usatoday24

millions of websites are down after an internal failure

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History repeats itself just a few weeks later. cloudflareone of the fundamental pillars of the internet infrastructure, is suffering from technical problems that have left a multitude of web pages and digital services inoperative and with loading failures. The incident is especially affecting electronic commerce, with giants such as PCComponentes or MediaMarkt experiencing drops in their services. what’s happening. According to the official company status pageat 08:56 (09:56 CEST) Cloudflare has begun investigating “issues with Cloudflare Dashboard and related APIs.” Although the company already indicates that it is investigating, the impact on clients who use its APIs is immediate, causing requests to fail and errors to be displayed. Coincidentally, the company is carrying out scheduled maintenance in its Chicago data center (ORD), although at the moment it is unknown if there is a direct relationship between both incidents. The impact. The decline is palpable in our country. Users and reports on social networks confirm that high-traffic websites such as PCComponentes and MediaMarkt have ceased to be operational. There are also complaints about communication services like Zoom. We do not yet know the magnitude of the failure, since it has just occurred, but it is notable that pages like Downdetector have also succumbed. The tool we use to check if a service is down is having trouble loading. It rains in the wet. This is not the first time this has happened. Less than a month ago, on November 18, Twitter and ChatGPT were the “snitches” of a Unusual traffic spike on Cloudflare services which wiped out many other websites until service was restored. This recurrence highlights the extreme dependence that the network has on this provider. When your systems fail, the domino effect is inevitable: if Cloudflare goes down, half the internet goes down. At this time, the incident status remains marked as “investigating.” However, some websites are beginning to return to normal: Downdetector itself already reflects the Cloudflare incident. In Xataka | The battle between LaLiga and Cloudflare is claiming many victims. Now those victims are joining forces

A company identified an employee on its payroll as “buzzed.” Justice has added some zeros to the joke

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A payroll can be much more than a payment document: in this case, it became judicial evidence and object of compensation for damage to honor. A company in the Basque Country included the word “Zumbada” to identify the employee as a beneficiary on two successive payrolls. It so happened that the employee’s ex-husband was also the co-owner of the company. A ruling from the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country has condemned the company to pay 10,000 euros in damages to the employee’s honor. A list for “Zumbada”. According to is detailed in the sentence issued by the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country, the worker carried out administrative tasks in the company of her ex-husband, of whom he was in the middle of the judicial process of divorce and custody of their common son with a disability. In this context, the employee received two payrolls in which the word “Zumbada” appeared in the section intended to indicate the name of the beneficiary of the payroll. As it could not be otherwise, the employee filed a lawsuit against the company. As the employee herself stated in an intervention in the program “And now Sonsoles” hosted by Sonsoles Ónega on July 27, “There was a first trial for the crime of minor insults in which it was the other partner, Iñaki, who took responsibility for having made that transfer.” However, the employee resorted to court again when she understood that it was the company that had to respond for her work mistreatment, arguing that she suffered a workplace harassment for the humiliating work shown towards her on her payroll. It’s not harassment. In July, the Social Court handed down a ruling arguing that, however reprehensible, the company’s conduct did not constitute workplace harassmentconsidering it a sporadic act. The labor lawyer Juanma Lorente agreed with the court’s ruling and analyzed the case in a published video on his Instagram profile. “We are not talking about workplace harassment, but rather a breach by the company, and you can file a complaint against it. But it is not workplace harassment. They have to be repeated over time for approximately six months,” said the lawyer, indicating that the employee’s legal advice had not been correct. The TSJPV did not let it pass. Although in the first instance the Social Court dismissed the claim. The ruling was taken to the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country, where on October 25 it revoked the first ruling, recognizing that the company had violated the employee’s right to honor by using the term “Zumbada” on its payroll. The ruling emphasizes that “the inclusion of derogatory terms in a list generates a detriment to the dignity of the worker and constitutes an act contrary to the fundamental principles of respect and honorability”, indicating that the offense occurred in a public context given that the document had to be processed by the employees of the financial institution, bypassing the area of ​​privacy. For this reason, the Court has sentenced the two partners of the company (one of them her ex-husband) to pay compensation of 10,000 euros for damage to the employee’s honor. History repeats itself. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that payroll processing has been used as a channel to inflict humiliating treatment on employees. In 2024, a baker included the concept “Nómina Abril Maricón” on the payroll of one of its employees, which led to a conviction and the seizure of his assets to face a compensatory compensation. In Xataka | An employee put the handbrake on the company van when he was the passenger. He was fired, but from his company Image | Wikimedia Commons (Zarateman), Unsplash (Resume Genius)

can’t move forward without it

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Europe speaks increasingly loudly about technological sovereignty, risky suppliers and the need to shield its networks. Brussels, Washington and several European partners They look at Huawei with suspicion. However, in the guts of the energy transition—in the inverters, connected batteries, and management systems that keep the grid stable—Huawei’s name appears again and again. And that dependence is so deep that no one in Brussels wants to say it too loudly. The Spanish case triggered everything. It all started with a 12.3 million euro contract for Huawei to provide the storage hardware for the Interior’s judicial wiretapping. What could have remained a technical file became a political earthquake after the formal warning from Brussels, which according to elDiario.es recalled that Huawei and ZTE “present higher risks than other suppliers.” The second blow came from the United States. As detailed by the Financial Timesthe presidents of the intelligence committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate asked to review the exchange of information with Spain for this contract. An unusual diplomatic signal between allies. The Spanish Government defended that “there is no security risk” and that the equipment complies with the National Security Scheme. Huawei, for its part, insisted that it does not have access to the data and that storage is “exclusively the customer’s.” Europe discovers its technological heel. According to an analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Europe has delivered more than 220 GW of solar capacity to inverters manufactured by Chinese companies, with Huawei as the dominant player. In fact, from POLITICO they reaffirm it with the fact that 65% of the solar power installed in Europe depends on Chinese technology, and that Huawei is the largest supplier of inverters on the continent. The concern is no longer just economic: it is structural. Inverters are the digital brain of the energy transition: they regulate voltages, stabilize frequencies, process data, receive firmware updates and can be turned off—or altered—remotely. According to experts cited by POLITICOsimultaneously manipulating thousands of these devices could generate serious disturbances in the electrical grid. Researchers consulted by the ECFR They warn that, if compromised, these devices could “optimize the impact” of failures and amplify them within the network. Added to this is a detail that highlights European analysis: China keeps its market practically closed to Western investors thanks to a network of cybersecurity regulations that function as a trade barrier. Europe, on the other hand, completely opened its own. And this asymmetry has contributed to the loss of share of the European industry compared to Chinese manufacturers. The real cost of trying to cut the cord. This dependence would be manageable if Europe could easily replace Chinese technology. But the reality is different. According to Xataka Mobilereplacing Huawei equipment in Spanish networks would cost 4,000 million euros for telecoms alone. In Germany, according to Article 14removing components from Huawei would mean 1,000 million for Deutsche Telekom and 700 million for Telefónica. The Energy Newspaper collects internal estimates of the sector which speak of cost overruns of 20% to 40% in mobile networks, smart grids and connected energy infrastructure if Chinese suppliers are excluded. And then there are the geoeconomic consequences. Europe knows well the risks of retaliation: when Sweden banned Huawei in 2020, China counterattacked in its domestic market. Ericsson went from having almost 11% share to less than 2%. So with Beijing dominating key sectors such as solar panels, critical materials or batteries, few governments are willing to repeat that scenario. How can you get out of this mess? Europe has written a roadmap for a problem that has no roadmap and that is why the European Commission is moving in several simultaneous directions: Turn the 5G Toolbox into binding legislation. According to Bloombergwould be the largest European regulatory movement in this decade: going from a recommendation to a legal obligation to remove Huawei and ZTE from critical networks. Extend the logic of 5G to the entire connected infrastructure. How POLITICO progressedBrussels is preparing a new “toolbox” for ICT supply chains that will include solar energy, smart grids, connected cars and smart cameras. Condition European funds. Brussels studies denying financing to projects using “high-risk” vendors, and impose mandatory audits of firmware, cloud, and updates. Multi-pillar regulatory shield. According to The Energy Newspaperthe tandem NIS2 + Data Act + Network Code + Cyber ​​Resilience Act will leave little room for companies subject to foreign intelligence laws. Partial vetoes by Member States: Lithuania banned remote access from Chinese manufacturers to installations of more than 100 kW, Czech Republic has issued alerts on Chinese components in energy networks and Germany has been analyzing for a couple of years the Huawei equipment installed in its infrastructure. The message is clear: Europe wants to protect itself. What is not clear is how to do it without slowing down its energy transition. Huawei moves forward as Europe debates how to expel it. While Brussels designs barriers, Huawei is not retreating. It is in full return and as my colleague in Xataka explained: It has returned to manufacturing 7nm Kirin chips without accessing TSMC. HarmonyOS already surpasses iOS in China and is preparing to expand to 60 countries. Its automotive division has become the “digital brain” of several Chinese manufacturers. Watches, headphones and wearables keep the brand alive in Europe, cultivating a loyal base. The more autonomous Huawei becomes, the harder it will be for the EU to limit its presence. The dilemma that will mark the next European decade. The Commission seeks new rules, calibrates sanctions and repeats that it is about “strategic security.” The reality is that Washington is tightening and Beijing is not giving up, but European capitals are trying to navigate between two giants that do not accept half measures. The reality is that the energy core of the continent – ​​those networks that must power millions of electric cars, absorb gigawatts of renewables and sustain a digitalized economy down to the last meter – continue to depend on and be built by … Read more

Sam Altman is trying to buy his own rocket company to compete with SpaceX. The key: data centers

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The rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk has just reached its highest point: space. And all so that OpenAI can deploy its own data centers in space. The news. As revealed by the Wall Street Journalthe CEO of OpenAI has been exploring the purchase of Stoke Space, a Seattle startup that develops reusable rockets, with the goal of building data centers in space. Although talks with Stoke Space cooled in the fall, the move confirms a trend we’ve been observing for months: Silicon Valley is outgrowing the Earth to fuel AI. Sam’s plan. According to the Journal’s sources, Sam Altman was not looking for a launch provider, but rather an investment that would ensure OpenAI majority control of Stoke Space. Stoke Space, founded in 2020 by former Blue Origin engineers, is developing a fully reusable rocket called ‘Nova’ to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9. So that. Altman maintains a tense rivalry with Elon Musk, so the logic of this move would be to reduce OpenAI’s dependence on Musk’s rockets in the event that it decided to deploy servers in space. But above that there is a purely energetic motivation. The computing demand for AI is so insatiable that the environmental consequences of keeping it on Earth will be unsustainable. In certain orbits, however, solar energy is available 24/7 and the vacuum of space offers an infinite heat sink to cool equipment without wasting water. The fever of space data centers. Altman is not alone in this race. What until recently seemed like an eccentricity has become a serious project for big technology companies: And what does Musk say? The irony of Altman pursuing his own rocket company is that the industry’s undisputed leader, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, already has the infrastructure in place. While his competitors design prototypes and seek financing, Musk has cut off the debate with his usual forcefulness: in the face of the discussion about the need to build new orbital data centers, He assured that there is no need to reinvent the wheel: “It will be enough to scale the Starlink V3 satellites… SpaceX is going to do it.” Images | Brazilian Ministry of Communications | Village Global In Xataka | Building data centers in space was the new hot business. Elon Musk just broke it with a tweet

ZTE already has a phone with an AI agent that does things for you, and it’s sold out

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Many technology enthusiasts have spent years imagining a future in which words are enough for the mobile phone to do the rest. Why open an application and navigate between menus if we can ask it out loud and that’s it? “Mark all messages as read”, “Order a car from my location”, “Open the discounts app and tell me what promotions I can use today”. In that ideal future, an agent should take care of everything without us touching the screen. Recent reality, however, has gone another way. Despite the visible rise of AI, interaction with mobile phones remains anchored in known dynamics. The most advanced version of Siri—the one Apple promised with agentic capabilities within Apple Intelligence— still not arrivingand the user experience has not changed substantially. In this context, ZTE has decided to take a step that until now no manufacturer had materialized: integrate a deep AI agent at the system level. The result is the Nubia M153. The mobile that turns agentic AI into its core. Far from being limited to accessory functions, the Nubia M153 is committed to real AI integration. According to Global Timesincorporates a preview version of Doubao Mobile Assistant, developed by ByteDance and ZTE. Although the assistant continues to be polished, it already demonstrates a striking ability to interact with applications and execute tasks that until now required user intervention. The demonstrations have gone viral. In X, un user shows how it is enough to ask him to hire someone to wait in line for him – a common activity in China – for the agent to execute the process. In another testa photo of a hotel is enough to reserve a room with the best available rate. The system identifies the establishment, opens the appropriate app and proceeds with the reservation. On Weibo, the scene is similar: “Order me three lattes and a Mixue ice cream,” says a young woman. The assistant gets going, asking for details when it needs them (size, sugar) and adding new tasks, such as finding the cheapest pizza service, buying movie tickets or converting photos into AI-generated images. An experiment that has exceeded expectations. The Nubia M153 is not a mass consumption mobile. It is only sold in China and in very limited quantities. According to SinaZTE launched about 30,000 units aimed mainly at users with a technical profile interested in testing new agentic capabilities, at a price of 3,499 yuan (about 425 euros at the exchange rate). Despite this reduced production, the device ran out a few hours after going on sale on December 1. Under the hood. IT Home details that The phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 with the Ultra label, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage and a 6.78-inch LTPO screen with a resolution of 1264 x 2800 pixels. Its camera system relies on three 50 MP sensors – main, wide angle and telephoto – and the design maintains a simple aesthetic, with a white back cover, black module and rounded edges. Are we ready for the agentic era? The launch also showed the first brakes. Shortly after the units reached users’ hands, several accounts of WeChat They started showing warnings of suspicious activity. The same thing happened on Alipay and Pinduoduo. Everything indicates that the assistant’s autonomous behavior activated automation protection mechanisms, designed to block usage patterns that do not fit with normal human activity. It is, in practice, the first pulse between new generation agents and the traditional platforms that dominate the Chinese digital ecosystem. Images | ZTE In Xataka | Almost all phones with optical zoom have the same problem. This Chinese brand believes it has solved it in a curious way

2026 has not yet started but it has already managed to produce the first bad news: the light goes up

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There is one month left until 2026 begins and the January slope already has a clear protagonist: light. The electricity bill will start the year with the largest simultaneous review of regulated costs since 2020. The proposals of the Government and the energy regulator point to an increase that will affect all homes, regardless of what they consume. Without anesthesia. The National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) has put into public hearing its toll proposal for 2026 – the part of the bill that finances the electrical networks – and proposes a global increase of close to 4%. This update has two pillars: Transportation, which are the large electric highways, will increase by 12.1%. Distribution, which are the networks that reach homes and businesses, will increase by 2.5%. With these changes, the total money allocated to maintaining and expanding electrical networks will reach 6,608 million in 2026. In addition, to this increase we must add that of the chargesset by the Government. According to Five Daysthe Ministry for the Ecological Transition proposes increasing them by 10.5% to cover, above all, the cost of regulated renewable energies (Recore), which will grow by 37%. The fixed part is in charge again. The electricity bill is divided into two large blocks: The cost of energy, which depends on what each user consumes. Regulated costs (tolls and charges), which are always paid. This new year, the regulated part once again gains prominence. According to the specialized portal Tarifaluzhorathe combination of tolls and charges will increase between 2.8% and 4.8% for households. It may seem like a moderate increase, but it affects the amount paid even if consumption drops. Furthermore, the CNMC report estimates that domestic customers with PVPC 2.0 TD rate will see a final increase of approximately 0.6% on their bill, thanks in part to the slight expected growth in demand and the greater number of consumers among whom to spread the costs. A small print that worries the sector. As Cinco Días detailsthe Government has prepared its proposal for charges under the hypothesis that consumption will grow by 4.5% in 2026. This figure is not minor: the greater the demand, the more the regulated costs are diluted among users and the lower the impact per receipt. However, the problem is that the CNMC – which sets tolls – does not share that optimism. The regulator foresees an increase of only 2.3%. And here a delicate scenario opens up: if demand does not grow as much as the Government expects, the system will not collect what was expected. The tolls and charges are calculated on the basis that there will be more kilowatts consumed in 2026. If they are not ultimately consumed, there will be a lack of money to cover the regulated costs, which are already on the rise due to the Recore renewables, the expansion of networks and the adjustments from previous years. If we get ashy. The return of the tariff deficit is at stake. In other words, putting ourselves in the worst possible scenario, if revenues prove insufficient, Spain could return to a known scenario: tariff deficit. In other words, when the bill does not cover the costs of the electrical system, a hole is created that is financed as debt and drags on for years. It took Spain more than a decade to absorb the deficit accumulated between 2000 and 2013—more than 28 billion euros—and the sector fears a partial repeat of that cycle. A gap of just two percentage points between the demand forecast by the Government and the realistic estimate of the CNMC can make the difference between a balanced system or a stressed one. And all in a year in which tolls and charges will rise at the same time for the first time since 2020. And why will everything go up at once? Because in 2026 several impact factors coincide: More investment in networks to integrate renewables and electrification. Higher cost of Recore renewables, which must be compensated according to their contracts. The cumulative impact of the electricity blackout of 360 million, that the marketers still carry. Pending adjustments from previous exercises. 2026: a year that starts uphill. The electricity bill will be the first notice of a year marked by the structural increase in the cost of the electrical system and the need to accelerate investments that sustain the energy transition. More robust networks, more renewables and a more complex system imply higher operating costs. And, once again, it will be consumers who notice in January. Image | freepik Xataka | Spain needs to modernize its electrical grid, so the remuneration rate has increased. The effect will be noticeable in the next five years

A bad spell devastated my kitchen. The most useful personal finance tool has saved me

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They say that misfortunes never come alone and, when it comes to appliances, that is a more than likely reality. In the last year, all the appliances in my kitchen have been falling apart one by one. First the washing machine, then the dryer, the coffee maker, a couple of months ago the refrigerator, and now the microwave is starting to beep randomly. He’s asking for the time. Being an adult was this. For an average economycope with replacement of all those appliances In a single year it represents a significant setback. However, we have been able to face this important unforeseen event thanks to a key tool in personal finances: the emergency fund. Concern in Spain about unforeseen events The concern about not being able to face an unexpected expense is very present in Spanish households. a study from the neobank Nickel points out that 64% of the people surveyed are concerned that their savings are not enough to cover an unforeseen event, five percentage points more than what was stated in the same study from the previous year. The same report shows that 28% claim to have planned their savings well, while 8% claim to have not no savings available. Furthermore, the impact is not the same for everyone: 5% of men say they do not have savings, compared to 12% of women, and only 35% of those over 65 consider that they have a cushion large enough to deal with an unforeseen event. Why an emergency fund matters The case of my appliances being damaged is a good example of what it is and the importance of having an emergency fund. Financial institutions define the emergency fund as an amount of money saved only for unforeseen events, different from savings for goals such as trips or renovations. It is used to cover, for example, a car breakdown, a boiler that breaks down or a sudden healthcare expense, without upsetting the entire month’s budget. Having this mattress provides two clear advantages: on the one hand, it reduces stress because it allows face unexpected expenses without making hasty decisions, and on the other hand, it protects you from falling into debt that later becomes difficult. How much money do you need? Ok, it is useful and necessary to create “a little corner” for unforeseen events, but how much money would we be talking about? Factors such as inflation, rising prices from the shopping cart or wage stagnation makes saving a utopia. According to a report Elaborated by Triodos Bank, 19.4% of those surveyed say they are never or almost never able to save, while 36.9% can only do so some months. Only 43.7% claim to be able to save regularly. Therefore, it is understandable that the idea of ​​saving, when you have a month left at the end of your salaryit becomes difficult for you. Don’t panic. Some banking entities match in which the fund should cover between three and six months of monthly fixed expenses, adjusting the figure to the financial situation of each person or family. If you have variable income or self-employment, some experts recommend expand that margin by covering six to twelve months of fixed expenses. The result will be your goal saving for emergency fund. To establish a specific savings figure, you must calculate how much you spend each month on housing, supplies, food, transportation and other basic expenses, and multiply that amount by six or twelve months, depending on each situation. There is even calculators that help you to establish that figure. Tricks to build the emergency fund without stress Once the savings goal has been established, it is time to start the plan to make it possible. It is not necessary to spend a large amount of money monthly for this fund, although it is advisable to establish an affordable monthly fee. They can be 10, 20 or 50 euros. It depends on your economy. The important thing is to start contributing. When it comes to money, the flesh is weak and the temptation to skip the monthly contribution will be very strong, so it is best to establish a savings strategy. Automate monthly savings On the one hand, physically separate that emergency fund from the rest of your savings. For example, in a new account. By separating it from your savings or checking account, it will be much easier for you to know how much money you have saved in it and adjust your savings plan. On the other hand, on a psychological level, seeing how that amount grows will serve as motivation to achieve the goal. In order to avoid temptations, it is best to automate the monthly transfer of the amount you have established as a quota for your emergency fund. That way, as soon as your salary is credited to your account, that fee will be reserved for emergencies without you having to do anything. If you are not obliged to manage that money every month, you will not be tempted not to reserve it. It’s not what you save, it’s what you don’t spend When the savings capacity is limited, it makes a lot of sense to review the so-called “ant expenses“: coffees away from home, impulsive purchases on apps, subscriptions to services you never use or frequent low-cost cravings. Redirect those small expenses Frequent trips to your emergency fund can make a difference over time, transforming money that slips away almost without realizing it into a cushion that protects against fines, repairs or unexpected bills. Another key to making the emergency fund grow without realizing it is to redirect all or a good part of any unexpected incomesuch as tax refunds, extra payments, bonuses, smaller prizes or cash gifts to your fund instead of your checking account. After all, it is a income you didn’t count onso nothing better than dedicating it to an equally unexpected emergency. When to use the emergency fund? It seems like a truism question, but when you have a certain … Read more

“The Silk Road AI”

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The CEO of NVIDIA has a mission: to get the US to allow him to sell his chips in China. Over the past few weeks, Huang has been taking advantage of every time a microphone is placed in front of him to warn about the dangers of this blockade. Their argument is that if China does not have access to NVIDIA chips, then they will make their own and create a new Silk Road with AI, thus expanding their influence around the world. The situation. NVIDIA is a key player in the development of AI due to the superiority of its chips, which in turn places it at the center of the trade and technological war with China. Broadly speaking, this is the sequence of events: The AI ​​route. The CEO of NVIDIA has been in Washington and has taken advantage of his visit to criticize the United States’ decision to continue blocking the sale of its most powerful chips. Huang has assured that by blocking NVIDIA, the US “has essentially given up the second largest AI market”, as stated in Nikkei Asia. According to its logic, the decision has left room for China to develop its own technology and make it reach the world, expanding its influence beyond its borders. The Silk Road Economic Belt. Huang has referred to this concept, which refers to the global infrastructure development strategy promoted by the Chinese government in 2013. In other words, a new silk roadbut with technology as a product. Thanks to this initiative Huawei managed to expand its 5G around the world and Huang fears that they will now do the same with AI. “They will undoubtedly spread Chinese technology as quickly as possible, because they understand that the sooner they arrive, the sooner they will build their ecosystem,” he assured. Huawei. It is the company that has the most possibilities of creating alternatives to NVIDIA technology. Jensen Huang has said of them that “they are one of the most formidable technology companies the world has ever seen. We compete with them (…) They are agile. They move at incredible speed.” Huawei is already trying achieve powerful technologies for AI, although they have not yet reached NVIDIA, but it seems that Huang sees that moment very close. Nuclear power. Energy has become the choke point for AI. Data centers consume a lot of energy and there China has a clear advantage; They have a more powerful infrastructure and also The government is subsidizing energy. Recently the CEO of NVIDIA already drew attention to this situation and assured that “China is going to win the AI ​​race” due to these subsidies. Now he has brought up the energy issue again, saying that the United States should “use every form of energy” it can and that the government “should try to accelerate the development of nuclear energy.” Interests. That there is a technological race for the dominance of AI is undeniable, but that catastrophic speech by Jensen Huang is better understood if we take into account that he is the CEO of a company, and what interests him is selling more products. China is not only the US’s competitor, it is also one of the largest markets in the world. Image | Wikipedia, Gary Lerude on Flickr In Xataka | Investing in data centers for AI is insane, and it’s going to get worse. much worse

ChatGPT has the same chance of hitting the Lottery Jackpot as a witch reading the guts of a crow

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There are those who always play the same number. Others travel half of Spain looking for the combination they have dreamed of or simply a special date. This dance of fetishes related to the Extraordinary Christmas Lottery Draw is now added a new name: ChatGPT. And the question is not only whether artificial intelligence is capable of guessing the winning number, something that is obviously not possible. It goes much further than that: there is a lot of superstition in this, but also of believing at face value what the AI ​​tells us. Even when we know that there is nothing behind it to support its results. ChatGPT and the lottery. Christmas is coming and with it interest in the Lottery increases. And with it, an unexpected protagonist also emerges again: ChatGPT. The OpenAI ‘chatbot’ has become another Christmas classic thanks to the fact that, one more yearwe Spaniards ask you again what the winning number will be. The objective is clear: that ChatGPT deciphers the tenth that the Fat Man will win in the 2025 Christmas Lottery. Although only chance rules here. It doesn’t get wet. The Christmas Draw is carried out using a system of two drums, with a manual mechanism, in which all the balls are identical, both in weight and size, so that they have exactly the same chance of winning. The prize is drawn from the first pot and the number to which it is associated is drawn from the second pot. The procedure for drawing the balls is completely random and, therefore, so is the winning number. The chance of getting it right is 0.001%. If you have ever tried to ask ChatGPT what the Gordo will be on December 22, its answer is what it should be: If you insist, he also repeats the same thing: “I cannot tell you with certainty what the winning number of the Spanish Christmas Lottery will be. And in fact no one can. The draw is designed to be totally random; each number from 00000 to 99999 has the same probability of being awarded.” He is not trying to sell us the bike and makes it very clear why: “although there are those who try to use theories, superstitions or even artificial intelligence to predict numbers, these methods have no real foundation: in the end, each number still has exactly 1 in 100,000 probabilities.” Finish singing. But, if we try to scratch a little more, it ends up showing a random number. If you give it a ‘prompt’ asking for a number based on a mathematical sample or taking into account the history of winning combinations, ChatGPT tells us that “I can give you a simulated number as a result of a fictitious statistical sample, but you must be clear that it does not increase your probabilities nor does it represent a real prediction.” And then, what was expected, his bet. In this case, 32,704. Of course, by trying to ask the same question in several different conversations, each time it offers a different answer. The ending doesn’t even have to match. It’s a totally random answer again. The new search engines. Chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini they are displacing search engines traditional when it comes to search for specific information on a topic or even a much longer explanation. Even Google itself he is taking it to the kitchen to change the way we interact with the internet. If before we asked Google what could be causing a headache or what could happen to us if we took an expired medication, now the quickest, simplest and most accessible way is to have a conversation with the AI ​​as a “know-it-all” to have the solution to all our questions and concerns. Even with those that have no answer, like Gordo’s winning number. A digital superstition. The infinite possibilities of AI are leading us to use it in quite peculiar ways. From have a romantic relationship with her until resorting to it to replace psychological therapy or even interact less with other humans. In the case of the lottery, just as there are gestures associated with good luck, such as passing the tenth over the belly of a pregnant woman or the figurine of a Virgin, asking ChatGPT to choose a number for us is a new digital superstition. Another space to which we have also opened the door to artificial intelligence, “just in case” is right. Cover image | Generated with Gemini In Xataka | We have become filled with digital superstitions. They are a horror for our productivity In Xataka | ChatGPT and the Christmas Lottery: what you can do with artificial intelligence and how to ask it for a prediction

stop importing Russian gas

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Brussels has announced a ban on importing Russian gas at the end of 2027. This is what They confirmed at a press conference the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, and the Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen. But, beyond the statements, there is an elephant in the room: the European Union has just promised something that it does not know if it will be able to fulfill. A “permanent” veto. According to the official statement of the European Commissionthe Parliament and Council have reached a political agreement to permanently stop imports of Russian gas – not only by gas pipeline, but also liquefied natural gas – and with a very specific timetable: LNG in short-term contracts: prohibited from April 25, 2026. Gas through pipeline in the short term: prohibited from June 17, 2026. LNG in long-term contracts: January 1, 2027. Long-term gas via pipeline: September 30, 2027 (or November 1 with extension if the storage level is not reached). Furthermore, the EU plans to stop importing Russian oil in 2027, something that confirms the Financial Times and that would complete the partial embargo in force since 2022. Even so, Hungary and Slovakia will continue to receive crude oil from the Druzhba pipelinerecently bombed— while their legal exceptions remain in effect. The political message is clear. The reality, less so. On paper, it is the final slam on Russian gas. Von der Leyen celebrated that the veto will allow “deplete Putin’s war chest”, while Jørgensen proclaimed that “blackmail and manipulation are over.” The political message is clear: Europe wants to show that it no longer depends on Moscow to get through the winter. However, consensus is fragile within the EU. The gas veto is official, but not unanimous. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary published on his social networks which is already preparing an appeal to the Court of Justice of the EU to overturn the ban, while Slovakia asks to extend deadlines and protect its exceptions. The political agreement exists, but the operational unity is fragile: without real coordination between partners, an energy veto can become a simple declarative gesture. The actual reading is less triumphant. According to DWthe Moscow government accused the EU of precipitating “its own economic decline” by forcing the bloc to turn to more expensive alternatives and a global LNG market where already competes with Asia for each shipment. Brussels, aware of oil precedenthas shielded the veto with a much more severe legal framework. As explained by the Financial Timescompanies that try to circumvent the ban will face fines of up to 3.5% of their global turnover, fixed penalties that can reach 40 million euros and a mandatory system of certificates of origin to prevent Russian gas sneaks in disguise in the form of opaque mixtures, triangulations or indirect re-exports. The truth is even more uncomfortable. Europe still need gas to stabilize its electrical grid and cover demand peaks when the wind does not blow or the sun disappears. According to a report by McKinsey & CompanyEurope would need 75% more flexibility before 2030 to function without that fossil support, while global gas consumption will grow by 26% until 2050, just when it should fall by 75% to comply with the Paris Agreement. Added to this is the structural stress of the European gas system. The main Dutch regasification plants—Gate and Eemshaven— operate at 90–100% capacityjust when Europe faces winter with reserves at 83%, the lowest level since 2022. Spain, despite its large regasification capacity, can barely send 7,000–8,500 million m³ per year to France: the bottleneck is in the interconnections. And a cold wave is enough to destabilize prices, as Bloomberg warns. An accelerated roadmap. Brussels insists that this time there is a plan. Each Member State must be submitted before March 2026 a national diversification plan that details how it will replace the 35 billion m³ of Russian gas that was still entering the EU last year: new suppliers, new infrastructure and new LNG routes. On paper it makes sense. In practice, it means rebuilding in two years an energy system that took four decades to build. Meanwhile, Europe is held together by an unexpected lifeline: the United States. According to Bloombergthe continent has endured in recent months thanks to a boom in American LNG, with exports at record levels. This winter Europe “will probably be fine,” but real abundance will not arrive until the second half of 2026. Any unforeseen event—extreme cold, a rebound in Chinese demand, a technical failure—could strain the system again. And meanwhile, China plays another game. Europe looks at its deposits. China dig deeper. The Asian giant increased its domestic gas production by 5.8% in the first half of 2025, has had 20 years of almost uninterrupted growth, reduced its LNG imports by 22% and is moving forward with the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, capable of absorbing 50 billion Russian m³ per year. The consequence is inevitable: if Europe stops buying, Russia you have someone to sell to. The precedent that worries Brussels. Here is the main fear: oil sanctions showed that when Europe closes a door, the market opens a window. As we have told in XatakaAfter the partial embargo, a phantom fleet of oil tankers emerged, European traders moved operations to Dubai, crude oil was mixed to hide its origin, and shell companies appeared in the Emirates that operated outside of European jurisdiction. The result was evident: Russian oil never stopped flowing, it simply changed flag, route and documentation. And that precedent is precisely what they now fear in Brussels: that gas will follow the same logic of opacity, triangulations and parallel markets. Europe promises to turn off Russian gas. On paper, it is a historic decision. By 2027, Europe says there will be no trace of Russian gas left in its energy system. In practice, the road is full of cracks: saturated infrastructure, porous sanctions, hesitant allies, a potentially cold winter and an energy transition that advances … Read more

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