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when Istanbul moved 45,000 tons from its old airport in less than 45 hours

April 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Modern aviation is not only measured in knots or altitudes, but also in the ability of airports to process huge flows of people or cargo on a continuous basis. But there is an unwanted scenario that could occur: that the airport is not enough. When it collapses, it dies of success and serious logistical measures have to be taken. This is what happened in Istanbul: the need to expand the old Atatürk airport encountered an insurmountable barrier in the form of urban geography. For great evils, great remedies: they had to move the entire airport while international aviation and the country’s logistics continued their course. The event is known as “The Great Move“and constitutes the largest move in civil aviation. In less than 45 hours the center of gravity of air transport in the region moved 42 kilometers north, to the new Istanbul Airport (IST), with all that this entails. The move. In aviation, this operational transfer program is known as ORAT (Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer) and it goes without saying that this move was not spontaneous, but rather the opposite: it took two years of meticulous preparation in which they trained 33,000 airport staff and carried out two large-scale drills to detect potential problems. It all started immediately after the opening of the new airport in October 2018 and the final phase (that move), was executed in a continuous 45-hour window between April 5 and 6, 2019 to move more than 10,000 pieces of equipment with a total weight of 47,300 tons. In fact, it was even better: they did it in much less time. Why is it important. If a move has its ins and outs per se, for an airport the problems and the need to execute it without errors multiply as long as it is a living infrastructure with interdependent systems such as fuel, air traffic control, security, IT, passengers and luggage. Disconnecting, transporting and reconnecting everything without collapsing the air traffic of one of the busiest cities in the world is a high-flying engineering challenge. “The Great Move” showed that a world-class hub is possible without a prolonged dual transition, minimizing the operational risk of managing two airports simultaneously. Finally, the movement consolidated Istanbul as a great connection point between Europe and Asia, rivaling others in the Middle East such as Doha or Dubai. Without this move, Turkish Airlines’ growth would likely have been stagnant due to the physical limitations of the old airport. Context. In 2017, Atatürk Airport was the fifth busiest in Europe, behind Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Without going any further, in 2018 served to almost 70 million passengers, making it the tenth busiest on the planet. But it was limited: it was surrounded by the city on three sides and by the Sea of Marmara on the fourth, so expansion was physically impossible. The secondary airport of Sabiha Gökçen It had also reached its maximum capacity. The lack of space was so critical that it prevented the Airbus A380 from operating, making Atatürk the only major airport in Europe and the Middle East unable to receive such aircraft. So in 2013 they made the decision. The flight that brought down the curtain on Atatürk was Turkish Airlines TK54: it took off on April 6, 2019 at 02:44 to Singapore. In figures. Although there are slight variations in sources directly involved such as Turkish Airlines or the documentary he recorded of the process by the airport operator with the collaboration of National Geographic, are minor and do not detract from the colossal nature of the operation: A planned duration of 45 hours (which they reduced to 33 according to the IGA and less than 30 according to Turkish Airlines) More than 10,000 pieces of equipment moved between airports, with a total weight of 47,300 tons. Equivalent to 33 football fields. 686 semi-trailers used for transportation, according to the CEO of Turkish Airlines. 1,800 people were directly involved in the process. They estimated the distance traveled by the trucks in 45 hours to be 400,000 kilometers, that is, going around the Earth about 10 times. How they did it. It took two years of meticulous preparation in which they trained 33,000 airport staff and conducted two large-scale drills to detect potential problems. Planning required more than 100 meetings and workshops and there were three logistics companies involved. For execution, they developed a logistical transfer plan with details of the movement of each vehicle in 15-minute windows. The route was established through a corridor between the two airports, using the new highway connection between both facilities and each vehicle was checked twice: once at the departure gate and once in a separate control area. The whole process was monitored in real time with GPRS to detect any incident. At 02:59 on April 6, 2019, the IATA code changes were made: Atatürk’s IST code was renamed ISL and the new airport inherited it. Between 02:00 and 14:00 that day, both airports were closed to commercial flights, a 12-hour period that constituted the critical core of the entire operation. The new airport. Istanbul Airport had an estimated budget of 22 billion euros, becoming at that time the second most expensive airport ever built, as told Reuters. Designed with a single terminal under a single roof of 1.4 million square meters, initially allowing 90 million passengers annually. The master plan contemplates expansions up to 200 million, with independent runways that allow simultaneous landings and takeoffs, eliminating waiting in the air. In 2025, the airport rondo 85 million passengers, making it the second busiest in Europe after Heathrow and the seventh in the world. In Xataka | The unfinished dream of the Roman Empire: a 125-kilometer train to link Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus In Xataka | One of the largest and strangest airports in the world is not going to be in Dubai or the UAE: it is going to be in Ethiopia Cover | Ercan Karakaş and Kulttuurinavigaattori

The best offers on technology and entertainment from MediaMarkt, today April 19

April 19, 2026 by usatoday24

MediaMarkt is currently celebrating a couple of campaigns with a large number of offers: Saving April and Climate Special. Both are available throughout the weekend and there is plenty to choose from, so let’s go over the five best deals we have found. Kindle Paperwhite by 129 euros when registering in the store, ideal if you are looking to read in black and white and want a good seven-inch screen. nintendo switch 2 by 479 euros By selecting the pack below in the store, it includes both the console and ‘Mario Kart World’ and a keychain. Google Pixel 10 by 599 eurosan excellent high-end mobile phone that is ideal if you are looking for a good quality-price ratio and a mobile phone with a good photography section. Pocketbook Verse Pro by 99 eurosa perfect eReader for those who want to turn pages by pressing buttons and not just with the touch screen. Philips Amigo by 99 eurosa ceiling fan that incorporates an LED light. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Paperwhite One of MediaMarkt’s best offers has fallen into the Kindle Paperwhitethe model with the best quality-price ratio on Amazon, especially now that it costs 129 euros as long as we log in to the store (otherwise the discount does not appear). This eReader stands out mainly for its format, since it has narrower frames than what we usually find in this type of device, Its screen is seven inchesit is light enough so that it can be used with one hand and its battery is one of the largest on Kindle, since according to Amazon it offers a battery life of up to 12 weeks. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links nintendo switch 2 Right now you can buy the nintendo switch 2 at its official price, but in MediaMarkt, just below there is a pack that, for 10 euros more (479 euros in total), you can take the console along with the ‘Mario Kart World’ and a keychain. The interesting thing is that the official pack that includes the console and the game is no longer available in the store, so it is a good way to buy both things taking advantage of a good discount. Furthermore, unlike the official pack, this other pack that MediaMarkt has put together includes the video game in physical format. Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World (physical format) + keychain The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 There are many discounts that we have seen in the Google Pixel 10 since its launch, and today we can find one of the best offers that MediaMarkt has launched. By 599 euroswe have this Pixel 10 that stands out above all for its 6.3 inch sizefor its excellent performance and because it has a very interesting photography section. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pocketbook Verse Pro Many eReaders, especially brands like Kindle or Kobo, only allow you to turn pages through the touch screen. If you also want a very practical button panel so you can do it comfortably and without dirtying the screen so much, the Pocketbook Verse Pro Right now it is one of the best purchasing options. Because? Basically because MediaMarkt has it for 99 euros instead of 156 euros. The Pocketbook Verse Pro is an eReader that incorporates a six inch screen. At the bottom it includes a series of buttons that allow, among other things, to turn the pages or move through the menus. It is also a fairly compact and lightweight model, so you can take it wherever you want and use it with just one hand. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Philips Amigo Now that the weather is starting to get nice, it is a good time to buy a ceiling fan and thus get ahead of the summer heat. MediaMarkt right now has on offer the Philips Amigo by 99 eurosa model that includes LED light, has a function for summer and another for winter and includes a remote control to control the speed, light or operating modes. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Image | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Amazon, Nintendo, Google, Pocketbook, Philips In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2026), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best ceiling fans. Recommendations to get it right and five models from 80 euros

invent the remote control before television

April 19, 2026 by usatoday24

Televisions change, technologies change, but there are interactions that last despite the passage of years, decades and even centuries. An example of this is the remote controller, which has historically allowed us to interact with devices from a distance, although what we currently know is very different from the first concept of remote control. Although televisions did not become more common in the last decades of the 20th century, the concept of the remote controller appeared much earlier. Specifically, in 1901. And a fact that you may not know is that one of the pioneers of the remote control was a Spaniard, the engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo. The controller anticipated the televisions The history of the remote control dates back, as we said, to the first years of the last century. In 1903, the inventor, mathematician and engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1852-1936) conceived, built and patented the first remote control in history. He called it Telekino, and as one might think It is far from the controls for televisions and other devices we see now. Miniaturization was not a reality until much later and the Telekino took up an entire table. Telekino in Abra. Image: Torresquevedo.org Of course, the Telekino was not created with the idea of controlling televisions remotely, which in reality did not become a reality almost until the incorporation of the cathode ray tube (with the push from Telefunken and other manufacturers). The idea was to control airships without anyone being in danger in the tests, but finally he tried it with boats as they recalled in the written edition of The Country in 2007, when the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) recognized the invention by including it in its official list of milestones in the history of engineering. It was the first time that a Spanish creation became part of this list, in which we find inventions by Benjamin Franklin, Alessandro Volta and Guglielmo Marconi among others. Telekino, as you may have deduced, comes from TV (from ancient Greek, “far”, meaning “at a distance”, “remotely”) and kinein (also from the Greek, “movement”), by the way. IEEE Recognition Plaque. Image: YouTube We already talked about Telekino in Xataka precisely because of this historical recognition, also to remember that at the time it was not highly praised. In fact, Torres Quevedo himself would abandon the project as he did not receive sufficient support. The valuable legacy of Torres Quevedo One of the prototypes of the Telekino is located in the Torres-Quevedo Museum, in the Higher Technical School of Civil, Canal and Port Engineers of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. And thanks to a short (virtual) visit to that museum for the centenary of one of the Spanish engineer’s inventions we can discover more of them, also very relevant. Torres Quevedo is credited with nothing more and nothing less than the first Spanish airship, as well as the first ferry suitable for transporting people (or in other words, an open cable car for people). The invention was patented in 1887, and it would not be until 30 years later when it materialized, being launched on Mount Ulía in San Sebastián in 1907. Compensation also came in the form of international export, since the system reached neither more nor less than to Niagara Falls. Thus, the call Spanish Aerocar It continues to operate today in the well-known region and celebrated its centenary in 2016, having completed more than 10 million transports without recording incidents. Torres Quevedo was also a precursor of modern computing with his Ajedrecista, considered the first chess computer game, and the electromechanical arithmometer, a calculator accompanied by a typewriter, a precursor to digital calculators. In Xataka | In 1925, procrastination was already a problem and someone found the definitive solution: the isolation helmet. In Xataka | We have been fascinated for years by the geniuses who come up with revolutionary innovations out of thin air. It’s always been smoke This article was originally published on Xataka a few years ago, and we have recovered it from the archive.

Gijón is already studying to install it

April 19, 2026 by usatoday24

In a matter of a few years, electric scooters They have ended up becoming an everyday element of the urban landscape in Spain. The problem is that road signs and regulations around this new type of mobility have taken longer to catch up. Since last year they have had their own signage, and town councils are already beginning to use it. What is happening in Gijón. Just like share the media El Comercio, the Gijón City Council has requested signs of the R-118 model to install them in different parts of the city. This was announced in the municipal plenary session by the Councilor for Traffic, Mobility and Public Transport, Pelayo Barcia. The sign, which prohibits access to personal mobility vehicles (VMP, which includes electric scooters, hoverboards and similar), does not yet have a definitive location. And the City Council has a pending meeting with the Traffic and Citizen Security service to decide on which specific streets it will be installed. The debate on the prohibition of this type of vehicles on certain streets came after an initiative by Vox to create a specific municipal ordinance for these vehicles, a proposal that was rejected. The councilor considered that there is already sufficient regulation: VMPs cannot circulate on sidewalks, they only allow one occupant, they must stop at a pedestrian crossing, and their maximum speed is 25 km/h. Chaff pointed out Furthermore, since January an internal instruction from the Local Police has been in force to act on these vehicles, and that the municipality has acquired a dynamometer to detect scooters manipulated to exceed that limit. In the first quarter, nearly 200 complaints have already been filed since it came into force mandatory insurance. Why does this signal exist and when did it arrive? The R-118 has been in the making for years. Since 2022, the DGT had been announcing the need to update the signage catalogwhich had not undergone substantial changes since 2003. The specific signal for VMP was one of the novelties that appeared in the drafts, although for years its entry into force was delayed due to the lack of legal support. And without modification of the General Traffic Regulations, there was no possible signal. The change came in June 2025. Royal Decree 465/2025published in the BOE on June 17, updated road signage and incorporated new signs, including a specific prohibition on electric scooters. The sign came into force on July 1 of last year, with the obligation to remove the repealed signs before July 1, 2026. It was the first major reform of the sign catalog in more than two decades. What exactly is R-118 and what does it prohibit. Visually, the R-118 follows the classic logic of prohibition signs: a circle with a red border and the silhouette of an electric scooter in the center, allowing its meaning to be understood at a glance. Although it is not only specific to scooters: it basically affects all personal mobility vehicles with motor propulsion. It can normally be found, for example, at the entrance to secondary roads or high-speed roads such as highways and highways, but also (as in the case of Gijón) in urban streets where the presence of these vehicles generates conflicts with pedestrians or other users. Failure to comply can have consequences, as skipping the sign carries a fine of 200 euros. Decision of the municipalities. The placement of these signs corresponds to each municipality, so their implementation will be progressive and adapted to the needs of each city. There is no nationwide deployment, so it is not unusual for there to be cities that have not incorporated it into their streets. Each council decides when and where to install them depending on the traffic in their area. Although the signal has existed legally for almost a year, there really aren’t too many cities that have used it yet. However, there are some municipalities, including Gijón, that have already begun to act. VMP park growth. This type of vehicle has grown brutally in Spain: from half a million units in 2020 to more than five million currently. This rapid growth has generated tensions that cities have no longer been able to ignore, including conflicts with pedestrians on sidewalks, accidents, scooters abandoned in the middle of the streets, and a general perception that these vehicles circulated without clear rules. Regulation has come in layers: first state regulations, then municipal ordinances, and now specific signage. In Barcelona, for example, from February 1, 2025 it is mandatory to wear a helmet and driving on sidewalks is prohibited. Madrid has been imposing progressive restrictions, including the ban on scooter rental services after repeated non-compliance. Each city is building its own framework, within the limits set by the State. What is still missing. The R-118 signal solves part of the problem (knowing where these vehicles cannot circulate) but there are important drawbacks. The councilor of Gijón pointed out that measures such as the mandatory use of helmets at the national level “are subject to a state regulatory development that has not yet occurred”, and the municipalities that have gone ahead on their own see that the fines end up being successfully appealed. The issue of homologation is also pending, since models sold before the new regulations have until 2027 to adapt or stop circulating. Cover image | Belinda Fewings and assembly with Gemini generated by AI In Xataka | If you think that the DGT is issuing more fines than in its entire history, the data proves you right

the map that divides Spain in two through its two large hydrographic basins

April 19, 2026 by usatoday24

This curious map that divides the Spanish state into blue and red could represent political or administrative borders, but the partition is much more curious and striking: it shows the final destination of each drop of rain that falls in Spain. Each line you see is one of the many rivers that run through this part of the Iberian Peninsula and its color reveals where it will end: in the Mediterranean Sea or in the Atlantic Ocean. The result is one of the most beautiful and revealing hydrological portraits of the Iberian Peninsula. Based on data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, the cartographer and GIS consultant Joe Davies has put together This map of watersheds that reveals the invisible spine that runs through the state, the continental watershed. The result is surprising to say the least. In addition to the colors, the route is more or less marked depending on the flow of the river, thus revealing which rivers are the largest. That invisible line slides approximately through the Iberian System and the Pyrenean foothills, dividing the territory into two water worlds. There are several things that draw attention to the image: the first thing is the proportion. The Atlantic takes up about two thirds of the territory. But also that although Spain “looks” towards the Mediterranean, its rivers flow mostly to the west. There is a geological reason that explains it: the Central Plateau It tilts slightly towards the Atlantic, a legacy of the Hercynian tectonics that shaped the Iberian base 300 million years ago. The curious layout of the continental watershed in Spain He Ebro river is the great traitor: Born in Cantabria, just 20 kilometers from the Cantabrian Sea. By geographical logic one would expect it to be Atlantic, but no: its entire large basin is painted the color of the Mediterranean, where it empties after traveling almost a thousand kilometers. The Pyrenees functioned as a barrier and the Iberian and Catalan Systems as a funnel, so the river was forced to flow westwards. A striking example of how the orography is capable of hijacking a river and taking it to another sea different from the one where it would belong. Another river that constitutes a curious case is the Segura: it originates in the Sierra de Segura in Jaen, more than 300 kilometers from the sea. Afterwards, it travels an enormous distance to empty into Alicante with a low flow, something that can be seen in comparison with neighboring Gualquivir. The explanation lies in the extreme aridity of its basin and the intense agricultural pressure. Where does each drop of rain that falls in Spain go. Joe Davies with data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge As one might expect, Galicia is very red on Davies’ map: it is a truly dense tangle that contrasts with the rest, especially if we move away from the Cantabrian coast. Galicia receive between 1,500 and 2,000 mm of annual precipitation, on a substrate of practically impermeable granites and slates, so the water does not filter, it drains. The result is that density of rivers and streams, all Atlantic, short and mighty. It is the region that best illustrates the direct relationship between geology, climate and river network. If the map were of all of Europe, Galicia would still stand out. The map also gives us unthinkable colorslike Pamplona being colored in Blue despite being a northern city extremely close to the Cantabrian Sea: its waters go to the Mediterranean through the Ebro and its tributaries. Madrid is red: the Manzanares-Jarama-Tajo takes it to the Atlantic. It has the continental divide very close, less than 80 kilometers away. On either side of that barrier, the water that falls in the same downpour ends up in seas separated by thousands of kilometers. 3D version with inverted colors. Joe Davies with data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge In Xataka | The definitive tool for a historic year of astronomy in Spain: the light pollution map In Xataka | Much more than tourism, cars and oil: the entire industry that Spain exports to the world, gathered in one graph Cover | Joe Davies

In 1957, Walt Disney was concerned that his cartoons lacked depth. So he invented the multiplane camera

April 19, 2026 by usatoday24

In 1957 Walt Disney was fed up with his animated films being so flat. He needed to make his characters go from 2D to 3D, and he and his engineers created something prodigious: the multiplane camera. The system. Its operation went beyond traditional method of animated film productionand divided each frame into several planes so that landscapes and characters gave the sensation of being represented in three dimensions. The result, as you can see in this video, is amazing. Walt Disney himself explained in a masterful way how an invention worked that solved a fundamental problem: cartoons had no depth, and they needed to evolve to have it. The difficulty. That was not easy in the 50s, of course. Today’s technology has made 3D movies almost child’s play for an industry that embraced them as the next big revolution and then killed them. defenestration of these contents almost in its entirety. The animation process they followed at Disney made it completely handmade, and each second of animation involved enormous work that required each of the 24 frames to be photographed (the number varied depending on the formats) manually with cameras that would then produce those frames to join them into the final footage. Solving. The problem was that this made it almost impossible to add that depth effect: if you zoomed in on a landscape, everything increased at the same time wherever you were. That was unreal, and for example it caused the moon to increase in size in a night landscape scene at the same time and in the same proportion as a tree close to the viewer’s position. In order to correct this and other problems and produce those 3D frames, Disney and its engineers came up with the idea of creating a multiplane camera that was used in certain scenes by dividing the planes of the scene. In the case of zoom, some shots approached faster than others, which gave this global zoom an amazing realism for the time. and the solution. The same thing happened when this technique was used when creating characters for these films that suddenly gained that depth that made them able to rotate, move forward or backward in the shot and all of this was reflected in the perspective. In the first video it is Mickey who demonstrates it, but this second video with Bambi as the protagonist also reveals the wonderful operation of a simply brilliant technique. In Xataka | The new sequel to ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ exists, but it is not from Disney: this is how the legal ecosystem of fan films works In Xataka | There is an open dispute over the meaning of “the stork” from ‘The Lion King’. One worth 27 million dollars

Science has managed to turn off the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. It has also opened the great ethical debate on gene editing

April 18, 2026 by usatoday24

In the complex genetic map that surrounds the known down syndromethe problem is not that there is a lack of information in our cells, but that there is an excess. The presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 It unbalances the entire cellular system that ends up generating an entire clinic that today did not have any type of cure. But thanks to clinical advances and revolutionary gene therapies, we have found a way to turn off this gene that is extra in the cells of people with Down. A natural switch. To understand this advance, we must look at how nature itself resolves its own genetic imbalances. And, for those who do not know, in human beings sex is determined by two types of chromosomes: X and Y. If you are a woman, you will have XX chromosomes, and if you are a man, you will have XY. The problem, boiling it down to its most basic, is that always one of the ‘X’ genes must be silenced so that the genetic load is compensated in humans. And this is something that is done thanks to the gene XIST which encodes an RNA molecule that covers the chromosome and alters its chromatin, silencing de facto their genes. Something that has been developed by nature itself in order to maintain the species, and then the question is obligatory: why not use this natural switch to silence the chromosomes that generate diseases as important as Down syndrome? It’s not something new. The idea of using this “switch” to be able to alter the gene expression of the chromosomes that we have in excess is not new, since in 2013 the researcher Jeanne Lawrence demonstrated for the first time that this RNA could induce the silencing of the extra chromosome 21 in human cells that were in culture in a laboratory. Later, in 2020, it was applied to neural stem cells, but the historical problem has always been the same: the very low efficiency when integrating this gene into the affected cells.. A new milestone. This has changed radically, as a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston has published a new article in PNAS with a solution to eradicate this bottleneck thanks to the tool CRISPR/Cas9. This system can be visualized as simple scissors that specifically cut into our DNA to eliminate something that was left over or altered. The problem is that it was not very efficient at integrating new genetic material, and to overcome this, scientists have developed a modified version of CRISPR/Cas9 that boosts the success rate of the integration of the XIST gene which will silence the third chromosome 21. Good results. Here we recognize how XIST has been integrated into 20-40% of cell lines that have trisomy 21. Furthermore, the method reliably affects only the extra copy of chromosome 21 without silencing other genes that can cause other diseases. There are problems. Despite the enthusiasm, the technique is far from being applied in humans, since one of the biggest challenges of CRISPR is the mutations off-target, That is, it acts on other genetic points that are its marked objectives. And this occurs when these ‘scissors’ cut a sequence of DNA that closely resembles its target, but which in reality is not. In this way, an error off-target It could trigger severe cellular problems or even cancer. Recent studies show that experimentation on embryos with these techniques often results in mosaicism with edited and unedited cells, as well as incomplete edits. This means that right now we have to work on having greater specificity in the genetic objectives of the therapy so that the consequences of using it are not much greater than the fact of curing a disease. Ethical shock. The controversy is served with genetic therapies in general, since right now one of the lines that are open is to eliminate this extra chromosome directly in a human embryo before implementing it in a woman so that she is not born with this disease. This is where bioethicists they point because experimenting with human embryos damages their physical integrity and poses irreversible risks for future generations. Furthermore, they underline the urgency of distinguishing between the use of CRISPR for purely therapeutic purposes, such as treating symptoms, and its use for “genetic improvement” or the selection of embryos that are much more advanced or genetically perfect. This is also added to the fact that genetic editing in embryos for reproductive purposes is currently prohibited in most countries. Images | Sangharsh Lohakare In Xataka | The surprising thing is not that we have sequenced the DNA of a Neanderthal from 11,000 years ago: it is what it has revealed

Science has managed to turn off the extra chromosome of Down syndrome. It has also opened the great ethical debate on gene editing

April 18, 2026 by usatoday24

The Italian far-right was looking for a way to clean up its image. He found the formula in ‘The Lord of the Rings’

April 18, 2026 by usatoday24

In November 2023, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni opened an exhibition on JRR Tolkien at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, organized by her Ministry of Culture. Nothing unusual, except that Meloni has been understanding ‘the lord of the rings‘ as a “sacred text.” This is how the legendary British fantasy trilogy ended up becoming a political catechism for the Italian extreme right. We started badly. The first Italian edition of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ was published in 1970, with a prologue signed by the philosopher Elémire Zolla, who interpreted the work as an allegory of “pure” communities threatened by foreign invaders. For the youth of Italian Social Movement (the MSI, a party founded in 1946 by veterans of Mussolini’s fascism) that reading was an enlightenment. As he noted in his 1975 review of the book far-right youth leader Marco Tarchi, the work was perfect for the young right precisely because it did not carry the weight of fascist history. Relocation sought. The MSI had been trying for years to reframe its identity in a country where the left dominated culturally, with the old fascism logically stigmatized. They needed something new to renew the symbols. He imagined universe by Tolkien gave them the opportunity to articulate a political identity around values of virtue and anti-modernity, values that Julius Evola, the ultra-nationalist mystical philosopher who advocated a racial hierarchy of pagan and aristocratic lineage, had already been preaching for decades. Fascist Woodstock. In 1977, leaders of MSI (and, above all, its youth faction) organized what would be known as Hobbit Camps. The first was held for two days in southern Italy and brought together young people from all over the country. On the surface, the event had the look of a folk music festival: stages with performances, tents, booths with books and T-shirts. Of course, a dozen muscular boys maintained order, and they were distinguished by wearing bracelets with a Celtic cross. Calling them Hobbit Camp, they wanted to attendees will identify with these small beings: conservative, rooted in tradition, reticent to change and foreigners… The group did not hide its affiliation: flags with Celtic crosses flew in perfect harmony with the Tolkienian aesthetic, the band Compagnia dell’Anello (that is, “Fellowship of the Ring”) played songs about the good old European identity. His anthem, in fact, was ‘Il domani appartiene a noi’ (“Tomorrow belongs to us”), whose title was a deliberate replica of the shocking song of the Hitler Youth in ‘Cabaret‘, titled ‘Tomorrow belongs to me’. A women’s magazine called ‘Éowyn’ was also launched, in honor of the princess of Rohan. These camps They stopped being celebrated in 1981when they had fulfilled their function as spaces of recruitment and indoctrination, hidden under a layer of celebration of popular culture. Meloni the cosplayer. Meloni was four years old in 1981. But a decade later he attended the revival of these camps: Hobbit 93, held in Rome, where he sang with the band Compagnia dell’Anello. He had come to Tolkien at age 11 and joined the MSI youth team shortly after. As a youth activist, Meloni and his group of militants gave themselves Tolkienian nicknames, visited high schools in disguise to catch the kids, and met at the “blowing of Boromir’s horn” to hold thematic talks on political recruitment. In her autobiography ‘Io sono Giorgia‘, published in 2021, Meloni described Sam as his favorite hobbit: neither strong, nor fast, nor majestic, an ordinary hobbit but without whose help Frodo would never have completed his mission. A metaphor for the transformative power of ordinary people. sacred text. The admiration has not diminished over the years. Meloni has said that he considers ‘The Lord of the Rings’ not a fantasy, but a sacred text. In an interview with ‘The New York Times’ in 2022 he declared that “Tolkien can explain better than we can what conservatives believe.” On the night of the general election he won, his sister Arianna posted a celebratory letter on Facebook full of Tolkien references. And at the final campaign rally, the actor Pino Insegno, the Italian voice of Aragorn, introduced her to the public by reproducing the character’s speech in front of the Gates of Mordor. It is not the only fantastic reference that Meloni handles: the political festival that the leader founded, which attracts figures like Elon Musk or Viktor Orbán and which has been defined as the largest event of the European conservative current, is called Atrejuin honor of the hero of ‘The Neverending Story’. Tolkien Expo. In November 2023, Meloni inaugurated the exhibition ‘Tolkien: man, teacher, author’ in Rome, organized by his Ministry of Culture to commemorate the fifty years since the writer’s death. Criticism was abundant: several analysts pointed out the conflict of interest of a government with post-fascist roots dedicating public resources to praising the book that had served as a catechism for its predecessors. Some nuances. Not all analysts see Tolkien’s importance in the foundations of the new Italian extreme right as so central, even though Meloni does show herself to be a strong devotee of the text. The political scientist Piero Ignazi pointed outfor example, that the Hobbit Camps were organized by a minority faction of the MSI, and that the focus on hobbits and elves is part of Meloni’s personal communication strategy: the image of a woman less aggressive than other far-right leaders, with accessible cultural references. But is Tolkien a fascist? As for whether The Lord of the Rings is right-wing, just remember that Tolkien wrote the trilogy during the rise of Nazism and fascism and refused to publish ‘The Hobbit’ in German when They asked him to prove Aryan descent. Possibly he would have been repelled by the idea of hobbits being read as opposed to change and devoted to preserving traditions. Even so, his work continues to serve as a basis for dubious movements: as he analyzed Arc Magazine In 2025, sectors of the technological right of Silicon Valley, aligned with the MAGA wing, … Read more

that your “Ibiza” is not only for vacations, but for business

April 18, 2026 by usatoday24

In the 1980s, a small fishing village in southern China called Shenzhen was chosen for an economic experiment that, in just three decades, transformed into a megacity of more than ten million inhabitants and in one of the largest technological centers on the planet. The bet, which at the time seemed risky and almost improvised, would end up redefining the way in which China uses its territory to test ideas that then scale to the rest of the country. An experiment that the logic of the 80s. The truth is that China has been using special economic zones as opening laboratories for decades, but what is happening now in Hainan supposes a leap of scale difficult to compare (and imagine) with any previous attempt. The reason? Unlike those industrial enclaves of the late 20th century, the current project is not limited to a city or an industrial estate, but encompasses an entire island converted on economic platform. The decision to separate its customs regime from the rest of the country marks a turning point, because it transforms Hainan into a different door access to the Chinese market. It is, in essence, the reactivation of the model that drove China’s growth in the 80s, but taken to a much more ambitious hyperbolic dimension and with a global objective. From tourist destination to global economic node. They told in an extensive report in the Financial Times part of its history. For years, Hainan was known primarily as a tropical destination within China, linked more to domestic tourism than to the country’s grand economic strategy. That role has been changing rapidly with a combination of tax incentives, selective deregulation and facilities for foreign investment that seek to attract companies from all over the world. The elimination of tariffs on most products and the possibility of re-exporting goods to the rest of China without taxes after adding local value are tools designed to stimulate the industry. At the same time, the island is positioned as a more flexible environment than the rest of the country, even allowing more open access to the internet in specific areas, which reinforces its attractiveness for technological and financial sectors. Satellite view of the island The great planetary bet. The core of the project is clear and not hidden: turning Hainan into the largest free trade port of the world, an objective that redefines its role within the Chinese and global economy. There is no doubt, to achieve this, Beijing has introduced some of the policies most advanced in the country in terms of openness, including reduced tax rates and fewer restrictions on foreign investment in the equation. In this way, the project not only seeks to attract capital, but also reorganize supply chainsfacilitating a model in which production, transformation and export are concentrated on the island. This strategy aims to position Hainan as a key node between China and Southeast Asiafunctioning as a platform for the entry and exit of goods in a more competitive environment. Between rivalry and alliance with Hong Kong. Impossible to ignore it. Hainan’s transformation does not occur in a vacuum, but in direct relationship with other major economic centers in the region, especially Hong Kong. The curious thing here is that, far from considering itself solely as a competitor, the official discourse is committed to a hybrid relationship in which both economies complement each other. In this way, Hainan aims to take advantage of the experience of Hong Kong in finance, talent and legal services, while offering space to industrialize projects and expand production chains. In that sense, recalled the Times that the proposed model (orders in Hong Kong, production in Hainan and global sales) reflects an integration strategy that, at the same time, introduces direct competition in key areas such as taxation or investment attraction. Doubts, limits and the great unknown. Despite the ambition of the project, not all analysts are convinced of its long-term viability. The island location, the distance from the Chinese industrial core and the infrastructure limitations pose significant challenges to attract capital-intensive industries. Furthermore, the current international context, with a lower foreign interest in investing in China, adds uncertainty about its real capacity to become a great global magnet. However, even with these doubts, the movement reveals a clear intention: while the international focus is distributed in other scenarios, China is activating one of its more ambitious experiments in decades, nothing less than trying to turn a tropical island into a centerpiece of its global economic strategy. Image | 江上清风1961, NASA In Xataka | Hainan, the Benidorm of China with touches of science fiction In Xataka | While the world looked at Iran, China has seized an island in the Pacific without a single shot. And now he is militarizing it

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