One more day, Marcos Llorente wants to convince you not to use sunscreen. One more day, we know it’s a bad idea

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In 2026, we are not going to discover Marcos Llorente. Not just because it is an old acquaintance of the Spanish public conversation: midfielder for Atlético de Madrid, Instagrammer with more than two million followers and owner of an enormous amount of pseudoscientific (and, above all, very dangerous) ideas on health issues. But because the large media groups are already in charge of ensuring that it does not go unnoticed. Last night, in the Hormiguero, he repeated again verbatim his usual speech against sunscreen. It is true that Pablo Motos confronted him with data from the Spanish Academy of Dermatologybut Llorente got away without a problem, questioning the studies and maintaining that “many dermatologists and health professionals defend this lifestyle. It is simply having a coherent relationship with the sun.” This, of course, it’s a lie. But we are talking about a serious topic and, for that reason, it is worth returning to it. A “coherent” relationship with the sun? On the one hand, The Skin Cancer Foundation estimates that 86% of melanomas and 90% of other skin cancers are associated with UV radiation. On the other hand, the AEDV maintains that “a significant portion of sun damage accumulates before the age of 20.” In this sense, having TikTok star footballers defending that chemical protection is useless is extremely dangerous. Above all, because it is not (far from it) the first time he has defended it. And we must not forget that, every year, more than a thousand people die from cutaneous melanoma. A misconception, but a very widespread one. Because we must not forget that, as José María Ricart explained to usdermatologist and medical director of the Ricart Medical Institute (IMR), “many people still believe in the idea of ​​a ‘healthy tan’, when in reality it is a sign of skin damage.” Sometimes we have the feeling that sunbathing without protection is little more than simple carelessness; but no: it is a practice that accelerates skin aging and increases the risk of skin cancer. We focus on the most well-known rays, but not the most insidious ones. As Ricart explainedit is important to know well the two types of ultraviolet radiation that can affect us. On the one hand, UVB rays, more powerful in summer, are those that cause sunburn and damage cellular DNA. On the other hand, UVA rays, present all year round, even on cloudy days, penetrate more deeply and are responsible for premature aging. It’s time to stop seeing melanin as a “biological protection” and tanning as something positive. They are not. Tan “is nothing more than a defensive response of the body. It is its way of saying: ‘I am damaging myself’. If anyone still doubts this, compare the skin of the face with that of the buttock, an area never exposed to the sun: without spots, without wrinkles, without photoaging,” explained the dermatologist. What is happening? let there be people deciding not to apply sunscreen going tan is problematic (and bad news for your dermatological health); But the fact that large media groups have no problems with bringing these types of ideas to ‘prime time’ is absurd. Because it is worth remembering that, despite the fact that he presented it as a debate, what was done yesterday in Hormiguero is advertise personal opinion of a footballer against the consensus of the AEDV, the WHO, the SEOM and the Ministry of Health. The mere idea of ​​calling it ‘debate’ is a mistake. Image | The Anthill Xataka | That the AEMPS withdraws six sunscreens is good news. That the OCU had to ask for it is worrying

Hostinger Horizons is now half price

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Many times the difficult thing is not to have a good idea, but to have the tools to capture it and make it a reality. Traditionally, if you didn’t know how to program and wanted to launch a website or an application, you needed a high investment of money or time. But AI has also burst into this sector to make things easier for us. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it is possible to eliminate the barrier of not knowing anything about code and having the necessary tools to be able to capture an idea in the form of an app. And there one of the most interesting options right now is offered to us Hostinger Horizonsboth for what it offers (we will see it below) and for price: if we use the code ‘XATAKA15’ we will have a total discount of 51%. Hostinger Horizons Starter (12 months) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links It not only allows you to create an app, but also Imagine that you have the idea of ​​a small app as a service (known as micro SaaS). These tools are very interesting because they are designed to solve a very specific problemalthough it has always been necessary to know how to program to launch one. There we can include many types of services, such as, for example, a CRM that allows a small real estate company to manage its entire business. If you don’t know anything about code and don’t want to learn how to program, a generative AI tool like Hostinger Horizons can be great for you. Explained in a very simple way: you ask with natural language what you want and this AI is responsible for creating the structure and programming for you. This way, you don’t have to code anything or learn how to use a platform like GitHub. This is already quite interesting in itself, but it complements perfectly with another thing that this Hostinger service has, since it also includes hosting. In this way, it is not only a service to create your SaaS or your web tool, but it will also help you make it available to your potential users on the Internet. Now, several things to keep in mind. A service like this from Hostinger It cannot completely replace advanced development. If your idea is very complex, you will need developers to help you translate it. However, it can be useful, practically in an afternoon, have a first approach working without having to program yourself by hand. As we said above, using the code ‘XATAKA15’ we can get Hostinger Horizons at half price. The Starter plan, which is the most balanced, remains at 11.89 euros per month if we choose the 12-month plan. The service has a 30-day money-back guarantee and you can cancel at any time, so you can try what it offers without any type of permanence. 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 | Hostinger In Xataka | How to create your website from scratch using artificial intelligence In Xataka | These are five of the best hosting that you can hire for your online store

Spain has broken records in youth employment. The bad news is that one in three unemployed people is already over 50 years old

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Unemployment in Spain has been chaining months of good news. In April, the number of unemployed fell to 2,357,044 people, falling below 2.4 million for the first time since June 2008. The story, seen from afar, is that of a labor market that has finally left its worst unemployment figures behind. However, that story has a blind spot. When the data is broken down by age, the initial optimism gives way to reality: the labor market is improving, yes, but not for everyone equally. The workers over 45 years they continue to fall behind, and the latest data of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) confirm it. Senior unemployment is close to 60% of the total. Of the slightly less than 2.35 million unemployed counted in April 2026 in Spain, 1,376,550 unemployed were 45 years old. This represents 58.4% of all registered unemployment. In other words, six out of ten unemployed They are over 45 years old. The bad news doesn’t end there. Within this group of people over 45, one in three unemployed people is already over 50 years old. To put into perspective what that percentage implies, we must compare it with what happened in the same month among those under 25 years of age. Youth unemployment has improved its percentages with a drop of 10.2%, with 19,284 fewer young people on the SEPE lists. If we return to the data for those over 45 years of age, we find that only 19,990 people in this age group they found a job, but in this case the decrease has only meant a drop of 1.43%. That is, given the progressive aging of the active population in Spain, those over 45 years of age are the largest group, so although the number of people who have found employment are very similar, the weight as a whole is very different. Less unemployed, but more chronic unemployment. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, the segment of those over 55 years of age was close to 4.93 million employed people. This represents 22% of all workers in the country, with 242,500 more people than a year before. These are figures that reflect that, on the one hand, the active population is increasingly older and, on the other hand, he is retiring later and remains in the labor market for longer. The second bad news for those over 45 years of age is that those who lose their job at that age have enormous difficulties in recovering it. In March 2026, those under 25 years of age signed 308,094 contracts, compared to the 367,204 signed by the group over 45, which doubles the percentage of the active population in number. That leaves us with one conclusion: senior hiring is proportionally tiny. He Labor Market Report for People over 45 years of age 2026 prepared by the SEPE, indicates that this group will exceed 11 million employed during 2025, more than 50% of the total number of workers. Even so, this massive presence in existing employment does not translate into the same rate of access to new opportunities. This is an indicator that the barriers to the reintegration of those over 45 into the labor market continue to be insurmountable. once you lose your job. Proof of this is that 53% of the 755,500 unemployed people over 50 have been looking for a job for more than a year without finding it. Youth unemployment breaks its own record. The scenario for those under 25 years of age is diametrically opposite. unemployment among those under 25 years of age It closed April 2026 at 24.53% with a total of 169,693 people, the lowest figure in the entire SEPE historical series. In year-on-year terms, it represents a drop of 14.2% compared to April of last year, when there were 197,674 young people unemployed. A decade ago, in 2015, the youth unemployment rate in Spain stood at 44.4%. This sustained decline has no equivalent in any other age group, which makes youth employment one of the great successes of the Spanish labor market in recent years. In aging it is a determining factor. As the data show, age defines large differences in the impact of unemployment between the different segments of the active population, but this differentiation also means that unemployment punishes some communities more than others, with a special impact on emptied Spainwhere young people have moved to the large industrial hubs. By province, Zamora stands out strikingly because more than 62% of its unemployed are over 45 years old. Pontevedra and La Coruña also present very aging unemployment structures. In Xataka | There is a man who has been working for the same company for 85 years. And he has no plans to retire. Image | Unsplash (Hasan Mrad)

what to do with reckless tourists who need rescues

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Mount Fuji is one of the big icons of Japan (perhaps the largest and certainly one of the most emblematic), but for quite a few hikers it ends up becoming something very different: a trap. Although every year they travel their four paths more than 200,000 people, from time to time when the mountain bends the pulse of hikers less accustomed to dealing with altitude sickness, changes in temperatures, long walks over deposits of volcanic ash or simply those who go for their 3,776 meters without proper training or technical equipment. When that happens and things get serious on the mountain, the rescue teams have no choice but to come to the aid of the hikers, sometimes risking their lives. An icon with small print. That Mount Fuji has a unique magnetism and attracts tens of thousands of tourists from all over the world every year is undeniable. Japan estimates that more than 200,000 peoplea figure that some sources raise above 300,000. That’s not to say that ascending the mountain is exactly a walk in the countryside. Especially for those impatient who decide to delve into one of its four paths (Fujinomiya, Gotemba, Subashiri and Yoshida) out of season authorized, which usually runs from July to September. “It is considered dangerous”. Those who want to complete the ascent between the middle of the mountain and the summit of Fuji calmly, safely and without breaking the rules must respect this schedule and plan their excursions in advance. Before July or last September, things get complicated. And not just because the authorities say so. Many of the shelters close, the weather worsens and the route can become dangerous in certain sections. Hence, for example, the United States embassy in Japan insist its citizens about the risks of climbing the mountain out of season. “It is considered dangerous. Every year several climbers, including Americans, lose their lives trying to ascend Mount Fuji.” Is it that problematic? A quick Google search shows that (unfortunately) emergency services must mobilize with some frequency to rescue reckless or ill-prepared hikers. One of the last cases occurred on May 3when a Chinese hiker slipped and fell off a cliff, so he had to be evacuated to a hospital. If we go back further, we find news similar to beginning of marchwhen authorities had to move a team to the southeast face of Fuji to save a 23-year-old Swedish woman and a 41-year-old New Zealander. Both suffered serious injuries. Two rescues in one week. The most flagrant and media case was recorded, however, in 2025, when it had to be rescued twice in a week to a Chinese climber. In general, it is estimated that throughout 2024 around 70 operations search and rescue in the mountains with a death toll of ten, some of them out of season. It is not an alarming figure if you take into account that hundreds of thousands of people visit the mountain every year, but it is not exactly good either. Especially since the high season lasts a few months. “It’s outrageous”. The frequency of rescues (especially during the months when the trails are closed to the public) is high enough that the mayor of one of the towns located at the foot of the mountain, Fujinomiya, has put the scream in the sky. A few days ago Hidetada Sudo called the press to insist on the seriousness of the issue. “Personal responsibility is not being assumed. It is outrageous to think that, if you suffer an accident, you will simply receive help,” laments the councilor before insisting on another idea: often the recklessness of hikers ends up endangering the technicians who must go to Fuji to help them. “It’s not a joke”. “If a second accident occurred, the families and superiors of the team members would not be able to bear it. It would turn into anger. This is no joke,” emphasize I sweat. Their complaints come after the operation on May 3 and after it circulated a video which shows the harsh conditions in which rescuers work. The truth is that this is not the first time that local authorities have raised the issue. Last year the mayor of Fujiyoshida also opened the debate about what to do about rescue operations on Fuji during the off-season, when hikers act recklessly. What is the solution? The million dollar question. Japan now has started to charge to the hikers who climb Fuji to fight dirt that generates its massification. Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures even they were talking last year to force visitors to reserve a place in advance to avoid collapses. There are those who propose to go further, especially when things get complicated in the mountains because the hikers do not act responsibly. In 2025 the mayor of Fujishoida proposed that the rescued people must assume the cost of their evacuations. A similar idea has also been raised by Fujinomiya, whose mayor regrets that “the idea that you do not have to assume any cost when being rescued is simplistic and unfair”, or even from the government from Shizuoka Prefecture. Like someone ordering a taxi. “Rescuers risk their lives in mountain rescues. There have been cases where people have requested rescues through their cell phones as if they were ordering a taxi,” I regretted last year the Fujiyoshida councilor before remembering that the use of a rescue helicopter can cost between 400,000 and 500,000 yen per hour, from 2,000 to 2,700 euros. It is not the only solution on the table. That same region has an app in which it already accepts pre-registrations to access the mountain, a tool that informs about climbing rules and pays an access fee. The objective is to also allow users to consult the location and indicate how long it will take to reach the shelters. Images | Baris Sari (Unsplash) and Ryan Latta (Flickr) In Xataka | So many Australian tourists are arriving in Japan that the nation has made an unprecedented decision: asking them … Read more

We thought that buying a yacht was a luxury. The real luxury that they don’t tell you is another: maintaining it

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Owning a yacht is synonymous with luxury and opulence. It is not for less. Superyachts like the koru by Jeff Bezos or the Leviathan by Gabe Newell, they had a purchase price of 500 million dollars; he launchpad by Mark Zuckerberg about 300 million dollars. However, although buying a yacht seems the most difficultwho has been in the sector for some time knows that this initial disbursement will not be the only one, it is only the first. The true luxury (and what is really expensive) is what comes after and is repeated every year: the maintenance of that yacht. There is an unwritten rule that has been circulating around moorings and ports for decades to prepare future buyers for what awaits them. It is called the “10% rule“, and refers to the annual maintenance cost that a yacht requires: 10% of its price, each year. The inhabitants of the Caribbean island of Antigua they learned it the hard way. The price of a yacht does not come on the label When someone is going to buy a boat, it is usual to take into account whether they can afford its purchase price. That’s the easy part. You look at the price and compare it to your checking account. If it fits the budget, honey on flakes. However, there is a cost that not always taken into account in which the owner of a yacht (or any boat in general) should reserve approximately the 10% of the purchase price to cover all expenses annual operation and maintenance. Yes, 10% of the price each year. A 500,000 euro yacht will generate annual costs of around 50,000 euros; If the value amounts to one million euros, the figure rises to 100,000 euros per year. That 10% includes practically everything necessary to keep the boat sailing and in perfect condition: routine maintenance, regular repairs, average fuelannual insurance, mooring fees and, in the case of larger superyachts, crew salaries. Boat insurance alone already represents between 1.5% and 2% of the value of the yacht per year, which in a 500,000 euro boat translates into between 7,500 and 10,000 euros per year in premiums alone. At this point, it should be noted that these premiums are also calculated based on the location of the mooring. A yacht moored in the Mediterranean does not pay the same insurance as in areas like Florida where hurricane warnings and tropical storms are the order of the day. As the ship ages, the numbers change The 10% rule is stated as a reference guide for the entire life of the yacht. That is, it is an average in which some years the maintenance cost will be well below that 10%, while in other years it will far exceed it. However, above or below, the cost always remains close to that 10%: As and as they point out from WS Yatch Brokersone of the decisive factors, for example, is that this 10% varies as the age of the boat advances. When the yacht is new, the manufacturer’s warranties are in force, the mechanical systems are working well and maintenance costs can remain around 2% of the purchase price for the first few years. That 2% corresponds to fixed expenses such as insurance, mooring, or basic deck maintenance. As the years go by, parts wear out, warranties expire, and breakdowns become more and more frequent. For boats between 5 and 15 years old, the recommended percentage rises to 10%, with bad years that can reach (and exceed) 15% of the purchase value. The reason is that, as the market value of the boat goes down, its maintenance costs go up, so any calculation based on a fixed percentage loses reliability. That is to say, a 15-year-old yacht that has cost 100,000 euros second-hand will not (or at least not always) have expenses of 10% since its engine and hull begin to need major repairs due to years of use. That is, what the buyer has saved on the purchase price must then be invested in repairs anyway. Hence the 10% rule is a reference average applied to the entire life of the yacht (with its ups and downs), not a rule written in stone. The size, the crew and the place where you moor Size also determines the maintenance budget proportionally. From 25 meters in length, the yacht can now require professional crewand that 10% falls short to cover the cost of maintenance. A captain’s salary alone starts at around $50,000 per year, and a full crew for a large yacht easily exceeds $200,000 per year. On megayachts, managers usually plan 10% for operating expenses (which are included in the 10% rule), plus an additional 10% for onboard personnel, their maintenance, etc., which places the real maintenance cost closer to 20% of the acquisition price. This percentage does not apply to those yachts that, due to size, only require the services of a captain during the high season, thus reducing their annual cost. He port where it is moored It also has a decisive influence on the calculation of annual fixed expenses. It does not cost the same to moor in a small fishing town on the Catalan coast as in Puerto Banús or in the port of Monaco. In Spain, the monthly mooring fee for a boat between 12 and 14 meters ranges between 450 and 575 euros per month (about 6,900 euros per year), but it skyrockets in large tourist ports. to put a practical examplemooring in Marina Ibiza, the main recreational port on the island, for a yacht of about 15 meters in length costs between 25,000 and 30,000 euros per year, while if you opt for other secondary ports on the island, the price is reduced by half to between 10,000 and 15,000 euros per year. According to estimates of Ocean Independencea company specializing in superyacht management, the annual routine maintenance of a superyacht, which includes hull cleaning, fuel, engine inspection and electronic systems, ranges between … Read more

Satellite images reveal how much Russia fears Ukraine’s drones. 7,000 km away they are covering their nuclear missiles

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The British Navy discovered something truly absurd during naval tests in 1945: a single flock of birds could appear on the radar with a signature similar to that of enemy aircraft. Eight decades later, some of the most sophisticated military systems on the planet clash again to the same problem: Tiny, cheap threats that are difficult to distinguish before it is too late. The drone war against the Russian nuclear arsenal. They counted this week in Naval News that satellite images taken over the Russian submarine base of Rybachiy, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, reveal the extent to which drone warfare in Ukraine is altering Russian military logic even thousands of kilometers from the front. to some 7,400 kilometers of Ukrainetwo strategic nuclear submarines of the Borei class They have appeared completely covered with anti-drone nets while they remain docked in port. The scene is shocking because these submarines are part of the core of Russian nuclear deterrent: each one carries 16 Bulava ballistic missiles capable of launching intercontinental nuclear attacks. However, even that geographical distance no longer seems sufficient for Moscow to feel completely safe from possible surprise Ukrainian operations. From the Black Sea to the Pacific nuclear fleet. The evolution reflects how drones have ceased to be an exclusively tactical problem and have become a strategic threat. Russia had been installing for some time cages, nets and metal structures improvised on ships and patrol boats in the Black Sea to try to stop Ukrainian FPV attacks. Now that same logic has reached some of the most sensitive platforms in its entire military arsenal. The fear does not seem to focus so much on drones launched directly from Ukraine, something practically impossible at such a distance, but on covert operations similar to those that have already hit Russian targets very far from the front. The idea of ​​small cheap drones reaching multi-million dollar strategic assets It has even begun to modify the protection of nuclear submarines. A small threat capable of altering the strategic balance. The nets observed on the Borei do not hide the submarines from satellites nor do they serve as conventional camouflage. Its function It’s purely defensive.: prevent light drones from approaching, landing on the deck or launching explosive charges at vulnerable points, especially on hatches and exposed systems while the submarines are on the surface. Russia had already installed similar protections on some Baltic and Arctic submarines, but on Rybachiy the coverage is much more extensive and envelops practically the entire vessel. There is no doubt, the image conveys a certainly powerful conclusion: the Kremlin already considers it plausible that cheap, improvised and difficult to detect attacks could threaten even part of its nuclear triad. The great psychological change of the war in Ukraine. Beyond the real effectiveness of these networks, the important detail is rather psychological and strategic. Ukraine has managed to get Russia to dedicate resources, time and defensive concern to bases located on the other end of the continent Eurasian. For decades, the logic of nuclear deterrence assumed that submarines hidden in remote bases were virtually untouchable except in an all-out war between great powers. And this is where drones have begun to erode that sense of immunity. The war in Ukraine is showing that a country with limited resources can force a nuclear superpower to cover with mesh improvised some of their most important systems for fear of unexpected attacks. When “nuclear” fears the cheapest. In short, the image of nuclear submarines protected with networks recalls the extent to which the Ukrainian conflict is transforming modern military rules. Platforms designed to survive atomic wars, operate under the ocean for months, and launch intercontinental missiles now also have to worry about cheap quadcopters, commercial explosives, and improvised attacks. Of course, Russia still maintains a huge nuclear and naval advantagebut the proliferation of drones is altering something much more difficult to measure than weapons: the feeling of (in)security. And when even the most remote nuclear bases begin to be armored against small drones, it means that the war in Ukraine has already changed the global perception of military vulnerability. Image | Vantor In Xataka | Once again, Ukraine has opened a missile launched by Russia. Once again, surprising manufacturers have been found In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

It is called Galileo, and it is the backbone of the EU’s technological independence

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when you open Google Maps or use any application that requires location services, your phone is connecting at that very moment to a handful of positioning satellites that are orbiting our planet. We commonly refer to this type of technology as GPS, but chances are that of all the satellite constellations your phone connects to, some of them are European, and It is not technically “GPS”. In Spain, many of the times we access the phone’s location we do so through the Galileo satellite constellation, which has been operational for almost a decade. The European Union is strengthening this technology and shielding it from interference for a reason: technological sovereigntysomething that is beginning to appear more and more on the EU political agenda. What is Galileo, and why it is not the same as GPS. Galileo is the European Union’s global navigation satellite system (GNSS), funded by the European Commission and developed together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the EU Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA). There are four operational global GNSS: GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russia), BeiDou (China) and Galileo, the only one under fully civilian control. According to the European Commission itself, its open service offers an accuracy of one meter, up to four times better than traditional GPS. What the user calls “GPS” on their mobile phone is, in reality, GNSS, that is, a cocktail of signals from several constellations that the chip in your phone combines to fix the position. Your mobile phone already navigates with Galileo, and for years. Galileo began initial services in 2016 and opened to the public shortly after. From 2022, according to EUSPA, all smartphones sold in the European single market are required to be compatible with Galileo. Today there are more than five billion users around the world that connect to this constellation, according to ESA dataand the main chip manufacturers (Qualcomm, Broadcom and MediaTek) integrate Galileo as standard. If you want to know which satellites your phone is currently using, there are applications that allow you to find out, such as GPSTest. Importance for the EU. Galileo does not replace GPSis like a complementary layer that provides a certain strategic autonomy that until recently did not exist in Europe. If we think about it, satellite positioning is today a critical service in sectors such as civil aviation, road transport, agriculture, telecommunications, the E-Call emergency system of cars, financial transactions, etc. The European Commission esteem that approximately 10% of the EU’s annual GDP already depends on satellite navigation, which explains why it has spent more than two decades building its own constellation. Service improvements. Galileo is being strengthened and modernized over time. In December last year, ESA and Arianespace Two Galileo satellites were launched for the first time on board the European rocket Ariane 6This is curious because several previous launches had been carried out with SpaceX’s Falcon 9. There are still four first-generation satellites pending launch, and this year they will begin to be deployed the Second Generation (G2)developed by Airbus Defense and Space and Thales Alenia Space, with fully digital payload, electric propulsion, better atomic clocks and inter-satellite links. In parallel, in July 2025 it entered into operation the OSNMA service (Open Service Navigation Message Authentication), which adds a digital signature to Galileo signals to detect attempts to spoofing (the sending of false signals) in a context in which there is increasing signal interference in conflict zones. In fact, Rodrigo da Costa, executive director of EUSPA, counted that Galileo has become the first GNSS in the world to offer global authentication of its open signals. And now what. What is coming are more satellites, more services and better precision. Galileo’s High Precision Service (HAS), free and available globally, now enables precision of the order of 20 centimeters with compatible receivers (not directly from our mobile). The Second Generation will reinforce robustness against interference and open the door to more demanding applications such as autonomous driving. Cover image | Xataka and ESA In Xataka | Who can do more, Google or seven small Dutch companies together? Europe is on the verge of discovering it

Nobody has yet been able to with Revolut in Spain. Monzo’s response: “yet”

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Spain has been a country of neobanks for some time. Its market share exceeds 25%and they are fully achieving their goal of stealing customers from traditional banking. With Revolut Leading the surprise and capturing more new accounts than banks like BBVA or Santander, there is a new actor with enough muscle to stand up to it. monzo. It may not sound familiar to you, but monzo It is the most used bank in the United Kingdom, with 13 million customers. In other words, more than 25% of English people have an account open at Monzo, and the entity has been working silently for months to obtain the green light from the Bank of Spain. The “OK”. The neobank has been registered with the Bank of Spain as a bank branchhaving formally authorized registration in the BOE. The first key regulatory step for Monzo to set foot in our country, although at the moment there is no set date for its landing. Why is it important. Monzo is not just another niche neobank looking to survive. It is an entity with millions of customers, profitable since 2023, and with a product proposal that has managed to take the UK by storm. If it plays its cards right, Monzo can become one of Revolut’s main players, and a major threat to other propositions such as N26 either Trade Republic. why now. Experts like Jose Luis Antúnez told us back in 2019 why Monzo did not seem to have any special interest in leaving the United Kingdom. The answer was clear: customer service. Regarding traditional banking, neobanks are failing in this aspect, while Monzo has been wanting to be more responsible in terms of experience and service for years. A conservative strategy. Monzo’s differential is not currently in its offer of financial products, it is that it is a simple Neobank. Allows you to use “Pots”, a tool to divide into subaccounts and save by objectives with automatic transfer. It allows you to automate the payroll so that a certain part goes to the savings pot, a certain part to the invoices (direct debits) and the rest is available for spending. Bill Splitting with Friends Remuneration higher than 3% in the United Kingdom. The numbers. Revolut closed 2025 with 6.3 million customers in Spain, its third global market by user volume, after gaining two million in the last year alone. Trade Republic, for its part, went from 1.2 to 2.4 million users between June 2025 and April 2026. Revolut is already the fifth bank in Spain, ahead of ING, Unicaja, Cajamar and Ibercaja. Only 200,000 clients from Sabadell, which has been building a network of offices throughout the country for decades. Traditional banking continues to dominate in volume—CaixaBank has almost 19 million customers—but the ranking is no longer just a matter of entities with branches on every corner. Three of the ten largest banks in Spain are neobanks, and Monzo wants to add a fourth. In Xataka | Revolut wants more than your savings: it’s going after Spanish millionaires

If the question is whether AI data centers end up increasing temperatures in a region, the answer is: 2.2ºC

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A group of researchers from Arizona State University have published a study striking. They wanted to estimate the impact of AI data centers on the average temperatures of the region in which they are installed. Their conclusion is disturbing, because this increase can be up to 2.2 ºC. The massive use of AI raises another problem. There is already a clear debate about the water and energy consumption of AI data centers, but this study has focused on an equally important problem: thermal pollution. It’s hot. The researchers focused on the Phoenix metropolitan area, the hottest in the entire US. There, their analyzes indicated that data centers expel air from their cooling systems at temperatures that are between 14 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit above ambient temperature, creating thermals that can affect nearby neighborhoods. The air says it all. This is the first known research to use high-precision vehicle-mounted sensors to compare air temperature before and after passing through the facility. The data was clear: Downwind areas of a data center had average temperatures 1.6ºF higher, with peaks of 4ºF (2.2ºC) compared to the reference areas. Heat island effect. The impact of this increase in temperature is also notable in terms of the distance affected: these increases were detected even 500 meters away from the source, which is equivalent to about five “blocks” of homes in the city of Phoenix. Vicious circle. The very design of data centers causes this problem to feed into itself. A single data center can generate as much waste heat as a small city of 40,000 homes, and the vicious cycle is clear: The data center blows very hot air to cool its servers The air warms the surrounding neighborhood Neighbors use their air conditioners more Air conditioners expel even more waste heat Location is the key. David Sailor, who led the study, indicated that what they seek with their conclusions is not to prohibit data centers, but to rethink their integration with urban centers. To avoid or mitigate problems, solutions are proposed such as reorienting air outlets or creating parks that cushion these increases in temperature. The key, these researchers say, is urban planning: these facilities must be treated as sources of industrial thermal emissions, because that is what they are. Prevent before cure. The projected computing capacity for data centers to be built in the US will double in 2030, which according to this study makes it necessary to take action. The challenge, they say, is to apply these solutions before the waste heat generated by data centers becomes a public health problem. Spain may also have that problem. Projects that affect our country should also take this circumstance into account. In recent months we have seen how the Autonomous Community of Aragón has focused part of the protagonism of agreements with large technology companies, and both Amazon and Microsoft have data centers planned in the metropolitan area of ​​the city of Zaragoza. The towns of Villamayor de Gállego and Villanueva de Gállego are less than 20 km from Zaragoza, and both already have data centers planned. These initiatives promise to boost the region’s economy, but they also bring doubts. Not everyone is in favor of such centers, of course, and there are even judicial processes trying to stop its construction. Image | David Vives and AWS In Xataka | The great paradox of Madrid: the region with the largest energy deficit in Spain is losing the data centers

China was supposed to be behind in chip-making equipment. Now its engraving technology is the standard and even TSMC uses it

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Gerald Yin Zhiyao is the president and CEO of AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment China), one of the largest chinese companies specialized in the design and production of the equipment involved in manufacturing integrated circuits. During a roundtable held at the end of July 2024 this veteran executive maintained that Chinese chip manufacturing equipment was at that time between 5 and 10 years behind its most advanced competitors in terms of quality and reliability. Yin Zhiyao is one of China’s leading experts in semiconductor production equipment manufacturing. He has not hesitated on several occasions to publicly adopt a critical stance when assessing the degree of development of the Chinese chip manufacturing machine industry, which is why his statements tend to be interesting to say the least. And the one he did last Sunday on Chinese state television, and which has been picked up by SCMPit was. According to Yin ZhiyaoAMEC’s ​​plasma etching technology has established itself as a standard in the integrated circuit industry and has been adopted by its major international rivals. In fact, according to the founder of AMEC, TSMC, the Taiwanese company that leads the chip manufacturing marketuses some of its machines in its production chain. It may seem like bravado, but it doesn’t have to be. It makes sense for TSMC to use semiconductor processing machines designed and manufactured by AMEC. What China has and what it doesn’t have Much of the sanctions deployed by the US Government seeks to put out of reach of Chinese companies the most advanced chip manufacturing equipment available on the market. In this scenario Yin Zhiyao holds something very reasonable: the US bans have accelerated the development of China’s semiconductor industry. In fact, at the end of 2023 the Xi Jinping Administration handed over to its main companies that are dedicated to the manufacture of semiconductor production equipment no less than 41 billion dollars. Photolithography and etching are two different stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing Despite this effort, China still does not have extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE), which are suitable for manufacturing cutting-edge chips. At least not in large scale production. What it does have, as the head of AMEC states, are the engraving machines (etching) involved in the production of advanced integrated circuits. These devices are responsible for removing material from the exposed areas in order to physically sculpt the circuits on the silicon wafer. In this context, it is important that we keep in mind that photolithography and etching are two different and consecutive stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing. Photolithography aims to transfer the geometric pattern that describes the circuit from a mask or template to the surface of the silicon wafer using extreme ultraviolet light. This is the stage that ASML machines on the edge nodes solve. Immediately after, the engraving process takes place, which can be wet or plasma. This last variant bombards the surface of the silicon wafer with an ionized gas that produces a plasma. This is precisely the process carried out by AMEC machines. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | China has responded to the US with a milestone: it already has an AI model capable of running on GPUs with different architectures

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