Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Aragón unlocks the construction of new Amazon data centers after months of previous work

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Aragon is one of the renewable batteries from Spain. That ability to generate energy has put it in the sights of Big Tech that want to establish themselves in Europe with a clear objective: create more data centers. The shark here is an Amazon that has been operating in the region for a few years, but for which the panorama has just opened to achieve what it has been pursuing for some time. Turn Aragon into the “Spanish Virginia”. In short. This is not a simple comparison, since the US state is one of those with the largest concentration of data centers in the world. In Aragon we are about to see something similar. Amazon, via AWShas been operating since November 2022 in the region with data centers in Zaragoza and Huesca. However, the fever for data centers is more recent and the American giant has been behind permits for some time to be able to build more. As they point from El Periódico de Aragón, after the authorizations that the project has been obtaining in the last two years, Amazon will be able to start building. This is an operation that, until now, had been limited to preparing the ground, but with the unblocking of the operation carried out this past Monday by the Government Council, Amazon will be able to begin building the facilities. Extension. This falls into the PIGAthe General Interest Plan of Aragon, will not be limited to the data centers planned in Villanueva de Gállego and Huesca. The idea is that AWS occupies about 800 hectares with around thirty data centers, 10 electrical substations and 12 buildings, and it is something that is being developed in parallel to the plan to deploy data centers in Walqa, San Mateo de Gállego and La Puebla de Híjar. Jobs and money. Landing these plans, during this year’s Mobile World Congress, the American giant advertisement that their plan is to invest 33.7 billion euros in Spain (at the MWC they stated that they were going to double their initial investment) to expand their data center infrastructure in Aragon between 2026 and 2035. The total investment will contribute 31.7 billion euros to Spain’s total GDP until 2035 and will be esteem that the employment impact will be 29,900 full-time employees. Focusing on Aragon, this operation is expected to contribute 18.5 billion to the region’s GDP and provide employment to 13,400 people. These employment calculations include those of local companies, direct, indirect and induced. It’s not that Amazon is going to create 30,000 jobs out of nowhere and long lasting. Energy. Here comes one of the most important questions: whether Aragon, no matter how much renewable energy it has, will be able to face the gluttony of data centers. Because these data centers, in different parts of the computing process, need energy spikes that we are already seeing how they are covered in other countries: gas, nuclear and… coal. In fact, just scaling AWS will add more than 10,800 GWh per year, more than all current electricity consumption of the community. There has been a lot of debate about the water consumed by data centers and, although the figure is not negligible, the energy cost is much higher. And that is where there is some confrontation between the local industry and Amazon’s plans, because there are those who they claim that the concentration of electrical consumption of AWS and green hydrogen macroplants will brake the development of more traditional renewables. Reviews. And then there is the rejection on environmental issues. More and more we see that there are municipalities that They don’t want to live next door of data centers and it is noted that one of the giant’s projects will be based on protected land. The speed at which permissions have been given to Amazon is also criticized. And, then, there are other issues such as the studies that are appearing little by little and that highlight both the acoustic and thermal pollution of these data centers. It is something that is being measured in various parts of the world and, precisely, in some Aragonese towns near centers of data an increase has been observed of 2°C in surface temperature. Not just Amazon. AWS is an example of the ambitious plans in the region, but they are not the only ones. The community is consolidating as one of the ‘lungs’ of hyperclimbers in Europeas well as one of the key regions of Spain for the expansion of data centers and European technological sovereignty Images | amazon In Xataka | The great paradox of Madrid: the region with the largest energy deficit in Spain is losing the data centers

The hantavirus was going to reach Europe sooner or later and, as always, it caught us offside

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Well it’s already here. After passing through Cavo Verde, the MV Hondius cruise ship heads to the Granadilla de Abona anchoragein Tenerife. It’s a huge mess (including infected animals, ships isolated for weeks, and very bad luck), but it’s certainly not a surprise. Although europe’s emergency response is working well, no european country had specific protocols, nor own diagnostic capacity for a virus that has been causing problems since 2018 and has been in an ‘active outbreak’ in Argentina since 2025. What is happening. Under the solidity of the emergency response and humanitarian discourses, a clear problem is hidden: European surveillance and its response protocols are calibrated for local hantaviruses, but not for an emerging pathogen from the Southern Cone that has been mutating for years, expanding towards northern Argentina and doubling its historical lethality. And that, in a context like the current one, is unjustified clumsiness. What happens with the virus? In Argentina, the Andes is an old acquaintance. It is about the only hantavirus variant in which “transmission between people has been described, although this phenomenon is rare and usually requires close and prolonged contact.” Therefore, the Ministry of Health comes defending that, whatever happens with the cruise, “the risk for the general population is very low and remember that interpersonal transmission of the Andean hantavirus is extremely rare.” All of this is true and explains, in part, the situation. That is, the little interest that the virus has generated in the public health agencies of the old continent. What happens is that, in addition to being true, it is somewhat partial: the reality is that, despite the difficulties it has in getting infected, the Andes is leaving its Patagonian niche towards more populated areas. In Buenos Aires, 42 cases have been detected this season and A 10-year-old girl died on January 8 in General Belgrano. The clue that something is changing has a much better indicator: the second province with the most cases It is Salta, in the northvery far from the Patagonian region. The other indicator is lethality. Because yes, although we are talking about very few cases, the lethality is also changing. The history varies depending on the year and region, but there was a certain consensus that it was around 20%. In 2025 (partial consolidated data) rose to 33.6% with 28 deaths out of 86 cases. The 2025-2026 season confirms the trend (31.7%) No one is very clear why this is happening; there are theories that speak of an improvement in the notification of cases and others that speak of greater virulence. Data from the largest recent outbreak (that of 2018) do not allow us to opt for any option. Should we be worried? As the Ministry said and all the experts agree, the diagnosis is unequivocal: “the risk for the European population is very low.” Human-to-human transmission is very rare (and requires close and prolonged contact), management appears good, and there are no animal reservoirs for these viruses. What happens is that the Hondius case It is a clear example of something that we have been considering for years: that the ‘era of epidemics’ has not only begun, it is operating at full capacity. All the factors driving the emergence of pandemic diseases have become more robust since COVID: in 2024, global air traffic exceeded 4,890 million passengers108% of the pre-pandemic level; and forest degradation in the tropics has risen 163% between 2022 and 2024. Meanwhile, population density in problem areas continues to grow and climate change continues to expand transmission vectors. If the question is what can we do…the answer is a lot, although almost everything is unsexy. The general feeling is that we have been forgetting all the lessons we learned during the pandemic. Image | Manuel In Xataka | The Andes variant: why at first we all assumed it was zoonosis and now we are talking about contagion between humans

Fitbit Air, features, price and technical sheet

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Fitbit seemed to have remained in the background within the Google ecosystem, almost like a brand that remained there by inertia while the prominence fell to the PixelWatch. Now come back with Fitbit Aira simple and light bracelet, which points just in the opposite direction to that of many smart watches: fewer visible functions, less complications and a more contained price. The paradox is that this return of hardware also comes with a less obvious reading: the brand, loved by many users, is beginning to become increasingly diluted within the search giant. It is not just any release within the Google catalog. The Fitbit Air is Fitbit’s first hardware device in almost four years, so its arrival could be read as a small resurrection for the brand. But the entire movement points in another direction. Google bought Fitbit a few years ago for $2.1 billion and, since then, it has been bringing this technology increasingly closer to its own ecosystem. Now the step is even more visible: Google is already presenting the old Fitbit app under the name Google Health, a step that reveals part of its strategy. Fitbit Air technical sheet Fitbit Air dimensions and weight Length: 34.9mm Width: 17mm height: 8.3mm 5.2g without strap 12g with strap Memory Saves 7 days of detailed minute-by-minute motion data. Save 1 day of training data Save daily totals for the last 30 days Stores heart rate data in 2 second intervals battery and charging Up to 7 days of autonomy Lithium polymer battery Charge from 0 to 100% in 90 minutes connectivity Bluetooth 5.0 sensors Optical heart rate monitor Three-axis accelerometer Red and infrared sensors to monitor oxygen saturation (SpO2) On-device temperature sensor (skin temperature variation available in the Google Health app) vibration motor Endurance Water resistant up to 50 meters. colors Obsidian, mist gray, raspberry, lavender price From 99.99 euros A simple bracelet for a much more ambitious strategy Fitbit Air is quick to understand because it doesn’t try to do everything. It has no screen, it has no buttons and you don’t want to become another device to look at every few minutes. The idea is simpler: you put it on, wear it during the day or at night and let it record activity, sleep and some health metrics without asking you too much attention. We are looking at a product that weighs 12 grams with the strap and 5.2 grams without it, so Google’s promise seems to go in the direction of having more functions in sight as well as wearing something comfortable that almost disappears on the wrist. That simplicity doesn’t mean that the Fitbit Air arrives empty inside. It incorporates an optical heart rate sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer, blood oxygen sensor and skin temperature sensor for sleep monitoring. It also withstands immersion up to 50 meters and promises seven days of battery life on a charge, plus one day of use with five minutes plugged in. Another important detail is that it can work simultaneously with a Pixel Watch. So it doesn’t seem designed for you if you just want to respond to messages, receive notifications, or have a screen full of data on your wrist. That’s what smart watches are already for. But if you are looking for a simple way to measure your activity, your rest and some health signals without getting too complicated, Fitbit Air may be an option to consider. It also fits if you already have a Pixel Watch and prefer to leave the watch for the day, but wear something lighter to sleep or train. The other big change you will not notice on your wrist, but on your mobile. If you used Fitbit as a reference application, as we pointed out above, that space is renamed Google Health. Google’s idea is to bring together health monitoring, wellness data and personalized coaching, all in one place. The change also involves integrating Health Connect, the Android layer designed to organize health data between applications. On paper, it may seem like just a name change, but it says a lot about what’s happening: Fitbit continues to appear on the band, while the daily experience begins to move more and more towards Google. The subscription layer also changes location. Google explains that Fitbit Premium becomes Google Health Premium. This is where the most ambitious features come in, such as the personal health coach integrated with Gemini, plans that adapt to progress, rest and recovery, or the possibility of receiving more personalized information on well-being. Price and availability of Google Fitbit Air in Spain Google Fitbit Air can now be reserved in Spain from 99.99 euros. The device also includes a three-month trial of Google Health Premium for new members, with subsequent automatic renewal for 8.99 euros per month if not canceled. The colors and finishes available are the following: Obsidianwith matte black stainless steel buckle Fog graywith polished silver stainless steel buckle Raspberrywith polished champagne gold stainless steel buckle Lavenderwith polished silver stainless steel buckle Images | Google In Xataka | A Chinese company has created AI glasses without a camera. Their message is very simple: they are not spying on you.

a proposal from Spain after the Grok controversy

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For a long time, much of the conversation about AI has revolved around promises of productivity, creativity and automation. But there are uses that exhibit a much harsher reality: the possibility of generating non-consensual sexual content. It is not a minor detail, because it directly affects the privacy and dignity of the victims. The European Union has decided to respond to that specific point with a ban that already has political agreement. The novelty. We are facing a ban that is integrated into a broader negotiation on the AI ​​Act. The European Parliament explains that its negotiators and those of the Council have reached a provisional agreement to adjust several obligations of the rule, arguing to make it easier to comply without altering its risk-based approach. Within that package appears the piece that changes the game for these apps: the co-legislators have agreed to prohibit systems capable of creating this type of content. The final process, however, still requires formal adoption. The role of Spain. The Spanish Government claims a direct role in the measure. Moncloa maintains that the ban agreed in Brussels comes from a proposal that Spain put on the table in January, after the controversy generated by the nudes of women and minors created with GrokX’s virtual assistant. According to that official version, the initiative achieved the support of the Union in mid-March to be included in the reform of the European Artificial Intelligence Law. Pedro Sánchez has also celebrated the agreement with a direct political message: “No more doing business by violating the dignity of our sons and daughters.” The red line. The text identifies two especially sensitive categories. On the one hand, the systems used to create child sexual abuse material. On the other hand, those that allow the intimate parts of an identifiable person to be represented or shown in sexually explicit activities without consent. The ban, it should be noted, covers images, video and audio. Furthermore, the agreement is not limited to systems designed to generate this material: it also covers those who put them on the European market without reasonable measures to prevent it and those responsible for their deployment who use them for that purpose. The key date. The ban already has a calendar on the table, and that changes the reading of the matter quite a bit. The official note sets December 2, 2026 as the deadline for companies to adapt their systems to the new rule. Before getting there there is an important formal step: the provisional agreement must be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council to enter European legislation. Even so, the path is marked, because they aim to close this procedure before August 2, 2026. The fines. In the official statement we have not found reference to sanctions. However, the Irish law firm Matheson pointed out in April that both the Council and Parliament defended incorporating this practice into article 5 of the AI ​​Act, the section reserved for prohibited practices. This requirement is relevant because, in the AI ​​Act, article 99 provides for non-compliance with these prohibitions with administrative fines of up to 35 million euros or up to 7% of the company’s annual global turnover, if that amount is higher. For SMEs, a more limited criterion is contemplated. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | How to request to delete photos in which you have been naked sexualized with artificial intelligence

The new trailer for ‘GTA VI’ will be out on May 14 at 11:00. The science of astrology says so

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Esperanza Gracia already said it: if Mercury is retrograde, we have to wonder when the third trailer for ‘GTA VI‘. The stars carry millennia guiding humanity, but they also serve something equally important as trying to guess when we’ll see the next Rockstar release. Those responsible for it affirm that the marketing campaign will begin very soon, but a Reddit user tells us about the future: the new trailer for ‘GTA VI’ will arrive next May 14 at 11:00. The most curious thing is that it is not about another leakbut something much more mathematical because the user has been studying the universe for three months and drawing a line that relates the planetary positions for each launch trailer of a Rockstar game since 2007. And just for their effort, Rockstar should give them a treat. ‘GTA VI’ and Pluto Sagittarius The first trailer for ‘GTA VI’ arrived on December 4, 2023 and the second just a year agoon May 6. Rockstar is taking it easy and it is no wonder. Between the ambition and the state of the industry, it seems that the universe has put it on the shoulders of the developer to once again demonstrate what a great blockbuster is that arrives polished from day one. This “universe” thing can be literal. On Reddit (where else), user JalapenoPoppers24 has hanging an extensive message in which, accompanied by graphics, it demonstrates why on May 14 we will have the final trailer for ‘GTA VI’. “Final trailer” refers to the last big trailer before the game’s release (set a year ago for this May 26 before delayed again until November 19), regardless of whether they later publish other videos explaining mechanics and details like that. Science He claims to have spent three months working on this and I could paraphrase, but it seems to me to be one of those dementias that no longer exists and I think that the message must be transmitted exactly as Jalapeno devised it. Here it goes: “I got the exact UTC timestamp of all 26 confirmed Rockstar reveal events from GTA IV onwards (every trailer, every gameplay video, every launch trailer) and analyzed the geocentric ecliptic longitudes of the 9 classic bodies in each release. The spreadsheet got pretty out of hand. Pluto was in Sagittarius in 24 of the 26 posts. Neptune has been in Pisces for 19 of them. The Sun was in Libra, Scorpio or Taurus 58% of the time, when chance would dictate 25%. The Mercury-Sun conjunction (within 8°) appeared in 8 of the 26 posts, which is a third of the sample for a configuration that occurs about 11% of the time in any given year. The graphics are attached. The methodology is in the comments in case anyone wants to verify it. Unappealable The most interesting pattern of the outer planets is the collapse of the Saturn-Pluto separation. From the first RDR2 trailer in 2016 to the RDR2 PC launch trailer in 2019, each release occurred with Saturn and Pluto less than 24° apart, and most less than 15° apart, leading up to the exact Saturn-Pluto conjunction in January 2020. They were running their entire marketing campaign within that aspect. For GTA 6, both Trailer 1 (December 2023) and Trailer 2 (May 2025) were released with Saturn in Pisces and Mars-Saturn in a closed square. The current position of Saturn (Aries, in transition) and the upcoming Sun-Mercury conjunction in mid-Taurus dramatically reduce the window of the next astrological ‘signature’. I graded each day from May 1 to August 31, 2026 based on Rockstar’s historical footprint (Sun sign weight, Mercury sign weight, Saturn sign weight, Sun-Mercury conjunction, Mars-Saturn square, Thursday bonus). The highest scoring date in the entire 123-day window is Thursday, May 14, 2026, with 12 out of 16 points. Sun in Taurus at 23°, Mercury conjunct Sun at 4°, Saturn in Aries, Venus in Leo, Thursday (the 12th of the 26 historical posts). It’s also exactly one week and one day after the anniversary of GTA 6 Trailer 2, AND falls on the same calendar day (the 14th) as GTA V Trailer 2, which Rockstar postponed from November 2 to November 14 in 2012. The 14th is no coincidence. I’ll put a reminder on the calendar. If Trailer 3 comes out on May 14 at 11:00 AM EDT, I want to be remembered.” For all this, Jalapeno has used the NASA JPL Horizons API, but also other sources to draw much more precisely the line that has reached think know when the trailer will be released. Because There is no speculation here, there is science and the same user points out that the margin of error was 30 minutes, but that he managed to refine it to know, exactly, that it will come out at 11 EDT (North American Eastern Time) I confess something: I got lost since the Sun was in Libra, Scorpio or Taurus 58% of the time. I know how to analyze mobile phones, I know advanced lithography, but I leave astrology to the professionals. It’s only clear to me that the 14th is not a coincidence and that I already know that I have to put on the tuxedo to receive the new video. Yes it is very clear I admit that I had a good time writing this, but beyond the joke (no joke, what a great job by JalapenoPoppers24), it is evident that Take-Two and Rockstar They are fine-tuning the machinery facing a marketing campaign that aims to be one of the most brutal we have seen in the industry. The development budget for this installment is unknown, but everything indicates that it will shatter all records and, as I say, sooner rather than later we will have news. A few days ago, Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, pointed out that the marketing campaign will begin “soon” and… it makes some sense that the new trailer will be released before May 21. It will be that day when Zelnick … Read more

the best Danish thriller in a highly anticipated T2

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In September 2021, a six-episode Danish miniseries about a murderer who left dolls at crime scenes, ‘The Hartung Affair’, became one of the most watched titles on Netflix in 82 countries, with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. Five years later, its creators they bring her back in ‘The Holst case’with a different killer and a new investigation system. Søren Sveistrup, author of the novel that inspired the first series, took six years to write the second, and hence the delay in arriving this new season. Sveistrup is the creator of ‘The Killing’, the Danish series that won a BAFTA between 2007 and 2012 and was readapted in the United States. And on this occasion he has decided to bring back the protagonists of the first season. That is, detective Naia Thulin and Europol investigator Mark Hess return, meeting when a 41-year-old woman disappears. When the police piece together your digital trail, They discover that she had been systematically harassed for months. The perpetrator sent her photos, videos and an audio file containing a seemingly innocent children’s countdown song. When she is found murdered, detectives establish that the case is connected to the unsolved homicide of a 17-year-old student two years earlier. This time we will see how a more traditional type of investigation (investigations based on objects abandoned at the scene of the crime) is transformed into a completely contemporary trace: that of the victim’s fingerprint. The detectives will review his emails, his telephone records, the files sent by the stalker, investigating a life that they will have to reconstruct from intangible data. In Xataka | Today on Netflix the series that, nine years after its premiere, remains the best thriller ever seen on streaming

Jeff Bezos’ superyacht is one of the largest and most expensive in the world. Now it is for sale for a curious reason: parking

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At more than 127 meters in length, Jeff Bezos’ superyacht is one of the largest in the world. In fact, it is so big that even caused some problems to its Dutch builder when he was trying to take it out to sea from the shipyards. The ship was so large that it did not pass under a bridge, over which it was even considered disassembling it. It was just the first of the problems that Jeff Bezos was going to have with the size of his ship. According to advanced Page Sixnow the millionaire would be considering putting the Koru up for sale. The reason has nothing to do with the price or its maintenance. The problem is that the boat is so big that it doesn’t fit almost anywhere, and wherever it manages to get in, everyone instantly recognizes it. A huge boat with a price to match. The Koru is a three-masted schooner more than 70 meters high. built by the Dutch shipyard Oceanco and delivered to Bezos in April 2023. At 127 meters in length, it was for a time the second largest sailboat in the world and is currently among the largest in its category. In fact, it is so big that when it approaches Miami, Jeff Bezos’ usual place of residence since his move in 2025, the luxury sailboat must moor. along with large cargo ships and oil tankers because it doesn’t fit in the nearby marinas. Its construction cost around 500 million dollars and is accompanied by a support ship called Abeona, valued at another 75 million dollars. According to calculations of Robb Reportkeeping both vessels in operation costs about $30 million a year. Practically pocket change for someone who could spend a million dollars a day and still it would take more than 548 years in ruining. The problem: parking. According to a source close to the millionaire consulted by Page SixBezos considers that the yacht has become “too big to manage.” But it’s not just about the size: the Koru has become so popular thanks to its owner, that it is impossible to maintain privacy where it anchors. Hide a sailboat the size of a ten-story building off the coast it is not a simple task. One of the drawbacks of the Koru’s size is that, for example, the millionaire could not even get close to it. the marina of Monte Carlo during the last Monaco Grand Prix, a sporting event in which millionaires watch the cars pass by without even getting off their yacht. The Koru, on the other hand, had to settle for remaining anchored far from the moorings and use a small boat to get to land due to its enormous proportions. Something similar happened during the celebrations prior to the Jeff Bezos’s wedding and Lauren Sánchez in Venice, where the Koru had to remain anchored in the middle of the Venetian lagoon because it didn’t fit at the moorings near Venice. A sale without an official price and many unknowns. At the moment the sale has not been confirmed by any intermediary or by the founder of Amazon himself, and it is also not clear if the Abeona support ship will be part of the sale agreement. What does seem certain is that Jeff Bezos could be tired of all the inconveniences involved in operating a boat of that size, and would be considering buying a somewhat more discreet and manageable superyachtwhich does not cause so many “parking” problems. In Xataka | We already knew that superyachts were floating mansions: Roman Abramovich’s is a fortress with an anti-missile shield Image | Oceanco, Smithsonian

In 2020, the Government quarantined millions of people. The question is whether he will be able to do it with the 14 Spaniards of the MV Hondius

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If Spain learned anything during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that when it comes to dealing with crises related to diseases, the borders between health, politics and law become blurred. With the hantavirus outbreak detected aboard the MV Hondius something similar happens. As the ship moves towards the Canary Islands, what began as a health alert turns into something more: reason for political dispute and a legal debate on how to treat the 14 Spaniards (asymptomatic) who travel on the ship. In the background there is a key question: What to do if the time comes, one of them refuses to undergo a quarantine? One word: hantavirus. Until a few days ago, the vast majority of Spaniards (Europeans, in general) did not know what hantavirus. And it’s normal. As remember According to the Ministry of Health, infections due to this virus are usually generated by contact with excrement or saliva of sick rodents and are “relatively uncommon worldwide.” In 2025 in America ‘only’ 229 cases in eight countries. The number of deaths rose to 59 due to the so-called “hantavirus pulmonary syndrome” (HPS). A bumpy ride. Things changed a few days ago, when the outbreak of a serious respiratory illness was reported on board the MV Hondius, a passenger ship that sailed on April 1 from Ushuaia (Argentina) to make a voyage through the South Atlantic with stops at points such as Nightingale Island, Santa Elena or Ascension Island, heading to Cape Verde. Just a few days after starting the voyage, one of the passengers, a Dutch septuagenarian, began to feel fever, diarrhea and headache. His health worsened alarmingly until he died after five days. The body remained on board the ship until April 24, when it disembarked in Saint Helena for repatriation. His wife, also Dutch and 69 years old, did it with him, who after showing similar symptoms ended up dying in a hospital in South Africa. A PCR confirmed the cause: hantavirus infection. Since then other passengers have shown similar discomfort. At the moment the outbreak has left, as far as is known, three deceased and at least another half dozen infected. On Sunday the ship arrived in Cape Verde, which “public safety”refused to moor in the capital. Next stop: Canary Islands. Now the ship continues its voyage towards where it was your final destination: Canary Islands. the ship sailed yesterday of Cape Verde after two key news events occurred. The first came around noon, when Tedros Ahdhanom, director general of the WHO, confirmed via X that the authorities had evacuated the three patients from the ship suspected of suffering from the disease. Their destination is Holland, where they will receive medical assistance. The second arrived from La Moncloawhich has confirmed Spain’s willingness to “meet the WHO’s request” to host the liner in the Canary Islands “once the evacuation of all symptomatic people is completed.” The Dutch shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions, responsible for the MV Hondius, assures that keeps monitored the situation on board the ship and in its last part, published this morning, it guarantees that “there are no people with symptoms on board.” And the controversy broke out. The announcement that the ship is sailing towards the Canary Islands, where it will probably arrive on sundaygenerated considerable debate. Moncloa’s initial plans called for the ship to arrive at the port of Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife, where the workers soon arrived. threaten a blockade of the terminal. The reason? The staff denounced the lack of information and clear protocols on how they should act in the face of the viral outbreak. In the archipelago he also jumped the debate on whether the region has legal (or at least political) margin to reject the scale. With that backdrop, Health has confirmed today to the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijo, that the MV Hondius will not dock, “it will only anchor” so that passengers can evacuate with the help of boats. The idea is that they will be transferred to the airport, from where they will be repatriated to their respective countries. When the ship left Patagonia it had some 147 travelers of 23 nationalities. Who travels on board? That’s the key. The idea is that, once in the Canary Islands, the passengers are repatriated to their countries; but there are 14 who will not need that operation. The reason? They are Spanish. Specifically, there are 13 passengers and a crew member of Spanish nationality on board the MV Hondius who have opened another debate just as interesting. Once on land the plan goes through transport them on a plane military to the Torrejón de Ardoz air base and, from there, to the Gómez Ulla Defense Hospital. The idea is that they spend a quarantine period in individual rooms. How much exactly? Today it is difficult to know. It is known that the incubation period of the virus is around 45 days, but the question remains as to what day it should start counting. The outbreak probably arose between the 6th and the 28th. “They will remain cared for and will remain in quarantine for as long as the clinical protocols require,” guaranteed on Wednesday the Minister of Health, Mónica García. His department insists that, even if some of the Spanish passengers presented symptoms or had to attend to other patients, the risk for the population “it is considered very low”. The big question. The question that flies over In recent days the ministries of Health and Defense have been… What would happen if any of those 14 Spaniards are reluctant to undergo quarantine? Could they refuse? And in that case, would the State have tools to demand that period of controlled isolation from them, something reminiscent of what happened during the State of alarm of COVID-19? It is not a whimsical question if one takes into account that the Government already has recognized that the will of the patients will be key. In fact Mónica García has appealed directly to “common sense and responsibility” of Spanish … Read more

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.

by

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

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