average

63% of workers do not reach the average salary

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Although it is true that salaries in Spain they have not stopped rising In recent years, the data suggests that this increase has been insufficient. The data collected in a report of CCOO confirm one of the paradoxes that the Spanish labor market registers: while employment breaks records month after month, with more than 22 million people workingthe majority cannot reach the average salary in the country. An average salary that almost no one earns. According to the report prepared by the CCOO Economic Cabinet, the average salary in Spain is 2,386 gross euros per month in twelve paymentsaccording to data from the EPA 2024. However, 63% of employees, some 11.64 million people, do not reach that figure on their payroll. The trick is how the average salary is calculated and how the high salaries of a minority they pull up the stocking leaving the rest beloweven though they are the majority. Therefore, the median salary data consolidated in 2024 is more revealing: half of the workers did not reach 2,041 gross euros per month in 2024, 345 euros less than the average salary. That is the point that divides Spain into two halves. A labor market with two speeds. According to the Salary Structure Survey 2024the most common gross annual salary in Spain was 16,520 euros, far from the 29,540 euros of the annual average. Almost three out of ten employees earn between 16,000 and 23,000 euros per year, the range where the majority of the country actually lives. Young people who start working earn an average of 1,372 euros gross per month, well below the 2,680 euros of those who close their careers. Temporary contracts and moonlighting They explain a good part of that distance. There is also a gap between autonomies: Extremadura, the Canary Islands and Castilla-La Mancha continue to lag behind in salaries, although they are the ones that grow the most, driven by the increases in the SMI. The increases finally reach those who earn the least. The interesting thing about the report prepared by the union is not only the diagnosis, but also the change in trend that is drawn. Between 2018 and 2024 the average salary gained 2.8% real purchasing powercompared to the 1.6% registered between 2007 and 2018. The important difference is in the lowest salary range: the 10% of workers with the lowest income have improved a real 24% since 2018, after having lost 17.8% during the previous crisis. This change is defined by salary policies such as increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wageset at 1,221 euros per month in 14 payments by 2026, which has raised the floor for the lowest payrolls. The decree that established the SMI itself recalls that one of its objectives is to reach the 60% of the average salaryas required by the European Social Charter. Housing eats up the salary improvement. Earning more no longer guarantees a better life if basic goods such as rent rise faster than payroll. And in Spain it is doing it. Rental prices rose 2.5% year-on-year in June, according to data from the INE CPIand accumulates an increase of 1.4% only so far in 2026. According to the authors of the report, rising housing prices “reduce the impact of wage increases”, especially among the lowest incomes and young people. A floor that rises more than the salary translates into less savings and a longer delay in emancipation. In Xataka | A study has compared the gap in public salaries vs. private companies in Europe and has found a problem: Spain Image | Unsplash (Acton Crawford)

“The average user should be worried because phishing is being refined with AI”

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AI is changing everything, including cybersecurity. The release of Claude Mythos a couple of months ago set off the alarms: AI is now capable of finding dozens of vulnerabilities that have been hidden for years. Fear has become the new resource of AI companies to announce their new models. The question is how this affects us mere mortals. More sophisticated scams. For Daniel Púa, head of security at Magnificent (formerly Freepik), the impact is clear: “The average user should be worried because phishing is being refined with AI.” At this point “we have all received the typical phishing with spelling mistakes, with use cases from banks that are not ours, which are very easy to identify.” However, with AI we are seeing how scams are becoming more sophisticated and it is going to be increasingly difficult for us to detect them. “Calls are going to start arriving with the voice of a family member, video calls with the video of a family member and that’s when things are going to get complicated” Cloned voices. “Calls are going to start arriving with the voice of a family member, video calls with the video of a family member and that’s when things are going to get complicated,” Daniel warns. Although not yet the most common scam attempt, deepfake calls with cloned voices that impersonate a family member in distress They are already a problem, to the point that Google itself knows about it and introduced a feature to prevent this. Next step: video calls. As Daniel Púa warns, fake video calls impersonating another person are already a reality. At the moment we have known cases that attack companies, such as the employee who transferred 25 million dollars in a video call in which everyone was deepfakes except him, or as a political weaponbut it is a matter of time before this technology begins to be used against ordinary citizens. From companies to the end user. Púa tells it from within Magnific: “we already have many scam attempts posing as our CEO, on WhatsApp, with audios and everything.” And he anticipates how it will escalate towards the individual user: “once they are established in the companies, which are like the gold mine where they can exploit it more, they will move on to the next one, which is the ordinary user (…) being a much more massive scam, it is no longer a single objective, but there are hundreds of thousands of people and some will get stung.” How to avoid it. Púa’s advice is as simple as it is necessary: ​​”everyone should have a second method of approval. If a family member comes and asks you for something strange, confirm it in another way. For example, if they called you by phone, then you confirm it on WhatsApp.” Cybersecurity experts recommend taking it a step further and create a family password. Púa agrees: “In case he’s asking you something strange, you say, ‘What’s our secret word?’ And you make sure it’s the right person.” The speech of fear. AI companies are using cybersecurity fear as a sales argument for their latest models. Daniel Púa does not buy all that talk: “a lot of hype has been given to it. I do believe that it is the next step in this advance that is being seen in AI related to security, but I do not think it is a paradigm shift as many are selling.” He does not believe that Claude Mythos has been as big a leap as they have sold us and illustrates it with a very clear comparison: “if we say that Opus 4.8 could be a knife, Mythos is perhaps a machete. It is a little more dangerous, but they could do the same damage to you with the previous models.” Be careful with open source. But just because you don’t buy all the talk doesn’t mean that there is no danger, there is a sector in which it is: open source projects. “Almost all the vulnerabilities that Mythos has discovered are in open source programs, with access to the code. That is where I do see a big paradigm shift.” He explains why: “a normal person can take days or weeks and even get lost in that flow and not find the vulnerability. An agent works much better in this because they can follow the entire flow in seconds or minutes.” Image | Xataka with Magnific In Xataka | A stranger calls you on your cell phone and hangs up before you can react. The worst thing you can do: call back

list with the eight that use the most electricity and their average quantities

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Let’s tell you What are the appliances that consume the most? in your home, so that you can keep it in mind and thus be able to use them with caution. Because we have examples like how your oven can spend about 65 refrigerators running at the same time, and they are things that are worth knowing. Of course, you should know that although they are appliances that consume a lot of power, they do it in a timely manner. They are not appliances that you will always have on, although that is precisely why it is advisable to know this consumption for those moments when we may be thinking about whether to use them or not. Appliances that consume the most at home Here you have the list made with different calculations of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE)in addition to energy marketing companies such as Repsol either Naturgy. You must know that They are hourly consumption rangeswhat they consume every hour that you have them on. In addition, you should also know that the consumption range may vary depending on the appliance. Because this is the average, but then other factors such as the age of the device, its efficiency or its features can cause its consumption to vary significantly. In any case, here is the list: Ovens: between 2,000-3,000 watts Vitroceramics and induction hobs: between 1,500-6,500 watts Electric radiators: between 1,500-2,500 watts clothes irons: between 1,500-3,500 watts Electric thermoses: between 1,500-2,500 watts hair dryers: between 1,500-2,000 watts Cooking plates: between 1,500-2,000 watts Electric fryers: between 1,500-2,500 watts To give you context, a refrigerator with a high efficiency model can consume between 100 and 300 kWh per yearalthough other older or inefficient models may exceed 600kWh. Come on, they’re in something like between 30 and 90 watts per hour. Although in the long run this may cause it to consume more than others, it is advisable to take into account the consumption of other appliances that are not always on, so that you can better calculate when to use them depending on the rates you have contracted and their schedules.

Sony has taken advantage of its AI to improve photos. It turned out quite average

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Sony presented the mobile this week more anti-2026 that we had seen in the high range. A return to the headphone jack, the generous bezels, the microSD card and, beyond the curious, a photographic bet that promised to be solid. Just yesterday, the Japanese company published on its social networks how the new assistant worked AI camera in the new Xperia, one “to bring photos to life.” The post has gone really viral, since it is not clear who and why it seemed right to publish said publication in X. all bad. The publication already has 8 million views and more than 3,000 comments, the first of which are directly memes. Beyond the fact that this is the usual trend in X, there are reasons to be disoriented by Sony’s publication. According to the company, which also publishes the same examples on its website, the new AI camera assistant helps create “expressive options to bring our photos to life.” And yes, although what is a good photo and what is not is partly subjective, the publication leaves no room for interpretation. Yes, I laughed. “Life”. The photographs that Sony has shown with the AI ​​mode are terrible. Not from a subjective interpretation, but from introducing photography into any editing programread the histograms, and objectively analyze that they are completely burned (full overexposure) and with a very high color distortion. As the company has shown, this is a mode that completely destroys the naturalness of the original photography, and without practical use to improve the results on a daily basis. Not too surprising. Sony is the leading camera manufacturer in the world. In fact, there are hardly any filmmakers and content creators who do not use their cameras. When buying a phone, the reference to know if it has a good camera is that it has a Sony sensor. But, for some reason, in all Xperia generations there have been serious problems with the camera. Usability of the apps, final quality of the photographs, strange looks that were not completely understood… Despite leading with an iron fist in video cameras, the Xperia division in mobile phones does not come close to what is expected from the manufacturer. Hope? The margin of doubt is always necessary and, after the virality of the publication, it is more than likely that Sony will give AI processing a twist. And, if not, we will always have an additional way to create memes. In Xataka | We have been juggling for ten years to transfer a photo from iPhone to Android. Google closes the wound with AirDrop

a polar Spain in the middle of a world above average

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The climatological autumn has its days numbered and is going to say goodbye in style. After a little rain and mild temperatures, the cold returns to our latitudes. And he is going to do it with force. However, that is not the worrying thing. The worrying thing is what comes next: that in the rain department, we are going to lose a good part of December. “Three days of pure cold.” That’s the summary of the rest of the week. And so says Roberto Granda, one of our greatest temperature experts. As explainedthe cold has already been noticeable in Tuesday’s lows. We have seen “drops of up to 4 and 6 degrees across the board.” Wednesday will be the coldest day of this episode with widespread frost and much of the interior of the country below 10 degrees. However, the coldest night will be Thursday and the minimum temperatures will be below five degrees in most of the peninsular territory. And after? Then we will have a reminder that we are still in autumn. One of those seasons in which the atmosphere casts lots for what is going to happen just before it happens. In this case, despite there being many scenarios on the table, the most likely is that at the end of the week a ridge will settle over Spain to collapse almost immediately, allowing a trough from the north to approach our positions. That would mean more rain: not a lot, but it’s something. Above all, because they may be the last for a long time. The European model has changed its forecast and everything seems to indicate that A NAO+ will be imposed during the first week of December. NAO positive? In general terms, the North Atlantic Oscillation It is the ‘dance’ between the Azores anticyclone and the Icelandic low, the two major atmospheric phenomena that govern the meteorology of the North Atlantic. When the index we use for “measure who is winning” is negative, the Azores anticyclone is weaker than normal and, for this reason, it cannot block the deep Atlantic storms. The direct consequence is that they circulate further south than usual: right at our latitude. yes how everything seems to indicate the NAO becomes positivenot a drop of moisture will enter from the west. The storms will move towards high latitudes (near Iceland and the Nordic countries) and, although stability will not be absolute, the situation will be very dry. Good news for tourism, I guess. Because as explains Samuel Biener“a predominant flow from the west or southwest, the temperatures could be between 1 and 3 ºC above the average in the center, northern third and on the shores of the Mediterranean” during the December long weekend. We do not have any quantification of what will happen in the south and in the Canary Islands, but we can get an idea. Image | TropicalTridBits In Xataka | The last hope of winter in Spain is desperate, but increasingly possible: the breaking of the polar vortex

Young people have become more spiritual than the average in Spain. The problem for the Church is that no more Catholics

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Religion is the great terrain of certainties, but if what we are talking about is religion and youth ‘certainty’ is precisely what is in short supply. With the country talking about Rosalía dressed as a nun and the resurgence of the Catholicism among Generation Z, a new study prepared by a foundation linked to the State provides an alternative perspective: indeed, young Spaniards are more spiritual than the country average, but no more Catholics. In fact, the percentage of those who define themselves as such is much lower than the average for society as a whole. More religious, perhaps; but… The religion that Rome is looking for? What has happened? that the Pluralism and Coexistence Foundationan organization linked to the Ministry of the Presidency, has prepared a study on religion that leaves a few interesting conclusions. The main one (perhaps) is the one that suggests that to talk about religiosity and youth we increasingly need to resort more to nuances and less to pure colors. From black and white, we move to gray. At the moment the foundation has not published the full report, prepared after conducting 4,712 online interviews, but we can get an idea of ​​its content thanks to a progress published exclusively this weekend by The Country. What does the study say? To understand it, it is good to review a few figures. The first, the percentage of Spaniards who define themselves as religious believers. If we talk about the general population, this figure stands at 49%. In 46%, if we focus only on the Catholic faith. Things change when we examine the population by age and look especially at the youngest cohorts. Between 25 and 34 years old, only 31% of the population declares themselves Catholic and in the 18 to 24 year old segment the figure is even lower, 29%. What’s more, in the younger sector the mark of atheism, agnosticism or indifference towards religion stands out. Also the few people who pray or attend religious services. Do young people believe less? Depends. In fact, that is where the nuances that complicate the photo begin. The study shows that the percentage of young people aged 18 to 24 who define themselves as Catholic is lower than that of the population as a whole (29% compared to 46%), but that does not mean that they have turned their backs on religiosity. On the contrary. The report suggests that they have a strong spiritual streak, although one that is likely to raise eyebrows at Spanish Episcopal Confederation (CEE) or to any defender of traditional Catholic dogma. Why is that? Perhaps they are the least frequently defined as Catholic, but according to the information advanced by The Country Young people are the ones who most believe in the existence of “some kind of spiritual reality or life force.” Those between 18 and 24 years old are in fact the age group most convinced of the existence of a soul (59%), the one who most believes in life after death (40%), astrology (29%), clairvoyance (23%) or the “energies” that operate in our world (45%). Young people are also those who show the most interest in tarots (23%). They do it so much that their percentage exceeds that of young people who read the Bible. Spain, a religious country? Tapping the religiosity of a country is not an easy task. Not at least in Spain. A Google search arrives to find different studies that emphasize one detail or another. The study of the Pluralism and Coexistence Foundation (FPC) contrasts in fact with another published a few months ago by the CIS, which pointed out that the percentage of Spaniards who declare themselves Catholic around 52.8% (17.3% practicing and 35.5% non-practicing). Within the survey itself advanced by The Country There are apparent contradictions, such as that in Spain there are fewer monotheists (37%) than Catholics (46%). Does context matter? A lot. The study is interesting for what it says, but also for when it says it. It comes in the midst of a debate on the resurgence of faith among Generation Z and “green shoots” of religiosity, with Rosalía (and other artists) throwing winks at Catholicism, Hakuna moving crowds and the Church boasting of gathering together more than 20,000 young people at the Jubilee in Rome. And the truth is that there are signs that speak of change. Although if we analyze the data from recent decades we can see a secularization of Spanish society, in recent years the percentage of young people who declare themselves practicing Catholics has grown several points. In the 18 to 24 year old cohort, the proportion of believers who acknowledge never or almost never attending religious services, even has gone down. There are those who warn, however, that behind these figures there could be a “paradox”: “There are fewer people who believe, but among those who believe, more explicit forms of practices increase.” reflect Víctor Albert-Blanco, sociologist. Other authors even believe that winks like Rosalía’s are the result of the “deregulation of religious symbology” in a more secularized country. Does the study say anything else? Yes. And its conclusions are unflattering for those who want a return to Catholicism. For its report, the FPC asked those interviewed “what gives a lot or a lot of meaning to your life?”, focusing on eight different aspects. The most popular response was family (90%), followed by friendships (79%), personal growth (78%) and nature (71%). At the opposite end of the list is “religion or spirituality”, with only 31%. In fact, the percentage is lower than that of those who pointed out pets (47%) or social activism (36%). The picture is (even) clearer if we talk about the youngest population cohort, those between 18 and 24 years old. In that case, only 15% point to religion as a source of inspiration, almost four times less than those who claim that pets are what give meaning to their lives. Images | Vick Bufano (Unsplash) and British Province of Carmelites … Read more

“Salaries above the sector average”

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A few days ago, Juan Roig, founder of Mercadona, took the floor before 1,500 businessmen from the mass consumption sector (AECOC) to claim the pride of making money leading a company, but also championing a message that has surprised many: the defense of employee well-being. “You need the worker to feel well treated as a human being, and well treated,” he said. Beyond the discursive epic of the moment, Mercadona supports the words of its founder with data: “We offer salaries above the sector average,” they assure in a corporate statement. That can be your best business strategy in the long term. Juan Roig: Richard Branson in the Spanish way. The millionaire founder of Virgin published in your X profile a memorable phrase: “Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business.” That is, in essence, the message that Juan Roig gave to the businessmen who gathered in his presentation within the framework of the 40th AECOC Congress in Valencia that was held in the new stadium that bears his name. “You can buy the hands, the heart and brain you need for the worker to feel well treated as a human being. And well treated is not doing what the worker wants, but what the worker needs,” said the businessman who claimed to be very proud of his staff. Well-being starts with your pocket: your salary. According to Roig in his presentation, “a Mercadona manager A earns 2,100 euros net per month,” the data provided by Mercadona they confirm it and they place their employees among the best paid in the large supermarket segment. According what was published by News Worka manager A (the largest category in Mercadona’s workforce) earns: Full time (40 hours/week) GROSS monthly salary (approx.) NET Salary (estimated) Manager A (less than 1 year) 1,686 euros/month 1,470 euros/month Manager A (less than 2 years) 1,851 euros/month 1,546 euros/month Manager A (less than 3 years) 2,054 euros/month 1,566 euros/month Manager A (4+ years) 2,280 euros/month 1,830 euros/month Annual bonus for objectives (Less than 5 years) 1 extra monthly payment Annual bonus for objectives (More than 5 years) 2 extra monthly payments Incentives. However, the most differential thing is in the bonuses and incentives for objectives, which can add one or two additional monthly payments to the set if they have been in the company for more than five years. Altogether, the data confirm Juan Roig’s statement. A category A manager with more than five years of seniority can receive a monthly net salary of around 2,100 euros, being between 27% and 72% above the SMI. How the rest of the supermarkets pay. If we compare these salaries with those of other supermarkets, we find that Lidl, its main competitor, offers base salaries slightly higher than those of Mercadona, with 1,539 euros net per month, according to comparative data by Skello. However, the bonuses and incentives are not as generous, so the total sum is slightly behind. The rest of the supermarkets, such as Carrefour, do distance themselves with base salaries of 1,387 euros for the majority of their store staff and few incentives that increase that salary. Playing attrition in an environment of labor shortage. As and as highlighted María Miralles, senior partner of the retail sector in Iberia at the consulting firm McKinsey, in statements to financial times, “Employee retention becomes an increasingly important business imperative. If a rival supermarket chain loses a qualified fishmonger or butcher, finding a replacement on the high street is almost impossible.” This analysis perfectly summarizes the “Mercadona Model“in which they bet on better salaries than their competition and encourage the long-term stability of the workforce to make it an attractive asset to attract talent and avoid let them go to their competition. Bet on training. With an inverted demographic pyramid, staff shortages are going to be a growing problem, so taking care of employees is no longer going to be an option, at least to remain competitive in a expansion scenario to Portugal like the one proposed by Mercadona. According what was published through the medium specialized in food retail Food, Retail & ServiceMercadona invested 128 million euros in training in 2024 with four million training hours for its staff. This implies an individual investment of 1,164 euros per employee and 1,894 people promoted to positions of greater responsibility. That is, Mercadona not only seeks recruit your qualified personnel with better salaries than its direct competition, but also establishes that talent by offering them training and an internal professional career. As Elena Orden, spokesperson for Merco in Spain, pointed out in the article in Financial Times: “In Spain, we have an inverted pyramid in terms of the active population. So, if you want to have the best workers, you need to offer them what others do not offer them and prioritize their well-being.” In Xataka | Juan Roig, Amancio Ortega and Ana Botín in contention for being the highest-rated leaders. Inditex does not find a rival as the best company Image | Mercadona

The average price of Mb/s in each country in the world, arranged in a graph in which there is a unicorn: United Arab Emirates

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Accessing the Internet is a necessity. In an increasingly connected world and in which we trust practically all aspects of our lives to online applicationshave a good coverage and speed It has become something essential. In fact, a server “blackout” like him recently lived with those from AWS demonstrates to what extent we depend on this connection. However, although the Internet is global, there is a huge digital divide. To the point that there are some who pay a cent per Mbps… and others exceed four euros for the same amount. The graph. With data from We Are Socialthe graph prepared by Visual Capitalist compare the price of megabit per secondor Mbps, in more than 60 countries in 2025. Before commenting on individual cases, because there are very striking ones, it must be said that the estimate is that the average price of Mbps worldwide is around 45 cents. The global average is also around 40 euros, but as we can see in the data, there are countries above and below that completely distort that average. And something important to understand is that the price of Internet responds to infrastructure and population density (it is expensive to bring broadband Internet to remote populations), but also to factors such as competition and tax policies. One question: United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates perfectly exemplifies those last two points. It almost seems incredible, but the price of Mbps in the country exceeds four euros. Data from We Are Social puts it at $4.31 per Mb/s, almost double what is paid in the next most expensive country: Ghana with its $2.58 per Mb/s. On average, an Emirati pays between 100 and 140 dollars just to have Internet, and the big question is what is happening to make that happen. The answer? Politics and competition. In the UAE there are only two companies that provide the service, so this lack of real competition means that they do not have a need to lower the price. Do you want Internet? Well, take it or leave it. Plus, there is the political part. The State forces operators to transfer up to 30% of their profits to the country’s coffers, and it is something that directly affects the price of the final bill for the consumer. The speed not bad (an average of 300 Mbps), but it is evident that the price is prohibitive for many, potentially generating the aforementioned digital divide. The Romanian secret. In it opposite side On the spectrum we have the countries of Eastern Europe, specifically in a country whose flagship company we know well in Spain: Romania and DIGI. The average prices for fiber optics in the country are around 10 euros and the price of Mb/s is just 0.01 dollars. Russia and Poland are not far behind, and what has caused this is precisely the opposite of what is happening in the UAE. After the fall of communism, dozens of private operators They began to deploy decentralized fiber optic networks. Taking advantage of community wiring in cities and building blocks, the “last mile” problem was solved, allowing Internet to be offered to a large number of people with minimal costs. It is estimated that almost 90% of Romanian homes have high-speed Internet and DIGI has exported that “policy” outside its borders, offering the longed for 10 Gbps at the price of 1 Gbps in countries like Spain. Above the dollar. Commenting on each country is a complex process because there are multiple factors that come into play, but I find it almost more interesting to see which countries are whose Mbps exceeds the dollar. In fact, these countries perfectly exemplify everything that comes into play when it comes to offering a cheap connection: Swiss: The average price is just over two dollars per Mbps due to the dominance of a single operator and the country’s salary structure: high salaries and, therefore, high maintenance costs. Kenya: averages about $1.54 per Mbps due to its poor fiber infrastructure that makes the country depend to technologies like starlink or the google balloons. Now, the competition is increasing little by little. Morocco: its $1.16 is explained by uneven infrastructure and just three companies that dominate the market. Australia: At its $1.33 per Mbps, the tremendously dispersed geography comes into play, with rural areas very far from each other. Germany: It is the one that is around a dollar per Mb/s and is not the fastest connection in Europe, far from it. In fact, it is a paradoxical situation as it is a power in Europe while having a worse cost/speed ratio than its neighbors. Reason? A large operator that dominates the sector and an old infrastructure, with many areas in which copper continues to be the trend. The Spanish situation. Within our borders, Spain has a comfortable position. There is enough competition so that prices are affordable, with an average of about 10 cents per Mb/s and 1 Gbps packages that are around 30-40 euros per month, depending on the company. Unlimited data is not uncommon on smartphones either. There are many companies that compete in a controlled and regulated environment, with obligations such as sharing infrastructure, and all of this has caused Spain to be a benchmark in the fiber deploymenteven in rural areas. In Xataka | How to improve your WiFi signal in seven easy steps

In Japan, the average trains delay is 96 seconds. It is not magic, his secret is called “Paka-Yoke”

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We are not going to discover anything if we tell you that the high Spanish speed has not lived its best summer. To get an idea, Four out of 10 Renfe trains They have suffered some type of delay. We have had breakdowns, Lost trains during the night and the final tip of the fires. But beyond summer, the truth is that the Spanish road network is giving important symptoms of fatigue. Only last June, The birds arrived with a medium delay of 19 minutes About the scheduled time. In April the figure was almost 21 minutes. According to the published report by the company, of the 9,607 trains that circulated last June, only one in three arrived in time Or they were delayed less than five minutes. We know this because Renfe herself has published it but the breakdowns have also affected the trains of Iryo and Ouigo that have to circulate on the same ways. The data point to two possible reasons. First, Spain begins to give symptoms of having an infradimensive infrastructure to host the arrival of new operators (OUIGO and IRYO) and a Growth sustained in the number of trips. Second, the data warn that not enough has been invested in maintenance and modernization of the roads. It is very likely that the situation we are living is a mixture of both reasons. But a question overwhelm: if in Spain we have problems with three trains companies … how do they work in Japan where six different companies operate? 96 seconds Move by Japan, especially for Honshu (his main island in which cities like Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka are found) is very simple if you decide on the high -speed train. The frequencies are so bulky and the delays so exceptional that the reliability in the system is absolute. The known as Japan Rail It can, also, be chaos for those who visit the country for the first time, taking into account that even Six companies operate on their lines. However, each of them has its own reserved space so they do not compete on the same roads as it happens in Spain where Renfe has to deal with Iro and Ouigo. Despite this, four of those Six companies (JR East, JR Central, JR West and JR Kyushu) are completely privatized and only two (JR Hokkaido and JR Shikoku) are state -owned. There is, however, a fundamental difference. In Spain, following European orders, the management of the roads falls exclusively on Adif (which was public and also had to be privatized) that charges some canons to companies that want to operate in their railway framework. AND The roads are shared partly between medium distance and high speed trains. In Japan, however, companies manage infrastructure and maintenance of the roads in which they operate but the network of Shinkansenthe famous bullet trains, have a completely separated infrastructure from the rest of the trains and is managed by the Railway Construction, Transportation and Technology Agency of Japan (JRTT). This physical separation allows to reduce the risks (a fault of a slower train does not impact bullet trains) and install systems specifically designed for this type of trains. That has allowed them to evolve the acquaintance concept of Paka-Yoke which can be translated as “failure proof”, referring to the fact that all human decisions are supervised by an exahustive system monitoring system, which shields the network of those possible human errors. This has allowed Japan to be a reference in world high speed. Until Spain and China surpassed the country in railway kilometers of this type of trains, the Japanese country was a leader but it still is in punctuality. In 2024, The average delay in the Tokaid line was 96 seconds. However, systems are designed for trains to enter a margin of 15 seconds at the station. Most of them stop in the first 6 seconds scheduled. Japanese punctuality is an extremely valued quality. Culture forces to ask for public forgiveness when schedules are not fulfilled, sometimes reaching surreal extremes. Like the day that a railway company had to make its face because one of its trains He left the station 20 seconds earlier than expected. Photo | Henry Perks In Xataka | Japan asked its citizens what bothers them most about tourists on the train. The responses betrayed the nation

Follow in free fall despite a last “average” harvest

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A few months ago the headlines talked about the palpable escalation in the prices of olive oil but now the story is very different: prices fall loudly. So much that the olive sector has already requested measures to the government. The price, in free fall. The Latest consumer price index data (CPI) has served the olive sector to give the alarm: the price of olive oil is in free fall. The drop is 45.7% year -on -year for olive oil, while the category of “other edible oils” and the dedicated to butter showed rebounds of 18.7% and 6.7% respectively. Together, the category of “oils and fats” has shown A fall in 37.1% prices, which contrasts with the 2.8% rise in non -alcoholic foods and drinks and one 2.3% increase in the general index. Again attending to the annual variation of the month. In the latest IPC data, it is also indicated that oils and fats are the main bearish taxpayer of the monthly index. Never to everyone’s taste. Price drop has harmful clearings: farmers. The associations of olive producers, such as the union of small farmers and ranchers of Jaén, Upa Jaén, They recently claimed Urgent market measures to the Ministry of Agriculture to prevent this collapse in prices. “Untenable”. “What worries us most right now, especially in the traditional olive grove, is to at least the costs. Jesus Cózar Pérez saidgeneral secretary of UPA Jaén and Andalucía. Cózar Pérez, who described the situation as “unsustainable, artificially forced to leave the traditional olive grove,” asked the Ministry of Agriculture to implement “the market mechanisms necessary to achieve rise in prices at origin.” Future prices. According to the agrarian sector itself, the fall in prices It does not respond Both to the present dynamics of adjustments between supply and demand but to the futures market: after two years with pyrrhic crops, this year we are faced with a standard, not especially productive. The expectation of a future “great campaign” makes prices adjusting due to fall in demand, and with it also prices. The problem, they point out from the sector, is that nothing guarantees that the harvest that comes is excellent, much less: pests and abnormal temperatures can have an impact on a harvest that must still go through one of its critical points. An unequal inflation in food. If oil is one of the food whose fall has impact on the rate General of the CPI, we find the opposite case in fruits and meat. In the latter case, in large part because of the promotion in the prices of beefs (14.5% year -on -year) or sheep (12.2%). On the other hand, foods with less weight in the basket but with rapid ascent prices are eggs (18% year -on -year care); and coffee, and cocoa and chocolate powder (increases of 19.8% and 13.1% respectively). In Xataka | ‘Atomic Garden’: the “atomic” orchards to create the best tomatoes and cucumbers Image | Antgarprats

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