalá is not the only company that sells bread to Juan Roig’s supermarket, nor is it an isolated case of success, precisely because of its status as a Mercadona supplier. A few months ago we echoed the Entrepinares case. the cheese maker boasts of being “the largest cheese manufacturer” and the key is, precisely, that for more than 20 years It has a key alliance with Mercadona, being its largest cheese supplier while working with its own brand in other supermarkets. The cheese margin is seen to be large, here we are talking about a turnover that will skyrocket to more than 660 million euros in 2024, 8% more than that registered in the previous period. And there are many more cases, such as those of Profand (fish), Familia Martínez (the prepared food that they are pushing so much, to the amazement of those of us who still love to cook) or Oztuk (kebab and meat products), some of the suppliers that They are making money operating from the shadows. Demanding. Here we might think that Mercadona already takes over the services that are going well and yes, it makes sense, but the manufacturers are clearly interested in allying themselves with the Roig chain. An example is Panamar, another bread company that, after becoming a supplier to Mercadona, grew 28%. But to keep up with a Mercadona that dominates with around 30% market shareone has to invest. Panamar allocated 38 million euros to expand its factory in the Valencian town of Enguera, Grupo Huevos Guillén another 30 million investment in renovations and acquisition of farms, Schreiber (yogurts) 40 million in expansion and new lines and the aforementioned Entrepinares 53 million in a new factory. Casa Tarradellas, which has its own brand, but supplies products to Mercadona, invested 104 million euros in two new factories. And the Martinez Family prepared products… a whopping 150 million. In total, it is estimated that in 2023 suppliers will invest 500 million euros in total to keep up with Mercadona. The number skyrocketed up to 1.7 billion in 2024. Sometimes he takes out his wallet. As we said, it is evident that Mercadona’s supplier companies are interested in investing to expand and be able to keep up with a giant that not only relies on third parties, but sometimes takes its wallet out for a ride. Last year it bought Logifruita company that has been supplying reusable pallets and boxes for years, a move that could seem strange if we take into account that it already operated almost exclusively for Mercadona, but that is better explained when we know that the trade is rethinking the design of its supermarkets. In the end, Mercadona’s commercial success relies heavily on that network of suppliers throughout the country, and the figures show that those who make up that network are not doing badly either. As Easter approaches, it will be Panificadora de Alcalá that will surely have an increase in bills to prepare some torrijitas at home. As much as the owner of Mercadona don’t seem to like it May we continue doing things at home. Images | RafaxFlikr (Informative Board) In Xataka | Mercadona and the rest of the supermarkets have realized something worrying: they spend a million dollars on printing paper

In 1954, Ann Elizabeth Hodges was hit by a rock. And thus he became the only person who has had a meteorite fall on him.

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Let’s say you’re on your couch enjoying a quiet afternoon. Suddenly, an infernal sound wakes you up just a moment before you see how a rock violently destroys your bookshelf, your old “vintage” radio and bounces towards you. It will take you a little longer to realize that the rock has passed through the ceiling before hitting you. And as strange as this story may seem, it is totally true. It was a clear afternoon in 1954 when a meteor struck Ann Elizabeth Hodges. The woman was lucky and only received a huge bruise on his waist. But he could have experienced a consequence as tragic as that of his poor radio. After all, we are talking about a piece of rock that fell at hundreds of kilometers per hour, burning on its frictional path towards the surface of this small planet. Ann ended up in the hospital but not because of the blow, but because of a small nervous breakdown caused by the huge crowd that came to see what had happened. Let us remember that in the 1950s, the Cold War was in full swing and conspiracy theorists did not miss an opportunity to see Soviet planes fly over (and explode) in American skies. So, after the sighting of the meteorite, a small host of curious people gathered around the Hodges house. And here began the adventures of the famous Sylacauga meteorite, whose name is due to the Alabama town where it fell. The fragment that hit Ann was called “Hodges meteorite“, while the complete meteorite, which broke into three about nineteen kilometers above the surface, it was much larger, probably almost half a meter. After the commotion, the assistance to Mrs. Hodges and the uncertainty, the United States Air Force sent a team to collect the remains of the meteorite. The stone’s fame rose incandescently over the next few days, continuing until a couple of years later. The media and residents of the entire region echoed the impact and there were those who wanted to buy the meteorite. For his part, Eugene Hodges, Ann’s husband, hired a lawyer to recover the rock from the hands of the State. At the same time, finding out about the mess, Bertie Guy, the landlord of the house, claimed ownership of the stone, much to the chagrin of the Hodges, with the intention of covering the repairs that the meteorite had cost her. The stress caused by all this diatribe and as attention on the meteorite faded, along with the potential buyersthey pushed Ann to donate the Sylacauga meteorite fragment to the Alabama Museum of Natural History. But Ann, according to the chronicle, never stopped being afraid of something falling through her ceiling again. Other “lucky” people in the history of extraterrestrial impacts Anna E. Hodges is the first and only person (at least reliably) to have been injured by a meteorite. But it is not the only case related to an extraterrestrial rock described in our history. Luckily for the rest, none of them have been hurt, if we can believe their version. Let’s go back to August 1992, in Mbale, Uganda. A boy was heading to the village when a fireball thundered in the sky. Shortly after, a pebble hit the top of a banana and fell on his head. According to reports, a huge meteorite weighing almost a ton would have exploded fourteen kilometers from the surface, disintegrating. Did the fragment belong to that meteorite? We will never know for sure. This is what happens with hundreds of other testimonies that ensure the impact of a meteorite: unlike the Sylacauga meteorite, there is no evidence or analysis that demonstrates the origin of these rocks. That does not mean that there are, as we said, dozens and dozens of stories about meteorites (many of them with tragic endings). An example can be found in the 2016 Indian story in which it was stated that a bus driver had killed by space rock impactafter an explosion was heard. NASA, however, confirmed that this was not possible since the incident did not coincide with any detected or predicted astronomical event. The protagonists of other documented cases have had much luckier in which the meteorite passed very closely, without hitting them. We are talking, for example, about Michelle Knapp, whose Chevrolet was pierced by a meteorite to his surprise, in 1992. Not so long ago, in 2004, an alien rock happily entered through the roof of the Archer family home in Auckland, New Zealand. The rock just bounced and she remained lying, expectant, on the floor of her living room. If you want to join the club of those “hit by a meteorite” you better be patient. Just like calculation an engineer at the German Aerospace Center named Christian Gritzner, a while ago, the chance of this happening is 174 million. To do this, it calculated the surface area we occupy, our average life expectancy and the habitable surface area. That, added to the calculations of meteorites that fall per year, provided the result we were talking about. Fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite It is estimated that up to 10,000 tons of material interstellar crashes to Earth every year. It is not a trivial number. Why aren’t stories of meteorites falling on us more frequent? The first and most important reason, without a doubt, is the fact that almost everyone does it at sea. After all, water occupies most of the earth’s surface. On the other hand, a large amount of this material disintegrates in its fall, leaving a faint trail of dust and gas. As we mentioned, there are many testimonies collected in the press and reports from people who have had a supposed meteorite fall on them. In fact, many of the versions date back a long time, even from other times when “the stars fell from the sky.” But we can assure you that Ann Hodges’ case is unique and special. Nobody would want a monster like the … Read more

Ukraine refused to fix a bombed Russian oil pipeline. The EU has given you 90 billion reasons to do so

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Choking off Vladimir Putin’s war machine seemed like a seamless plan for Europe, but geopolitics has a bad habit of ruining the best strategies. The outbreak of the Third Gulf War has shaken the foundations of the global energy market. Now, with prices skyrocketing and a European Union desperately searching for oil, all eyes have once again fallen on an old Soviet relic: the Druzhba pipeline (which, ironically, means “friendship” in Russian). This gigantic steel tube has today become the trench of a new cold war that threatens to fracture the EU itself. Ukraine, a victim of constant bombings, refused out of principle and security to repair a section of this pipeline that continues to supply crude oil to the European countries closest to Moscow. However, as he advances Financial Timesunprecedented pressure from Brussels and the blocking of a vital loan have forced kyiv to make a 180-degree turn and give in to its European partners. What has happened? To understand the problem, we must go back to the end of January 2026. According to the Ukrainian media Suspilne Mediaa Russian airstrike severely damaged the Brody pumping station in the western Lviv region. The flow of Russian oil transiting through Ukrainian territory towards Hungary and Slovakia was cut short. The diplomatic consequences were immediate. Hungary, which has an exemption to continue buying Russian crude due to its energy dependence, accused Ukraine of delaying reparations for political reasons. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán issued a lethal ultimatum, picked up by the chain NPR: “If there is no oil, there is no money.” A threat that was fulfilled. The Hungarian president vetoed a package of macro-financial and military aid from the European Union to Ukraine valued at 90 billion euros, in addition to blocking the twentieth package of sanctions against Russia. Faced with the risk that Ukraine would run out of funds to sustain its economy and its defense, the European Commission decided to intervene. According to PoliticalCommission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa sent a letter to Zelensky offering “technical support and financing” with European funds to repair the pipeline. Cornered by financial asphyxiation, the Ukrainian president ended up giving in and accepted the offer. “I call this blackmail”. For the kyiv government, this transfer has been an extremely bitter pill. In statements to the press collected by EuronewsVolodymyr Zelensky has not hidden his frustration, stating that forcing them to reopen the tap of Russian oil is, for practical purposes, the same as lifting sanctions on Moscow. “I openly say that I am against it. But if you give me the condition that Ukraine will not receive weapons, then, excuse me, I am powerless in this matter. I told our friends in Europe that this is called blackmail,” said the president, reproaching his country for being forced to “finance anti-European policies.” But the Hungarian blockade does not respond only to energy needs; It has a strong domestic component. As pointed out Al JazeeraHungary faces very close parliamentary elections on April 12. Orbán is nine points behind his main rival, Péter Magyar, is using the supply crisis and the figure of Zelensky as an electoral scarecrow. In fact, the Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, did not hesitate to denounce upon his arrival in Brussels that Orbán is “using Ukraine as a weapon in his electoral campaign.” Maximum tension between kyiv and Budapest. On the ground, the situation is confusing. On the Ukrainian side, Zelensky has calculated The repairs will take about a month and a half, but at the moment there are no clear indications of what that might be like. While the agency Suspilne Media reports that a small delegation of EU engineers is already in Ukraine assessing the damage (excluding Hungarian and Slovak experts), Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi, declared to The kyiv Independent have no record of any official European mission in the country. On the Hungarian side, the escalation has gone beyond the merely rhetorical to enter the realm of physical retaliation. According to Deutsche WelleIn early March, Hungarian special forces intercepted two armored vans from the Ukrainian entity Oschadbank that were transiting from Austria. In the operation, Hungary seized $80 million in cash and 9 kilos of gold on suspicion of “money laundering.” Various legal experts consulted by the German media greatly doubt the legality of this seizure, suspecting that it is a direct retaliation for the closure of the pipeline. Zelensky, for his part, has not hesitated to describe this act as plain and simple “banditry.” Drones as the “new oil.” While forced to compromise on Russian energy, Ukraine is seeking to capitalize on its own warfare technology to gain international relevance—and funds. As detailed in an analysis of the BBCZelensky has offered the United States and the Gulf countries a $50 billion joint production deal based on Ukraine’s experience making cheap interceptor drones. “For us, this is like oil,” said the Ukrainian president, trying to position his country as a vital provider of security in the midst of the Middle East conflict. In parallel, the energy war is not limited to the Druzhba pipeline. As revealed The Moscow Timesthe Russian state company Gazprom recently denounced that Ukraine launched a wave of 26 drones against compression stations in the Krasnodar region. These infrastructures are key for the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines, which are currently one of the few remaining routes for Russia to export gas to Europe through Turkey, demonstrating that kyiv continues to try to hit the Kremlin’s energy portfolio wherever it can. The final pulse in Brussels. All this tension has led to the summit of European Union leaders that starts today, March 19, 2026, in Brussels. As he emphasizes TVP Worldthe pressure on Viktor Orbán is absolute. Upon arrival at the summit, the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, went straight to the point: “It’s time to show our support for Ukraine.” In Brussels right now they are crossing their fingers. As pointed out … Read more

We have been avoiding the definitive energy crisis for months. Iran’s missile at Qatar’s largest gas plant threatens to detonate it

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

We had been holding our breath for weeks, assuming the logistical tension in the Strait of Hormuz like the new normal. However, the war has crossed an irreversible red line. We have gone from a trade blockade to the physical destruction of the world’s energy engine, and the consequences are already being felt in the global economy. The impact has been immediate. The price of natural gas in Europe (the TTF reference contract) has shot up 35% in a matter of hours, resurrecting the worst ghosts of the Ukrainian crisis of 2022. The magnitude of the disaster is such that Susan Sakmar, a professor at the University of Houston, warns in Bloomberg that this attack could be “a turning point for the LNG sector, similar to the attack against Nord Stream or perhaps even worse”, as it is a sudden interruption with no signs of a short-term solution. The chronological climb. To understand how we got here we have to look at the chain of events of the last 48 hours. The original trigger, as revealed The Wall Street Journalwas an attack by Israel against the South Pars field, the jewel in the crown of the Iranian energy industry, with the aim of suffocating the sources of financing for the Revolutionary Guard. And it is not just any objective. The analyst Joaquín Coronado emphasizes that South Paris (shared with Qatar, where it is called North Dome) is the largest natural gas field in the world, hosting 10% of global reserves. 70% of Iranian domestic consumption gas comes from there and generates 80% of the Qatari State’s income. A withering response from Tehran. As pointed out Financial TimesIran launched ballistic missiles against the giant Ras Laffan industrial complex in Qatar, the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in the world and home to key infrastructure such as Shell’s Pearl GTL plant. State-owned company QatarEnergy confirmed “extensive damage” and fires at its facilities. Panic spread throughout the Persian Gulf. According to Reutersthe Iranian Revolutionary Guard issued public evacuation orders, declaring vital energy facilities in Saudi Arabia (such as the Samref refinery and the Jubail complex), the United Arab Emirates (the Al Hosn gas field) and Qatar as “legitimate targets.” Shortly afterward, Riyadh intercepted missiles aimed at the Saudi capital. The market has felt the blow. Oil prices have gone crazy. As detailed oil price, a barrel of Brent surpassing the barrier of 110-113 dollars, which represents an increase of almost 60% in this month of March. However, the real problem goes beyond the daily price. Martin Senior, of Argus Media, warns of a “new level of impact”. It is no longer just about the logistical closure of the Strait of Hormuz (through which 20% of the world’s oil passes); The problem is that the time to repair these destroyed facilities could last much longer than the war itself. And the worst omens already have figures. As has revealed exclusively in Reuters CEO of QatarEnergy, the Iranian attack has knocked out 17% of the country’s LNG capacity for a period that could last up to five years. The domino effect. This situation is taking third countries on their way. As explained CrownedIraq has suddenly lost 3,100 megawatts of electricity due to the Iranian supply cut, while Türkiye will be forced to compete fiercely for emergency LNG shipments. In Europe, the panic is evident: the bulletin Europe Express of the Financial Times reveals that war has blown up the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, where debate on how to improve competitiveness has been completely overshadowed by fear of energy bills and domestic pressure on the emissions trading system. Geopolitics to the limit. Diplomacy appears broken and America’s allies are losing patience. According to the Wall Street JournalArab governments are “furious” because they feel that the US and Israel strategy has put a target on their backs. For its part, Al Jazeera includes the statements of the Saudi Foreign MinisterPrince Faisal bin Farhan, who has warned Iran that the Gulf’s patience “is not unlimited” and they reserve the right to take military action. Qatar, for its part, has expelled the Iranian diplomats, giving them 24 hours to leave the country. In the midst of this chaos, Washington’s role is erratic. President Donald Trump went to social media to deny prior knowledge of the Israeli attack on South Paris. However, how to collect WSJ, Trump issued an ultimatum to Tehran: if it attacks Qatar again, the US will “massively blow up the entire” Iranian oilfield. Faced with rising prices, the White House is seeking desperate measures. The column of Javier Blas in Bloomberg reveals a controversial plan of the US Treasury: to intervene directly in the financial markets by betting on the downside (shorting) in oil futures to artificially make gasoline cheaper before the elections. An idea that experts such as the CEO of CME Group describe as a “biblical disaster” that would destroy confidence in the free market. The peripheral context. To get the full picture, you have to look beyond the explosions. Verisk Maplecroft Analyst warn in Reuters that the greatest danger right now is that the attacks will extend to Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline or to Red Sea ports. These were the only viable alternative routes to avoid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil normally transits. In an attempt to cushion the blow domestically, the Trump administration has temporarily suspended the century-old Jones Act (Jones Act) for 60 days, allowing foreign-flagged ships to transport oil and gas between US ports to reduce costs. The dead end. The panorama is bleak. As they reflect on Five Daysthe apparent lightness with which this conflict has developed has dragged us into a dead end. Iran has shown that it does not need to win a conventional war; It is enough for him to set the energetic heart of the planet on fire. Even if a ceasefire were signed tomorrow and ships sailed freely through the Strait of … Read more

For starters, it doubles your space.

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

The pop culture event more ambitious which was held in Spain returns in October 2026 with 19,600 square meters of surface (almost double that of the previous edition) and a new director, Fernando Piquer. The esports man arrives to resolve the tightness and organizational problems that soured last year’s debut: Queues, chaos and 550 complaints. When and where. San Diego Comic-Con Málaga will celebrate its second edition from October 1 to 4, 2026 at FYCMA, the Málaga Fair and Congress Palace. The announcement was made today at the Casa del Lector del Matadero in Madrid, with the presence of representatives from the Junta de Andalucía, the Malaga City Council and FYCMA. In it, specific new features have been put on the table, all with the clear objective of avoiding the drawbacks of the first edition. More space. The most concrete change that the second edition announces is the expansion of the exhibition space. The surface will go from 10,800 square meters to 19,600, thanks to the incorporation of a second exterior pavilion of 8,800 square meters. As a direct consequence, the number of stands will double. Even more striking is the jump in the Gaming Plaza: from 280 square meters to more than 2,000, an increase of more than 600% that will also give it an independent interior location. The role-playing area (named Ludic Plaza, “Sit&Play Area”) will also have a differentiated space distributed in two pavilions. These are two of the areas that in the first edition were clearly insufficient for the demand they generated. Artists’ Alley, which in 2025 welcomed figures such as Peach Momoko, Simon Bisley, Jorge Jiménez, Pepe Larraz and Claudio Castellini, will have a separate outdoor area in the Village. And the Meet the Artist space returns, which worked well in the first edition. A year ago. The first edition, held in September 2025, showed that the brand has a traction in Spain. Three of the four days were sold out in less than 24 hours at 50 euros per day, when there was still not a single confirmed guest. When the names began to arrive, the first reviews pointed out that the event was aimed at the general public, not the fandom that gives the event its name. Lots of people. Attendance figures are an indicator to be interpreted carefully. The organization speaks of 95,784 attendees; Malaga City Council published 120,000. That difference of 25,000 people has not been officially explained. What is documented is that Facua and OCU accumulated more than 550 consultations to file complaints, motivated by capacity limits, hours-long queues and space management that attendees described with bitter disappointment. In fact, an exclusive pre-sale of tickets has been announced, still undated, for those who attended last year: a way to compensate those who endured queues and chaos from the first edition. New director, atypical profile. The change in management is the implicit recognition that something has failed. Fernando Piquer takes over, replacing Javier Barberá. His profile is striking: founder and CEO of Movistar Riders, one of the most recognized esports teams in Spain, with experience managing large-scale operations under media pressure. It doesn’t come from the world of comics, but it does come from coordinating massive events where logistics are as important as the poster. Piquer spoke today of “a new stage” and stressed that the objective is to “expand spaces and content to offer the best experience to fans.” In Xataka | Masters of sewing (and 3D modeling): Cosplay comes of age and becomes mainstream

The new Xiaomi SU7 is much more than an improved version. It is confirmation that China runs while Europe walks

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Frantic. This is how we could define Xiaomi’s calendar in the automobile market. On Thursday, December 28, 2023Xiaomi publicly presented the Xiaomi SU7, its first electric car. He did it with a presentation as the occasion deserved. Hours (literally) breaking down each and every detail that made his first electric car unique. The brand turned the industry upside down. And his car directly attacked Tesla and Porsche. Its promises were to perform the same as any of the two reference electric cars for its market (Tesla Model S and Porsche Taycan) for a fraction of its price. We could think that it was just another coming out. An important one, yes, because it is not every day that a “mobile brand” becomes part of a new industry, let alone the automotive industry. But the thing is that the Xiaomi SU7 was already beginning to get ahead of all of us who live outside of China, who work and live at a different pace there. Today, with the renewal of the Xiaomi SU7 we have confirmation of what, indeed, was already more than confirmed. The boiler of the Chinese electric car If the Chinese electric car were a boiler, we could say that it is operating at full capacity. So high that it seems about to explode with the number of cars that are feeding it. In the traditional industry, what we could understand as the European automobile industry, it had been accepted that work was done at very specific rates. Generally, a car had two or three years of development. It was launched on the market and sales supported it for two or three years. After this time, commercial life began to languish, the brand introduced a purely aesthetic redesign to boost sales more or less in the fourth year after launching the car on the market and the public’s embrace responded slightly to, once the seventh year arrived, it introduced a new generation to the market. These times vary slightly. Advance a facelift to three years if the car was not performing as expected or extend it to five if there was no replacement on the way or sales are going at a good pace. Thus, there are cars whose commercial life can last eight or nine years. Waiting longer for a new generation is a real rarity. China has blown up these times. The best example is Xiaomi, although it is by no means the only company that is involved in an infernal maelstrom of launches. As we said, on December 28, 2023, Xiaomi presented the SU7. Today, 812 days later, it has presented its renewal. In less than two and a half years. And before two years have passed since The first units reached customers in April 2024. The calendar takes away the hiccups: In five years, Xiaomi has announced that it was entering the electric car market, it has presented two vehicles and a special and sporty version of one of them. It has just announced the renewal of the first of them. The new Xiaomi SU7 perfectly fulfills that of “more and better”. On the outside, the details are minor. The grille and new wheel designs focus attention. Inside, the car is renewed to, according to the brand, improve qualities with greater use of soft plastics. In addition, the design is more similar to that of the Xiaomi YU7 that has led the way in this case. In addition, the seats are changed and ventilation and heating are standard on all models. There are also minor improvements such as changes to the rear seats or the refrigerator that is incorporated into the rear seats. Mechanically, the Xiaomi SU7 is improved with the HyperEngine V6s Plus engine, which can now reach 22,000 rpm and allows the car to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.08 seconds. The maximum speed is limited to 265 km/h. The battery has also been improved and now has the following maximum ranges according to the Chinese CTLC cycle: 720 kilometers of autonomy for the standard. 902 kilometers of autonomy for the Pro. 835 kilometers of autonomy for the Max. It must be taken into account that the Chinese CTLC cycle is more optimistic than the European WLTP but Xiaomi is already talking about recovering 670 kilometers in 15 minutes with an improvement in charging power. In addition, the adaptive suspension has been improved, which is now faster and has a wider range of movement, and the brakes that, according to the company, can withstand up to 40 emergency brakings from 100 km/h without fading in the Max version. The less ambitious ones also have larger brakes than It had been one of its negative points. New interior of the Xiaomi SU7 In terms of software and driving assistance, the Xiaomi SU7 includes the evolution of its assisted driving and parking systems that are now smoother and safer, according to the company. Besides, the infotainment system becomes Xiaomi HyperOS now so the integration with the rest of the devices is better and more fluid, one of the great attractions of the Xiaomi YU7. The renovation of the Xiaomi SU7 is, therefore, much deeper than what is seen at first glance. It is also an example of the pace at which the electric car industry works in China. Renewal times are very short and sales of the Xiaomi SU7 had already plummeted while waiting for a new version. As we said, it is by no means the only company that plays with very short cycles. BYD has put so many cars on the market and announced improvements at a rate that has made its own cars obsolete. It is the result of covering the great advances of the competition with a new function, improvement or, directly, launch that can overshadow them. The result is an industry that responds to customer needs extremely quickly. It is even something that we have noticed in Europe that, as how we count in Xatakahas received … Read more

why drinking water while eating doesn’t ruin your gastric juices

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

In the era of TikTok and short videos that provide us with information very quickly, nutritional advice spreads like wildfire. One of the last is related to how bad it is to consume water while eating food, since this can “dilute” stomach acid and worsen digestion. The problem is that science is not at all clear that this really happens, and even very important societies of experts They have denied their relationship. How the stomach works. To understand why this is not the case, you first have to know how digestion works. A priori, those who defend that water worsens digestion argue that the liquid “washes” the gastric juices and causes a decrease in stomach acidity that prevents enzymes such as pepsin (which breaks down proteins) do their job, because they need reduced acidity. But the reality is very different, since your stomach is really ‘intelligent’ and has a complex regulatory system that allows it to secrete hydrochloric acid in a dynamic way. In this way, if food enters or the pH becomes more alkaline, the digestive system detects it and automatically compensates, secreting more acid through a quite complex hormonal pathway that involves several cells in the walls of our stomach. The real impact. In this way, drinking a little water, like a glass, while eating barely raises the gastric pH (makes it more basic) for about 3 minutes, as science has pointed out. After this time, the stomach resumes its normal acidity and does not affect overall digestion. Something to keep in mind in this case is that both liquids and solids do not compete in the same way in the stomach, since water passes quickly through it, while solid foods can spend hours ‘kneading’ in the gastric juices to decompose into all their most basic elements. This way, the prestigious Mayo clinic points out that water during or after meals does not cause digestion problems or dilute digestive fluids in a problematic way, but rather facilitates them. It has benefits. Far from being the enemy of good digestion, water plays a role a fundamental role in which this is carried out efficiently. One of these effects is precisely the role that water has when it comes to acting together with acids and enzymes to soften food and facilitate the creation of chyme, which is the mass into which food is converted in the stomach. In addition, it helps dissolve certain parts of food so that the nutrient is more accessible upon arrival in the intestine and is vital for hydrating the soluble and insoluble fiber that we ingest. In this way, avoiding water with meals can lead to temporary dehydration of the bolus, worsening intestinal transit. There are exceptions. As always, the rule is not universal, but there are people who may be advised not to drink water while eating. one of these exceptions It is in people who have esophagogastric reflux or GERD, where the specialist can recommend less water consumption with meals to avoid the increase in pressure in the stomach that could trigger this reflux. Images | Olena engin akyurt In Xataka | Fibermaxxing sounds like just another internet hype. But it’s just what doctors recommend.

“You would have had the same right to work 360 days as 539”

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

There is a reality in the system unemployment protection in Spain that not many active employees know about and that directly affects their pocketbooks. The extra time you spend working within certain margins does not always translate into more days of contributions when it comes to apply for unemploymentand the “leftover” days of contributions are not saved for a future benefit. SEPE itself has clarified this explicitly on its official website. An example of the way in which this estimate is made is that someone who has worked 420 days ends up receiving exactly the same amount of unemployment benefits as someone who has worked 360 days. Not one more day. This is how a system works that does not grow proportionally, but in steps, and understanding it can make a real difference in your work decisions. How the section scale works. The contributory unemployment benefit is not calculated day by day based on contributions. Instead, the SEPE applies a scale of sections included in the article 269 of the General Law of Social Security. The mechanism is as follows: each range of contribution days corresponds to a fixed block of benefit days. The first legal minimum section to access unemployment starts at 360 days of contributions and extends up to 539 days. Whoever falls within that interval, regardless of whether they have 360, 420 or 539 accumulated days, receives exactly 120 days of benefits, that is, the right to four months of unemployment benefits. To make the jump to the next step and access 180 days (six months), it is necessary to have contributed at least 540 days. The section that “engulfs” 179 days of trading. The complete table published by the SEPE and supported by current regulations shows how the sections are distributed along the entire scale. In all cases, the principle is the same: within each section, it does not matter if you are on the minimum or maximum day. This means that, in the first tranche, a worker with 539 days of contributions receives the same benefit as one with 360. The difference between the two is 179 days of contributions which, for unemployment purposes, do not generate any additional rights. The system openly recognizes this logic and, according to the example provided on the official SEPE website, “when you credit a total of 420 days, the section that covers between 360 and 539 days of contributions is applied to you, so you are entitled to 120 days of benefits. You would have had the same right if you worked 360 days or the maximum of the section, in this case.” Quoted period Delivery time From 360 (minimum) to 539 days 120 days From 540 to 719 days 180 days From 720 to 899 days 240 days From 900 to 1,079 days 300 days From 1,080 to 1,259 days 360 days From 1,260 to 1,439 days 420 days From 1,440 to 1,619 days 480 days From 1,620 to 1,799 days 540 days From 1,800 to 1,979 days 600 days From 1980 to 2,159 days 660 days From 2,160 days 720 days (Maximum) The remaining days are not saved. One of the points that generates the most confusion among workers is what happens with the “excess” days of contributions within the section. The SEPE’s response is clear and does not allow for nuances: days that exceed the minimum established by the section being accessed are not accumulated or reserved for a future benefit. This means that, in the example of the worker with 420 days of contributions, the 60 days that exceed the minimum threshold of 360 simply disappear once the unemployment benefit is requested and consumed. As explains the SEPE on its own website: “The remaining days cannot be saved for another benefit.” The “step” rule and its practical implications. Understanding this mechanism allows workers to identify which section they are in and how many days are left before they make the jump to the next section. Contributing more days without reaching the threshold of the next step does not add anything in terms of benefit, so the additional effort is absorbed by the current section without any return in the form of more benefit time when unemployment is requested. In other words, if someone has 500 days of contributions and loses their job, they will be in the same bracket as someone with 360 days, but they will only have 40 days left to jump to the 540 step, which would give them the right to two more months of benefits. Know this logic of sectionsallows you to make more informed decisions about your employment situation and know what benefits correspond to you. In Xataka | Aid of 480 euros from SEPE for people over 52 years of age: how to request online the aid that you continue to receive even if you find a job Image | Community of Madrid, Unsplash (Spencer Davis)

Apple’s problem with AI is not just being very late. The fact is that allying with Google will not be enough

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

We still do not have a date for Apple to finally release the new Siri which he has been promising for two years. But the biggest problem with being late is not just being late: it’s arriving at a time when you don’t even all the efforts you have put on the table They are enough. Comet arrived. Perplexityquietly, is beginning to conquer an important piece of mobile territory. Its latest alliance comes from Samsung, natively implementing its artificial intelligence in star models like the Galaxy S26. One of Perplexity’s most powerful tools is its browser Cometwhich just landed on iOS. A browser that, by default, uses Google as a search engine, but whose technology is above what Gemini manages to offer today. Why is it important. Comet is not smoke. It is also not a browser with minor functions that adorns the desktop of our iPhone. The interface is simply outstanding Block ads by default Find information for us Manage tabs Allows voice searches with interactive answers It is capable of playing video for us and summarizing it without us having to see it. Summarize websites Comet stops short of being fully agentic AI, but it replaces the browser with a more reliable solution than chatbots like Gemini or GPT: you’re using AI inside a browser, not AI that accesses the internet to find (or invent) links. And so, with everything. 2026 is being a wild year for AI. In fact, it is exhausting to open the computer every morning and see how practically every day a new model has come out that surpasses the previous one. 2026 is being a year in which AI advances day after day. Nobody knows how Apple will be able to launch something at the level of what may already be obsolete today Although the iterations are minimal, we are seeing spectacular phenomena such as OpenClaw. While Chinese brands like Nubia begin to implement it on their phones, Apple only has the promise that Siri will be smart one day soon. Soon, it is assumed. According to Gurman leaks, we will see the new Siri throughout the first half of this year. The “according to” is important, because the rumors pointed to a February in which we have not yet seen a trace. Apple has been accumulating delays since it promised a Apple Intelligence which disappointed, and beyond the announcement of its alliance with Google, we have no more relevant news. Image | Xataka In Xataka | What have Apple and Google agreed on for the new Siri? Nobody knows because Google doesn’t even want to mention it.

Extend the life of your dinosaur carrier

March 19, 2026 by usatoday24

To give us an idea, a nuclear aircraft carrier It can operate for more than 20 years without refueling and mobilize thousands of people, including crew and air wing. Each of these ships, or floating mini-cities, acts as a total military base capable of intervening anywhere on the planet in a matter of days. The problem is that they also have an expiration date. A decision that was not in the plans. The announced and unusual USS Nimitz aircraft carrier extension until 2027 does not seem to respond to a planned improvement or a long-term strategic update of the United States, but rather to a correction on the fly derived from the turbulent times and current war conflicts. We are talking about the oldest aircraft carrier in Washington’s fleet, it had to start his withdrawal much earlierbut that the Navy has chosen to keep it active to cover a gap that cannot be filled with other means. It is a very unusual decision because it prolongs the life of a ship that has already far exceeded its planned operating cycle, indicating that the original planning has been exceeded. due to the current situation. The requirement: 11. Behind it there is an idea that no one has wanted to knock down. The United States is required by law to maintain at least eleven aircraft carriers in servicebut meeting that number has become increasingly complicated. The removal of a ship of these characteristics without having its replacement ready generates an immediate deficit that affects the entire operational structure. In this case, the Nimitz is kept in service not because it is essential for its own sake, but because it is necessary to maintain that legal minimum and avoid a drop in global deployment capacity. Nimitz flight deck A delay and the consequences. Plus: the problem is aggravated because the aircraft carrier that was to replace it, the USS John F. Kennedyit will not be ready until, at least, the year 2027. This industrial delay forces us to extend the life of old systems to maintain operational continuity. In a fleet where each unit requires years of construction and planning, any slippage in the schedule has direct and long-lasting effects. The Nimitz thus becomes a temporary solution to cover this gap, but also a symptom that the renewal of the fleet is not following the expected pace. Subjected to intensive use. At the same time, aircraft carriers in service are operating under pressure extremely high. Deployments that should last between six and eight months are becoming longer, affecting both the condition of the ships and the crews. Already we tell it these days. The case of the USS Gerald R. Ford is possibly the most illustrative: after months of deployment and accumulated problems, a fire has forced him to temporarily withdraw from the operation in the Middle East. Thus, each incident or delay further reduces global availability and forces the remaining resources to be redeployed. Chain effect. Additionally, when aircraft carriers remain deployed longer than expected, maintenance it delays and accumulates. This not only affects the vessel in question, but the entire fleet planning, since shipyards, crews and repair cycles are designed years in advance. The result is a domino chain effect in which each extension or breakdown complicates the next rotationreducing operational flexibility and increasing overall wear and tear. The context: a constant presence. All this occurs at a time when the demand for aircraft carriers is especially high. The war in the east Middle and tensions in Asia They require a sustained naval presence in multiple regions at the same time. Thus, while aircraft carriers remain the United States’ main power projection tool, their number and availability do nothing more than the ability to cover all scenarios simultaneously, because when one is out of service, the impact is immediately noticeable. Nimitz and the problem. Ultimately, the decision of keep active to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is not exactly a sign of strength, but rather of adjustment to a situation increasingly demanding. Indicates that the Navy is using all available resources to sustain your level of presence globally, even those models that were destined to be retired. Worse still, in practical terms, it reflects a fleet that, although still capable of operating in multiple scenarios, does so with less margin of reserve and greater dependence on exceptional decisions to maintain balance. And where a fire in a laundry or a problem in the toilets can be the same incendiary than a ballistic missile. Image | USN, JET311 In Xataka | The largest US aircraft carrier leaves Iran with a feces problem, without laundry and with its soldiers sleeping on the floor In Xataka | The US has the most advanced nuclear aircraft carrier on the planet. What it does not have is a way to unclog its pipes of feces.

Log In

Sign In

Forgot password?

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections