Month: November 2025

a hundred neighbors on the street

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In the midst of the housing crisis, with the skyrocketing prices and real estate developers warning of a serious deficit that is counted tens of thousands of housing, Madrid risks seeing how around a hundreds of neighbors of the Villa de Vallecas remain on the street. Literally. The news spread on Monday the BEING, the has confirmed The Country and it is warming up and the political debate. The reason: dozens of humble families who once obtained a social rental thanks to the Obra Social de la Caixa now see how their apartments go on the free market and, with it, the lease termination notices arrive. What is the reason? To understand it you have to go back a few years and go to the Ensanche de Vallecas, more specifically to Mazaterón and Fresno de Cantespino streets. There are two residential buildings with 220 identical apartments, homes between 40 and 45 square meters (m2) and a single room. The blocks were inaugurated in the heat of the Caixa Social Projects program and allowed quite a few families to benefit from social rents of between 400 and 600 euros, prices well below what is charged today in the free market. As a reference, according to Idealista in Madrid, the square meter costs 23 eurosso a 45 m2 apartment would require paying a rent of more than 1,000 euros per month. The real estate portal shows that the average is somewhat lower in Villa de Vallecas (€16.1/m2), but even so a quick search confirms that it is difficult to find an available house in the district for less than 800 euros per month. And it doesn’t just come with paying the rent. The advertisements They also require tenants to meet certain requirements, such as a minimum income threshold or an indefinite contract. But… What is the problem? That tenants who once obtained a social rental in those two buildings through Caixa now find themselves probably having to pack their bags and leave their homes. And they have been living there for more than a decade (in some cases almost two) and their economic situations are far from ideal. These days the press was echoing cases of tenants with a volume of income that does not reach 500 euros monthlyappear to have recognized disabilities or have children and sick in your charge. Why is that? Very simple. Basically because the apartments that they have been renting for years in exchange for affordable rents are no longer in the same hands and (most importantly) have seen their term as officially protected housing (VPO) expire, so they have entered the free market headlong. In fact the neighbors assure that in the two buildings there are apartments that already apply seasonal rentals for 1,100 euros or that have even gone on sale for 250,000 euros. There are three key dates to understand the case, according to the information that drives The Country. The first is 2022. That year the tenants claim to have noticed a first relevant change: they suddenly encountered problems when it came to extending the rents that were due when until then, says David Jiménez, one of those affected, “the Foundation had never caused difficulties.” Although that was several years ago, the neighboring communities did not notice anything strange. People were leaving, but the rest of the tenants did not know why, whether it was by choice, work or because the landlord had decided not to renew their contract. Hence some affected people now speak of “invisible evictions.” And the other dates? The second came last August, when residents began to receive letters from InmoCaixa (La Caixa’s real estate portfolio manager) informing them that their contracts would not be renewed. In other words, there will be no extensions of rents that expire The precise SER that in some cases this means that the tenants will have to leave in December. The third date that completes the chronicle and gives a global image of what happened is much more recent: October, which was when the neighbors began to receive another letter related to their homes, only in this case it was not signed by Caixa or any entity related to it. Its author was Mosaic Propcoa fund that informed them that it is now responsible for their contracts. The reason: the foundation has sold the apartments, which for the neighbors meant a bucket of cold water. What do the neighbors and La Caixa say? The first, the neighbors, speak of “speculation” and an attempt to expel them from what have been their homes for the last few years, homes to which they had access at the time by meeting certain requirements and which since then they have been paying as agreed. According to their calculations, right now there are just over a hundred (110) people who maintain their InmoCaixa contracts and, therefore, risk having to pack their bags. Among them there are several dozen who will face this scenario over the next few months, during 2026 or even in December. “I collect 480 euros in aid for people over 52 years of age and with that I pay the rent and little else. They tell me to enter the affordable housing lottery, but if I already have affordable housing, why do I have to start over from scratch? They don’t give me options, there is no real alternative,” relates in Madrid Diario Mercedes, 60 years old, 11 of which she has spent in one of the apartments in Vallecas. A spokesperson for the La Caixa Foundation explained these days to The Country that simply the nature of the apartments has changed and now they focus on other social areas. What does it say exactly? “This is a development whose VPO term had expired and, therefore, had gone to the free market. Tenants are always notified in a timely manner, complying with the conditions of the contracts that both parties have signed,” they insist from the entity, which has “redirected” its efforts in social … Read more

A very deep polar trough is descending towards North Africa and Spain is right in the middle

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Now Spain is busy with the rain and it is logical: it is not every day that a high-impact storm hits you and turns the country upside down. However, as they said from Navarmeteothe key question is what is going to happen from Tuesday. Let’s fasten our seatbelts, because curves are coming. An early winter. Both the European and American models coincide in a change in weather pattern next week. Towards Thursday, a very deep polar trough will descend from northern Europe towards the south. The interesting (and worrying) thing is that it is going to pass right over us. That is, in a week Spain will be immersed in a polar air mass maritime. But the thing is not limited to that: as a corridor opens that connects us to the north (between the western anticyclone and the storm in the Gulf of Genoa), shortly after the first ‘impact’ a second pulse of even colder continental polar air will arrive. What does this mean? Well, if everything happens as the models say, cold and humid air from the North Atlantic will enter first. That will cause temperatures to drop and rain and snow will return. Then, with the strengthening of the northerly flow, drier and colder air will arrive: a major thermal collapse. Are we sure about this? We have been seeing for days how the great models they were converging around a scenario like this: a huge tongue of cold approaching the peninsula. However, skepticism was more than justified. But things are starting to get real. It seems clear that it will be a cold week throughout the country (except the Canary Islands) and temperatures at altitude are beginning to reach up to 10 degrees below average. Everything will start in the Cantabrian Sea, but by Friday it will have reached the entire peninsula. Things are going to change. We come from the storm Claudia and, although the impact has been considerable, It has been a fairly tempered system. However, things are going to change: even if in the end the trough does not reach that far south, the cold is going to be felt in large areas of the country. And this is the beginning of a winter that, if all goes well, is expected very (but very) moved. Image | Tropical Tridbits In Xataka | It’s going to rain in Galicia. It seems normal but it is something more: the prelude to a total change in the weather in Spain

Huawei is coming back. And not everyone is prepared for what is coming

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In China it has already happened. Huawei has gone from being practically dead after the US sanctions of 2019 to lead its domestic market again in 2025 with a 18.1% share. This national resurgence has not been a stroke of luck or the result of blind nationalism (although his subsequent resurgence helped), rather it has been a matter of engineering and strategy: But China is just Act I. Act II, the global leap, is in progress. And when Huawei presses the button, the consumer electronics market will change. Again. What’s stopping them… at the moment There are two things holding Huawei out of China: chips. The current Kirin chips, manufactured in 7 nm by SMIC, work but are two generations behind the Snapdragon or the 3nm Apple Silicon. That means less energy efficiency, less raw power. More importantly: production capacity is limited. SMIC can’t manufacture in volume like TSMC, at least not yet. Huawei can make competitive 5G smartphones, but it can’t make enough to saturate global markets. Software. The other bottleneck. HarmonyOS can boast of being the second mobile ecosystem in China, even surpassing iOS in share. But outside of China, the equation changes. Without Google Play Services, without the complete catalog of Western apps, convincing a European or Latin American user to abandon Android is asking them for a leap of faith. Huawei knows this, that’s why it has invested a lot of money for six years to build AppGallery and its own services. But breaking the inertia of a consolidated duopoly requires more than good intentions: it requires critical mass. Even so, these brakes are, if all goes well, temporary: When both reach the minimum threshold—sufficient chips and viable ecosystem—Huawei will make the leap. And he will not do it timidly. He will do it with the aggressiveness of someone who has been preparing in silence for five years. The scene that no one wants to name Huawei Pura 80 Ultra. Image: Andrey Matveev. There is an uncomfortable question floating in the air: What if Huawei doesn’t come back alone? What if other Chinese brands (Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme) adopt HarmonyOS instead of Android? It seems like science fiction, but let’s remember that the Chinese government has been promoting OpenHarmony as a “strategic national operating system.” And that the Chinese government has hinted that companies should reduce their dependence on Android and Windows. That in an environment of increasing technological friction with the West, having our own ecosystem is a matter of survival. If that happens—and political pressure makes it increasingly feasible—the map changes. Android would not lose a manufacturer, it would lose all the big Chinese. Samsung would remain practically Google’s only relevant ally outside of the Apple ecosystem. And HarmonyOS would go from being a local Chinese curiosity to a real global third pole. Not tomorrow, but not in a decade either. In three or four years at most. Besides, andn China Huawei is no longer just consumer electronics: it is an automotive player. Its automotive division has become a key technology partner for several local brands, from Aito until Arcfox. It doesn’t manufacture cars, but it puts the brain into it: sensors, software, connectivity, digital platform. There are already complete “Huawei Inside” models there. That muscle did not exist before the US blockade. And now it is part of the Huawei that could reach Europe: one capable of entering your pocket, your wrist, your home… and also your car. It seems familiar to us. Meanwhile in Europe… Huawei has done something interesting in Europe: not disappear. Here Sales of its smartphones suffered a brutal collapse overnight. Not being able to include Google services was lethal. But they did continue to sell other products: They are the products that do not depend on Google. And they keep the brand visible, preserve the memory of what Huawei was… and pave the way for a better tomorrow. Every GT watch or set of FreeBuds headphones someone buys in Europe is a seed of future loyalty. It is a party waiting in the trenches for it to die down while the others assumed that they would withdraw from the battle. AND Europe will be precisely its real test. No China, they have already won there. Not the United States, where sanctions and market inertia make any short-term operation impossible. Europe, where Huawei became a sales leader and where it built prestige with its commitment to Leica, where there is a certain brand nostalgia and above all where there is no formal veto on its products. Huawei has been in charge of closing local gaps. For example, a bridge to make mobile payments from its platform that compensates for forced trade restrictions. If they manage to offer a good enough ecosystem – it doesn’t even have to be perfect, just enough – there is a market. Because what we (neither consumers nor the industry) cannot forget is that Huawei was never just hardware. It was always a complete value proposition: design, cameras, ecosystem integration. At first, with mediocre quality while being friendly. But then it got better. That doesn’t go away because they block your access to Google for five years. It reinvents itself. The window opens Huawei has already announced its plans to relaunch its smartphones in up to 60 countries. Starting with emerging markets, where its reputation was not so eroded and where US restrictions have less political weight. Europe’s time will come. And when it does, with Kirin chips in volume and a more mature HarmonyOS, the market will shake up. Samsung will have to accelerate, the rest of the Chinese manufacturers – which occupied the space that Huawei freed up, with Xiaomi at the helm – will face a rival that, in addition to returning, will do so without the dependencies that the rest drag, and even Apple can see in them a threat in the medium term. Huawei has been building autonomy for five years while many of us considered it finished. Or … Read more

Renault is already pushing for Europe to copy the Chinese model

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The statements have been as concise as they are clear: “You cannot come to Europe and build four plates with wheels and seats with little added value. What we have to do is commit them to teach us, to come with products with added value. We did not do it like that when we went to China, they should not do it when they come to Europe” The words are from Josep Maria Recasens, president of Renault Spain, and reflect in three sentences the situation that the industry is experiencing in Europe, its internal debates and its fears. Added value. This is what Recasens has demanded at the 1st Automotive Forum, organized by the Automotive Press Group to which it belongs. The Automotive Tribune. The president of Renault Spain, who is also the president of ANFAC (the manufacturers’ association in our country) has demanded that Europe force Chinese brands to associate with European ones so that they “teach us” how they make their products. In Recasens’ opinion, Europe is opening the door to Chinese brands, allowing them to build “four plates with wheels and seats with little added value.” It is a veiled statement that points to the Chinese factories that are settling in our country but that, however, plan to produce vehicles based on kits that already come pre-assembled from China. What do they teach us? When the president of Renault asks that the European Union force Chinese manufacturers “to teach us” it is for two reasons. The first is that China forced foreign manufacturers to partner with their local firms to produce on its soil. What did they earn? Obviously, knowledge. Just take a look at the MG4 Electric to understand the extent to which its partnership with Volkswagen has borne fruit. At the same time, foreign manufacturers could produce at a much lower price and had access to the largest market in the world. What, we assume, they did not imagine is that China was going to surpass the West. Yes, let them teach us. The second point referred to in “let them teach us” is evident: the president of Renault and Anfac recognizes that, at least in part, China is ahead. And the French company itself has gone to Shanghai to develop your Renault Twingoa car whose heart has been created internally in China in record time for the European industry. But there have also been curious situations such as Mazda has brought the Mazda 6e to Europea car developed by Changan in China that, given its success, they have decided to test on European soil with a groundbreaking price per size. And the warnings don’t end there. The industry has entered a fever to shorten deadlines and approaching the times of Chinese development. The consultants warn that, at the level of quality, there is no difference with the Europeans. Others warn Japanese firms that their extreme attention to detail and conservative evolutions they may have left them behind. In question. Recasens’ words also emphasize the misgivings that have arisen among European manufacturers seeing how Chinese companies are arriving on our soil. With the intention of stopping the arrival of Chinese electric cars at knockdown prices, Europe applied variable tariffs to each brand depending on the supposed help they have received from the Chinese Government in the form of soft loans or the transfer of land. The promise is that they would not pay if they manufactured in Europe. But the first factories are also in question. Chery opted for assemble car kits in Barcelona. That is, cars that arrive almost assembled from the other side of the world and to which the final touches are given in the Spanish city. Now, the European Union is studying whether or not the electric Omoda 5 has to pay tariffs by understanding that added value is not being created around the production of said car. But not only Chery. The Chery case was the first but it has not been the only one. Stéphane Séjourné, vice president for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy of the European Commission, has assured the Italian newspaper La Stampa that the institution also has the factory in its sights BYD in Hungary or the plans that CATL has in Europe (including those that has in Spain with Stellantis). According to Séjourné, “it is not right” that these companies are manufacturing their cars in Europe with Chinese components and Chinese employees, noting that their investment in creating a local network of suppliers is minimal. A good example is the CATL battery production plant in Aragón where it is expected that employ 2,000 Chinese employees. Photo | ANFAC and Renault In Xataka | Before opening its gigafactory, Zaragoza has a pending task: create a “chinatow” for 2,000 Chinese workers

soldiers who save lives don’t have medals, they unlock the deadliest weapons

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At the beginning of November Ukraine updated the bloodiest game of the nation, that kind of “Amazon of war” where it borrowed the idea of ​​video games and their reward systems, granting points to its soldiers for eliminating enemy troops. Those points later could be exchanged for weapons and systems. Now, in a twist, the greatest reward does not come from an accurate shot, it comes from saving lives. War innovation. The war in Ukraine has entered a phase in which the technologythe incentive systems and management human resources they intertwine. The scenario is no longer defined only by the clash of armies, but by the ability of a country to transform its internal processes, accelerate the arrival of equipment to the front and keep together a military force subjected to extreme wear and tear. In this framework, the appearance of digital platforms capable of rewarding tactical actions, prioritizing the protection of lives and compressing the logistics chain in a matter of days reveals a country that is trying to compensate for numerical inferiority with structural innovation (ethics are more debatable). The morality. At the same time, this development occurs in a military theater where Russian pressure It’s intensewhere entire cities risk being isolated and where the political leadership is forced to decide between holding symbolic positions or preserve your soldiers for more sustainable lines. The convergence of both phenomena defines a war dynamic in which technology not only shapes the offense and defense, but also the moral and strategic considerations that determine each retreat, each advance and each sacrifice. Amazon and its new incentives. We told it at the beginning, the digitization of the war effort Ukrainian has crystallized into a system of rewards and acquisitions capable of altering the way units obtain weapons, electronic systems and tactical material. The platform Brave1 Market It allows any unit, from drone brigades to mechanized infantry battalions, to directly request equipment from manufacturers that previously depended on slow bureaucratic chains, with deadlines incompatible with the urgency of the front. Their catalogues, which cover weapons more expensive and deadly of the nation, have everything from drones to UGVs, electronic warfare systems, cameras, batteries, motors and satellite communications, devices that are constantly renewed as companies and volunteers integrate new technologies. The result is an almost instantaneous shopping environment, financed by the state but guided by the immediate needs of those who fight. The speed of the model, added to the monitoring of points accumulated by units throughout the country, has generated an internal competition that accelerates the incorporation of innovations and creates incentives to execute missions of high tactical impact. Some of the weapons and robots that can be redeemed in Brave1 Unlock save lives. Thus, on a front where medical evacuations have become one of the most lethal tasks due to the proliferation of reconnaissance and attack drones, unmanned ground vehicles have acquired a decisive relevance. These robots are capable of enter beaten areas by artillery or monitored by kamikaze drones, towing wounded from exposed positions, transporting ammunition and carrying out demolition missions against vehicles and fortified points. Expansion of the reward system to privilege the rescue Companionship introduces a change in focus: saving lives takes a central place in the incentive structure, generating not only practical effects on survival, but also psychological effects on troops fighting in an increasingly automated environment. This priority is reinforced with unit testimonials which have already experienced successful rescues, although not exempt from risks derived from the loss of signal or the need to operate in complex terrain. The strategic dilemma. And as innovation advances, the country faces repeated decisions about the fate of its most contested urban positions. Cities like Bakhmut either Avdiivka demonstrated that holding out for months can inflict severe losses on Russian forces, but also that prolonging the defense after losing supply routes leads to unsustainable attrition. With Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad threatened by Russian advances that seek progressive encirclement, the dilemma resurfaces between resisting to delay the enemy push or withdrawing to preserve essential units in a war of attrition. The difference between holding a position and losing an entire contingent of soldiers is measured in corridors increasingly narrowersubjected to continuous bombings and assaults by Russian groups that take advantage of the staff shortage Ukrainian to infiltrate weakened lines. This pattern has already been repeated in several scenarios where late withdrawal has led to captures, massive losses and the rapid fall of deep fortifications. The fragility of the defenses. The recent Russian advance in different sectors shows Moscow’s ability to exploit gaps that have emerged after months of continuous pressure. The reduction of troops Due to the prolonged defense of urban areas, it can result in an unexpected weakening of subsequent lines, which, if they do not receive reinforcements in time, are exposed to deeper ruptures. In areas such as southwest Donetsk and parts of Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces have captured several settlements in a short periodtaking advantage of both the Ukrainian wear and tear like weather conditions that limit the use of surveillance drones. The possibility that units trapped in cities under siege cannot withdraw affects not only the local balance, but also the entire defensive architecture of the eastern front, where the loss of trained personnel outweighs the loss of territory in a long-term war. A war of technological adaptation. If you like, the combination of a digitized incentive systemthe rise of ground robots and the relentless pressure about strategic cities draws a war in which innovation and survival are closely linked. The accelerated adoption of technologies distributed among brigades, the ability to purchase material in hours and the rescue prioritization Through multiplied rewards they form a network war model that attempts to compensate for resource asymmetry with organizational agility. It happens that this modernization develops in parallel to a front where the territorial decisions They involve the possibility of losing hundreds of soldiers in weeks, where the lack of trained personnel limits each counterattack and where withdrawal or prolonged resistance … Read more

More and more children suffer from it and science believes it knows why

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For years, the hypertension has earned the nickname the “silent killer“. It is a pathology that barely causes symptoms, but can cause serious damage in the heart, brain and blood vessels. Traditionally, it has been associated with older people, whose arteries age and accumulate atheromatous plaques over time. But that is changing: More and more children are living with high blood pressure. Taking blood pressure in the little ones in the house is something that for many may be unthinkable, because it is something that is logically assumed to be perfect because their arteries are also very young. But it’s changing, according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. How many. The data are worrying: the percentage of children and adolescents with hypertension has almost doubled in two decades: from 3.2% in 2000 to more than 6.2% in 2020. This means that 114 million children under 19 years of age in the world today live with high blood pressure. This photograph results from an analysis of 96 different studies and 443,000 young people from 21 countries. The reasons. So… Why on earth does a child have a disease that is associated with older people? The person responsible is in obesity which is associated with an almost eight-fold increased risk of developing high blood pressure compared to their peers with a healthy weight. And the figures in this case are devastating. To give us an idea, among children who have a healthy weight, only 2.4% have hypertension. But this counteracts with children who do have obesity, where the figure shoots up to 19%. This is further amplified when childhood obesity is increasing globally and has tripled since 2000 as has recognized UNICEF. And the causes in this case seem to be in the high consumption of processed foods and also in the low physical activity that some young people have. Diagnose in time. Although the study recognizes the limitations that arise in the differences in measuring blood pressure, the message is quite clear: blood pressure must be taken when risk factors such as obesity are present. We must remember that we are talking about a ‘silent killer’, because it seems that everything is correct, but damage to the arteries is occurring. The most important thing, like any other disease, always is early diagnosis to be able to apply measures to control the situation and prevent it from advancing much further. The problem of measurement. One of the most revealing findings of the study is that How we measure blood pressure matters, a lot. Prevalence figures change drastically depending on the diagnostic method. A priori, the diagnosis in a medical consultation requires at least three office visits for hypertension to be confirmed, causing the prevalence to be estimated at 4.3%. However, when the researchers included out-of-office evaluations (like the classic blood pressure monitors that anyone can use), the prevalence of sustained hypertension shot up to 6.7%. It’s a problem. This paradigm shift suggests that there are children who have normal tension when they go to the doctor, but it increases in their daily lives. Something alarming, especially considering that it affects 9.2% of children and adolescents globally and that is why we should not allow this masked hypertension. In the opposite case, blood pressure is elevated in the medical environment due to stress, but is normal at home, something known as ‘white coat hypertension‘. This affects 5.2% of young people, suggesting that a notable proportion could be being misdiagnosed or overtreated. Prehypertension. The study not only looks at children who are already hypertensive, but also at those who are in the waiting room. Data show that an additional 8.2% of children and adolescents have prehypertension, that is, blood pressure levels higher than normal, but do not yet meet the criteria for diagnosis. But this risk is not homogeneous. Prehypertension is especially prevalent during adolescence, reaching 11.8% of adolescentscompared to 7% in younger children. Images | CDC Ben Wicks In Xataka | We have known for a long time that our heart “fixes” itself. Now we know better how

A Google Pixel for less than 400 euros, an 85-inch Sony TV, offers on eReaders and more. Hunting Bargains

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Once again we return with a new Bargain Hunting shortly before the arrival of the next Black Friday. The stores have started their respective campaigns with many offers on all types of devices and in this article we are going to review the five best we have found all week. Google Pixel 9a by 399 eurosa very reasonable price for a mid-range mobile that takes very good photos. Kindle Scribe by 360.48 eurosan eReader with a 10-inch screen that also serves to take notes. Mac mini M4 by 829.99 eurosa very small computer but so powerful that it is ideal for studying or working. Roborock Saros Z70 by 1,099 eurosa robot vacuum cleaner with an arm that can remove the socks it finds in the way. Sony Bravia 3 by 1,499 eurosa huge television with Dolby Vision and Atmos that we have rarely seen so cheap. Google Pixel 9a One of the best offers we have seen this week is the one Amazon has in the Google Pixel 9awhich has dropped to 399 eurosthe same price that we saw in its previous generation not many months ago. This Google mobile stands out in its mid-range for many reasons, the photography section being the most outstanding of them. It is also worth mentioning that it is quite compact (6.3 inches)its screen offers a 120 Hz refresh rate and its software will be updated for many years. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Scribe Amazon is already dropping some offers prior to Black Friday and again we can find the Kindle Scribe (2024) of offer. By 360.48 euroswe talk about a Larger eReader than conventional (10.2 inches) which also serves to take notes thanks to its pencil. It includes 16 GB of internal storage that can store a huge assortment of digital books and its theoretical autonomy is up to 12 weeks of use. Kindle Scribe (2024 version) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Mac mini M4 He Mac mini M4 He hasn’t received too many offers (at least not that juicy) in a while, but that’s over. By 829.99 eurosPowerplanet has one of the best prices we have seen on their configuration of 16 GB of unified memory and 512 GB internal storage. It is a powerful computer thanks to the M4 chip, it is very quiet and so small that it practically fits in the palm of your hand. It is aimed at study and work use and is the international version. Mac mini M4 (16GB, 512GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Roborock Saros Z70 It will be an expensive robot vacuum cleaner, but Amazon right now has the Roborock Saros Z70 with a huge discount. By 1,099 euros (instead of 1,799 euros as other stores have), it is a model that undoubtedly stands out for his armwhich allows you to remove socks or other objects for efficient cleaning. In addition, it offers a power of 22,000 Pa, it is also capable of scrubbing, it includes a self-emptying base, its theoretical autonomy is up to 4 hours and it works with AlexaGoogle Home and Siri. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Sony Bravia 3 If you have the possibility to make room for it and you are looking for a huge television to watch movies and series or play video games, the TV Sony Bravia 3 of 85 inches It has rarely been so cheap. By 1,499 euros at El Corte Inglés (on Amazon it is more expensive, but allows you to finance it in four interest-free payments), it is a model compatible with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos which comes with Google TV OS and HDMI 2.1. Sony Bravia 3 (85 inches) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links 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 | Google, Amazon, Apple, Roborock, Sony In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs

Congress will force Renfe to return the money for delays of 15 minutes. Renfe’s response: we’ll see

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Last year, Renfe expanded the strict criteria for returning money to its customers in case of delay. The measure came with controversy since these criteria had been applied since 1992 when the first AVE was launched. Almost 25 years later, the company relaxed these criteria to the point that two million passengers lost their money last year. Now, Congress forces Renfe to return to its previous criteria. But Renfe is not up to the task. When and how much money does Renfe return? Right now, to receive a partial payment for our ticket, the delay on the Spanish high-speed Renfe has to exceed 60 minutes. From 2024the company does not give half the money if the delay does not exceed one hour. In the event that we aspire to receive a full refund of the ticket, it will not arrive until we exceed 90 minutes. What has changed? Yesterday, November 13, The Congress of Deputies approved the Sustainable Mobility Law. It included an amendment from the Popular Party that returned the compensation that Renfe has to apply to those prior to the 2024 change. That is: Delays of more than 15 minutes: payment of 50% of the ticket Delays of more than 30 minutes: 100% payment of the ticket The change is substantial because this summer, four out of every 10 Renfe high-speed trains have arrived late. However, with the changes applied from 2024 they have been left without a refund around two million passengers. We’ll see. This is what the Ministry of Transport seems to say. And in statements to EFEsources from said ministry have described the amendment (which has been supported by Vox, Junts, ERC, Podemos and BNG) as “a demagogic operation and a toast to the populist sun.” Not only that, since The World They already state that Transport assures that they will look for “the legal formula to maintain the current system.” That is, the customer does not receive any refund for their ticket until after 60 minutes of delay. And that the total amount is not delivered until after 90 minutes. In the media they also report that Transport sources have indicated that the decision “only wants to penalize Renfe, a Spanish and public company, and not competing companies.” such as Ouigo and Iryo”, while highlighting that Renfe is a “public company that is fundamental to the structure of Spain”. In addition, Óscar Puente himself, Minister of Transport, has questioned the amendment. “Let’s see how it goes,” they say in The World who has responded about the new obligation. At a disadvantage? What Transport maintains is that the amendment promoted by the Popular Party puts Renfe at a clear disadvantage compared to Ouigo and Iryo. What the Government alludes to is that the reimbursement conditions by these companies are less favorable for the client, allowing them a competitive advantage. Ouigo compensates in the following cases: Delay of more than 30 minutes and less than 60 minutes: 50% refund of the ticket in a non-refundable purchase voucher. Delay of more than 60 minutes and less than 90 minutes: 50% refund of the ticket in a refundable purchase voucher. Delay of more than 90 minutes: 100% refund of the ticket in a refundable purchase voucher. Iryo partially or totally refunds the money in the following situations: Delay of more than 30 minutes and less than 60 minutes: refund of 50% of the ticket in purchase voucher or cash. Delay of more than 90 minutes: 100% refund of the ticket in purchase voucher or cash. Competence. What the Ministry of Transport points out is that this puts them at a disadvantage compared to the competition because Renfe adapted its compensation criteria to formulas similar or equal to those offered by its competition. However, the amendment introduced in the Sustainable Mobility Law only toughens the criteria for Renfe. It must be taken into account that the company has been around for more than a year experiencing a punctuality crisis. Although the Government points out that its punctuality is among the best in Europe, criticism has surfaced because trains that do not arrive on time have multiplied. Of course, when sharing roads with Ouigo and Iryo, it may be the case that a road blockade due to a breakdown of the latter ends up causing a delay in times when Renfe does have to return 100% of the ticket and its rivals will only deliver half of it. Photo | Carlos Teixador Cadenas in Wikimedia and Congress of Deputies In Xataka | If the summer has taught us anything, it is that Spain does not need more trains. You just need them to work.

Spain has lost 142,000 businesses in 10 years

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Spain has lost 142,024 businesses in the last ten years, going from 767,317 establishments to 625,293, according to data reported by The World. There are 39 net daily closures. One in every five businesses that disappear in the country is a store. The business has a mortality rate of 8.4%, higher than the national average of 7.8%. The facts. 68% of the closed businesses were self-employed without employees. Another 31% had between one and four workers. That is, 99% had less than five employees. Aragon, Galicia, Castilla y León and the Basque Country have lost almost a quarter of their stores. Yes, but. While small businesses collapse, large chains continue to grow. Mercadona invoiced 38.4 billion in 2023, 7% more than the previous year. The paradox is evident: Spain today has 85,527 more companies than a decade ago, when we were just emerging from the crisis, but the local commercial fabric is disintegrating. Between the lines. It’s not just that the consumer prefers the convenience of the supermarket. The problem is structural: Small businesses competed with exhausting hours and tiny margins against chains that negotiated prices with suppliers on a national scale. The shopkeeper who opened from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and made a living from his store can no longer sustain that model when a large supermarket sells cheaper, has a greater variety of products and closes at 9:30 p.m. The pressure doesn’t just come from the consumer. Suppliers have also changed the game: they prefer one large buyer who simplifies distribution over hundreds of small, dispersed customers. Local commerce has lost strength in both sales and purchases. The contrast. There is one exception visible on the streets: the convenience stores run mainly by Chinese and Pakistani merchants yes they have proliferated. They maintain the model of endless days that Spanish self-employed people can no longer sustain: open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, without fresh but with all the basics. They have filled the gap left by the traditional grocer, but with a different equation: Intensive family work. Very tight margins. And a model that only works if the whole family is behind the counter. It is the last stronghold of classic local commerce, but it reinforces the thesis: only those who accept conditions that an average Spanish self-employed person can no longer or do not want to assume survive survive. The money trail. The cost inflation has finished off the sector: electricity, rents, minimum wages and social contributions have risen while sales prices could barely move. A self-employed person pays more to keep his premises open than he can make by selling. The figures confirm it: only 41.9% of companies born in 2018 were still active in 2023. The first year of life is lethal, with survival rates of 78.5% or lower. Rising pressure. Added to the historical problems is now the tourism: Tourist apartments have skyrocketed commercial rentals in central areas, expelling businesses that cannot compete with Airbnb hostels and apartments. María José Landaburu, from UATAE, sums it up: “If a self-employed person cannot rent premises in their neighborhood, if a business closes because its rent has tripled, that is expulsion.” Main loser? The self-employed business. Lorenzo Amor, from ATA, warns that they are “in free fall” and with them “the social cohesion generated by the businesses of our towns and cities” disappears. The shopkeeper model, sustained for decades by endless hours and tight profitability, is becoming exhausted. The big chains have won by a landslide. In Xataka | The shadow companies that are making gold with Mercadona: the silent success of Familia Martínez or Profand Featured image | Richard Melick, Mercadona

Spain has been wondering for years what the hell to do with the “castle of the tricorns.” Tourism has come to their aid

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More than a decade and a few auctions Then, a long (and fruitless) succession of bids during which its sale price fell little by little, the Maqueda castle It finally has a new owner. The Canarian firm Amcotur (América de Construcciones y Turismo SL) has decided to buy this old Toledo fortress from the State for 3.25 million of euros to convert it into a hotel. Its sale is important for several reasons. The bastion sees its future clear after a long (very long) administrative soap opera. The people trust in winning a stimulus that will boost their economy. And the Ministry of the Interior is getting rid of a property in which it invested millions of euros and which it has been trying to get rid of for a decade. In a place in Castilla-La Mancha… Although the last years of the Maqueda castle (known as “the castle of the tricorns”) have been moved at an institutional level, in reality they are only a chapter in the vast history of this fortress, located 75 km from the center of Madrid, in a town of just 500 neighbors. Its origins can be traced back at least 981when Almanzor decided to reinforce a fortress that already existed. Since then its history has been full of twists, turns and big names (it is said that Isabel la Católica stayed in one of its towers): in 1157 the bastion came under the control of the Order of Calatrava, in the 15th century it was almost completely rebuilt and over the centuries it ended up in interior handswhich was initially assigned to the Civil Guard units. What do we do with it? In your file of the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha explains that until “recently” the fortress basically acted as a Civil Guard barracks, but the truth is that its recent history is somewhat more complex. Between the 90s and early 2000 An ambitious remodeling was carried out to convert the bastion into the headquarters of the Armed Institute’s historical archive. The idea was left half-finished. As relates The Countrychanges in the Government and economic ups and downs marked the project. First it expanded, adding a museum to the archive functions; But the 2008 crisis caused the plan to go into a tailspin. During the time of Mariano Rajoy at the head of Moncloa, it was decided to put the property up for sale (along with many other assets) to inject funds into the public coffers. Although the dream of converting the fortress into a museum-archive did not materialize, it did have consequences: a new block was built between the castle walls, in the parade ground, a modern concrete building with three floors and a basement. In total, the remodeling cost the State 7.4 million of euros. Until recently the property was still listed in the catalog of the GIESE (State Security Infrastructure and Equipment Management), where it was specified that it has a constructed area of ​​3,060 square meters. The plot adds 2,861 m2. Dropping in price. The castle is impressive, it has new construction and the plot is classified also as urban land suitable for residential, public or hotel uses (among others), which opens the range of possible uses. None of this prevented Interior from struggling and wanting to free itself from the fortress. In 2014 he asked 9.58 million. In vain. Nobody bid. The following year it adjusted the starting price, leaving it at 7.47 million. Another failure. The figure continued to decline (first to 5.9 million, then to 2.76) without whetting investors’ appetite. In 2023 its value was established at 3.25 million, the price for which the Canarian company has now decided to buy it, owned by Yusef Nasser and with experience both in the hotel sector and in the management of historic buildings. Among the accommodations in its catalogue, the company includes a four-star hotel located in a Burgos castle from the 15th century. Although the figure for which the bastion of Maqueda has been acquired directly is much lower than what was requested in 2014 or 2017the hotel group assures to Canarias7 that the operation has been closed at the “official appraisal” price. You will probably have to add the cost of the works to the purchase amount. Next stop: a small rural hotel. In mind, the company plans to set up a rural hotel, a four-star accommodation, with a spa, swimming pool, restaurants and conference room, according to precise laser. The station clarifies that the establishment will allow you to visit the surroundings of the walls and their archaeological challenges. For that we will have to wait. From the company recognize that to release the accommodation it will be necessary to invest in the reform and rehabilitate the old wall that surrounds the castle, declared in 1931 artistic historical monument. The idea is that the bastion, popularly known as “Castle of the Tricorns” will open its doors to guests in about a year and a half, around mid 2027. “It will give life to the town”. The mayor of Maqueda, Andrés Congosto (PSOE), admitted these days to SER that in the town they are “very happy” about the news about the reactivation of the property after “more than 10 years” of projects and ideas that had not quite come to fruition. At the time, it was even proposed to convert the bastion into a museum dedicated to democratic memory, an approach presented by the City Council and the Manuel Azaña Association to the Government years ago. The councilor has recognized elDiario.es now feels a certain “frustration”, but he then clarifies: “At least a private owner has not bought it and it will be a rural hotel. That will give life to the town, promote tourism and employment.” Images | Giborn_134 (Flickr) and Junta of Castilla-La Mancha In Xataka | Toledo has had enough of the mass tourism that saturates the city center. His plan to change it: China

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