a legal battle for control of Nexperia

by

A company can be many things at the same time: a factory, a subsidiary, a patent portfolio, a piece within a supply chain. But, in the technological war we are seeing between China and Europe, it can also become a battlefield. Nexperia fits right in there. We are not just talking about who owns a semiconductor company based in the Netherlands and owned by the Chinese Wingtech, but about who can decide on it when courts, governments and the fear that certain industrial capabilities end up under another center of power come into play. The new demand. The latest movement comes from China. According to ReutersWingtech Technology and a subsidiary have filed a lawsuit against Nexperia BV and five other entities before a court in Guangdong, which has already accepted the case. The company provisionally claims 8 billion yuan, about $1.18 billion, for the economic losses it attributes to the conflict. SCMP adds another relevant element: Wingtech is not only asking for compensation, it is also demanding to regain full control over Nexperia, a point that once again places the case in the field of corporate governance. The origin of the crash. To understand why the demand does not come from nowhere, you have to go back to September 2025. So, The Dutch Government intervened Nexperia and removed Wingtech from effective control of the company, citing fears about a possible transfer of operations and intellectual property to China. The administrative decision was later revoked, but the problem did not go away. Wingtech maintains that its scope of control remained limited by a parallel Dutch court ruling, still relevant to the dispute. Nexperia’s response. The Netherlands-based firm has responded by downgrading the immediate scope of the judicial move. In statements reported by the aforementioned news agency, Nexperia stated that it “has taken note of Wingtech’s announcement” and that it understands that the corresponding court “has not opened the case to trial.” He also regretted the strategy of its Chinese owner and maintained that Wingtech does not seem interested in reaching a solution beneficial to all parties, including its own shareholders. The Chinese legal route. The lawsuit is not only based on a business claim, but on a politically charged legal framework. Wingtech invokes China’s Foreign Sanctions Law to seek compensation for damages it attributes to restrictions on Nexperia. The company maintains that Nexperia and its executives applied “discriminatory restrictive measures” within the meaning of that law. The financial blow. The financial blow. The push for Nexperia is also leaving its mark on Wingtech’s accounts. Reuters notes that the company closed 2025 with a net loss of 8.7 billion yuan, compared to 2.8 billion the previous year. The deterioration continued in the first quarter of 2026: income plummeted by 94%, after the foreign business stopped consolidating its results. A conflict still open. The lawsuit does not close the battle for Nexperia, rather it prolongs it in another area. SCMP points out that Beijing and The Hague have defended that the case should be resolved “between the two companies without government interference,” as explained on April 17 by the Dutch Minister of Economy, Heleen Herbert, after meeting with the Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands, Shen Bo. The message seeks to limit the conflict, but the evolution of the case itself shows how difficult it is to separate business, courts and industrial policy when a semiconductor company is caught in the middle of the fight between China and Europe. Images | Nexperia In Xataka | Brussels has just fined Temu the largest fine in its history with the Digital Services Law: 200 million euros

Smart glasses for police seemed like science fiction. Some Chinese agents have already started using them

by

The image is powerful because it is easy to visualize: a police officer walks down a street in Tianjin, looks around, and connected glasses return useful information in real time. What until not so long ago could have sounded like science fiction is beginning to have much more earthly applications, from ordering traffic to helping locate a lost person. In this city in northern China, according to China Dailytechnology is already part of some police tasks. And that’s the interesting thing: we are not just talking about a futuristic promise, but about a use that is beginning to hit the streets. Smart glasses for police. The key is that we are not just talking about glasses placed on an agent’s face, but about a system designed to be integrated into police routine. They are officially presented as a development of the local public security system, with national software and hardware, and places them in three areas of use: traffic, patrols and urban management. It is a very immediate effectiveness-oriented approach. An invisible screen for the agent. The device works as a layer of information added to police work. It can recognize text, interpret voice commands and provide responses from a connected platform, with the camera as an entry point to identify elements of the environment. In practice, this allows identity checks to be carried out or information associated with a person to be searched without leaving the scene. The source presents it as a responsive improvement, although such a tool also opens up obvious questions about surveillance and privacy. The glasses on the ground. Zhao Baoxin, an officer at the Jiefang Road police station in Heping district, told the aforementioned media that during a patrol they found an elderly man at an intersection who could not express himself clearly or indicate his name or address. According to his version, the glasses made it possible to quickly identify him and, in about 20 minutes, contact his family so he could return home. Traffic as a daily test. Another of the uses described brings the technology down to a very recognizable scene: the entrance and exit of a school. In that case, parents can pre-register their license plates through a mini-program developed with the participation of the public security system, and that information is linked to the platform consulted by the glasses. Thus, agents identify authorized vehicles, order short stops and divert other cars during peak congestion hours. It is efficient on paper, but it also normalizes automated license plate reading. What the numbers say. Sun Yinghua, agent in the science, technology and IT area of ​​the Municipal Public Security Bureau, places the recognition accuracy above 95% and speaks of results in milliseconds. They also explain that the design also seeks comfort: they weigh about 40 grams and offer a first-person perspective that avoids the framing changes typical of a body camera when the agent leans or turns. The autonomy, however, is 1.5 or 2 hours of continuous use. It hasn’t come out of nowhere. Police glasses with facial recognition had already appeared in China years ago. In 2018, SCMP counted that were being used at Zhengzhou East station during Chunyun, the huge Lunar New Year travel period, to locate fugitives and detect cases of identity fraud. What we see now seems less like a one-off test and more like a piece within an ecosystem: China Daily cites uses in different areas of the country, coordination with drones in large operations and plans to connect the glasses with robotic dogs, intelligent police vehicles, humanoid robots and other terminals. Efficiency gains ground, but so do questions about surveillance. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | The metaverse wasn’t dead, it was on a spree. And Meta wants it to flood Instagram and Facebook

We obsess over giving up meat completely, but the science of longevity asks us for something much more pragmatic

by

The debate about whether we should consume more or less meat is often plagued by ideology, but when we stick strictly to science, the reality is that it is sensed that a reinforcement of vegetable protein It can give us a few more years of life. And it is not about completely eliminating foods of animal origin, but about doing nutritional mathematics to replace a small fraction of animal protein with vegetable protein. Great studies there is behind it to be able to reach this conclusion, one of the most compelling being the published in The BMJ in 2020which brought together 31 prospective studies and more than 715,000 participants. Here it was clearly seen that a increased intake of plant protein It was associated with lower mortality from all causes and, specifically, cardiovascular disease. Translated into percentages, every 3% increase in daily energy from plant protein was associated with a 5% lower risk of death from any cause. On the contrary, animal protein did not show a clear association (neither for nor against) with cardiovascular or cancer mortality at a global level. There is more. That same year, the magazine JAMA public data from the NIH-AARP prospective cohort, which followed more than 416,000 people. Their findings further refined the shot, as they pointed out that replacing only 3% of the energy of animal protein with plant protein was associated with 10% less total mortality. The protective effect was especially marked when this vegetable protein entered the diet to replace eggs and, above all, red meat. The only problem is that, although the claim has a solid scientific basis, the relationship has only been demonstrated through observational studies. That is, we are not facing unequivocal proof of causality. The reason Whether vegetable protein from soy or lentils extends life is something that is still quite debated. The most solid biological hypothesis does not defend that plant protein is a magical elixir, but rather that, by displacing animal sourcesseveral risk factors for stroke tend to decrease. This is what is known in nutrition as the “package” effect. By swapping a steak for a plate of legumes, not only are you changing the amino acids that are introduced into the body, but you are drastically reducing your intake of saturated fat, iron, sodium, and, if we’re talking about processed meat, pro-inflammatory compounds. In exchange, fiber, polyphenols and other bioactive compounds present in whole grains, seeds and legumes are introduced into the body and can reduce the overall carbiometabolic risk. The small print. One cannot generalize here, and these results do not suggest that all animal protein is a poison or that any plant product is automatically a ticket to immortality. The expected result depends largely on the specific food that we are substituting on our plate, since it does not have the same metabolic impact to replace a processed sausage as a natural yogurt, nor is it equally beneficial to change chicken for legumes than for an ultra-processed vegetable substitute full of refined flours. Age matters. The age It is a very relevant factor which science has shown through a study published in Nature that analyzed national protein supplies in 101 countries over 60 years. Here it has been seen that, although the greater availability of vegetable protein is associated with a longer life expectancy, in children under five years of age the relationship seems to be reversed, suggesting that animal protein may be essential for their development. Images | Anna Pelzer Eiliev Aceron In Xataka | Chinese researchers believe they have discovered a simple “trick” to lose weight: eat raw vegetables

Tomorrow the spin-off of one of the best space uchronias of recent years arrives, and it comes with an unexpected twist

by

On May 29 Apple TV+ does two things at the same time: closes the fifth season of ‘For All Mankind’ and premieres its spin-off, ‘city ​​of stars‘, from its own creators. The original series has been telling the alternative space race from Houston for seven years, and the new project contemplates it from Moscow, within the Soviet space program that in this uchronic universe reached the Moon first. ‘For All Mankind’ started in 2019 with a simple premise: what would have happened if the Soviets had put a man on the Moon before the Americans? The series This parallel vision has been escalating until it lands on Mars and extends beyond, accumulating five installments and a sixth (already confirmed as the final one) that will close the complete narrative arc. ‘Star City’ is a prequel that returns to the seventies, to the founding moment of that alternative universe, but with the perspective reversed. Where ‘For All Humanity’ assumed the Soviet triumph as a starting point and contemplated it from the United States, the spin-off is installed within the USSR space program: laboratories, cosmonaut barracks, corridors guarded by the KGB… An excellent setting for a proposal maintained by the team from the last seasons of its predecessor, among which stands out Ronald D. Moore, screenwriter remembered for ‘Galactica’, ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ and ‘Deep Space Nine’. The cast is led by Rhys Ifans in a role inspired by the Soviet engineer Sergei Korolev (who died in 1966 but survived in this universe and took the space program to unknown heights). And the tone of this ‘City of Stars’ clearly diverges from that of its mother series: if in ‘For All Mankind’ we had a humanist drama of space adventure, here we go to the espionage thriller also inspired by the real Soviet project, where ships less reliable than those of the Americans, deaths hidden from the outside and the presence of the KGB in mission control itself met. In Xataka | Today on Prime Video, a series with a superb Nicolas Cage that is already said to be Marvel’s best proposal in years

Alcasec managed to access hundreds of thousands of banking details in Spain: now it has accepted prison

by

There are cybersecurity cases that seem distant until they force us to look inward. We are not talking about a large foreign technology company or a gap lost in some remote corner of the Internet, but rather about banking data of citizens in Spain, access linked to public infrastructure and a chain that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, ended with hundreds of thousands of records entered into a portal for sale. What we have seen with Alcasec It matters not only because of the name itself, but because of what it reveals: personal information has become a very valuable commodity. The agreement. This part of the case has been settled in the National Court with an agreement between the accused and the Prosecutor’s Office. According to EFEJosé Luis Huertas, alias Alcasec, has accepted a sentence of two years and seven months in prison for the crimes of illegal access to computer systems and discovery and disclosure of secrets. The Prosecutor’s Office initially requested three years, but applied the mitigating circumstance of confession. Along with him, Daniel BE and Juan Carlos OG, thus identified in the judicial information, have also accepted a sentence: two years and two months for the first as a cooperator and one year and three months for the second for discovery of secrets. The access. The indictment describes an entry built in layers, not a simple stroke of luck. On October 19, 2021, Alcasec contracted two massive data storage systems with Cherry Servers, a company based in Lithuania, using an email account created when he was a minor to hide his identity. Later, Daniel BE, whom the Prosecutor’s Office links to Russian forums specialized in the unauthorized sale of passwords, provided him with a stolen digital certificate issued to the General Directorate of Traffic. With that certificate, always according to the accusation, he managed to navigate the SARA network, connect to the CGPJ Judicial Neutral Point website and obtain the credentials of an official from a Bilbao court. The impersonation. The next step, always according to the Prosecutor’s Office, was to convert that first access into a way to obtain more credentials. Alcasec and Daniel BE created a page that pretended to be the access website to the Judicial Neutral Point, and the former sent a text chain to different courts that redirected to that false page. Two officials mistakenly entered their passwords, which allowed the scope of the attack to expand. The mechanics are important because they show that the intrusion did not depend only on a technical vulnerability, but also on deception of real users. The scale. With these credentials, according to the indictment, Alcasec made 438,099 requests to the Tax Agency’s “extended bank accounts” web service and shortly after carried out a second attack. The data is not minor: we are not talking about an isolated query, but rather a massive volume of queries to sensitive information through a system connected to the Administration. For the sale of data, some of relevant people, the portal was available. The reduction. The accepted sentence does not come out of nowhere, but from an agreement in accordance with the Prosecutor’s Office. As we noted above, the initial request was for three years in prison, but it was reduced to two years and seven months when the mitigating circumstance of confession for the recognized crimes was applied. The prosecutor also valued the collaboration of the accused during the investigation, particularly in providing their codes and passwords. In addition, they accepted the confiscation of the effects and the physical and virtual money seized in the searches carried out in Madrid, Cartagena and Dos Hermanas. Another investigation. There is an important nuance to not mix planes. Alcasec has been in provisional prison for a year for a different reason, related to a network of cyberattacks that seized sensitive and private data of millions of citizens and that he allegedly led. In that investigation he was arrested along with former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez, currently on trial for Operation Kitchen. The reading. What this case leaves behind is not only an accepted conviction, but a fairly clear photograph of where part of cybercrime has moved. We are no longer just talking about entering a system, but about chaining access, taking advantage of real credentials, consulting sensitive services and preparing information for sale. Images | Capture YouTube In Xataka | We have spoken with one of the leading cybersecurity companies in Spain. And his diagnosis is not encouraging

The heat is uncovering one of the biggest problems with smart rings

by

A quarter of a century ago (seriously), Sonia and Selena sang that “When the heat comes, the boys fall in love.” Today we can add one more phrase to the song: your hands swell and, if you are wearing a ring, forget to take it out. If it is also a smart ring, with its sensors and lithium battery, we have a problem. This is what many users are discovering. This is tight. If it is hot and we also start exercising, it is quite common for a small swelling to occur in the hands. That’s exactly what happened to him to this journalist when he went out for a route through the forest: shortly after starting, he felt how the ring began to tighten more than necessary and he had to take it off. In the case of a watch or bracelet there is no problem because we can loosen it, but the rings are completely rigid devices, often made of metal, and with a thicker design than a conventional ring so they end up being more annoying. The effects of heat. When the temperature begins to rise, blood vessels dilate to release heat, causing more fluid to leak into the tissues. The areas where it usually ends up accumulating are hands and feet due to the effect of gravity. It is what is known as heat edema and it is quite common in the summer months or when we exercise. Not only do the fingers swell. The battery can also expand due to a defect or heat itself, making the ring feel smaller. This Oura Ring user He noticed that as time went by his ring felt tighter and the battery also lasted much less. When he contacted the brand, they confirmed that it was a battery problem and they ended up changing the device. There is more similar cases on Reddit. Miss a plane. The case of youtuber Daniel Rotar It is perhaps the most striking of all. The battery in his Galaxy Ring began to swell causing the ring to get completely stuck on his finger. It hurt and there was no way to get it off, not even with soap and water. As if that were not enough, Daniel was about to take a flight, but was denied boarding because the ring’s battery posed a security risk. He ended up missing his flight and had to go to the emergency room to have the ring removed using ice and lubricant. What companies say. Samsung has a help page with tips on how to remove a Galaxy Ring in case it gets stuck on your finger. They suggest using soap and water, dipping your hand in cold water, or holding your hand up high. If none of this works, they recommend going to the emergency room and having them cut the ring, even indicating the points where to cut so as not to damage the battery and which could end up causing burns. In the case of Oura They also offer the same advice and a guide to know where to cut if necessary. Rethink the design. Smart rings are sold as the solution to monitor our health with an ultra-compact design and more comfortable than a watch, until it gets stuck and you have to cut it off, of course. In this sense, perhaps the future of this product involves sacrificing that rigid and continuous aesthetic, giving way to open designs that can better adapt to these natural changes in the body. It is a path that the company has already started Movano with the Evie ring. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Best smart rings 2026. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

James Webb just broke what we thought was the established order of the Universe

by

Even an instrument as powerful as the James Webb Space Telescope can detect puzzling phenomena at times. It is the case of the multiple red dots that has been found throughout the Universe in recent years. Many of them are a mystery that is difficult to decipher with the technology available. However, thanks to a very propitious physics phenomenon, James Webb himself has managed to enter on one of these little red dots, to find something fascinating. A black hole that goes against known physics, for having formed before the galaxy that houses it. The data. The black hole in question is enormous, with a mass 50 million times that of the Sun. It is located within a tiny galaxy, called Abell 2744-QSO1, with a diameter of 1,300 light years. To give us an idea, our Milky Way has a diameter of more than 100,000 light years. It is estimated that this galaxy formed 700 million years after the Big Bang, making it very old. However, according to the calculations According to a team of scientists from the Universities of Cambridge and Florence, the black hole could have formed one second after the explosion that gave rise to the Universe. What came first, the chicken or the egg? If we change the chicken and the egg for the galaxy and the black hole, the answer until now was more or less clear. Not all galaxies have a black hole at their center, but most of them do. Traditionally it has been thought that the black hole was formed when some of the galaxy’s stars ran out of fuel and collapsed. Such a concentration of mass was formed that its gravity began to attract everything that was at a specific distance (the one within its event horizon) and, thus, it fed itself, becoming larger and larger. That is what was believed, but it is a hypothesis that sometimes does not completely add up. A little red dot with a trick. The system formed by a tiny galaxy and an immense black hole inside makes up one of the red dots detected by James Webb. Most of them are very difficult to analyze, but this one has an advantage that makes it easier to observe. And, between the galaxy and James Webb, there is a galaxy cluster called Abell 2744 (Pandora cluster) that acts as a lens. It is so massive that it bends space-time around it and forms a kind of lens which allows us to see the QSO1 galaxy in a larger size. In very simplified terms, it acts like a magnifying glass. Furthermore, thanks to this same effect, a triplicate image is formed that can be analyzed in more detail. Primitive black holes. By being able to see these images with a magnifying glass, a tiny galaxy and a huge black hole have been observed, both very old. Generally, the mass of black holes cannot be measured. The calculations are made using assumptions extrapolated from what we know about black holes in the local Universe. Thus, it was calculated that the QSO1 black hole had a mass equivalent to 40 million times that of the Sun. But it did not add up much for such a small galaxy. How could it have become so large by “feeding” only on material from the galaxy itself? All this has been able to be answered, again, thanks to James Webb. Beyond the magnifying glass. In order to better measure this black hole, the Integral Field Unit (IFU) of the James Webb near-infrared spectrograph. This instrument, instead of focusing on a single point, has the ability to make a 2D map of a region of the sky. Thus, you can track the effects of gravity on the gas that occupies that specific region and even analyze the distribution of different elements in that same gas. With all this, something interesting has been seen. That the gas rotates around a center in a similar way to how the planets do around the Sun. According to Kepler’s laws, the further away from the center an object orbits, the slower it does so. This is true with the planets, but also with gas. Therefore, the black hole must be very very massive. So far so good. We had already assumed that, but what is its mass? The calculations of truth. By knowing how fast a gas orbits at a certain distance, you can know the mass of its center. Since the center was the black hole, these scientists only had to do the calculations to know that its mass is equivalent to 50 million suns. Guesses pointed to 40 million, so they were relatively close in astronomical terms. But it is strange, since its mass is equal to two thirds that of the galaxy. It’s too big for that galaxy. Another interesting fact. Since this James Webb instrument also allows the composition of the gas to be determined, it has been seen that the black hole consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. There is very little oxygen, as would be expected if it had formed solely from the stars of its galaxy. In fact, its metallicity is less than 0.5% that of the Sun. All this data does not fit with a black hole that formed from its galaxy. He had to train before. The hypotheses. All this points to the fact that the black hole was formed by a direct collapse. But when? That is not so clear, although there are two hypotheses. For one thing, it could have been formed by a heavy seed that originated in the first second of the Big Bang. Or perhaps it was formed a little later, by the collapse of a gas cloud. Either way, this is a great find, since it is about of the first direct measurement of the mass of a black hole within the first billion years after the Big Bang. And the good thing is that it agrees with the assumptions that … Read more

“Whoever contributes 40 years at the maximum does not reach 50% of what they contribute”

by

The Spanish pension system works, in theory, under a simple principle: the more you contribute during your working life, the greater the pension you have when you reach contribution. That’s the theory that works in most cases. However, Alfonso Muñoz Cuenca, an official specializing in pensions, has published a video in which a paradox is revealed within a system that prioritizes the principle of solidarity, compared to that of contribution that should reward those who contribute the most with higher pensions. The limits that change everything The Order PJC/297/2026 which came into force in March 2026 has set the maximum contribution base to the General Regime sets in its article 2 at 5,101.20 euros per month for 2026. In parallel, the maximum pension that a retiree can collect that same year is 3,359.60 euros. That is to say, between what a worker can contribute in his monthly contributions and what he can receive when he retires there is a difference of almost 1,742 euros per month. Muñoz explains that the contributory principle applied by Social Security establishes a relationship of proportionality between what a person contributes to the system and what they receive as a benefit. Whoever contributes more, in terms of amount and duration, effectively tends to receive a higher pension. However, the legal limit conditions the entire calculation, and this limit leads some contributors in the highest percentile to wonder if they are really interested in contributing for the maximum base. As the official himself points out, answering that question “is very complex and has many nuances.” Everything is better understood with examples To explain that contributing for the maximum base is not always “giving money away,” Muñoz explains three assumptions with different conditions that can occur throughout a working life. The expert points out that this career can be very stable and for many years in the highest range of contributions, but life is inexorable and there may be periods with lower salaries, intermittent unemployment, etc. The first of the cases that Muñoz exposes is that of a retiring worker at 65 years old with 40 years of contributions, practically all of them contributing at the maximum of the contribution base. By law, that worker would be entitled to 100% of the regulatory base, which is equivalent to a theoretical pension of about 5,100 euros per month. The problem is that, by applying the limit that the last legal reform, the worker “will be able to collect the maximum pension, which is 3,359.60 euros,” says Muñoz. That is, in this case, the case is observed an imbalance of almost 2,000 euros between the base for which you have contributed for a good part of your working life and the pension you receive when you retire. The second assumption uses that same worker with 40 years of contributions, but in this case, he has had periods with lower salaries, part-time work, contribution gaps or years receiving unemployment benefits, contributing for the maximum base while he has been able to fulfills the function of a buffer for those ups and downs. That is, it contributes to raising the regulatory base on which the pension is calculated because the periods with “excess” contributions compensate for those with “deficits.” When contributing more does not pay off: early retirement For the third assumption that the expert explained, which is the one that most highlights the anomaly that can most discourage those who contribute the most, Muñoz simulates the work life of two workers with different contribution files. In the simulation of the first worker, an employee is shown who has accumulated 40 years of contributions with the maximum contribution base, and poses a early retirement at 63 years old. For retiring two years early, Social Security applies reducing coefficients (unless you belong to one of the exempt unions). In this case, a 19% reduction is applied, which would leave you with a theoretical pension of 4,132 euros. However, when the maximum pension allowed is exceeded, these coefficients are not applied to the theoretical pension, but are applied directly to the established limit (3,359.60 euros), so the final pension would be about 2,721 euros. By applying the 20.42% personal income tax withholding that corresponds to the income, the resulting pension is 2,165.59 euros. That is, a difference of 2,935.61 euros with respect to the contribution base that you have been paying during your working life. Worker two in this simulation, on the other hand, has only contributed part-time for 15 years and does so for a base of 1,100 euros per month. However, he retires at 65 and has a dependent spouse. For your years of contributions, you are entitled to 50% of the regulatory base, that is, 550 euros. By not reaching the minimum pension, Social Security recognizes the corresponding supplements for receiving a retirement for below the minimum amount. so your resulting pension is 1,127 euros per monthand is not subject to personal income tax withholding. The expert’s conclusions are devastating: “The first worker has contributed to the system for 40 years with very high contribution bases and does not receive even 50% of what he contributes.” On the other hand, the second, having contributed for only 15 years and for a much smaller amount, receives more than 100% of what he has contributed. In Xataka | What is the regulatory base: how it is calculated in 2026 with examples Image | Unsplash (Matt Bennett, Jordy Muñoz), Social Security

When traveling to a hotel, I always go with a VPN. And this is the one I have on all my devices

by

It’s almost time for summer vacation. If we go away from home, it is more than likely that let’s end up using some public WiFiwhether at the airport, at the hotel or in a cafeteria. Simply connecting to these can be dangerous, but there are several ways to protect ourselves. Using a VPN is the simplest and safest way, both on your mobile and on any of your devices. The problem here is that there are many VPNs that allow a limited number of installations per account, which can leave you having to choose between all your devices. If you don’t want this, then Surfshark may be a great fit for you, allowing unlimited devices: comes out 1.99 euros per month. Surfshark Starter Subscription – monthly The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A VPN that can take you to the movies on your next vacation We know that there are free VPNs. These, for very specific use, may be fine. However, in the long run, They are not recommended at all. The reason is simple: They are not as safe as they promise to be.. In that sense, it is worth investing a little in a paid VPN that gives us security, a good connection speed and, in the case of Surfshark, unlimited devices. Let’s now talk about how a VPN can help us in these types of situations. Public or unknown WiFi networks may seem secure, but the reality is that we don’t know if anyone is taking advantage of this. to intercept our data. This is something we do not want under any circumstances, especially when there is important data at stake (imagine, for example, that you order an Uber and you have your card in the app). In that sense, a VPN saves us from the problem. By activating it, we pass our data through an encrypted tunnel, so it remains safe even on one of these networks. This is the main use, but it can also be great if, for example, You are abroad and want to see your DAZN account to watch the World Cup. For all this, you may be interested in carrying the VPN on your mobile phone, but also on your tablet or laptop. Without device limitations, you can install Surfshark with your account on all of them without problems. And, as we said above, its price is quite attractive: it costs 1.99 euros per month in its two-year modality that, in addition, includes three extra months. So, if you do the numbers, you will pay a total of 53.73 euros for 27 months. 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 | KaleidicSurfshark In Xataka | Best VPNs: guide with the 17 best services to protect your online privacy In Xataka | Why it is dangerous to connect to public Wi-Fi and what you should do to protect yourself

the crazy ideas of Real Madrid’s crazy elections

by

On June 7, Real Madrid will hold its first presidential elections with more than one candidate since 2006. The club’s Electoral Board validated on May 24 the candidacy of Enrique Riquelme, a 37-year-old businessman from Alicante and president of the Cox energy group. Florentino Pérez will compete for the presidency for the first time since he won in the second round against Ramón Calderón two decades ago. If there are already things that sound strange in these lines alone, wait until you know the details. You have to be rich. The statutes of Real Madrid have a series of requirements to qualify for the presidency of the club: being Spanish, proving at least twenty years as a member and, above all, presenting a bank guarantee equivalent to fifteen percent of the club’s annual budget. When Florentino was re-elected without opposition in 2021, the limit already required mobilizing more than 150 million in guarantees. Since then, the budget has grown steadily. In fact, Pérez was proclaimed president in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2021 without any other candidate passing that procedure. Four consecutive terms, four re-elections without rival. Riquelme got it. Riquelme obtained the requirement of 180 million that was requested this year, but just barely: he gathered the guarantee just a few hours before the deadline closed. In an open letter prior to the process, the candidate had asked to extend the period for submitting candidatures and proposed “a broader process that encourages the real participation of partners.” Florentino’s response it was direct: “I don’t know that man. When they called them in 2000, I didn’t ask for more time, I showed up and won.” Riquelme, by the way, already had tried to run in the 2021 elections and withdrew his candidacy, alleging exactly the same thing, that the summer electoral calendar prevented him from preparing a worthy campaign. The 85 hectares. The true core of these elections is on an 85-hectare plot of land north of Madrid, in Valdebebas, which the club has owned since it gave up its old sports city in the Cinco Torres area so that the City Council could build other types of infrastructure. The ground is currently qualified for sports use only and is worth around five times more than it was worth before the requalification was put on the table. What Florentino wants to do. In May 2025, Florentino Pérez presented his project for that land: the Madrid Innovation District. He did it in the board room of the sports city, with the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida sitting next to him. None of the three answered questions from the media. The club published a presentation video about which little more is known than what Ayuso mentioned in his speech: 8.5 billion euros of private investment, 25,000 jobs and the ambition to turn the enclave into “one of the main technological poles in southern Europe.” The project plans to attract artificial intelligence companies, big databiotechnology, audiovisual production and e-sports, and university areas will be built in the space. You have to requalify. The municipal reclassification necessary to make the project possible was planned for approval during the first half of 2026. But the early elections for the club’s presidency, called before that process was completed, also served to allow Florentino to reach the decisive moment of the urban negotiation with the renewed mandate and without internal dissension. And then Riquelme landed. Other ideas for that floor. This May 27, Riquelme presented his project for those same hectares: the City of the Partner. The plan consists of three spaces: first, a social and sports campus with preferential access for members and clubs; then, a premium category hotel with reduced rates for traveling fans; finally, a multipurpose pavilion with 15,000 seats for basketball and concerts, which the candidate justifies as an alternative to the Canceled events at the Santiago Bernabéu. The project figures are striking. More than 745,000 square meters of total surface area, with more than 100,000 square meters built and more than 350,000 of outdoor spaces. 11 soccer fields, 41 paddle tennis and tennis courts, 6 basketball courts, an aquatic center, a central club of 22,000 square meters, an auditorium and an agora for 25,000 people. Riquelme also proposes expanding the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium to 20,000 spectators for the women’s team. Other measures. Not everything is going to be bricks: other proposals from Riquelme are to reduce the membership fees by half as long as the team does not win a Champions League and to raffle 10,000 new season tickets among current members before a notary. There is also an original proposal that the member who gives up his seat at a match will receive 70% of the sale price in cash within seven days, instead of the deferred discount on the annual fee that currently applies. Money doesn’t grow on trees. What Riquelme has not clarified is where the money comes from to raise all this. The Madison Innovation District of Florentino depends on the investment of large private companies that have not yet signed anything public, but the City of the Partner depends on something equally imprecise. Riquelme says he has been developing the project since 2021, although financing details have not been made public until now. Florentino unleashed. The day Florentino called the elections, last May 12, he also gave the most talked about press conference of the season. Pérez accused journalists of acting “in the shadows” to provoke a change in the board, assured that Barcelona had stolen seven league titles from him and ruled out having considered resignation while simultaneously calling for early elections. By presenting his own candidacy days later, was more specific regarding Riquelme: He stated that the businessman’s candidacy “is orchestrated by those who made the most sinister stage of the club.” On June 7, the conflict is resolved at the polls. The reclassification of Valdebebas, meanwhile, has no date. Whoever wins the elections will inherit … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.