usatoday24, Author at usatoday24

More advanced chip factories are being built in China and Taiwan than anywhere else. It’s only good for them

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

According to SEMI, an international organization that looks after the interests of the electronics and integrated circuit industries, only six of the 64 new factories of semiconductors that are going to come into operation in Asia before 2029 will reside in Southeast Asia. The remaining 58 They will be located in China and Taiwan. These two countries have compelling reasons to strengthen its chip industry and develop its integrated circuit production capacity. It is essential for China to set up new plants equipped with cutting-edge photolithography equipment. And that is precisely what SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor and other Chinese chipmakers are doing. Currently this nation is limited by the difficulty of going beyond 7 nm without being able to use the extreme ultraviolet lithography (VVE) of ASML. Even so, Huali Microelectronics, the division of Hua Hong Semiconductor specialized in manufacturing chips for third parties, is preparing to start the production of 7nm integrated circuits at its Shanghai plant. Taiwan also needs to expand its semiconductor industry, although its motives are very different from China’s. The two largest Taiwanese integrated circuit manufacturers, TSMC and UMCthey need to develop more cutting-edge plants in order to satisfy the growing needs of their customers. TSMC’s 2 and 3 nm nodes in particular cannot cope, so it is essential for this company to expand its production capacity in the midst of the boom in data centers for data applications. artificial intelligence (AI). SEMI is concerned about the vulnerabilities of the chip industry Ajit Manocha, the executive director of SEMI, assures that “we want to see more centers emerge in related countries. We want more plants to be established to reduce the risk derived from vulnerabilities.” What worries the spokesperson of this organization is that the geopolitical tensions maintained by the US, China and Taiwan end up threatening the integrated circuit factories that reside in these last two countries. TSMC’s in Taiwan are especially sensitive to a possible conflict with China due to the undoubted strategic importance that they have not only for Taiwan, but also for the US and its allies. Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are candidates to host new cutting-edge chip plants Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are strong candidates to host new cutting-edge chip manufacturing plants. In fact, Several centers already reside in Malaysia Intel’s advanced packaging and verification software. However, Manocha You are also concerned about other types of vulnerabilities. The most critical of all is the shortage of critical minerals, as well as bromine and helium, two fundamental gases in chip manufacturing processes. What is happening with helium in particular is very worrying. This gas is a byproduct of natural gas processing, and its price skyrocketed in March shortly after the war that the US, Israel and Iran have been fighting since then began because Qatar was forced to stop production of liquefied natural gas. In the current unstable scenario, SEMI argues that Southeast Asian countries should aim to build more semiconductor manufacturing plants over the next decade to help the sector diversify and reduce supply risks. Image | TSMC More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US’s problem in the AI and humanoid race is not China: it is all of Asia and it is greatly disadvantaged

wants to eliminate the limit of eight-hour days a day

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

The working day in much of Europe has been established for more than a century with a maximum limit of eight hours a day. This limit represents the maximum number of hours an employee can work per day. However, Germany is about to change that scale to make it more flexible and eliminate the daily work day as a metric in the work organization to establish the weekly schedule. As and as I advanced the german newspaper Weltthe bill will reach the Bundestag in June 2026. The idea is not that the Germans work more hours in total, but rather making the working day more flexible so that those hours can be distributed differently throughout the week. Count hours by weeks, not days. What the government proposes is seemingly simple: that the legal reference ceases to be the eight hours a day and becomes the 48 hours per week established by its legislation. With this change, it would no longer matter how many hours are worked each day, but rather that the total number of hours worked throughout the week does not exceed the legal maximum allowed. In this way, an employee could work more hours one day in exchange for working less on another, or concentrate all the load on the first days of the week and spare the rest. The government presents it as a measure to make the working day more flexible and facilitate family conciliation, especially for employees with children. Furthermore, this change would give carte blanche to companies to reinforce the hours on those days with more demand, and reduce (or close) their activity when the workload decreases. What German law says about it. In its article 3, the Arbeitszeitgesetz (Working Day Law) establishes that no employee can work more than eight hours a day as a general rule, with an exception of up to ten hours on specific days, as long as the average of the last six months does not exceed eight hours a day. The maximum limit for the weekly working day, including overtime, is 48 hours. However, the law also sets other limits that indirectly condition the daily work day. For example, you establish that between two work days, there must be at least 11 hours of rest and, if more than nine hours are worked in a row, the worker has the right to an additional minimum break of 45 minutes. These rules are not negotiable by collective agreement and apply without exception to all sectors. They are, precisely, the ones that the government wants to touch with the reform. why now. The definitive impetus for this reform came with the sentence of the Court of Justice of the EU of 2019 and is supported by the European Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC) imposed by the EU, which imposes the maximum weekly limit at 48 hours, and obliges all European employers to record the daily working hours of their employees. Germany, which until now did not require such registration in general, has to adapt to this obligation. The Minister of Labor, Bärbel Bas (SPD), has included electronic time registration in your project precisely as a safeguard. Without this control, Bas warns, flexibility can become a mechanism of exploitation in sectors with little union representation, such as last-mile delivery and parcel delivery. It is an implicit recognition that the standard, on its own, is not enough to protect those who work in more vulnerable environments. What unions and experts say. According what was published by the German media Handelsblatt, The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) has been the first union platform to oppose the reform. Its president, Yasmin Fahimi, declared that “We are seeing attempts to question the eight-hour work day or to undermine social security systems. Don’t touch the eight-hour work day.” The unions assure that, without a daily limit, workers without a strong collective agreement are exposed to increasingly longer hours without any legal barrier to prevent it. For unions, real protection is not in the weekly total but in control of what happens each day. That is where the limitation of eight hours a day had its strength. The labor law experts of the Hans Böckler Foundation have calculated how much could be worked in the most extreme scenario allowed by European regulations: 73.5 hours per week. A theoretical figure, but possible if there is no daily limit to stop it. Several studies on occupational health document that long hours sustained over time are associated with a greater risk of errors, accumulated fatigue and decreased productivity, effects that the reform does not contemplate. In Xataka | Germany tried working four days a week: seven out of 10 companies no longer want to work five days a week Image | Unsplash (Maheshkumar Painam, Spencer Davis)

Big Tech spent $725 billion on AI. Then they ran out of money in their pockets.

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

This is non-stop. Big tech companies have already spent an irreverent amount of money in 2025 to not lose footing in the AI race, but this year things are getting better. Together Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta have announced a capex of $725 billion, which represents an astonishing 77% growth over last year’s (also astonishing) figure of $410 billion. The numbers they are dizzyingbut they are having a worrying consequence. A lot of money saved. For years, Big Tech has been able to boast extraordinary accounting books in which revenues and profits have practically not stopped growing. They’ve built up exceptional cash flow, but now they’re taking advantage of all that money to fund an AI race that doesn’t seem to end at the moment. Cash flow plummets. The amount of investments is of such magnitude that all of these hyperscalers have encountered a problem: their cash flow—the available liquidity— has collapsedthey indicate in the Financial Times, and now it is at levels that we have not seen since 2014. Before, the average was to have 45,000 million dollars since the pandemic, but now that figure is expected to fall to 4,000 million in the third quarter of 2025. Source: Financial Times. Let’s see who spends more. Amazon leads this unique race for spend more than others. The company led by Andy Jassy foresees an investment of 200,000 million dollars in 2026, which will lead it to burn about 10,000 million of its cash flow this year. Meta will continue that same trend in the second half of the year, while Microsoft could enter negative territory in at least one quarter. Even Google, which remains positive, will post its lowest level of cash flow in a decade. Debt, new fuel for AI. To finance this deployment, both Alphabet and Meta have had to resort to massive debt issues and suspend their share buyback programs for the first time in almost a decade. Alphabet issued $48 billion in bonds recently (in February a partdoes some days other), while Meta sumo 55,000 million debt in just six months. Bet now to win later. This strategy marks a paradigm shift: it is no longer investing only with the income one has in cash, but Big Tech is mortgaging its future. The objective is what we have mentioned time and time again: not to lose step in a race where, as Zuckerberg said, staying behind is not an option. Disguising the beads. These companies fear Wall Street’s reaction to these movements, so they are moving billions of dollars in infrastructure but they are doing so outside of their conventional balance sheets. In the FT they explain how Big Tech are using special investment vehicles that allow them to attract external capital and hide debt. They are also more opaque about who will be impacted if the AI does not meet expectations. The memory crisis is also having an impact: in such a way that Microsoft already has added 25 billion dollars to its investment needs this year just to be able to assume the increase in component prices. The danger of going with the flow. CEOs justify these moves by comparing them to what happened with cloud investment two decades ago, but analysts warn: investing when the competition invests is not always a strategic choice, but rather a forced response to staying out of the race. In Xataka | The chip crisis is leaving no stone unturned: motherboards seemed untouchable, but their time has come

This is how you can get a Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

We return with another exclusive draw for Xataka Xtra subscribers. If last week we raffled a Plaud Note Prothis week it’s time to leave artificial intelligence aside to talk about the home. Because? Because the draw that concerns us today is that of a Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Proa high-end robot vacuum cleaner valued at 1,200 euros and that we loved when we analyzed it. As we said before, this giveaway is reserved for members of the Xtra Community. If you are already part of it, you can go to the next section without problem. If you haven’t discovered it yet, for only 30 euros a year You can expand your experience at Xataka with exclusive benefits and discounts, access to the Discord server, our experts through El Consulturio and much more. You have all the information here And, now yes, let’s go with the raffle. How to enter the draw for a Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro Participating in this giveaway is as simple as being part of Xataka Xtraaccess your member area and check the box that appears in red in the image below. When you have done so, you will not only participate in this draw, but in all those to come. Make sure you check that box to automatically participate in the exclusive Xataka Xtra draws | Image: Xataka If you are already part of the Community and have participated in previous draws by checking the box, don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything. You will automatically participate in the draw that concerns us today. These are the coordinates of this edition: Requirements: be a Xataka Xtra subscriber and resident in Spain (Peninsula, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla) Start of the draw: Monday, May 11. End of the draw: Friday, May 22, at 9:00. Winner selection and resolution: Friday, May 22. How will the winner be chosen? From Xataka we will choose a random subscriber and two substitutes. If the winner does not respond within the period stipulated in the legal bases of each draw, the winner will go to the first substitute and, if this does not happen either, to the second. Winning a giveaway does not prevent you from winning in the following ones. You can find the legal bases at this link. Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro | Image: Xataka As far as the prize is concerned, it is a Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro. It is, in fact, the same device that we used for the review. On this occasion, This is a used product and opened which we have cleaned, disinfected and verified that it works correctly. The prize includes the robot, its charging and cleaning base and all accessories included in the box. It’s like new. Otherwise, the best way to summarize the device is “like a Land Rover with a mop”. When we analyze it, we come to the conclusion that few vacuum cleaners are more all-round than this one. I didn’t really like its performance vacuuming and scrubbing thanks, in part, to its arms and joints to reach everywhere. It also has a good battery, good navigation… In short, what could be expected from a 1,200 euro robot vacuum cleaner. Good luck to everyone! In Xataka | Subscribe now to Xataka Xtra

2,500 years ago Athens suffered an epidemic that marked the end of its golden age. Science is determined to know what caused it

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

“Words are insufficient when trying to describe this disease. As for his suffering, it seemed almost beyond what is humanly bearable.” Although the news about the hantavirus They make it sound even scarier, that commentIn reality, it is more than 2,000 years old. The chronicler Thucydides wrote it in his ‘History of the Peloponnesian War’ to give an idea of the terrible plague that devastated Athens around 430 BC, an ailment that he himself suffered and took the lives of some 75,000 people. For centuries that epidemic has been remembered as the ‘plague of Athens’although we don’t actually know exactly what caused it. Now a group of Greek researchers have shed some more light on that dark episode. Epidemic detectives. In a hyperconnected world, in which people are capable of traveling thousands of kilometers in a few hours and it comes with blocking a remote strait of the Middle East to put the world economy in check, the specter of pandemics seems more present, but the truth is that humanity takes centuries dealing with him. Before the COVID pandemic, we had, for example, the 1918 flu or the disastrous Black Deathwhich devastated Europe between 1346 and 1353 and (by some estimates) reached 60% case fatality rates in some regions. Long before any of them, in the times of Classical Greece, another equally devastating epidemic was recorded: the plague of Athens. Thanks to authors like Thucydideswho in addition to being a chronicler suffered it himself, today we can learn in detail how that outbreak developed and experienced, which left tens of thousands of dead. The episode was important not only because of its death toll: between 75,000 and 100,000 in the four years that elapsed from 430 to 426 BC One of the deceased was Periclesa historical leader of Athens. In fact, experts usually agree that the plague precipitated the decline of the Athenian Golden Age and its death toll facilitated its final defeat in the war against Sparta. The great unknown. Despite this historical value, the Athenian plague remains shrouded in unknowns. We know when it developed, we know where it developed and there is even evidence suggesting that the initial outbreak occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, spread to Egypt and Libya and then passed to Athens via Piraeus. What is not clear is what exactly caused the plague and why it was so disastrous. And Thucydides was in charge of describing all its symptoms. Now a team from the University of Athens (NKUA) have wanted to clear up this mystery by analyzing the symptoms described by the chronicler and comparing it with that of known ailments. The result they have published it in the magazine AMHA. A pulse on history. If it is difficult to track a viral outbreak in 2026, the task becomes daunting when we are talking about one of the first known epidemics in human history. To face such a challenge, Dr. Dimosthenis Papadimitrakis and his colleagues had an idea: they looked at the symptoms described by Thucydides and other sources, They selected 17 diseases known that more or less fit that symptomatology and created a “metric system” with different scores to determine which of them best fit the epidemic that hit Athens 2,400 years ago. “The most terrible thing, despair”. Whether due to his zeal as a chronicler or because he himself suffered from the disease, Thucydides detailed the symptoms suffered by those who contracted the Athenian plague: migraines, high fever, redness and inflammation of the eyes, bad breath, sneezing, cough and profound gastrointestinal discomfort, such as nausea, vomiting, spasms and painful diarrhea. Over time, rashes, pustules and ulcers appeared on the patient’s skin, especially in the abdomen area. Those who could not stand the disease died after seven or nine days, after experiencing intense burning that led them to take off their clothes or even immerse themselves in cold water. “Gangrene of the extremities and eyes was common among both survivors and victims,” detail experts, who remember that it was not unusual for patients who survived the plague to do so with amnesia. “The most terrible thing was the despair into which people fell when they realized that they had contracted the plague. They immediately adopted an attitude of absolute hopelessness and, by giving in in this way, they lost their capacity for resistance,” Thucydides reflects. “Words are insufficient when trying to give a general image of the illness.” Ruling out candidates. With that starting point, Papadimitrakis and his colleagues developed a list of diseases that the Athenians of 2,400 years ago could have contracted and that coincided to a greater or lesser extent with the symptoms described by Thucydides. They came up with 17 potential ‘candidates’, including cholera, measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, Ebola, malaria, smallpox, bubonic plague, ergotism or Lassa fever. Then with that chart on the table, two questions were asked: Which of those diseases caused rashes and gangrene? How many are transmitted between humans? And what historical evidence is there for each of these ailments? Thanks to this analysis they reached a series of conclusions, although the team warns that they are only hypotheses based on probability, not firm and unquestionable truths. “The plague of Athens presents difficulties in identifying the causal agent due to several factors. The main source of information is the accounts of Thucydides, but his lack of medical knowledge and the lapse of up to 20 years between the events and their documentation can lead to erroneous interpretations,” the authors explain. “Furthermore, the inability to isolate or culture the responsible microorganism poses a major obstacle. Even if preserved bodies of plague victims were discovered, the microbes would have decomposed over time.” And what is the conclusion? That of the diseases analyzed, the one with the most votes is typhoid fever. “It appears to meet most of the criteria, so it is considered the most likely agent,” summary the researchers. Furthermore, in a necropolis from the time of the epidemic, remains of the bacteria that trigger this disease … Read more

Three settings for iOS and Android that are more effective to avoid straining your eyes if you have presbyopia than changing the text size

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

If you are already a few years old and presbyopia is starting to make an appearance, don’t limit yourself to making the text on your cell phone bigger. Let’s tell you others three most effective adjustments to avoid straining your eyes that you can turn to, and that are available on both Android and iOS. These are three fairly simple adjustments that are not going to be as disruptive in terms of showing less content on the screen as when you increase the font size. However, they are going to be even more effective in helping you read. The key is contrast, bold and white balance. Expands screen contrast In the accessibility options of your mobile you have an option to increase contrast or high contrast text. By doing so, there were no more pale grays or blues that are difficult to read, the mobile will force the apps to show the maximum contrast in your texts to make them easier to read. You can combine this option with reducing transparency on iOS or disabling blur effects on Android, to eliminate some translucent effects that can make content difficult to read. Turn on bold text On iOS, within the text display and size section in the accessibility options you will have the option to activate bold text. With this you will make all the letters of the operating system, from the clock to the notifications, appear in bold. This will make all text easier to read without having to make it larger. In Android 16 you will have an even more advanced option, which is outlined text, within the Screen and text size section in the accessibility options. This will add a small border to each character to make it much easier to read, even when there are complex backgrounds behind it. Adjust the white balance The third setting that I recommend you try is the white balance. In iOS the option is called Reduce white pointand it’s in the display and text size settings in the accessibility section. On Android the equivalent is in the screen tone settings, within the section Screen. With this, what you will do is reduce the intensity of pure whitesnot the brightness in general. By doing so, the screen will be less bright, and it will be more comfortable for your eyes to read, especially when you are using your mobile at night or in poorly lit areas. In Xataka Basics | How to create a podcast from a text to study, research or simply listen to if you don’t feel like reading

The United Kingdom has just activated an unprecedented air mission over a lost island in the Atlantic. There is a hantavirus suspect

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

In 1961, a nurse had to be urgently evacuated from Tristan da Cunha after a volcanic eruption forced completely vacate to the entire population of the remote island. For weeks, that small territory lost in the middle of the Atlantic remembered something that remains true today: when an emergency occurs there, arriving on time can become an extremely complicated operation even for a country like the United Kingdom. The forgotten island of the Atlantic. While dozens of passengers from the MV Hondius cruise They began to disembark in Tenerife between health checks and repatriation flights for a hantavirus outbreakmuch further south and far from the cameras, the United Kingdom has started an operation completely different on an island that almost no one would know how to locate on a map. Tristan da Cunha, considered the most remote inhabited island on the planet, has suddenly become the scene of a unprecedented air mission for British forces after a british citizen showed symptoms compatible with hantavirus after leaving MV Hondius. With just 221 inhabitants, no airport and almost a week by boat from the nearest major port in South Africa, the island was caught in an extremely delicate situation when oxygen reserves began to run out and the small local medical system found itself unable to face the risk of contagion and isolation alone. An unprecedented military mission. The British response was as extraordinary as the place where he was to be executed. The Royal Air Force mobilized an Airbus A400M Atlas from RAF Brize Norton accompanied by a Voyager tanker plane to carry paratroopers, doctors and tons of medical supplies to the middle of the Atlantic. There was no possible landing strip, so the United Kingdom took a unprecedented decision: drop military doctors by parachute over the island. Six members of the 16 Air Assault Brigade They jumped alongside a doctor and an intensive care nurse in an extremely complex operation marked by strong winds and a minimal margin for error. The jump was made practically over the ocean before to correct the trajectory towards the island, with the real risk of ending up falling directly into the Atlantic if something went wrong. Never before have British forces deployed medical personnel by parachute drop on a humanitarian mission of this type. Medical supplies were dropped on the remote island, which has no landing strip and has a population of just 221. The cruise ship that took the problem to the middle of the ocean. It all began weeks before aboard the MV Hondius, the expedition cruise ship that was sailing through the South Atlantic when it appeared a hantavirus outbreak which would end up leaving several dead and multiple confirmed cases. The case has been of particular concern because the identified variant belonged to the Andean strain, one of the few capable of be transmitted between people. Apparently, the British citizen who ended up isolated in Tristan da Cunha had abandoned ship mid April and began to develop symptoms days later on an island that, as we said, does not have advanced hospital capacity and is normally cared for by just two medical professionals. While some passengers were treated in the Netherlands or South Africa and others were isolated in the United Kingdom After returning from Tenerife, the British health authorities quickly understood that the real problem was no longer on the cruise ship, but in that small isolated community in the middle of the ocean where any worsening could turn into a emergency impossible to manage with conventional means. Geography as a threat. Plus: the operation revealed the extent to which geography continues to condition even to countries with enormous military capabilities. Tristan da Cunha has no airport, no regular air routes and its sea connections are extremely slow and limited. Simply evacuating paratroopers and medics after the mission will require a complex maritime operation carefully planned due to health risk. I was counting a few hours ago BBC that the jump was not made over a large open space either, but rather over a small island buffeted by winds that usually exceed 40 kilometers per hour. The soldiers, in fact, ended up landing at the local golf course while the island’s inhabitants improvised receiving medical equipment and unloading more than three tons of supplies for the hospital. All this to contain a possible contagion in a territory where any logistical failure can take days to correct. The unknown Atlantic. If you will, history also reveals an uncomfortable reality about major modern health and geopolitical crises: almost all the attention tends to be focused on in visible places and connected while huge peripheral spaces remain out of focus until an emergency breaks out. Thus, while the media focus has followed the arrival of the cruise ship to the Canary Islands minute by minute, the hantavirus has ended up activating parachute dropsmilitary doctors and extreme logistical operations on Tristan da Cunha, a place so remote that even a relatively small health emergency forced resources to be mobilized normally associated with war scenarios or major catastrophes. Image | Ministry of Defense In Xataka | It is not so contagious, but it is very lethal: in Argentina the hantavirus went from 17% to 33% in the blink of an eye In Xataka | We believed that hantavirus did not jump between humans. Until someone went to a birthday party in Argentina

Emirates and Oman are building a $3 billion megatrain. The problem is that it crosses a drone battlefield

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

In the midst of a geopolitical climate where tension cut with a knifean infrastructure megaproject emerges in the Middle East that challenges the context of conflict. It is about the construction of the first cross-border rail network of the region. Promoted by Etihad Rail, Oman Rail and Mubadala, this plan proposes a corridor that will integrate the national network of the United Arab Emirates with the strategic port of Sohar, in the Sultanate of Oman. However, the immense work advances under a dense shadow. While the pillars of this train are being raised, the region is going through what in practice It’s the Third Gulf War. The impact of a commercial revolution. To understand the magnitude of “Hafeet Rail”, just look at their economic projections. This mixed corridor—designed for both passengers and cargo—promises to radically transform the flow of trade in the Gulf and lower logistics costs. The network has a monumental investment which is around 3,000 million dollars, equivalent to about 2,500 million euros. Additionally, the infrastructure will link five major ports and more than fifteen integrated cargo facilities directly. The benefits, however, will not be exclusive to maritime trade. For the average citizen, this line will mean an unprecedented change: the trip between Abu Dhabi and Sohar, which currently takes more than three hours on winding roads, will be reduced to just 100 minutes. In addition, it will offer a reliable alternative that will eliminate the usual and costly delays at border crossings. The challenge of operating in a disputed region. The main route of the project will cover a length of 238 kilometers. On these new generation tracks, passenger trains will be able to reach speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, while heavy cargo convoys will circulate at a maximum of 120 km/h to optimize international shipping times. Far from being a mirage in the desert, construction is now a tangible and has reached 40% overall progress. On the rugged terrain, backhoes have completed more than 27 million cubic meters of earthworks, and there are currently 80 key structures in different stages of construction. The big question: can it work? Military analysts warn that the recent proliferation of cheap drone attacks has shown that facilities previously considered untouchable are today extremely vulnerable. The fact that the United Arab Emirates host allied infrastructure and bases It makes them latent targets within this tense regional board, adding enormous operational risk to any large connectivity project. Technological avant-garde. On a technical level, the project does not skimp on innovation. According to the technical documentationthe railway fleet will be equipped with the European Train Control System (ETCS Level 2), considered the most advanced and safest in the world in its category. This system, which will be implemented by a joint venture between Siemens and HAC, will allow absolute digital tracking and control of trains using GPS technology. Regarding the execution of the challenging civil works, these were awarded to an Omani-Emirati consortium led by Trojan Construction Group (NPC) and Galfar Engineering and Contracting. A milestone that the consortia particularly celebrate is the extreme workplace safety achieved: to date, 10 million hours of work have been recorded in the field without reporting serious accidents. Closing a historical gap. Beyond the colossal engineering figures, the project carries a deep cultural weight. The unified network has recently adopted the identity of “Hafeet Rail”, a direct tribute to the Jebel Hafeet, the imposing mountain and limestone formation that extends between the borders of both countries and that has historically served as a geographical bridge. Despite business optimism, the success of the operation will not depend solely on laying tracks. Monumental bureaucratic challenges await ahead, such as regulatory coordination between the two sovereign nations and the fluid articulation of port and customs services. In the end, time will tell if the shared vision of progress prevails. For now, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are committed to full economic integration and the creation of a new artery for global trade; All of this, paradoxically, at a time when its immediate environment is navigating a hybrid war defined by uncertainty, intermittent blockades and air threats. It is, in short, a bullet train making its way through a minefield; the maximum expression of risk and ambition in the heart of the Middle East. Image | Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash Xataka | The US believes that the war in the Persian Gulf is over. Iran believes that it will decide that when it considers

Renfe already calculates how much it will cost to leave its workshops to Iryo

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

Renfe will have to give up part of its workshops so that Iryo can carry out its heavy maintenance. It is the decision that the CNMC has imposed on the Spanish company and that it will have to comply with until, at the earliest, the National Court rules. But it will have its consequences. What has happened? When Ouigo and Iryo entered to compete in our country, Renfe already knew that it would have to give up part of its workshops so that both companies could carry out maintenance work. In exchange, both the French and Italian companies have to pay the company to be able to operate in their facilities. These maintenance tasks were “level 1”, the name used to define “light maintenance” operations. However, Renfe reported a few months ago that Ouigo was performing heavy maintenance workwhich is outside the agreement. And a few months ago it closed the door on Iryo, because the company planned to do the same. However, the CNMC has forced Renfe to open its doors to the Italian company. According to Competition, failure to do so puts Iryo’s business strategy at risk, which would give Renfe an unfair advantage. The company has filed an appeal against this decision but the National Court has concluded that it will study the case but that, as a precautionary measure, Renfe must open the door to its facilities. What does each one defend? From the Spanish company they assure that Iryo had a project to build its own workshops in our country and thus not having to take their trains to Italy. However, these workshops have not seen the light and Renfe believes that they should not pay the consequences of one of their rivals not complying with its roadmap. For its part, the CNMC assures that forcing Iryo to undergo maintenance in Italy would leave them with less rolling stock available for weeks and, therefore, at a disadvantage in the market. And keeping that rolling stock in operation is a bad decision because the deadlines are met and it would lead the company to have vehicles on Spanish roads that could be unsafe. Iryo’s parent company, Trenitalia, has already experienced this same thing. in France when they had to suspend their services for a month because SNCF prevented access to its workshops to carry out maintenance work. Consequences. Knowing the situation, Renfe has put on the table the consequences that opening its facilities to Iryo may have to carry out heavy maintenance work. And, without that space for their own work, the entry of the Italian company into their space forces them to reduce the number of jobs they can carry out on their own material. That is to say: they would have to reduce the number of trains that are currently in operation. According to the company, in words collected by elDiario.es“the immediate consequence would be fewer trains available each day and, therefore, the suppression of public services in the usual schedule. The lower capacity for heavy maintenance would also have a chain effect and could lead to a progressive paralysis of the fleet in a few weeks.” And in numbers? In total, the company believes that it would affect around thirty daily circulations distributed in different corridors depending on the trains used, which would be the affected by giving space to Ouigo and Iryo in the workshops. They assure that the Madrid-Barcelona (Serie 103), the most profitable corridor today, would have two fewer daily circulations per direction. In total, they would have to reduce 10% of the seats offered and they estimate the impact at 650,000 kilometers per year that would no longer be traveled, some 1,100 circulations eliminated and 450,000 fewer seats on offer. As for the Galician corridor, the trains to Huelva and the Basque Country (Series 120 and 121), together they would add a reduction of 1.5 million fewer kilometers per year, more than 3,300 circulations eliminated and some 800,000 fewer seats available. In total, each day it is estimated that there would be 16 trains inoperative on these lines. And in the Avant of Valladolid they calculate a suppression of six daily trains or the reduction of the double trains that are currently operational during rush hour. In total, Renfe estimates that there are 1.2 million of its own seats at stake. Of them, more than a million are part of what is known as Public Service Obligation (OSP) and they believe that it can impact with a decrease in income of up to 60 million euros. Aggrieved? The feeling of grievance is not new within the company and the Ministry of Transportation. In April 2024 they already made it clear that they considered that the rules were not fair because while Ouigo and Iryo only have to serve where they consider it beneficial to their interests, Renfe is obliged in going to brokers where economic viability is not guaranteed. Added to this is that the company feels doubly harmed. And Renfe has been trying to expand its business in France for some time but Many obstacles have been found in the neighboring country to reach Paris, the most economically juicy link in the neighboring country. And from the Ministry of Transportation they have repeated on several occasions that Ouigo is a company supported by the French State and that it would not be able to operate if it had to face its debts on its own. Diffuse. The problem, explained in Chain Being is that the Directive 2012/34/EU (RECAST) on the single railway space and the standard EN 15380-4:2021 They do not clearly specify what is considered light or heavy maintenance. In the first it is pointed out that heavy maintenance is all those tasks that are not routine and in the second it is defined as the works in which the train has to be dismantled. However, these definitions do not seem to be sufficient for competitors as they have different perspectives of what is and is … Read more

How much coffee can you drink a day? Science has a very clear limit to avoid its harmful effects

May 11, 2026 by usatoday24

For many of us, the starter motor in the morning It has a dark color and a roasted aroma that characterize coffee so much. A drink that is one of the most consumed in the world, but with a popularity that has been accompanied by alarmist headlines about how bad it is to ingest it and the effects it can have directly on the organs. But the truth is that there are lights and shadows. There is good news. For those who love coffee, it will undoubtedly be a relief to know that the literature indicates that consumption is not as catastrophic as they want to sell. But, as in everything, excesses of something can always lead to problems, even if it may seem like something super healthy, such as water. And coffee, obviously, is not exempt. The limit. When it comes to establishing a red line for safe consumption, the clinical reference is not in the WHO, but in the FDA and the EFSAwhich are the food safety regulatory agencies in the United States and Europe, respectively. Here both point to the same figure in coffee consumption: 400 milligrams of caffeine per day. A very relevant figure, since for the vast majority of healthy adults, consuming up to 400 mg daily is not associated with harmful health effectshighlighting that this amount can be part of a perfectly healthy diet and lifestyle. How many coffees is this equivalent to? This is where things get complicated since talking about “cups” is an analytical error, because not all coffees are the same. That is why for the FDA a 355 ml cup, which is a standard size, can contain between 113 and 247 mg of caffeine. But all this depends on the type of preparation, the extraction time or the coffee used, because Robusta coffee has more caffeine than Arabica, for example. But generally speaking, that 400 mg is equivalent to about 3 or 4 cups of standard filter coffee per day. Organic damage. It is easy to see different alarming messages warning that coffee can damage our entire interior if a specific dose is exceeded. But the reality is that the WHO does not send this message to society, since it is too alarming and does not correspond at all to reality. What is true is that excessive daily coffee consumption has important effects on our body, but it will not ‘rot’ our internal organs. Among these stand out insomnia, nervousness, irritability, palpitations, muscle tremors, intestinal irritation, headache… This means that, although we talk about coffee not being contradictory for the population, logically, if there is an underlying problem, it may be better not to drink it, and even less so if it is taken in great excess throughout the day. It has benefits. On other occasions we have talked about coffee and its benefits, because it has more than just keeping us awake in the morning. Here different studies have already pointed out to us the cardiovascular benefits it can have or even improves sports performance. But the metabolism of each person is quite involved here, since there is no single metabolism. In this case, there are people who process caffeine very quickly and its effect disappears quickly, but there are other cases where they metabolize it slowly, so its effects remain in the body and they may, for example, have more problems with insomnia, nervousness or palpitations because they are more “sensitive” to caffeine. This is the explanation, for example, that a person can boast of having a coffee at night and being able to sleep perfectly. There are exceptions. Although we talk about a limit of 400 mg of caffeine, there are people who logically cannot reach this limit, such as pregnant women, where a maximum of 200 mg per day is recommended, since excess caffeine can cross the placenta and affect fetal development. But it also influences, for example, the cholesterol level, since here the Mayo Clinic points out that the consumption of unfiltered coffee, such as Turkish coffee, can raise cholesterol levels due to compounds such as cafestol. Images | Dragana_Gordic in Magnific In Xataka | If the question is “how much caffeine is in each cup of coffee or tea,” this graph offers insightful answers.

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