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Ouigo has presented record numbers (and profits) in Spain. Renfe’s response is clear: they do not believe it

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“Renfe is today the only high-speed operator in Spain that manages to close the year with profits, while the rest of the companies in the sector continue in the red” The phrase is clear and the content clear: Renfe continues to be considered the only company in Spain that presents benefits in high speed. We could consider the statement valid but it has only been a few days since Ouigo put another piece of information on the table. “For the first time,” they noted in the presentation of their results that the company “managed to generate positive EBITDA for the first time.” And yet, both may be right even if the data seems contradictory. A fight that doesn’t stop From March 15, 2021the Spanish railway sector lives two realities. The first is that Ouigo operates on Spanish railways, standing up to Renfe. The second reality is that both companies maintain an open war in an exchange of statements that does not seem to end. Although a low profile was maintained in the first two years, in 2024 the Government arrived to support Renfe in a fight that they consider unequal. Then, Óscar Puente, Minister of Transportation, already stated that Ouigo operated through unfair competition. According to the Government and Renfe, Ouigo can offer lower prices than them because it is supported by France from the other side of the border. Months later, Puente raised the bar and said that I would report the French to the European Commission for unfair competition. Then it was pointed out that Ouigo was operating in Spain because it was losing money. But, in addition, France would be torpedoing its arrival to new lines in the country that could confront them in the local market. That is to say, Spain had ended up opening doors that France closed to them. Since then, we have not had news of the complaint but it is certain that Ouigo and Renfe maintain an open battle that has presented us with various chapters. We have seen disputes over prices but also over the type of repairs Ouigo was doing in the Renfe workshops (Renfe has to offer them its space but considered that these exceeded the current permits) or statements from the French making it clear that for the particularities of high speed spanish It would be impossible for them to compete in Madrid-Galicia. The last battle of this war has to do with the financial results. January 26, 2026the SCNF group, owner of Ouigo, presented a press release in which it boasted that it had achieved a 44% increase in passengers on its Spanish trains. And, in addition, he pointed out that for the first time they achieved a positive EBITDA. This has been read as if, for the first time, the French company was making profits in our country, although the truth is that the accounts were not detailed and only that financial term is pointed out. The point is that the EBITDA It refers to the operating income of the business and certain expenses but does not take into account taxes on profits, financial expenses such as interest on loans or amortizations. At the moment, Ouigo has not provided these data, but we do know that the companies that operate in our country at high speed they were losing money. This has been a constant since the arrival of Ouigo and Iryo and, in fact, both have had to receive new investments to be able to face the losses that have come upon them in the last four years. This difference between the EBITDA and the net result is what Renfe uses to proclaim itself as the only company that operates on Spanish high speed and making profits. “At the end of 2025, the Renfe division dedicated to passenger transport obtained a net profit of 70.2 million eurosa figure clearly higher than the previous year (5.4 million)”, points out in his statement. Therefore, both companies are right, neither is lying. But none of them tell the whole truth. And Ouigo, everything indicates, will continue to give net losses this year but it is true that it has years left to amortize the investment it had to make to bring its trains to Spain. Collecting a positive EBITDA is a good sign because it indicates that you are moving towards profitability but you will not be able to obtain it until you meet the interest on the requested loans and the amortizations. Renfe, on the contrary, with a consolidated network in Spain and the experience of working in the field since before becoming a company with private capital, has a clear advantage over rivals. It is true that, as Transport Minister Óscar Puente has complainedis also obliged to provide a public service that does not always have to be profitable. Photo | Wayback Machine and Cheng-en Cheng In Xataka | The overwhelming success of the train in Spain: when they gave us a choice, we chose to flee the airports

We have been wondering for decades if being vegetarian prevents cancer. We already have a very clear answer

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There is a endless diets in different parts of the world, conditioned largely by local society and culture, such as in Spain, where the Mediterranean dietwhich is varied. But the focus of the debate is on what is the best diet to maintain good health in the long term. And here the vegetarian diet has a lot to say. Giving answers. For years, we have known that reducing our consumption of processed meat is beneficial for our health, but a new macro study led by the University of Oxford has put compelling data on the table about how dietary choice directly impacts the risk of developing different types of cancer. The work published in the magazine British Journal of Cancer is consolidated as the further analysis performed to date on this topic. And it is no wonder, since researchers have been able to analyze the histories of 1.8 million women and men who participated in nine prospective studies across three continents. A shield. Until now, previous studies they were already pointing that vegetarians had a lower oncological risk, but there was not the necessary statistical power to refine the data and make this categorical statement. But this study has come to change this, since researchers reveal that vegetarians have a significantly lower risk of suffering from five types of cancer compared to people who eat meat regularly. Results. Obviously, there are many other factors that influence this matter such as weight or lifestyle, but even adjusting the data, a clear result has been seen, which is summarized in the following risk reductions: 31% lower risk of suffering from multiple myeloma. 28% lower risk of kidney cancer. 21% lower risk of pancreatic cancer. 12% lower risk of pancreatic cancer. 9% lower risk of breast cancer. But the curious thing about these data is that for ten other types of cancer studied, such as lung cancer in non-smokers, science has not found a significant difference. And this opens the door to seeing why this diet is so specific for specific cancers. The small print. Not everything is so positive with this diet, since the study has shown that vegetarians have almost double the risk of developing esophageal cancer compared to people who eat meat in their diet. Because? According to researchers, the benefits of a vegetarian diet in cancer are explained by the greater intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber and the absence of processed meats. But the fact that they have a higher risk of having esophageal cancer is related to the nutritional deficiencies that vegetarians may have. And the lack of certain exclusive or more present nutrients in foods of animal origin could be weakening the natural defenses of this tissue. The rest of the diets. In addition to the war that may exist between meat and vegetables, researchers wanted to go further to look at the rest of the diet. In this case, the pescetarianswho do not consume meat, but do consume fish and seafood, had a lower risk of developing breast, kidney and colon cancer. But when we talk about vegansis where there are certain important nuances, since it has been seen that they have a higher risk of suffering from colorectal cancer. However, the researchers themselves point out that there are still not enough statistical cases to accurately evaluate the impact of veganism on rarer cancers. The recommendations. Given this study, everything that had been done in oncology is maintained, since the norm is to prioritize whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables in the diet, limiting the consumption of red and processed meats. Although logically always ensuring that all nutritional needs are met and following medical advice. Images | amin ramezani In Xataka | Having a beer or a wine at 65 seems like a harmless indulgence. We have more and more evidence to the contrary.

Science is clear that it is better to ‘suffer’ 10 minutes a day

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For years we have had a daily goal burned into our minds and also on the activity bracelets we have on our wrists: take 10,000 steps a day. A mantra that doctors have repeated, like the intake of two liters of water a daybut little by little it is pivoting to a completely different approach, since it does not depend on how much we move, but on how we do it. A paradigm shift. Expert Rhonda Patrick already pointed out Because as a society we should consider changing the goal of 10,000 steps in our daily lives to give way to a new concept that is revolutionizing preventive medicine, which is VILPA, which is the acronym for ‘Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity’ in English. This refers to doing small bursts of exercise of one or two minutes on a daily basis and which can be done several times a day. Something that is very simple, and although it may seem like it may have a harmless result in patients, the results point to the opposite. Its importance. To see if this works or not, we can go to the data extracted from the large groups of UK Biobank patients already a study published in 2022 which analyzed more than 25,000 people. Here it was seen that only 3 to 4 minutes of VILPA daily with bursts of just 1-2 minutes is associated with a 26-30% reduction in total mortality and specifically from cancer. But if we go further, we also observe a reduction of between 32% and 34% in cardiovascular mortality. However, the most relevant thing is that the benefits increase almost linearly the more minutes of vigorous activity you accumulate. Better than being sedentary. If we look at the most recent studies, such as published by The Lancent This year with more than 135,000 participants, it was confirmed that going from doing nothing to adding just between 1 and 6 minutes of vigorous exercise reduces mortality by 30% in the most sedentary people. The conclusion here is quite clear because we have a great performance investing very little time in the sport. It’s not all at once. One of the big doubts we have is whether those 10 minutes we are talking about have to be done in one go or if it is worth running a little to catch the bus. Here studies suggest that the way you do it does not matter as much as the total dose of exercise. This means that taking small exercise pills throughout the day offers the same benefits as doing them in one continuous session at the gym. This is great news for those who do not have time to go to a gym to train, since climbing the stairs quickly or carrying heavy bags counts, a lot. Rejuvenate the heart. One of the methods we have available to better structure the intensity of training It’s in the ‘Norwegian 4×4’. A protocol developed by different researchers that advocates applying four four-minute intervals of very high intensity along with three minutes of moderate active recovery between each block. With this simple regimen, the heart can be ‘rejuvenated’, causing the left ventricle to reverse its morphological changes and also improving the maximum volume of oxygen in patients with heart failure. That is why we have a much more efficient heart. You have to walk. Obviously, taking 10,000 steps a day is not stupid, and we must continue taking walking as an excellent habit for metabolic and joint health. However, the “10 minutes of intensity” figure supported by VILPA studies reveals an uncomfortable truth: walking at a walking pace does not replace the physiological benefit of being short of breath. As studies in huge cohorts show, introducing just a few minutes where your heart works at its maximum generates a great benefit in health and longevity compared to simple step volume. Images | Ingo Jakubke In Xataka | Neither walking nor running: science suggests that the squat is the true “drug” for healthy aging

China is clear about who should lead the advances of its best AI and robotics companies: Generation Z

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Those who now enter the labor market find themselves with a rival that is difficult to beat: they have no agreement or need for rest or fulfillment. In addition, it does the tasks of junior profiles quite well: artificial intelligence is limiting the landing of Generation Z in the offices. in the United States, we have seen it in the UK and also in the Big Four that make up the Madrid skyline. Replacing those who start working with AI has been revealed as the West’s formula to boost productivity… from the point of view of the bosses. If you have to fight with her and validate her, not so much anymore. But it is by no means the only way, nor does it happen to everyone. In fact, China is betting just the opposite: it is turning Generation Z and millennials into heads of areas as strategic as robotics or artificial intelligence itself. They are not just any young people: they are true galacticos, their best assets. Give me someone young. As collect TechAsiaa trend is emerging in China: that of hiring millennials and young people from generation Z for positions with high-level technical profiles in large AI and robotics companies. The best example is Vinces Yao Shunyu: at 28 years old he has already been at OpenAI. A couple of months ago he returned to his native China to become the chief scientist of Tencent. He now reports directly to the CEO. Shunyu’s is just the tip of the iceberg of this new organizational strategy of Chinese companies. There are other cases, such as that of Luo Jianlan, formerly of Google since a year the chief scientist of AgiBot. Or of Dong Haochief scientist at PrimeBot after earning his PhD at Imperial College. By the way, OpenAI and Meta have copied the recipe: the first with Polish Jakub Pachocki and the second, with the Chinese Zhao Shengjia. They are scientists, but they could just as well be professional footballers: none of them are over 35 years old. Why is it important. When thinking about a boss within a modern business structure of a certain size, it is inevitable that team management, meetings and bureaucracy come to mind. However, this strategy of Chinese big tech is deliberately different from what we have in the West and is based on three reasons that SMCP explains: Institutional separation of research vs. product. A chief scientist looks to the future, he does not manage human teams or budgets. Competitive advantage in a saturated market, allowing you to build your own technologies without depending on third parties. If you have the best at home, you don’t have to ask for permission or sign abroad. The top youth asset. AI is evolving by leaps and bounds and with this movement, China is ensuring that it has those who have been at ground zero of the great milestones of recent years: elite universities or laboratories of renowned institutions such as OpenAI, Google or Princeton. China is a world source of engineers. That China is a country of engineers is no secret: it is a plan that has been underway for 4o years. In fact, now he has opted to go one step further and accelerate doctorates. The Chinese labor market is already showing signs of some saturationwhich has also brought diversification, changing routes to avoid even setting foot in the university in its new bet on FP. In any case, having an army of almost six million engineering professionals gives you an advantage with AI. And it has more than enough: it has engineers to export. Without going any further, the vast majority of signings of the Meta superintelligence team from last year they are Chinese. But young engineers who stay at home have an opportunity beyond joining a leading company in the sector: leading it. Disclaimer: a chief scientist is not a CTO. It is worth remembering a difference between positions that are often confused: a chief scientist is not the director of technology. While the first profile investigates, explores and plans in the medium and long term without touching products or marketing, the second manages teams, designs architecture and meets business objectives. Confuse both profiles or mix them, as the SMCP remembers what Alibaba or Baidu did, ends up subordinating science to the urgency of the market. In any case, it is a fragile position in a company that is not clear why it is needed. In Xataka | China looks at VET: why more and more generation Z students prefer trades over university degrees In Xataka | If Spain wants to imitate China and be a “country of engineers”, this map reveals the extent to which it has a problem Cover | and Hyundai Motor Group and cottonbro studio

Magnus Carlsen is the master of FreeStyle chess. It’s increasingly clear that that’s not enough for him.

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It was a miracle, but he did it. Magnus Carlsen was crowned this weekend as world champion of the World Freestyle Chess Championship that has been organized by FIDE. He achieved it after surviving and winning a game that he had practically lost, and although the competition was full of emotion, it is not clear that freestyle chess is the revolution that the chess world was asking for. Not even being blessed by Carlsen. what has happened. These days the world championship of this discipline was being held in Weissenhaus (Germany), and eight of the best players in the world met there, including Magnus Carlsen, considered by many to be the best player in historyor Fabiano Caruana, current world champion in classical chess. Champion by the skin of his teeth. That was the first officially freestyle chess tournament blessed by FIDEalthough there were similar competitions in 2019 and 2022. Carlsen played the final against Fabiano Caruana and beat him by 2.5 to 1.5, and after two draws in the first two games, in the third Caruana had an advantage that seemed secure. However, Carlsen managed to recover and, thanks to Caruana’s subsequent time crunch, take advantage of your mistakes to turn the game around. A boring champion. Carlsen, as many will know, gave up his title as world champion of classical chess in July 2022, bored with this modality. Although he continues to play some tournaments of this version, he prefers to focus on rapid and blitz chess, in addition to now being the main promoter of freestyle chess (also known as 960 or Fischer random chess). This new title as world champion is the 21st of his career (five in classic, six in rapid, nine in lightning, one in freestyle). This is more like boxing. As happens in the world of boxing, in the world of chess there is beginning to be a problem with world titles, and although Caruana is the world champion of classical chess, there is always the question of whether he (or any other current player) could really surpass Carlsen in a world championship that pitted the two of them against each other. In this situation another curious solution now appears. Welcome to the chess ‘triathlon’. For a few months now, the world number one has been supporting a kind of chess ‘triathlon’ that mixes the following modalities: “Fast Classic”: 45 minutes for the first movement, 30 second increment per movement Quick chess: 15 minutes on the first move, 10 seconds increment after each move Lightning chess: three minutes on the first move, 2 seconds increment after each move We will see how it works. As Leontxo García explained in El PaísAlthough the proposal formally comes from the organizers of the Norway Chess tournament, the support of Carlsen and now FIDE has led to the birth of the Total Chess World Championship, which will be held for the first time in pilot format in mid-October 2026. What will become of freestyle chess? The idea of ​​freestyle chess is fantastic, especially to give more excitement from the first move to games between the best players in the world. In classical chess, the deep knowledge of openings that these players have means that the first 20 moves are often made almost by heart. The modality promoted by Carlsen is a breath of fresh air for these players and even for the spectators, but according to Leontxo García, medium or low level fans “hate 960 because it is very difficult and because they feel intellectually naked.” Fast chess for the age of impatience. That, together with the long duration of the games, meant that their interest in today’s world where immediacy is rewarded was very limited. This way of playing offers a more dynamic and entertaining format, but its adoption is still limited. On the Chess.com platform, for example, anyone can play one of these games, but the popularity of conventional chess is massive, although quick games tend to be especially attractive on said platform. It is these formats that attract the most attention, and this chess ‘triathlon’ may be a good compromise solution. Long live chess. Which does not mean that many continue (we continue) thinking that there is only one real chess world championship. The classic chess of a lifetime. With its long games, their scandals, his punches on the table and its scenes. That said, what matters in the end is that chess still more alive than ever. Image | Frans Peeters In Xataka | Beth, from ‘The Queen’s Gambit’, is a mix of Bobby Fischer and Judit Polgár, whose stories are impressive… and real

Science and longevity experts are clear about what time you should wake up

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For years, the culture of effort and extreme productivity has sold us the “five o’clock club“like him Holy Grail of successtaking as examples to CEOs, influencers or personal development gurus who point out the need to wake up at five in the morning. However, science focused on aging has a very different message: waking up too early is not only not productive, but it can shave years off our life. The experts. Sebastian La Rosaa doctor specializing in longevity, already pointed out that the optimal time to wake up is in a very specific window: between 6:45 and 7:00 in the morning. And the reality is that the scientific literature supports its claims based on clinical experience quite well. Without going any further, an analysis that lasted for 20 years in large groups of people revealed that the lowest point of mortality risk is exactly around seven in the morning. From this point on, extremes (as often happens in biology) are quite expensive. The extremes. Get up constantly after 8 in the morning raises the risk of mortality from all causes by a staggering 39%. But being a night owl and waking up super early every day isn’t good for your health either. This is what they saw from the data extracted from the UK Biobankwith a sample of more than 433,000 people, showing that the evening chronotype (going to bed late and getting up late) has a 10% higher risk of mortality total compared to early risers, impacting more harshly on people over 63 years of age. More tests. On the other hand, a massive study from the University of Exeter found that people who wake up naturally between five and seven in the morning reduce their risk of premature mortality by between 20 and 25%. This fits perfectly with the recommendation to go to sleep between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. to achieve 7 or 8 hours of restful sleep and protect, in the process, cardiovascular health. The golden rule. While 7:00 a.m. seems like the evolutionary magic hour, researchers at Harvard and other pioneering institutions have reached an even more important conclusion: consistency is the most important factor. In this way, having irregular sleep schedules, such as going to bed and getting up at very different times each day, increases the risk of mortality between 20 and 48%. In fact, the regularity of the sleep-wake cycle has been shown to be a stronger predictor of mortality than the total number of hours slept. This forces the scientific consensus to establish that sleeping between 6 and 8 hours is ideal, with exactly 7 hours being the figure linked to greater survival in large population cohorts. But if we choose to sleep less than seven hours or more than eight hours, the body can become unbalanced and increase the risk of death. Hacking the internal clock. Behind all these statistics there are pure cellular mechanics. In animal models, it has been proven that having “high amplitude” circadian rhythms, with very marked differences between daytime alertness and nighttime rest, directly correlates with greater longevity. When this biological clock is altered by living behind sunlight, we alter metabolic pathways critical for aging such as via mTOR, sirtuins or IGF-1. Exposing yourself to natural light as soon as you wake up around seven in the morning is the signal that the brain needs to set this complex hormonal mechanism in motion, mitigating oxidative damage and preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Images | muntazar mansory In Xataka | If you fall asleep in less than five minutes, you don’t have a “superpower”: it’s a warning signal from your brain

Tesla’s enormous problem in Germany has an alarming figure and a clear person responsible: Elon Musk

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Three out of four potential buyers of an electric car reject the idea of ​​buying a Tesla. The study points to the German market, which is the first electric car market in Europe by sales volume, and explains an important part of Tesla’s failure in Europe during 2025. Three out of four. 75% of potential buyers of an electric car in Germany do not value the idea of ​​buying a Tesla car, according to a study by the German Institute of Economics in collaboration with the Technical University of Dresden. The figure, which in itself is bad, has even more meaning. And that 75% is made up of potential customers who believe it is unlikely to buy a Tesla (15%) and those who completely reject buying a vehicle from this brand (60%). The reason, as we could imagine, is not a question of competition or price. The disaster. Last year, 545,142 electric cars were sold in Germany. It was, by far, the strongest electric car market in Europe. The growth was 43.2% compared to 2024, the year in which just over 380,000 electric cars were sold. Its market share reached 19.1%, above the European average, according to ACEA. For Tesla, however, it was not a great year. In Europe, 150,504 electric vehicles from Elon Musk’s company were sold, 37.9% less than the previous year when 242,436 registrations were registered. The most problematic thing is that the company had achieved a market share of 2.3% (a good bite to eat on the electric car pie, which in 2024 was only 13.6% in the European Union. That is, almost two out of every 10 electric cars sold in Europe were from Tesla. The drop was even more pronounced in Germany. There, the drop was 48.4%, as recorded Reuters at the beginning of the year. And, with everything, It has not been its strongest percentage drop in European countries but the damage in volume is more than evident. The politics. The decision by which the Germans seem to completely reject Tesla is evident to the creators of the study: Elon Musk’s political positioning. According to the authors, political positioning influences the purchase of a car more than sociodemographic characteristics. They point out that young people, those with a higher level of education and those who live in urban areas are more inclined to purchase an electric car. In political terms, Green supporters are the most open to acquiring this technology and AfD (German far-right) voters are the least enthusiastic. On average, they say, the potential customer for an electric car has grown by over 40% and those who reject it outright have also fallen. But the problem for Tesla is that it is not attractive to either group. Among the Greens, only 10.8% value the purchase of a Tesla as their first option and the percentage grows among AfD followers to 15.2% but it must be taken into account that these voters are also less in favor of buying a car of this type. Just lose. The study concludes with a statement: Elon Musk has lost support for buying cars among progressive groups (those who buy the most electric cars or are willing to buy) and has not attracted enough conservative groups to alleviate this disadvantage. The result is a direct consequence of a year 2025 that began with Elon Musk doing a Nazi salute during Donald Trump’s takeover of the United States and which continued with a explicit support of the company’s head for AfD and other far-right parties in Europe. It must be taken into account that this type of political positioning in Germany is much more delicate than in other countries. In Germany the Nazi salute is a crime punished with a fine in minor cases but which can be grounds for imprisonment in more serious cases. Study on preferences when buying an electric car in Germany segmented by political parties. Source: German Institute of Economics The worst option almost always. The image above shows the predisposition of Germans to the type of electric car they want to buy, segmented by their origin and the political parties that these potential customers vote for. According to this data, Tesla is the last option in four of the six political parties studied, even behind Chinese cars as the first option. The latter always surpass him except among CDU and SPD voters (although in both cases a greater percentage considers it possible to buy a Chinese car over a Tesla if we add the second level of predisposition). Tesla reaps the worst results among the Greens and Linke (The Left) and the absolute rejection is greater among the supporters of the latter political party. Chinese cars are, in all cases, the second option chosen when considering those who are willing to buy an electric car and those who value it as a possible purchase. The Germans are the ones who obtain the most support and the first option in all cases, with the greatest support among Green voters and with the AfD as the party with the greatest reluctance to buy it. Photo | Elon Musk in X and German Institute of Economics In Xataka | Tesla is discovering in real time that the most difficult thing was not to build a car brand from scratch: it was to maintain it

make it clear that “microhybrid” cars are not hybrid cars

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There have never been so many hybrid cars sold in Europe as in 2025. At least that’s what ACEA accounts affirmwho point out that 34.5% of the cars sold in Europe were hybrids, far surpassing gasoline cars (26.6% market share). In this classification, ACEA includes microhybrids, gasoline cars with a small electric motor barely 24 or 48 volts which usually act as a starter motor and occasionally support the gasoline block to save what, in practice, is barely a few tenths of fuel. In the best case, this electric motor can move the car by itself a few meters but They are a few exceptions in the market. Should the microhybrids in this classification? It is a good debate because in theory they are hybrids but in practice they barely save fuel or emissions, so their real impact on homologation figures is minimal. The real problem comes when those same cars do get real distinction on the street, beyond the numbers. Europe has embraced environmental seals to allow or not allow cars to enter its low-emission zones. But he has done it in a very different way. Germany gives its number 4 stamp, the best, to all cars that comply with Euro 1 (all cars from 1993 onwards) if they are gasoline. Diesels must be at least Euro 4 (2006 onwards) to receive this distinction. France makes no distinctions between hybrids and gasoline cars that exceed Euro 5 (as of 2011), for them, only electric and fuel cell cars receive preferential treatment. DGT Spain environmental labeling But in Spain things are very different. As in previous cases, Euro standards have been taken into account to deliver the DGT environmental stickers. But there is a very important nuance. Thus, the environmental labeling in Spain it is the following: Label A (without badge): gasoline cars before Euro 3 (year 2000) and diesel cars before Euro 4 (year 2006) Label B: gasoline cars that comply with Euro 3 (year 2000 onwards) and diesel cars that comply with Euro 4 (year 2006 onwards) Label C: gasoline cars that comply with Euro 4 (year 2006 onwards) and diesel cars that comply with Euro 6 (year 2015 onwards) ECO label: hybrid, LPG and CNG cars and plug-in hybrids or extended range electric cars with less than 40 kilometers of completely electric autonomy. Zero emissions label: plug-in and electric hybrids with more than 40 kilometers of electric range. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are also included. This classification method has created a problem. Microhybrids, which only improve fuel consumption or performance by a few tenths emissions of a gasoline car receive a classification (ECO) that substantially improves on pure gasoline (C) since they are considered hybrids. But, in addition, they cause delicate and contradictory situations. As environmental labeling is not delivered by actual emissions volume, the microhybrid has been used as a trap to pay less rates in road tax (IVTM) in cities like Madrid where the use of hybrids is subsidized or for enter the city center and, in some cases, park at a lower price on streets with regulated parking areas. This has meant that, for example, a Seat Ibiza 80 HP and approved consumption of 5.3 liters receive a C label with 113 gr/km of CO2 and a Audi Q7 340 HP with an approved consumption of 10.6 liters and 241 gr/km of CO2. The same thing happens with a bmw x5 which can also receive the ECO label as a diesel with 282 HP because its 12 HP electric motor saves it from having the C label. Both SUVs, the Audi and the BMW, can circulate in the most restrictive areas of Madrid no restrictions and park on the street in this space for a maximum of two hours but with a 50% bonus. In addition, they receive a bonus in the IVTM. The Seat Ibiza does not have a discount on its taxes or on surface parking. Additionally, you can only enter Madrid’s most protected low-emission zones if you park in an underground car park. If you do not do so, you will have to pay a fine of 200 euros. Mexico takes measures In Mexico, where there are also serious pollution problems, the authorities have taken steps to reduce the volume of cars on the street. It is the most effective and direct measure they have found to improve air quality. The program is called Not Circulating Today and requires leaving the car at home on different days of the week and in different circumstances if it is considered to be too polluting. In short, cars in Mexico have what are known as holograms, which would be our equivalent to environmental stickers in Spain. These holograms have different categories ranging from Exempt to 00, 0, 1 and 2 from least to most polluting. Within the “Exempt” category, there is a differentiation between electric, plug-in hybrids and non-plug-in hybrids in another internal division. Regardless of the latter, vehicles with Exempt and 00 holograms do not have to face the Hoy No Circula restrictions, but there is a substantial difference. Electric vehicles in the Exempt category do not have to pass emissions tests at the “verificentro” (similar to our ITV) throughout its useful life. Hybrids, however, have to pass it every eight years to verify that they comply with the maximum permitted emissions limits. For their part, category 00 cars have to undergo these inspections every two years and then they will repeat more frequently. That is to say, the difference in whether a car is classified as Exempt or 00 lies in the time and money that must be dedicated to its maintenance since each visit to the “check center” is not free. The substantial change is that, now, Mexico classifies microhybrids as vehicles with a 00 hologram. That is, there is no difference with a newly registered gasoline car. Until this year they were part of the Exempt category but that has ended because they consider that the electrical support is … Read more

Programming is the new board of AI. OpenAI and Anthropic have made it clear with GPT-5.3-Codex and Claude Opus 4.6

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When ChatGPT broke out in November 2022, OpenAI seemed unrivaled. And, to a large extent, that was the case. That chatbot, despite its errors and limitations, inaugurated a category of its own. However, in the technology sector advantages are rarely permanent and, in 2026, the position of the company led by Sam Altman It’s a far cry from what it had then. Google has managed to attract the general public with Nano Banana Prowhile Gemini steadily gaining ground as an artificial intelligence chatbot. At the same time, ChatGPT’s market share has fallen significantly in some markets. Anthropic, for its part, has established itself as a reference in software engineering and has become one of the preferred tools among programmers. In this race to set the pace of AI, this Thursday we witnessed a curious movement: the almost simultaneous arrival of two models focused on programming, GPT-5.3-Codex and Claude Opus 4.6. The coincidence does not seem coincidental and reflects the extent to which the major players in the sector compete to define the next step, in a scenario where the main beneficiaries are, once again, the users. With these new models already on the table, the question becomes what they really contribute. There are plenty of promises and they are also beginning to appear benchmarks comparable that help to place them. So, therefore, it is time to look in a little more detail at what OpenAI and Anthropic propose for those who use AI as a development tool. GPT-5.3-Codex and Opus 4.6 enter the scene: what each promises to developers GPT-5.3-Codex is presented as a model focused on scheduling agents which seeks to expand the scope of what a developer can delegate to AI. OpenAI claims that it combines improvements in code performance, reasoning and professional knowledge over previous generations and is 25% faster. With this balance, the system is oriented to prolonged tasks that involve research, use of tools and complex execution, while also maintaining the possibility of intervening and guiding the process in real time without losing the work thread. One of the most striking elements that OpenAI highlights in this generation is the role that Codex itself would have had in its development. The team used early versions of the model to debug training, manage deployment, and analyze test and evaluation results, an approach that accelerated research and engineering cycles. Beyond that internal process, GPT-5.3-Codex also shows progress in practical tasks such as the autonomous creation of web applications and games. The company has published two examples that we can try right now by clicking on the links: a racing game with eight maps and a diving game to explore reefs. Anthropic’s turn comes with Claude Opus 4.6, an update that the company presents as a direct improvement in planning, autonomy and reliability within large code bases. The model, they claim, can sustain agentic tasks for longer, reviewing and debugging its own work more accurately. The idea is that we can use these capabilities in tasks such as financial analysis, documentary research or creating presentations. Added to this is a context window of up to one million tokens in beta phase, a leap that seeks to reduce the loss of information in long processes and reinforce the usefulness of the system. Beyond the core of the model, Anthropic accompanies Opus 4.6 with a series of changes aimed at prolonging its usefulness in real workflows. Among them there are mechanisms such as the so-called “adaptive thinking”, which allows the system automatically adjust the depth of your reasoning depending on the context. Configurable effort levels and context compression techniques designed to sustain long conversations and tasks without exhausting the available limits also appear on the scene. Added to this are teams of agents that can be coordinated in parallel within Claude Code and deeper Excel or PowerPoint integration. While OpenAI’s product, GPT-5.3-Codex, is not yet available in the API, Anthropic’s is. Maintains the base price of $5 per million entry tokens and $25 per million exit tokenswith nuances such as a premium cost when the prompts exceed 200,000 tokens. Measure who wins with numbers? When trying to put GPT-5.3-Codex and Claude Opus 4.6 face to face, the main obstacle is not the lack of figures, but rather their difficult correspondence. Each company selects evaluations that best reflect its progress and, although many belong to similar categories, they differ in methodology, versions or metrics, which prevents a direct reading. In this type of models, this fragmentation of results is part of the state of the technology itself, but also requires cautious interpretation that separates technical demonstrations from truly equivalent comparisons. Only from this filter is it possible to identify the few points where both systems can be measured under comparable conditions and draw useful conclusions for developers. If we restrict the analysis to truly comparable metrics, the common ground between GPT-5.3-Codex and Claude Opus 4.6 is limited to two specific evaluations identified through our own research: Terminal-Bench 2.0 and OS World in its verified version. The results show a distribution of strengths rather than a clear supremacy. GPT-5.3-Codex marks a 77.3% in Terminal-Bench 2.0 compared to 65.4% for Opus 4.6, which points to greater efficiency in terminal-centric workflows. On the contrary, Opus 4.6 reaches a 72.7% on OSWorldsurpassing the 64.7% of GPT-5.3-Codex in general interaction tasks with the system, a contrast that reinforces the idea of ​​specialization according to the environment of use. So we could say that the capabilities described by each manufacturer point to tools that are no longer limited to generating code, but rather seek to participate in prolonged processes of analysis, execution and review within real professional environments. This transition introduces new selection criteria that go beyond punctual performance. In Xataka | OpenAI has a problem: Anthropic is succeeding right where the most money is at stake

Spain wants to become a “bunker” for data centers with a very clear attraction: cheap energy

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Spain finds itself facing a historic opportunity. In the offices of big technology companies—from Amazon (AWS) until Microsoft or Google—the map of the Iberian Peninsula shines with its own light. The geographical location and the deployment of fiber optics have made the country the ideal candidate to be the great “cloud” of southern Europe. However, there is a toll: these data centers (DPCs) consume electricity at an industrial pace. Only the Community of Madrid investments are played worth 23.4 billion euros linked to these projects, while regions like Aragon see how the demand from these centers threatens to absorb half of all the energy they occurs in the community. But until now, Spain had a barrier to entry: an electrical regulation designed for steel foundries, not for servers. In order not to miss the investment train, the Government has decided to make a move and change the rules of the game. A change of rules in the BOE. The Ministry of Industry and Tourism has activated the legislative machinery. The goal is to allow data centers can access to the Statute of Electrointensive Consumers, a category that until now was reserved for large heavy industry and that allows receiving million-dollar compensation on the electricity bill. In fact, the first step is now official. Through a resolution of the Secretary of State for Industry published last January, the Government has eliminated with a stroke of a pen and as a matter of urgency the main technical obstacle for the 2026 campaign: the “off-peak” requirement. The previous regulations required companies to consume at least 46% of their electricity during the cheapest hours (generally at night) to receive aid. This, which works for a factory that can put on night shifts, is impossible for a data center that operates 24/7. The new resolution considers this requirement fulfilled for all applicants this year, a “technical amnesty” designed to facilitate the entry of new actors. However, it is not an isolated patch. In parallel, the Ministry has submitted to public consultation a Royal Decree Project to reform the Statute in a structural way. The text, whose hearing process has already included the sector’s allegations, explicitly recognizes that the current regulations have been ‘misaligned’ and need to be adapted to strengthen the competitiveness of companies in the face of high energy prices. The end of the tyranny of the night. To understand the importance of this measure, you have to look at the sky. The old rule required consumption at night because, historically, that was when electricity was cheap. But the explosion of solar energy in Spain has changed the paradigm: now, the cheapest hours tend to occur at midday, when the sun shines brightly, generating what experts call the “duck curve” in prices. Maintaining the obligation to consume at night was not only a bureaucratic barrier for data centers, but also economic and ecological nonsense in the Spain of 2026. By eliminating this requirement, the Government not only helps technology companies, but also adapts the law to the reality of an electrical system dominated by renewables. Less bureaucracy and more compensation. The Government’s plan to seduce data centers does not consist of paying for their electricity directly, but rather of shielding them from indirect costs. The reform proposes two courses of action: money and simplification. Compensation of hidden charges: The new Statute will allow subsidizing costs that increase the bill but are not energy consumption, such as contributions to the National Energy Efficiency Fund (FNEE). According to industry sourcesthis charge is around 2 euros per megawatt hour and has a tendency to rise. Alleviating this burden is vital for technology companies’ numbers to turn out green. Administrative facilities: The entrance exam has been relaxed. Along with the elimination of off-peak hours, the BOE has set a new technical ratio (ratio between consumption and added value) of 0.61 kWh/€ by 2026. In addition, cumbersome requirements are eliminated, such as the requirement for very specific long-term renewal contracts, which generated a disproportionate administrative burden. The missing piece of the puzzle. Despite the red carpet rolled out by the Ministry, the sector remains cautious. From SpainDC, the association that brings together data centers in Spain, they value the elimination of the off-peak hour requirement as a “relevant advance”, but they warn that the party has only just begun and they still do not have the official invitation in hand. The problem is bureaucratic, but lethal: the CNAE (National Code of Economic Activity). To be an electro-intensive consumer, your activity must appear on a closed list of eligible sectors. If the Government reforms the technical requirements but does not expressly include the “Data Processing” code (6311) in that list, the reform will be a dead letter for them. “For data centers, the inclusion of the CNAE is a premise. Without it, certification is still not within our reach,” employers warn the Energy Newspaper. Added to this is the underground tension due to the capacity of the network: it is not enough for energy to be cheap, there must be “plugs” available. The Electrical Network It is saturated in key pointsand the sector demands urgent investments so that the promised megawatts actually reach the servers. A seduction in the testing phase. Spain has sent a clear message to international markets: it wants to be Europe’s great data warehouse and is willing to modify its sacred industry laws to achieve it. The BOE resolution for 2026 It is the test of faitha temporary safe passage to prevent the flight of investments. However, the ultimate success of the strategy depends on the fine print that is written in the coming months. If the structural reform of the Royal Decree ends up including data centers in the official list of beneficiary sectors, Spain will have completed its transformation: from a country of sun and sand, to a country of sun and data. Image | freepik Xataka | Meta is spending millions and millions of dollars convincing us of one thing: that data … Read more

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