action

Today on Netflix, 6 seasons of a brutal and fast-paced action series with an impeccable score

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Before the History Channel jumped into fiction, the network was known for its potential for crazy memes on shows centered around conspiracy theories about aliens in the pyramids. In 2013 he made a strong commitment to his first fiction series: ‘Vikings‘, a production set in 9th century Scandinavia that surpassed 6 million viewers at its premiere. Now you have its 89 episodes in Netflixand continues to triumph in audiences. The source material for the series is somewhat slippery: the main source on the life of Ragnar Lothbrok is the ‘Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok’, a 13th century Icelandic text (among other works that mention him, such as the ‘Heimskringla’, or the ‘Sögubrot’). They are texts that were written three or four centuries after the events they describe, based on oral tradition, and their historical reliability is very debatable (although experts at the time They have praised his rigor when capturing the past). And yet, as the network’s first bet on serialized fiction, it worked: the showrunner Michael Hirst had just written the film ‘Elizabeth’ and created the series ‘The Tudors’. Hirst wrote each of the 89 episodes alone.something unusual in a television production of that scale. The narrative coherence that this generates is considerable, and that is why it has obtained Consistently positive grades on rating aggregators as Rotten Tomatoes (where seasons 3 and 6 achieved a 100% rating from critics), with an average of 93. And all thanks to its balance between the most visceral action and the historical analysis of paganism, customs and geopolitics. And although it was not received in such a unanimously positive way, if you binge the six seasons you also have on Netflix the three seasons of the sequel, ‘Vikings: Valhalla’, set more than a century after the events of the original series, and analyzing the conflicts between the descendants of the Vikings and the English nobility. The Nordic saga does not end here: Amazon Prime has contracted the rights to ‘Bloodaxe’, in which Michael Hirst once again gets behind the scripts, reviewing the life of another famous Nordic creature. In Xataka | Today on Prime Video: the international blockbuster that has restored luster to the erotic thriller genre

Tomorrow one of the platform’s main action heroes returns to Prime Video, although he does so in an unexpected format

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When Amazon closed ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ in July 2023, the fourth and final season left one character with accounts settled. John Krasinski had spent five years playing a CIA analyst perpetually misplaced in a world that surpassed him. Few expected him to return to the character so soon and, above all, to do so in this way: ‘Jack Ryan: Covert Warthe first film derived from the series, arrives this Wednesday, May 20 to Prime Video. When Amazon premiered the series in 2018, the streaming It was still an incipient phenomenon. Amazon needed a high-budget action product, and opted for this well-known CIA analyst who had already had four previous performers: Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. Krasinski stayed with the character throughout the television run, allowing the character to be developed in greater detail than his previous incarnations. The series was a success: 37% of Prime Video users watched the series during the first month. In 2024, Amazon MGM Studios announced the production of a film that would continue the series. The last time we saw Ryan star in a feature film was in ‘Jack Ryan: Enter Shadow’ in 2014, with Chris Pine. Here, Krasinski is joined by Sienna Miller as an MI6 agent. The plot follows Ryan, removed from the action but dragged back when uncovers a corrupt black ops unit known as Project Starling. The film arrives at a peculiar time for Prime Video. “The platform has built a very solid action ecosystem in recent years, with series like ‘Fallout’, ‘The Boys’ and, above all, ‘Reacher’, the epitome of that subgenre of thrillers and action.”for parents” to which Jack Ryan also belongs. The third season of ‘Reacher’ accumulated 54.6 million global viewers in its first two weeks. It is not surprising that Amazon has already suggested that ‘Covert War’ is not an end, but a new chapter. In Xataka | Today on Prime Video, the conclusion of the best series from the creator of ‘The Sandman’ comes with a radical surprise in its duration

We have seen it in action and everything changes there

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Hey, what was the title of Almodóvar’s last film? Play the song that uses the basis of “Saturday Night” by Aitana. Move the music to the living room. Daniela is coming to dinner, do you think she will like this dish? How do I look? Is this outfit formal for the event? Buy my favorite wine. Order a Cabify from here to Cibeles. There is nothing strange in these sentences. They are how we speak. The rare thing, until now, was for an assistant to understand them well. Amazon brings Alexa+ to Spain with the promise to change that. After seeing it in a presentation just a few hours ago, the idea is clear: talk to our Echo devices so naturally that we forget that they are machines. The Alexa+ leap is not only in AI, but in how we speak What Amazon is trying to sell with Alexa+ It’s pretty easy to understand, at least on paper: stop talking to a speaker as if we were giving orders to a robot. Instead, the idea is that we can express ourselves naturally, change the subject, leave half sentences or say things as we would say them at home, without thinking too much about how to formulate them. That was, in fact, one of the most repeated ideas during the presentation. Amazon summed up part of that ambition with a pretty clear phrase: “We no longer have to learn the Alexa language.” Said like this, it may sound nuanced, but it is not. Until now, a good part of the experience with this type of assistant involved us adapting to the machine: repeating the activation word, choose each term wellavoid detours and trust that he would not get lost along the way. With Alexa+, at least from what we have seen, the promise is just the opposite. We can ask him to change the music in the room, ask him about a movie, resume a previous conversation or chain several ideas in a row without having to start from scratch each time. That’s where Amazon believes the real leap is. From there the other great promise of Alexa+ comes into play: that it not only responds, but also does things for us. Amazon presents it as a leap from the assistant that informs the assistant that acts, and that is where functions such as managing the calendar, writing an email or playing music come in according to our tastes. The situation changes when that action leaves the ecosystem itself and fully immerses itself in real-world services, such as reserving a table or ordering a car. In Spain, this layer of actions starts with several partners already mentioned by Amazon, among them TheFork, Cabify and Tripadvisor,. Translated into day-to-day life, that means that part of the most ambitious usefulness of the assistant will not only be played in how it converses, but in how many services it manages to understand well outside the home. And there, at least for now, the initial photo is still quite limited. Another thing that Amazon wanted to highlight in the presentation is that Alexa+ not only improves when we talk to it, but also when we give it more context about ourselves. Some of that knowledge can come from our daily activities, from calendar entries or from what you already know from previous interactions, but also from information that we choose to share with you explicitly. The company showed, for example, how documentation can be sent to you by mail so you can incorporate it into your context, such as a school menu. From there, Alexa+ can retrieve that data later and use it in subsequent responses. That layer becomes even more striking when the camera on some Echo devices comes into play. In the presentation we saw how Alexa+ could “see” and answer questions about what is in front of you, from an outfit to other elements of the environment. There were also scenes in which he crossed personal context with practical suggestions, such as recommending a recipe based on what was at home and adjusting that proposal when remembering that a guest did not like a specific ingredient. Added to this is another strong promise: internet connection, real-time information, integration with music and video beyond Amazon’s own services and a well-worked adaptation to Spanish from Spain, both in accent and in cultural references and everyday situations. Our first impression, after seeing it in action just a few hours ago, is that the proposal makes sense and that Amazon has found a fairly clear way to explain why Alexa+ wants to distance itself from the usual Alexa. The presentation was solid and left a good feeling, especially due to the naturalness with which the assistant seemed to chain requests, understand the context and move between different tasks. Now, all of this happened in a controlled environment, prepared by the company itself to show the product in its best version. It promises, yes, but the important test will come when it starts to leave that framework and we see how it really performs in real life. Another important point of the launch is the price, because Amazon has decided to place Alexa+ in a very particular field. During early access it will be free, but after that it will become cost 22.99 euros per month if contracted separately. At the same time, the company has also confirmed that it will be included in the Prime subscription in Spain. And then there’s the most practical part of all: how to get started. Here Amazon proposes two paths. The first involves purchasing one of the compatible Echo devices, which gives immediate access to the early access program. The second is designed for those who already have one at home: in that case, you have to register on the website that the company has enabled, www.amazon.es/nuevalexaand wait to receive an invitation. Amazon assures that these additions will be made in phases over the coming weeks, so not all … Read more

The most profitable action of the AI ​​revolution in Spain is not a software company. It is a construction company

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We know Florentino Pérez ample by hire galactics and for his business successes, but a priori we would not easily relate him to the rise of AI. And by not doing so we would make a serious mistake, because the manager managed to see before anyone else that this was a huge opportunity… and he is taking advantage of it almost without us realizing it. what has happened. ACS is a construction company that doesn’t seem particularly fascinating. You lay bricks, asphalt and cement, but in 2025 the data tells a fascinating story. The company obtained a net profit of 950 million euros, 15% more than the previous year, and the engine of that growth was its American subsidiary, Turnerwhose contribution to the group’s results grew by 66.6% to 549 million euros. Turner doesn’t build flats or highways. Build data centers. And therein lies the crux of the matter. AI needs big construction companies. The transformation has not happened all at once. ACS has been betting on this niche for years with a simple but powerful thesis: AI requires enormous amounts of hardware, and that hardware needs equally huge buildings with cooling, energy and security. And ACS is dedicated to precisely that: to build large buildings. In Xataka Amazon is building an empire in Aragon: it has just paid 1.5 million to expand the electrical network to its fifth data center Florentino triumphs in the US. Turner arrived earlier and stronger. In 2025, ACS won several large-scale data center contracts, including the construction of a 902-megawatt center in Wisconsin as part of the Stargate program, and a stake in the $10 billion, one-megawatt Meta campus in Indiana. Those are conventional projects. They are cities whose inhabitants are servants for this new era of AI. Go for it all. As they point out in five daysdata centers generated more than 9 billion euros in sales during 2025, and ACS has already delivered more than 9 GW of capacity all over the world. That figure is extraordinary, especially considering that in all of Spain the installed capacity barely reaches 7 GW. The Spanish company that talks the least about AI has been silently one of its great beneficiaries for years. Very much in the style of Florentino Pérez, who usually maintains a relatively low profile and succeeds without making too much noise. Stocks on the rise. The market took a while to see it, but it has reacted forcefully. ACS shares have soared 115% in the last twelve months. Today they are close to 110 euros and mark historical highs while the construction sector advances (“only”) 20%. Group sales they reached 49,848 million euros, with the US and Canada contributing 63% of the total. ACS is in practice more of a North American technological infrastructure company than a Spanish construction company. It is listed on the Ibex and is chaired by one of the great football personalities, yes, but its current driving force is not here, but in the US and in the AI ​​fever. Build and Own. ACS is not limited to executing other people’s contracts: it also wants to be the owner of what it builds. In January 2026, the company completed an alliance with Global Infrastructure Partners, BlackRock subsidiaryto create a 50/50 joint venture to develop a global data center platform with an initial capacity of 1.7 GW. Already before had bought Dornanan Irish engineering company specialized in this type of infrastructure, for 436 million euros. ACS doesn’t just want to build AI data centers: it wants to own a piece of that infrastructure. The dollar as a great risk. One of the big problems with this project is the US currency. With more than 60% of its income in North America, each fall of the dollar against the euro is a setback for the Spanish multinational. The devaluation of the dollar is already greater than 10% after the last twelve months, and that has prevented Turner’s growth from being even greater. According to Renta 4 analysts, the “currency effect” subtracted more than five percentage points from the growth of net profit. And investors warn. Analysts themselves consider that the AI ​​market has already discounted a good part of future growth. At Bloomberg, the consensus is to maintain the stock with an average target price of 88 euros, which would imply a fall of 20% compared to current levels. This is what usually happens with good economic stories: when everyone knows them, they are no longer an opportunity. But at ACS they are optimistic. Although experts are cautious, at ACS they expect that spending on infrastructure quadruples from now to 2034. In fact, they expect that the benefits of 2026 will go even further than those of 2025 and exceed 1,000 million euros. If it achieves this, Florentino’s company will have completed one of the quietest and most profitable industrial transformations in the recent history of our country. {“videoId”:”x86aas4″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”60% of the INTERNET passes through HERE: This is the LARGEST Data Processing Center in SPAIN”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”266″} Turner is ahead. According to Data Center MagazineTurner accumulated a backlog – a portfolio of confirmed orders – of $39 billion as of August 2025. It is the dominant construction company in this segment globally, although of course it has direct competitors such as DPR Construction, Holder, Skanska or AECOM. However, none have achieved the same concentration of contracts with the hyperscalers (Meta, Amazon and Microsoft). Turner has been building its reputation as a builder of this type of facility for more than a decade, and it is very difficult to replicate that advantage quickly. The irony of ACS and Spain. There is a geographical paradox in this success story: Spain and Europe have years debating on digital sovereignty, technological dependence and the need to build own infrastructure for not to be left out of the AI ​​revolution. While this debate is taking place, the Spanish company that is most building this infrastructure is doing so almost exclusively outside of Spain. As … Read more

The fighters and bombers were a warning to Japan. Now China has taken action with a devastating veto: pandas

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The crisis between China and Japan has entered a deeper and symbolically harsher phase, marked by a clear transition from direct military pressure to political, cultural and emotional coercion. It all began after the statements of the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, stating that a Chinese attack against Taiwan would mean an existential threat for Japan, a phrase that Beijing interpreted as the prelude to a possible Japanese military involvement in a conflict on the island. From warning to punishment. Since those words, China has raised the pulse with a calculated combination of demonstrations of force and indirect retaliation: J-15 fighters illuminating Japanese aircraft with radar from the Liaoning aircraft carrier, joint flights of strategic bombers Chinese and Russians near the Japanese archipelago and a diplomatic campaign that seeks to isolate Tokyo by remembering the Japanese imperial past and its role in World War II. Heaven as a message. The aerial maneuvers They are not isolated incidents, but carefully choreographed messages. The passage of the Liaoning south of Okinawa, the radar jams and the flights of nuclear-capable bombers over the Sea of ​​Japan and the East China Sea are part of a pattern of intimidation that seeks highlight two ideas: that China is willing to escalate and that Japan cannot count on an automatic response from the United States. Washington, focused on stabilizing its relationship with Beijing and ambiguous about its degree of involvement in a crisis over Taiwan, has left Tokyo in an uncomfortable position. Only after the Chinese-Russian flights came a joint response with American B-52 bombers and Japanese fighters, a sign of deterrence that does not clear up the underlying uncertainty and confirms that the regional balance has become more fragile. The pressure changes. But the most revealing turn in Chinese strategy comes when the confrontation has left the strictly military level and has filtered into everyday life. Beijing has urged its citizens to avoid Japan, discouraged Chinese students from enrolling in Japanese universities, cut flights and dropped organized tourism. Added to this is a waterfall of cultural cancellations: concerts suspended, screenings canceled and shows held in empty pavilions following decisions by Chinese organizers. These are not improvised gestures, but a form of selective punishment that seeks to generate visible costs for Japan without crossing military thresholds, a warning addressed both to Tokyo and other countries tempted to express similar commitments to Taiwan. Panda diplomacy. In this context it takes on all its meaning. the withdrawal of the last giant pandas in Japan. Since the normalization of relations in 1972, pandas have been one of the more refined tools of Chinese soft power: iconic animals, formally on loan, that symbolize friendship, scientific cooperation and goodwill, but whose legal ownership always remains Chinese. Over the decades, Beijing has used its transfer, renewal or withdrawal as a political thermometerrewarding fluid relationships and freezing those that come into conflict. “Panda diplomacy” is not folklore, but a carefully designed form of strategic signaling, capable of conveying closeness or disapproval without the need for official communications. Tokyo is left without pandas. The decision to return to China to Xiao Xiao and Lei Leithe last two pandas at the Ueno Zoo, leaves Japan without any for the first time in more than half a century. Although formally it is presented as the expiration of an agreement and a logistical issue, the chosen moment and Beijing’s silence regarding any possibility of renewal make the march of the pandas in a political gesture impossible to ignore. In a city where these animals are a mass phenomenon and a cultural and economic asset, their departure functions as a tangible reminder who controls the symbols of the bilateral relationship. The expectation of hundreds of thousands of visitors saying goodbye to the pandas underlines the extent to which Chinese punishment has moved beyond the strategic level. to the emotional. A calculated climb. The sequence is revealing: first, military warningsafter, diplomatic pressureand finally, sanction cultural and symbolic. China thus displays a manual of gradual coercion that combines hard and soft force to shape the behavior of its neighbors. Japan, far from giving in, maintains its position on Taiwan supported by public opinion increasingly critical of Beijing, while assuming that the bilateral relationship has entered its lowest point since the Senkaku Islands crisis in 2012. The disturbing thing about the episode is not only the removal of some pandas wave concert cancellationbut the clarity with which China has demonstrated that it has multiple levers (military, economic, cultural and symbolic) to respond to any political challenge. And she is willing to use them all, progressively, when she considers that her red lines have been crossed. Image | Alert5, kumachii, Colegota In Xataka | Everything is going great between China and Japan, they are just pointing heavy weapons at each other In Xataka | China has drawn a very clear red line to Japan: being an ally of the United States is good, supporting Taiwan is bad.

The only Russian access gate to the ISS remains out of service. And that is forcing NASA to take action

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“We are taking a very serious risk; we have no technical reserves for platform number 31; There is only one position for Soyuz-2 launches (in Baikonur),” warned Dmitri Rogozin, then director general of Roscosmos, on January 25, 2022. That wake-up call went almost unnoticed, but today it takes on unexpected weight. What was then described as a structural vulnerability has become an immediate problem for Russia’s ability to reach low orbit. And, in turn, for the operational balance of the International Space Station. That reflection of 2022 seemed distant until the last takeoff from Baikonur showed that the lack of redundancy is no longer a hypothetical risk. Platform 31/6, from where manned missions and freighters take off to the ISS, was damaged after the launch of Soyuz MS-28 (Expedition 74). The ship docked without problems, but the ramp did not pass the test. From that moment on, the question stopped being technical and became operational: what does it mean for the only infrastructure configured for these missions to be out of service from one day to the next. What happened in Baikonur and how is Russian access to the ISS? The first images of the Baikonur complex after the launch showed that the incident had not been minor. The service platform located under the rocket, a mobile structure of about 20 tons used for access prior to takeoff, a fall appeared in the ramp pit. According to sources consulted by Ars Technica, everything indicates that it was not secured correctly and was ejected by the thrust of Soyuz-2. Roscosmos admitted damage to “several elements” of the complex, although without going into details. The visible magnitude of the impact suggests a more complex repair than the official message indicates. Condition of damaged platform in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Now, one of the least visible elements of the Russian program is the diversity of platforms from which the different Soyuz take off. However, only a subset of them meets the technical and orbital conditions to send crew or cargo to the ISS. That detail explains why the damage in Baikonur generates such an immediate impact on international planning. Current overview of the main ramps: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Site 31/6 (Soyuz-2): ramp used for manned missions and Progress freighters. Currently not operational. Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Site 45 (Baiterek/Soyuz-5): future candidate, still in the testing phase and without certification for missions to the ISS. Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Gagarin’s Start: symbolic installation of the Soviet program, today deactivated and in the process of becoming a museum. Plesetsk, Russia: designed for high and polar orbits, it is not suitable for reaching the inclination of the ISS. Vostochny, Russia: in use for cargo missions, but not configured for crewed flights or missions to the ISS. The temporary paralysis of the Russian capacity to launch missions to the station affects a decisive element of the orbital ecosystem: the Progress freighters. These ships not only transport supplies for the Russian segment, but also provide the fuel necessary to periodically raise the orbit of the ISS and use their thrusters to assist in attitude control. Other ships, such as Dragon or Cygnus, have demonstrated ability to contribute in part to these tasksalthough they do not cover all uses of Progress. NASA’s response was not long in coming. According to internal planning cited by Ars Technica, lThe agency has advanced two Dragon cargo missions to ensure sufficient operating margin in the coming months. CRS-34, initially scheduled for June 2026, moves to May, and CRS-35 moves from November to August. One source describes these changes as a “direct result” of the Baikonur incident. The goal is simple: ensure that the station has supplies without depending on the uncertain schedule of upcoming Progress missions. Launch of Soyuz MS-28 from Baikonur on November 27, 2025 From the outside, the agency has insisted that the station maintains sufficient capacity for the maneuvers of reboot and attitude control and that no immediate impacts are expected. Everything seems to indicate that the rescheduling of the Dragon missions works as an additional cushion. Roscosmos claims to have of the necessary spare parts and maintains that the repairs will be completed “in the near future.” However, the official estimate contrasts with the valuations collected by the Russian newspaper Kommersant. In that publication, Aleksandr Khokhlov, a member of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Cosmonautics Federation, maintains that the repairs could be prolonged from half a year to more than a yeardepending on the actual extent of the damage. Added to this are the extreme temperatures in Kazakhstan in winter and the budgetary pressure derived from the war in Ukraine. What happened at Baikonur reminds us that the architecture of the station depends on both technical decisions and political priorities. NASA has already reinforced its operating margin and now the question is how Russia will respond to a setback that reveals the lack of redundancies in its infrastructure. The pace of repair and the willingness to sustain their participation will mark the stability of the program in the coming months. Ultimately, this episode anticipates the challenges of a stage in which the ISS requires more effort than is sometimes visible. Images | NASA (1, 2, 3) | Roscosmos In Xataka | We already know when the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS will be closest to Earth and what’s better: how to see it

Spain is a country extremely loyal to its local supermarkets. A chain wants to change that: Action

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He already competitive and highly contested sector of retail Spanish has become complicated with the emergence of a new actor, one whom some already present as a direct competitor of Mercadona or Aldi, although its approach is slightly different. Your name: actiona Dutch chain that is expanding strongly throughout Europe. So much so, in fact, that he boasts of having more than 3,000 stores spread across 13 countries and serve 20.2 million customers every week. And among those countries Spain is included. What exactly is Action? A chain of stores. So far nothing exceptional or out of the ordinary. What has made him stand out is his expansion ratesomething it has achieved largely due to its approach: an aggressive commitment to promotions, prices and an offer in continuous review. To start (and how you can check in your website) the company offers a wide catalog of items that includes everything from household items to stationery, electronics, toys, tools, parapharmacy, clothing or sports. What it differs from, for example, Mercadona (or most supermarkets) is in its power line. While Juan Roig’s firm pays more and more attention to already cooked food and ready to goAction is limited to snacks, cookies, candy, soft drinks and some packaged foods, such as instant noodles or protein bars. Nothing fresh. No butcher or fruit shop sections. Is it their only difference? Its main bet is prices, a discount policy that leads it to launch weekly promotions with products under €15. The company gives it so much importance that it presents itself as “a chain of discount stores for non-food products” and assures that the majority of its products (two thirds) can be purchased for less than two euros. It is nothing exceptional, but it is an effective formula that has allowed other companies to grow before, like Temu. Action ensures that it always has 1,500 products for one euro and renews its catalog with 150 new items every week. And does it work for you? It seems so. At least if we look at your history and figures. Although the company is young (it opened its first store in Enkhuizen, Netherlands, in 1993) it has managed to spread throughout Europe to add more than 3,000 stores in 13 countries. Your last balance shows that its net sales in the first half of the year reached 7.3 billion euros, 17.9% more than in 2024. Regarding commercial expansion, during the same period it opened 125 new stores that now receive, on average, around 20.2 million customers every week. Its main markets are France and Germany, where this year it opened its 600th store. Its presence is also notable in Poland, with around 400 premises. In general, its progression over the last 20 years has been more than notable: in 2003 the chain added 100 storesin 2008 they were already double, in 2014 it added half a thousand and in 2022 it exceeded the 2,000 barrier. This year it has already celebrated a new brand (3,000 stores), with the jump to the Romanian and Swiss markets. And in Spain? The chain debuted in Spain in 2022 and two years later it advanced its peninsular expansion with your first store in Portugal. Here the pioneer was an establishment in Girona, although during its inauguration those responsible for the company already announced that they would continue advancing with a view to the rest of Spain. In fact, during the Girona premiere, Monique Groeneveld, director of the firm, already clarified that in a matter of “weeks” more stores would open in the rest of Catalonia. The passing of the years has confirmed that he was not just talking. Today Action has almost 90 stores spread throughout much of the Spanish geography and a notable footprint in the Community of Madrid, Catalonia, Murcia and the Valencian Community. At the beginning of summer, when it had 74 stores, its workforce already exceeded 1,400 people. Recently its expansion throughout the Spanish geography was expanded with new stores in Royal City, Gijón, Baena and Tárrega. Since June, this vast commercial network has also been completed with its first distribution center in the country, the sixteenth in Europe. A facility of around 59,000 square meters (m2) located in Illescas, in the province of Toledo, designed to supply 210 stores throughout Spain and Portugal. Are they all advantages? No. Although the Dutch chain shares part of the strategy of other firms that have achieved a wide presence in Spain, as a commitment to low costaggressive pricing policy, promotions and own brandswill not have an easy time beating other large chains. Its offer is not comparable to that of Mercadona, Aldi or Lidl (especially due to the differences in food), but Spanish retail is already highly contested and has giants such as Roig’s firm, which has a share of almost 30%. The Spanish customer has also demonstrated notable loyalty towards regional firms. Images | Action and Google Maps In Xataka | For Juan Roig, the key to Mercadona’s future is very simple: “Salaries above the sector average”

Europe has decided to take action against Moscow’s hybrid war. So Germany has started hunting for Russian drones

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Which started as a succession of technical incidents and contradictory testimonies did not take long to shake the governments of the old continent, mobilizing ships and planes, and forcing Berlin to rewrite the rules about when and how something floating above our heads can be knocked down. On that invisible chessboard there was a question that everyone avoided answering: who really presses the button that launches these devices, and for what purpose? Now, Germany and the rest of Europe seem to agree. The invisible front. we have been counting. Europe has entered an unprecedented phase of aerial vulnerability. In just a few months, a wave of incursions by unidentified drones (some over airports, industrial plants and strategic centers) has forced the closure of airspace, diverting flights and putting on alert to the forces navies of several countries. In Germany, air traffic disruptions have been multiplied by 33% in a single year, and what began as a succession of isolated incidents has become a continental phenomenon that many attribute to a hybrid offensive orchestrated by Russia. And more. These raids, without constituting a formal act of war, are part of a destabilization strategy broader that combines cyberattacks, sabotage and technological intimidation to gauge NATO’s reaction and test European response capacity without crossing the threshold of direct confrontation. Germany changes doctrine. Until recently, German authorities were limited to detecting drones, without being able to intervene on them. However, the magnitude of the raids (which forced even at closing of Munich airport and left thousands of passengers stranded) has forced a legal change of enormous significance. The Government of Friedrich Merz has approved a bill authorizing the federal police to shoot down drones that violate German airspace or represent an immediate danger, using everything from kinetic shots to laser weapons and electronic jamming systems. It is not a trivial topic. It is about the first modification of the police law since 1994, and its parliamentary approval will place Germany at the level from France, the United Kingdom, Lithuania and Romaniacountries that already allow the active neutralization of unmanned aircraft. The Executive has also announced the creation of a national anti-drone unit that will be in charge of neutralizing low-altitude devices, while those with greater power will remain under military jurisdiction. Between safety and climbing. The approval of this law reflects a dilemma that crosses all of Europe: how to respond to Russian hybrid aggression without provoking an escalation of war. Chancellor Merz himself has acknowledged that many of the intercepted aircraft appear to be carrying out reconnaissance flights, without weapons, but with clear strategic intentions. At the same time, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has underlined that operations in urban environments must be governed by the principle of proportionality to avoid collateral damage. Fear that a misidentification could lead to a diplomatic or military incident keeps security forces on edge. a constant balance between firmness and prudence. Meanwhile, Germany modernizes its defense with systems such as the Rheinmetall Skyrangerdesigned to neutralize swarms of drones in the middle of a hybrid war, and strengthens its coordination with NATO in the face of the risk that the technological frontier will also become a political frontier. The risk of the “gray zone”. Recent incidents in Poland, Estonia and Romania (where Russian drones and MiG-31 fighters have violated allied airspace) have prompted NATO to review its rules of engagement. Countries bordering Russia, backed by France and the United Kingdom, have proposed more aggressive measures: allow pilots to open fire without visual confirmation, arm surveillance drones and carry out military exercises on the same border line. Although some allies advocate containment to avoid a direct clash with a nuclear power, others maintain that the only effective deterrence is the visible action. Washington has pushed to relax response rules and even has suggested that the Alliance should “shoot Russian planes” that enter its airspace. In other words, the debate has revealed the tension between European caution and the American desire to regain the initiative against Moscow, in a context in which the war in Ukraine and Russian aerial provocations threaten to overflow the limits of conventional war. Europe and the air shield. The idea we count recently. While NATO refines its protocols, the European Union is trying to strengthen its autonomous capacity against hybrid attacks. The president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has proposed lifting that “drone wall”a network of sensors, radars and weapons that protects the eastern flank of the continent. Brussels is also preparing sanctions and restrictions to the movement of Russian diplomats suspected of directing sabotage operations, while allocating community funds to finance anti-drone systems in airports, ports and power plants. The initiative seeks not only to reinforce physical security, but also to respond politically to the Russian attempt to sow division within the EU. “Russia wants to divide us; we must respond with unity,” has warned von der Leyen, stressing that defense against gray war cannot be limited to reacting, but must focus on active deterrence. Europe in transformation. The drone challenge has forced Europe to recognize that 21st century war is not fought only with tanks and missiles, but also with algorithmsautonomous swarms and information saturation. The German law authorizes the demolition of unmanned aircraft, military coordination of NATO on the eastern flank and the new European strategy air defense They are part of the same response: that of a continent that adapts to an enemy that does not always show itself. In the diffuse space of the hybrid warwhere a civilian drone can become a strategic weapon and a cyber attack an act of war, the border between peace and conflict has become more blurred than ever. Germany, the industrial and political epicenter of the old continent, seems to have understood that security is no longer measured in battles, but in reaction seconds. And as the Ukraine war redefines the global balance of power, Europe rehearses its own defensive revival: a forced transition from pacifism to pragmatism, in which each downed … Read more

They do them for them and companies are taking action

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The remote work interviews They have become fertile terrain for candidates to use AI as a cheat assistant and simply read the answers that the assistant facilitates in real time. A survey of the interview simulation portal with AI interviewing.io It points to the fact that 81% of the interviewers suspect that candidates use AI During their interviews, while 31 % have already confirmed it. The dilemma: traps or tools? One of the most striking cases of use of AI in the Cluelystartup founded by two Columbia student to solve technical interviews with the help of An undetectable For the interviewer. After discovering the deception, the University suspended it for “academic dishonesty.” However, the approach of the two students He opened a debate: Is it a trap to use a calculator or spelling corrector of the text editor or are they tools that everyone uses in their usual work? Increasingly hard interviews. To respond to these practices of candidates who hide the use of AI attendees during their interviews, companies have hardened the processes. As the analyst and engineer points out Gergely Orosz In one of the entries from your newslettersome companies are already changing the content of the interviews so that they are more open and require a logical route and not simply remain in the copy and paste of the Training questions that appear on platforms Training as Leetcode. Orosz stressed that the interviewers of large companies as a goal, are already obliged to indicate whether there are suspicions that the candidate is cheating at any point in the selection process, not only in technical tests. Thus, interviews are less vulnerable to the use of AI. According to statements From a finish line, “we demand the candidates to share their entire screen and deactivate all the background filters (including the blur) in most interviews” to reduce the possibility of external support. According to collected India TodayAmazon has already made it clear that “the use of unauthorized during interviews can lead to immediate disqualification” of the hiring process. Prohibit interviews. The dilemma facing technological press to use them In all possible processes. While some companies prohibit the use of AI In their interviews, others explore otherwise. According The published by Business InsiderGoal is allowing to use AI assistants in some of their work interviews. According to the company, “candidates can use AI tools in the same way that engineers do in their day to day.” What do you know how to do with AI? In that same line, other companies such as Canva move, which Incentives use of AI tools in their interviews to assess the skills of the candidates in this area. As stated, Farhan Thawar, Shopify engineering manager at A recent interviewin the selection processes of their department they let the candidates use what they want. “I love it. Because what happens now is that Ia sometimes generates pure garbage. When the candidate uses an AI assistant, I like to see the code generated. I ask them: What do you think? Is it a good code? Isn’t it a good code? Is there any problem?” That approach puts the AI ​​in the place that will occupy in its real position, since one of the tasks of the candidate It will be to check code generated by Ia. The return of the face -to -face. On the other hand, given the increase in fraud, some companies are recovering face -to -face interviews. Great technology such as Google, Cisco and McKinsey have reintroduced at least A face -to -face round. According to a Gartner report72.4 % of those responsible for selection are already applying it to reduce fraud In work interviews since face -to -face interviews allow you to verify the immediate reasoning, communication and reaction skills of the candidates. “Teleworking and advances in artificial intelligence have facilitated more than ever the infiltration of false candidates in the hiring process,” declared to Computerworld Scott McGuckin, Vice President of Acquisition of Global Talent of Cisco In Xataka | “I am very perfectionist”: the answer that recruiters no longer want to hear in work interviews Image | Pexels (Edmond Dantès)

How to use Gemini to convert a photo into an ultra realistic action doll with Nanobanana

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Let’s explain How to turn a photo In a Bandai -style action figure, with its box and everything. You will be able to do this with the Gemini image editorand it will be an almost exact reproduction of the character that appears in the photo, whether a person, an animated character or even your pet. Gemini has a powerful photo editor for artificial intelligencewith which you can do many things. And although it focuses above all on being an alternative to Photoshop, you can also do creative things like this, and all this even with the free version. In this image, a box will also be accompanied with the character, and in the background you will see a computer. Turn your photo into a realistic figure To be able to create this type of image, you first need a photo that you have taken from the character from whom you want to create the image. Gemini will use that image as a reference, causing the doll to have the same posture and expression. It’s like making a photo dollthat is, you will have to choose well what you want. Then, you just have to upload the photo and write the following Prompt: Create a 1/7 scale marketed figure of the photo character, in a realistic style and environment. Place the figure on the table of a computer, using a transparent acrylic circular base without any text. On the computer screen, it shows the ZBrush modeling process of the figure, which must also have the same features in the photo. Next to the computer screen, place a bandal -style toy packaging printed with the original illustration, and with colors similar to those of the character. In the box you must put as name “(name)”. In very few seconds Gemini will create the image for you. The only thing you should worry about in this prompt is Change the name of the boxto add the one you want. You can also change what you want, such as the background computer or the box next to its colors. You can also do the same with drawings That you have dropped from the Internet, using the characters of your favorite anime or comics. The only limit is that Gemini does not allow doing so with photos of real people downloaded from the Internet. In Xataka Basics | Gemini Image Editor: 16 forms and tricks to squeeze Nano-Banana with Google’s artificial intelligence

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