Month: January 2026

A tax on billionaires has made the founder of Google seek refuge in Miami. A $173 million shelter

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Larry Page, co-founder of Google and second largest fortune in the world according to Forbespacks his bags after 30 years living in California. It’s not a whim. There is a compelling reason behind this decision: not pay taxes. However, the millionaire moves from state to state. the most millionaire way possiblewhich is none other than spending no less than 173.4 million dollars on two mansions near the sea in Miami. A house with a name and surname in Coconut Grove. According to published The Wall Street Journalthe co-founder of Google has acquired two properties in Coconut Grove, one of the most exclusive and luxurious neighborhoods in Miami, for about $101.5 million and $71.9 million respectively, for a total outlay of $173.4 million. One of the mansions was initially put up for sale for $135 million and extends over a 1.8-hectare beachfront plot, has 13 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms, several pools and gardens surrounding the construction. The mansion was owned by Jonathan Lewis, a well-known philanthropist and civil rights activist who died in 2023. The sale of this mansion known in the area as “Banyan Ridge“, closed in mid-December with a significant discount. ​A second retreat close. As and how they point From the specialized real estate portal Realtor, without leaving the neighborhood and just under four minutes by car from his main residence, the millionaire would have bought a second mansion for about 71.9 million dollars. This second property would also be located on the seafront with views of Biscayne Bay. In this case, the construction has about 1,579 square meters, seven rooms and belonged to the journalist and writer Sloan Barnett, heiress of billionaire George L. Lindemann, as he collected The Wall Street Journal. Fleeing the millionaire tax. Larry Page’s hasty move and other Silicon Valley millionaires It comes in the context of California’s plans to vote on approving a tax that would levy 5% to the estates of more than 1 billion dollars. According to what was published by The New York TimesIf the tax is approved, it could be applied retroactively to those billionaires who reside in California as of January 1, 2026. Therefore, in order not to be included in that calculation, Page has packed his bags to start the year as a resident in Florida. Analysts consulted by the American media calculate that, taking into account that it is the second largest fortune in the world with a valuation of 270.1 billion dollars, this tax could mean a tax bill of more than 13 billion dollars. Following in the footsteps of Bezos and Musk. Larry Page’s move is not an isolated or strange case. Jeff Bezos did the same from Seattle in 2023, although at that time justified his move to Miami to be closer to the family and operations of Blue Origin, his aerospace company. Bezos also made a grand landing in Florida, buying several mansions on the artificial island known as Billionaire Bunker for about 237 million. The change of residence (and state) has given you an estimated tax savings of about 1 billion dollars. Something similar happened to Elon Musk who, after his judicial dispute over the payment of his salary bonus of Tesla in Delaware, changed the headquarters of his companies and his residence to Texasavoiding paying 13.3% in California capital gains taxes. Bad news for your neighbors. The exodus of millionaires from California is making local real estate agents make a killing selling luxury homes in areas like Coconut Grove. Dina Gold Thayer, by Douglas Elliman, explained to The Wall Street Journal that “every two days, we show available homes to San Francisco clients. Everyone is in a hurry to buy to avoid the retroactive application of the wealth tax.” This rush to buy is an opportunity for residents, since their potential buyers had less room for negotiation, causing prices in the area to skyrocket even more. In Xataka | In a financial carom, Google has stood up to NVIDIA, leaving an unexpected winner in the crazy AI race: Larry Page Image | Flickr (Fortune Global Forum)

China has just resolved one of the biggest doubts about going to Mars with the birth of six space mice

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For years, the great doubt of space biology It has not been whether we can have tomatoes and lettuce in orbit to be able to populate other planets, but whether our bodies will remain functional after returning from the vacuum of space. Something that above all interests us in order to reproduce. And in order to solve it, China sent a mouse who was in the Tiangong station to see if she was later capable of having babies and if they came with any serious alteration. Some babies for history. The result of this trip to Tiangong Station The truth is that it has been a successsince on December 10, 2025, a laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) witnessed an apparently everyday but scientifically extraordinary event: the birth of nine baby mice. The special thing, logically, was not the birth, but the fact that his mother had been in space for several weeks (although with some problems) subjected to microgravity and cosmic radiation. Now, six of these babies have survived and are growing normally. It was not without incident. The experiment was a priori quite simple: launch four mice (two males and two females) into space on October 31 and leave them there for two weeks. All this accompanied by adequate food for the duration of the mission. But in the end there were major problems that forced extend the stay in space. And this was a huge inconvenience, since the critical shortage of solid food for the mice could literally cause the mice to die and the mission to be a disaster. And that is why on Earth they began to look for the most suitable food to feed these animals and the result was liquid soy milk, which was the only thing available at the station. Completely monitored. In order to have good traceability of what the mice do in space, scientists kept the mice monitored with artificial intelligence at all times. In this way, it was possible to know at the moment what they ate and even the stress patterns they presented, circadian rhythms and possible anomalies in real time. And everything was taken care of in detail, to the point that the soy milk was supplied with a negative pressure pumping system to prevent liquid bubbles from floating around the cabin. The progression. Once this problem was resolved, on November 14, 2025, the animals returned to earth and natural conception occurred. The result was that 9 calves were born and only six survived in good health. The problem of microgravity. Until this experiment, there was a well-founded fear in the scientific community: that ionizing radiation and the absence of gravity would “break” something in the hormonal axis or in the integrity of the DNA of the gametes. Something that would prevent us from reproducing normally, which would prevent, for example, the colonization of Mars. Precisely, cosmic radiation acts as a shower of high-energy particles that can cause double-strand breaks in DNA. On Earth, our atmosphere protects us, but at 400 km altitude, mice (and humans) are exposed to a much higher dose. Researcher Wang Hongmei highlights that the fact that the offspring are viable suggests that the cellular repair mechanisms of mammals are capable of compensating for the damage suffered during short-duration flights. A competition. As with everything related to space, there is a great rivalry between the United States and China. In this way, if we look back we see that China He had already managed to partially develop mouse embryos in space in 2020. Subsequently, NASA in 2019 conducted researchers on the International Space Station to analyze the bone density loss and muscle in space. What’s next. The experiment does not end with childbirth. Now, scientists monitor what they call “second-generation effects.” The aim is to determine if these six mice will develop health problems in the medium term or if their fertility will be affected when they reach maturity. In this way, if these mice do not present infertility, we can see that space travel is not a sentence of sterility. China’s next big step will be to attempt the reproductive cycle in orbit: conception, gestation and birth without setting foot on Earth. Something that will be fundamental for to be able to understand if humans in space can have some kind of possibility of reproducing without the protection of our beloved atmosphere. Images | Frenjamin Benklin POT In Xataka | Thinking that we are alone in the universe is arrogant. The question is why the aliens haven’t contacted us yet

2025 broke the dream of cheap electricity

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At the beginning of 2025, Spain’s energy story was one of absolute success, coming to work only with renewables. But the “Great Blackout” of April 28 threw a jug of cold water on the country’s climate ambitions: greenhouse gas emissions rose 0.6%breaking a years-long trend. How is it possible to emit more when we have more solar panels than ever? The answer lies in a technical paradox: the Spanish electrical system entered into “reinforced mode”prioritizing the stability of gas over the cleanliness of renewables. Gas as a “bodyguard.” After that incident, Red Eléctrica (REE) adopted a “reinforced operating mode”. This adjustment involves intervening in the market to ensure that there are always “firm” plants (gas, nuclear and hydraulic) operating to give inertia and stability to the network tension. The problem is that this decision has marginalized cheap energy. As detailed by the Sustainability Observatory (OS)gas consumption in combined cycles shot up 26% after the blackout. Spain has been burning gas preventively to prevent the system from collapsing, even at times when the sun was abundant. This has caused the curtailment (clean energy wasted because the grid cannot manage it) will triple, going from 1.8% to 7.2% between May and July. The third “rate” in history. This forced dependence on gas has directly hit the pocketbook. According to a study by Facuathe electricity bill for an average user with a regulated tariff (PVPC) became 15.5% more expensive in 2025. With an average annual bill of 975.88 euros, 2025 is the third most expensive year in history, only behind the years of the energy crisis due to the War in Ukraine. The maintenance of this “anti-blackout insurance” has cost 422 million euros in technical extra costs, which companies like Iberdrola they have already started to have an impact on the renewed contracts of its clients. So why is there more energy but the price goes up? Herein lies the great technical paradox of last year. Spain installed 8,852 MW of new renewable power last year, according to REE data. However, the network is saturated since 83.4% of the electrical nodes no more connections allowed. The root of the problem is unbalanced investment. While Europe invests 70 cents in networks for every euro in renewables, Spain only invest 30. In addition, the country ranks 13th in battery capacity in Europe. Without storage, the system is rigid: if the sun hits suddenly, only the gas can react in time. Even domestic self-consumption failed in the April blackout: only 33% of homes they have batterieswhich left millions of users in the dark despite having their panels at full capacity. It is not the only one responsible for the emissions. The OS report points out that the rebound in emissions It’s not just electric. Spain approached 100 million of visitors in 2025, skyrocketing the consumption of kerosene (+5%) and gasoline (+8%). Added to this is a year of climatic extremes: fires They burned 400,000 hectaresreleasing 19 million tons of CO2, four times more than the average. Horizon 2026. The immediate future is not simple. For this new year, an increase in tolls and charges from the Government of up to 12%. In addition, the system faces a new challenge: the massive installation of data centers. In Aragon, these complexes are expected to consume so much energy that will further strain the network. To avoid collapse, the Government has activated “capacity markets”. Basically, gas plants will be paid simply for “being there” and not closing, an expensive but necessary insurance until the planned 2,600 MW of batteries or the synchronous compensators that promise to provide stability without burning methane are deployed. Europe’s laboratory. At the international level, Spain has assumed the vice presidency of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to lead the global transition in the face of the departure of the US under Trump’s mandate. But political leadership contrasts with internal fragility. Spain has shown that it is possible to expel coal from the system, but also that the abundance of cheap energy is useless if there are no cables to transport it or batteries to store it. As a source in the sector succinctly summarizes:: “The mistake was not putting up panels, but forgetting about the networks.” Without this investment, gas will continue to be the owner of the Spanish night and responsible for the electricity bill continuing to break records that no one wants to boast about. Image | freepik and Anton Osolev Xataka | The “reinforced mode” that prevents a new blackout will cost us 422 million euros. Iberdrola has already begun to collect it

Greenland doesn’t want Denmark

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“We don’t want to be Danes. We don’t want to be Americans.” The phrase It is from the former Prime Minister of Greenland, Mute B. Egede. And although the leader lost his position during the elections of 2025 captures well the feelings of a large part of the population of the Arctic island, an autonomous region that in practice remains linked to the Kingdom of Denmark. Polls reveal that Greenlanders they don’t like it Donald Trump’s idea of ​​becoming part of the United States, but it is that many (many) They also dream of saying goodbye to Copenhagen. The reason (as usual) must be found in history books. One figure: 85%. Polls are just that, polls, but they help us better understand how societies think. With Trump insisting in his aspirations for Greenland to remain under US control, in recent days he has dusted himself off a poll made a year ago, when the Republican (recently arrived at the White House) hinted at his interest in the Arctic island. The study, published by Berlingske and Sermitsiaqshows that 85% of Greenlanders reject the idea of ​​being part of the US. Another 9% have doubts about it and only 6% are in favor of raising the stars and stripes flag. Even Trump’s interest in Greenland divides opinion: 45% of those surveyed see it “a threat”, 43% “an opportunity”. Better with Denmark? That is one of the conclusions that could be drawn from the survey. Although Greenland is located in North America and its capital, Nuuk, is closer to New York than to Copenhagen, the island is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. If Greenlanders refuse to integrate into the US, does that mean they are comfortable with their current status? Do you like your relationship with Denmark? Another surveysomewhat older, from 2019, reveals that the answer is “no.” The study, carried out by academics from the University of Copenhagen, revealed that 67.7% of adults of Greenland hope that at some point the island will cut its ties with Denmark. A part of those interviewed would in fact support independence within a ten-year horizon and another, larger percentage, see it as feasible in the middle of the next decade. Maybe 2019 is behind us in time, but that feeling seems to be still very much alive on the island. “The shackles of colonialism”. Just a year ago the former prime minister, Mute Egede, made headlines with a speech New Year’s Day in which he floated the idea of ​​Greenland becoming independent. “History and current conditions have shown that our cooperation with the Kingdom has not managed to create full equality,” claimed the leader of the People’s Community party. “The time has come for our country to take the next step. Like other nations around the world, we must work to remove obstacles to cooperation, which we can describe as the shackles of colonialism, and move forward,” he emphasized. Egede did not manage to retain his position, but his successor, Jens-Frederick Nielsen, also represents an independence party, although from the more moderate sector. Its strategy for the moment involves strengthening ties with Copenhagen, although making it clear that as a “closest partner”. And why that feeling? Nationalist issues aside, the desire of a large part of Greenlanders to distance themselves from Denmark is explained by a very simple reason: the relationship between both territories has not always been simple. Quite the opposite. The recent past has been marred by tragic chapters which have forced the Danish authorities to apologize publicly in an attempt to heal wounds and strengthen the bond. Reviewing history. The current relationship between the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland dates back to the 18th centurywhen the Danes they began to colonize the island, inhabited for centuries by the Inuit. In 1814 the territory officially became a Danish colony, a relationship that was redefined first in 1953 and later in 1979, when the island achieved autonomy. However, it would take several decades for Copenhagen to transfer powers to it. As recognize The Danish Executive itself, that milestone was not achieved until well into the 21st century, although the Kingdom continues to hold some key functions, such as foreign affairs, security and financial policy responsibilities. Since 2009 the island has had a autonomy statute renovated (endorsed by a vast majority of its population) that gives it the possibility of self-determination In practice, much of the island’s economy is based on the so-called “block grant”contributions from the Danish Government. Some actually believe that the Nordic welfare system supported in Denmark and the Danish contribution to island finances are crucial to keeping their link alive. The US knows it and that is probably why it considers paying between 10,000 and 100,000 dollars to every Greenlander to encourage them to ‘divorce’ Denmark, according to Reuters. Two episodes to forget. In the recent relationship between Denmark and Greenland there are two chapters that weigh especially heavily and have even eroded the image of “benign colonizers” that the Danes have had of themselves for generations. One of these episodes involves thousands of indigenous women. A 2022 research revealed that for decades, between the 60s and almost the early 90s, thousands of Inuit women were forced to use contraceptive methods, resorting to intrauterine devices that were sometimes implanted without the patients’ permission or knowledge. Some sources indicate that this Danish birth plan affected around 4,500 women (and girls) Greenlanders between 1966 and 1976. The objective: to control the growth of the Inuit population. The revelations are so alarming that a few months ago the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, participated in an event in Nuuk during which she apologized for “injustice and pain” caused. Closing wounds. It was not the only time that the Danish authorities have had to apologize. Years ago they did it for another turbulent chapter in the relationship between both territories: a social experiment started in the 1950s that consisted of removing Greenlandic children from their homes (sometimes under pressure) to leave them in … Read more

Science reveals that the weight returns four times faster than with a diet

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The era of “miracle” drugs to treat obesity is entering a phase of crude scientific maturity, thanks to the time that has passed since its launch on the market. In this way, despite the years with big headlines pointing to great weight losses with Ozempic, science is now able to provide more answers to the key question What we should ask ourselves: what happens when we stop pricking ourselves? The problem. When a drug is newly released to the market, long term effects It is something that is not known exactly, since patients need to be taking them long enough to see the effects they cause. And above all the effect that exists when the drug is removed from the body. To answer this with Ozempic we have a study led by the University of Oxford which is not minor at all, since it has analyzed more than 9,300 adults in 37 different clinical trials. And the conclusion they have been able to draw is quite clear: patients regain weight when they stop treatment at a rate of 0.4 kg per month. The comparison. At first glance, this figure seems really low, but if we compare it with other methods to lose weight, we see that the magnitude of the problem is not minuscule. The study itself indicates that in behavioral programs, such as a diet and an increase in physical activity, the effect after its withdrawal is an increase of 0.1 kg per month. This way, the rebound effect of slimming drugs It causes you to return to your initial weight in approximately a year and a half, while a change in eating and sports behavior takes around four years. New generation drugs. But this is a simple average between the different medications on the market. This implies that within GLP-1 agonists we can see that the most powerful drugs also have a much greater rebound effect. For example, in the case of Wegovy or Mounjaro, where the initial loss was 14.7kg, the rebound was seen to shoot up to 0.8kg per month. An effect that tells us that the body tries to recover lost ground at twice the speed of previous generation drugs. Cardiovascular health. Beyond the aesthetic, science pointed out that these drugs had the ability to reduce the risk of heart attacks and improve the metabolic health. But it seems these effects are completely temporary. Specifically, the study has seen that approximately a year and a half after stopping the medication, the majority of cardiometabolic markers return to their levels before starting treatment. For example, blood pressure increases, diabetes markers reverse their improvement, and total cholesterol also returns to its risk levels. Why the rebound is so fast. The answer to this could lie in our own biology. Science believes that this effect is due to the fact that by injecting massive doses of GLP-1 agonists (a hormone that is produced in small quantities when we eat) we could be destabilizing our own cell receptors. Or we would even be blocking our body’s natural production of this hormone that gives us satiety. That is why when withdrawing the drugthe system does not have the ability to produce this hormone again in the same way as before (as if it had to turn the system back on) and that is why the body’s satiety system goes deaf. The result? Well, logically, the appetite returns with great intensity, causing the patient to eat much more food, since they are not satiated and in this way the weight increases again. The myth of the magic bullet. There are hardly any miracles in medicine, even though we say that these drugs are. And the reality is that these drugs are not the definitive solution for obesity, since real data indicates that the majority of patients stop treatment after 12 months due to its high cost, the fatigue of injecting or side effects. But in addition, there is no awareness that this treatment is a simple aid to self-regulation, but that logically it must be accompanied by a dietary change and physical activity that must be continued once the treatment is finished. If not, we can be sure that the injections will be of absolutely no use. A paradigm shift. This meta-analysis marks a turning point. Science tells us that GLP-1 is extraordinarily effective, but it is not a cure. If we treat them as a six-month “crash plan”, we are condemning the patient to a more aggressive yo-yo effect than any miracle diet of the past. The solution, according to Qi Sun and the Oxford researchers, is not only in the syringe, but in public policy: taxes on ultra-processed foods, aid in the purchase of fruits and vegetables, and urban planning that encourages exercise. Without a change in environment, the drug is just a temporary truce in a war the body is programmed to win. Images | David Trinks Towfiqu barbhuiya In Xataka | If you want a “miracle” weight loss drug, you no longer turn to Ozempic: the competition is beginning to surpass it

The future of beaches is more complicated than it seems

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Storm Francis caused hundreds of problems in Andalusia. But if we have to choose just one (if only because of its iconic character), it would have a first and last name: Matalascañas. And the town in Almont suffered even a preventive eviction due to the risk of collapsing a building next to its promenade. However, no one expected what the storm left behind. More than four and a half kilometers of destruction. Specifically, 4.6 kilometers of walking completely destroyed and the collapse of entire stretches of beach; damage to at least three beach bars and many problems in the city’s treatment plant. The first estimates they talk about three million euros only for urgent interventions, although no one expects that the complete recovery of all the razed infrastructure will take less than ten. This is not the first time something like this has happened in Huelva, why is this important? Indeed, at this time last year we were talking about how it had disappeared El Portil beach in Punta Umbría. Huelva is one of the most sensitive points to coastal problems and its beaches are becoming areas in danger of extinction. What has happened in Matalascañas is not important because it is new, nor even because it is unusually large. It is important because Francis has hit one of the iconic places of Spanish tourism. It is, black on white, the confirmation that the problem is real and the solutions are difficult (and expensive). Stop the world. Because the truth is that it is something that we want to stop a process that has always been there. Nearby, at the mouth of the Piedras River, is the ‘arrow of the Rompido’ a spit of sand that extends on the left bank of the river and that grows up to 80 meters a year. That is to say, the people of Huelva have very close examples that beaches are almost ‘living beings’. As experts remember, the profile of the beaches “it constantly changes in response to changes in transverse sediment transport produced by marine dynamics, especially waves.” This “has never changed in all of history”, what has changed is that in recent decades it has begun to matter to us. Because? Well, because the emergence of mass tourism starting in the 1960s turned beaches into a very valuable resource and filled them with investments, infrastructure and capital. When the beaches began to change, we applied brute force: as we have explained on more than one occasion“the construction of breakwaters, the annual filling of beaches and the construction of coastal infrastructure to ‘secure’ the line have been the daily routine of our relationship with the beaches.” The problem is that we have more and more investments in them, the problems become more critical and, for this reason, it is more expensive to insure them. A race to nowhere (that we are not going to stop running). These days, experts they have spoken of losses of more than two meters per year and pointing to the role of the Juan Carlos I Jetty (13 km) in the alteration of currents and sedimentation dynamics. Furthermore, the evacuations show that the current infrastructure cannot “hold” and that the changes that Matalascañas needs are much deeper than what a “reconstruction” would entail. And yet, the neighbors’ demands are logical and, possibly, will be attended to by the administration (even more so in an election year in Andalusia). However, the question remains (and will continue) on the table: Will we be able to withdraw from the eroded front line in an orderly and fair manner? Will we be able to industrially reconvert that tourism into something that maintains jobs, families and population? Will we be able to understand that behind Matalascañas hides an entire country with an enormous problem? Image | Luis Daniel Carbia Head In Xataka | Twenty years after the Prestige, Galicia faces another environmental disaster on its beaches: pellets

Years ago we ridiculed China for copying Western mobile phones. The fact is that now they copy them… and improve them

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We Europeans have integrated into our culture that copying is something negative, an act of theft according to tech industry figures such as John Ive. In China, the culture of ‘shanzai’ It tells us the opposite: learning and replicating what the best teachers do is the best way to reach (or surpass) their level of knowledge. In China, the logic is different. The culture of ‘shanzhai’ It starts from a much more pragmatic premise: learning by replicating the best is the fastest—and most effective—way to reach their level, or even surpass it. For years, seeing Chinese brands copying giants like Apple was a source of ridicule on social networks. Until the country’s technological advance has made the outcome inevitable: copies that no longer only imitate, but also technically improve the products from which they are inspired. The Honor Magic 8 Pro…Air. Apple sets the conceptual pace for where industry trends will move. And, although Samsung was the first with its Galaxy Edge, the race to create increasingly thinner flagships has been started by Apple with its iPhone 17 Air. A model that It is not working very well on a commercial level.precisely because of the sacrifices that supposedly entail creating such a thin mobile phone. It only has one camera. It is the iPhone with the worst autonomy of the entire family iPhone 17 It is, in practical terms, inferior in some key aspects to a base iPhone The most talked about mobile phone this week is the Honor Magic 8 Pro Air, of which we have leaks through JD’s own pageand whose presentation date and part of the design are already confirmed by Honor itself. We will meet him on January 19 in China. Don’t take away my basics. “I’m willing to lose two cameras and suffer with the battery in exchange for a thinner phone.” Said nobody, ever. According to the information leaked, this Honor It has three cameras It has a 5,500mAh battery The rest of the specs will be those expected in any high range honor Power 2. The Honor Magic 8 Pro Air will not be the only Honor model “inspired” by Apple for this 2026. Recently, the company presented its Power 2a mid-range with just 8mm thickness and only 216 grams of weight. In addition to having specs that border on the first line, it is practically a humiliation in terms of battery for all its rivals: it has 10,000mAh, the same as the powerbanks that I have at home for my trips. It’s not a player thing. Xiaomi has even renamed its star flagship from Pro to “Pro Max”, in a model in which even the case of an iPhone 17 Pro Max fits almost perfectly. Differences with the Apple model? Battery… 7,500mAh. In less thickness. Screen with more peak brightness. Double the base memory. Three keys. China It is in one of the best moments to lead the smartphone race. The generational leap in batteries is leaving Western manufacturers behind. The maxim is clear: add all the hardware that fits in the body of the phone. A strategy focused on volume. Giants like Apple or Google need to hit the mark with their flagship model to make their mobile division profitable. Chinese manufacturers maintain their profitability thanks to broader catalogs, with dozens of models that cover all price ranges. A market of traditions. The data of Counterpoint in Q3 2025 They make one thing clear: the lack of technological innovation does not affect Samsung or Apple. The two leading companies maintain their position, followed by Xiaomi, which is already practically traditional in markets such as Europe. Despite this, China is demonstrating something key in a market that aspires to win in the coming years. He not only knows how to copy: he knows how to improve what already exists. In Xataka | China has a replica of 12 European cities with Parisian neighborhoods and part of the Alhambra. And it belongs to Huawei

not be the country in Europe with the most unemployment

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After almost four decades being the European country with one of the worst employment data on the continent, Spain has just witnessed a historic change: Finland has surpassed us as the EU country with the highest unemployment rate in November 2025. According to Eurostat dataFinland recorded an unemployment rate of 10.6%, compared to 10.4% in Spain. The change may seem minuscule (just two tenths), but it is an indicator of something bigger: for the first time since 2013, Spain has stopped occupying first place in this unenviable category. A change of trend. This shift in unemployment figures reflects an interesting paradox. While Spain has improved its labor market figures in recent years, with a sustained drop in unemployment that was only interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, Finland has experienced an economic deterioration that has skyrocketed its unemployment. In any case, and despite this change in trend, the figures are not good at all. Both countries remain well above the European Union average, which in November stands at 6.0%, demonstrating that they have a serious structural problem that goes beyond the specific ups and downs. Finland: how a prosperous country has reached the worst unemployment in 15 years. The most striking thing about the Finnish data is the surprising speed of the deterioration of its labor market. The government of the Nordic country implemented reforms a few years ago to reduce public debt, an objective that prioritized job creation. As collected SwissinfoElina Pylkkänen, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Employment of Finland, speaking to national television YLEstated that “Increased productivity has been sought by cutting costs, rather than expanding operations and investing.” In November 2025, more than 250,000 people found themselves without work in Finland, a figure that represents the highest unemployment in the country since 2009. A fact that has been aggravated by the approval of a regulation more lax for dismissal. Unemployment improves as measured. Although Finland leads the unemployment rate with the seasonally adjusted data (10.6%), there is an important nuance since Eurostat uses trend data for Finland, not seasonally adjusted, so the situation reflected in these data still needs to be consolidated. If you use the seasonally adjusted unemployment data facilitated by the EU, Spain remains at 10.4% while Finland is at 10.1%. However, the unemployment trend for the third quarter of 2025 It already showed the stagnation of the Finnish labor market and the improvement of employment in Spain. Spain: decades of an unemployment problem that does not end. Spain has not arrived at this situation suddenly either. According to the data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2025 was 10.45%, which demonstrates the persistence of the problem. During the last 39 consecutive monthsSpain has been the country with the highest unemployment rate in the EU, an undesirable leadership that has remained practically without interruption since 2013. He origin of this problem chronic work it’s complexcombining a high rate of temporary contracts with a more limited level of investment in training. This generates an extreme sensitivity of employment to economic cycles: when the economy slows down, employment is the variable that adjusts most quickly, but falls at the same speed when it slows down. The 2008 crisis exemplified this vulnerability, bringing the Unemployment at historic highs. Although Spain has consistently created jobs since then, unemployment rates remain almost double the European average. That Spain loses a title that it has held for almost four decades does not represent a solution to the problem, but rather the confirmation that another country faces a situation even more complicated. In Xataka | The “Spanishization” of Sweden and Finland: youth unemployment is the key for Spain to stop being the EU unemployment champion Image | Pexels (Bulat369)

China is winning the humanoid robot race. The problem is that this race doesn’t really exist.

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Fritz Lang wanted to imagine the future and painted it for us with humanoid robots integrated into society. That maschinenmensch of ‘Metrópolis’ (1927) was a preview of what they now pursue with more ambition than anyone Chinese manufacturers, who They have not stopped developing more and more of these robots. They are winning the race by far, but the problem is that the race is non-existent. (Almost) nobody buys humanoid robots. These Chinese manufacturers were by far the most responsible for the sales of humanoid robots, which in 2025 amounted to the figure of… 13,000 units. The data reflects a forceful reality: in the world of domestic humanoid robots there is a lot (a lot) of noise, but few (very few) nuts. More than in 2024 = very little. Humanoid robots from Chinese manufacturers sold much more than those from American companies like Tesla or Figure AI according to data from the consulting firm Omdia. The company that has sold the most according to that report is the Chinese startup Shanghai AgiBot Innovation Technology Co., which distributed a total of 5,168 robots in 2025. It was followed by Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics Corp. Although total sales were five times those of 2024, the final figure reflects that the market is in its infancy. Huge expectations. Despite this, Citigroup esteem that in 2050 there will be 648 million humanoid robots. The great hope is that the promising evolution of AI models will serve to overcome current limitations and have multiple practical applications, once integrated into robots. There are already promising developments in this regard, and robots and AIs separately have already demonstrated their capacity in limited environments. like the manufacturing, logistics or customer service. China and “affordable” robotics. Although there are notable companies in this field in the US, their humanoid robots are much more expensive. Elon Musk indicated by the end of 2025 that “once production reaches one million units annually, Optimus will likely be priced between $20,000 and $25,000.” Meanwhile, Unitree already offers “affordable” robots (but not humanoid) for $6,000, and AgiBot asks for $14,000 for his. This company was in fact named by Jensen Huang during his talk at the NVIDIA event at CES 2026. The Chinese government helps. As in other industrial areas, there is strong support from the Chinese government in this area, and according to Bloomberg Favorable policies are combined with aid for the construction of training centers. The number of companies and startups developing this type of solutions already exceeds 150, and that even points to a potential “robotic bubble.” The challenge of robotic hands. One of the great challenges of this segment is to ensure that the dexterity of machines is comparable to that of humans. For now this is not the case especially with the example of robotic hands, which mostly They are very unskilledwhich limits its application to real home environments. The battery life of these robots is another obstacle that can hinder their application in our daily lives. Future implications. If these challenges are overcome, we will once again find ourselves with a disturbing panorama in which geopolitical tensions could make access to these robots difficult. There is also the problem of employment: if robots achieve the ability to perform manual tasks, the threat to virtually any human worker will be notable. How will governments react to this situation? Image | Agibot In Xataka | China prepares its next technological assault. Huawei and UBTech have just teamed up to bring humanoid robots to homes

all for less than 460 euros

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Within the high range, the Google Pixel have become one of the star models. If you have been thinking about buying a Google smartphone for a while, in the brand’s official store, now you can get the Google Pixel 9a by 459 euros with headphones Buds 2a as a gift (valued at 149 euros). You just have to add the mobile phone to the basket and choose the headphones in the color you want and the pack will appear at that price. Google Pixel 9a + Pixel Buds 2 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A perfect pack to renew your mobile in 2026 He Google Pixel 9a It is one of the cheapest Google phones that we can find right now. Your screen 6.3 inches It is pOLED type and offers Full HD+ resolution. In addition, it has a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Its brain is the Google Tensor G4 processor (accompanied by the Titan M2 security coprocessor). It comes with 8 GB RAM and 128GB storage internal. Works with Android 15 and operating system updates are guaranteed for seven years. It is a good phone for photos, since it integrates a 13 MP front camera and a rear photographic system made up of a 48 MP main lens and a 13 MP wide angle. Likewise, it has IP68 certification and has Dual SIM. As for the gift headphones (and valued at 149 euros), it can be said that these Google Pixel Buds 2a They are available in lilac or black. They offer active noise cancellation, an autonomy of up to 20 hours and are resistant to sweat and water. Additionally, they come with Gemini serial. Some cases that may interest you for this Google Pixel 9a Natbok Magnetic Case for Google Pixel 9a The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Note: some of the links posted here are affiliate links and may provide a profit. Images | Álvaro García (Xataka) and Google In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | The best quality-price mobiles. Their analyzes and videos are here

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