Month: May 2026

squeeze out wells in the North Sea that had been abandoned for 30 years

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Norway is, on paper, the green Eden of the planet. Nine out of every ten new cars sold on its streets are electric and 98% of its electrical system is powered by renewable sources. However, its main economic engine is exporting what it internally rejects: fossil fuels. The official figures are conclusive: in 2025, the value of Norwegian exports of crude oil, condensate and natural gas will be around one trillion crowns, which represents 57% of its total exports of goods. An unprecedented geopolitical trigger has been added to this Norwegian paradox. The war in the Middle East and the resulting blockade in the Strait of Hormuz have turned the country into “a European gas station.” Resurrecting ghosts of the North Sea. To address this demand, the Norwegian government has made a historic decision. As confirmed by the Ministry of Energy in an official press releasethe country is going to reopen three gas fields in the Ekofisk area (Albuskjell, Vest Ekofisk and Tommeliten Gamma). These wells were discovered in the 1970s, produced between 1977 and 1988, and had been closed since 1998. A consortium operated by ConocoPhillips (along with Vår Energi, ORLEN and Petoro) will invest around 19 billion Norwegian crowns (about 1.5 billion pounds) to reactivate these facilities through four new subsea systems. They are expected to pump again at the end of 2028, operate until 2048 and extract between 90 and 120 million barrels equivalent. This operation will not only generate some 7,600 direct jobs during its useful life, but the extracted gas will go directly to Emden (Germany), while the condensate will travel to Teesside (United Kingdom). It’s not just about reliving the past. Oslo has also offered 70 new exploration licenses, most in extremely sensitive areas such as the icy Barents Sea, getting closer to the coast than ever. According to Norwegian government dataonly about half of the country’s estimated gas resources have been produced, so the remaining 52% is yet to be extracted. In 2025 alone, the country exported approximately 122 billion standard cubic meters of gas. International responsibility. Terje Aasland, Minister of Energy, argues that Norwegian production It is “an important contribution to energy security in Europe.” The data support this extreme dependence: In 2024, Norway exported a volume of gas equivalent to more than 30% of the total consumption of the European Union and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the government wields an environmental argument: Globally, replacing coal with natural gas in electricity generation reduces CO2 emissions by half. They also argue that gas is the perfect backup for intermittent renewables, providing flexible power when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. However, not everything is purely altruistic. While the state oil company Equinor registers historic profits, the country’s famous sovereign fund accumulates assets worth 1.9 trillion dollars. The voice of discord. According to Guardianleft-wing parties and environmental associations accuse the government of greenwashing (ecopostureo) and warn of the catastrophic risk that an oil spill near the coastline would pose. The contrast is also evident in the region itself. As Norway turns on the tap, the UK Labor government bans new drilling licenses on climate grounds. The result, just as it is revealed The Telegraphis that British production falls by 15% annually, forcing London to spend 20 billion pounds buying from Norway the energy that it refuses to extract from its own waters. The European dilemma of Oslo. Norway is fully aware of its hypocrisy and is trying to compensate for it with cutting-edge technology. The country inaugurated Northern Lightsthe first large commercial underwater warehouse in Europe. This project injects liquefied CO2 from European industries into the Aurora reservoir, 2,600 meters below the seabed. It is their way of showing that they can extract fossil fuels and, at the same time, lead the way in decarbonization technology. However, Norway has the resources and technology, but lacks direct political decision-making power. as he prays the maximum in Brussels: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” The umbilical cord that unites Norway with Europe It is physical and politicalsince it has a vast network of underwater gas pipelines. This mutual dependence has reopened a debate that seemed settled: Should Norway enter the European Union? Although the population rejected accession in 1972 and 1994, the current geopolitical isolation in the face of giants such as China, the United States and Russia is forcing both Norway and its neighbors (Iceland and Switzerland) to reconsider whether they should sacrifice sovereignty in exchange for sitting at the table where their main market is governed. The fossil sunset. Norway has perfected the art of looking to the future with pockets full of the past. The country has become the giant that heats the homes of a scared and war-torn Europe, squeezing an outdated energy model to finance an ultra-developed and clean welfare state. As the financial analyst Thina Saltvedt stated: for the BBC: “More and more people realize that there is a sunset on the horizon. But it’s going to be painful.” For now, while that climatic sunset arrives, Europe has decided to postpone the cold by turning on, once again, the old Norwegian boilers in the North Sea. Image | Norskpetroleum Xataka | No more greeting the driver: Norway launches the first bus where there is not a single human in control

It’s actually the most logical decision.

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Everything related to hantavirus and the MV Hondius cruise ship is causing great fear among the population. A virus that comes from another country and that has already left several deaths, quarantines, security protocols… It is impossible not to think about the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is possibly the reason why the Government of the Canary Islands has shown its disagreement with the decision of the WHO and the Central Government of Spain to take the ship to the Port of Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife, to evacuate the sick. The truth is that Fear is a totally logical reaction. However, there are many experts who have made a call for calmremembering that the pandemic potential of the hantavirus is very low and that, furthermore, Spanish Health has the capacity to treat this crisis in a safe way for the population. On the other hand, they add what both the president of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, have already been saying. “Solidarity is very important in cases like this.” What do we know so far about this virus? The hantavirus It is not a new virus. That is the first factor that differentiates it from SARS-CoV 2, which causes COVID-19. The disease that causes has been known since the 1950swhen the first cases were detected in South Korea. However, the virus was not isolated until 1976. The cells from which it was extracted came from mice living near the Hantan River, also in this Asian country. That’s precisely where its name comes from. This first virus caused kidney disease when infected in humans. Today it is the only hantavirus that can be found naturally in Europe. But what caused the outbreak on the cruise ship is not this hantavirus, but another one, which was discovered on the American continent in the 1990s. Instead of a kidney disease, causes a respiratory disease and is much more deadly. Both are usually transmitted mainly by rodents, such as rats and mice. However, it has been known for years a variant of the American hantavirus called Andesthat Yes, it can be spread between humans due to very close contact. That’s the one on the cruise. The contact must be very close for said contagion to occur. It is normally found in the saliva and respiratory secretions of patients in the acute phase of the disease. It is not in aerosols, like SARS-CoV 2, so it is not common to be infected simply by being in the same room as an infected person. It also does not last long on surfaces. That’s why it’s much less contagious. In fact, Tertiary infections are quite rare. That is, a first person can infect a second, but there rarely is a third and a fourth would be extremely unusual. It is not known if the infections have all occurred on the ship or on an excursion That said, it is not known if the sick people on the cruise contracted the disease through contact with rodents during any of the excursions to the American islands or if they directly infected each other. It is something that should be investigated. That said, with all this data, it seems that all the institutions consulted, with the exception of the Government of the Canary Islands, agree that Spain cannot look elsewhere. What do the experts say? It should be noted that the cruise ship initially moved to Cape Verde. The Government of said country rejected help to the passengers, ensuring that they did not have the necessary means. For this reason, the WHO requested help from Spain. An aid that the Central Government has accepted, recognizing that We are the closest country with the means to take charge. In fact, according to statements to Science Media Center (SMC) of Maria João Forjazpresident of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology, in Spain “Periodic drills on health emergencies are held in designated portsthe last one, a few weeks ago in the port of Palma.” In addition, “we have a network of hospitals with High Level Isolation and Treatment Units in case it is necessary to attend to the cases.” For this same reason, Pedro Ignacio Arcos Gonzálezdirector of the Emergency and Disaster Research Unit of the University of Oviedo, believes that “The Ministry’s decision is consistent with the reduced degree of risk posed by the hantavirus ship threat. and is in accordance with what is established in the WHO International Health Regulations and with the duty of international cooperation in matters of public health.” Think something similar Mar Faracohead of the Foreign Health Service in Huelva. Furthermore, it points out that “it is reasonable and fair to assume control of the outbreak and assist the affected ship and the people on board, guaranteeing the protection of public health with a procedure of action, which, although complex, is possible and necessary”. And now what? The cruise is already on its way to Tenerife, but will not dock directly in the port. It is planned to anchor in the vicinity of the same. There, passengers will board small boats, which will take them to a bus, with which they will travel to the airport. Afterwards, each person will be repatriated to their country, with the security measures indicated in each case. The Spanish Government has already made it known that Spanish passengers, with or without symptoms, They must undergo a quarantine period. Let us remember that this virus can take up to 45 days to incubate. Therefore, it is best to take extreme precautions before these people can return to their routine. This quarantine will take place at the Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid. Regarding the sick, Adrian Hugo Aginagaldespokesperson for the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Health Management, has also pointed out SMC that the first step is to evacuate them. Afterwards, it will be necessary to “evaluate, monitor, transfer and maintain the quarantine of their close contacts.” In principle, … Read more

Speculation with Pokémon cards is such a serious problem that some stores already give knowledge tests to their customers

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In 2024, global sales of ‘Pokémon’ collectible card game They reached 2.2 billion dollars, with a growth of 25% compared to the previous year. The Pokémon Company increased production up to 10.2 billion letters by 2025. During the pandemic, Logan Paul and other content creators began opening envelopes on videos that reached millions of views. Since then, the fever has not stopped growing, and stores are beginning to propose unusual tests to distinguish genuine buyers from resellers. This is a test. At the west branch of Ikebukuro, in Tokyo, the specialty store Bic Camera made a decision that would separate the buyers of ‘Pokémon’ trading cards from the scalpers: to buy packs of the latest expansion, Ninja Spinner, you must first beat a written questionnaire of 15 questions about the ‘Pokémon’ universe without a cell phone, without help and in Japanese. It’s just the beginning. The questionnaire is not the only requirement. Shoppers must have an active loyalty account in the chain, either via app or physical card, allowing staff to spot suspiciously frequent purchases. Additionally, the store applies a limit of one box per customer and removes the seal and outer packaging upon delivery: an opened product loses much of its value on the secondary market, where resellers need the seal intact to inflate prices. According to X user Ryo Saeba, the system is working: Several resellers failed the test and left without product, since due to the random nature of the questionnaire it cannot be prepared in advance. It is a problem that, however, does not have an easy solution even from The Pokémon Company: if more copies of the most in-demand cards are printed, speculation would be reduced, but competitive play would be affected, as would the feeling of exclusivity of finding a rare card in a pack. Why Ninja Spinner. The Ninja Spinner expansion is the Japanese version of the western Chaos Rising, scheduled for release on May 22, and which features Mega Greninja ex as the main card. The former Mega Greninja gold card was worth $593 in March and It is now quoted in thousands.. An envelope that costs around 5 euros in the store can be resold for 40 in a matter of hours. The bad yen. Additionally, there is an additional economic factor that makes the reseller problem more serious: the structural weakness of the yen, combined with the relatively affordable price of the boxes, has made Pokémon cards a common target of foreign buyers and international resellers. Japan-exclusive releases, which include illustrations and finishes not available in other markets, multiply the appeal. Sometimes new items last minutes on shelves before ending up on resale platforms. How they do it. Professional resellers have tactics to circumvent the control systems that stores establish to give preference to real buyers: they hire several people to wait in line simultaneously, use multiple payment cards and create fake accounts to access online reservations. In October 2025Japanese police arrested two Vietnamese citizens who had created thirty fictitious accounts using fraudulently obtained SIM cards to participate in purchase raffles and obtain dozens of boxes that summer. Other initiatives. Other Bic Camera branches have adopted measures such as requiring a driver’s license or Japanese tax identification document, which limits purchases to residents. Official Pokémon Center stores also maintain strict unit limits per customer to preserve prices close to the official one. Outside Japan there has also been a lukewarm response to the activity of the scalpersname as resellers are known in the sector: Walmart, for example, introduced a limit of five packs per purchase at the end of 2024 after a video with 12 million views on TikTok showed a scalper emptying a store’s entire display in one trip. Header | Pexels In Xataka | In 2016, millions of people went out to hunt Pokémon on the streets. In 2026 there will be autonomous robots guided by this

We have been vaccinating our dogs and cats every year all our lives. Science is seeing that it is not the most correct

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When you have a pet in your care, visits to the veterinarian are mandatory almost every year to receive a check-up and also a vaccination reminder to be completely calm about its health. However, there are some voices that already suggest that we are overvaccinating too much in our country, since applying vaccines year after year is not only unnecessarybut it can pose a risk to the animal. A new paradigm. To understand the problem, we must look at the guides of the World Association of Small Animal Veterinarians (WSAVA) and the Latin American Committee on Vaccinology in Companion Animals (COLAVAC-Iberia). Both institutions have updated their guidelines with a clear message wanting to abandon systematic vaccination schedules and opt for personalized medicine. Two groups. Now the guidelines are to differentiate vaccines into two large groups, the first of which is the “essentials” which are those of distemper, adenovirus and parvovirus in dogs, and panleukopenia, herpesvirus and calicivirus in cats. On the other hand, there would be non-essential ones, which would correspond to leptospirosis. Here, science suggests that essential vaccines generate much longer immunity than we thought, making animals have defenses against these pathogens for a long time. For example, after vaccination in puppies and their first booster, the animals maintain levels of protective antibodies for at least three years, and in many cases it can last up to 9 or 14 years. This means that if we vaccinate every year we are literally ‘pouring’ immunity where there is already a good amount of it. A legal labyrinth. If science seems to have it so clear… What is happening in Spain? Here, most of the autonomous communities only provide that the rabies vaccine is mandatory, making vaccination against parvovirus or distemper only recommended because they logically cause fatal diseases. If we focus on numbers, a recent study Regarding the national protocols, a devastating fact stood out: only 28.6% of the vaccines available for dogs and 42.9% for cats are “adequate” according to WSAVA standards. And the reason is that the industry markets combined vaccines; That is, to give the dog the annual leptospirosis vaccine, the veterinarian uses the viral one that includes parvovirus and distemper, forming overvaccination. A personal solution. To avoid needlessly pricking the animals, what is proposed is that, instead of blindly setting a reminder, a blood test is performed to determine the amount of protective antibodies in the blood. In this case, if the animal has adequate levels, it is not vaccinated that year, and if not, it should be vaccinated. The problem is that this is more expensive than directly giving the vaccine, so the most convenient, fastest and cheapest option is chosen. More personal. The conclusion here is that experts point out that a booster should be applied to essential vaccines every three years, preserving the rabies vaccine, which is the only one legally required and whose deadlines comply with local legislation. Images | freepic.diller on Magnific In Xataka | We have been using our pets to relieve our anxiety. And now the stress is on them

Gibraltar has never had a wastewater treatment plant. So they have been throwing them into the sea for decades

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In 1999, after centuries of dumping its sewage into the bay of Algeciras, Gibraltar transposed Directive 91/271/EEC urban wastewater treatment. It was something historic, something unprecedented, something that would mark the future of the region. Immediately afterwards, the Government of the Rock did something totally unexpected: absolutely nothing. Now, an investigation by Rachel Salvidge for The Guardian has revealed something that everyone in the area knew: that a few months after the entry into force of the EU-United Kingdom Treaty, the city is not prepared to comply with European environmental obligations. Nor does it seem like it will be. Wait, how come it doesn’t have a purifier? That is to say, how is it possible that a strategic point as important as Gibraltar does not have a basic infrastructure that any European municipality of 40,000 inhabitants would have more than resolved? The answer is curious. On the one hand, due to technical problems: unlike any standard infrastructure, the flat network use sea water for toilets and toilets. It is not the only place where this occurs (places like Hong Kong or the Californian island of Santa Catalina also do it), but the reality is that it complicates biological treatment quite a bit. On the other hand, it’s not like they haven’t tried. In the last 25 years, Gibraltar tried to put in place two awards that failed to be executed. Furthermore, as if that were not enough, the last attempt (financed by the European Investment Bank) coincided with Brexit and left the project without funds. Furthermore, the problems are not limited to Gibraltar. In fact, the Commission also has opened files along the Línea de la Concepción, making it clear that the waste management problem was on both sides of the fence. However, Spanish efforts have improved the situation on this side: Gibraltar, beyond a screening and roughing system, has not been able to. And all this is worrying because the impact is concentrated in one of the most unique areas of the western Mediterranean: the only corridor with the Atlantic, an irreplaceable habitat for common dolphins, bottlenose and common porpoises and a key seasonal migratory route for marine ecology. And there is no solution? As of June 2025, another project is underway, but the company had five years to get it started. In other words, in the best of cases the systems are not even close to being operational: and no one has any idea if, with the entry into force of stricter European regulationsthe plant will be able to meet the standards. Meanwhile, Punta de Europa will continue as before: being a natural paradise that hides a pipe full of waste from more than 30,000 people. The race against the clock, in reality, has just begun. Image | Michael Mrozek In Xataka | If the Strait of Hormuz is a conflict, imagine that of Gibraltar: Spain has found 134 shipwrecks off Cádiz

Two companies have teamed up to put their own space garbage truck into orbit

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As the space race advancesso does the generation of debris, which includes everything from fragments of parts to discarded phases of rockets or complete ships that lost their orbit. This space debris accumulates, generating more and more risks. It is clear that it must be managed in some way, but all the hypotheses proposed have been left in the air. Now, however, two private companies have proposed the development of a kind of space garbage truck, which can lead the process to become operational and repeatable. Just like that truck that passes by your window every morning, they also hope to achieve frequency and efficiency with their waste removal service. The truck and the garbage can. The two companies that have proposed this service are the American Portal Space System and the Australian Paladin Space. The first has developed Starbust, a maneuverable and resupply ship that works like a garbage truck. The operator or garbage dump would be Paladin’s contribution, a payload called Triton. This is responsible for both obtaining images of space debris and classifying and collecting the debris. While the experimental proposals that have been made so far would collect one or very few objects, this combo would collect many more in a single mission. A regular service. Both companies have assured that they are working at a good pace, so they hope to make a first launch at the end of 2026. If all goes well, they would begin doing more regular missions from 2027. It would be a repeatable and well-organized service, which would try to keep at bay the space debris debris that, logically, will continue to be generated. More and more space junk. It is currently estimated that there are more than 130 million pieces of space debris in low Earth orbit. It is a figure that may possibly increase, due to something known as Kessler syndrome. The term refers to a kind of domino effect whereby, if a piece of space debris hits a satellite, for example, even more debris will be generated, which will continue to collide with each other, increasing in number more and more rapidly. The risks. Space debris is dangerous for many reasons, all of them largely related to impacts. To begin with, they can affect artificial objects that are also in orbit, such as satellites. Furthermore, if the impact occurs on manned facilities, such as the International Space Station, or spacecraft, the lives of the astronauts would be put at risk. And we cannot leave aside the risk posed by space debris when it deorbits and returns to Earth. Normally, most of the pieces disintegrate when crossing the atmosphere and do not even reach the Earth’s surface. However, debris may remain capable of causing material or personal damage. In fact, in 2022 a study was published which pointed out that, in the subsequent 10 years, the risk of a piece of space debris falling on a human being is 10%. It is worth launching as many cosmic garbage trucks into space as possible. We will avoid many problems if they work as expected. Cover image | Paladin Space In Xataka | SpaceX has made sending things to space very cheap. The problem is that now space is full of things

Why at first we all assumed it was zoonosis and now we are talking about contagion between humans

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In the last days, the word ‘hantavirus‘is on everyone’s lips, and no wonder because of the very recent memory of the pandemic due to coronavirus and all the chaos it generated on our planet. This is a new virus that has come to light in the media due to the notorious cruise through Antarctica and that has already claimed the lives of several people and infected many others. An initial doubt. Until relatively recently, the epidemiological narrative was simple since hantavirus was contracted by cleaning a barn, camping in wooded areas, or inhaling aerosols loaded with urine, feces, or saliva. Oligoryzomys longicaudatusthe famous “long-tailed mouse” that carried the disease. This is what is known as zoonosis and is the protagonist of the transmission of many pathogens from animals to humans. The problem is that the virus has different variants, and each one has peculiar characteristics. One of them is the Andes variantwhich was very relevant in Argentina and Chile, where the Andes variant is endemic and thousands of cases are diagnosed under this premise. The script twist. The first theories that this virus was transmitted only from animals to humans began to raise many doubts when the first documented outbreaks appeared in Argentina and Chile. It was here that researchers began to see chains of contagion that made no sense because suddenly there were people with this virus who had not been close to any type of animal, but who did care for sick relatives. The definitive moment came with the Epuyén outbreak and thanks to the new generation sequencing carried out by the Malbrán Institute, which confirmed that the viruses isolated from related patients were genetically clonal, that is, they were the same. This confirmed that the virus It was being transmitted from person to person. How they do it. Unlike the well-known coronavirus, which traveled efficiently through aerosols in the air, the interhuman transmission of the Andes hantavirus is limited and of low efficiency. Here is the evidence that we find in the prestigious magazine The New England It suggests that transmission requires intimate contact, since it has been found in saliva and respiratory secretions during the acute phase. This is why infections can occur mainly between couples, cohabiting family members or caregivers. Although it has also been identified that certain individuals, for some unknown reason, may have a higher viral load and act as major spreaders, causing outbreaks in closed spaces. The outbreak on the cruise ship. The confirmation that we are facing a new scenario has even reached the high seas. The recent outbreak on the MV Hondiu cruise shipyeswith deaths linked to the Andes strain, has forced the WHO and PAHO to raise the tone of your protocols to provide an answer to the problem that is gradually magnifying. It takes away gravity. With the information we have on the table right now about low transmissibility, the idea of ​​returning to a great global pandemic like the one we are experiencing with the coronavirus can be put aside. The problem is that right now there are several cases of people who were in contact with this virus and left the cruise ship before the first cases emerged. And the fact that this virus needs several weeks to show its devastating effects is one of the great handicaps that right now is causing collective concern to continue to increase. Images | CDC Ocean-Wide In Xataka | Mosquitoes attack me in summer and I tried these TikTok tricks to get rid of them

Last hours to participate in the draw for a Plaud Note Pro! Only for Xataka Xtra members

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Time is running out! The fifth exclusive draw for members of Xataka Xtra ends tomorrow, May 8, at 9:00 (Spanish peninsular time), and you can still sign up. As we told you a few days ago, the prize is a Plaud Note Proan artificial intelligence gadget that converts any audio to text, summarizes meetings and automatically takes notes. And let it all be said, we really liked it when we tried it. The winner will be revealed himself Friday, May 8 at 11:00you will be notified by email and it will be announced both in the original article and on our exclusive Discord server (yes, another advantage of Xataka Xtra). How to participate in the giveaway for a Plaud Note Pro This giveaway is reserved for community members Xataka Xtra. If you are already part of it, you just have to access your subscriber area and make sure that you have checked the corresponding box (the one you see in the image below). If you have already done so for previous draws, you don’t have to do anything: you will automatically participate in this one and all the ones to come. Make sure you check that box to automatically participate in the exclusive Xataka Xtra draws | Image: Xataka If you are not part of Xataka Xtra, you still have time to sign up. For only 30 euros a year (or from two euros per month) you will access more exclusive raffles like this one, El Consultorio with a direct line to editors, a private Discord server, discounts on digital services and monthly meetings with editors, among other advantages. The winner will be chosen at random from all participating subscribers, along with two alternates. If the winner does not respond within the period indicated in the legal bases, the first substitute will be contacted, and if he/she does not respond either, the second will be contacted. Winning a giveaway does not exclude you from participating in the following ones. You can consult the complete legal bases here. In Xataka | Subscribe now to Xataka Xtra

Lorca wants to improve his appearance. So he will fine those who hang clothes on their balconies with up to 1,500 euros.

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It doesn’t matter where you live, whether it’s a big city or a town with a few thousand inhabitants, chances are that if you take a walk through the streets of the center and look at the facades, you’ll come across a neighbor who uses their balcony to dry their laundry. Perhaps with a clothesline or perhaps by hanging clothes directly over railings or window frames. In Lorca (Region of Murcia, 99,000 neighbors) that is about to change. There the City Council has decided that practices like this tarnish the image of the town, so they want to punish them with fines of up to 1,500 euros. They are not the first in declaring war on such customs, although their fines are especially large. What has happened? That in Lorca they want to put an end to a relatively common image in the cities and towns of Spain: balconies and facades with clothes hanging. A few days ago, its City Council agreed (with the votes of the PP and Vox) to modify the ordinance which since 2010 has been combating “antisocial actions” in the town. The idea is to add a new section to “protect the image of buildings, facades and spaces visible” from the street. And that involves, among other things, ending the indiscriminate use of clotheslines. What exactly have you decided? The idea, clarify from the City Council, is to prohibit “all kinds of acts or behaviors that negatively affect” the image of buildings and the urban environment, “causing their degradation.” It sounds somewhat vague, but the truth is that its promoters distinguish between two types of very specific infractions: minor ones, which will be punished with fines of between 151 and 750 euros, and serious ones, whose penalty can go up to 1,500. Do we know anything else? Yes. Although the update of the ordinance has not yet been published in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia (BORM), the City Council has launched a statement in which it details what behaviors it will sanction from now on. If we talk about “minor infractions”, which can lead to fines of up to 750 euros, mention three: a) Hang all kinds of clothes on the balcony railings and on the lower lintels of the windows. b) Accumulate belongings on the balconies such as mattresses, bed bases, butane cylinders, as well as any other element unrelated to the proper use of this space in the home. c) Do not remove signage, awnings, plaques and banners from businesses once their activity has ceased. And serious infractions? Those are the ones that will cost the most to the residents of Lorca, who may face fines of between 751 and 1,500 euros. While waiting for the new restrictions to be officially reflected in the 2010 ordinance, the City Council has advanced in your statement What practices will be considered “serious violations” from now on: a) The installation of clotheslines on the main façade of buildings unless they are located in spaces provided for this purpose or protected by screens or lattices that are aesthetically integrated into the environment. b) Failure to remove air conditioning units or smoke vents on the facades of buildings that are in poor condition. Is it that important? If we ask the Lorca City Council, the answer is yes. Its mayor, Fulgencio Gil, claims that “the objective is to raise awareness, order and improve coexistence”, and insists: “The state of facades, balconies and elements visible from the public street is part of the general perception of Lorca, so this ordinance supports exemplary behavior.” And although the City Council argues that the change will adapt the 2010 ordinance to the “new needs”, it also assures that it has been promoted largely because the local residents themselves demanded it. “It responds to a growing demand from neighbors, social groups and citizen associations, who have been demanding more specific regulation in the face of situations that deteriorate the urban image and generate a feeling of abandonment in different neighborhoods and areas of the urban area,” remark. Is it a unique case? Not quite. Lorca is not the first city council in Spain to clarify what can be done (and what cannot) on the balconies of buildings. Vigo Lighthouse remember For example, in the Galician city, local regulations also restrict hanging clothes on balconies in such a way that they are visible from the street, in addition to shaking clothes, emptying washing buckets on the sidewalks or hanging decorations on balconies that may pose a danger to pedestrians. In other parts of Spain, like Andalusiathere are also localities that regulate the hanging of clothes on terraces. The same thing happens in big cities, like Barcelonawhere in 2025 a rumor circulated that a new measure was going to be adopted to tighten control, when in reality the issue has been regulated since the 90s. In Madrid, the issue is addressed in the Urban Planning Standardswhich clarify that clotheslines must have “a protection system that makes it difficult to see the clothes from public roads” and “they cannot be integrated into balconies.” Image | Fernando (Flickr) In Xataka | If there are elderly people in your building, an elevator can be installed without the board’s approval. The key: the Horizontal Property Law

I always thought that a Stream Deck was only for streamers. It turns out to be a gadget that saves you a lot of time every day

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It is not easy to work in front of a computer for many hours a day (whether at home or in the office). You spend the entire day browsing between documents, spreadsheets, files or writing emails and, just moving from one task to another, you already waste a lot of time. I really like the concept of ‘optimize workflow‘so that this does not happen (or happens little), but it is not easy at all. There are many ways to try to do this, although few are as visual as using a Stream Deck. Yes, that little device that many streamers have on their table and that seems to only serve to change scenes or cameras, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a device that helps improve productivity in many waysand although there are a lot of models, my favorite is this Stream Deck Neo: right now it costs 84.99 euros. Elgato Stream Deck Neo – 8 customizable keys, 2 Touch Points, fly through your tasks and processes – Control Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Zoom, Spotify, etc. Easy setup – For Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Integrates with almost any software you use on a daily basis The idea of ​​the Stream Deck (of this specific model or any of the others that Elgato has) is the same: to have a panel that, with just the press of a button, simplifies tasks of all kinds. Let’s start with something simple: you can place buttons on a key to open the apps that you use most when working, such as an email manager, the browser or a Slack-type program. Or directly program a single button to open everything at once when you sit in front of the PC. In addition, it is a device that is very easy to install (it is basically plug and play) and configure. The software is also intuitive and allows us to customize the keys to the millimeter. Being compatible with software of all types, we can assign very specific keys to Photoshop, Excel or PowerPoint tools, for example. All, furthermore, with a very high degree of customization. I like this particular model for two things. The first of them is that it is compact and not as big as other models that Elgato has (which have more keys or even other types of buttons). The other is that it has two small touch panels that allow us to switch between the different “pages” of actions that we have configured. All of this means that we have a tool that will help us (a lot) to give a boost to our ‘workflow’. You also have other different Stream Deck models As I said above, there are different models of this gadget. In fact, this same year it released a keyboard in collaboration with Corsair that, directly, integrates a Stream Deck where the numeric keypad usually goes. Next, we leave you said keyboard and some different models of this Elgato gadget. Corsair Galleon 100 SD RGB Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard – Spanish QWERTY, Stream Deck Integration, Pre-Lubricated and Interchangeable MLX Pulse Key Switches, SOCD FlashTap, 8000Hz The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Elgato Stream Deck Mini – Control Zoom, Teams, PowerPoint, MS Office etc., increase your productivity with perfect integration with the most used apps, easily create shortcuts, compatible with Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Elgato Stream Deck +, Audio Mixer, Live and Studio Controller for Content Creation, Streaming, Gaming, with Touch Strip, Customizable LCD Dials and Keys, Works with Mac and PC The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Elgato Stream Deck XL – Advanced Studio Controller, 32 Macro Keys, Activates actions in apps and Software such as OBS, Twitch, Youtube and Others, Works on Mac and PC 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 | Elgato In Xataka | Best iPhones. Which one to buy in 2026 and recommended models based on budget, tastes and quality-price In Xataka | This is the gaming tower that I would buy. The computers with the best quality-price ratio for gaming recommended by Xataka

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