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reducing the target bonus when you are on medical leave is not discriminatory

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

Getting sick if you work at Mercadona it can be very expensive. Not because of the medical leave itself, which is covered by Social Security, but because the days you spend recovering can take money away from the annual milestone bonus that the company distributes among its employees. A recent sentence The Supreme Court has given approval for Mercadona to deduct the proportional part of the sick leave periods from this objective bonus, and has made it clear that doing so does not mean discriminating against the worker for being sick. What the Mercadona agreement says. He article 31 of the collective agreement of Mercadona, valid until 2028, regulates the annual bonus that the company pays to its workers. To receive this bonus you must meet individual annual objectives, pass an assessment interview and have worked in the company for at least three months during the evaluated year. Its amount is a monthly payment of the salary of the professional group corresponding to the month of January of the year valued, and the company pays it during the first week of March. The point that has generated controversy is the one described in section c, which establishes that, if an employee accumulates more than 30 calendar days on sick leave common throughout the year, all those days no longer count as time worked for premium purposes. If the loss does not exceed that threshold, the days do count. On the other hand, sick leave due to work accidents, birth permits, risk benefit during pregnancy and paid leave are always considered time worked. The unions said enough. The Galician Inter-Union Confederation (CIG), which represents 1.7% of Mercadona’s workforce, took this clause to court with the argument that treating differently those who fall ill for work reasons and those who fall ill for common causes amounts to discrimination based on illness. The union relied on the violation of articles 2.1 and 4.1 of the Law 15/2022 on equal treatment and non-discriminationwhich expressly prohibits discrimination based on illness or health condition, something that before that law neither the Supreme Court nor the Constitutional Court recognized as a cause of prohibited discrimination. The National Court already rejected in September 2024 the lawsuit presented by the main unions with representation in Mercadona. Being on sick leave does not count as work. The judges’ reasoning in their ruling is based on a principle of labor law that many are unaware of, but which is included in the article 45.c of the Workers’ Statute: When a worker begins a medical leave, his or her contract is suspended. This means that, during this time of convalescence, the company has no legal obligation to pay the salary or any remuneration concept linked to actual work. As the CCOO and UGT unions pointed out in their writings to the court, during the leave there is no guarantee of equal pay with respect to the periods of effective work, and the company is not even obliged to pay the base salary, so it is not obliged to maintain the supplements for objectives. The Supreme Court says it does not discriminate. Regarding the difference between sick leave (for maternity or paternity leave, for example) and sick leave, the Supreme Court considers it justified because anyone who falls ill due to work has lost their health precisely for the benefit of the company, which deserves more favorable treatment. Furthermore, the Supreme Court remembers that it is the Social Security legislation itself that in its articles 156 and 157historically establishes those differences between professional contingencies and common, in aspects as varied as the requirements to collect benefits or their duration and amount. A victory with nuances. However, despite ruling in favor of Juan Roig’s company in the bulk of the matter, the judges have detected a specific point in the agreement that does violate the rights of workers. While reducing the target bonus proportionally to the days of sick leave is legal, preventing the employee from accessing that bonus system due to that sick leave is not. The ruling declares void the section of article 31 in which the days of common illness were excluded from the minimum calculation of three months necessary to be able to collect the objective bonus, even if it were for a lower amount as the Supreme Court has recognized. The practical consequence of this nuance implies that, if a worker has only been contributing normally for two months to collect that premium and the third month he takes it offthose sick days must count towards reaching the minimum three-month stay required to access the bonus. However, this bonus will be lower than expected because the company may reduce it proportionally to the days that have actually been worked. That is, the withdrawal cannot be a reason for exclusion from the count, but it can reduce the final amount of the premium. In Xataka | A company fired the same employee twice in eight months. The court has annulled them and returns to work with 25,000 euros Image | Wikimedia Commons (Carlos), Unsplash (Owen Beard)

The last thing was a Navy submarine for 130,000 euros

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

The Spanish Navy embarked on the path of renewal some time ago, one in which the old glories are left without a place and must make way for new generations. Within this strategy, Spain put up for sale last year one of the last submarines of the S-70 family, a Tramuntana which for almost 40 years was the backbone of the country’s submarine force. The price? Little more than what it costs Xiaomi SU7 Ultraand it is an important step in the cycle of weapons renewal in which Spain finds itself. What you pay. The S-74, baptized ‘Tramontana’, was the fourth of the Navy’s S-70 series submarines. Based on the French designs of the Augustaleft the shipyards of the old Navantia in 1984 and served the Navy since 1985. With about 68 meters in length, capacity for 60 crew members, four torpedo tubes and a propulsion system with a double diesel engine of 3,600 HP and an electric engine of about 3,500 kW, the submarine could last up to 45 days without surfacing. After participating in numerous exercises and the occasional international deployment, his moment came in February 2024. After 38 years of service, and after a stretch in his useful life while awaiting the ddeployment of the first S-80the Tramontana was decommissioned and immobilized at the docks of the Cartagena Military Arsenal, ready to await its fate. What you take. In May of last year, the BOE published a resolution detailing the sale of the Tramontana. As is usually the case with this type of sales, it is not about anyone arriving and being able to get hold of a military submarine: the operation aims to serve as scrap metal. The base price was set at 138,468.53 euros and whoever was interested had to leave a provisional deposit of the base price: 27,693.70 euros. The final deposit will also be 20% of the amount reached in the auction. Is it easy to sell one of these things? Not at all, and if not… Ask the Prince of Asturias. The legendary Spanish aircraft carrier that was once the spearhead of the Navy also went up for auction after completing service. After having to repeat them with succulent discounts because no one wanted it even for scrap, he undertook a last trip to the Aliaga ship cemetery in Türkiye, where it ended up scrapped. In fact, the BOE already contemplates in these operations that, if no one opts for it, three additional auctions will be held, one every seven days and with a 15% discount compared to the previous auction if the previous one is void. Emblematic. For some it will be sad, but when something so enormous reaches its life cycle, there are only two alternatives: keep it as an element of maneuvers for training or auction it to recover money and have it scrapped. Unlike the aircraft carrier, the S-73 Mistral submarine has already been acquired by a scrapping company in Cartagena. A third option is to display it, but it is something much easier to do with a plane than with a submarine (although there are some, of course, as a museum ship). Scrapping. Speaking of the Mistral, after decommissioning it in 2021 after 35 years of service, it sold for 150,000 euros to a scrapyard that dismantled the vehicle to recover the valuable metals inside. The starting price was slightly lower than that of the Tramontana: 136,078.53 euros. Inflation affects everything. If we get philosophical, it is a bitter end for a submarine that, for decades, acted as a protection element in the Mediterranean. He participated in several NATO missions, but perhaps the most remembered operation was when he patrolled the waters around the Perejil islet in the dispute with Morocco in 2011. The S-73 Mistral, to get an idea of the size Renewal. In the most pragmatic sense, it is still a 40-year-old submarine, so it didn’t make much sense to sell it to other nations (especially when looking for clients for the S-80newer and whose sale would help defray the costs of development). Because Spain has been creating for years – not without a few problems – its new fleet, the aforementioned S-80. They represent a generational leap in absolutely all their capacities, and they held out for the S-74 as long as possible until the arrival of the S-81 Isaac Peral. Now, the only one of the veteran submarines operational is a S-71 Galerna which keeps alive that strategy of at least two ‘live’ submarines at a time in terms of defense. And when the next units of the S-80 begin to arrive, the easiest thing is for the S-71 to have the same fate as its brothers the Siroco, the Mistral and the Tramontana. It’s still the weapons cycle, which can be stretched to a certain point, but when the time comes… better to get some money than have a dead asset. Images | José María González, Alberto Hernandez In Xataka | The new fear of Western fleets is not nuclear. They are conventional submarines armed with surprise and a flag: China

Seedance 2.0 has used Hollywood intellectual property to go viral. Hollywood has used the courts

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

ByteDance is not only the company responsible for TikTok: This is a conglomerate that is pushing the development of artificial intelligence in China. And a few weeks ago they presented a Video generation AI which was the most brutal thing we had seen: Seedance 2.0. He perfectly matched any animated character, but also to flesh and blood actors. The West was quick to react, raising its voice and arguing “what happens to my copyrights.” And, in the background, there is something more important: one more chapter in the technological power struggle between China and the rest of the world. In short. Seedance 2.0 is a multimodal AI that allows us to generate video from text, images and other video chips. With a single promptAI takes care of the rest, combining video, audio and visual effects that can be extremely realistic. During the days following the announcement we were able to see a multitude of examples that showed a level of “perfection” not previously seen in other video models. “China is coming”. And the problem is what you are imagining: to recreate a photorealistic Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, he has evidently been inspired by those in the flesh. Also in the Douyin’s inexhaustible librarythe Chinese TikTok, which allowed him a complex understanding of facial and physical expressions and lighting calculations in a multitude of situations. My colleague Lacort already said it: This is not “China is coming”, but rather “China already does this… and we don’t”. Hollywood picks up the phone. And of course, just like the Japanese industry did when OpenAI blatantly copied his works so that we could create our Ghibli-style dog in ChatGPT, the American film industry was quick to raise its voice. One of the first was Disney, which in the purest Nintendo stylesent a cease and desist letter to ByteDance, accusing the Chinese company to use Disney characters to train your model. Disney is bothered by this threat, but it bothers it more that it doesn’t get a cut like it does from its alliance with OpenAI. Days later it was Motion Picture Association (to which Netflix, Amazon Prime, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner or Disney belong) which sent the same letter of interruption of operations to the Chinese company, accusing it of using its characters and protected material to train the model. And it has had consequences. Putting on the brake. In China, Seedance 2.0 remains operational, where it has achieved a high degree of virality among users, but where it also serves as a tool for creators. ByteDance planned to open global access in mid-March, but due to threats from the Western film industry, have put those fallow plans. “We are taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent unauthorized use of intellectual property and likeness by users” – ByteDance’s response Disney has surely seen this video: Geopolitical pulse. It is not known how or when Seedance 2.0 will be launched outside of China, but in the background there is something very interesting: the use of copyright as a weapon in the technological war. If this has already gone from “the wolf is coming” to “the wolf is already here”, the West is using its available weapons to stop the advance. We have been following the technological and trade war between the United States for years (dragging Europe) and China, and if this movement implies another movement in the current geopolitical game in which the two poles are developing their AI by leaps and bounds. And China is achieving it without having the same resources at hand as the US AI Big Tech. Seedance is estimated to have been built without NVIDIA H100 chips banned for China, some that its rivals do have. Precedents. Is something similar to what happened with DeepSeek in LLMs And now it’s happening with synthetic video: the US has tried hard to leave China out of the conversation, but they are managing to have a strong presence in it. Another example is the reverse engineer ASML machines o what SMIC and Huawei are making progress in building cutting-edge chips. Capacity vs regulation. And another important theme of the ‘Seedance case’ is that it has become an example of the head-on collision between the technical capacity of AI and the regulatory power of the industry. It’s funny that when it became known that the American AI had ‘borrowed’ the entire Internet to train their models, other industries would be more lukewarm than when a Chinese company does it. And at the center of it all is a European Union that is expressing its intention to bring some sanity to progress for the sake of progress, overriding copyrights that can be trampled depending on who does it. In a proposal to “protect creative work with copyright in the age of AI, the European Parliament requires a series of measures so that companies pay for the resources they need for technology training. According to these companies, such a measure would go against progress and smaller AI companies. It would be curious if ByteDance responded to Disney with that same argument. In Xataka | All the big AIs have ignored copyright laws. The amazing thing is that there are still no consequences

robot vs robot battles where humans only watch

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

In the year 2024, a relevant event occurred in the context of the war in Ukraine. So the number of drones produced for military use far surpassed to that of traditional armored vehicles, with tens of thousands of units deployed on the front. That change not only reflected a question of cost, but a profound transformation in how a modern war is conceived and fought today. One where humans have less and less to say. Forbidden to humans. In Ukraine, a new type of battlefield has emerged that breaks with everything known: the called “kill zones”those strips of several kilometers where any movement is detected and destroyed almost instantly by swarms of drones. In these spaces, human presence has become extremely limited and dangerous, almost inaccessible, forcing soldiers to remain buried for weeks or months and move alone in exceptional conditionswhile the terrain between the lines becomes a kind of permanent “no man’s land”, one saturated with sensors, mines and constant surveillance. If in the 19th century battles and quarrels were fought with steps and guns in duels in the sunTwo centuries later, duels have mutated into disputes between machines. Wars without troops. I remembered a few weeks ago the financial times that, in this new environment, direct combat between people has ceased to be the central element, replaced by confrontations where machines take center stage. Aerial drones patrol, detect and attack targets continuously, while unmanned ground vehicles advance, hold positions or execute ambushes in places where an infantryman I couldn’t survive. There have even been documented situations in which systems from both sides confront each other without direct human presenceevidencing a qualitative change in the nature of combat. Robots against robots. The most striking result is the appearance of authentic “duels” between unmanned systems, where UAVs and UGVs search, hunt and they destroy each other. Drones waiting on the ground like smart mines, vehicles that ambush routes supply or systems specifically designed to locate and neutralize other robots reflect an autonomous combat dynamic in constant evolution. Thus, each advance generates an immediate response from the adversary, creating a cycle accelerated innovation which is more reminiscent of a technological ecosystem or a futuristic war video game than a conventional war. Fully automated logistics. Even tasks that historically defined the rear, such as supplies, evacuation or minelaying, have been absorbed and replaced by machines. Now drones transport food, water and ammunition, while ground vehicles extract wounded people or deploy explosives in inaccessible areas. This change, furthermore, is not only tactical, but rather structural, because the battlefield seems not to admit The human presence continues, forcing a kind of outsourcing of essential functions to systems that can take risks that no soldier could accept. The leap to self-employment. They explained in Forbes that, although many of these systems continue to depend on human operators, the trend points towards a increasing autonomywith robots increasingly capable of detecting, deciding and acting with less intervention. If you also want, the integration of artificial intelligence, advanced sensors and coordination in swarms anticipates a scenario where hundreds of systems operate simultaneously in air, land and sea, further expanding these inaccessible areas and reducing the room for human maneuver. The future in real time. In summary, what is happening in Ukraine It is not only an adaptation to the current conflict, but it could be said that it is a preview of what they will be like. the wars of the future. The unprecedented combination of total surveillance, combat automation and progressive replacement of the soldier in the most dangerous areas is transforming war in an unprecedented confrontation between systemsone where humans are relegated to supervision and strategic decision-making. From that perspective, rather than a gradual evolution, the conflict in Eastern Europe has suddenly accelerated a transition that seemed very distant a few years ago, turning science fiction into something similar to an operational reality. Image | Telegram In Xataka | Ukraine has become the world’s leading specialist against Iranian drones. And he won’t share his antidote In Xataka | If Ukraine promoted the use of drones, Iran has triggered the Terminator algorithm. And that was already a problem in science fiction

This is the European plan that Almaraz wants to save

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

The backdrop couldn’t be more tense. In the midst of a climate of urgency marked by the war between the United States, Israel and Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Europe is staring into the energy abyss. As we already analyzed in XatakaEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently broke a historic taboo in Paris by singing the continental mea culpa, admitting that the European Union “made a strategic mistake by walking away from a reliable and affordable source of low-emission energy.” That speech by the German president, who paradoxically was part of the government that promoted atomic dismantling in her country, has not taken long to materialize in political pressure. Today, this European turn lands directly in Cáceres, turning Brussels into the great ally of Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy in their race against time to avoid the closure of the Almaraz nuclear power plant. Brussels supports the electricity companies’ request. In the midst of an energy storm, the European Commission has embraced atomic energy. Von der Leyen has sent a letter to the leaders of the European Union ahead of the summit of presidents in which he emphasizes the need to “avoid the premature withdrawal of assets, such as existing nuclear facilities.” For the president of the Community Executive, these infrastructures are key because “they can continue to supply reliable, low-cost, low-emission electricity.” This positioning suggests that Member States delay the scheduled closures of their plants. In practice, it is a lifeline thrown to Spanish electricity companies. As they point out from RoamsIberdrola (53%), Endesa (36%) and Naturgy (11%) have formally requested to extend the useful life of Almaraz until 2030, with a view to reaching 60 or even 80 years of operation. A train wreck. The defense of nuclear power does not respond to a sudden environmental awakening, but rather to a question of economic and geopolitical survival. As explained The Pluralthe increase in energy prices due to the War in Iran is already having devastating effects: since the end of February, the EU has spent an additional 6 billion euros on fossil fuel imports. Europe believes that atomic energy is the economic salvation to stop this bleeding, but the Government of Spain believes the opposite. However, this recommendation from Brussels has raised blisters in Spain. As detailed eldiario.esVon der Leyen’s position represents interference in the energy policy of the Twenty-seven, unleashing a direct controversy with Teresa Ribera, European vice president for a Clean Transition. Ribera has reminded the president that, just as she could not tell France what to do with its energy when she was minister, Von der Leyen cannot dictate to countries their mix electric. “Each Member State is competent to decide according to its circumstances,” said Ribera. The two-speed crash plan. To prevent the shock energy will devastate the economy in the short term, the European Commission proposes an intervention package: direct tax reductions on the electricity bill, intervention in the CO2 market to curb volatility and a cap on the price of gas. Along these lines, Von der Leyen’s key complaint It’s about energy taxation which is stifling the transition, since in some cases electricity is taxed “up to fifteen times more than gas.” In the long term, the EU is not so much committed to building traditional macro-centrals, but has allocated 200 million euros to develop Small Modular Reactors (SMR) for the 2030s. But at the national level, the European guidelines hit a wall. According to Expansionthe Ministry for the Ecological Transition remains firm in its closure schedule (2027 for the first Almaraz reactor and 2028 for the second) betting on a 100% renewable model. In fact, the Executive recalls that it was the companies themselves that in 2019 opted to close due to the government’s refusal to grant them the tax reductions they demanded. The dreaded “domino effect.” The Almaraz debate has transcended the offices to hit the streets. As pointed out Article 14Von der Leyen’s turn has given wings to the “Women for Almaraz” platform, which brings together more than 2,000 residents of Campo Arañuelo. Its spokesperson, María Jesús Lapeira, warns that the dismantling would destroy 4,000 direct and indirect jobs. But the technical problem for Spain goes far beyond Cáceres. As we detailed in Xatakadelaying Almaraz to 2030 would unleash a logistical and regulatory “domino effect.” If its closure is postponed, it would coincide in time with the closure of Ascó I and Cofrentes. Given that dismantling four reactors at the same time is unfeasible, this would force the closures of Ascó II, Vandellós II and Trillo to also be pushed well beyond 2035, blowing up the current National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC). The great paradox of the market. In the end, the resolution of this geopolitical and social conflict could be dictated by the market itself. At the beginning of March the Almaraz II reactor had to be disconnected from the electrical grid; It was not because of a security problem, but because of the harsh financial reality: the full reservoirs and the strong wind sank the price of electricity to zero. This, added to a tax burden that represents 75% of its variable costs, made keeping the plant on economically unsustainable for its owners. We are facing the perfect storm. Europe desperately embraces nuclear energy due to fear of Iran and the loss of competitiveness against China. The electricity companies use this endorsement to pressure for tax cuts in Spain. The Government and environmentalism are reluctant to alter their green roadmap. And meanwhile, the unstoppable and cheap renewable generation from sun and wind threatens to drive out of the market the very nuclear plants that political leaders today are trying to save. Image | Frobles and European Parliament Xataka | The Almaraz “domino effect”: delaying the closure of a single plant forces us to redesign the entire energy map of Spain

Psychology says that the best time of year to set resolutions is not January 1: it is now in spring

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

It is a classic among many people: reach January 1 and resolve to go to the gym, eat better, learn a language or quit smoking. But in many cases by mid-February this purpose has already been abandoned and waiting for a new year to start the cycle again. We usually blame our lack of willpowerbut science has a much more compassionate and practical explanation, since, according to experts, winter it’s not the best time to change life. The real mental and biological “reset” happens now, in spring. It has a name. The basis of this phenomenon is known in psychology as the “fresh start effect.” Here our mind does not perceive time as an uninterrupted continuum, but as a book divided into several chapters, so the change of season, birthdays or the beginning of the month act as temporal milestones in which we seek to make this change in a lifestyleFor example. Because? Having a temporal milestone for the brain has an interpretation, and that is that it creates a psychological barrier that allows us to disconnect of our “imperfect self” from the past who, for example, smokes or doesn’t go to the gym. This is something that was demonstrated in 2014 in an investigation where it became clear that these symbolic dates such as birthdays restructure our temporal perception. Precisely in one of their experiments they compared how participants reacted to the same date presented in two different ways. The results. Based on this study, they compared two different dates: The first day of spring, since we are facing a temporary milestone and specifically 25.6% of respondents chose to set reminders to start new goals right here. In comparison, a normal day of any day was used, such as Thursday, where only 7.2% of participants showed motivation to make a habit change. That is why, comparing this data, it was seen that such a simple change of perspective can quadruple the intention to pursue healthy goals, causally validating that emphasizing a milestone as a “new beginning” triggers our motivation. The spring. Here the question we can ask ourselves is if the new year is also a temporal milestone because we begin a new year… Why is spring superior? The answer lies in biology and the environment. And while in January we are coldshort days and the dreaded economic downturn, in spring we have a progressive increase in sunlight. An environmental factor that joins a series of physiological advantages. When we talk about spring ‘altering blood’, we are not telling lies because it has been seen that sunlight raises serotonin and dopamine levels, drastically improving mood, increasing energy and a willingness to make changes. Furthermore, the end of winter eliminates physical and psychological barriers such as external cold and frees energy to begin investing it in creating habits. Motivation is not enough. Logically, we talk about factors that help, and seasonal change gives a boost to people. Psychologists here explain that the new seasons offer us the ideal mental framework to “evaluate” and plan fresh strategies without the weight of guilt from previous failures. However, there is a warning backed by scientific consensus: although symbolic dates are excellent psychological catalysts for starting a habit, the initial motivation always wanes. That is why, for the habit to last beyond the spring fever, it is strictly necessary to accompany this “rush” of energy with a solid structure, realistic routines and repetition systems. Images | Mink Mingle In Xataka | Three morning habits that will help you be happier and more productive at work, according to science

Beyond prices and vacation rentals, housing in Madrid faces a huge problem: irregular houses

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

Beyond price escalation, the pressure of the vacation rental or the decoupling Between the speed at which homes are created and new buildings built, in Madrid the real estate market faces a tricky challenge: irregular developments. The latest data of the Community of Madrid reveal that in the region there are dozens of settlements of illegal origin that bring together thousands of homes that start from an irregular situation. all one hot potato for administration. What has happened? The data has revealed it The Newspaper. The Community of Madrid has registered almost 200 developments built without the necessary permits, settlements of illegal origin that add up to thousands of homes. The calculation is based on an update of the inventory from the 1980s, when 136 irregular settlements were identified. The figure has changed since then for two reasons. The first, because there were nuclei that have managed to regularize themselves. The second, because the technicians have added to the list others that (for one reason or another) did not appear in the catalog that accompanied the 1985 regulations. What do the figures say? If you walk around Madrid you can find dozens of housing units built without respecting the regulations. Some very populous. Specifically, The Newspaper talks about 184 urbanizations or settlements of illegal origin and some 10,500 homes. The figure is partly explained because the 1980s census incorporated almost a hundred new consolidated residential areas. The Ministry of the Environment clarifies that in most cases they are the result of “urbanization processes outside the law” and “lacking planning”, which explains why they often do not offer “minimum conditions for urbanization.” Are all cases the same? Not at all. Not all urbanizations identified by the Community of Madrid are the same nor do they have the same dimensions. Particularly noteworthy is the settlement of La Vega del Tajuñawhich brings together a large part of the residences in an irregular situation detected by regional technicians. Specifically, there are 5,513 distributed over more than 2,700 hectares. With those dimensions it would be the largest settlement of its kind in the community, although not the only one where hundreds of people live. In Camino Viejo de Madrid and Vega Baja del Guadarrama there are also more than 1,400 buildings and there are others, such as El Rondelo, Pico Valsarón or Dehesa Nueva, with hundreds of homes. The Community has also noted constructions located in locations very close to the capital, such as Improved Field. How is that possible? The circumstances and context are not always the same, but a few days ago EPE visited a nucleus of Mejorada del Campo that helps to understand how settlements like this can be formed in the heart of Madrid. Specifically, the newspaper visited a nucleus that began to form in the 1980s, driven by developers who parceled out rural land and sold the land at affordable prices, offering it as an ideal space for “urban gardens” with access to water. Time, use and the increasing pressure that affect housing prices in Madrid did the rest. What were initially huts designed for tools gave way to more ambitious installations. Is it something new? Not at all. And not only because the history of these settlements can go back a long time. At the end of 2025, the Community of Madrid has already issued a statement in which he recalled that in just four years he had inspected 1,906 “irregular constructions” on protected land. To be precise, the regional government spoke of 5,334.3 hectares “affected by this type of settlements”, also identified in 56 municipalities. “Of them, about 80% are concentrated in the plains of the main Madrid rivers, the majority in the areas of the Tajuña River (2,712.5 hectares), followed by the Jarama (1,019.5), Guadarrama (363.2) and Tajo (150.2)”, explains the Madrid Executive, which warns of the “risk” it represents “both for people and the environment.” Hence, this type of construction appears among the objectives of the Urban Inspection and Discipline Plan. Does it only happen in Madrid? No. Settlements of this type are also common in other parts of Spain, such as Catalonia. “There are many urbanizations that were built in the 60s, 70s and early 80s of the 20th century, which were marketed without the necessary planning, urban management or basic public services,” recognize from the Catalan Generalitat. “Of the 1,433 identified in the 2015 catalogue, there are 730 with urban deficits. Many are concentrated in small municipalities and the tendency to convert housing estates into primary residences aggravates their situation,” acknowledges the regional government. The topic is complex because, as remember EPE When talking about the Madrid case, the legal framework varies over time: if a home built on non-developable land remains long enough outside the ‘radar’ of the authorities, the crime expires and can no longer be demolished. Images | Community of Madrid Via | The Newspaper In Xataka | Madrid believed itself immune to the TukTuk plague in the most tourist cities in the world. Now someone wants to ban them

the Transport plan so that the most used Cercanías line in Spain stops being chaos

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

The Ministry of Transport has finally decided to transform line C-5 of Cercanías de Madrid, which is, with some 72 million annual travelersthe most used in Spain. Won’t do it until they finish the underground works of the A-5but we already know all the details. It is the largest renovation of the line in decades and the heart of the change are 35 giant trains that are already being manufactured in Valencia. ORa line to the limit. As we said, the C-5 moves about 72 million passengers a year and absorbs 29% of all Cercanías Madrid trips. It is the public transport line with the most users in the entire country, and today it operates with trains that do not exceed 150 meters in length, platforms that do not allow larger vehicles and an outdated signaling system. With a demand that has grown by 10% between 2022 and 2024the margin has narrowed so much that it is time for a change. The protagonist of change: the Stadler Series 453. On March 4, the Ministry of Transportation presented the modernization plan of the C-5, endowed with 1,350 million euros, and confirmed that Renfe will allocate 600 million to the purchase of the 35 Series 453 trains manufactured by Stadler at its plant in Albuixech, Valencia. The service promises, since we are talking about trains that will measure almost 200 meters (specifically 191.16 meters) and will combine single-decker cars at the ends with double-decker cars inside. QWhat changes for the traveler. Where today about 1,565 people fit in the current trains, the new ones will accommodate up to 1,884 people (524 seated and 1,360 standing) in a single composition. Double-decker cars are designed for longer journeys and with a seat; those with one floor, wider at the entrances, for quick ascents and descents. Two-story interior cars According to they count in Trenvista, they will include areas for wheelchairs, multifunctional spaces for bicycles and strollers, a fully accessible toilet, WiFi and USB sockets. In addition, the middle points to greater padding than in other Cercanías trains, but without armrests. Why haven’t they arrived yet. Renfe put out to tender these trains in 2019 and the contract was awarded to Stadler in 2021. The Swiss firm had to expand its Albuixech factory to meet the order, which in 2022 was expanded with 20 additional 200-meter units, and began manufacturing in rented warehouses while the new facilities were ready, according to detailed at that time the medium. The first tests on the Spanish railway network began in the summer of 2024. The arrival at C-5, however, will still take some time. And the Ministry’s plan places the entry into service of these trains with automatic driving in April 2030. The problem that had to be solved before. For a 200-meter train to circulate on C-5, the infrastructure has to be prepared. Today it is not. The current platforms are too short, the LZB signaling system that regulates circulation has reached the end of its useful life, and there are no maintenance facilities capable of accommodating trains of that length. The good news is that in the 1,350 million plan is included the extension of platforms between 40 and 50 meters, the construction of a new maintenance base in Móstoles, the replacement of the signaling system with the European ERTMS Level 2 standard and the construction of a new station in Móstoles-El Soto. What’s coming now. The schedule foresees two service cutsin the summers of 2027 and 2028, to get to work with the most complex parts, and with free replacement buses and reinforcement in the Metro. Testing of the new signaling system will begin in April 2029, the first high-capacity trains will enter service in April 2030, and the project is expected to be completed in October 2031. The objective declared by the Ministry is to go from 72 to 100 million travelers annually, with a capacity 60% greater than the current one. It remains to be seen if the deadlines are met. Images | Snooze123 (Wikipedia) and Stadler In Xataka | In a region addicted to burials, a municipality wants to bury another 2.5 kilometers: Rivas’ plan for the Metro

Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer. A new experimental therapy has managed to “intercept” it before it attacks

March 18, 2026 by usatoday24

Pancreatic cancer is classically known as one of the most lethal and feared that exist because of how difficult it can be to treat in some cases and the high mortality rates. But this high mortality rate is not due to its aggressiveness from minute 0, but to its stealthy nature, making it when he shows his face With the first symptoms, the disease is already in a very advanced phase that makes treatment very difficult. It’s where to act. In this way, the objective of the researchers is precisely to try to advance the diagnosis as much as possible, since treatment in the initial phases of the disease can give great results. And this is exactly what a new study that focuses on the ‘cancer interception’ strategy suggests. This is something that researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have focused on, who have achieved a vitally important advance in mouse models. And the fact is that, instead of focusing on attacking the already formed pancreatic tumor of considerable size, they have directed their artillery against the microscopic precursor lesions, known as PanIN. Its foundation. This is something that can be reduced to literally putting out the fire when it is still just a small spark. And as the specialized media report, by removing these microscopic lesions precancerous diseases, researchers manage to stop the advance towards the dreaded pancreatic adenocarcinoma in mice, proposing a total paradigm shift in how we could face this disease. Genetics is key. Something that has been known for a long time is that there are people who have a genetic predisposition to suffer from this disease. Specifically, in more than 90% of cases, the mutation responsible for triggering the disease is found in a gene called KRAS. A gene that for decades was considered “unapproachable” by classical pharmacology and that acted as a great shield against the disease. However, medicine is advancing in leaps and bounds, and this study uses selective inhibitors for this gene with the aim of silencing it precisely in PanIN lesions. In this way, by neutralizing the growth signals that the KRAS gene gives to tumor cells, they cannot take the step to begin to spread throughout the body, which causes the most serious symptoms. Mice today, hope for tomorrow. Logically, we must put our feet on the ground, since we are dealing with a preclinical study. That is, the therapy has proven to be a resounding success in animal models, but there is still a long way to go until this therapy can be used in a human in a hospital, since it must be seen that the effect is similar in our organisms. However, this research fits perfectly with the new medical philosophy against pancreatic cancer. As highlighted by the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in his recent communicationsthe future undoubtedly involves knowing the personalized risk and ensuring that those people who are more likely to suffer from pancreatic cancer due to their genetics receive exhaustive screening to detect the disease in time and increase the probability of survival. Images | Bioscience Image Library In Xataka | A Spanish milestone against pancreatic cancer: we are one step closer to eradicating it but there is still a long way to go

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