chaos

Spain seems to have solved the problem of aid for the purchase of electric cars. It only took seven years of chaos

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The aid to buy an electric car is chaos. They should stop being so soon. Very soon, in fact. Or, at least, that is the (umpteenth) promise that the Government has made in this regard. He announced it in the Council of Ministers, confirming that the presentation of the bases to receive the Auto+ Plan is just around the corner. This is what we know. What has been announced. He Auto+ Plan It should be up and running in the next few days or, at the latest, a few weeks. That is what has been announced in the press conference of the Council of Ministers where the first details have been given of how aid for the purchase of new completely electric vehicles should be unblocked. In the statement before the media, however, no more details have been clarified than those that were offered in February 2026 when the project was already late compared to the promises. That is to say: the aid will take into account the cost of the vehicle, its place of manufacture and the origin of its batteries. What did we know? Last February, The Government confirmed that aid for the purchase of electric cars They will be delivered as follows: Category Maximum aid amount Vehicle type Percentage received based on price Manufacturing Tourism (M1) 4,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,250 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,125 euros) Maximum of 45,000 euros before taxes: Up to 35,000 euros: 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,125 euros) Between 35,001 and 45,000 euros: 15% of the maximum amount of aid (675 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (675 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (450 euros euros) Vehicle (N1) 5,000 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,500 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,250 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,250 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (750 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (500 euros) Moped (L3e, L4e and L5e) 1,100 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (550 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (275 euros) Maximum of 10,000 euros before taxes: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (275 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (165 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (110 euros) Quadricycle (L6e and L7e) 1,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (750 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (375 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (375 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (225 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (150 euros) In 2025 it has already been promised that these aids would be direct at the time of purchase. That is, the customer would leave the dealership without the obligation to advance the aid and waiting to receive the money in their bank account. The claim is recurring since 2019 when the first MOVES Plan was approved but that promise disappeared with the extension of the MOVES III Plan and it was said that it would be active with the application of the Auto + Plan. The deadline for this Auto+ Plan to come into force was January 1, 2026. However, weeks before it began to work, The dealers already indicated that they were not willing to advance the aid. Not, at least, if they had no guarantee of receiving the money within a reasonable period of time. So, who is going to provide the aid? It is something that is yet to be confirmed and that we will not know for sure until the aid bases are officially published, which should happen in the coming days. In Xataka we have contacted Ganvam (National Association of Vehicle, Repair and Spare Parts Sellers) who claim to have no confirmation of how this aid will be delivered. From Faconauto (Federation of Automotive Dealer Associations) yes, they have assured us that the aid can be obtained at the time of purchase but that the more specific details will arrive when the bases are presented. A loan that was a matter of faith. The intention, therefore, is that the customer can finally leave the dealership being very clear about the price of the car. The concessionaires’ employers assure us that there is no signed commitment of the time that the State will have to deliver said aid and that this is something that we will only know when the bases for the aid are published. Until now, manufacturers have been advancing help with an interest-free loan for 12 or 18 months (depending on the brand) in the hope that the client would receive the money before the bank received the payment of that fee, which can reach up to 4,500 euros. That is to say, it could be the case that the client ran out the deadline … Read more

In 1962 the United States exploded an atomic bomb in orbit to create an anti-missile “wall.” The result was electrical chaos 1,000 km away

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July 9, 1962, an aurora appears in the skies of Hawaii, Tonga and Samoa. It would be strange for these phenomena to form so far from the poles, although experience has shown us that it’s not impossible. Even so, in this case the auroras were not formed by a solar storm, but by Starfish Prime, a US experiment that went wrong. Very badly. Basically, they decided to launch an atomic bomb into space to widen the ring of natural radiation that surrounds the Earth and, thereby, create a wall against Soviet missiles. They managed to distort it, yes, but not in the way they expected. Furthermore, by the way damaged electrical systems, satellites and telephones, caused blackouts more than 1,000 kilometers away and there were even fears for the health of the astronauts who would travel to the Moon 7 years later. As a result of that incident, an international agreement was signed to prohibit atomic testing in the atmosphere, outer space or the bottom of the sea. Since then, all countries have complied with it, although there are scientists who do not trust that it will continue to be done, so they have devised a plan curiously related to Starsfish Prime. Starfish prime. The Starfish Prime project consisted of the detonation in low earth orbit of a 1.44 megaton nuclear warhead. That is, they used a bomb 100 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. The goal was to stretch the Van Allen belta ring composed of swarms of highly energetically charged particles that are trapped in the network of the Earth’s magnetic field. If the ring could be stretched, they thought it could incapacitate the Soviet missiles that posed a threat to the nation. They achieved the goal. But the rest of the consequences were too serious to want to repeat. More radiation. The amount of radiation in the Van Allen ring increased. By 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronauts they traveled to the moonthere was still a slight increase in radiation that they could absorb on their way to our satellite. Several studies were carried out to check if their health would be seriously at risk, but it was seen that the danger was manageable, so it was decided to continue with the mission. An international agreement. In 1963, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, in which they committed to freeing the atmosphere, outer space and the seabed from nuclear tests. Later, in 1967, was signed he International Outer Space Treatywith which the great world powers established a mode of action for the exploration and use of outer space. Since then there is no evidence that nuclear weapons have been sent into space. However, there are scientists who do not trust that other countries may be acting as agreed. One of them is Areg Danagoulian, from MIT, and the idea you had to solve it is, to say the least, curious. Neutron spallation. Danagoulian’s proposal consists of taking advantage of a phenomenon called neutron spallation, by which very high-energy particles are capable of causing atomic nuclei to expel their neutrons. And where have we seen that there are charged particles with a lot of energy? Indeed, in the Van Allen belt. This MIT scientist believes that if a satellite loaded with a nuclear device were to pass through this ring, something it necessarily has to do, its particles would cause the nuclei of the uranium atoms to lose neutrons. For this reason, it proposes to build a specific detector for this type of neutrons, which would be responsible for sounding the alarm if it detects said expulsion. Aurora seen from Hawaii A feasibility study. At the moment, Danagoulian has not built anything. Has carried out a feasibility study in which he demonstrates that his project is plausible. It is based on sound physics and the techniques needed already exist. If Russia had a nuclear satellite, as this and other scientists fear, it could be a useful device. Now, just because it is possible does not mean that it is easy. Neutrons coming from uranium would have to be differentiated from those from other elements and, furthermore, distinguished from those that could come directly from the Earth. There is a lot of work ahead. With Starfish Prime it was discovered that the consequences of an abrupt release of radiation in the Earth’s magnetic field can be very serious, whether it occurs artificially, with an atomic bomb, or naturally due to solar activity. It is important that we are prepared. Ideally, everyone will comply with the agreements; But, just in case, it doesn’t hurt to resort to detection techniques. Without a doubt, it is a much healthier way to take advantage of what the Van Allen belt gives us. Image | US Air Force 1352nd Photographic Group, Lookout Mountain Station/NASA In Xataka | SpaceX has launched 8,000 Starlink satellites in five years, but they are not enough. And we’re starting to understand why

Two architects fled the chaos of New Delhi to build a mud house in the Himalayas. Now it’s an Airbnb

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“Book only if you are comfortable hiking for 1.5 km in a forest with a backpack and want to experience raw nature and slow life with beautiful views.” This is one of the most striking Airbnb properties in Rishikesh, India. The house is the work of two brother architects who fled the savage capitalism of the city to end up creating the most coveted refuge on the mountain and a symbol of the gentrification of spirituality. Two brothers in search of peace. In Business Insider They tell the story of Raghav and Ansh Kumar, two architect brothers from New Delhi who worked for a German architecture firm. The brothers felt trapped in a relentless routine, with endless days, and a work culture that glorified burnout. During the pandemic, they made a radical turn and decided to leave the city and go to the mountains, specifically to Rishikesh, the city known as “the gate of the Himalayas” since from it come the pilgrims starting the Char Dam route. Build with your hands. One of the reasons for this change in life had to do with the disconnection caused by being locked in an office, away from the construction process, so it occurred to them to return to the most analog process possible. They drew the plans for the house intuitively using sticks directly on the ground and to build it they used the traditional technique with coba mixture of mud, straw and water, all materials extracted from the same area. For the construction they had four full-time workers, but they also had the help of more than 100 volunteers who signed up through the Workaway exchange platform. The walls are 45 centimeters thick and were increasing about 15-30 centimeters a day. In total, it took 18 months to build it. The irony. The brothers wanted to escape the “architecture of money, efficiency and productivity” and capitalist corporate exhaustion, but they ended up building a spiritual refuge to monetize on Airbnb for $140 a night, a fairly high price for the average in the area (we have found entire houses for 50 euros a night). Added to this is the paradox of materials: local communities and the government itself usually reject these mud houses as they are considered a symbol of poverty, preferring cement as a sign of progress and prosperity. That the brothers are charging tourists a premium price to sleep between the same mud walls that locals are trying to escape heightens the irony to the maximum. Essentially, they have fled the corporate hamster wheel to package and sell their “disconnection” to the same stressed workers they intended to distance themselves from. Spiritual gentrification. The adventure of these brothers does not occur in a vacuum, but is part of a wave of gentrification that is transforming the region. As we said, Rishikesh is historically known as a pilgrimage destination and the yoga capital of the world, but today it has become a objective for real estate investors and expatriates seeking to acquire second homes or open lucrative businesses that exploit precisely that aura of spirituality. The government is aggressively urbanizing the mountainous area to sustain this new wave of tourism and digital nomads. Recently, they have promoted and modernized infrastructure including widening roads, building multi-storey car parks to combat traffic congestion, and setting up commercial operating bases for sports such as rafting. Image | Airbnb In Xataka | The “tourist cages” arrive in Valencia: holiday gentrification in Spain goes up a gear

The strangest museum on the internet has a collection of plugs from around the world that reflect electrical chaos

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Between 1880 and 1930, different countries around the world made an important electrical decision: choosing a type of plug. More or less, everyone did it on their own. When they wanted to realize the amalgam of pegs they had created, it was too late: they were trapped in the infrastructure they had installed. Bridging the distance, like It happened to the Madrid metrowhich turns left. As a consequence, more than a century later you have to put an adapter in your suitcase when you go on a trip. As you travel around the world you can discover them all, or more quickly and educationally: you can also visit the Museum of Plugs and Socketsa Dutch website (one of the old school ones, judging by its design) that has catalogued, photographed and rigorously explained all the domestic sockets that there are and have been on the planet following the technical references of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the international organization that has to bring order to this chaos. The 15 plugs in the world. The IEC uses the letters A to N (curiously, Thailand’s O came later) to classify the types of domestic plugs existing in the world and Here you can consult the complete list. The museum links each letter with its corresponding standard: the NEMA for North America (letters A and B), the CEE for continental Europe (letter C), but be careful because Switzerland has the SN 441011 standard and the J plug, BS 1363 for the United Kingdom (letter G), AS 3112 for Australia (letter I)… each with its dimensions, voltages, pins and safety standards. From my own experience, I forgot to buy specific adapters a long time ago and opted for a universal adapter to live quietly in the hodgepodge. Because why not say it: from the point of view of practicality, this horde of pegs is a glaring failure of technical coordination unmatched in any other industrial sector. Types of plugs in the world SomnusDe via Wikipedia The failed attempt at a universal standard. In the 1930s, the IEC set itself an impossible mission (judging by the results): to achieve international standardization of domestic plugs and sockets. In 1986 he published IEC 60906 standard with that ambition. No need to say it went wrong. Only Brazil in 2002 and South Africa in 2013 adopted the IEC 60906-1 standard and even then, both countries allow multiple standards. The EU said “no, thank you” remembering Rocío Jurado and her “it’s too late now, ma’am.” With complete honesty, the European Commission recognized in 2017 that harmonizing the continent’s plugs would require transition periods of more than 75 years, an investment estimated at 100,000 million euros and would generate some 700,000 tons of electrical waste. That oddity called Switzerland. That strange case called Switzerland. It is no surprise that the Swiss citizenry likes to go it alone: ​​it is there, between Italy, France and Germany, but it does not belong to the EU nor does it use the euro. So, as we mentioned above, has its own plug defined by standard SN 441011 (until 2019 it was SEV 1011) and the J plug, which is only used there and in the Principality of Liechtenstein. In addition to being an “exclusive” plug due to how little it is used compared to others, it also has a particular geometry in the shape of a hexagon. Paradoxically, when the IEC designed what was to be the universal plug in 1986, it based its shape on the Swiss T12 plug, although with differences in the diameter of the pins and the displacement of the ground pin. The world tried to copy Switzerland to create a global standard, but Switzerland continued on its way. The plugs that said goodbye. The museum has an entire section dedicated to plugs that were developed as alternatives to current standards and have been out of production for years and some almost extinct. Some of the most striking cases are the British Wylex and Dorman & Smith, the impractical hook-shaped Hakenstecker or the Greek Tripoliki with three pins arranged in a triangle. Surely all of them now coexist in physical museums and in this digital museum that constitutes the best archive of the failure of global electrical standardization. In Xataka | What plug do I need depending on the country I am going to travel to and what are the best universal adapters Cover | Digital Museum of Plugs and Sockets

Rodalies is such a chaos of delays and cancellations that one student has had enough. And he is already demanding 9,200 euros from Renfe

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What price do you put on your time? Airline and railway companies are clear: time is worth the same as the train ticket. With more or less flexibility When it comes to refunding a ticket, these companies are very clear and the law protects them. But what price do you put on your time when that delay directly affects your work or your daily life? David Pujol, a second-year Mathematics student at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), is also very clear about it. In your case, 9,211.35 euros. And he is already claiming that money from Renfe. Psychological damage and a change of residence Psychological problems that have aggravated his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), academic damage and a forced change of residence. This is what, according to the Catalan student David Pujol, has caused the malfunction of Rodalies, the Cercanías service of Catalonia. It includes everything in the document that has been presented against the Ministry of Transport and the Department of Territory as a claim to recover the 9,200 euros in which it values ​​​​the 55 serious incidents that have been documented between September 2024 and May 2026, they explain in The Country. These serious incidents refer to train cancellations without prior notice and the absence of real-time information to be able to take an alternative route. “I have lost entire days of my life”the young man pointed out this same week in Cope where it affected the problems generated by delays. Among their complaints is the inability to organize their day correctly given the countless problems at Rodalies. Recognize elDiario.es that his house in Pineda de Mar is far from the faculty by public transport but that the journey, which was supposed to take two hours, was rarely less than two and a half hours and, on occasions, could last up to four hours. Click on the image to go to the original tweet “I got up at four in the morning to get to class and, many times, I didn’t even get there,” the digital media stressed. The only solution he found was to move to Cerdanyola del Vallès where he paid for the apartment with one of the scholarships awarded for education. These continued delays and cancellations, he explains, have had direct effects on his studies and mental health. That is why he claims 9,211.35 euros which breaks down as follows: 211.35 euros for the reimbursement of transport passes 4,500 euros for the worsening of his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) 2,500 euros for violation of the right to education 2,000 euros for the forced move Although this time he has taken the step of claiming these more than 9,000 euros as full compensation for all the damage caused, Pujol has been filing complaints with the Rodalies service for some time, with 33 complaints in physical format and nine in digital format, another three complaints to the Síndic de Greuges (Catalan Ombudsman) and another to the Labor Inspection for non-compliance with minimum services during a day of strike. Click on the image to go to the original tweet But also, he has been making his work public for some time. In the image above you can see that in the first three months of 2025 alone it had already filed 15 formal complaints about cancellations or delays. With each one of them, the young student accompanied the information with a post in X. The result: in the summer he got a meeting with two senior officials from the Government and Renfe. In The Newspaper already noted that most of these problems that Pujol referred to had their origin in the use of lines R7 and R1two of the lines with the most problems in the entire Catalan network. In fact, just two days after the top post on X, Rodalies registered severe problems on lines R4, R3, R7, R8 and R15. It is just one of the cases that exemplify the poor functioning of the Catalan network. This same week, The Vanguard collected a multitude of testimonies from train users in Catalonia in which some claimed to leave home up to an hour early “just in case” to arrive at their workplace on time. Among the voices in the report there was a general solution: switch to the bus. This means of transport is also saturated but, several users say, it is more reliable than trains. “I had been waiting at the station for two hours and I had seen how the first three trains of the morning had been cancelled, without anyone giving us any explanations,” Pujol told elDiario.es a few days ago. He was then talking about a specific day in March 2025. Today, in May 2026, there are WhatsApp groups with more than a thousand users who send alert messages when a Rodalies train fails again, as they assure The Vanguardthe information from the company is null. Photo | eldelinux and David Pujol In Xataka | Renfe has launched a real-time map to know where your surroundings are in 2025. And it works quite well

The traffic jams in Valencia are hell. And a bridge over the Turia aspires to resolve the chaos between the V-30 and the A-3

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Traffic jams for miles and with a regularity that seems almost infallible. Valencia has a problem with traffic jams and the connection between the V-30 and the A-3 is one of the hot spots every morning. They explain in The Provinces that the growth of the city leaves 800,000 residents inside… surrounded by 800,000 residents of the surrounding towns. With some infrastructure built decades ago For a much smaller number of residents, roads and the main Valencian roads are clogged with an assiduity that punishes the neighbors day after day. But of all the roads, V-30 is the most marked. The road has problems along its entire length. The new port terminal anticipates more complications looking to the future but other hot spots such as the connection with the A-3 is one of the critical steps usually indicated. To begin to alleviate the situation, the Ministry of Transport has given the green light to the construction of a remodeling of the link between both roads to facilitate traffic between the A-3 and the V-30. A new bridge to alleviate the situation The Ministry of Transport has published approval for the action on the link between V-30 and A-3, which includes a lane expansion and the construction of a new bridge. In total, nine structures will be affected, of which six are newly built. The project will have a budget of 56 million euros (VAT included) and will try to unclog an area that is constantly overwhelmed, especially during peak hours. The remodeling, They explain on the ministry’s websitewill have the following interventions: New planned structures: Bridge parallel to the existing one over the Turia riverbed that will also serve to bridge the crossing over the V-30. Underpass at the A-3 junction and the Puerto-Madrid branch (2 structures). Cycle-pedestrian underpass under the Valencia-Puerto branch. Cycle-pedestrian walkway over the Valencia-Barcelona branch. Existing drinking water pipe protection structure. Planned expansions on existing structures: Expansion of the underpass of 9 d’Octubre Avenue. Extension of the pedestrian walkway over the branches: Madrid-Barcelona, ​​Puerto-Madrid and the V-30 service road. Expansion of the pedestrian walkway over the A-3. In the case of the action on the A-3, the road will be expanded to four lanes towards Madrid. These lanes will be available to drivers from the interchange to the airport access. The objective is to facilitate the flow of traffic on a link that, right now, has become a bottleneck. in the diary Levant They explain that the situation is so complicated that, like a domino effect, the traffic jam usually extends to the V-31 highway as drivers try to find some other alternative route to the junction that forms there. In addition, the expansion of the lanes is also good news in order to save the high volume of trucks that begin their journey in the city port and take this road to begin their route to Madrid. Right now, the volume of cars is so high that the traffic jam is not only found on the A-3 towards Madrid. The branch from V-30 requires a long turn that reduces the speed of the cars. Between an A-3 with very dense traffic and slow access, the right lane of the V-30 ends up suffering all the punishment, being completely collapsed during rush hour. In addition, the residents of Xirivella, next to the road, will have acoustic screens and trees installed to reduce the sound of traffic and mitigate the visual impact of the structures. This was a demand that citizens had been demanding for some time and that had not been executed. Photo | Google Maps and Ministry of Transportation In Xataka | The great dream of Tres Cantos and Colmenar Viejo literally passes over El Pardo: “close” the M-50

We already knew that we ate plastic. Now science has discovered the exact chaos it causes in our intestines

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We have long realized that we are surrounded by microplastics, both in the water which we take as in food or even the air that we breathe, causing them to appear even in the human placenta. However, there are still many questions about the consequences of having these microplastics in the body, although science continues to take steps to give us an answer about them. how it can alter our general healthand the last thing we know is related to the effect on our digestive system. Ground zero. Something that is already known by almost everyone is that the intestine is full of billions of microorganisms which are essential for our immunity and also for metabolism, making its alteration related even to issues in the central nervous system. But now, science suggests that microplastics can drastically alter the composition and diversity of this ecosystem by destroying some of the bacteria that we harbor inside us to create a completely different environment that can affect our digestion, but also other parts of the body. How it has been seen. To understand how this happens in real time, CSIC researchers developed a sophisticated patented digestion simulation system known as SIMGI. This is mainly based on introducing artificial particles formed by the typical plastic of water bottles into the stomach and colon and observing how it affected bacterial diversity. From here, different investigations have seen that families of beneficial bacteriaas Lachnospiraceae, Oscillospiraceae and Ruminococcaceaeplummet, while the growth of groups that can generate disease is favored. And we must understand that ‘good’ bacteria occupy a space in our intestine so that nothing else can ‘germinate’ there. But logically, if they disappear, they leave their ‘hole’ for other bacteria to pass through. It goes further. But beyond a bacterial imbalance, there is different research that already points to how microplastics destroy the physical barrier we have in our intestine. In this way, scientists have detected that these tiny fragments cause the generation of oxidative stress and, therefore, the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, which only generates great damage to the tissues. But this chemical attack also adds to mechanical damage, which some experts categorize as ‘sandpaper’, since together they manage to reduce the expression of proteins that are key to maintaining the union structure that characterizes the cells that exist in our intestinal wall. The result. If we destroy the scaffolding that maintains the ‘walls’ of our digestive system, the only thing that will be achieved is that increase intestinal permeabilityso any toxin or bacterial molecule will be able to pass from the intestine to the bloodstream, since there is no ‘wall’ that blocks the access of agents that are not wanted in our body. Logically, the passage of toxins without the control of this intestinal barrier activates our immune system defenses, which results in inflammation maintained over time that favors the destruction of tissues and also progresses in important chronic diseases. There is more. As if that were not enough, it is known that microplastics are excellent transport vehicles, since when they come into contact with our biological fluids they become covered with a “protein crown”. This is something really important, since this layer literally camouflages the microplastic and makes it easier for it to adhere to our living cells. But added to all this, we also see that they can act as the perfect support for bacteria and form what is known as biofilms. In this way, microplastic can be seen as a vehicle for external and potentially dangerous microbial communities directly to our tissues. Where are they going? If microplastics alter our barriers, logically the plastic has a free way and that is why it is capable of traveling to different organs such as, for example, the liver, kidneys or brain. And once here, research already indicates that its accumulation is related to DNA damage, deregulation of the immune system or alterations in our entire hormonal system that can lead to chronic diseases. Images | rimufilms on Freepik In Xataka | Researchers analyzed 280 samples of bottled water. Only one of the brands was free of microplastics

The French AI startup profiting from geopolitical chaos just raised $830 million. For European data centers

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The French startup Mistral has raised 830 million dollars and it has done so with one objective: to create AI data centers in Europe that will be based on NVIDIA chips and technological solutions. That’s good news, but it also has a disturbing side. Merci, Monsieur Trump. There is a geopolitical irony in the rise of Mistral. The French AI startup has become a reference in Europe, but it has done so not so much because of its models or technology (that too) but because of Donald Trump. Since the American president returned to power and began to destroy the era of globalization, the demand for “sovereign” European alternatives to the large US technology platforms has skyrocketed. Governments and companies that previously turned to Microsoft, Amazon or Google without thinking are now trying to look for options that free them from those dependencies. Mistral is precisely the clear alternative in terms of AI. 830 million to have its own infrastructure. The round that Mistral has raised is not venture capital, but debt financing granted mainly by French banks such as Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, HSBC and MUFG. It is an interesting aspect and shows that the company no longer needs to convince investors, but rather finance the infrastructure necessary to scale its business. Those $830 million are destined for its future European data centers, starting with its facilities in Bruyères-le-Châtel, near Paris. Said center will house 13,800 GB300 chips from NVIDIA and will begin operating before the end of June. Debt, not equity. There is an important difference between the venture capital rounds that have financed Mistral until now and this new round of debt. Venture capital is not returned: investors bet on a stake in the company and get paid if the company grows and is sold or goes public. The debt is repaid, and it is with interest, regardless of how the business is going. That Mistral has opted for this mechanism suggests that it is optimistic about the future, but it also represents added pressure for the company, which will not be able to afford consecutive quarters of losses. Betting with other people’s money has its problems, but doing so with borrowed money also has important problems. The success of the 13,800 chips. May that French data center get 13,800 GB300 chipsthe most advanced from NVIDIA, is not a minor detail. These AI accelerators are on the waiting list of many companies, and here Mistral competes with hyperscalers like Microsoft, Google or xAI that buy tens of thousands of units and have priority agreements. That this European startup has managed to secure that amount seems to demonstrate that it has negotiating capacity or a special relationship with NVIDIA and its CEO, Jensen Huang. European AI ecosystem. Mistral is little by little becoming the perfect European ecosystem for companies that want not to be exposed to dependencies on North American partners. Having everything under European control is what more and more governments are looking for in Europe, and here we are facing an effort that wants to offer that certain independence… which of course is anything but complete. Be that as it may, Mistral has become the great European seller of sovereignty as a product. But. Mistral expects to achieve 200 MW of computing capacity by the end of 2027, including a €1.2 billion facility in Sweden with 23 MW that will begin operating next year. These are decent numbers in a European Union that has barely raised its head in this segment, but they are very far from those in China and especially the United States. OpenAI and its partners have agreements worth several hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure, and while here we move in megawatt capacities, there we talk about gigawatts. The distance is still enormous. And the dependency still exists. The paradox that no one seems to want to allude to is important: the European “sovereign” infrastructure that Mistral is building depends entirely on chips designed by an American company and manufactured in Taiwan. If for any reason Washington decides to make Europe a banned region for its technology and prohibits the export of GB300 chips, Mistral’s expansion would be paralyzed. The quest for digital sovereignty is interesting, but the reality is that Europe will continue to depend on US technology and Taiwan’s manufacturing capacity to an even greater extent than the US o China depend on its rival. The old continent has activated some measures for mitigate the problembut that will not prevent it from continuing to exist in the long term. Paris, European capital of AI. The French startup has turned France into one of the great European references in AI. Mistral was valued at $12 billion after raising $1.7 billion in financing led by ASML. In addition, they expect to exceed 1,000 million in annual recurring revenue. This company is now joined by the recently launched startup Yann LeCun: Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs (AMI Labs) has already managed to raise more than 1 billion dollars and will also be based in Paris. Another detail should be highlighted: Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, is leading the round. That is significant, because that means that the one supporting this initiative is the French state. In Xataka | Mistral does not generate hype, it is a discreet AI, it does not boost the shares of any company, but it already makes more money than Grok

Iceland, Norway and Switzerland have been boasting independence from the EU for decades. Global chaos is about to change everything

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The war between the United States, Israel and Iran is shaking the foundations of the historic independence of the nations that make up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA or EFTA). Faced with an increasingly volatile geopolitical panorama, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland find themselves at a crossroads and look, each at their own pace, towards the European Union in search of refuge. The question that now haunts European parliaments is no longer just political, but purely industrial: are they willing to sacrifice parts of their sovereignty in exchange for the protection and stability that Brussels offers? As explained to the newspaper Five Days Sophie Altermatt, economist at Julius Baer, ​​these countries face external pressures from increasingly interventionist superpowers. The United States has become a much less predictable ally on trade and security, while China’s growing ambitions endanger European industrial competitiveness and create vulnerabilities in supply chains. The rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, who has even suggested his intention to annex Greenland, has acted as a powerful catalyst for this change in mentality. As the magazine warns The Spectatorquoting a maxim from Mark Carney: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” The return of hard power politics is forcing middle powers to reevaluate their place in the world. From the European side, the door is open. As detailed by the Icelandic public broadcaster RÚVEU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has stressed that the current geopolitical context is fundamentally different from the past and that EU membership offers “an anchor in a bloc based on values, prosperity and security.” Are we facing a real approach? Moving towards greater integration implies sitting at the table where decisions are made, but also assuming a clash of sovereignties. Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party, acknowledged in a parliamentary debate collected by Five Days that remaining outside the Union generates enormous vulnerabilities, since their country remains “on the margins of everything we want to enter into.” However, the price of admission is high. Political analyst Thomas Vermes explains in the Norwegian middle ABC Nyheter that the EU is transforming towards a federation where supranational organizations assume more and more authority. Entering means submitting to decisions by qualified majority – where large countries have more demographic weight – and growing pressure to eliminate the right to veto on key issues. In addition, it would imply assuming joint economic burdens, such as the common debt of 90 billion euros contracted to help Ukraine. In fact, the possible entry of Ukraine would radically transform the bloc’s economy. According to the same Norwegian mediathe incorporation of the 41 million hectares of Ukrainian agricultural land would flood the markets and force rural aid to be restructured. Three countries, three different rhythms The answer to this dilemma varies drastically depending on the resources each nation brings to the table. Iceland: The direct path and the referendum in sight The Icelandic government has stepped on the accelerator and passed a resolution to hold a referendum on August 29, 2026 on resuming EU membership, a measure supported by 57% of the population. Iceland would provide the EU with a vital logistics position in the emerging Arctic trade routes and strategic supply: already is the fourth largest supplier of aluminum of the block, material that accounts for more than half of its exports to Europe. Nevertheless, as reported RÚVthe Minister of Foreign Affairs, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, has drawn a non-negotiable red line: she will not sign any agreement that involves ceding control over the island’s precious natural resources to the EU. Norway: The fractured debate Although the country rejected joining the EU in 1972 and 1994, the debate has been resurrected. According to The Spectatorthe conservative party (Høyre), now led by the determinedly pro-European Ine Eriksen Søreide, is “clearly a yes party.” Polls show an increase in support for accession, rising from 27% in 2023 to 41% in 2025. However, the current Labor government of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is strongly opposed. Despite not being a member, Norway is Europe’s absolute energy guarantor after the invasion of Ukraine: it supplies 51.8% of the pipeline gas and 14.6% of the crude oil consumed by the EU. Precisely for this, the internal opposition is fierce. Columnist Hans Christian Hansen warns in the financial journal Finansavisen that the EU is losing technological ground to the US and Asia. According to Hansen, while the US uses energy to attract industry, the EU uses it to “self-regulate with increasing rigor” and promote projects of uncertain profitability such as offshore wind. The question he asks his compatriots is brutal: “Do we want to link our energy policy, our industry and our future to a team that is already losing?” Switzerland: The pragmatic path and bilateral agreements Unlike the Nordics, Switzerland does not contemplate full accession so as not to compromise its historical neutrality, but it is making progress in its economic and technological integration. President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Guy Parmelin They signed the “Bilateral III” package. This framework modernizes agreements on transport and free movement, and adds crucial pacts on health, food security and Swiss participation in the European space agency and the Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes. In addition, it will allow it to fully enter the internal electricity market in the EU. The objective of the Federal Council is “stabilize and future-proof the proven bilateral track“. The Federal Council approved the sending of this package to the Parliamentor, proposing to subject it to an optional referendum to guarantee its democratic legitimacy on sensitive issues such as salary protection. Switzerland’s weight is undeniable: in 2023, bilateral trade in services reached €245 billion, representing almost 9% of the EU’s total services trade. Forecasts in sight? The geopolitical board will continue to move. If Iceland eventually joins the EU, the pressure on Norway will be immense. As conservative leader Søreide arguesNorway would be in a “completely different situation” if its EFTA partner makes the leap. For its part, Switzerland … Read more

the Transport plan so that the most used Cercanías line in Spain stops being chaos

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The Ministry of Transport has finally decided to transform line C-5 of Cercanías de Madrid, which is, with some 72 million annual travelersthe most used in Spain. Won’t do it until they finish the underground works of the A-5but we already know all the details. It is the largest renovation of the line in decades and the heart of the change are 35 giant trains that are already being manufactured in Valencia. ORa line to the limit. As we said, the C-5 moves about 72 million passengers a year and absorbs 29% of all Cercanías Madrid trips. It is the public transport line with the most users in the entire country, and today it operates with trains that do not exceed 150 meters in length, platforms that do not allow larger vehicles and an outdated signaling system. With a demand that has grown by 10% between 2022 and 2024the margin has narrowed so much that it is time for a change. The protagonist of change: the Stadler Series 453. On March 4, the Ministry of Transportation presented the modernization plan of the C-5, endowed with 1,350 million euros, and confirmed that Renfe will allocate 600 million to the purchase of the 35 Series 453 trains manufactured by Stadler at its plant in Albuixech, Valencia. The service promises, since we are talking about trains that will measure almost 200 meters (specifically 191.16 meters) and will combine single-decker cars at the ends with double-decker cars inside. QWhat changes for the traveler. Where today about 1,565 people fit in the current trains, the new ones will accommodate up to 1,884 people (524 seated and 1,360 standing) in a single composition. Double-decker cars are designed for longer journeys and with a seat; those with one floor, wider at the entrances, for quick ascents and descents. Two-story interior cars According to they count in Trenvista, they will include areas for wheelchairs, multifunctional spaces for bicycles and strollers, a fully accessible toilet, WiFi and USB sockets. In addition, the middle points to greater padding than in other Cercanías trains, but without armrests. Why haven’t they arrived yet. Renfe put out to tender these trains in 2019 and the contract was awarded to Stadler in 2021. The Swiss firm had to expand its Albuixech factory to meet the order, which in 2022 was expanded with 20 additional 200-meter units, and began manufacturing in rented warehouses while the new facilities were ready, according to detailed at that time the medium. The first tests on the Spanish railway network began in the summer of 2024. The arrival at C-5, however, will still take some time. And the Ministry’s plan places the entry into service of these trains with automatic driving in April 2030. The problem that had to be solved before. For a 200-meter train to circulate on C-5, the infrastructure has to be prepared. Today it is not. The current platforms are too short, the LZB signaling system that regulates circulation has reached the end of its useful life, and there are no maintenance facilities capable of accommodating trains of that length. The good news is that in the 1,350 million plan is included the extension of platforms between 40 and 50 meters, the construction of a new maintenance base in Móstoles, the replacement of the signaling system with the European ERTMS Level 2 standard and the construction of a new station in Móstoles-El Soto. What’s coming now. The schedule foresees two service cutsin the summers of 2027 and 2028, to get to work with the most complex parts, and with free replacement buses and reinforcement in the Metro. Testing of the new signaling system will begin in April 2029, the first high-capacity trains will enter service in April 2030, and the project is expected to be completed in October 2031. The objective declared by the Ministry is to go from 72 to 100 million travelers annually, with a capacity 60% greater than the current one. It remains to be seen if the deadlines are met. Images | Snooze123 (Wikipedia) and Stadler In Xataka | In a region addicted to burials, a municipality wants to bury another 2.5 kilometers: Rivas’ plan for the Metro

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