Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Renault is already pushing for Europe to copy the Chinese model

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The statements have been as concise as they are clear: “You cannot come to Europe and build four plates with wheels and seats with little added value. What we have to do is commit them to teach us, to come with products with added value. We did not do it like that when we went to China, they should not do it when they come to Europe” The words are from Josep Maria Recasens, president of Renault Spain, and reflect in three sentences the situation that the industry is experiencing in Europe, its internal debates and its fears. Added value. This is what Recasens has demanded at the 1st Automotive Forum, organized by the Automotive Press Group to which it belongs. The Automotive Tribune. The president of Renault Spain, who is also the president of ANFAC (the manufacturers’ association in our country) has demanded that Europe force Chinese brands to associate with European ones so that they “teach us” how they make their products. In Recasens’ opinion, Europe is opening the door to Chinese brands, allowing them to build “four plates with wheels and seats with little added value.” It is a veiled statement that points to the Chinese factories that are settling in our country but that, however, plan to produce vehicles based on kits that already come pre-assembled from China. What do they teach us? When the president of Renault asks that the European Union force Chinese manufacturers “to teach us” it is for two reasons. The first is that China forced foreign manufacturers to partner with their local firms to produce on its soil. What did they earn? Obviously, knowledge. Just take a look at the MG4 Electric to understand the extent to which its partnership with Volkswagen has borne fruit. At the same time, foreign manufacturers could produce at a much lower price and had access to the largest market in the world. What, we assume, they did not imagine is that China was going to surpass the West. Yes, let them teach us. The second point referred to in “let them teach us” is evident: the president of Renault and Anfac recognizes that, at least in part, China is ahead. And the French company itself has gone to Shanghai to develop your Renault Twingoa car whose heart has been created internally in China in record time for the European industry. But there have also been curious situations such as Mazda has brought the Mazda 6e to Europea car developed by Changan in China that, given its success, they have decided to test on European soil with a groundbreaking price per size. And the warnings don’t end there. The industry has entered a fever to shorten deadlines and approaching the times of Chinese development. The consultants warn that, at the level of quality, there is no difference with the Europeans. Others warn Japanese firms that their extreme attention to detail and conservative evolutions they may have left them behind. In question. Recasens’ words also emphasize the misgivings that have arisen among European manufacturers seeing how Chinese companies are arriving on our soil. With the intention of stopping the arrival of Chinese electric cars at knockdown prices, Europe applied variable tariffs to each brand depending on the supposed help they have received from the Chinese Government in the form of soft loans or the transfer of land. The promise is that they would not pay if they manufactured in Europe. But the first factories are also in question. Chery opted for assemble car kits in Barcelona. That is, cars that arrive almost assembled from the other side of the world and to which the final touches are given in the Spanish city. Now, the European Union is studying whether or not the electric Omoda 5 has to pay tariffs by understanding that added value is not being created around the production of said car. But not only Chery. The Chery case was the first but it has not been the only one. Stéphane Séjourné, vice president for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy of the European Commission, has assured the Italian newspaper La Stampa that the institution also has the factory in its sights BYD in Hungary or the plans that CATL has in Europe (including those that has in Spain with Stellantis). According to Séjourné, “it is not right” that these companies are manufacturing their cars in Europe with Chinese components and Chinese employees, noting that their investment in creating a local network of suppliers is minimal. A good example is the CATL battery production plant in Aragón where it is expected that employ 2,000 Chinese employees. Photo | ANFAC and Renault In Xataka | Before opening its gigafactory, Zaragoza has a pending task: create a “chinatow” for 2,000 Chinese workers

soldiers who save lives don’t have medals, they unlock the deadliest weapons

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At the beginning of November Ukraine updated the bloodiest game of the nation, that kind of “Amazon of war” where it borrowed the idea of ​​video games and their reward systems, granting points to its soldiers for eliminating enemy troops. Those points later could be exchanged for weapons and systems. Now, in a twist, the greatest reward does not come from an accurate shot, it comes from saving lives. War innovation. The war in Ukraine has entered a phase in which the technologythe incentive systems and management human resources they intertwine. The scenario is no longer defined only by the clash of armies, but by the ability of a country to transform its internal processes, accelerate the arrival of equipment to the front and keep together a military force subjected to extreme wear and tear. In this framework, the appearance of digital platforms capable of rewarding tactical actions, prioritizing the protection of lives and compressing the logistics chain in a matter of days reveals a country that is trying to compensate for numerical inferiority with structural innovation (ethics are more debatable). The morality. At the same time, this development occurs in a military theater where Russian pressure It’s intensewhere entire cities risk being isolated and where the political leadership is forced to decide between holding symbolic positions or preserve your soldiers for more sustainable lines. The convergence of both phenomena defines a war dynamic in which technology not only shapes the offense and defense, but also the moral and strategic considerations that determine each retreat, each advance and each sacrifice. Amazon and its new incentives. We told it at the beginning, the digitization of the war effort Ukrainian has crystallized into a system of rewards and acquisitions capable of altering the way units obtain weapons, electronic systems and tactical material. The platform Brave1 Market It allows any unit, from drone brigades to mechanized infantry battalions, to directly request equipment from manufacturers that previously depended on slow bureaucratic chains, with deadlines incompatible with the urgency of the front. Their catalogues, which cover weapons more expensive and deadly of the nation, have everything from drones to UGVs, electronic warfare systems, cameras, batteries, motors and satellite communications, devices that are constantly renewed as companies and volunteers integrate new technologies. The result is an almost instantaneous shopping environment, financed by the state but guided by the immediate needs of those who fight. The speed of the model, added to the monitoring of points accumulated by units throughout the country, has generated an internal competition that accelerates the incorporation of innovations and creates incentives to execute missions of high tactical impact. Some of the weapons and robots that can be redeemed in Brave1 Unlock save lives. Thus, on a front where medical evacuations have become one of the most lethal tasks due to the proliferation of reconnaissance and attack drones, unmanned ground vehicles have acquired a decisive relevance. These robots are capable of enter beaten areas by artillery or monitored by kamikaze drones, towing wounded from exposed positions, transporting ammunition and carrying out demolition missions against vehicles and fortified points. Expansion of the reward system to privilege the rescue Companionship introduces a change in focus: saving lives takes a central place in the incentive structure, generating not only practical effects on survival, but also psychological effects on troops fighting in an increasingly automated environment. This priority is reinforced with unit testimonials which have already experienced successful rescues, although not exempt from risks derived from the loss of signal or the need to operate in complex terrain. The strategic dilemma. And as innovation advances, the country faces repeated decisions about the fate of its most contested urban positions. Cities like Bakhmut either Avdiivka demonstrated that holding out for months can inflict severe losses on Russian forces, but also that prolonging the defense after losing supply routes leads to unsustainable attrition. With Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad threatened by Russian advances that seek progressive encirclement, the dilemma resurfaces between resisting to delay the enemy push or withdrawing to preserve essential units in a war of attrition. The difference between holding a position and losing an entire contingent of soldiers is measured in corridors increasingly narrowersubjected to continuous bombings and assaults by Russian groups that take advantage of the staff shortage Ukrainian to infiltrate weakened lines. This pattern has already been repeated in several scenarios where late withdrawal has led to captures, massive losses and the rapid fall of deep fortifications. The fragility of the defenses. The recent Russian advance in different sectors shows Moscow’s ability to exploit gaps that have emerged after months of continuous pressure. The reduction of troops Due to the prolonged defense of urban areas, it can result in an unexpected weakening of subsequent lines, which, if they do not receive reinforcements in time, are exposed to deeper ruptures. In areas such as southwest Donetsk and parts of Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces have captured several settlements in a short periodtaking advantage of both the Ukrainian wear and tear like weather conditions that limit the use of surveillance drones. The possibility that units trapped in cities under siege cannot withdraw affects not only the local balance, but also the entire defensive architecture of the eastern front, where the loss of trained personnel outweighs the loss of territory in a long-term war. A war of technological adaptation. If you like, the combination of a digitized incentive systemthe rise of ground robots and the relentless pressure about strategic cities draws a war in which innovation and survival are closely linked. The accelerated adoption of technologies distributed among brigades, the ability to purchase material in hours and the rescue prioritization Through multiplied rewards they form a network war model that attempts to compensate for resource asymmetry with organizational agility. It happens that this modernization develops in parallel to a front where the territorial decisions They involve the possibility of losing hundreds of soldiers in weeks, where the lack of trained personnel limits each counterattack and where withdrawal or prolonged resistance … Read more

More and more children suffer from it and science believes it knows why

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For years, the hypertension has earned the nickname the “silent killer“. It is a pathology that barely causes symptoms, but can cause serious damage in the heart, brain and blood vessels. Traditionally, it has been associated with older people, whose arteries age and accumulate atheromatous plaques over time. But that is changing: More and more children are living with high blood pressure. Taking blood pressure in the little ones in the house is something that for many may be unthinkable, because it is something that is logically assumed to be perfect because their arteries are also very young. But it’s changing, according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. How many. The data are worrying: the percentage of children and adolescents with hypertension has almost doubled in two decades: from 3.2% in 2000 to more than 6.2% in 2020. This means that 114 million children under 19 years of age in the world today live with high blood pressure. This photograph results from an analysis of 96 different studies and 443,000 young people from 21 countries. The reasons. So… Why on earth does a child have a disease that is associated with older people? The person responsible is in obesity which is associated with an almost eight-fold increased risk of developing high blood pressure compared to their peers with a healthy weight. And the figures in this case are devastating. To give us an idea, among children who have a healthy weight, only 2.4% have hypertension. But this counteracts with children who do have obesity, where the figure shoots up to 19%. This is further amplified when childhood obesity is increasing globally and has tripled since 2000 as has recognized UNICEF. And the causes in this case seem to be in the high consumption of processed foods and also in the low physical activity that some young people have. Diagnose in time. Although the study recognizes the limitations that arise in the differences in measuring blood pressure, the message is quite clear: blood pressure must be taken when risk factors such as obesity are present. We must remember that we are talking about a ‘silent killer’, because it seems that everything is correct, but damage to the arteries is occurring. The most important thing, like any other disease, always is early diagnosis to be able to apply measures to control the situation and prevent it from advancing much further. The problem of measurement. One of the most revealing findings of the study is that How we measure blood pressure matters, a lot. Prevalence figures change drastically depending on the diagnostic method. A priori, the diagnosis in a medical consultation requires at least three office visits for hypertension to be confirmed, causing the prevalence to be estimated at 4.3%. However, when the researchers included out-of-office evaluations (like the classic blood pressure monitors that anyone can use), the prevalence of sustained hypertension shot up to 6.7%. It’s a problem. This paradigm shift suggests that there are children who have normal tension when they go to the doctor, but it increases in their daily lives. Something alarming, especially considering that it affects 9.2% of children and adolescents globally and that is why we should not allow this masked hypertension. In the opposite case, blood pressure is elevated in the medical environment due to stress, but is normal at home, something known as ‘white coat hypertension‘. This affects 5.2% of young people, suggesting that a notable proportion could be being misdiagnosed or overtreated. Prehypertension. The study not only looks at children who are already hypertensive, but also at those who are in the waiting room. Data show that an additional 8.2% of children and adolescents have prehypertension, that is, blood pressure levels higher than normal, but do not yet meet the criteria for diagnosis. But this risk is not homogeneous. Prehypertension is especially prevalent during adolescence, reaching 11.8% of adolescentscompared to 7% in younger children. Images | CDC Ben Wicks In Xataka | We have known for a long time that our heart “fixes” itself. Now we know better how

A Google Pixel for less than 400 euros, an 85-inch Sony TV, offers on eReaders and more. Hunting Bargains

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Once again we return with a new Bargain Hunting shortly before the arrival of the next Black Friday. The stores have started their respective campaigns with many offers on all types of devices and in this article we are going to review the five best we have found all week. Google Pixel 9a by 399 eurosa very reasonable price for a mid-range mobile that takes very good photos. Kindle Scribe by 360.48 eurosan eReader with a 10-inch screen that also serves to take notes. Mac mini M4 by 829.99 eurosa very small computer but so powerful that it is ideal for studying or working. Roborock Saros Z70 by 1,099 eurosa robot vacuum cleaner with an arm that can remove the socks it finds in the way. Sony Bravia 3 by 1,499 eurosa huge television with Dolby Vision and Atmos that we have rarely seen so cheap. Google Pixel 9a One of the best offers we have seen this week is the one Amazon has in the Google Pixel 9awhich has dropped to 399 eurosthe same price that we saw in its previous generation not many months ago. This Google mobile stands out in its mid-range for many reasons, the photography section being the most outstanding of them. It is also worth mentioning that it is quite compact (6.3 inches)its screen offers a 120 Hz refresh rate and its software will be updated for many years. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kindle Scribe Amazon is already dropping some offers prior to Black Friday and again we can find the Kindle Scribe (2024) of offer. By 360.48 euroswe talk about a Larger eReader than conventional (10.2 inches) which also serves to take notes thanks to its pencil. It includes 16 GB of internal storage that can store a huge assortment of digital books and its theoretical autonomy is up to 12 weeks of use. Kindle Scribe (2024 version) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Mac mini M4 He Mac mini M4 He hasn’t received too many offers (at least not that juicy) in a while, but that’s over. By 829.99 eurosPowerplanet has one of the best prices we have seen on their configuration of 16 GB of unified memory and 512 GB internal storage. It is a powerful computer thanks to the M4 chip, it is very quiet and so small that it practically fits in the palm of your hand. It is aimed at study and work use and is the international version. Mac mini M4 (16GB, 512GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Roborock Saros Z70 It will be an expensive robot vacuum cleaner, but Amazon right now has the Roborock Saros Z70 with a huge discount. By 1,099 euros (instead of 1,799 euros as other stores have), it is a model that undoubtedly stands out for his armwhich allows you to remove socks or other objects for efficient cleaning. In addition, it offers a power of 22,000 Pa, it is also capable of scrubbing, it includes a self-emptying base, its theoretical autonomy is up to 4 hours and it works with AlexaGoogle Home and Siri. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Sony Bravia 3 If you have the possibility to make room for it and you are looking for a huge television to watch movies and series or play video games, the TV Sony Bravia 3 of 85 inches It has rarely been so cheap. By 1,499 euros at El Corte Inglés (on Amazon it is more expensive, but allows you to finance it in four interest-free payments), it is a model compatible with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos which comes with Google TV OS and HDMI 2.1. Sony Bravia 3 (85 inches) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Google, Amazon, Apple, Roborock, Sony In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs

Congress will force Renfe to return the money for delays of 15 minutes. Renfe’s response: we’ll see

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Last year, Renfe expanded the strict criteria for returning money to its customers in case of delay. The measure came with controversy since these criteria had been applied since 1992 when the first AVE was launched. Almost 25 years later, the company relaxed these criteria to the point that two million passengers lost their money last year. Now, Congress forces Renfe to return to its previous criteria. But Renfe is not up to the task. When and how much money does Renfe return? Right now, to receive a partial payment for our ticket, the delay on the Spanish high-speed Renfe has to exceed 60 minutes. From 2024the company does not give half the money if the delay does not exceed one hour. In the event that we aspire to receive a full refund of the ticket, it will not arrive until we exceed 90 minutes. What has changed? Yesterday, November 13, The Congress of Deputies approved the Sustainable Mobility Law. It included an amendment from the Popular Party that returned the compensation that Renfe has to apply to those prior to the 2024 change. That is: Delays of more than 15 minutes: payment of 50% of the ticket Delays of more than 30 minutes: 100% payment of the ticket The change is substantial because this summer, four out of every 10 Renfe high-speed trains have arrived late. However, with the changes applied from 2024 they have been left without a refund around two million passengers. We’ll see. This is what the Ministry of Transport seems to say. And in statements to EFEsources from said ministry have described the amendment (which has been supported by Vox, Junts, ERC, Podemos and BNG) as “a demagogic operation and a toast to the populist sun.” Not only that, since The World They already state that Transport assures that they will look for “the legal formula to maintain the current system.” That is, the customer does not receive any refund for their ticket until after 60 minutes of delay. And that the total amount is not delivered until after 90 minutes. In the media they also report that Transport sources have indicated that the decision “only wants to penalize Renfe, a Spanish and public company, and not competing companies.” such as Ouigo and Iryo”, while highlighting that Renfe is a “public company that is fundamental to the structure of Spain”. In addition, Óscar Puente himself, Minister of Transport, has questioned the amendment. “Let’s see how it goes,” they say in The World who has responded about the new obligation. At a disadvantage? What Transport maintains is that the amendment promoted by the Popular Party puts Renfe at a clear disadvantage compared to Ouigo and Iryo. What the Government alludes to is that the reimbursement conditions by these companies are less favorable for the client, allowing them a competitive advantage. Ouigo compensates in the following cases: Delay of more than 30 minutes and less than 60 minutes: 50% refund of the ticket in a non-refundable purchase voucher. Delay of more than 60 minutes and less than 90 minutes: 50% refund of the ticket in a refundable purchase voucher. Delay of more than 90 minutes: 100% refund of the ticket in a refundable purchase voucher. Iryo partially or totally refunds the money in the following situations: Delay of more than 30 minutes and less than 60 minutes: refund of 50% of the ticket in purchase voucher or cash. Delay of more than 90 minutes: 100% refund of the ticket in purchase voucher or cash. Competence. What the Ministry of Transport points out is that this puts them at a disadvantage compared to the competition because Renfe adapted its compensation criteria to formulas similar or equal to those offered by its competition. However, the amendment introduced in the Sustainable Mobility Law only toughens the criteria for Renfe. It must be taken into account that the company has been around for more than a year experiencing a punctuality crisis. Although the Government points out that its punctuality is among the best in Europe, criticism has surfaced because trains that do not arrive on time have multiplied. Of course, when sharing roads with Ouigo and Iryo, it may be the case that a road blockade due to a breakdown of the latter ends up causing a delay in times when Renfe does have to return 100% of the ticket and its rivals will only deliver half of it. Photo | Carlos Teixador Cadenas in Wikimedia and Congress of Deputies In Xataka | If the summer has taught us anything, it is that Spain does not need more trains. You just need them to work.

Spain has lost 142,000 businesses in 10 years

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Spain has lost 142,024 businesses in the last ten years, going from 767,317 establishments to 625,293, according to data reported by The World. There are 39 net daily closures. One in every five businesses that disappear in the country is a store. The business has a mortality rate of 8.4%, higher than the national average of 7.8%. The facts. 68% of the closed businesses were self-employed without employees. Another 31% had between one and four workers. That is, 99% had less than five employees. Aragon, Galicia, Castilla y León and the Basque Country have lost almost a quarter of their stores. Yes, but. While small businesses collapse, large chains continue to grow. Mercadona invoiced 38.4 billion in 2023, 7% more than the previous year. The paradox is evident: Spain today has 85,527 more companies than a decade ago, when we were just emerging from the crisis, but the local commercial fabric is disintegrating. Between the lines. It’s not just that the consumer prefers the convenience of the supermarket. The problem is structural: Small businesses competed with exhausting hours and tiny margins against chains that negotiated prices with suppliers on a national scale. The shopkeeper who opened from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and made a living from his store can no longer sustain that model when a large supermarket sells cheaper, has a greater variety of products and closes at 9:30 p.m. The pressure doesn’t just come from the consumer. Suppliers have also changed the game: they prefer one large buyer who simplifies distribution over hundreds of small, dispersed customers. Local commerce has lost strength in both sales and purchases. The contrast. There is one exception visible on the streets: the convenience stores run mainly by Chinese and Pakistani merchants yes they have proliferated. They maintain the model of endless days that Spanish self-employed people can no longer sustain: open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, without fresh but with all the basics. They have filled the gap left by the traditional grocer, but with a different equation: Intensive family work. Very tight margins. And a model that only works if the whole family is behind the counter. It is the last stronghold of classic local commerce, but it reinforces the thesis: only those who accept conditions that an average Spanish self-employed person can no longer or do not want to assume survive survive. The money trail. The cost inflation has finished off the sector: electricity, rents, minimum wages and social contributions have risen while sales prices could barely move. A self-employed person pays more to keep his premises open than he can make by selling. The figures confirm it: only 41.9% of companies born in 2018 were still active in 2023. The first year of life is lethal, with survival rates of 78.5% or lower. Rising pressure. Added to the historical problems is now the tourism: Tourist apartments have skyrocketed commercial rentals in central areas, expelling businesses that cannot compete with Airbnb hostels and apartments. María José Landaburu, from UATAE, sums it up: “If a self-employed person cannot rent premises in their neighborhood, if a business closes because its rent has tripled, that is expulsion.” Main loser? The self-employed business. Lorenzo Amor, from ATA, warns that they are “in free fall” and with them “the social cohesion generated by the businesses of our towns and cities” disappears. The shopkeeper model, sustained for decades by endless hours and tight profitability, is becoming exhausted. The big chains have won by a landslide. In Xataka | The shadow companies that are making gold with Mercadona: the silent success of Familia Martínez or Profand Featured image | Richard Melick, Mercadona

Spain has been wondering for years what the hell to do with the “castle of the tricorns.” Tourism has come to their aid

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More than a decade and a few auctions Then, a long (and fruitless) succession of bids during which its sale price fell little by little, the Maqueda castle It finally has a new owner. The Canarian firm Amcotur (América de Construcciones y Turismo SL) has decided to buy this old Toledo fortress from the State for 3.25 million of euros to convert it into a hotel. Its sale is important for several reasons. The bastion sees its future clear after a long (very long) administrative soap opera. The people trust in winning a stimulus that will boost their economy. And the Ministry of the Interior is getting rid of a property in which it invested millions of euros and which it has been trying to get rid of for a decade. In a place in Castilla-La Mancha… Although the last years of the Maqueda castle (known as “the castle of the tricorns”) have been moved at an institutional level, in reality they are only a chapter in the vast history of this fortress, located 75 km from the center of Madrid, in a town of just 500 neighbors. Its origins can be traced back at least 981when Almanzor decided to reinforce a fortress that already existed. Since then its history has been full of twists, turns and big names (it is said that Isabel la Católica stayed in one of its towers): in 1157 the bastion came under the control of the Order of Calatrava, in the 15th century it was almost completely rebuilt and over the centuries it ended up in interior handswhich was initially assigned to the Civil Guard units. What do we do with it? In your file of the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha explains that until “recently” the fortress basically acted as a Civil Guard barracks, but the truth is that its recent history is somewhat more complex. Between the 90s and early 2000 An ambitious remodeling was carried out to convert the bastion into the headquarters of the Armed Institute’s historical archive. The idea was left half-finished. As relates The Countrychanges in the Government and economic ups and downs marked the project. First it expanded, adding a museum to the archive functions; But the 2008 crisis caused the plan to go into a tailspin. During the time of Mariano Rajoy at the head of Moncloa, it was decided to put the property up for sale (along with many other assets) to inject funds into the public coffers. Although the dream of converting the fortress into a museum-archive did not materialize, it did have consequences: a new block was built between the castle walls, in the parade ground, a modern concrete building with three floors and a basement. In total, the remodeling cost the State 7.4 million of euros. Until recently the property was still listed in the catalog of the GIESE (State Security Infrastructure and Equipment Management), where it was specified that it has a constructed area of ​​3,060 square meters. The plot adds 2,861 m2. Dropping in price. The castle is impressive, it has new construction and the plot is classified also as urban land suitable for residential, public or hotel uses (among others), which opens the range of possible uses. None of this prevented Interior from struggling and wanting to free itself from the fortress. In 2014 he asked 9.58 million. In vain. Nobody bid. The following year it adjusted the starting price, leaving it at 7.47 million. Another failure. The figure continued to decline (first to 5.9 million, then to 2.76) without whetting investors’ appetite. In 2023 its value was established at 3.25 million, the price for which the Canarian company has now decided to buy it, owned by Yusef Nasser and with experience both in the hotel sector and in the management of historic buildings. Among the accommodations in its catalogue, the company includes a four-star hotel located in a Burgos castle from the 15th century. Although the figure for which the bastion of Maqueda has been acquired directly is much lower than what was requested in 2014 or 2017the hotel group assures to Canarias7 that the operation has been closed at the “official appraisal” price. You will probably have to add the cost of the works to the purchase amount. Next stop: a small rural hotel. In mind, the company plans to set up a rural hotel, a four-star accommodation, with a spa, swimming pool, restaurants and conference room, according to precise laser. The station clarifies that the establishment will allow you to visit the surroundings of the walls and their archaeological challenges. For that we will have to wait. From the company recognize that to release the accommodation it will be necessary to invest in the reform and rehabilitate the old wall that surrounds the castle, declared in 1931 artistic historical monument. The idea is that the bastion, popularly known as “Castle of the Tricorns” will open its doors to guests in about a year and a half, around mid 2027. “It will give life to the town”. The mayor of Maqueda, Andrés Congosto (PSOE), admitted these days to SER that in the town they are “very happy” about the news about the reactivation of the property after “more than 10 years” of projects and ideas that had not quite come to fruition. At the time, it was even proposed to convert the bastion into a museum dedicated to democratic memory, an approach presented by the City Council and the Manuel Azaña Association to the Government years ago. The councilor has recognized elDiario.es now feels a certain “frustration”, but he then clarifies: “At least a private owner has not bought it and it will be a rural hotel. That will give life to the town, promote tourism and employment.” Images | Giborn_134 (Flickr) and Junta of Castilla-La Mancha In Xataka | Toledo has had enough of the mass tourism that saturates the city center. His plan to change it: China

the Stadler plant will be responsible for building 200 hybrid locomotives

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Stadler, a well-known Swiss manufacturer responsible for producing railway equipment, has announced a historic contract with the Luxembourg locomotive rental company Nexrail. The idea is to build up to 200 hybrid locomotives EURO9000. Although the company has not revealed official figures, according to According to Expansión, the order could reach 1.4 billion euros, taking into account that previous similar contracts have been around 7 million per unit. And why is all this important? Precisely because all production will be carried out at Stadler’s plant in Albuixech, Valencia. A boost for the Valencian industry. This mega order represents a fairly important injection of work for Stadler’s Valencian factory and consolidates its position as a strategic production center within the Swiss group. The Albuixech plant will be responsible for manufacturing the most powerful locomotive which is currently produced in Europe, a great recognition of the technical and industrial capacity that the Valencian factory provides. Hybrid technology. The EURO9000 hybrid It combines pantograph and batteries on a six-axis platform already proven on the market. With its multi-system design it allows it to operate without problems between borders of Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. In addition, it can transport goods completely emission-free from terminal to terminal, which leaves aside diesel, a fuel that still predominates in many European corridors. Power. According to Stadler, these locomotives can operate alone even on the most demanding routes, such as transalpine corridors, without the need for an additional thrust locomotive. In direct current networks, the battery system provides extra power that improves performance and allows more load to be transported. It also offers an intelligent battery management system that optimizes regenerative braking, which reduces costs during peak electrical consumption and allows energy to be purchased at times of lowest price. The client and the first operator. The first user of these locomotives will be Hamburger Rail Service (HRS), according to has confirmed Stadler. “The EURO9000 with pantograph and batteries offers HRS a unique combination of flexible traction on lines with or without catenary, high traction capacity for our heavy loads and zero-emission operations,” explained Adem Gülaz, CEO of HRS. Decarbonization. Iñigo Parra, president of Stadler Valencia, has underlined that the order “reveals our joint commitment to sustainable innovation in rail freight transport.” For his part, Luuk von Meijenfeldt, CEO of Nexrail, highlighted that the company is “excited to lead the European locomotive market towards a zero-emissions future” and that this order marks “an important step in that transition.” Europe’s goals. The rail freight sector is immersed in a transformation process to meet European climate objectives, similar to what’s happening right now in the automotive world on the continent. Complete electrification of all lines is still economically unfeasible, so hybrid locomotives with batteries are now emerging as the most realistic solution for decarbonize the sector without giving up the operational flexibility that diesel locomotives still offer on non-electrified sections. Cover image | Stadler and Ivan Arlandis In Xataka | The lack of generational change has opened a job opportunity for thousands of young people in Spain: bus driver

Reddit, nude scenes and an out of control forum. This is how a Dane ended up being convicted in a case that marks a precedent

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We have all seen a clip from a movie circulating online as if it were a loose object, separated from the story to which it belongs. In Denmark, a case has shown that this decontextualization can have very real consequences when what is shared are nude scenes and, in addition, other protected content. A Reddit moderator has been convicted in a case involving both the dissemination of sequences of actresses in Danish films and series taken out of context and the massive exchange of audiovisual works. The forum that triggered the case, “SeDetForPlottet”, was not a marginal space within Reddit: it brought together thousands of users and maintained constant activity around nude scenes taken from Danish productions. There, cut clips were shared and described with the name and surname of the actresses, which generated concern among several professionals in the sector. Your complaints They arrived on a local radio programwhich focused on how these images circulated converted into sexualized content. A case that ends in a criminal conviction. The public exposure of the subreddit led to the Rights Alliance will report the matter in 2023 on behalf of actors, directors, producers and two major Danish networks. The police then opened an investigation that identified the moderator, who was arrested in September 2024 after it was confirmed that he had shared hundreds of edited clips and additional material on a private platform. The accused admitted the facts and, in November 2025, received a sentence of seven months of suspended prison, a figure that avoids entering prison if the imposed conditions are met, in addition to 120 hours of community service. When the problem is not just money. The Danish ruling is based on an unusual concept outside the legal field: the right to respectwhich seeks to protect the integrity of a work and those who participate in it, and which in this case is applied for the first time in a criminal conviction in Denmark. The court understood that extracting the scenes, cutting them and presenting them with a sexualized approach altered their original meaning and harmed performers and creators. Prosecutor Jan Østergaard stressed that the case shows that these violations are taken seriously, while copyright expert Alina Trapova explained to the BBC that the matter is “unusual” for focusing on damage to artistic integrity rather than economic damage. What is protected when a scene is shot. For associations of actors and directors, the failure represents an explicit recognition that the decontextualized use of nude scenes directly affects those who appear in them. In the statement published by Rettighedsalliancenthe director of the Danish Association of Actors, Maria Ventegodt, welcomed that the ruling recognized the violation suffered by its members and reinforced confidence that the authorities will act in these cases. In that same text, the directors’ spokesperson, Søren Balle, highlighted that altering and redistributing these scenes harms both the performers and the integrity of the work. On the Internet we live daily with fragments of films converted into memes, parodies or small clips that serve to comment on a scene. This clip culture has normalized the fact that works travel without context, something that usually goes unnoticed when the objective is to play with the original reference. But the Danish case had a decisive nuance. There, the dynamic was different: users organized the material by specific names, requested specific scenes and received them through links from a pornographic page. A warning for the era of AI and deepfakes. The Danish case is known at a time when artificial intelligence tools allow you to alter videos with increasing ease. In this context, the head of Rights Alliance, Maria Fredenslund, pointed out that the ruling marks a necessary limit on how images of actors and creators are used and warned that this type of protection will be relevant in a scenario with more content generated and manipulated by AI. As we say, the sentence is set in the form of a suspended prison, so the accused will not enter prison as long as he meets the conditions imposed. With that part already resolved, the case moves to civil proceedings, where the rights holders have requested between 15,000 and 30,000 Danish crowns for each clip broadcast (between 2,000 and 4,000 euros). Images | Brett Jordan | Screenshot | appshunter In Xataka | For the EU, our privacy has always been more important than AI. Until he understood that he was left behind

a hotel chain has proven just the opposite

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The hotel sector put the scream in the sky given the prospect of a possible reduction in working hours to 37.5 hours per week. From tourism employers they predicted an economic catastrophe for the sector, predicting closures and loss of competitiveness. Finally, the reduction in working hours came to nothing after not pass the parliamentary procedure, But the reality experienced by a small hotel chain in the Balearic Islands has been radically different, demonstrating that those fears were far from reality. After apply the reduction of working hours He has fewer problems with the workforce and the business is going from strength to strength. Fears in the sector. The hospitality and tourism sector was one of the most belligerent with applying the change in working hours proposed by the Ministry of Labor to 37.5 hours per week. According to himor published by The reasonsector estimates anticipated an increase of between 6% and 8% in labor costswhich will mean an additional cost of 2,538 million euros overall. The CEHAT employers’ association warned that the reduction to 37.5 hours per week would imply “a loss of competitiveness” and that the employees of the 300,000 companies that make up this sector would work “112 minutes less per week” which, according to them, would break the already delicate economic balance. MarSenses against the current. MarSenses Hotels & Homes is a small hotel chain with five establishments in Mallorca and one in Menorca, assisted by a staff of around 515 workers. In 2023, Rodrigo Fitaroni, CEO of the chain, decided not to wait for the Government to implement the reduction in working hours and began to apply it on his own. In 2024, its entire workforce worked 38.5 hours per week. The results were so positive that this year they have reduced it again to 37.5 hours per week, being pioneers in the adoption of this working day model. Fitaroni explained to Business Insider that they sought to “improve the work-life balance and well-being of the workforce”, and that this reduction was only the first step. “If the reduction in working hours goes well, we will continue to decline. But it will depend on how the worker performs and if productivity continues to be good,” noted the CEO. In addition to the reduction in working hours, the hotel chain has applied a salary increase of 8% in the last two years. Which, added to the reduction of working hours without loss of salary, translates into an average increase much higher than the average for the hospitality sector, which was around 3.8% annually. Results far from estimates. Just like Fitaroni himself counted to the Balearic newspaper Breaking Newsthe results obtained after applying the reduction in working hours contradicted the sector’s estimates. One of the most notable indicators is that the absenteeism levels from work of the chain dropped drastically below 5% from the first year. It is a very notable percentage since the industry average Balearic hotel rates are between 14.8% in Mallorca and 20% in Menorca. These data are accompanied by greater employee commitment and satisfaction, which has translated into an increase in revenue per available room. “We are trying formulas that no one has tried,” declared Fitaroni, who began his career in hospitality working as a waiter. “We come from operational positions and we know what it is like,” says the CEO. Pioneers in caring for their “Kellys”. MarSenses has not only innovated in the application of reduced working hours in the hospitality sector, but has also done so with exceptional measures in one of the most punished groups: housekeepers, popularly known as the “kellys”. The Balearic chain paid special attention to the 30 housekeepers it has on staff. These professionals face very hard work days cleaning between 20 and 30 rooms a day, which generate very intense physical wear. For them, not only does the reduction of the working day apply to 37.5 hours like the rest of the workforce, for those over 58 years of age, the working day is reduced to 32 hours per week. The Country collected the opinion of Sara del Mar García, president of Kellys Unión Baleares, who applauded the initiative of the Balearic hotel company. “MarSenses is a very important step and it is the one that the rest of the hotel chains should take,” said the union representative, alluding to the hospitality agreement in the Balearic Islands that postpones until 2028 the obligation for companies to adopt measures for the well-being of these workers. In Xataka | High level of cleanliness, multilingualism and resilience in the face of setbacks: requirements of a job offer to be “Kelly” Image | MarSensesPexels (Liliana Drew)

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